Rice and Beans

Easter is the best day of the year.  You can't keep a good man down, the good will always win in the long-run.  This is what we all want, what we ALL NEED!!!  Lent is the 40 days that preceed Easter. It's purpose is to help prepare our hearts for this awesome truth: Jesus is overcoming our evil...we tried to get rid of Jesus, but couldn't. It was even impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus (acts 2:24).  He is more powerful than anything, and because he beat death, he took what we deserve (death) and changes it for life with him (heaven)!!

Lent is a tradition that is not largely celebrated in my church as a whole, but can be a thoughtful practice and this year our extended family has embraced it.

My inspiring sister-in-law, Jenae, invited us over for a "Rice and Beans gathering".  She blogged about it so I don't need to!!! She is an amazing writer and so much more thoughtful than me, so I will just link to her post for most of it.  But first,  I must add a few of my own thoughts.

She had 31 people over for lunch to kick off the "lenten season" and served rice and beans... Andy and I are both thrifty and practical, so one of our favorite parts was just seeing the cost table that she made:

It shows that it only cost $13 to feed all of us!!

Here is a link to her blog... and she has written a few other great posts since then, so feel free to keep on reading!

My Easter verse for this year:

Acts

 22 “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene[a] by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. 25 King David said this about him:

‘I see that the Lord is always with me.
    I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
26 No wonder my heart is glad,
    and my tongue shouts his praises!
    My body rests in hope.
27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead[b]
    or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
28 You have shown me the way of life,
    and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’[c]

29 “Dear brothers, think about this! 

Thank you to our trike-a-thon supporters!!

We had a lot of fun getting ready for the trike-a-thon... mostly watching and coaching Elias ask family for donations at family dinner, it was hilarious (see the above video & yes, he still needs a little more coaching)... But he is a natural like his daddy was :)

Here are a few pictures from the big event:

Each student got their helmet fitted to make sure if fit correctly so they would be safe.

The Safety Bee came and taught the kids how to be safe and what stop signs are for

And... with the money the kids earned, the school was able to but the water pump/water feature for the playground as well as the shovels and light blocks, some chairs, and blocks.  The students go out to reces every day rain or shine. That is great since I won't be taking Eloas out much when its cold and rainy!

June in Peru

Yes, we really did go to Peru for 3.5 weeks in June. It was GREAT to see our friends, the Andersons down there and learn more about the work God is doing through them and Kids Alive International. 

Here is a link to their blog with a LOT more information about their life/work.

 A few Peru highlights- feeling my first earthquake, seeing Elias play with both Peruvian kids and the Anderson girls, teaching ESL each day to the director of a moms discipleship program each day (she came to our apt while one of my boys napped),  hearing the testimonies and sharing with the moms in the moms helping moms program. I also loved helping translate some of the letters from the sponsorship program from the sponsors and from the kids as well. It was encouraging to see so many sponsors write to the children they support and hearing that they really care about and pray for "their" child.

Here are a few pictures... its all out of order,, sorry

 On our last day with them, we went out on a boat and did a little fishing and saw PENGUINS!

 One of my main jobs was to teach English to the director of the Kids Alive moms helping mom's Program, it was a lot of fun to get to know her, as well as the sewing teacher, who teaches the mom's to sew. Above are two of our classes... with the sewing teacher holding Johnny with the hat she had just sewed for him.

 Elias and Davy Sue were great friends... he loved all three of his Anderson friends! When we got home, he said "Lets sold our house and go back to Peru to see my friends".. His aunt Dayna just sold her house and moved to North Dakota, so this would be perfectly normal to sell your house and move somewhere you need to fly on an airplane to.

 Johnny at the beach...  we were in Lima, a costal dessert city.

 Johnny and Elias watching the soccer game.

 Johnny was like a movie star in Peru... he was very popular in the little girls home at the children's home!

  Johnny (John Wesley Ironside) is named after Bert Ironside Elliot, on of the Dryden's missionary friends that lived over 60 years in Peru, we were able to visit his graveside while we visited.

 We also traveled to Trujillo, northern peru to visit Pablo and Sarah Cenepo-Torres for a few days and here is Elias eating juanes. They had 4 little girls, that Elias got along well with too!

Our family in downtown Lima right before heading to the airport.  For more pictures see the Flickr album.

The first 6 months

I help daddy....

For the past....2 and a half months we have been remodeling our kitchen/dining room area.  We know that remodeling is dirty, hard, long and often stressful, but besides having a wonderful, spacious, new, clean, workable kitchen when we are done, we have found so much joy in having Elias "work" alongside daddy and help him.  It has been so much fun seeing him follow Andy around and copy all he does.  Here are a few pictures to give you a glimpse of what we have been up to.

I want to be just like my daddy!

I've seen Daddy do this, now "Eli do it"

the demo has begun... bye bye kitchen as we know it

Elias loves the project and loves helping and watching daddy!

Eli the tool man!

I got my tool belt just like papi!

yay! I get to help daddy by crawling in the tunnel... Eli wanted to cut his own hole in the floor later.

loved the "tunnel" crawl space under the house!

Elias turned out to be a good "fetcher" for daddy when they were in the cramped crawl space

I help daddy cut the pipes!

kitchen before

ALMOST done!

kitchen during

make shift kitchen during

Zoo lights year 3

This is the third year in a row we were able to go see the zoo lights with our neighbor (now x-neighbor) annabelle (6 weeks older than Elias).

We got to ride the zoo train! A big hit with Elias!

using an umbrella for the first time was also a highlight!

2011 zoo lights

2011

It has been a fun tradition even though every year I hesitate because it is raining and cold....