Open wide

For reasons unknown to us Bethany, for the past month or so, has been having headaches. They seem to be random. Sometimes they come after a lot of reading in school. Other times she wakes up with them. After her last headache we decided that we would take her in to see the doctor. He wants to have her eyes checked and then will go from there depending on the results of that visit.

In the meantime she is taking allergy medicine to eliminate sinusitis as a possibility. Also she had to have a throat culture done because her throat was irritated and he wanted to rule out strep. Something that always makes me snicker is the light used in the ER for looking in the throat. It's actually an ordinary run of the mill flashlight.

The Price of Milk

Recently we have had opportunity to see the affect of the falling dollar and the rise of inflation here in Uruguay. A loaf of bread American style costs over $2.00 and that's the cheap white bread. A gallon of diesel is $6.65. I think a good comparison to show how prices have changed since our arrival is in the price of milk.

In December 2007 a bag of milk cost us 10 pesos. At that time we were trading at 25 Uruguayan pesos to 1 US dollar. So a liter of milk was $.40 cents or $1.51 a gallon.

Compare that to now, June 2008, a bag of milk will cost us 16 pesos. Right now we are trading at about 19 pesos to 1 US dollar. So a liter of milk is $.84 cents. That's more than double in 18 months. And a gallon of milk will cost us $3.18.

Anticipating the need for more funds some of our churches have already raised our support. As a result we are "ok" financially. But if the dollar continues to plummet we likely will begin to feel the pinch.

Tortas Fritas

It's raining it's pouring

The old man is snoring...

And in Uruguay it's time to make tortas fritas. Last night, Sabrina, helped us make some tortas fritas and they were so yummy. Basically, they are dough rolled out with holes in the center and fried in beef lard. I think they taste a little like and old fashioned donut. Here's a pictures of Simeon with the one he made.

Birthday Brunch in Bed

Yesterday morning a sweet little three year old came into our bedroom, stood at my side of the bed and told me,"Mommy, wake up, iz yur birfday." Then he laid a great big kiss on my cheek and wrapped his little arms around my neck and gave me a bear hug. One of the best birthday wake-up's I've ever had!

Then Kaitlin came in, menu in hand. She handed it to me and after giving me some time to look over my many choices she pulled out her notepad and pen and wrote my order. I had a fabulous ham and cheese omelette, home fried potatos and bacon, with a glass of OJ and cup of coffee. All this after I got to sleep in. That's a really special treat because Silas still wakes up at least twice a night.

After I finished my breakfast and got up and going I came into the dining room to see it decorated with a Happy Bday sign, streamers, table cloth and party hats. Brandon read the sign as happy "bidet" - I'm not too sure about his sense of humor.

Once I was ready Scott took me to Shopping, the mall in town. I was able to find a long sleeved shirt in the pile of American brand name overstocks. We strolled through the mall, very slowly, so it took us 15 minutes instead of just 5. Really! Still on our "date" we headed into the old city. I thought it was the perfect time for us to get an old time photo done. Scott was a good sport and dressed up and even glued on a handlebar mustache.

Back at the house, I opened up all my cards from family, friends and churches plus a goodie box from the ladies at Great Hope Baptist Church. Then I opened up the presents from friends here in Uruguay.

Later the girls and I went out to the mall. A new store just opened up which is the next best thing to Claires. In the center of the store are bins of beads to make up your own jewelry. The girls each picked out their beads and I picked out beads for Isabel, who was at home. We headed back over to the overstock store, Indian Outlet, and found some more shirts. Funny thing is that the girls told me they were taking me shopping. I think I've been swindled because I bought everything. Maybe I should take them shopping the same way on their birthdays. :-)

We ended the night with a cake that, Lydia, one of the ladies in church made for me. And it was delicious! The typical cake here is two layer white cake with a dulce de leche (think creamy caramel dip) filling, the frosting is almost always an unbaked meringue. My favorite is when they add the baked meringue that is broken into pieces to the top. This cake was actually presented to me after the service Sunday night when the church sang to me and prayed for me. What a blessing.

Several ladies, and Pastor Archie, called me to wish me birthday blessings. Maria Larrachea, Ruth and Amparo stopped by too. Plus some of the young people, including Melissa Marr. I got some encouraging notes as well. God certainly blessed me this year!!!

NO WAY!!!

Forgive me for yelling, but I honestly cannot fathom the thought [reality] that 20 years ago I was standing in line waiting to take my high school diploma [cover] into my just turned 18 year old hands. What a day! I remember looking ahead, setting those all important life goals and thinking that 20 years from now [then] was way too far away to plan. Now I know better. So does Scott, by the way. He graduated the same day but from the high school in the neighboring town. I had somewhere around 650 graduates in my class while Scott had a whopping 86 grads.


Enjoy the pics, don't laugh too hard! Wouldn't you guys just love to see our senior pics, haha. We wouldn't want anyone to use them against us. Oh, by the way, '88 rules!

Scott in his cap and gown. Don't you think his hair is cool?

Me holding my diploma cover. How about that big 80's hair. What you can't see is my blue eyeliner and mascara - totally rad! Sorry I think I'm regressing.

Standing in line to have my name announced and looking for my dad. I'm in the middle of this picture between the 4 guys in red.

Baptist World Mission of Uruguay

L to R: Paul and Joanna Harmon, Sharon Clark, Barry and Barbra Secrest,

Archie and Ruth Perez, and Scott and Debbie Borrmann

Yesterday all of the BWM missionaries on the field of Uruguay met together in our home. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with eachother. And we praise God for showing His will to all of us in an important decision we needed to make.

The men fellowship while waiting for lunch.

Ruth and Sharon. Ruth is Uruguayan an Sharon has been here for over 45 years.

Brandon and Mark spent a couple hours BBQ'ing our meal, which in part was a birthday celebration for me. I will "celebrate" my 20th anniversary of my 18th birthday on Monday. Something else remarkable happens that day as well. But you'll have to check back in on Monday for that blog.

God Knows: Yielding your rights. Part 2

"Anyway, I don't know what was up in your life last night, but I could NOT
stop praying for you. I kept talking to God about you, and then trying to move
on and think of something else ... and I could not quit coming back. So, you
were saturated last night."

I received this in an email yesterday. And I am reminded that God Knows. He knew that I was going to "hit" our ladies with a very difficult thing for them. Honestly, I didn't want to. I wanted to teach generally, you know, go through the chapter highlights and call it a night. But God kept impressing upon me this was the way to go. Because He knew he had, at least, this one friend praying for me. Were there others? I have no idea, but I must say what a blessing it is to know that God cares for me in such a special way.

Yielding your rights.

"The fact is, successful relationships and healthy cultures are not built
on the claiming of rights but on the yielding.
Even our traffic laws reflect this principle. You'll never see a
sign that says, "You have the right of way." Instead, the sign instructs
us to "Yield" the right of way. That is how traffic flows best; it
is also how life works best." Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Yielding ones rights doesn't come naturally. Miss DeMoss goes on to point out the 60's birthed turmoil and rebellion based on the philosophy of claiming our rights. Even though I grew up in the 70's and 80's that philosophy was one that I had fed to me by my teachers, parents, friends. I believed, and often attempted, the "anything you can do I can do better." One of the most difficult lessons I have had to learn in my Christian life is that of yielding my rights not only to those around me, but especially and most importantly so to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have seen first hand how the mindset of the typical Uruguayan woman is rooted in the claiminng of her rights. It is common and quite natural here that a child comes before the husband - even when that child is grown and has children of their own. And then the grandchildren take the place of the most important. I certainly appreciate the love they have for children and the value they give them. It is something I believe we need more of. But things have gone to an extreme here. There is a very vague idea of submission to ones husband but that is only after the wife submits to here children or grandchildren.

Thursday night I believe the Lord wanted me to teach the ladies on the lie of "I have my rights!" At the time I had no idea why. Really, I figured it was because I still struggle in this area. Selfishness is plastered all over my heart. After I opened the class for discussion the challenges, agreements, and questions were, well, they were astonishing, perplexing, and sometimes cries for help to understand.

I wish I could tell you all about our ladies but I don't want to violate their confidence by blabbing to the world all they dared to share with me and Ruth. I will say that they need your prayers. Ruth and I need your prayers. Submission, yielding your rights, can be a breaking point for many marriages. And we have seen some marriages here collapse because the wives will not submit. I ask that you pray that the women in our church, and others we come into contact with, will allow the Lord to build their house. That they will have confidence and faith in God that He loves them and wants the best for them. When they follow His way His blessing will be upon them and their marriages.

Do Elephants Hum?

If they do, I think they sound just like a trumpeter who is just learning to play. Which in my opinion is a much nicer sound than the dying elephant that was in my older sisters room everytime she practiced French Horn.

The musical sounds around our home for a long time were only of Kaitlin praciticing piano, or me listening to a CD. They have added Brandon playing his scales on his trumpet, and Bethany playing scales on the piano, plus an occasional song from both - which includes the tune, pretty good for beginners, if you ask me. Bethany has already played offeratories for two of our melody nights - one of the best attended services.

In addition to the the piano, Kaitlin also plays the bells (they look like a Xylophone but are called Bells). Having a few more years experience she sounds quite nice now. I enjoy eavesdropping on her as she plays hymns adding in the little extra flourishes. (Look out Paul and Sarah :-)

About a month ago, Kaitlin and Bethany were playing a duet on the church piano. I thought it was wonderful! Which is especially notable because our church piano, well, let's just say it needs help. Maybe when we come home on furlough we can have a trio - trumpet, bells and piano. (That's a hint, Brandon, Kaitlin and Bethany. :-)

Silas at Seven Months

"Uh-oh, I've been caught!"

Unless he was practicing in his bed, this was Silas' first attempt at crawling.

"Uh-oh, I've been caught!"

Years ago, 15 1/2 to be exact, Scott and I watched Brandon lift his chubby little tummy up off the floor. Thrilled to see this effort towards crawling we got down on the floor with him and cheered and encouraged and coaxed him to do it again. He was only 4 months old and that was the beginning of the end of a non-baby proofed home. It was only 4 months later that he graduated from crawling to walking. A short time later he was almost 16 years old, but wait that's not what I'm going to blog about today especially since I still have 2 months before that really happens.

Ok, back on track here, Silas just turned seven months old and it seems he wanted to enter his seventh month with bells on. No, he's not walking, but he is making big attempts to crawl. One day he just lay on his tummy on his cute little bear rug, then next thing you know he was up on his hands and knees, rocking and ready to take off. After seven children before Silas we know our life of ease (ha, ha, is there really such a thing with children?) is now over. He is schooching everywhere. I guess you can figure out that we aren't on the floor cheering him on. Nope, we are happy letting him figure things out on his own. After all it will be just a short time and he'll be turning 16 too.

"Ah, are doz fir da wadies?"

Every second Thursday of the month we have had the ladies Bible study and each time I have tried to bake up a North American delicacy. Things like Monkey Bread, Cookies, Brownies, and more. I also make up a tray of Jello Jigglers for the children. Every ladies meeting I am asked by the kids if they get to have some. Sometimes they say just what the title says, even the bigger kids but from them it sounds more like English. :-)

Friday's are our family night, and tonight I was in the mood for some White Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. Scott also made up a batch of his famous regular chocolate chip cookies. And for the first time I helped Adeline make some Lemon Blossom cookies - no eggs, milk, or butter. As Scott was putting his cookies onto my decorative tray, the one I use for the ladies meetings, it occurred to Simeon that the cookies just may not be for us. And he asked Scott, "Ah, are doz fir da wadies?" Pobrecito (Poor little one/boy)! I guess I should bake more often for my family.