17 months and finally done.

I can hardly believe it, after all these months of being told our residency would be finished next month we actually, really, truly have in our hands the Residencia Legales for Scott and I. Praise the Lord! We were told this morning that the kids file was now in the approval office and should be done in a month...or two. You'll know when we know. And that will be when we have it in our hands. Thanks for praying!

Please be praying as we prepare to sell, or turn in, whatever the process may be, our bonds that were the guarentee for the container. The paper we needed, or think we need (long story) is ready to be turned in to Eduana. Scott will need to call upon our contact that helped him buy them in the first place. Since the bonds are in US dollars, we're hoping that the dollar will jump significantly before we sell/turn them in and we'll actually make a little profit instead of a loss.

For the past 3 days each time we turned the engine over in the van we heard a significant crunching sound. Scott was trouble shooting it in his mind and hoped we wouldn't have trouble on today's trip to MV, especially since he spent yesterday afternoon replacing the radiator. When we pulled into the parking garage at Immigration the van would not turn back on. So when we left we had to be pushed out of the garage and down the hill to pop the clutch. Thankfully another missionary family, the Parnells, in Montevideo allowed us to use their driveway and also played taxi so Scott could repair the starter. Which just turned out to be a missing bolt. We are thankful this happened in the capitol as it provided us with the ease of finding the right parts with little wait.

Foot accessory rebel

Since I just put the pictures up of the new babies together I thought I would blog about a phenomenom here - baby socks. Uruguayans are greatly concerned over my inability to put a pair of socks of my baby boy. You see everywhere I go, I am posed this question, "Where are his socks?"


One lady, trying to defend my worthiness as a mother, said to another, "Oh, she's North American, they aren't accustomed to socks." Stifling a laugh, I thought of the laundry basket full of the socks I still had to sort. Have I told you I don't like socks??? Socks are a lot of work! Sure they keep your feet warm in the winter, and equally so in the summer, but they really need to find a way to match themselves up with their mates.

This is one cultural difference that seems so silly to me. The looks of serious concern on ladies faces over a missing pair of socks, in the summertime (!), is something I have a hard time taking seriously. I actually did think ladies were joking with me, especially when I overheard one ask where a solely diaper clad baby's socks were. Oh boy! I better keep a pair of socks in the diaper bag in the case of a sock emergency.

Now, for those reading this in the Northern Hemisphere where you are wearing your warmest clothes this January, you must keep in mind we are in the middle of summer and it is warm...too warm for socks. And shoes too. In the States people always gave me a hard time about my shoeless babies. I just couldn't see the point in buying shoes for someone who doesn't even walk. I guess I'm a baby foot accessory rebel. :-)

Five boys and a girl

It took awhile before all the new babies, and a camera, were at church at the same time but we finally got our pictures. From L to R, in order of the babies ages: Nancy with Rebeca (the only girl), Cristina with Juan Daniel, Leticia with Timoteo, Rebekah with Esteban, Debbie with Silas and Elida with Jeremias.

One of the neat things about the babies is that they all have Bible names. L to R: Jeremias, Timoteo, Rebekah, Juan Daniel, Esteban and Silas.

This was at the end of the photo shoot. Juan Daniel (3rd from R) decided he'd had enough of his cousin, Esteban (2nd from right), leaning on him so he began pushing him away and into Silas (far right). Silas, as you can tell from his expression, didn't care for this at all.

It has been a blessing to have all these babies so close in age. Albeit a little cramped in the nursery when hungry babies need to eat at the same time. It's fun to watch their personalities emerge. They are all smiling, the older ones are gaining a sense of humor and the younger ones are beginning to interact with the other babies. We're wondering how Rebeca, who is very calm and petite, is going to handle all these boisterous boys.

The comforts of home...

Here in Uruguay cookies have a different texture and taste. At this point I've not seen a real chocolate chip cookie for sale in a bakery or grocery store. For some reason (hmmm, pregnancy...maybe) these past few days I've had a sweet tooth. Yesterday Scott asked what I wanted and I told him I'd love a chocolate chip cookie but would have to do without because they have to be made at home and I'm on bedrest. His reply was an easy, "Which recipe do you use? I'll make some." To be willing to make chocolate chip cookies after he's already pulling his normal load and now mine too makes him the husband of the year! The cookies were absolutely delicious way better than my best cookies. I'll just close by saying I'm definitely not going to lose weight while I'm on bed rest Scott is a terrific cook.

"Our" little corner of the world...

This is a nice satellite image of Uruguay, if you follow the river (dark lines on the upper right angling down and on the left moving pretty much straight down) you will see the natural bounderies of Uruguay from Brazil and Argentina. The mouth of the Rio de la Platte (the brown patch of water) is the area in which we live. Look at the beginning of the brown, follow the coastline up to the point in the land, that is Colonia del Sacramento. That gray patch of "land" almost directly across the water is Buenos Aires, Argentina. On clear days we can see the city skyline as well as see the city lights at night.

As you lok at this image please pray with us that God will use us, and the believers here in Uruguay, to reach the hearts of the people that call Uruguay home. As well as the many visitors from abroad.

Our vacation in Punta del Este, Uruguay

Scott and I spent a couple days in Punta del Este, Uruguay for a mini-vacation. It was absolutely gorgeous. We have heard this is the retirement capitol of South America and we can see why. It really is quite modern and has tremendous scenery. Many people are bilingual so if you don't speak Spanish you could manage in this city. We counted no less than 5 large condominium "towers" being constructed. And the prices weren't too bad beginning at $150,000 US dollars for a 2 bdrm 2 bath condo it would make an affordable investment.

One of my favorite times of the trip was a drive up the Atlantic coast. There is nothing like the sound and smell of the ocean. I love slipping off my shoes and walking along the surf. The only thing that halfway compared was the bathtub in our hotel room. It sure was pleasant to have a nice hot bath after 8 months of no bathtub. We sure appreciate the Perez family caring for our family so we could enjoy this snippet of time recharging our batteries.

Flip...flop

Dinner has been a bit of a challenge here in Uruguay, because we are in language class 3 afternoons a week (M-W-F), we have church Wednesday & Sunday, SILOS on Thursday and Brandon and Kaitlin have youth meetings every Saturday. And when Kaitlin had mallets for her bells she had orchestra practice on Friday's. You can see that makes our schedule full and makes the dinner meal difficult.

Being a perfectionist and type A personality (so I've been told) I don't care too much for a system that doesn't work. So I ponder it in my mind for awhile looking for a way that works. Sometimes my new ideas only make the system jam up further, but other times the ideas pan out and are quite productive.

After pondering the dinner time stress I flip flopped the meal times so every day is like Sunday. You know, where we have a large meal for lunch and a light meal or snack for dinner. I've been fixing a big lunch all week and it's worked great. I enjoy the unbroken time I have in the afternoon to work on projects - like translation work for Spanish class, or even better a scrapbook page and hand stamped thank you cards. Plus, I have all morning to make yeast rolls or something else requiring more than an hour. Now I don't need to worry about whose meal is going to be cold when they get home.

I truly am thankful to the Lord for giving me the gift of working out the kinks in my daily life. I know I got through much of deputation because He allowed me to think of better ways to do things - like dressing the girls all in one color each day (Monday's were pink, Tuesday's were purple, and so on) of missions conferences.

Tomorrow is my first birthday in Uruguay! And my first birthday when it's been in the 50's instead of the 80's. I'm hoping we'll have a sunny day because we are going to BBQ, American style! I can already taste those slow cooked ribs slathered in Texas style BBQ sauce. MMMMM.

Six months in Uruguay

Today was our sixth month anniversary on the field. It's been a time packed with learning, adjustments, trials, joys and a different persepective on life. I'm ever so thankful to the Lord for giving us this opportunity! Brandon and Kaitlin have found areas to minister in the church. Brandon will begin this week with the children in Kings Kids and he also ushers. And Kaitlin has been teaching the children during the S.I.L.O. (Bible Studies) at the Perez' home on Thursdays.

Scott and I have been given the go ahead to preach and teach (respectively, of course) once a month. So now we get to start translating and begin public speaking in Spanish. It's frightening and exciting at the same time. Our language teacher believes this will be very helpful for us and will work towards solidifying the language in our minds. She is even willing to proof our work for us. This is a wonderful opportunity.

Kaitlin and Brandon are nearly 100% comprehensive in Spanish. Brandon has an all Spanish speaking friend and so he's been the testing ground, poor guy! Kaitlin still hasn't been daring enough to speak much. Nehemiah talks a lot in his Sunday school class, not necessarily a good thing, but he does speak in Spanish. Bethany and Adeline are learning Spanish in school now. And I'm sure we don't need to worry about Simeon and Isabel.

I find myself singing songs now in Spanish. Usually it ends up being more Spanglish than anything; as I start to sing in either language I forget the words in one and remember the words of another and so I go back and forth - Spanglish singing. That's a huge step for me as I never thought I'd get the rhyme and meter of singing in Spanish.

It's possible that we could have our legal residency in it's final submission this month. A miracle to be sure! It usually takes this long just to get the papers back from the FBI. All we need now is a statement from the Uruguayan police verifying we have not been in trouble while here in the country. If that comes in the next couple weeks we should be good to go. If not we'll have to re-submit a couple papers.

The honeymoon is definitely over, but with it the time of major homesickness has passed. We're starting to settle in and adjust. I'm sure it will be a lifetime of learning, thankfully, we have God at our side to guide us along. Proverbs 3:5,6 continues to give us hope and strength.

A Taste of Home

When Scott and I first married my idea of home cooking was a frozen Marie Callendars fettucine noodles dinner. Of course, over the years I've learned to become more proficient in the kitchen and can now make some mean shrimp pasta (Red Lobster style). But since we've moved to Uruguay I have really become creative in the kitchen. I made a yummy all from scratch chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting for the girls birthday. I make rice milk for Adeline, that she actually likes. And I'm learning to recreate some things we just can't get here.

If you were to type the word "home made" into our Google task bar you would find I'm trying to make our life here a "normal" as possible. For instance, you would see I've searched for how to make grits, not cook them, but make them so we can cook them. I have learned to make whipped cream, and fried rice. I even have in my recipe box goodies such as doughnuts and english muffins.

No fajita seasoning or flour tortillas, it's no problem, I just type in home made flour tortillas and home made fajita seasoning and I have a couple of excellent recipes. Can't find pancake syrup? Do a google search. I find that just about every taste from "home" that I crave can be made at home. Well, I'm off to search for El Pollo Loco recipes, I have a craving for lemon grilled chicken with spicy pinto beans, pico de gallo and warm flour tortillas. If only I could find that missing box with my Cilantro in it.