Deeper!

This year has been such an amazing year for us. I can't believe it's only half over! I feel like we have all grown and learned so much just from experiencing God. I could go on about this for awhile but there is so much else for me to talk about that I'll save it for another post. ;)

One of the biggest blessings for us was something that just happened! Jose and I planned our trip to the states in March so we could be a part of the Intense mens conference/father son campout. The only downside, we couldn't stay long enough to be a part of our 15th anniversary conference. So we enjoyed our time there. Only told a few people what we had faith for and PRAYED. So 2 weeks before the conference Jose gets an email that the tickets have gone down to half the normal price (the only time we have seen that happen) so we got blessed with the tickets to go to Houston! We surprised our Pastors and most of our church and had a great weekend of spiritual refreshing! I can't even begin to describe all the ways we got blessed last week while we were there. I will just summarize by saying that God is always, always faithful! He provided for every need we have and used some amazing and often surprising ways to do it. :) 

Some highlights from the conference

*We burned the note! Our building is paid off and Jordan Ranch is more than halfway there! I can't express how exciting this is for us!

*Jose turned 10! He got saved 10 years ago at the 5th anniversary conference. I will always be grateful to God for bringing Pastor Watkins to Katy Tx 15 years ago. Without him my husband would not be the man he is today. We will never forget where we came from!

*The teaching from the other covenant pastors. So awesome to hear the word from brothers in the faith!

*Seeing 57 men, women, and youth get commissioned!

*Visiting with Pastor Carven and Juanita Izaks from Namibia, South Africa. A brother and sister in the Lord and we love having them as a part of our family :) 

*The look on Pastor GF's face when he saw us walk into the sanctuary!

* Seeing so many people we love! We didn't have enough time to spend with most of you and we really wish we could have. But it was encouraging as always to see you and hear what God is doing in your lives!

There is too much stuff to list on one post!

   

One of the things we got blessed with was THE camera I've been praying for. I took over 300 pics and narrowed it down to about 90 favorites. So here are some of the best of the best. Or at least some of my favorites :)

We also got to say hi to some of our family. My niece is cuter than ever and likes Jose more than me. It's really not fair ;) Also my brother looks like an adult now. Which is so weird because when I think about him he is still in his 15 year old body. Why do they have to grow up (I admit he is almost 24 so I should probably adjust his age in my mind) 

For Nothing is impossible with God ~ Luke 1:37

5 Years

Wednesday (June 15th) our baby will be 5.
This will be a bittersweet celebration because he won't be the baby anymore.
Next year there will be another little Lopez taking that title, so the celebration is way more sweet than bitter. :)

Timothy is my shadow.
He loves to sit in the room with me and play while I do whatever I'm doing.
I can always count on him to keep me company.
I can also count on him to always make me laugh.
I never want to forget the way he started memorizing words (including the spelling) this year.
Words like Walt Disney Pictures Presents, restroom, all of our names, cake, exit, men, and monsters inc.
He loves to spell them out. For example if he needs to use the restroom he says "I need to go restroom, r-e-s-t-r-o-o-m-m-e-n"   And before he figured out what that spelled he would say
"I need to go potty m-e-n"
He also thought e-x-i-t spelled "get out of here" so when he was ready to go he would say
"let's e-x-i-t, get out'ta here"

He will always be my baby. Even though he tells me "No, not baby. I Timothy!" 

whenever I call him baby.

Timothy Joseah, thank you for allowing me the privilege of raising you. 

You are a sweet, funny, caring little boy with a mind that is totally your own. 

I thank God that you are who you are. I wouldn't change you, or trade you for anything in the world.

You are awesome. Don't you ever forget it!

Love, 

M-o-m-m-y Mommy

You've stolen my heart, yes you have

Sometimes you just need to worship in your own language.
When you are trying to learn a language mostly by immersion it's easy to think of everything (even church service) as a language study course. At least that's how it is for me. During worship I find myself mentally translating the song instead of just singing it to God. I'll be thinking "does that mean worthy or glory? wait, what is this song talking about?"
I try not to but I eventually slip back into it and then my spirit starts getting very, very thirsty. Have you ever had a thirsty spirit? It's kind of like the feeling you get when you have been working outside in the heat and you go inside for a drink only to find the water has been turned off and you have nothing to drink in the fridge. So I have been listening to english worship music online. It's been working ok, but I was still missing that live worship experience. It was an important little thing that I told God about. I didn't even really pray about it. All I said is "God I want some english worship." Then I moved on and mostly forgot about it. I didn't even mention it to Jose.  

Last week Jose was was on Facebook and said "Hey, Leeland is in Lima. You want to go see them?" I said sure. Now don't stone me but I'm not that into Leeland in general. Jose loves them and I like some of their songs but I probably wouldn't have even noticed they were here. I thought I was going for Jose.

They were singing at a church nearby as part of the evening service. When we got there a Man from Mississippi was preaching in English. I thought it was cool to get to just listen and not have to interpret or wait for Jose to explain why everyone was laughing (even when I get most of the message the jokes are hard to understand) After that the church worship team sang and it was nice. Then Leeland went up and sang "Yes you have". I just started worshipping. One of maybe 20 people singing in a room of at least 1000. At first I noticed but then I didn't and I just started crying. I felt Gods' presence right at the place where they say "this is all for you" In that moment the King of the world brought everything together so I could worship Him in english with other believers. He did it because I mentioned it to him in passing. Like a long drink of cold water. My God loves me so much!

He's stolen my heart. Yes he has!

And now the winner of the giveaway is.....


PAMELA WHITEHEAD
Congratulations! Email me (jkmission2peru@gmail.com) your mailing address and I'll get it to you asap

I love birthdays and a giveaway!

I love birthdays. Like really, really, love them. There have been times I tried to pretend like I didn't really care because I thought that was the grown up thing to do. But now that I'm a grown up I realize it doesn't really matter what other people think. I think birthdays are awesome! 

So this is my last birthday in my 20's I am turning 29 on Thursday. 

I like getting older...there I said it. ha Every year older I get I get a deeper knowledge of God and my life seems to get richer. So next year if I freak out about turning 30 just gently point me back to this post. ;) 

This year has been beautiful. Old friendships have been rekindled. New trails have been blazed in my world. I have become more confident and sure of what I want. What I want is closer to what God wants for me than it ever has been and it is beautiful.

My life is not charmed and I don't have a lot of money or even more than I need. 

I live far away from a lot of people I love and sometimes I get lonely for them.

I'm still not good enough at speaking spanish to have a decent conversation. 

But life is good. 

I have these three guys wherever I go to make me smile.

And God knows all the desires of my heart and has been 

granting even some of the silliest ones to me. 

Because that is how God is. He loves to bless those who delight in Him. 

29 is going to be a good year. I can feel it!

I also love gifts! 

So this year for my birthday (and because this is my 100th blog post) I'm giving away a present. 

 I love butterflies and think these are just gorgeous! They are native to Peru and the picture doesn't do it justice. Depending on how you look at it you see purple, dark blue or this teal color.

So lovely

fyi that is victor's thumb...mine is much girly-er. ha  

(girlyer is a word, even though spell check doesn't believe me)

My camera finally decided to bite the dust so Victor is the designated photographer now. 

He's good at it isn't he?

This is actually a window sticker. It's backwards because you put it inside your window and it looks right from the outside. I just thought it was funny because that is a llama jumping over the u so it's like the puma logo only with a llama. haha 

It's ok if you don't think it's funny. I still laughed. 

I might even add a box of my favorite tea in if I don't forget.

All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is leave a comment. 

(If you comment anonymously please put your name so I know who you are)  

If you want an extra entry you can tell me your favorite birthday or year or something that makes you happy.

Honestly this couldn't be easier :) I will announce the winner in my next blog

Lucky number Seven...or something

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  ~Martin Luther

Wednesday Jose and I will celebrate our seventh anniversary 

Come, let's be a comfortable couple and take care of each other!  How glad we shall be, that we have somebody we are fond of always, to talk to and sit with.  ~Charles Dickens 

Sometimes I find it hard to believe we've been married that long and sometimes I feel like we've been together all my life.

Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

He knows me better than anyone else. He always gives the best advice and makes me laugh a lot. He is my best friend and my all time favorite person. 
Sometimes he drives me crazy. Sometimes he just drives crazy. :) 
But he's always the person I want driving. 

He's the best dad I've ever known. He's always really busy with ministry stuff but he still takes time to hang out with our kids and play with them. 

Wrestling with daddy. 2 against 1

He has a true Fathers heart and is passionate about raising sons. 

Natural and Spiritual

Jose with some of the men he mentored in Katy.
One of his proudest moments was seeing these men get commissioned

Have I mentioned that he's my favorite person?

That's right ladies he washes dishes. I told you he is awesome! 

He's also incredibly romantic

Grow old with me!  The best is yet to be.  ~Robert Browning

Honestly, I'm really, really blessed to married to this crazy, hilarious, awesome man of God. And I wouldn't trade him for anyone. He's not perfect and I'm not perfect but we are perfect for each other. I thank God for giving me such a fun husband!

A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short.  ~Andre Maurois

I love you Jose. Thank you for being my husband.

Happy 7th anniversary!

Heres to 77 more (because we are definitely living to be at least 113) ;)

Next week will be my 29th birthday and my 100th blogpost so I am celebrating by giving stuff away.

Stay tuned....