To Timothy

6 years ago today I went to my drs appointment not expecting to meet you for another 4 weeks. 

Little did I know you would be born about 2 hours later. 

Ever since then life has been an adventure and full of surprises.

You and I have a very special connection. 

I'm fairly certain it's because of all the hours I've spent praying about you. 

You have always danced to the beat of your own soundtrack and you often sing it to us.

Nobody else knows the words but that's ok, it's your song.

You are great at cheering me up and getting me to laugh when you are in trouble.

You love spending time with your family.

I love it that no matter what we are doing you want to be in the room with us.

You are just like your daddy. 

I love this picture because it shows how much you look alike. 

Sometimes you give me a glimpse of what he was like when he was your age.

I know that you will follow in his footsteps and be a great man one day. 

Timothy means Servant of God and Joseah means Fire of God.

You are already so full of faith that whenever you want something you pray for it until it happens.

You never doubt that God will do what you ask him to.

This year we lost your baby brother Caleb. 

You were really looking forward to having him here.

When we talked about it you asked if they have a bed for him in heaven.

You are so sweet and straightforward about everything. 

I love that you aren't shy about talking about Caleb. 

Logan is your best friend. You love him so much.
I love watching you follow him around and trying to be like him. Most of the time you guys go together like peanut butter and jelly. Other times...not so much. But I know you will always be there for each other.








One of your favorite things in the world right now
is movie credits. When we watch a movie you
always want to watch until the music is over and
the screen goes black on it's own. This is just one
of the ways you are uniquely you. Daddy and I
joke that one day you will be the guy who designs
movie credits. You already play at it with your
Jengas.
Some other things you really love are
Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
Happy Monsters
Pirates &
Chocolate.

Happy Birthday Timothy

You brighten up our lives in ways you can't imagine.

We love you!

Mommy & Daddy

life and times

Life has had many twists and turns the last few months.

Last Month we were able to have an important part of getting our visas done.

Hopefully at the end of June we will be able to go back to Lima and have them finalized.

Please pray that everything goes smoothly and we can get that out of the way!

Once that is done we will be able to get all the church paperwork taken care of 

which will help us in many ways. 

One of them being that we will be able to receive the land for the orphanage!

This is kind of what life feels like right now. 

A lot of pieces have come together but we are still waiting on the missing ones. 

 Our church is growing really quickly and is mostly full of new believers. We have outgrown our home already which is about 6 months sooner than we expected. Right now we are praying for a larger place to host our church and the provision for it

About half of the members of Powerhouse Peru

The next few months we have a lot of exciting things going on.

In June we have a vision campaign. We will be going into a neighborhood near us and providing free eye exams and glasses to 100 people that need them. 

In August we have a team from La Casa Del Padre in Lima and they will be helping us build houses.

The daughter of one of our members lost everything including one of her children in a fire a few months ago. We are trying to collect some items for her family and help them build a new home and fill it with some of the things they need. We will also be building a few other houses that weekend.

Every servolution outreach so far has been amazing! 

We always look forward to the next one with anticipation

In September we will be having our first ever Saving the Family conference. 

This is a huge undertaking and to be honest a little overwhelming. 

A team from Powerhouse Church in Katy will be coming to help us and we are so looking forward to the "family reunion" that will be, along with seeing what God does that week. 

We are really excited about some of the doors God has opened and people that will be speaking. 

Once we have everything finalized I will give some more details.  

If you are interested in coming with the team from Katy please let us know. 

We would love to have you!

In other news I turned 30 last month. It was a wonderful day. 

We started it in Lima and I was surprised with a breakfast party 

then we ended it by coming home to Piura and my ladies group surprised me with another party!

I can honestly say that is the first time I've had 2 parties in my honor in one day 

I want to offer my thanks to all of you that have supported us in this venture. 

We know God brought us here and the harvest was ready for us. 

It is hard work but we love it, and we couldn't do this without you. 

Every prayer and every dollar sent is hugely important to us. 

We love you guys!

Stoned

Picture this. God tells you to go tell everyone you can about Him. In one of the town's everyone starts trying to worship you because they think you are a God. Until some other guys come and turn all those people against you. Next thing you know all the people that were trying to worship you start throwing rocks at you. Not little rocks either. I'm talking, these people are killing you. Somehow they think you are dead and drag you out of town. Considering how they just "killed" you I imagine they weren't exactly gentle with the dragging. Pretty soon all your friends gather around you and you get up. Not only get up but go back into the town full of rock throwers. Spend the night and move on to the next town to tell other people about Jesus. Pretty ludicrous right? I mean I may be abnormally wimpy but if a group of people threw rocks at me I would get out of that town and never look back. If they did it to the point they thought I was dead, then dragged me out of town I'm fairly certain I wouldn't stand up and walk back into town. I'd whimper pathetically to my friends and ask them to carry me to the closest hospital as long as it's in a different town. I would probably take a few days, maybe a few weeks off. Inquire of the Lord if there was any other way I could minister for him. Maybe find a nice community of believers that would be interested in a new Pastor. One thing is sure I would be very hesitant to get back on that traveling circuit.
But that's not what Paul did. He got up and got back to work

  11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” 12 They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. 13 Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, 17 but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” 18 But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.

19 Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. 20 But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Acts 14:14-20

These days stoning isn't quite as popular as it was back then. But from what I understand they didn't use river rocks or even those 4 inch rounded rocks that look nice in gardens. They used the biggest scariest looking rocks they could find and throw. Baseball rules did not apply here. You could use both hands to pick up a stone so those things had to be heavy. I'm thinking paving stones would be a good picture of what I'm talking about. Aside from the weight those things had plenty of jagged edges to cut into the skin as they made contact. I once fell off my bike on a gravel rode. (forethought was not my strong suit at the time) The impact gave me about a 6 inch bruise/cut on my leg. 20 years later I still have a scar. When I think about the way that looked and felt it gives me a little bit of an idea what Paul must have looked and felt like. Assuming he didn't actually die. My bible commentary says that many scholars believe Paul did die and the other believers gathered around him and prayed for him. Bringing him back to life. Either way. Dead or almost dead. What he went through was at the least physically painful. Most likely traumatizing (or it would be for me.) But did Paul quit? no. Did he run away? no. Did he even take a break? NO! 

Sometimes I read my bible and nothing really stands out to me. Other times 2 sentences make me stop and think. Examine what's going on and question my own life in contrast. I don't believe that it's wrong to take an occasional break or sabbatical as the case may be. But at the same time, we cant allow the attacks that come with obedience to God to stop us from doing what he called us to do. Sometimes attacks come from people, other times circumstances. Maybe your car broke down, maybe your parents disowned you. Maybe people think your crazy, maybe your sick, maybe your uncomfortable. Whatever it is that you are allowing to get you thinking about quitting. It's not worth it. Paul said this in Philippians 3:13-14

 but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

The heavenly prize is what is worth it. No matter what you are going through or how you feel. Press on toward the mark. Don't give up. Forget the past, keep moving forward. (yes, I stole that from "Meet the Robinsons") As I was writing this my computer froze and I had to restart it. I lost some of my work. I started to whine to myself about it and then I started laughing. Sometimes, I allow myself to get so caught up in what's happening right now that I start to feel sorry for myself and lose track of what I'm supposed to be doing. Even while I'm trying to write about how important it is to keep moving I almost gave up. Why am I sharing that? I mean I could let you all think that I have this part nailed. I'm talking about it because I've conquered it. But no. I'm working it out. I'm walking through each part of my faith everyday. I'm pressing on and looking forward to what lies ahead. What are you going to do?

To the boy who made me a mom

7 years ago today you came into my life and changed my world.

I suddenly knew exactly what Jesus meant when he said our love for him should make our love for everything else seem like hatred in comparison. 

sophisticated baby loved sushi from a young age

You are one of the kindest, most generous people I know. 

You make me laugh all the time.

You really think about stuff. Way more than I ever expect you to.

You take care of your brother. You serve in our house without being asked.

You show us love every day in a thousand ways. 

This year so much has happened in your life. I want to always remember that this is the year...

You lost your first and second tooth. You were baptized. 

You discovered that super heroes are awesome. Also Wolverine is the best because his normal name is Logan. You discovered that you are super awesome at math. So awesome in fact that you do extra math so you can finish your book early. You love reading. Especially the Proverbs.

I hope you know how much I love you. How special you are to me and how proud I am of you. 

You are awesome!

Happy Birthday 

Healing Rain

I love rain...
When I was 14 I heard a girl speaking about falling in love with the Lord. She was talking about the desire girls have to feel loved and looking for that love to come from God instead of boys. She mentioned that one thing she loved was purple flowers and God would often give her purple flowers. She told us to have a special thing that could only come from God. Mine was rain. There is just a peacefulness about it that can't be matched. I held onto it for a little while and then I just sort of forgot about it. I still loved the rain but I forgot about my special attachment to it.

We live in a desert area. There is usually a rainy season but we are told it hadn't rained here for the last couple years. That is until February 1st. It rained here the day that Caleb was born. I was in my hospital room trying not to worry and just pray for my baby when I heard the sweet sound of rain drops on the roof and window. The next night as I was trying to sleep after my son went to be with the Lord it happened again. And the next night and the next and the next. For 4 weeks it rained every single night. Even if just a little it still happened. Theres not a great irrigation system here so the streets flooded. The once dry riverbed near our house filled and anything left on the clothesline to dry overnight needed to be rewashed. It was beautiful. Evenings were the hardest for me at the beginning and that is when it always rained.

After about 3 weeks Jose and I were going somewhere and trying to navigate around flooded streets and it was lightly sprinkling and I thought "mmm, I know it's making things difficult but I love this rain" Then it hit me, I remembered the thing about love letters from God and I just broke down. He was there. He knew what I was going through and what I needed most at that time. A reminder of His love for me. God is always there you just have to pay attention.