Broken toe?

I may have broken my pinky toe on my right foot.  I'll never know for sure because I don't intend to go to the doctor, but each step reminds me how thankful I am that usually I function in a mostly pain-free capacity.  I know people who suffer daily from different medical conditions that cause almost constant pain to some degree.  What a precious reminder of heaven.  I know that the real joy of heaven will be being able to know, serve, worship, love Jesus in a sin-free capacity, but the end of pain will be a wonderful perk as well.  

Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take  you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.  John 14:1-4

Malachi

Malachi has said some really funny stuff lately so I wanted to write it down before I forget.  

This morning at breakfast we were eating German sausage that my parents brought from Colorado because we can't find it here in California.  Eden prefers breakfast sausage or Italian sausage so she said, "Mommy, I don't want anymore of this German sausage.  I don't like it."  Malachi, not to be outdone, immediately says,  "Mommy my sausage has germs on it too!"

Moses brought home a bag of zucchini the other day (that's a story in and of itself).  My Mom had brought us some from CO and had baked several loaves of zucchini bread which my kids love fresh with butter.  

I said to Moses, "What am I going  to do with all this zucchini?"  Malachi, always listening says, "I want zucchini!!  Mommy, can I have some zucchini?"  I thought this was a very odd request, but I washed a small one and handed it to him.  If looks could kill.... he said, "That's NOT zucchini!"  "Yes it is Malachi."  "No it's not."  "Honey, I don't understand.  Tell me what you're talking about."  "Mommy you know.  The kind of zucchini with butter on it...."  

Needless to say I soon after baked more zucchini BREAD.  

Birthday Party Fun

These shots are from Aria Stavole's 3rd birthday party.  Stavole parties are always a hoot.  Lino and Nicoletta ooze with creativity and it shows.  The theme was like medieval/kings and queens/knights/castles... Fun was had by all... 

Sedo and Tata

Moses' parents go by "Sedo and Tata" instead of "Grandpa and Grandma" (It's Arabic I believe).  They came over after church last Sunday for the afternoon and I was terrified by how high Sedo was tossing the kids, but needless to say they loved it.

Bubbles and "smoke"

My parents arrived fr0m Colorado yesterday bringing A LOT of frozen beef on dry ice.  (My uncles raise beef cows). There was dry ice left so we dumped it in the wading pool.  It was awesome!  It bubbled for 20 minutes.  The kids loved it.  

Kitten Pictures!

There are 3 yellow/orange ones, 3 gray and 2 black.  One of the black has orange speckles.  Mama moved them across the garage this morning probably because we were looking at them too much.  She seems really cool with me being around but if anyone else shows up she gets nervous.  She's eating a ton so hopefully will continue to be able to feed them all.

Kittens!

I haven't wanted to disturb them enough to take pictures yet, but Mama Kitty had 8 kittens in the garage this morning.  I got to watch the first 4 and then I thought she was done so I went back to the house.  About half an hour later I went to check on her and it was like she was waiting for me.  As soon as I got there she had 2 more.  I was so surprised and certain she was done.  Again I left for about a half an hour.  Upon my return she pushed out Lucky #7.  I rushed to the house to tell the family about this new Johnny-come-lately.... then low and behold when next I checked her there were 8!  Number 8 is actually the only one I didn't witness the birth of and had I not rushed off after 7, I probably could have seen him too.  We are so excited!  The kids are disappointed that they can't hold them, but love to look.

Mama Kitty

This is Mama Kitty.   We live in the church parsonage and she is the church cat.  She was pretty wild when we moved in last March, but 5 months of food and attention and I pretty much have her wrapped around my little finger.  She had kittens in March and there are 3 of them left around but they are very wild.  She is ready to pop with kittens again.   This time the goal is to catch and tame them... and find new homes!  We don't need a dozen church cats.  I put Mama in the garage every night to protect her from the bold coyotes who love to chase her around the yard, so hopefully the kittens will be born in the garage!  Then we can keep one... or two... or....

Who needs a water park?

Just some fun we were having one afternoon.  In the close-up of Malachi there is a big fly on the side of his head.  Eden was fearless. 

Just Fun

Sometimes having kids is just plain fun.  Malachi just ran to me bellowing "Mama!" at the top of his lungs.  I never know what such a greeting will be followed by.  This time he was just holding a fly swatter.  He said, "This is Daddy's fly swatter!  It's for killing flies.  NOT bumblebees."  Then he tromped away.  

Silas Praise!

Just a quick update on Silas.  His heart murmur is completely innocent.  His iron is low, but we're working on that.  And He is growing... more slowly than most, but is making progress and that is all we're looking for.  Thank you for praying with us.

Lots of pictures!

I actually added so many pictures tonight that you have to go into "older posts" to see them all.  Enjoy.

Life in Estradaville

Part of my original intent with this blog was to have a way to keep our loved one updated on our lives.  So far I haven't done very well, but here we go again.  

Moses finished year 4 (can you believe that!?) at the Master's Seminary this summer.  He's the pastoral intern at our church and therefore has had many ministry opportunities.  

In May he was part of our Evangelism Focus and went door-to-door a couple times.  One of the ladies they were talking to fainted while she was visiting with them and they ended up calling 911 and waiting for the paramedics to arrive.  Crazy.  Several people from our church had the opportunity to share the Gospel to people.  As we focused on Evangelism, Pastor Bryan led a 12 week Sunday School class for the adults and teens on Evangelistic Home Bible Studies.  This is an awesome model of evangelism which provides 6, one-hour sessions in an interested individual's home to share the important aspects of the Faith with them.  Moses has been involved in several of these home studies now.  

After that class, Moses started a series on prayer during Sunday School which has been delightful.  We are reading "The Cup and the Glory" by Greg Harris on the topic of suffering as part of that class.  

Moses has also had the opportunity to preach 5 or 6 times this summer at Sunday evening Church.  He's preaching through the Book of 1 Thessalonians.  Eventually some of his sermons will be available to listen to online through our church website, but not yet.

My ministry through all this has been to take care of Moses and the kids.  It has been weird to not be "leading" anything, but this is where the Lord has me focused right now and I love it.  I, of course, serve in the nursery and am involved in the Women's ministry at our Church, but just at a member level.

With the desire to have a Christ-centered home, we have implemented a Family Worship Time this summer.  We are still tweaking it to make it fit our family at this stage, but the kids love it.  Most evenings we sing a couple songs (sometimes Daddy plays his guitar) and we read a Bible story and pray.  We have been reading the Bible together at night for years, but incorporating the element of music is new.  We have also been teaching the kids about prayer and why we pray and Who we are talking to.  

At this time Moses only has 4 classes left and could graduate in December, however since the ceremony isn't until May anyhow he has decided to take 2 in the Fall and 2 in the Spring.  

I am prayerfully considering a ministry opportunity and will share more once the decision is made.

The Lord is faithful and we are growing in love for Him and His Word.  Thank you again for your interest and love.  You are precious to us.

"And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;  for by his wounds you were healed."  1 Peter 2:24

Silas

Silas with his orange balloon and matching orange cloth diaper was too cute to pass up a picture.  Please pray for him.  He has an appointment to have his heart murmur checked out this coming week.  We're expecting it to be innocent, but treasure your prayers as we wait.  His iron is also low (a problem Eden also had back in the day) so we'll be deciding the best plan to address that soon too. 

Beach Day!!

You can see the progress of the hole I wrote about in a previous post.  It was huge when they were done.  Moses is in the picture of the guys boogieboarding: top, righthand guy in the picture. 

Disneyland!

Here's the pictures from Disneyland.  In the midst of the sorrow of the funeral we  were involved in (see previous post).  We already had this day planned including having our tickets so we spent a fun-filled, HOT day in Disneyland.  Our kids had a great time and were little troopers.  We didn't leave the park until after 10 pm.  Then I left my camera case (including my cell phone in it) on the tram so it was another hour or so before we got that all sorted out and found it.  (Funny story... the people who found my phone scrolled down and saw "Mom Cell" as one of my contacts so they dialed it at what was midnight Colorado time to tell "Mom" they had found her child's phone.  My Mom was very relieved when she realized it wasn't an emergency that had Joy calling her at midnight...) Anyhow...  We eventually made it home with the camera and cell phone and MUCH rejoicing that they weren't lost forever.  I realized that day how many phone numbers I have stored nowhere other than my phone.

Malachi can't stop talking about Disneyland, but he thinks it was Chuckie Cheese.  Our conversations go something like this:  Malachi says, "Mommy remember when we saw Buzz Lightyear at Chuckie Cheeses?"  I reply, "Yes, but that was Disneyland."  Malachi, "Oh, Disneyland."  Ten minutes later, "Mommy, remember when we saw those fireworks at Chuckie Cheeses?"  "Yes, Malachi, but that was Disneyland."  "Oh, Disneyland."  Ten minutes later, "Mommy,..."  He is sure going to be disappointed the next time we go to Chuckie Cheese if he's expecting Disneyland.

Eden, to my surprise, told me the "Finding Nemo" ride was her favorite ride.  I was surprised because she was very scared on that ride, but she told me, "I was so afraid when we went far under water, but Jesus kept us safe."