Shoes for kids in Guatemala!

It is no surprise that Guatemala holds a very special place in my heart. My youngest daughter is our gift from God and comes from this country that has great poverty. I have been following a blog of a family who have just moved to Guatemala to be missionaries. They are helping with an orphanage and Christian school program and said the need is overwhelming. Every day several children walk between 1-2 miles a day in shoes that are too small, have holes or are falling apart. Anyways, there is a way that, if God lays it on your heart, you can give money specifically to buy a pair of shoes. Shoes cost $15 a pair. This seems pricey but as we shopped in Guatemala for clothes for Selah, we did notice that some things were expensive. Here is the website for giving: http://www.eaglesnestint.org/Donate-to-the-Eagles-nest_f08529.html If you get a chance to visit the Blocks blog, I promise you won't be disappointed. Their passion for the Lord and their heart for orphans is amazing. www.buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com
As I saw the pictures of some of these kids, I couldn't help but think of Selah. She could be one of these kids. We are blessed to have her in our family.

Home from the Hospital!

My dad was discharged yesterday from Hemet Valley Medical Center. He is taking antibiotics orally and looks better than he did. He still doesn't feel great but hopefully day by day will gain strength and improve. Thank you all for your prayers!

This is for Pammycakes and Kelly Yoder!

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Finally, pictures of our home for friends who have been asking for a long time. We love our little farm. I'm not the best photographer in the world but this should give you a good idea of what things look like. The home with the wrap around porch is my parent's house.

First Day of School!

We woke up bright and early for our first day of school. We are meeting with four other families to do school together on Monday's. We had a very efficient, successful day. We meet at 8:00am and will finish around 2:30pm. Subjects being taught are: Bible, Science, History, Art and Music Appreciation and the kids work indepenently on their math. One day down, One hundred Seventy Nine to go.

My dad had an endoscopy today on his lungs. There were no lesions in the lungs so no biopsy needs to be done. They drained some of the fluid and sent samples to the lab. At this point he has no noticed any positive changes but hopefully the lab results will give imput as to whether a change in medication is needed or not.

Update!

My dad does not seem to be responding much to the antibiotics that he is receiving intraveniously. The doctor stated today that there should be improvement by now. Tomarrow a pulmonary specialist will meet with him to determine the next step. They will possibly have to do a suctioning procedure to help break up the mucus in the lungs as well as remove some of it. We took the kids to the hospital today and my dad walked down to the waiting room to see them. His IV holder had all of their cards taped to it. He is very flushed but handled our visit well. We really miss him. It is not the same at our little farm without him.

Quick Update on my dad!

My dad is still in the hospital. He has double pneumonia and is being treated with antibiotics and breathing treatments. He had a CT scan today to see if anything else is going on. We have no results yet on that test. He isn't feel much better but hopefully with time he will notice improvement. Thanks for your prayers.

Prayer for my dad!

My dad has been fighting the flu for about 5 weeks. He has had days where he feels that he is improving, however he has gotten worse the last couple of days. His typical day is one where he spends outside doing numerous projects and chores but recently he has been sleeping or moving from chair to chair. He had, yet another doctors appointment today and the doctor is admitting him to Hemet Hospital. He is currently at home, waiting for for a bed to open up at the hopital. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors. He will be having a chest X-ray today upon admittance.

Highlights of our time in Michigan

We left Wisconsin on July 30th and arrived in Pentwater, Michigan in the evening. The major event of the week was celebrating Stan and Miriam Baker's (Jason's grandparents) 90th birthday. There were two celebrations. One party followed the Sunday morning church service and the other, on Tuesday night, was for family and friends. It was a wonderful time of learning about these two special people. I was especially amazed at the singing talent of Hyatt and his 5 siblings. They sang at both events and harmonized beautifully. I met many new family members and enjoyed spending time throughout the week with them. There were 16 great grandchildren ranging in age from 2 months to 13 years old. Many friendships were made that hopefully will last a lifetime. As you will see in the slideshow below, we were not at a loss for activities. Below is a list of the events that made the week so enjoyable.
Sunday: AM church service and birtday party
Monday: Blueberry picking, Boating, tubing and swimming in lake Michigan and Beach BBQ in the evening.
Tuesday: Children's Museum and Family Birthday Party
Wednesday: Riding bikes to the wishing well and getting candy, swimming
Thurday: Fishing on Bass Lake, going to White Pine Village, Band concert and playing cards with the cousins in the evening
Friday: Mac Dune Ride
Saturday: Leave for Hemet
Every night we all ate dinner together. Jeanne and Donna cooked all of the food.
It truly was a wonderful week.
We left to go home early Saturday morning and we made it home this morning at 9:00am. We drove about 20 hours on Saturday and 20 hours on Sunday. Needless to say, we are glad to be home. The last three and a half weeks have been full of wonderful memories that we will never forget.

Michigan Family Reunion and 90th Birthday Party!

More Wisconsin Pictures!

We finished off our time in Wisconsin camping at Jellystone Park, a very family friendly campground. We actually left the campsite one night and went back to the McGuires because of thunderstorms and tornado watches. One of the highlights of being in the mid west was catching fireflies. I hadn't done that since I was a child and it was so much fun. Brayden was able to have a birthday celebration with his cousins. One of his gifts was going to see the CARS 2 movie. I personally thought the movie was boring but the company was good.