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Showing posts from August, 2008

Gotta Love Baby Showers

I (Julie) organized a baby shower last night for our youth pastor's wife. They are a young couple and don't have a lot of money, so it was really fun to "bless her socks off" with lots of useful items for her baby layette. I enjoy planning fiestas to celebrate life stages. I believe it's really important to recognize rites of passages in one's journey. This was the program: We sang a few songs Our pastor's wife gave a meditation on motherhood I did a bunch of fun baby shower games: *Can't say the word "baby" during the evening, or someone will take your sticker. The person with most stickers at the end of the night wins! *List as many baby items that you can that start with the letters of the baby's name (or you can do the mom and dad's names). *Guess the mom's waist measurement by cutting yarn...the closest measurement wins! *I had 15 baby items on a tray and the women got to observe the items for 30 seconds, then had to recall...

God's Protection

Have you ever felt too much action going on in your life? This week we had to take some guests back to the bus station an hour away. Their bus left at midnight on a Saturday night, which is a very dangerous time to be out on the road in Paraguay due to the amount of drunk drivers. We prayed for protection before we left the house and we made it safely to the station. Our friends wanted to pray for us again before we headed home. Not five minutes out of town, we saw a major car/motorcycle accident. It was horrible. Then, ten minutes later we saw a car coming at us from the opposite direction that was rapidly advancing right for us in our lane. I was driving and I slowed way down just in time for him to swerve off the road, flip in the air and land upside down and backwards right in front of a house. It was like watching a James Bond movie. It was totally surreal to hear their radio blasting under a totaled wreck of metal. Norb ran outside and checked the automobile, a white Mer...

Saving a Stray

Yesterday I was doing some office work and kept hearing a dog bark. I muttered to myself how distracting the noise was and continued working. About ten minutes went by and the dog wouldn't shut up. I decided to go outside and have a look and I thought the noise was coming from our neighbor's pool. They don't actually live in Paraguay, and they closed up their pool for the winter. Just then, Norb came home and I told him that I believed a dog was trapped under our neighbor's pool cover. Unfortunately, I was right. Norberto jumped the neighbor's fence with the other neighbor and they saved the poor dog who was literally on his last leg! He let them get him out without contest and barked a happy song when they let him go. I wish I would have had a camera to capture the moment. Timmy was quite excited about the whole affair, because it was daddy who saved the dog. It was especially meaningful since Timmy and I witnessed a dog being hit by a car this week. Needless to...

Marriage Retreat Emphasizes Healthy Marriages

This past Friday was our conference for couples sponsored by Radio Alternativa and the church. We had a fabulous, romantic evening. Everyone said it was a memorable event and they already want to sign up for next year’s conference. The speakers talked about the need for forgiveness in a marriage and what it means to have healthy communication. The majority of the participants are not active church goers. We spiced up the evening with the “Newlywed Game” and each couple had the opportunity to declare their love in a creative way. At the end of the night, the men presented a beautiful rose plant to their wives to plant together and be reminded that a marriage needs to be watered and cared for on a regular basis if the couple wants to see growth! Marriage retreat