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 them all. No one got all 15, but one woman got 14. She won a prize.

The mom-to-be opened her presents and she had to guess what was inside. If she guessed right, she got to decorate the gift-giver with make up, if she guessed wrong, the gift-giver got to decorate her. This was a HUGE hit.

Disclaimer: you have to know the mom if she has the personality to like being "made up".

I made a scrapbook for the mom and all the women wrote down their best advice and encouragement on a page. We assembled the book and I presented it to her.

Lastly, we prayed for her and asked God to give her wisdom as a new mommy. She was really touched. This baby shower reminded me once again what a blessing it is to serve a child as his/her mom. No one else was chosen for the job, but you!

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 Mercedes, for damages. He helped the couple struggle to make their way out, but amazingly, they didn't have any major cuts or breaks. The driver was totally smashed and his girl, about half his age, was in shock. Hubby called 911 and the cops and firemen arrived within five minutes. Impressive for Paraguayan standards!

The owner of the home came out screaming because the driver nearly plowed into the bedroom where their children were sleeping. Thank God for saving those little kids' lives! I waited with sleeping Timmy on the other side of the road, watching the entire spectacle. Suddenly, a short, fat man in a brand new white van with no windows and with no license place pulled up in front of me and said, "Greetings, sister." and shook my hand. I had never met the man in my life.

He said, "Looks like God gave this couple a second chance."

"Yes," I replied, "I hope they take it."

He responded, "Well, I'm glad God kept you safe." and drove away.

Almost makes me think it was an angel. Who knows... We're just thankful that God continues to keep us safe. We appreciate your continued prayers for us.

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 say, it made for some excellent teachable moments.

I feel for all the stray dogs in Paraguay. We have 5-6 friendly strays that are loyal to our neighborhood. Different families will feed them at different times and they fend off other strays who try and stake their claims to their territory. The problem of strays is so big, we need a massive group of vets to come and spade and neuter the strays so the population is contained.

In the meantime, I'm hoping that next year, when our boy is a little bigger, we can adopt a puppy who needs a home.

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