Passion for Paraguay

Timmy's first day of school.  Our big guy started first grade on Thursday.   We are doing something completely different this year.  We are homeschooling him in the morning (primarily Bible, English and Reading) and in the afternoon he attends 8 de Diciembre Elementary School.  It is three blocks from our home and it is a national school.   This is their formation where they salute the flag before the children head to their classrooms. There are 14 first graders, which is an unusually small class.  It is shocking how few resources government schools have.  After two days of school from 1:00-5:00 p.m. the only thing they have done is read two stories and color two pictures.  The books have not yet arrived for the teachers and won't be expected for another month.  The state of education in Paraguay leaves so much to be desired.  Nonetheless, we feel like it is good socialization for Timmy to be in school, and he will get a b...

While we were traveling last week I got a text message from another Paraguayan missionary sending condolences for my loss. I had no idea what that message referred to, so I told my husband I better find a place where we could check our email. Sure enough, we had gotten several messages from family informing us that grandpa Beam had passed away and his funeral had occurred that morning.  Even though Grandpa's health was declining for a few years now, I was so sad that I was unreachable and felt such guilt that I wasn't there. These are the times when the call to serve the Lord overseas gets tough. I knew that when I signed on to be a missionary this would be part of the package.  I count myself extremely fortunate that after almost 10 years on the field, this is the first family member I've lost. Still, I felt so helpless, so hurt. I didn't get to say goodbye. I also missed the celebration of his life; I wanted to laugh and cry with family as they shared funny stor...

Where did the summer go?  As we're packing up Timmy's backpack for him to start school tomorrow, I look back and am stunned to think how fast these past few months flew by.  Although we haven't been blogging much we've been so busy with visitors, preaching, teaching, visiting the sick and needy and traveling. Here are a few highlights of the past few weeks: Last week Norberto went to visit a family about 20 minutes south of us and they all  (four people) wanted to make a life change and start living for the Lord!  Someone from the church will visit them twice a month to follow up. We went on a road trip to beat the heat (it's almost 90 degrees INSIDE our home) and visited beautiful Cordillera Paraguay.  Here are a few pics:  Watching the boats on the Ypacarai Lake  Mommy and Me  Enjoying the falls in Piribebuy  The big catch! National Historic Reserve Vapor Cue Our two treasures We made Valentine's day cookies with Grammy (Julie's mo...

This weekend we enjoyed the visit of Anahi's foster family from Asuncion!  We are so honored that they would make an 8.5 hour trip here on a bus with no a/c to visit us.  Here are a few pics from our nice time together.   Hiking  Fishing in the pond while the dogs scare the fish away!  At the beach in Bella Vista Our precious flower...Anahi.