Blogger Bum??

Boy! I can't seem to find time to post to this blog.... even though things have been very slow around here since the team went home a weeks ago! I need to make some kind of schedule for my posts...... so how about this: I will make an effort to post a new post every monday. Sound good? ok. then it's a deal. You check in every tuesday, and leave me comments ;), and i will do my best to think of some exciting things to post every Monday.

So here is the wrap up of the past two weeks:

We had the RCF youth team here from July 26th, to August 3rd. That group included 16 of our favorite 15-20-somethings and 4 chaperons. They were SUCH a blessing to have around!! Ryan and I had fellowship with Matt, Ted, Kevin, and Kristy, while the kids were thoroughly entertained by all of their teenagers! The kids did a lot of traveling to check out the different ministries in the valley (Casa Hogar, Carmen Serdan, and The Colonia Mixteca), plus they had several projects here that they helped us out with. They did A LOT of landscaping- which was WAY overdue, and helped us to start a compost bin, and began the grooming of the trail up to the crosses.

I would be happy to admit that it was very tiring and very time consuming to provide meals for 16 hungry youth, 6 adults, and two kids. You would not believe how much food that entails! But it was SOOOOOO much fun for me! I loved every minute of it, and had help from all of the youth. (I didn't even have to wash dishes ;).

The group left early Tuesday morning (Aug.3rd), and left behind Kayla Carroll, and Corinne Borelli. Kayla will be here with us for two months, helping me to get things done before the students get here in late August. She is also hoping to spend some time at Carmen Serdan, where she feels God is calling her to serve in January after she is done with the last bit of her schooling. My kids are loving every moment of that :-) They love their Kayla. Corinne will be here for a month, and go home sometime around the time when students start to get here. She is helping out with the day-to-day too..... so far we have painted La Cocina! Yay! Which was very much needed. We hope for the kitchen/dinning hall to be the fellowship hall for the students. It is getting there, but still needs some things. We had some very generous donations from RCF- we received a few pieces of furniture that we are thinking about putting in there. I also have a couple of couches that I might put in there..... I will update photos when we get it all put together :)

While the group was here, we started a brick composting bin. Kayla and I finished that last week. The first compartment is now happily rotting, and we are moving on to the second bin, and hoping that the first batch will be ready in about 8 weeks so we can harrow the soil this fall, and plant this spring!

The front corner of the property has been an overgrown mess for a long time, and it had been on Matt's heart to make it a more inviting scene. So the kids got down on their hands and knees and were up to their elbows in weeds and dirt for a good 8 hours. It looks AWESOME!! We will get some grass and ground cover planted , and maybe a bench placed there (since the locals like to use the shade as a resting spot :). They also raked out the orchard, which had all the leaves from last fall still laying around. It looks much better now, and keeps the dining patio much nicer :) ...... now Ryan is working on digging watering rings into the soil around all of the trees. We are fortunate enough to already have met a local man from La Colonia who knows ALL about trees and plants. YAY!! So as soon as Poncho finishes working for our neighbor, we will have him come and show us what needs to be done to keep the trees healthy, and most importantly (in my humble opinion ;) graft some branches into our Avocado trees to make them bear fruit!!!!

Before we left Roseburg, we had quite a few people ask what we needed for the Ranch. So I posted a blog post here to let you all know what it was that we would be needing, and Kelly also put a list in the bulletin. Well, you guys came through BIG time! (see photo below). Nate came with the group (in his Jeep, and also Don Pierce went ahead of the group with a trailer) to get some of his stuff moved down here in preparation for their family joining us as staff here. The trailer was unpacked as soon as the youth were here to help out, and not only were we excited to see some of our things that we had to leave behind (like the kids' bikes and toys!), but I was overwhelmed with the amount of donations that were packed in there for the ranch!! There were sheet sets, pillows, dressers and night stands, lamps, school supplies, curtains and fabric, a case and a half of light bulbs!, and dishes and silverware for la cocina. You guys ROCK!!

After the group left, it became VERY quiet here :) ...... Our family had become accustom to this after having been here for two weeks alone prior to the arrival of the group-- but I think Kayla and Corinne might have been shocked by the emptiness of the Mexican Outback when no one is around :) We have coyotes at night in our yard, and birds chirping all day, but other than that- there is not much noise at all..... and it's not like you can just jaunt into town and hang out at the church like we were all used to in Roseburg. After a few days of rest, we made a trip into town for groceries. That was a nice break from the norm. Then we went to church yesterday and took a trip out to La Bufadora (a local tourist site) afterwards for some AMAZING fish tacos, and souvenir shopping. We will be heading into the states to get a post office box and pick up some mail at a family member's house sometime in the next few days. It is a long drive, but kind of nice to break up the monotony.

Our first student will be arriving next week. Then we expect the Frosland family about a week after that, and sometime at the end of the month, the rest of the students will be arriving. We also have tentative arrangements for a small group from the Fellowship to come for a short visit (and to deliver our tractor!!) in the beginning of September. And at some point ( :-D ) my parents and my sibs and nephew will be making their way down for a visit (right guys??)

So that is the past, the present, and the future as far as I can see :)
We have had a blast this past month. It is definitely feeling like home here. We are learning the ropes, and I have been picking up as much Spanish as I can retain! :) (hopefully the kids will pick it up and teach me though, because this old brain doesn't work like it used to! :)

Pray that God would have his hand over everything we do! The school will be starting in about 4 weeks- and this is a Genesis of sorts...... we don't have all the details ironed out :) So we might be making up some stuff as we go. But we know that God has set before us exactly what He has been planning for all of eternity- and He will cause it to work out exactly how it should. We are just excited to see it happen. We can already see how awesome it is going to be! We have been able to spend time with our dear friends Lance and Maricella Ward, who live just up the valley in Guadalupe, as well as Noe and Blanca, who live in Ensenada. They are just as excited as we are to see what God is going to do on this Ranch!

Pray for our continued health and safety. We have not had any health issues- other than a mysterious rash that Taiah broke out with on and around her eye just before the team got here two weeks ago. It has healed and looks great. We have encountered all sorts of interesting creatures- to say the least. As we speak (or as I type :-D) Ryan is up the hill trying to put an end to the rattlesnake that Corinne had a close encounter with a few days ago. No one has ever seen a rattlesnake on the property, in all the years that RCF has had it-- but there is definitely one up there now..... and Ryan is determined to see it die. ..... PS.... he HATES snakes!!
So pray that all of the scorpions and tarantulas and snakes would find happy homes far far away from our houses :) (I'm sure Memorie would appreciate these prayers too!)

Pray for our obedience to The Lord in all that we do! We are willing to move as He would have us, and pray that He would make clear to us the actions we should take daily.

This is the Monday August 9th edition of this blog--- tune in next week ;)
Here is the link for the photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/117744570327177560832/GoingsOn?feat=directlink

"For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me, and guide me"
Psalm 31:3