Babies and Blah.

It's a sunny day. Too warm for a sweatshirt, with a breeze just cool enough for jeans.

You still amaze me Mexico. After two and a half years.

Everything on the internet says Christmas, but I can't quite find it.

Maybe if I just bake some cookies or something....

I decided to update this Blog thing {that I am so bad at keeping-up!}

because  for those of you who haven't heard~ we have big news!!!

We will be welcoming baby Steffensen number 3 sometime in June/July.

I have never been sick with either of my previous pregnancies-

so this constant fatigue, nausea, and achiness has taken me by surprise!

I am 11 weeks today, and hoping to start feeling better in the next week-- we shall see :)

I don't have too much to report, mostly because I haven't done

a single productive thing in about 6 weeks!

I have been feeling so lazy and useless. My poor family!

School is going good from what I hear :)

The students are on module two, and busy busy busy!

We have 5 students this term {we had 6, but one went home after module one}.

3 Americans, and 2 Mexicans.

The students are leading two different Bible studies each week,

doing Oral Bible presentations and tutoring with our group of younger kids

from Guadalupe each week, and teaching an Inductive Bible Study course to a group

of locals each Sunday morning.

On top of that, they have classes 5 days per week, and make their own meals, and do chores.

It is always a blessing to see what God does through the students here.

Each class so different, but always SO blessed!

So that is the scoop- I will put up some photos later when I have some bandwidth.

Please keep us in your prayers!

><> Blessings <><

Garden Update May 2012

It's MAY!! :-D ..... That means the begining of harvest!

The garden is growing in leaps and bounds. It seems like everything is earlier this year here, maybe due to our warm, wet, winter.
So, without further adeiu, Today's Harvest- May 1, 2012:

Herbs: Parsley, Basil, Epazote

                        Greens!: Lettuce {Spring Mix}, Spinach, Acelga

For now, I am only getting greens, and herbs. Next week I will be adding Zucchini, Burgandy Beans, Peas, Carrots, and Beets to the harvest. Woo Hoo!!

I will take some photos of the garden today, but I was waiting until I got a handle on the weeds.... you would be shocked by how bad it was :-O  .... but the tiller is back up and running- and after hours and Hours, and HOURS in the garden, blisters, sunburns, and grubby fingernails...it is almost under control.... for now :-D



To Behold the Beauty

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple."

Psalm 27:4

If this is our sneak peak of God's beauty, can you imagine what His Temple is going to look like?

Garden 2012!

{Baby Corn!}

{Black Beans!- all voluntaries!}

{Strawberries- already getting fruit!}

{Peas}

And bringing us almost up-to-date is the first episode of Garden Tres Cruces 2012 :)

Thanks to the hard work of the group that came in February, my amazing husband, and his right-hand man Isaac ;)- we have gotten all of the layout planned, the watering system installed, the mounds made, the seeds planted, and are now seeing the growth.

We have had plenty of sunshine, and we just got two days of rain this past week. Now the sun is out and the heat is on. Everything has doubled in size {at least} since I took these photos- so it wont be long before Episode 2 of Garden Tres Cruces 2012.

Looks like the Lord is going to have a BIG harvest for the Valley this year!

Semana Santa!

We hosted a Youth Camp over the weekend of Easter with about 30 young men and women from Ensenada. It was a blast! They are such a great group of kids. We hope to be seeing more of them all in the future!

Gracias Jovenes de la Iglesia Evangelica Ensenada!

Look who stopped by!!

Ok Ok.... so it has been three weeks since they were her, but whatever..... I am a procrastinator with the Ol' Blog....

Doug and Rebecca {http://flowinternational.blogspot.mx/} and their 6 amazing kids stopped by!

The Coults are ministering to the people in Las Glorias, Sinaloa, MX.

They were in the States on their furlough and I heard that they would be in So Cal on their way back to MX.... so I begged Rebecca to come by for a few days.... {OK, so I didn't have to beg.... She was like, "What? 12 acre ranch, food that I don't have to cook, hot showers, and one person per bed???-- sign us up!"} .... or something like that-- right??

They could only stay over one night- but what a joy it was to get to meet them in person!

You see-- Rebecca and I "met" over Facebook after Luis taught the first module of MBS in Las Glorias in January. I instantly felt like we were meant to be family. So I persuaded them to come visit ;) , and now they have been added to our family. I am sort of forceful like that. SO just know that if you come here- I will adopt you. No buts about it.

{Thanks for stopping by Coults! Hope to see you in October!}

Day Out Month 1: Fire Station!

The school room over in Guadalupe gets pretty crowded on Saturdays mornings. And the kids love to get out of the Valley for a day. SO we have instated a monthly "Day Out" with the kids. Our fiorst trip was to the park for tortas, and to the Ensenada Fire Station for a tour!

The kids even got a picture taken with Mario, and Dora and Diego!

Fun times!

Next month we hope to get a tour of the Sabritas Factory!! Woo Hoo!! Free chips!

Right Around The Corner

I got out of bed at 3:00AM and made 8 pots of coffee.
We drove over to the Alvarez' and packed the vans full. {And I mean FULL.}
After almost 5 hours, we arrived in what appeared to be Eastern Oregon.

The highest point in Baja, and we could even see both sides of the peninsula from the Observatory! It was magnificently beautiful.
And cold.
With even the slightest bits of snow.
In Mexico.
Crazy.

I am baffled sometimes by the places God takes us here.
We got to spend the day hanging out with a bunch of amazing brothers and sisters {some of whom had never been in snow before!}.

I'll confess though.
I despise snow.
And cold makes me cranky.
I love my warm, sunny Mexico.
Seems like God likes to show me visuals of where I fail.
I learn like a child.

I am at a place here in our ministry that seems cold and uncomfortable at times.
Desolate and quiet.
Like the desire inside of me to "do" wants to bust out of my chest.

I miss our students.
I am anxiously awaiting our team from Oregon.
I feel like I am always busy but never doing anything.

But God drags me up to the beautiful peaks of the Baja to show me that it isn't about me.
He wants me to find joy in every day.
He shows me His Majesty to remind me that my prize is Him.
He has me stand on jagged cliffs overlooking His beautiful Creation to remind me that there is beauty in everything He has made.
And this is the day that the Lord has made.
There is beauty in it.
Even though I spent all day doing schoolwork with my kids, and staring outside at the half-grey skies of the desert wondering when I will have a day to work in my garden, all the while neglecting the fact that it would be the perfect opportunity to clean my grungy house.

So I wait.
For our team from Oregon.
For my husbands family to visit.
For our Semana Santa Event.
For whatever God sends my way.....

Running the race

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12-1-2

We are all running a race. You know. Some win theirs, and some don't.
Luke tells us to run ours like we want to win it! For the prize is heaven!
Everyday I pray that God would bring glory to Himself in all that I do. Everyday. I mean that.
Not in like a "Ya, hon, I'm praying for you..." kinda way.
More like in a "Seriously, Lord... I disgust myself when I act out in pride and selfishness... please purify me!" kind of way. But I am so easily ensnared.
The deeper I get into the Word, and the more I beg the Lord to teach me to be humble- the more clearly He shows me that it is impossible. He shows me that if I were able to become humble, and to have a true servant's heart in EVERYTHING I do- then I wouldn't need Him.
I need to be asking him to guide me, in His spirit, to be humble. If I were listening to the Spirit every minute of the day, then I wouldn't be falling into discontentment and pride.

My race is crazy hectic. Almost all of the time.
It's like those races you see on TV where 12,000 people all crowd together and the gun fires and people end up getting trampled.
And man oh man do I love it. Almost all of the time.

But there are those times when I get so tired.....
I feel like I hit the wall so hard.....
Like the last 50 meters of the 200.
Because that isn't an endurance race-- it's a sprint.
You are all out for the whole thing.
And just as you round the last loooooonnnnnnggggg corner to the finishline,
you feel like your legs turned to wet noodles, and your lungs are actually going to implode, and you start to wonder "Why the heck did I sign up for this again???"
It isn't the race that lasts for hours- but only seconds... but then you have to get ready for the next heat. And much of the time is spent in preparation. All for but 20 some seconds of action.
But after that 20 some seconds, you feel like you could sleep for days....

I feel like that right now.
I am pretty tired.
I want to have time to do things for myself once in awhile.
Maybe hang out with a friend, or go see a movie.
Have all of my girls around so we can go get coffee.
Run off for a day and do nothing.

But isn't our God great?
He never gives me more than I can handle.
He always calms my heart when I think it will just burst.
He reminds me of my prize, and of my blessings.
He reminds me how much I love this place, and the job that I do, and the people
that I serve with. And He reminds me that I asked for it.
This is the desire of my heart- to serve Him day in and day out- and He gave it to me.

So this week I am making it a point to lay aside every weight,
and to reach out and hand off my baton to my Lord.
And with it, the troubles in my heart, the wants in my soul, and the discontentment that I let creep in. I have all that I want, and all that I need, and in time He will provide for me everything that He has for me. Other people around me are running a different race. They have their own rules, their own prize, and their own judge.
Just like coach Jerry used to say: "Always look up, never to the side, never back- and run through the line."

Be blessed friends.

><> Shae