A Good Morning Picture

Paula and A.

I come out of my room to this picture a lot of mornings. Baby A. has slept right outside our door for the past few weeks. She has been sleeping better and so have we! Paula loves to "get her up" in the mornings!

The Practical Mobile

So when we bought our other car I titled the blog post "The Happy Mobile". The "Jeep" was a fun car but hardly practical for our large family and even larger circle of friends, who we like to take with us. The Lord super blessed us by allowing us to sell our Jeep and providing for us to purchase a "Truffi". This truffi has been owned by a private Christian school its whole life. While our Jeep was a model from 1976 our Truffi is from 1988. We are moving up in world for sure. One of the boys from house two when he saw our new car declared that it looked a codfish! I don't really care what it looks like. It drives like a dream, you don't soar to the ceiling with every bump, of which there are plenty here, and it fits a bazillion people with ease! What more could you ask for! We are planning on souping it up with a paint job and tinted windows, as well as reupholstering the seats. By the time we are done with it people will be knocking down our door to buy it!! Not that we are ever going to sell it! 

Our Maiden Voyage in The Codfish!

To break in the car and see how it did at climbing the hills full of passengers, we invited the Tia's and boys of CDA 2, as well as Tia Techy and Javier to join us for a "safari" to Pairumani Park. (I told you it can a bazillion people.) I think there were only 24 people and most of them were small, but we still had room to spare, according to Bolivian standards of cramming!

The Proud New Owners!

Some of the Gang!

 We dropped off Victoria (Volunteer from Texas) and the four oldest CDA boys at soccer practice and then continued on up to Paurimani. The car handled it with ease!

We made it to the top!

We had a great time hiking around a bit and enjoying the fresh air. The playground was a hit for everyone!

Tia Techy and Leo

 The subebajas (teeter totters) were kept busy by young and old alike!

"Don't worry Dad!", says Emily

S. on the run!

Paula and B. having a grand time!

All too soon it was time to head home! We look forward to many more adventures in our amazing new car! This past Sunday there were 18 of us going to Church together in it. On the way home we noticed Tia Lucy from Casa 1 standing by the side of the road with one of the toddlers in her arms. We pulled over and she hopped in making it 20 people! It is awesome to always have the space for more! Also the luxury of going grocery shopping and not having to lug your groceries home on some type of public transportation is beyond amazing! Yes, we are thanking the Lord for our gift of the "Practical Mobile"!!

Happy Birthday, Leo & Myles

 The month of August brought us two birthdays, Leo turned 1 year old and Myles turned 13! Two very important ages!

Happy Leo with his stack of gifts!

Trying to unwrap them!

 The big kids were waiting to lend a hand with the unwrapping, so he had plenty of help! Earlier in the day Rudi fed him his cake "Bolivian Style", as in face first, but I didn't have a camera ready! I just wanted you all to know that he got the "full" birthday treatment!

Getting some help from the big kids!

A typical Leo look!

 Leo has been with us since November of last year. When he came he weighed about 8 lbs now he weighs over 20! He is a easy going happy boy. We pray that this year he will be able to be adopted by his forever family, although it will be hard to see him go for sure! Happy Birthday, Leo!

Just two days later we celebrated Myles 13th birthday! Hard to believe how time flies.
We started out with our traditional birthday breakfast and gifts.

Bolivian Bubble Gum! Yumm!

 In the evening we had Tia and Javier, as well as the boys from Casa 2, Vico and Elena, Jen and Jake, and Danyelle (who was on her way to the airport to fly home) over for dessert! I had made a Mud Pie ice cream cake that is a family favorite. It also happens to be very easy to make!! I was pretty happy with how his name came out!

Thirteen Candles on the Cake!

 Because the frozen cake was not a good cake for the traditional Bolivian bite, our friend Cristian brought over a cake his wife had made for Myles the next evening for him to take the plunge into. And plunge he did!

What a face!

Myles modeling his Wilstermann shirt!~

Congratulations, Myles on turning the big one three! We are proud of the godly young man you are becoming. You bless us everyday just by being you, responsible, helpful, and steady! We love you lots!
Happy Birthday!

Somewhere

Hello everyone!
I recently finished this song, and I thought you all would enjoy it.
I actually did this twice because the first version did not fit my standards. Even now you can hear my squeeky office chair that just had to squeek as I was playing my ukulele, and some babies crying in the background! What can you do! But all this to say, I am very proud of it and I wanted to show it to the rest of the world! I hope you enjoy my version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"!

Here I am recording the uke tracks! If you are wondering about the bandana, it's for my favorite soccer team......Go Wilstermann!