Count Your Blessings/ 7 things about me....

I have a question.... how many of us have taken the time to list 7 things about ourselves that most people don't know???? How about we start counting our blessings? ok, so my idea is this... I am going to list 7 things we have seen God do for us lately, and I am going to "tag" seven other people to do the same..."Count your blessings name them one by one, counting your many blessings see what God has done"

1. Visits from home...We go to the airport tomorrow to pick up my mom who will be here for 2 wks. And we recently found out my mother-in-law and two families from our home church will be coming to visit in May!!!

2. Church services... may sound weird, but I have a hard tiime staying in church, not because I am that carnal, but because we do not have a nursery. So when Sergio cries or is hungry, etc. I miss out. Last week I got to stay in Sunday and wed. evening services.

3. Saturday morning prayer...the members of the church in Alcala are meeting every Sat. morning at 9:30 for prayer, God has really met with us each time.

4. God's provision...sometimes we forget to thank God for His goodness, Alberto still has not been able to get a job, but God's provision for us has been astounding! We have never been without the things we need.

5. Sergio is gaining weight well and growing. Things are settling into a nice routine now, biggest blessing in this one is that most nights the little guy lets me sleep at least 6 hrs straight and sometimes as much as 8!!!

6. My husband...is a very dedicated man, it encourages me to see how faithful he is in his daily walk with the Lord, it challenges me to do the same! even when it is difficult it is sooo necessary to have time with God every day!

7. Family...when we left the States it didnt seem soooo hard, and I can honestly say I have never really felt alone or lonely, God has provided us with a wonderful church family as well as the blessing of Alberto's family (Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, etc.) here. They are all so kind and I am so glad when we are able to spend time with them.

Now here are the 7 people I am tagging to do this,
Pilar Stark
Dani Joy
Arancha Staples
Ingrid Ingram
Deanna Andrews
Jill Boyd
Juanna Clanton

Join in the fun of sharing your blessings!!!:)

Father's Day and Sergio

ok....so Father's Day was last Thursday...(I think, it was last week anyway:).It was Alberto's very first ever so I wanted to do something special, but with limited funds etc .... So I ended going for the traditional daycareish art project:) Hand prints and footprints with a poem. Now after years of childcare experience and thousands of handprints you wouldnt think it would be so hard, at least I didnt. But it was!!! I had never done such a project with such a small child. Feet truly were easy but for the hands....we had blue paint everywhere!!! literally, he kept closing his fists , trying to put his hands in his mouth ...I can not begin to describe the disaster it was and the great mess we made, but our result was fantastic:)!!! By the way he had to get a bath afterwards to get the blue paint off!!!

Our art project....we are VERY proud:)


I know this post has nothing to do with mommy, and I am only half in the pic since I took it myself but I wanted to post it since Sergio is looking right at the camera:)

Our little gentleman...he LOVES to sit in the corner of the couch and watch everything.(Anyone wanta quess who sent him the bib?)

"I dont want to get up yet!!!!"

How cute is he???

In other news...I am super excited because my mom is coming next week!!!!! She gets here on Tuesday! Hurray!!!

Children's Bible Club

Ok so I believe I asked everyone to pray for this it was on the 14th of March, so I wanted to update on how it went. Sorry the pics are backwards from the actual order but whatever!

This is everyone having snack right before we left....YUM


We played the doughnut game....you know try to eat the donut off the string before it falls off without touching it with your hands:)

We also played a balloon game. you tie a balloon around your ankle and try to step on and pop everyone elses. there were two teams but and uneven number so I convinced Alberto to join the game. He ended up winning after going one on one with a ten yr old...it was quite funny and great exercise:)


Here is the other game we played ...Bible verse puzzles it was great cause they didnt actually know the verses so they really had to think!

And here Alberto is teaching. Our theme was obedience (to God and parents). He taught about Jonah and his disobedience and the consequences of it. We had seven children and they all seemed to have a blast:) This is going to be a monthly activity we will be having our next one the 11th of April, we would greatly appreciate prayers!!!!:)

Tag, you're it!!!!

Ok..... so here we go! 7 things that most people do not know about me...

1-I hate it for my elbows to be touched. It makes me super irritated, kinda like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. Just one of those things I can not stand.

2-I graduated co-valedictorian of my class. In other words...Although I am a blonde I have an intellectual side:)

3-Before coming to Spain I worked in childcare for almost 4 yrs. And I loved it!!! I believe that our future, tomorrow, lies in the hands of the children of today. Having the possibility to influence them for good at such a sensitive age was a great privilege. Now, I pray to be able raise our children up godly.

4-Although I grew up in church from like age 3, I was not saved until the age of 11. I had made a profession of faith at age 5, but did not truly understand that Jesus paid the penalty of my sin when he died on the cross and rose again. My mom led me to the Lord and my Dad baptized me. Also, as a little girl I always wanted to be a missionary.

5-I was scared out of my mind when I found out we were going to be parents!!! More than moving to Spain. Now I am not so scared but still struck with the great responsibility that our little Sergio will grow up to be ___________, depending on what we teach him.

6-I love reptiles. More specifically, frogs..always have. When I was a preschool teacher I had 3 pet frogs, and eventually also a pet turtle. When I got married I had to find new homes for about 80 stuffed frogs, no I am not exaggerating...sniff sniff!

LASTLY....
7-I was not at all nrevous when I got married. I was elated, to finally be the wife of the greatest guy I know!

I am different now

I just now realized how much I have been influenced by Spanish culture since being here. I do several things in a more spainsh style. Like....ironing! In the States you wash dry and hang the clothes in the closet and iron before you put them on. here, you wash, dry, iron and then hang up the clothes. Both ways have advantages American way you save yourself from staring at the Mt. of clothes to be ironed and avoiding it, but it takes longer to get ready when you go somewhere cause first you must iron...Spanish way you must at one point dedicate yourself to 2hrs worth of ironing, but everytime you get dressed you grab out of the closet nice crisp clothes and are ready to go. Either way I now tackle mts of ironing about twice a week, and my husband and I enjoy always having freshly pressed clothes handy. Also the way we eat...meals here are usually done in courses....a soup or something first then a meat, etc, and dessert. We usually eat that way now. A soup or salad first. And dessert is usually only fruit or yogurt, but anyway. There are also some things in Spanish culture we have chosen not to do...we laughed the other day at the store realizing we are probably the only people who do not buy bread with every meal. In most Spanish household there is daily a loaf of bread to accompany whatever it is you are eating, in our house hold we eat bread at a meal possibly once a week. Another Spanish culture thing I enjoy is walking...what a blessing to be able to take care of most errands on foot....Sergio loves it too cause he gets to chill in his stroller!

Dessert

After Pilar's post everyone's mind is on food. Now I really enjoy to cook, rarely follow a recipe and occasionally mess up big time! This however is a success story. I tend to try making new things when we have company , that can go well or really really bad. Anyway this is a quick easy dessert I made the other day, and it looks really pretty too. You buy tortilla shells cut a banana in half lengthwise(does that make sense?)...roll each half in a tortilla shell...fry it until brown...then serve with whip cream and chocolate syrup. It takes almost no time at all and the fried banana is awesome! oh yeah, and right after you pull it out of the pan from frying sprinkle it with a little bit of white sugar! then....ENJOY!

Smiles of an Angel

Some of the first smiles we have been able to get pics of.... could he be cuter??? Yes, I am a proud mom, I thank God for our beautiful sweet baby!

Time flies

Ok, so my first thought on seeing this picture is ... will I ever look like that again??? but that is not the point of this post. This picture is only about four yrs ago. But on a day like today...March 13th SEVEN yrs. ago, a cute young man asked me to be his girlfriend; he did have some help...a friend of ours Johnny (who is now with the Lord) called me over by the guys, and said..."Ashley, Alberto has something he wants to ask you... right Berto???" And the love story began...or whatever you call it at 15 and 16 yrs old. The first yr we celebrated every month like it was a great milestone...:) Now 7yrs later so much has changed, yet so much is still the same...we are older (wiser??? more mature????), bigger, married (obviously) yet still so much in love! I thank God He brought us together!

When the light comes on...

You now....the little light bulb in your head....you finally get it:)???? ok, so thank you everyone who prayed for our prayer meeting and visitation Saturday, I have been meaning to post...but... anyway. We had a good turn out - Alberto and I got up early cooked about two dzn. eggs, hashbrown casserole, bacon...American breakfast:) There were about 9 of us who attended. After breakfast we settled in for a time of prayer. Asking God to bless our time of visitation and stir up revival in our hearts, the church, and Spain. Recently all of the faithful members in the church have lost their jobs, NO I am not exaggerating there are two men in the church who are still employed and they come pretty faithfully but are not members. So people have been looking more to the Lord as times are geting hard. Anyway, as we started to pray the presence of the Lord was evident... The Lord softened hearts and met with us. And God worked in my heart and the light came on...I can not be a good wife and mother without the Lords help. Things have been busy trying to get used to getting everything done...clean the house, feed Sergio, do laundry, feed Sergio, cook, Sergio....you get the idea, and If you noticed in that list I have been putting God out of His first proirity. But the simple realization I had is I will be a failure at my daily tasks and as a wife and mother and missionary if I am not close to God. So, I am back to one of my favorite verses..."Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, lead me in the way everlasting." and also "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." To continue updating about the church, we went out and covered alot, many people recieved invitations and gospel tracts. We are still praying for new people... knowing that with God all things are possible.

A matter of Prayer

There is so much going on here, we are settling in to our new responsibilities here in the church at Alcala, not settling in diving in ... head first. We are staying very busy and thorouhgly enjoying it. However, there seems to be a spirit of complacency here in Spain. Yes, the people are hard, yes it takes countless hours; but God still offers salvation to stubborn hearts. I believe they can be reached, but that requires action on our part and dedication. We have been spending lots of time getting to know the members here that we will be working side-by-side with, they are all such good sweet people. And we would love to see more come to join us. This Saturday we have the missions project where we go into a nearby town and pass out tracts, talk to people... We are going to be having breakfast and prayer before we head out. I am asking God to allow us to have at least one person come visit the church as fruit of this Saturday, hoping He will do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think... people here think it can not be done, and when we try in our own power it definitely can not! But the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I find myself asking God to teach me to pray, to teach me to trust, and to teach me to hang on to hope, I have Christ those who do not are without hope. We must show them the way to the Lord. Please take a minute or two to pray for the work here, God's power must move for anything to be accomplished!

Thank you - Juana and Favianna

this post is to thank Juana Clanton and Favianna who kindly helped me realize my blog text was in white so my posts were invisible, thank you ladies you have saved my blog from vanishing:)