a new toy

It´s not that Andrew is always smiling... I just like to take photos of him smiling, and it is not hard to make him smile. Andrew got his first wrapped present. It is a train, and you have to put the different shapes through the holes. The walker toy that he has, we won´t be able to take that to the U.S., and so that will be going to Grace, Andrew´s cousin who is even younger than he is. And after that, it will go to a different baby, another cousin who is expected to be born in February.

scrapblog

I really like scrapblog, an online site where you can upload photos, choose from different themes, like I did below, or create your own starting from a blank page. The theme I chose below was from baby einstein, and I just added the photos, and deleted a few things, and this is it. You can make as many pages as you want, and then publish it so everyone can see, and also download it to your computer, and even order your scrapbook, and they will print it, and make it into a book.

dancing

crawling for cookies

Sorry, I know the video didn´t come out well. My digital camera is getting old, and has some problems, but I think its going to make it until we go to the U.S. The photos came out pretty well, just the video didn´t. But in the video you can see how Andrew is starting to crawl. He will do anything to get his hands on a cookie!

We had no idea that Andrew liked it when the bed is moved. Actually the other night we found that out by mistake, because I moved the bed a little, and it made him laugh.

a new favorite photo

Mi bebe durmiendo a lado de sus amigos Yoyo & Blue

Here is Andrew sleeping after a day of playing. He is sleeping beside the monkeys Yo-yo and Blue, and his snail, and his book that he likes very much, and his ball. Now he is very interested in things other than his toys, like the baby wipes case, or Tim´s hat, or his shoes, etc. When he see´s something of interest, he gets very excited, and will lunge for it.

Mi pequeño baby está creciendo.

El día domingo Andrew fue dedicado a Dios en la iglesia y él estaba muy emocionado y sonreía y gritaba de alegría, realmente era un tiempo especial y de mucha bendición para nosotros.
Pronto nuestro baby tendrá 7 meses y ahora él está más activo y desea todo el tiempo jugar, cada día podemos ver que hace diferentes cosas y es tan especial verlo crecer.

Sunday Andrew was dedicated to God in the church and he was very excited and smiled and shouted with joy. Really was a special time and a blessing for us.
Soon our baby is 7 months old and now he is very active and wants to play all the time. Each day we are able to see that he is doing new and different things, and it is very special to see him growing.

a special day

Today we went to a nice park area that is about 20 minutes away. We brought sandwiches and potato chips for lunch. Andrew fell a sleep in the bus, and so he missed the first part, but he woke up, and was very happy. We wanted to take the train around the park, but it was not working today. It was free to get in the park, and so that was nice. We bought Andrew a balloon, but just a minute after we took a photo of him with it, he let it go, and the wind caught it, and blew it away, and it popped. Andrew was pretty tired from all the excitement and seeing everything, and so he slept quite a bit when we got home.

Joseph the Masai Warrior

One day Joseph, a Masai Warrior, as he was walking a long one of those hot dirty African roads met someone that shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him, and then and there he accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life, and he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and there share the good news to the members of his own local tribe. Joseph began going door to door, telling everyone he met about the cross, and the salvation that it offered, expecting their faces to light up, the way his had. And to his amazement the villagers not only didn´t care, but they became violent. The men of the village seized him, held him to the ground, while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village, left to die a lone in the bush. Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a waterhole, and there after days of passing in and out of consciousness, he found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have said something wrong, or left something out from the story of Jesus. After reheasing the message he gave at first, he decided to go back, and share this message again. Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. ¨He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God¨, he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village, while the women beat him, reopening wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die. To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awake in the wilderness, bruised, scared, and determined to go back. He returned to the small village, but this time they attacked him before he had time to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and possibly the last time, he again spoke to them about Jesus Christ the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was the women who were beating him beginning to weep. This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life. They nursed him back to health, and the entire village came to Christ.

John Piper spoke about Joseph in one of his sermons, and these were his words from his sermon. If you want to hear John tell the story, it is here.

I guess Joseph made his way to Amsterdam where an evangelistic conference was being held. Joseph hoped to meet Billy Graham. Joseph was able to tell Graham his story in person.

Joseph then lifted his colorful shirt, and showed him his scars.

Afterwards, I read that Graham said to his staff ¨I am not worthy to untie his shoes, and he wanted to meet me?¨

2 Corinthians

I heard C.J. Mahaney (the pastor that wrote ¨The Cross Centered Life¨) talking about 2 Corinthians. He said it is Pauls most passionate letter, and is filled with self-disclosure, unlike any of his other letters.
So I am reading through 2 Corinthians again, and it is amazing to me the grace that Paul showed to the Corinthians. Mahaney was right when he said that Paul was more focused on the grace that was available to and working in the Corinth church than their sin. Paul loved them very much, and that is very easy to see.
Maybe the reason Paul had so much love and grace in his own life is because his focus was on God´s grace, and not on his own sin. His focus was outward and not inward. Paul did not judge himself. Paul moved forward, and held fast to the Gospel. He did not forget about Christ´s death on the cross, but instead that was at the center of his heart and life. If it had not been, his love and joy and peace would have faded, but it didn´t, because his focus was on God´s grace through Jesus Christ, and that filled Paul with love and grace that he spent his life showing to others.

Having fun

Andrew has been sick. Yesterday evening was rough for him, but last night and today he is much better. And here is a video of him today.

Death is not dying

“Cancer does not define me. Neither does being a wife or a mother. All these things are part of who I am but they do not define me. What defines me is my relationship with Jesus.”

Rachel is a wife, and mother of 2. She has terminal cancer. In March, she spoke to 600 women, and below is the link to the video.

I don´t know how she is doing now. I tried to read about her condition now, but could not find much.

Here is her site with the video: http://deathisnotdying.com/