dios es amor. . .

21 Jan – 13 Feb

What a blessing to be able to visit with ones dear to our hearts.

These are two families that gave of themselves to care for two tiny babies that we are so happy to call our children.  The common term is “foster family”, but how can we put in words how thankful we are to them for the love and care that they gave?

How fun to visit the home and neighborhood where Elisa spent her first 11.5 months.

It is so nice to visit this birth land with all its color and activity.

There are many people and memories there that are special.

 
 
 
 

After a long bus ride we arrived in another place where pieces of our hearts dwell.  We were so excited to see the neighbor children.  They are sweet as ever.

 

Two wonderful groups of people came,

 

and a lot of work got done.

We had lots of help from the locals too.

 

There was plenty of good food,

 

lots of sights to see,

 
 

 
 
 
 
 


 
 

and lots of people to remember,

 
 
 


 

At the end of our trip, there was one

VERY HAPPY

Luisa

who gets a new safe place to live.

The block house doesn’t have big cracks in the walls and around the door

for strange people to holler threats through.

Even though she can’t see the house, she is very pleased.

In all this we pray that God is Glorified because

 

A big thanks to all of God’s hands and feet that made this trip a success.

To God be the Glory for Ever and Ever!

what a whirlwind!!!!

First the sign went up. . .

Then we got ready for open house. . .

After all the cleaning and getting ready, I thought we should do something just for fun,
so we made gingerbread cookies. . .

When we found out our house was sold BEFORE the auction,
the kids were disappointed about not having auction.
So they had one themselves and sold their toys.

Stephanine & Sherry came over one day.
Sherry worked on organizing pictures,
Stephanie helped make food for Joe’s family Christmas,
and the kids enjoyed their cousin as always. . .

We enjoyed our time with family. . .

The week after Christmas we really got a good start on packing.  Some family from VA came up to help.  What fun and what special memories.

While they were there, Stephanie and Sherry took all of us ladies to the tea room. 
We all had fun and Elisa LOVED it!

We got a lot of packing done,

Mom kept meals on the table,

Uncle Barry & Grandpa Tootsie kept the children entertained,

and Joe and Donna had look-alikes even though it wasn’t planned.

 

Finally the kids had some help to decorate their gingerbread cookies. . .

 

Family Bible Study night turned into Activity night. 

We had Christmas activities even though it was the week after Christmas.

It was very fun. . .

 

We had evenings of fellowship and singing.  Precious Memories.

 

Then on Sunday, we had everyone at our PA house one more time before everyone left.

Probably the last time for a gathering of this sort in this house.

 

Ethan & Elisa got to go stay with Sherry one more time

to enjoy their little cousin and his puppies. . .

After all our out of state family left, we had a lot of help from locals.

What fun to spend time with family and friends while we worked. . .

 

Believe it or not, I think that Ethan & Elisa enjoyed themselves through all this.

Ethan helped burn trash, they ate snow, Ethan sat in the bottomless chair,

they sat on the basement steps and watched the cats that we are leaving behind,

& Elisa played pirate.

(don’t ask me where she learned that J )

 

Some of the animals that helped pass the busy times for Ethan & Elisa. . .

 

We loaded everything into this truck and sent it on ahead of us.
Yes, I shed a few tears as it pulled out of our lane that day!

And yes, The kids DID get tired too. . .

 

Our last family pic in our PA house. . .

 

Empty!

 

Yep, it was sad.  But it was good to be done with this stage of things.

Without our “stuff” it doesn’t really look like home anyway.

Can’t wait to be done living out of bags and be home again.