Birthday Boy

Dear Everybody,

My baby is 10!  I can hardly believe we have a 10 year old in the house until I take a good look at Micah and realize how BIG he is.  Our little boy is turning into a little man who loves to sit at the lunch table and talk with us instead of running off to play with his siblings.  What can I say, he's growing up...

I decided this year to make Micah a special cake.  If any of you know my sister, Esther, she is the one who makes amazing cakes for her kids' birthdays.  I am NOT that tatented, but I wanted to try.  So I decided to make an Angry Birds cake.  It turned out better than I had hoped and Micah loved it which was the best part.

here's the finished product 

Sunday night we ate his birthday meal even though his birthday was on Monday.  He chose Pad Thai Noodles with shrimp.

We are thankful the Lord gave us Micah 10 years ago.  He is a blessing to our family and I pray that the Lord will use Him greatly for His glory.

On Sunday for Father's Day, I also got this picture of Danny with all four kids.  Happy Father's Day Dan!  We thank God for YOU!

Liz

Big Girl Bed for Madeline

Dear Everybody,

Danny put the last few coats of paint on the bunkbed this morning and this afternoon, he installed it upstairs.  This set up gives the girls much more room to play also.

Matti helped Danny since he was done with his schoolwork

We'll see how the girls sleep tonight in their new beds.

I spent the morning getting the boys through school and then doing wash and cleaning house.  I also got a cake made to take to the Bible Institute for lunch with the students.  Pretty boring stuff but part of life just as much as anything else.

Danny had to study quite a bit for his class tomorrow.  We will be going to Temuco tomorrow for his class and for the missionary prayer meeting with Daryl and Earlynne Thompson.  They are getting ready for their furlough coming up next month.

That's all our news for now.  Miguel kept working on the window frames and is almost done with that project.  We have to wait until next month to be able to afford buying the windows.  He also prepped the wood for the countertops that will go in the guest house kitchen. We want to have it dry before we put the countertop together.

No blog tomorrow but maybe on Friday.

liz

Plumbing and Painting

Dear Everybody,

Another storm front has moved into our area.  All night we heard the winds howl through the trees and the rain fall in huge drops on our tin roof.  This weather system is supposed to stick around a few days so as far as work goes we are stuck doing inside jobs.

The new porch on the front of the guest house is still standing and we haven't noticed any leaks either so the guys did a good job on it.  Today they focused on getting smaller projects done.  Miguel built a dolley so we can move larger objects around easier.

Do you notice the flooding? A day of dry weather and it will all be gone because of the sandy terrain.

Danny studied for his class in the morning and worked on the workshops he will be giving at our first National Camp Conference in Chile. More on that at a later time.

He had a little helper helping him cut up some veggies for lunch.

After lunch he went out to work.  We plan on moving Madeline to a regular bed soon.  Both girls will share a bunkbed.  There was a set of metal bunkbeds in the guest house that we took apart.  Today I sanded them down and Danny repainted them.  Tomorrow we hope to set the new bunkbed up for the girls.

painting the rails

and the head board and foot board

Then Danny focused on more plumbing.  He got all the cold water plumbing in for the bathroom and the kitchen done today.  What a job!  We are reusing all the copper pipes from the previous set up so it means cleaning the fittings up but it is a savings.  We might have to buy a few more fittings to connect the hot water but overall we came out way ahead reusing the old.

After a warm bowl of soup and homemade buns, we're ready for a quiet evening.  The kids are in their beds reading.  They are pretty tired out after a morning of school and trying to stay busy in the house since it was rainy outside.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve the Lord here in Chile.

Liz

Rollerblading Fun

Dear Everybody,

Friends of ours in the States, Jim and Dee Buizer, gave the kids each a pair of rollerblades.  They have enjoyed using them even on rainy days since the gym has a roof.  Danny has a pair of rollerblades too so it's been fun for them to play together.  For Christmas we got the boys hockey sticks and pucks so they can play street hockey if they want.  Good exercise and lots of fun!

Here is a video of them goofing off for the camera, hopefully you won't get dizzy watching them:


Click here to watch

Liz

Long Time No Blog

Dear Everybody,

Sorry for the lapse in the blogs.  I ended up with a cold and it was hard enough just to get the basic things done in the house, let alone write a blog post.  But, now I'm back with lots to tell.

In my last post, I mentioned Miguel's stove and water tank.  That project took about a week to get all connected and finished.  After many leaks to repair and final touchups it's up and running great.

They also installed a barrel wood stove in the shop.  It's nice to have heat in there to work and also clean up wood scraps.

Then the guys were able to focus their attention back on the guest house.  Miguel has been working on framing up the windows.  Here in Chile, windows are done different also.  We have a young Christian man who attends one of our country churches who owns a window/glass shop here in Lican.  We hope to get the windows put in next month.

Then the guys started on building a covered porch in front of the house.  We get LOTS of rain here in the south and a covered entrance is a wonderful thing to have.  We also want to make it a sort of privacy screen between our house and the guest house.

The first thing we had to do was take out an old sidewalk.  The kids helped with that project.  As the boys tore up the sidewalk, Morgan carried off the rumble.

The guys started to put up the posts, rafters, purloins and then the tin.  Between each sheet of tin, they put a piece of polycarbonate roofing to allow light to come through.  We finished off the work and then stained the wood.  We hope to pour a cement slab so that at the back, we can install the washing machine.

taking the gutter down

first post

as the kids were loading firewood to our front deck they would get wheelbarrow rides back to the woodshed

painting a coat of stain (goes on purple but dries clear)

finished, we just need to pour the slab now

This past weekend, we had the visit of two young men from Santiago, Andres and Jose.  Andres has worked at camp for three years now so is very familiar with Lican.  His brother and wife are the couple that will be living in the guest house and become the first young couple to be trained on camp.  This was the first time for us to get know Jose, a young Christian, who loves the Lord and wanted to serve God at camp.  He is an electrician by trade.  Both guys arrived around 10 AM on Saturday and worked all day until close to 3 AM Sunday morning.  Then they were back at it on Sunday morning until noon, when we had to travel to Llonquen for church.

At church they gave a short testimony and Andres led in singing some choruses.  Danny preached and I had ten littles kids in my Sunday school class.

Video of singing in UCB Llonquen

 After church, they finished up the work right before catching their bus back to Santiago at 7 PM.  We are thankful for their willingness to come and serve the Lord.

Jose

Andres

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to work.  Tonight we hold a planning meeting on conference call with our team.

Liz

A New Floor, a "New" Stove, and a New Princess

Dear Everybody,

I am at a loss to know how to start this blog.  So much has happened!  Maybe I will just start with what we did today.  The kids were back in school today so we got that done in the morning.  The guys ran to town to buy the rest of the copper pipes and fittings they needed to finish installing the cook stove in Horeb.  In the afternoon, they worked on getting the stove pipe installed and all the water hookups for the water tank done.  unforntutely, they weren't able to get that done so it will get done tomorrow.  Miguel should be moved in over there as soon as they get the stove working.

Here is the stove and the tank in place but not connected yet. 

The boys got 5 wheelbarrows full of firewood for Miguel up to Horeb

time to solder some copper pipes

Miguel worked on getting the stove pipes in

The rain and wind have been constant here in the south of Chile.  We have many many tree limbs down all over camp but other than that no major damage.  We felt a tremor on Thursday when we were in Temuco.  The weather is never dull here!

Friday, Danny and I worked on getting the ceramic floor down in the bathroom in the guest house.  We chose white.  You probably think we're crazy but hear us out...  First, we chose that color because it was on SALE and second because we want it to show dirt.  I know usually, one hears the opposite reason but because of the purpose for the guest house, I want to be able to go in there and see at a glance that it is clean and white looks clean when it's clean.  Make sense, no?  We will be putting white tile on the walls that have the "internit"  (cement board) and in the shower but we will try to see if we can put some color accents too along the way.  We were going to grout today but the damp weather we have been having prevented the tiles to dry so we will have to wait a little bit longer.

we also covered up the hole where the main door was before

Cutting the tiles with the grinder

we enjoyed the warmth of the stove

second to last tile. 

there you have it.  

Friday night, Danny got a bus to Santiago and spent all day Saturday in meetings with the national board for the UCB.  He was replacing our field director who went to the States for other special meetings.  He took another night bus on Saturday night and got home on Sunday morning.  We were planning on going to Conaripe to church but Danny's bus got in a couple hours late so it was too late to make it to the service.

We are glad to have Dad home.  While he was gone, Morgan received the long awaited birthday package from Mamie (my mom).  The Post office lady was on the lookout for a package from France and as soon as I stepped foot inside she was waving the package excitedly over her head.  Funny!
Morgan was soooooo excited to open a brand new handmade princess dress.  My mom is an amazing seamstress!!!   She couldn't believe that Mamie had made it especially for her.  Not only that but she sent all the accessories to go with it (earring, necklace, ring, bracelets and a crown).  The boys had never seen so much pink in their life!

it's not the best picture because of how late and dark it was but it gives you an idea.

of course you have to twirl in a new dress!

This picture makes me laugh!!!!!!!  For any of you who read my blog on Dan's side of the family: Who does this picture remind you of?  I caught them both playing with their hair while Micah was reading to Madeline.  They both do it all the time... I wonder who they take after.... TERRY!

Well, I think that catches you up on our news.  Love you all very much and thank you for your prayers.  Sometimes these menial tasks on camp don't seem to have any spiritual value but we trust the Lord will use what we do for him to allow many boys, girls, young people and families to hear the good news of the gospel here at camp and receive it for salvation.  Thank you for praying with us toward that end.

Liz

3 Days Worth of News

Dear Everybody,

After a few "out of the ordinary" days, today was back to our normal routine.  Let me explain what happened the other days.

Sunday:  We were all set to go to church, leaving a little early for a special Thanksgiving service at the Liquine church.  We piled into the car and after a half hour of drivning, we get to the part of the road that changes to dirt road.  The trip to our Liquine church is about 1 hour of dirt road driving and part of that is driving switchback roads on the side of the mountain.  Since we have started going to Liquine, the road is much improved.  There are more guardrails, wider roads, and new concrete bridges instead of the old wooden plank ones.  But there are still many accidents on the swichtbacks and on Friday a bus overturned and got caught in the trees on the cliff side of the mountain.  We knew about the bus but what we didn't know is that the authorities could not remove the bus during the storm so decided to remove it on Sunday when the weather was beautiful.  Well, as we approached the dirt road, a Carabinero (policeman)stopped our car and told us the road was closed to Liquine while they removed the bus.  So we drove home.  It was too late to go to any other church service so we had our own in our living room.  I think the Lord knew that the guys, after their trip and meetings, needed the rest.

all ready to go to church

Monday:  We celebrated 2 things on May 21st:  Morgan's 6th birthday and the 49th anniversary of the Bible Institute in Temuco where Danny teaches.  First, we went to Temuco.  The students and professors were invited to a lunch put on by the Institute.  It was a good time of fellowship and we enjoyed the wonderful food.  We went to Temuco early to get a few groceries and then right after the lunch we headed home.

I went right to work on making a pink cake with pink icing and sprinkles for Morgan.  Then wrapped her gifts. We decided to let her open them right after I got them wrapped since it was already late in the day.  I think she was surprised by each one.  We got her a pink helmet for roller blading, a new notebook, some hair ties, and some special paper for her crafts.  Morgan is our creative one.  She is always cutting, gluing, and coloring things.  We found a set of instruments for making paper crafst in Temuco.  It came with special hole punches, scissors that make design,s and an embossing kit.  She LOVED it!  I am telling myself to be patient with her because when she gets that stuff out, there tends to be confetti everywhere when she is done!  The boys enjoy working on crafts too so it's been fun so far.

new pink helmet

Tweetie Notebook

her craft kit

Madeline was sooooo sure that it was her birthday again!

Do you see the confused look on Maddie's face?

Tuesday:  Today, the kids were back in school.  They seem eager to just get their work done.  They're doing great and learning lots for which  I am thankful.  There is usually something to say about each subject at the the lunch table.  Morgan is doing much better with her reading skills so we are also thankful for that.  During that time, Danny studied for his class.  He is starting a series of classes on Catholicism.

 Miguel worked on getting the old cookstove from the old adminstrator's house up and running.  He had to replace just a few pieces of metal and repaint it.  We will be putting that stove into Horeb Cabin (at the back of camp) where Miguel will live.  Danny replaced the serpentine (pipes in the stove that water runs through).  The water runs through the serpentine, where the water gets hot, then into a tank for storage.  This water is used for hot showers or hot water to wash dishes.  It's a great system.  The guys also got the wood stove installed permanently in the guest house.  It looks wonderful and feels even better on these cold days.

Before

After (this is the only color high temp paint they sell here in Lican!)

rebuilding the serpentine

saudering used copper pipes from the guest house

running water though it to make sure there are no leaks

getting the pipes in for the wood stove

It has been very cold here the last few days.  Yesterday, the water in our five gallon buckets froze.  There was frost on the ground till noon.  We're in for a cold winter I think.

Well, that's all our news.  Thank you for your prayers,

Liz