HollingsworthBlog

Blog Swapping

2011-07-14T16:01:00.000-05:00

We are moving to a different blog page/site/whatever. Anyone with links, feed readers, etc. should switch to the new location: http://thetaylorites.blogspot.com/.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Adventures in Traveling

2011-07-14T15:48:00.000-05:00

This last weekend started with a "spur of the moment" trip to Tela, in the northern coast of Honduras. We had wanted to go before leaving Honduras, but we were not exactly sure how or when it would work on. After talking with our neighbor, Victoria, we found out that she also wanted to go to visit her family. So, I borrowed a vehicle from a friend in Tegucigalpa on Friday afternoon (after the Bible Study with some of the university students) and came back up to Valle de Angeles to load up and leave early Saturday morning.

Each of our kids took a small backpack since we were only going for a weekend (we planned to return on Monday). We spent much of the day Saturday driving and since I have not driven in Honduras much, better yet, I have not driven a car in about 4 months! We had a great trip up to La Lima where we dropped Victoria off to visit with her family in the afternoon, then we headed further East to Tela to see some more friends. During our drive we both noticed how different the surroundings seemed; we certainly we not in the mountains anymore, but even more the north coast resembled what one would expect from a place in "the tropics". Tela is a little "pueblo", or town right on the coast. After navigating through a torrential downpouring of rain and avoiding oncoming semi-trucks driving in my lane, we safely arrived in Tela, and immediately I was reminded of Galveston...or South Padre Island (basically any town right on a coast). The smell, the birds, the people! How distinct from inland places and yet how similar to each other they are.

The place that we stayed at was great! Our friends and owners of a building with several hotel-style rooms (usually reserved for invited guests) were very hospitable. While staying in Tela, our friends also had a German-Honduran family staying the the apartments. It was interesting to meet them and to listen the German-Spanish accents.

Sunday afternoon we went to the beach! For some of our kids, it was their first time at the ocean. While they were a bit timid of the waves crashing on the shore they still had a fun time. In reality, it is easier on us as parents if the kids are a bit less "adventurous"...it meant that Alesha and I could safely leave them on the shore playing and swim in the ocean...though we never did go very far. Each of the kids remembers me showing them how to "wave hop" in the deeper water. Daniel spent most of his time playing in the sand just barely beyond the reach of the waves. Nathanael slept and played quietly in his car seat in the shade; when we did take him in the water, he was not impressed at all (though the pictures that I got of him came out really nice and do not tell the true story!).

We returned from the beach exhausted and sandy. We gave the kids a quick, cold shower and put them in their beds. By the time Alesha and I did the same, I think they were all fast asleep. I woke up about 7 minutes before supper was supposed to be served...we were a bit late. ;-) After supper, we headed off to a "campo blanco" which is a new church plant that the Christians in the area were starting; the main part of the building was finished, but still needed some finishing touches (I think someone said that it was almost one year old). We got there in time for some singing. Shortly after I sat down and man started to preach and then a lady in front of me pointed toward Daniel. The next thing that happened was Alesha tossing Nathanael in my arms and she scooped up Daniel as his started vomiting (yes, during the man's message...and he kept on going...poor guy). I then looked over as Levi who was looking rather squeamish also, but after talking with him some, I found out that he just had a booger in his nose. :-p One by one though, the kids needed to leave and so we all found ourselves sitting at the open door to the building listening to the man's message and cautiously watching the children. I nice lady ran to her house nearby and brought Daniel some tea and a shirt to wear. After the meeting, when Daniel was feeling better, we all joked around about Daniel's inauguration of the building.
(Don't worry, the "fun" doesn't end there!)

The next morning, Monday, it was time for us to pick up Victoria and return to Valle. Our return trip was going swell, even though there was not much talking going on. I think that we were all very tired. Almost halfway into our return trip, Levi decided to make things a bit more interesting and follow in his brother's footsteps. Yup, he yielded up his breakfast. The rest of the trip we were all on edge about Levi and Daniel...and Glory who was sitting between the two boys...and about Nathanael who was not enjoying his car ride either. :-( We finally arrived in Tegucigalpa (almost home!), but being that it was night time and raining and well, spaghetti-road-Teguc,...we of course got off track and got lost for almost an hour. Finally, we paid a taxi to help us get back in the right direction. We got home about 8pm...not terribly late, but it was a tense adventure. Again, we all crashed immediately after getting home...oh! did I forget to mention that we forgot to eat supper! ;-D

Enjoy!
Taylor

...where mangos fall like manna

2011-07-04T23:14:00.000-05:00

Thank You God, for free fruit! Every morning after breakfast, Dan goes outside and "hunts for mangos". This is the back of our house and the big mango tree....

The other day, Taylor was in Tegucigalpa so the kids and I decided it would be as good a time as any to dice up all the mangos I had been trying to pile on top of each other in the back of the refrigerator. (Well, I diced...the kids stood on the chairs like baby birds waiting for their turn to scrape the seeds clean with their teeth. :)

Yeah for a completed project!!! (Well, at least until tomorrow when we go pick up more mangos.)

Adventures in Waiting

2011-07-03T14:58:00.003-05:00

I went to help a friend work with some university students on Thursday. It was a good time and we are going to start meeting with about 10 students every Friday. I expect that before I leave, my friend, Grant will ask me to talk with them about science, creation, and the Bible since many of the students are asking about it...but that is not really the point of this blog...

...Grant needed money. So we went to the main bank building for a large, respectable bank. There were several floors and a security systems that rivals the Lubbock airport! We went to the 2nd floor and to a room called "Casa de Cambio" which I interpreted as "House of Change"...that seems like a reasonable place to cash a check (something that Grant had done there several times already). After waiting for about 20 minutes, we found out this so-called house for changing money in the main bank building, well . . . errr, it didn't have any money!

Next, we went to get gas. This should be easy, right...wrong! We pulled up and there were several attendants standing around. Grant asked one of them if he could get gas. The attendant responded with a "No" but in about 5 minutes we could get gas. Evidently, there was a shift change about to happen and the attendants did not want to handle any more gas until the shift change was over . . . it reminds me of nurses changing shifts, but this was only for gasoline, not people's life! ...sigh...

Check back soon for more adventures!
Enjoy!
Taylor

MIA

2011-06-26T21:11:00.002-05:00

It has been a LONG time since this "regularly updated" blog was updated. I'm really sorry about that. I almost have a good excuse. Two weeks ago, the boys and I were sick. Nothing debilitating, just nasty hacking coughs and about as much energy as you would find in pond scum. :-/ We got better...just in time for Taylor and I to catch the stomach bug that was making it's way around. Taylor was EXTREMELY considerate to wait until I was better before he caught my crud. Then we got better again. We took no pictures. This is probably a good thing.

On a much more exciting note, Taylor did get the privilege of teaching and preaching for several days this past week! There was a group campers here for an "English Camp", meaning a camp where the meetings were held in English and attended by bilingual Honduran young people. There are many bilingual schools here, where for the upper grades, all classes are held in English. Taylor talked about some of the scientific marvels that leave us in awe of their Creator, about the uses and limitations of what can be studied using science, and about the history of death (how it came into a perfect creation and what the Creator did to remedy it). It was an awesome privilege for us to feel like we were able give a clear gospel message here. This whole language-learning process tends to leave us feeling pretty useless often enough. Blah. Maybe one day this will be different. :D

The Pila

2011-06-08T22:19:00.007-05:00

In Bible Study tonight, we read the chapter where Rebecca watered the servant's camels and later went with the servant to become Isaac's wife. I was following pretty well until we got to the part where she poured out her water jar into the trough (translated in Spanish as the "pila"). I completely lost the next few thoughts giggling over my own mental picture...for you see, the only way I had ever heard that word before refers to the contraption pictured above. I don't know, the thought of a caravan of camels surrounding the rub-board in our back yard (complete with soap suds in my imagination) just made me smile. Now, I really do know that this is NOT at all what the translators had in mind, but it made me think I should post some pictures... so: what is a pila?

A "Pila" (peelah) is a wonderful outdoor sink/washboard attached to a water tank, usually near the back door...the pila is intended for handwashing clothes, but is also quite invaluable for rinsing out mops or hosing off muddy children.) Now, we have the use of a washing machine, which we use for most of our clothes, (Thank you, Don Jim! :), but we have found that dirty-grimy-little-boy socks get a LOT cleaner when they are actually scrubbed. Besides, it's just too cute to watch my "three little kittens wash their mittens" (or socks, as the case may be. ;-)

a Taylorite update

2011-06-08T16:41:00.005-05:00

We have had a really nice week just being "here"...we have had Spanish lessons, we have walked to town, we have gone to Bible Study, but we haven't done much out of the ordinary... which means that we have actually done school. ;-) Yeah!!! We've been enjoying reading through Little Pilgrim's Progress out loud. We like to do at least some of our school work outside...which can be distracting in both a bad and a good way... today it was in a good way: when we sat down to read, we found out that the little ferns we were sitting by would fold their leaves up if you touched them! So...Glory drew them in our notebook and the boys ran around seeing how many ferns they could pester. ;)

It's been a really long time since I updated about the kids' current interests/projects, so for those who are interested, here's what we are up to:

Glory loves to have her nose in a book (surprise, surprise :) but lately she has really been enjoying playing house in the woods with her doll, 'Charlotte', and is continually braiding pine needles into bracelets, rings, and crowns. Her Spanish pronunciation is coming along really well...and reminds us why we are here while our kids are small. She has also started helping me rinse dishes on a regular basis, and is a wonderful help watching Nate. Nate is pulling up on anything he can find and has started really liking to have us walk him around while holding his hands. He likes to clap when people sing. He likes to laugh at funny faces...which is where Levi comes in. ;) Levi is getting to be a really good tree-climber and enjoys a chance to run. Periodically he will come up to me very proud and out of breath and say, "Whew! Mama, do you want to feel my sweat?" (Ummm, not particularly??!!) . Dan? He is my shadow. He sits on the kitchen counter and helps me "took". He takes it as his personal responsibility to walk with me to the house up the hill to wash clothes. (We have graciously been given the use of the washing machine there.) If he holds the door for me and helps put the soap in, he can sometimes convince me to let him ride on my back like a monkey on the way back. He carries on a happy little stream of verbage that is almost understandable. But what he lacks in clarity, he completely makes up for in voice inflection...and though Taylor still accuses him of throwing in some Quechua every now in then, he really IS getting easier to understand. :) I guess that's about it - thanks for reading my ramble! :)

The Birthday Boy

2011-05-28T17:19:00.003-05:00

Thursday Nathanael turned one! :D The big kids and I made our little cookie monster sugar cookies instead of birthday cake. If the speed he ate them and the amount of crumbs that flew are any indication, he liked them just fine. ;) We wanted to get him something to take back to Tx, so we bought him a top...the kind with a string; now we just have to find somebody that can show us how to make it go. ;) Grandma and Pa sent him a balloon ball with a cloth cover which he thinks is amazing. Glory made him a card that he is STILL wagging around. Grandma Migl and Granny B sent cards too...Thank you, everybody! Friends here took us out to eat pupusas (a "local dish" that the experts say is really from El Salvador...though it has certainly become a favorite here in Valle.) We also bought roasted corn from the roadside vendor; Nate spent the whole time we were in the restaurant AND the whole way home gnawing corn off of that cob! After we got back, Granny B skyped us - complete with a lit birthday cake. :) Grandma and Pa called to say good night, ending a VERY full, first birthday!

Family adventure day :)

2011-05-19T21:20:00.006-05:00

(Samuel's House)

A few weeks ago, we were planning to be in Nicaragua...when we didn't have to go, it gave us an extra Saturday! So... we took the opportunity to hike out to a neighboring community called Sauce ("sahw-seh") where several of the saints live. Since there are no house numbers, we didn't think we would actually get to visit anyone, but we wanted to explore the area - and we needed a destination. We had a great time walking together and were blessed to have one of the men from the assembly drive by just as we got to the outskirts of the community. He was headed into Valle, but took the time to drive us to his house...so that we could find it again. We gladly accepted the coke they bought for us and then their teenaged son was shanghaied to be out tour guide - Eli spent the next hour or so walking with us showing us where everyone else lived. :) We were really hot and tired by the time we walked back to the camp, just in time for a late lunch and quiet time. I was SO proud of the Glory and Levi - they walked the whole way with not so much as a grumble...
in fact, by the end, I think it was us old parent-people who were slowing up Levi's progress. ;)

Doña Paula's house

Doña Paula laughed at me for taking a pic. of her stove. :)

Eli showing us some figs

Closed Doors, Opened Doors

2011-05-08T17:01:00.007-05:00

Pic #1: Friday's Honduran lunch, provided by friends.
Chicken, pataste, beets, tomates, tajadas, and corn tortillas.

Yet another Honduran adventure came to us last Friday as we were preparing to leave the country and renew our visas. We got all packed up, Taylor took off time from work in preparation for our travel, and we headed down to Tegucigalpa to buy tickets and stay the night, since according to the Tica Bus website, the bus for Nicaragua leaves at 9am. We met some new friends who drove us down.
Door opened!

Alesha and the kids were dropped off at the Wooler's while Esteban and I went to buy tickets. At the bus station, I found out the the bus for Esteli, Nicaragua has not been running for 3 years! Moreover, the manager of the bus station informed us, very authoritatively, that THEY KNEW THE NEW VISA RULES! and that there have been no recent changes and that we would have to go all the way to Costa Rica! I was not expecting this; I had read several articles and talked with a lady who worked in the government offices (but I was not exactly sure what she did), so I was not 100% sure what to do.
Door closed!

Esteban and I left the bus station not really sure where to head next. We ended up at the new Immigration offices. The Lord opened the door to us there when they affirmed that we only had to cross the Honduran border and return...whew!
Door opened!

There was not enough time to grab the bus to Nicaragua so, having all of the passports, I applied for a 30 day extension to our visas. However, the immigration office was currently in the process of moving. The lady we talked with pointed to a big semi-truck and basically said that the necessary forms were somewhere in there and would not be available until Wednesday or Thursday.
Door closed!

After talking with her some more, she looked at our visas and saw they they would expire on Monday. If we did not renew them soon, then we would be subject to a heavy fine. So, she wrote us some kind of ticket that would allow me to fill out the required paperwork and pay for my extensions. Then all I should have to do is return to the immigration office later the next week and hand over my forms and proof of payment.
Door opened!

And THAT is the story about why we are still in Honduras this weekend. It was a stressfully exciting time. We are still praying that this arrangement will work out next week when I have to return to the Immigration office. Thank for your prayers and concerns.

Pic #2: Victoria, the lady who made our lunch on Friday.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Road Trip!

2011-05-06T09:32:00.003-05:00

Since we have tourist visas, every 3 months, we have to leave Honduras for at least 48 hrs. So...this weekend we plan to go to Esteli, Nicaragua, and visit the brethren there before turning around and coming back. (It should be about a 6 hr. bus ride from Tegucigalpa.) I have much to get finished this morning before we go, but I wanted to let y'all know that we would be without internet this weekend.

Because Christ paid for my pardon,
Alesha<><

The Teacher

2011-04-27T22:46:00.003-05:00

So we now have a Spanish tutor. Yea! Best of all, she comes to our house at a time that is convenient for us for three days per week. The "class" is technically for one hour, but being in Honduras, and since she is a lady from the chapel that we know, sometimes she stays longer or has a meal with us (that's extra practice for us!).

Today I noticed something interesting. But first you must know some background info about Alesha and myself. --- Alesha (and Glory) are simply better at understanding (sometimes via guessing) what is being said. Alesha is better at pronunciation. Alesha is also an "A" student. Taylor does a better job of correctly conjugating verbs. Taylor is a "B-C" student. ---

Now on to my story:
Our classes begin by reading. We each have different books to reads. I read out loud, while Martha (our instructor) corrects my pronunciation. When I am done, Alesha starts to read her book and I begin to review what I read, looking for words and expressions that I do not understand. Then I review my words with Martha and write a sentence using those words. Alesha does the same with her own set of words.

Today, while reviewing my words with Martha, Alesha was listening in and as Martha was explaining a Spanish meaning in Spanish I found that Martha was not looking at me, but rather looking at and talking to Alesha! *sigh* Well, I certainly could have been irritated, but instead I found the whole episode humorous. Afterall, I like talking to and looking at Alesha too! ;-)

Enjoy!
Taylor

Semana Santa - the condensed version

2011-04-27T22:42:00.005-05:00

Left our house at the camp in Valle on Friday.

Returned on Saturday to help clean up the camp grounds.

Sunday thru Wednesday in Tegucigalpa working and getting eaten by mosquitoes.

Thursday return to Valle, but we decided to stay in a hotel in town. That was way fun!

Sunday return to the camp.

Sunday thru Tuesday sleep and recuperate...and pretend not to be sick.

Enjoy!
Taylor

And our next attraction is...

2011-04-14T15:59:00.005-05:00

...is our American Family exhibit. Ahhh, and you are in for a special treat folks, for look! They have their curtains open and we can take a peek. Please don't tap on the glass or you may startle them.

. . . . . . . . . .
Enjoy!
Taylor

Nate's New Whachimacallit

2011-04-03T18:22:00.003-05:00

Ok, so maybe it wouldn't sell too well in the States, but Nate thinks it's great fun. This Whachimacallit is brought to you by whoever left the swim trunks in the lost and found, whoever cut the top off the 5 gallon bucket, and by my parents, who raised a decent scavenger, if I do say so myself. ;)

Learning

2011-04-03T18:12:00.003-05:00

Just a couple of things to update what's been going on with us...Glory is back home for school, and we are all enjoying having her back. We feel like it was a REALLY good icebreaker to have her go to the neighboring school for a few weeks, but since most of the classes are in English, she was learning frustratingly little (except during recess, which she is still encouraged to attend). Since one-on-one (or in our case one-on-two) instruction can be much more efficient, it doesn't take us near the 6 hrs. she was in school in the public school. This leaves time for going to the neighbors and learning to make donuts. :D

Varones vs. Sapo

2011-03-30T16:00:00.008-05:00

Boys see toad.
Levi is a bit cautious of toad...

Daniel comforts Levi and says,
"Toad no eat Levi. Toad no eat Levi."
...
...
Toad jumps.
Dan is done.

The end of boys vs. toad.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Progress

2011-03-27T15:44:00.008-05:00

On one of my previous writings/rantings, I commented how our Spanish progress seemed slow. I suppose that my wonderful God hear my moanings and gave me some spurt of wisdom. Today, Sunday, was the first day that I was able to understand most of the speaker's message! At the same time, Glory moved up to different Sunday School (without Alesha and the boys) and she, too returned elated that she understood much of what was said! And if that was not enough, we made a new friend today, Carlos. We had seen him at the chapel building but had not yet talked with him. He too complimented us on our accent; though we knew few words, he seemed impressed at how much we could communicate and at how clear our pronunciation sounded!

Yea for progress and thanks to God for some refreshing encouragement!
Enjoy!
Taylor

Daily Life & The "Finca"

2011-03-27T15:14:00.010-05:00

Nothing is new, but at the same time everything is new every day. There is always something going on around here...yet, living here we have just become used to the unexpected being a part of normal life here in Honduras.

Over a year ago, the kids all got a "stick horse" from Grandad Key. (Yes, I mean a literal stick/dowel rod, with a wooden horse head at one end. Something you would expect to see several decades ago.) Our kids have always enjoyed their horses, but we left them at home. I suppose Levi missed his horse, so he improvised. He and Dan had a grand time with their primitive stick horses that day!

I was telling my mom the other day how random events happen and sticking to a schedule is rather difficult. While I think that this is "freeing" for Alesha, it is sometimes "frustrating" for me. I like to have a schedule and stick to it, but I am learning that life is not like Burger King: I cannot always have it my way. ;-)

Even with this randomness, we try go to the orphanage on Saturday's. It is a lot of fun for everyone. The girls tend to stick with Alesha, while me and the boys do...well, boy things! Here is a picture of the boys playing (Levi is in the red shirt), and the following picture is of the girls being girls: just standing around watching and laughing at the boys.

Enjoy!
-Taylor

Glory's First Day

2011-03-17T12:24:00.005-05:00

As some of you know, there is a small English-Spanish school next door to the house that we are staying at. Since being here, we have tried to encourage the kids to interact with the school kids, especially since many of them can speak some English, but after Levi more fully realized that this Spanish stuff really was a different language, they both become nervous about trying to even play games with the school kids. Even so, early last week Glory asked me if she could go to the school as a student. Though we were a bit cautious at first, she continued asking every day such that I talked with the Principal and we both agreed to try it out for two weeks. So on Monday Glory attended her first day of "Spanish" school. Glory was humored to know that the kids attending the school go there because their parents want them to know English and at the same time Glory is attending the school to learn Spanish.

Though Glory was excited, she was also very nervous and a bit scared on her first day as she walked out of the house. Alesha accompanied her to the general assembly (where they sing a song about the Honduran flag and say a prayer for the day) and then also to her first class. By the time Alesha and Glory got to the classroom, her future classmates were making quite a ruckus which caused Glory to be even more scared (I'm glad that I was not there). However, the Lord provided some relief for Glory in the form of chickens. While Glory could barely maintain her vision through blurry, teary eyes, Alesha pointed out to her what all the commotion was about. There, in the room, were two "free range" chickens running around, and they happened to be sitting on what would be Glory's table!

Glory quickly settled in to the pattern of her school day. We still get to see her twice a day during "RECREO" or Recess. She seems to be enjoying herself and making friends. The boys typically attend to her when she comes to the gate during Recreo, though as the days go by, she comes by less and less. Yesterday, she just waved at us from a bench that she was sitting at with some other girls.

Bienvenido Honduras!
TaylorH

Meeting at Solidad - by Glory

2011-03-04T16:39:00.009-06:00

We went to a meeting in a place called "Solidad". For a while, we rode in the back of a pickup, but for rest of the way we walked because part of the way you can drive, but then the road gets harder for you to drive because there is lots of hills and rocks. We crossed a stream. It was so big that there were stones to help you get across! We also climbed a mountain, and the mountain was pretty. The whole walk was quite long. When we got to the meeting, at first it was dark, but then they turned the light on and we prayed, sang and read the Bible. The little room was almost full. The two people that live at the house are Don Pedro and his sister, Dona Marta.

Now I'll tell you about coming back. When we were coming back, it was dark and we had to use flashlights. When we got to the stream, Papa carried me across, but then I walked by myself. On downhills I held Mama or Papa's hand. There were still lots of hills! Up hill, down hill, hills, hills! It was fun to walk there. When we got home, we got ready for bed and went to sleep. THE END.

Stressfully Exciting

2011-03-04T15:43:00.003-06:00

Just to give a bit more of a balance and to perhaps encourage those of you are struggling and think that we are not...today we went to Valle de Angeles...alone! No locals. No missionaries. No friends. No help.* It was suppose to be an exciting "lunch date". Drive in to Valle, have lunch, get some needed groceries, and come back. Sound easy, right? We did it in Tegucigalpa. Well, I suppose that in my overconfidence in myself, God was going to use to humble me a bit.

Let's start off with the vehicle that was graciously lent to us. It works great...after it gets started. I think that the starter is about gone, so the "easiest" way to start it is to park it on a hill and roll in down in 2nd gear with the clutch in, then once moving fast enough, pop the clutch out and pray that the engine starts up...it usually does...just don't find yourself at the bottom of a hill without the engine running. With all of this in mind, it took me 20 min driving around to find a place where I felt comfortable enough to park the Land Rover: headed downhill, reasonably clear street, long enough or steep enough to start the engine.

After I finally killed the engine, we walked around a while trying to find a place that someone had told us about. I never found it. So we stopped in at a nice looking place that was probably designed for tourists in mind...and so were the prices! Not especially high for the US, but certainly high for other Honduran places we had been to. This was a bit of a disappointment for me.

After the stress of the drive and the unsuccessful hunt for a particular eating place, I was beginning to feel hungry; I was not a happy camper and was a bit glum that everyone was having a horrible time. Well, thankfully I have a wife who is not so easily set back by setbacks. She observed that the kids were having a grand time at the table waiting for the food and she, herself was delighted to be in Valle with just us. So after slapping me around for a while (i.e. smiling at me and telling me how wonderful it was to be there), I had to agree that things were not as bad as I had imagined. We all ate our lunch happily, bought some groceries, prayed for the Land Rover to start (and it did!), and headed back home!

Enjoy!
Taylor

*Of course, we had each other and are precious God who knows us. And yes, we (including the kids) were praying at every corner.

Different Sames

2011-03-04T06:42:00.011-06:00

Sure, living in a different country has, well...differences. Due to the large US influence in Honduras, there are many US products available. So, theoretically, we can make many of the same foods that we are used to cooking. They have flour, sugar, salt, and other such ingredients used for cooking...but these ingredients are not *exactly* the same as what can be found in the US.

The salt is different and we have not quite figured out why. Perhaps it has more moisture in it or possibly it has some other minerals still attached to it. I guess the product manufacture's process is not as refined as the US.

The sugar is bigger and probably has a very small amount of molasses still in it. It is more like something that you would expect to find in a "health foods" store in the US, except here it is not overpriced!

The flour is also a bit different. We cannot exactly say what is different about it, but it is different. Bread-based products that Alesha is known for making so well turn out *almost* the same and after repeated attempts we have decided that the flour is also just a little bit different. Not different enough to make the bread, etc. bad, just slightly different, slightly unique,...slightly Honduran.

Enjoy!
Taylor

P.S. - Yes, that is an ox cart on the road.

Settling in

2011-03-03T15:45:00.003-06:00

The kids are beginning to get braver here at the camp...it's taken the better part of this week for them to decide that this is home, but they really like playing here and are beginning to talk to people some. I asked Glory yesterday if she wished we would have stayed in Texas or if she liked our crazy life; she cocked her head and thought for a few seconds before deciding that she "likes our crazy life!"

..because I have been lousy at posting pics

2011-03-02T13:52:00.002-06:00

It was quite infuriating trying to take pictures on the road up to Valle de Angeles...the view is absolutely beautiful, but the road twists and turns so much that just as I took the picture, we would careen around another corner. After we got settled here, I deleted a whole fist full of pictures, mostly of the trunks of pine trees. However, I did get a few worth looking at. :)

-Alesha

Futbol and More

2011-02-26T20:04:00.003-06:00

We are now settled at our final destination for a while. There was a bit of an adjustment period in order to handle the extreme difference in noise level here: none. The first afternoon here there was not a sound that I could hear...even at home, in Texas the wind at least blows, but up here in the mountains, nothing. Needless to say, we adjusted quite fine.

This afternoon, I found some people whom we had met before playing soccer/futbol. Now I realize that I'm not an expert at futbol, but I have played some in Texas with several Mexicans and an Italian. This was different. These were kids of maybe 15 years old and they were good! Maybe not professional Honduran level, but as Alesha reminded me, "They grew up playing this." No, football, no basketball, no baseball, no anything else. There is only one sport played here: futbol/soccer.

As far as our Spanish goes, I don't really "feel" like I'm learning very much (yet), but we have grown in confidence at being able to communicate. Keep praying for us and especially the kiddos that we have wisdom and knowledge to listen, learn, and speak the language here.

Enjoy!
Taylor

the Taylorites are moving camp

2011-02-24T21:16:00.003-06:00

Lord willing, tomorrow we will move out to the camp in Valle. We're excited to get there, but we'll also miss the friends we've made. We went to Bible Study at two different assemblies here in Tegucigalpa this week, each different from where we broke bread last Lord's Day. It is hard work, but I can follow the gist of the sermon...ASSUMING that I don't lose concentration by Dan spinning round and round on the bench...or Nate attacking my Bible...or a noisy truck roaring by...or..... :) Speaking of noisy trucks roaring by, I'm still rather struck by how OPEN many buildings are here. All of the meeting rooms we have been to here in Tegucigalpa have been open to the street. They may be gated and locked at night, but during a meeting, the doors are flung open letting the light, the music, and the message float out into the night beyond. Granted, part of this difference is because there is no fear of loosing the air conditioned air, because it is non-existent in most cases. Yet, it's a difference I've really come to enjoy and I think I will miss when we leave here.

More pics from yesterday's adventure

2011-02-20T15:15:00.002-06:00

Sorry!!! Last night when I put the blog post up I couldn't find some of the pictures I wanted. Here are some more pics us picking "moras"!

"Mora" pickin

2011-02-19T21:42:00.003-06:00

We had quite the adventure today. We had heard that there was a pick-your-own "mora" (blackberry) field just outside the city, so we took the opportunity to experience the Honduran public transportation system. ;) The house in the picture was across the road from where we picked the blackberries and seemed rather typical of the houses on that piece of road, though there were also big gated ones. We had a great day...the Lord was gracious and helped us find the bus station. And the blackberries. AND a kind bus driver on our return trip who was willing to take us aboard even though he couldn't break the bill we had. (We had tried to break it at the blackberry place...hadn't even tried at the little mountain convenience store and were running out of options. By the way, the huge, unusable bill would have been $20 US. Oh, well, we learned our lesson.) After we got back to Tegucigalpa, we went out to eat. They don't use many potatoes here, but they don't need them when they can make potato chips out of plantains. :) *see picture* We are now "home", happy, sunburned, and eating "moras". :) -Alesha

Why are we here?

2011-02-18T09:42:00.005-06:00

I get asked a lot some version of the question, "Why are you in Honduras?"

Since being married, Alesha and I have always had a heart for the Spanish-speaking people. Over the years, we have tried to go to Mexico once per year. Also, we have tried to associate ourselves with people who were interested in helping us learning/keep up our Spanish training from public school. The man who married us is a missionary in a border town in Mexico and we have always enjoying visiting him and his family.

The last time we were in a Spanish-speaking country was two years ago. Since that time, Mexico has become too unstable for us to travel. So when we were challenged by some close friends to look farther outside the US borders, we began to seek the Lord's will on the matter. After much consideration and praying we began by looking at Peru. However, just prior to buying tickets a friend approached us who has a house in Honduras that he was not going to use until the end of the year. He and others already in Honduras were very prompt in answering our questions and concerns about Honduran life, culture, and most importantly the internet! ;-) Seriously, internet is important to us because it means that I can continue to work at my current job.

So, "Why are we here?" We like the Spanish (Castillano) language, which we already have a basic foundation in. My job is flexible enough to allow me to travel as long as I can find an internet connection. I have a wife who is willing to travel and potentially give up some of the modern conveniences of rural Texas life for a time. We want to expose our children and ourselves to a broader worldview. We enjoy seeing the Christian church function in different cultures and yet, at the same time, in harmony with God's written word in the Bible.

-Taylor

The Tumbleweeds

2011-02-15T07:57:00.012-06:00

A friend was setting up a Skype call with us and had mentioned that he wanted to hear our first impressions. As we were thinking of what we would say, Taylor smiled and said, "you know, I'm not sure our 'first impressions' are going to be surprising enough. We are kind of like tumbleweeds; we just roll with wherever the Lord takes us." He's right, in a way. We don't need a whole lot to be happy and are glad for what adventures the Lord brings to us. We've lived in strange, make-shift houses and have learned a little about happily making do, so sometimes it seems it takes more to shock/scare/discourage us than it used to. :)

However, for your reading pleasure..... here is our list of "First Impressions" of Honduras:

The Weather (by Alesha)

It's been Beautiful!!!!, but unseasonably cool. We've worn our jackets several mornings and it even rained one day...(we weren't expecting any rain until May!) Still, since the week we left Texas it was in the middle of an ice storm, we are delighting in our short sleeves and flip flops. We will see how hot it gets later, but we've all been well prepared for summer by our upbringing, so I don't think it will be too bad. :)

Driving and Emissions

Ok, I promised an account of Honduran driving. I've been to Argentina and Mexico where driving conditions are certainly different than in the States, but these people are crazy! Intersections, signs and even light signals are taken as FYI only and not as legal safe driving instructions. These are definitely "offensive" driving conditions. Why there are not more accidents, I do not know except that everyone expects everyone else to drive offensively and therefore by that mutual agreement there is some safety...crazy. Due to this, it can be quite dangerous walking the streets with four children wrapped around your leg, but we are learning.

I am also learning to have a greater appreciation for US emissions control. As crazy as that may sound, I really do miss it when a truck rumbles by...oh! I don't know that it is a truck by the sound as much as by the cloud of fumes that it emits. Cough, cough, cough. The fumes that our US cars emit are like fresh air here in Tegucigalpa, and being from rural West Texas, I think that this adjustment was something that we did not take into account.

Oh! One last thing: there are no street signs! Or only that major roads have street names. All directions go by the name of some place or another, but not by the street name...because it does not exist. Very weird and I'm still not fully adjusted to it yet.

-TH

Money Conversion & Spending

20:1
That is the approximate ratio for Honduran Limps to US Dollars. Should be easy, right? It still takes some adjustment. Our first time at the store we spent over 1,000 Limps...I almost choked, but then I calmed myself (barely) when I realized that it was only about $50 US. People here just don't seem to buy a large quantity of things...at least not at one time. And I really do not like getting change! One Limp is about 5 cents US, but they are 1 Limp bills, so I have to stuff 5-cent bills in my wallet and as I'm doing so I feel so self conscious stuffing this wad of bills quickly in my pocket so the people stop gawking at me (they probably don't care, but that's how I feel about it). -TH

The Mountains (by Alesha)
Wow! I think Taylor was laughing at me on our first drive out to Valle de Angeles...and probably for good reason, since my face was plastered to the window of Danilo's van. :) The countryside is absolutely gorgeous. The hills are steep and covered with pines, yet there are palms and bougainvillea in people's yards and just enough tropical plants scattered here and there to make the pine forest seem rather paradoxical. Deep gashes are cut into the mountain side where the rain has swept through. The houses look rather precariously carved into the sides of the slope. (In fact, on our way to Valle, we past the remains of one large house that slid off!) On the road to Valle, you can buy hanging plants from one of several vendors, but watch the road carefully, as there might be horses or other livestock crossing the highway.

The People (by Alesha)
The random Honduran on the street of Teguc. has been polite enough, and has tried to be helpful to the poor gringos with their backbacks full of groceries and their children strapped on like clothing. :) Their brand of Spanish doesn't seem as fast for the most part as some of the Mexican Spanish we've heard, which has been a blessing. However, they can still run words together in a wonderful roll of rrrrrrrrs that takes us half a block to decipher, even if it happened to be words we knew. Usually we have been able to communicate, though, sometimes it has taken a couple of tries.

We have been overwhelmed by the kindness of the Christians we have met. We have had preparations made for our arrival. We have been met at the airport. We have been shown the bank and the grocery store. We have been chauffeured out to Valle. (Poor Danilo may wish for the day we move out there so he can stop coming to drive us around. :) We were invited to meeting by several people. We have been invited to eat twice....and the wonderful part is that none of the people we knew before coming are here at the moment. We have felt extremely welcome. The Body of Christ is an amazing thing. :)

-Taylor & Alesha

The First Day

2011-02-15T07:30:00.004-06:00

Ok, the first post I gave was quite simple. It was meant to hold you over for a few days while we adjusted to Honduran life and got settled in, but I had better start blogging more before y'all get restless...

The airplane ride went good for everyone. We bought 5 out of the 6 seats that were on our side of the plane and since no one wanted to sit in that other seat, Nathanael was able to use it. :-) During the plane ride, Levi almost learned to chew gum; he was able to keep it in his mouth for several minutes (but not more than 10) before swallowing it. The arrival at the airport went flawless; we had no trouble with customs. There was a porter who was helping me get our luggage, we wanted $20 to help us load and move our luggage! I gave him about $10 since we had lots of luggage, but I still think that that was too much...oh well, I'm still learning.

We arrived at our destination in Tegucigalpa safely. Some other missionaries whom we knew were flying back to the States on the same plane that we came in on. We waved at them through the glass wall. We were raced through the streets of Tegucigalpa in typical Honduran style (more about that in another post) by a nice Christian man named Danillo...he has been our chauffeur even though he lives at least 30 minutes away, so we walk as much as we can.

The "apartment" that we are staying at is furnished nicely. It resides at the back of main house and is primarily used as a meeting room for Bible studies. We have use of a kitchen, a dining room, and our sleeping room is a large upper room (not furnished, though it does have carpet). Once we dropped our suitcases, we explored the new place. There is a very nice, small courtyard with a small patch of grass and mango tree that offers shade to the courtyard most of the day. I was able to quickly establish an internet connection and immediately you wonderful people started contacting us with requests for Skype calls and more. I had to cut some of you off and ignore your calls...sorry, we were exhausted. We went to bed early. The morning and the evening were the first day.

-Taylor

Historical Rewind for Last Month

2011-02-11T13:02:00.001-06:00

So we are in Honduras, yeah that's exciting and all, but a lot happened this year leading up to our travels that we were just too busy to blog about. So here are some highlights:

- We had visitors from Argentina for almost a week at our house. I had to work :-\ but Alesha and the kiddos had a grand time. I think that we showed a well rounded picture of rural life in West Texas. (Picture #1)

- In the cool, non-windy, evenings we have been enjoying small campfires with hot dogs and marshmellows. (Picture #2)

- For Christmas, Levi got a wooden fire truck that had to be put together. It was reasonably enjoyable working with him; I think that he had fun getting to really build something with me. (Picture #3)

- And then, just before we left, the snow hit (the first one). (Picture #4) It was fun to have snow, but at the same time it was a bit of a burden because our internet provider lost power to their towers and could not climb the towers to fix the problem until the ice melted off. So we were without internet the last week at home and I did a bit of commuting. :-\

So that is a bit of catchup on us.

Enjoy!

Taylor

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To Honduras!

2011-02-09T20:02:00.004-06:00

We made it. We are reasonably settled. We have internet! I think we're going to have fun. Levi is still asking when we are going to go to Honduras (poor guy, he really has no clue). I'm too tired to say much else.

-Taylor

and the adventure begins...

2011-02-06T22:06:00.002-06:00

Early yesterday morning, we left Snyder, beginning step one of our adventure! We've spent the weekend visiting family on our route to Houston, where the Lord willing, we will fly out from this coming Wednesday. I'm REALLY glad to be finished packing. :) This being the Lord's Day, we drove to Austin and broke bread with some of the saints there, including my sister, Michelle and her husband, Brendan. It was fun to be their first house guests! The kids LOVED watching the trains go by in front of their flat and even Nate was big enough to enjoy swinging at the park with them. We're excited to see what the Lord has planned for us in the coming weeks; His ways are perfect and His heart is kind! I'll try to get pictures up soon, but it won't be tonight because I am sleepy and don't feel like unpacking the camera cord...it will have to wait till tomorrow! :)

Next stop: Honduras

2011-01-15T20:39:00.003-06:00

Plans have changed: We have our flights booked and will be leaving Snyder around Feb. 4th and returning in early August (Brenden and Michelle will be staying at our house while we are gone). More details about our trip coming soon...

For those in Snyder, call Alesha and let's get together at least once more before we leave! Our schedule is filling up fast, so make your reservations now! Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Go, go, go!!!

;-)

Enjoy!

Taylor

Firsts at our house...

2011-01-13T16:12:00.002-06:00

We've had some big firsts this week! Mainly, Glory FINALLY lost her loose tooth and Nate is mobile! Yes, the same boy that can't sit up by himself can s-c-o-o-n-t-c-h across the living room carpet just fine. Kids are weird... And we like them... A lot.

Back to Normal...Whatever That is...

2011-01-08T21:59:00.009-06:00

Thursday was the last of our holiday festivities that began back on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

We have already commented about our trip to Canada. After Canada, we went to Houston for my family's Christmas activities. The trip was brief yet enjoyable. After that we had an exciting week with Granmom and Grandad Key as guests and helping get ready for Brenden and Michelle's wedding on a Friday. The following Sunday, there was another wedding in which Alesha sang and I gave a brief gospel message over 1st John 4:10. (And the fun keeps on going...) That same evening we brought guests home who are from Argentina; I had met them previously on my trip down south in April (and I learned from our guests that I am still remembered in City Bell, Argentina as the guy who fixed the coffee pot...go figure!). From Sunday through Thursday we had a grand time practicing our Spanish. Though Alesha learned a lot more than I did that week (it was one of my busiest weeks at work) we still had lots of fun. But now Friday and Saturday have been...well, almost boring compared to our last 7 weeks of adventure.

I think we should try another adventure later this year! (hint hint)

Enjoy!

Taylor

Remembering Canada

2010-12-29T19:58:00.005-06:00

Our December has been a whirlwind, but I figured that I should post something of the trip to Canada and my brother's wedding, before any more excitement happens and it never gets written about!

For those want the two sentence version: We left our house two days before Thanksgiving and didn't get back until Dec. 9 .We had a great time; the kids were amazingly patient with the long driving days and we really enjoyed the time to be together.

For those who actually care where we went and what happened there: The first day, we only drove as far as Oklahoma City, where we stayed with the Kerrs. Glory really enjoyed playing in the fall leaves. Next we made the long drive to Ohio, where we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my Aunt and Uncle, which was a sweet treat for me...I love swapping songs with Aunt Debbie!! :) After spending a few days, we headed North to Ontario, where we would spend the week with the Mittons. We had a really pleasant week, and Taylor was able to work from the house, meaning that it cost us very little vacation. We were really challenged by their hospitality; I hope that we can do as well someday. Saturday, Dec. 4, my brother Jeremy married Liz Kuhn. We enjoyed getting to spend some time hanging out with Liz' family the day before the wedding. The ceremony was simple and elegant ...and little Nate slept through it so that I actually got to be in the same room...it was great! Welcome, welcome, Liz! I can't wait to get to know you better. :)

I can't tell about our trip to Canada without spelling out at least one adventure in detail...On the way back home we got stuck in a snow squall just outside of London, Ont. We pulled over for gas not even able to see what the gas station looked like for the snow. As the Lord had planned it, it was a truck stop with a restaurant, so we went in to eat and find out what we could about the storm. About that time, drivers from the other direction started coming in saying that they were closing the road. The waitresses were really kind and gave the kids coloring books and candy; they gave us free access to the WiFi, so we were able to check on the storm. Just as we were thinking to drive back the way we had come in search of a place to spend the night, the waitress came up to us and said, "there are hotel rooms upstairs. It's not the Hilton, but they're ok". We knew the Lord was taking care of us, when He directed us to the gas station, but now this! What gas station has hotel rooms? At this point, I didn't even mind the storm, I was just so excited to be cared for by such a God! We did spend the night. Taylor went to sleep really early; he was exhausted after driving in the snow...and my man being my man, that meant that he woke up at like 2:00 am. :/ So he checked the weather and watched the traffic crawl forward on the now re-opened road. It seemed that the storm was not going to pass for several days and that the road, at least temporarily, was pretty good. As soon as he saw the snowplows coming the opposite direction, we woke up the kids, bought coffee and banana bread down stairs and got ready to head out as soon as the snowplow came back our way. It was less than an hour before we were past the storm and on our way to the border.

On the trip home, we stopped by the Investortools office in Illinois, where we met up with friends from Taylor's work for a couple of days. One day while Taylor was working, I made a day trip with the kids to visit the Benders, who lived a couple hours off our route. We all made the drive back to Texas without much adventure...and had a whole 6 days before we left to celebrate Christmas with Taylor's family in Houston. :P Right now we are getting ready for my sister's wedding here in Snyder on Dec. 31. Exciting times! :)

To everything there is a season...

2010-11-08T14:38:00.003-06:00

As I look at this picture of our biggest and our littlest, I'm kind of dumbstruck at how God is growing them up. After all, it wasn't too long ago that Glory was a little toothless snugglebug like Nate! I realize that here lately we have been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of praying about how God is growing us up as a family...and NO BLOGGING AT ALL. Sorry! So, for those who only keep up with us via what gets posted here, I better scoot WAY back and start at the very beginning (a very good place to start :) ... Ever since Taylor and I have been married, we have been working on learning Spanish. We used to visit a friend who did gospel work on the Texas/Mexico border, but we have not been in recent years due to the drug cartel activity in that area. We've looked for other opportunities to practice Spanish and continued to pray about someday living in a Spanish-speaking country. As we saw how readily our kids were picking up the minimal Spanish we exposed them to, we thought more and more about moving while they were young enough to absorb language so easily. Early this year, we realized that thanks to Taylor's extremely flexible/portable job, and the money the Lord has allowed him to make, the only thing keeping us from traveling was our milk cow...so in May, we sold her. We are prayerfully considering moving to Trujillo, Peru, for six months of next year. (That is as long as we can legally stay on a tourist visa). Though we are making plans in that direction, we certainly do not have tickets bought...and are waiting for the Lord to continue opening doors for us. We're really excited to get to experience such a different culture, and worship with brothers and sisters we've never met. :D We are not "Becoming Missionaries"; we are CONTINUING to be Christians, speaking about the Lord's loving-kindness as He gives us opportunity. We pray that the Lord uses our time there for His glory and covet your prayers that we would make decisions with His wisdom!

Presenting...a new school year!!!!!

2010-09-20T16:02:00.002-05:00

OK, so the first picture probably sums up how this year will go. ;) Today, Glory started First Grade, and Levi joined the school in earnest. We go crazy sometimes, and we are disorganized a LOT of times. Sometimes I don't think it can get any crazier, but today, I wish everybody had a job as awesome as mine! :D I love these bugs!

Playing in the rain

2010-07-29T20:42:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago it rained...and rained, and rained! The kids (and the dog) enjoyed our brief season of "water front property" :)

Nathanael's new trick

2010-07-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

He's getting so big! :)

...and he's off!

2010-07-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

Levi learned how to ride his bike today! :) Granted...it does have training wheels, but to his credit, we have to leave them set pretty high off the ground to allow for our rather uneven terrain. Way to go, little man! :)

Dan the Dangerous?

2010-06-28T16:50:00.000-05:00

Why is it always THIS kid I'm using my frozen vegetables on as first aid supplies? I love you Dan...please watch where you step. Thank you. :)

Nate says "Vote YES to baby-wearing"

2010-06-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the lovely ladies that threw us the baby shower in Snyder, Nate has a new sling. We both like it a LOT. THANKS everybody! :)

I DO have eyes!

2010-06-05T14:34:00.000-05:00

Nathanael watching the world. :)

"The Babysitter"

2010-06-05T14:31:00.000-05:00

Taylor was finishing up some work in his office and asked Glory to listen for Daniel, who was taking a nap. When Taylor came back through to check on them, this is what he saw. :P

Meet Nathanael - part II

2010-06-01T12:02:00.004-05:00

It is so hard getting a good picture of Nathanael's face since he hardly ever opens his eyes, but here is one that shows him strutting his "Goin' Home" outfit just before we left the hosiptial.

Enjoy!

Boys Will Be Boys

2010-05-31T21:30:00.008-05:00

After all of the fuss over Nathanael coming home subsided, Levi and I needed some time to just be boys.

During Levi's "quite time" it was really hot and I did not want to send him outside so we decided to try letting him be creative with a set of train tracks. He has never really played with them alone so I was not really sure how or what he was going to do, but after a few minutes he figured it out and made this track...of course by the time he finished it he must have squeezed all of the creative juices out of his brain because he did not even take the time to run the train set through the tracks before cleaning it all up.The picture above is about all that he did: move the trains back and forth through that bridge a few times and then he was done.

Later that afternoon when it was still hot but starting to cool off, the girls went inside to start on supper and the boys...yes, all four of us: Levi, Daniel, Nathanael, and myself...decided to make a bow and arrow out of some cedar that we found earlier this weekend. We finished making it just as supper was called so we had to wait until just before bedtime to shoot it. Levi got it to shoot a little more than 20 feet! He was fairly proud of himself.

Enjoy!

Meet Nathanael!

2010-05-28T22:03:00.003-05:00

We are very excited to meet this little boy! Nathanael Taylor Hollingsworth was born on May 26, weighing in at 8lbs. 9oz, and was 21 1/4" long. He got a sleepy start to life, but is starting to show a little more personality now, which is so very fun. Taylor's mom has been here since we got home, which has been a HUGE help. We'll try to get more updated soon, but I at least wanted to get a few pictures up while Nate was still tiny. Praise the LORD for his wonderful gift!

Taylor and his "armor bearer"

2010-05-18T22:22:00.001-05:00

I have seen some variation of this shot quite often...and every time I see it I have to stop what I'm doing and grab the camera. It's a "Mama thing" perhaps. I love those guys. :) Levi takes his job as armor bearer quite seriously and is counting the days until he is five, when Taylor said he will be big enough for a small bow. In fact, when Levi turned 3, he went around telling anybody who asked that he was "3, almost grown up to be 5". :)

Waiting

2010-05-18T22:10:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are already waiting on pins and needles....we're still waiting. Our official due date is in a week, and since we have not managed to have a baby on or before it yet and this is number four...well, I guess you'll just have to keep on waiting with us. :) I was realizing recently that we have never been very good at remembering to take "before the baby" pictures; so Little One, though you may get a Baby Book with only two or three pages filled out, at least you got a photo shoot. :)

To Argentina and Beyond!

2010-04-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

Well, for now, the "beyond" part is simply returning back home, which I am very grateful to be. I had a very exciting trip, but really there is no place like home. Here are some pictures from my trip. The first (hopefully) is of my friend Garret and me at Club Banco which is where we spent some time. The next few pics are some of the work that we did to get the building in better working condition. I was able to use my electrical knowledge to fix some things like this fan and several light switches. I did try to work on some of their other electrical wiring issues, but the Argentine electrical code was a bit confusing to me...though I have some thoughts now on how to resolve it. :-\

The last pic is of a really cool bike that I found. One of the missionary's children had this and I thought that I would take it for a spill. It is really interesting how the front tires swivel to maintain balance and control...I think that I will look into getting one like this for out here where the ground is rarely level.

If you are really interested to know of the gospel work that was done and is being done then feel free to e-mail me.

Enjoy!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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After a kilo of ice cream...

2010-03-29T17:35:00.001-05:00

After a kilo of ice cream...
...it is hard to stop laughing.
...you might see a man with his fly open.
...you begin to wonder if people are watching you.
...you might see another man urinating in a trash can.
...you stop worrying if people are watching you.
...you have a strange urge to ask for a refill.
...you find yourself embarking on a 5 hour bus ride for the beach.
...you think that it would be good to do it again, next year.

Enjoy!

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Let's go to the Disco!

2010-03-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

Tonight was the Jazz concert and I must admit that I was not looking
forward to it. I was very tired from working on various electrical
wiring issues and I was beginng to really miss my wife and family. I
went anyway.

I had more fun than I had expected primarily because there were
several English speaking people there, many of whom are affiliated
with the Navigators. So I had several nice conversations, in
particular was one toward the end when Garrett was ready to leave. I
got involved in a techie conversation with a fellow computer
programmer...Garrett was totally unimpressed. It was fun to find out
that they use mostly English-based programming languages.

While at the Jazz concert we needed more bread so as we headed out for
the store I asked Garrett, "Why don't we go to the disco?" Perhaps you
are wondering why I would want to leave the Jazz concert for a disco
club? Well the answer is quite simple when you put things in context;
"Disco" is the name of the grocery store!

Enjoy!

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A Debate

2010-03-26T21:28:00.001-05:00

Today was a reasonably eventful day. It started off by me finally
getting some money, but the more interesting part of that was that
while we were riding through the park we saw the Mayor (but that is
not really his title but that is essentially his job function). He is
not a Christian but he does seem to appreciate the work that is being
done here. I got to shake hands with him.

Next, I did some electrical work...yeah, the buidling that we are
renting is in pretty bad shape in terms of electrical power, but from
what I have seen much of City Bell is this way. I was able to fix some
light swithes which might otherwise cost the saints here several
hundred dollars. Praise the Lord, I'm glad that I can be some help
even though there is such a great language barrier.

This evening, we got back from a debate...it was actually called a
"forum" between a Catholic priest and the Protestant preacher here. I
did not understand much of the discussion but there were about 50
people in attendance, which meant standing room only. Most people
seemed quite pleased with the debate. It was the most Argentine
greetings that I had given/dealt in such rapid succession. (An
Argentine greeting consists of a small hug ang "kiss" on the cheek,
usually right cheek, though few kisses actually ever involve lips. In
reality it is more of a touch between cheeks and a kissing sound.) I
am getting better at it though Garrett says that I am still very stiff
about the whole thing.

The most awesome part about today was correcting Garrett! Well ok so I
did not really correct his grammer, but I did know and use a word that
he did not know. It is the word for "heel" like the part of a foot.
Facu had told me earlier in the day that his foot was hurting and I
managed to retain the word until I asked him about it at the end of
the day!

(Though I don't feel like I am making much progress, I am able to
recall words better and faster than I did only two days ago.)

Enjoy!

Posted via email from yafnrp's posterous

Mate

2010-03-24T17:50:00.001-05:00

I fully recognize that I am different than other people, but I don't
think that I will ever fully understand some aspects in Larin and
Sounth America. To me there seems to always be a sense of "no
urgency". What I mean is if there is lots of work to be done then no
one seems to care when (or in my opinion: IF) it gets done. I'm not
sure how well I can get my point across, but if you know me then you
probably understand my difficulty. :-/

In the same day that I experienced this behavior I also experienced
genuine Argentine hospitality. :-) Now let me explain something first:
the people that I see here remind me of New Yorkers. With little
offense to New York people, they can appear a bit rude to a Southerner
when you meet one on the street. For example, if you were to say
"Hello." or "Can you help me find..." to an Argentine person on the
street then they might look at you like your were either a lunatic or
a thief. (I was told this but I did not fully believe it until I got
here...and yes, this is all just a setup for my main point.) As I was
wrapping up our painting project today, I ended up cleaning off a sign
that was in front of a store because there was some paint droppings on
it. The young man running the store was pleased with my effort, even
though I was not able to get much off the sign without ruining it.
While I was cleaning up, he offered me some "mate" (sounds like "ma"
from Mafia and "te" from Teresa; accent on the "e") which is an
Argentine drink (tea) that I expect to bring back home. Anyway...it
was a very friendly offer, it is an invitation to stop and talk and it
is not extended to everyone. So I quickly wrapped up my cleaning and
stood around drinking "mate" talking as best I could with the man. It
was truly an honor that this man wanted to try to communicate with me
knowing that I knew little Spanish. This was my first experience with
this type of Argentine hospitality from a stranger.

Enjoy!

Posted via email from yafnrp's posterous

Hit the Ground running

2010-03-22T09:19:00.001-05:00

I went running this morning with Vini and had a decent conversation
(Vini speaks little English and Garrett was gone). We ran for about 45
minutes and we were both tired, but I was concentrating so much on
listening and speaking that I failed to realizehow tired my legs were
until we were close to done.

Soon Chris, an engineer is coming to take us to an orphanage. (Garrett
asked me what I wanted to do while in Argentina and I told him that I
wanted to go to an orphanage.) Then we need to do some painting and
general maintenance on the building...I think that I'm going to be
stuck working on some electrical wiring issues.

This is going to be one exciting week!
Enjoy!

Posted via email from yafnrp's posterous

Argentina - part I

2010-03-22T08:55:00.001-05:00

This place is not at all what I had expected! First of all it is NOT
Mexico. Next, many people want to practice their English out on other
English speaking people...quite annoying when I am trying to do just
the opposite.

Other than that, things are going well. There is an interesting accent
here in Argentina that is not heard in Mexico or Texas. It is taking
a bit of time to adjust to it. Tonight we are going to an "asado",
which, I am told, is a type of meat and/or an event. So I think
tonight we are doing both.

Well...I was just told that we have to get ready to go!

Enjoy!

Posted via email from yafnrp's posterous

Patrick

2010-03-17T22:04:00.004-05:00

Everybody, this is Patrick...Patrick, meet everybody! :) Today we brought home this 3/4 Golden puppy. He seems to fit in really well with the rest of our menagerie. This top picture makes Taylor and I smile...since we have a very similar picture on the blog from 3 years back, when Pete was little (and so was Glory for that matter!):~)

Daniel gets his leg cutoff!

2010-03-16T09:16:00.001-05:00

In case you missed it, Daniel got his leg cutoff...well not really his "real" leg, but rather his cast. He actually did quite well considering that the doctor had to use a high-speed cutting device to cut off the cast. Daniel sat there patiently while Alesha and the kids tensed up for fear the the doctor really was going to cut Daniel's leg.

Enjoy!

Taylor

Posted via email from yafnrp's posterous

Fun Memories

2010-03-10T11:13:00.004-06:00

It was windy today by 9:00am. Really windy. The two oldest kids were coming outside with me to milk, though I left Daniel in his walker inside. (He can't get into much that way, and I figured he would be happier there than fighting the wind for 30 min. with us.) As we were walking out the door, already very late for chores, my mind flashed back almost 20 years...see, I grew up on a windswept prairie, too. My Mama, always overflowing with creativity and just as certainly against wasting money, would send us out with "plastic bag kites". It was almost always too windy for "real" kites, so she improvised, tying a loop of twine to the handles of a plastic grocery sack and letting us flap around the yard with it dashing and zipping behind us like a crazy dive-bombing bird. We thought they were wonderful...So today, even though we were already late, we decided to be three minutes later so I could tie a piece of feed sack twine to a plastic bag. :)

Just a few pictures to prove we're alive...

2010-02-15T22:27:00.005-06:00

I promised you pictures of the addition...which I still have not taken. However, here are a couple snapshots of my favorite little people. :) As far as the house addition, we feel very rich. As of this weekend, we have lights in our room...that turn on with a switch on the wall! :) ...and our closet has a closet rod!!! (which is an extremely handy thing for a closet to have.) The kids have enjoyed having the boys' room separate from the girl(s'?) room. Glory especially likes being able to stay up for a little longer reading in her room. We usually have her turn her light off at 8:00, but tonight I forgot about her; long about 9:00, she came out saying, " Mama, I read this WHOLE book. In ORDER!" Oh, well. :)

10 days ago...

2009-10-12T23:15:00.002-05:00

...we started installing the floor joists, then it rained. Then we installed the first layer of subflooring; it rained. Then we finished the subfloor; it rained. Now we have the walls up; it rained not once but twice! The last time that I checked, we lived in West Texas, not Houston or Seattle.

For those of you who do not know, we are adding on to our house. I hope to have it in-the-dry (which means mostly water tight) in the early part of next week. We have not had much time for anything with this construction, but perhaps when it is done (i.e. in-the-dry) then we will post some pictures.

Enjoy!

Taylor

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

Our big boy got his first hair cut for his birthday! I love you, little man! :)

Spaghetti

2009-08-24T15:02:00.004-05:00

It takes a while to learn to eat spaghetti...

Before you are 1 year old, your parents often don't give you sauce...it is challenge enough to get the noodles in your mouth. (See pic. #1)

By the time you are 2 years old, you get sauce, and use a fork....but it is still a bit messy. (See pic. #2)

After almost 5 years of practice, you can eat spaghetti in a rather civilized fashion! Yeah!!!! :)

Milk For Sale...and other ramblings

2009-07-21T12:48:00.005-05:00

I (Taylor, not Alesha) get several comments about how sure someone is that this milk cow thing CANNOT be profitable. I typically just shrug (sp?) my shoulders and let the conversation drop. I do not point out the fact that, assuming they can afford it, that if a man's wife were to ask for a new car, a horse, a vacation, etc., that the husband would likely find a way to give it to her. My wife happens to want a milk cow. She has wanted one for years. The fact the our milk cow actually produces something of value is, I think, a point of envy that some of my friends are trying to justify. :-p

Another point that I only recently realized is that many of the people who make such comments to me DON'T BUY MILK! Ok, maybe they buy a gallon of milk a week at most, but little do they realize that we easily go through 5-6 gallons of milk per week...and that was when we had to buy it and I rarely drank it even though I like it a lot. We also like yogourt, ice cream, butter, whipped cream, and cheese*; that is just a few things that we have been able to make using Annabelle's milk. I wonder if any of these "nay-sayers" have actually put the numbers to this???

From my estimates, it should be close to breaking even including the time involved, though it is hard to value time when Alesha is playing and experimenting with new things. From others who have gone before us, they have noted that a "family cow" is actually somewhat profitable.

I suppose that after all of this the bottom line is that we like our milk cow, Annabell, and that it is good enough for me to see that my wife is happy.

*Hopefully, Alesha will write about our cheese making adventures. She has gotten quite good at making a type of "farmer's cheese" that we like a lot.

Annabelle

2009-07-06T23:19:00.005-05:00

Here I sit, drinking milk that is less than 5 hours old! :) Four days ago, we became the proud owners of this 2 year old Jersey! Besides the learning curve of how to pasteurize without completely cooking the milk, everything has gone amazingly smoothly. I asked the Lord to help us pick an animal that would be a good fit with us, and I am thankful for what I feel was His choice. In one day, Annabelle went from being driven along with a herd on a dairy, to being led on a halter rope and tethered in a pasture. By the second day with us, she learned how to get her tether rope untangled from around her hooves, and began nudging her new-found masters for treats in our pockets. :) Only once, so far, has my knot not been snug enough on her tether. I looked up to find her not where I left her; she decided that lawn is much lusher than pasture! :) Some have asked about the time comittment that she adds to already busy days...but consider this...If I had a horse, I would feel bad about daily saying to my children, "sit here on the swing set, I am going to go riding". However, she has to be milked, so other things just have to wait. A lot of good thinking and singing and praying can happen in a 20-30 min. milking session, where all is quiet exept the zing of the milk into the pail, Annabelle's rythmic chewing and the occasional ruccus of a young chicken that can't find his place on the perch. Sure, there are times when Daniel needs a nap and I'd rather be finished, or when I missjuge how long I need and we are late to be somewhere... and she just WILL NOT be hurried...but for the most part, it's not really so much an added chore but an added activity, and a pleasant one at that! :)

Don't have a cow, man!

2009-06-30T21:03:00.002-05:00

...but after I got off the phone with our friend who owned a dairy farm, I turned to my wife and instead told her, "You're going to have a cow!"

While some women might have been offended at that kind of talking, my wife beams an "I love you" smile at me. She has been patiently asking for a dairy cow for quite some time and her time has finally come. We are as ready as we are going to be, so Lord willing we will have a new animal on our pasture by next week.

(Now I have to think of some witty remark when someone says, "Don't have a cow!" Any suggestions?)

~Taylor

Corn Scrubbin'

2009-06-30T20:52:00.002-05:00

As I walked passed the outside water bowl for our dog and cats I could see a nice think coat of alge growing (perhaps as much as a quarter inch!). I then had a recollection from the past. I remember scrubbing out an old horse trough with a corn husk when I was a boy. We then played in the cleaner water (there were no animals drinking out of it at the time, so it was relatively clean). So looking at my dog's water bowl I had a thought...if only the corn was ready to harvest, but it would be several more weeks before that time. Then I had another thought. I wandered over to the old chicken pen and sure enough there were some left over corn husks from last winter. So I sntched up a few and got to srcubbin'...just like back in the day. After about 10 minutes (yes, there really was that much alge in the bowl) Pete had a nice, mostly clean water bowl again.

"Mama, I have a suprise for you!"

2009-06-08T15:55:00.002-05:00

...I hear this many times a day. Usually, the suprise is a flower, a stick, a rock with an interesting shape to it, or a "pretend birthday cake" made from sand from the sand-box. Yesterday, though, when I turned around, my beaming daughter was standing in our kitchen, with a live horney toad! :~) (That is, a horned frog lizard; non-venomous, spikey reptile. ) I had assumed this day would come. I had foolishly thought that I was safe until the boys got older, but that just shows where stereotypes get you! :) Glory let the horney toad go after we took their picture together. She likes them because " they don't bite you, and they eat ants: for breakfast, for lunch, for supper, so you should like them just a bit." I love ya, Glory! :)

Ergonomics-Savey Feline

2009-05-28T22:02:00.003-05:00

We have, from Taylor's earlier history as an Engineer, an ergonomically designed office chair. Many who borrow my computer grumble disparagingly as they straddle it. Others simply assume that it is broken. For the record, however, our little kitten, Panther, has figured it out all by himself, and finds it completely comfortable. :)

Where did my Baby go?

2009-05-20T14:38:00.003-05:00

All of the sudden I have a very little boy instead of a baby... Lord, help us to use each day wisely!

Panther

2009-05-18T22:57:00.006-05:00

Taylor let the kids and I have a kitten, which we named Panther. He HATES sleeping all by himself in his box, but he is a real snuggler and seems to be finding his place here. I was slightly concerned about the added responsibility of keeping up with him until he learned that we were his people, but thankfully, our Golden Retriever, Pete, is taking his new responsibilities as Kitten-Nanny very seriously. :~)

Thankful for a Digital Camera- Part 2

2009-05-13T21:37:00.002-05:00

...this was what I was trying to take a picture of in the previous post. :P

Thankful for a Digital Camera

2009-05-13T21:20:00.005-05:00

I wonder how much money I save by not having to develop the 11 pictures that look like this for every good one???

Glory's Pretend Adventure

2009-04-29T21:07:00.005-05:00

At dusk tonight, I went out to call Glory in for bed...she had been riding her tricycle in her pajamas, talking to herself all the while. I told her it was time to come in and she told me that she was only HALF way to where she was going, and that no, she couldn't continue on tomorrow, because she would forget where she was and have to start ALL over! As she reluctantly, yet obediently parks her wheels in the barn, I asked her where she was going and this is the glimps into her pretend adventure that I got:

She was going to the "Safety House" because there was a BIG storm. She had been staying in a house with a Mama and a Papa and a lot of girls. Some of the girls had computers and some of them didn't. She did, so she could see her Mama and Papa. I asked her if she shared her computer with the girls that didn't have one, but she said that some of the other girls showed them if they found something that was really funny. :P (So much for my plug for sharing. ) They had to go to the "Safety House" because the big storm had almost broken the house. It pulled all the doors off...and blew all the sand out of the sandbox! The Mama and Papa fixed the house and built new doors and bought 5 new yards of sand. (and yes...I am PROUD that my 4 year old daughter knows to measure pretend sand in yards, but back to the story... :) The "Safety House" is called that because it stays up even in REALLY big storms. When God burns up the world it will be gone, but for regular storms it always stays good! And the next house beside the "Safety House" is a snow cone stand!....

My girl amazes me. :)

Rabbit Soup

2009-04-23T18:45:00.006-05:00

When you grow up in "the country" (unlike myself), your worldveiw is a bit different than the typical American. Pascal, our cat, recently caught a small rabbit. While some of you think this is sad, then try to consider how much damage that one rabbit would do to our garden. If you are still feeling sad for the eventual loss of the rabbit then you may not want to read the rest of this post.

So on with the story...

Glory and I saw Pascal carrying the live baby rabbit around and "playing" with it as cats generally do. I told Glory about why it was good for Pascal to catch and kill the rabbit; she seemed to understand. When Levi woke up he found his sister still watching Pascal and the rabbit. Glory kindly told him what was happening. He seemed content to sit and watch the game.

Seeing that Pascal was enjoying the audience and making no attempt to kill the rabbit, I scolded him and told him that he should kill the rabbit soon or I would. Glory picks up on the intent of my statement and as I am walking away I hear her saying to Pascal something like, "Pascal, don't you want some rabbit soup?"

New camera...good excuse to add pictures. :)

2009-04-06T22:06:00.003-05:00

This is us...except me...since I get to play with the camera and have no new pictures of myself. Enjoy! :)

Flip-flops

2009-04-06T21:53:00.005-05:00

My dear daughter is determined that all weather is flip-flop weather. She started out the door this morning with her trusty green "flippies", only to find that it was 40* out there. She came in for warmer clothes and came up with this. :P

The Thumb Sucker

2009-03-23T06:59:00.002-05:00

None of our children have ever really sucked on their thumb much. When Glory and Levi were little they used to munch on their fingers when there was not anything else near by. But now there is Daniel, and Daniel knows exactly how to use his thumb. Though we try not to let him suck on it continuously and therefore develop into a habit, it is still really fun to watch him.

Speechless

2009-03-03T17:09:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while, one of our little people does something that leaves me completely without a worthy reply. For example, the other day while we were having a nice time rolling around on our new carpet-remnant area rug, getting out the last few sillies before bedtime. Glory, looking concerned, came over and said, "Mama, look!", showing me a mysterious gray gunk on the inside of her shirt tail. After putting bits and pieces of the saga together, I realized that this tale was to crazy to keep to myself, so I sent her to go show Taylor. This is what he heard:

"I was done with my gum." There is a long pause as Taylor finds the courage to ask what she did with it. And then, comes the obvious, if not logical answer..."so I stuck it in my belly button". :P

Sure enough, upon examination, where her belly button should have been, there could only be seen this odd gray glop. Choking back tears of laughter, we marched her to the bathroom. After a lot of Vaseline and the appropriate, "Always, always, ALWAYS put gum in the trash when you are finished with it...NEVER anywhere else...especially your belly button!" admonition, we got ready for bed. Just another day...thank You, Lord, for all of them! :)

Mexico

2009-02-16T20:47:00.004-06:00

Here's a picture of Mr. Smith and a few of his friends in Reynosa outside of his new building. I'll try to get a few more pictures up soon!

We are back at Taylor's mom's house now, after spending a few days vacation with Clifford Smith on the Mexican border. On a one-day side trip, Mr. Smith took us to the beach. The rest of the time we went over with him to Reynosa, Mexico. It was a whirlwind trip, but we are very glad to have gone! :) Our Spanish has improved a little since the last time we went to Mexico several years ago, but it still needs a lot of work. Though, as our kids found out, attention-starved children will play with you whether or not you can understand them. Levi enjoyed playing hide and seek and tag with a little boy named Juan. They would run around chasing eachother and roaring like lions! Glory was completely fascinated with the whole concept of being in a foreign country. She's a words and letters person anyway, and is really enjoying this second language thing! One night, Mr. Smith took us, and ten Mexican children to Carl's Jr. (a hamburger place) for supper and to play on the play equipment. Glory had a blast climbing up the slides and laughing with the kids, even though she could only answer a couple of their questions.

We had the priviledge of twirling jump ropes and playing basketball, of holding little-people and spending a wonderful evening talking to house-parents that work in a nearby orphanage. We hope we were a small encouragement to the saints there, but the LORD certainly used it to warm up our hearts! :) We wonder what the LORD has planned for us, but whether He intends for us to work for Him in foreign places or work for Him from our own backyard, but we pray that in His grace, we and our children will be ready to take up our crosses and follow Him!

Laundry

2009-01-20T17:38:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while, something extremely ordinary is used to trigger an extra-ordinary wave of thankfulness. Such was the case as I came to the bottom of my laundry pile this afternoon! Thank You, Lord, for my men - the big one and the little ones! :)

and the fun continues...

2009-01-07T20:13:00.005-06:00

For the past several days, we have done absolutely nothing productive. Glory, Levi, and Daniel have been sick. Glory had had a minor cough for most of last week, which didn't concern us until her fever spiked on Sunday. Considering her track record and last year's week in the hospital with pneumonia, we took her to Dr. David for an x-ray. They saw a small smudge on the x-ray, which we can't be sure whether is a small pneumonia or simply scarring from before. She was put on a week's worth of antibiotics to be on the safe side. What we do know is that she has a lovely virus that causes bronchitis and fever...we have taught her early in life to share with her brothers, who are now hacking away. ...and tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience, hope, right? (I'm so glad we have that true HOPE that maketh not ashamed! Thank You, Lord, that we have Someone eternal and faithful and lasting to put our hope in! Anyway, back to our saga...Glory is doing much better today and I hope tomorrow to be considered cured (though still finishing up her round of antibiotics.) Levi and Dan still look pretty sad. :( As for Taylor and I, we are waiting for our turn...as often as we have been caughed, sneezed and slobbered on, we are WELL exposed. Yet, we have a lot of friends praying for us! Lord willing, in the next few days, I'll have something more fun to blog about! :)

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. " Romans 8:28

Old English Poetry that Ever Rings True

2008-12-09T19:47:00.004-06:00

Unpacking CHRISTmas decorations with the big kids today, I ran across a poem that I really like. For those of you who didn't grow up on King James' English, take heart...this really is worth wading through to find the meat of what was meant. Enjoy!

The True Christmas
by Henry Vaughn

The brightness of this day we owe
Not unto music, masque, nor show,
Nor gallant furniture, nor plate;
But to the manger's mean estate.
His life while here, as well as birth,
Was but a check to pomp and mirth;
And all man's greatness you may see
Condemned by His humility.
Then leave your open house and noise,
To welcome Him with holy joys,
And the poor shepherd's watchfulness
whom light and hymn from heaven did bless.
What you abound with, cast abroad
To those that want, and ease your load.
Who empties thus, will bring more in;
But riot is both loss and sin.
Dress finely what comes not is sight,
And then you keep your Christmas right.

Wonderful Windy West Texas

2008-11-14T11:00:00.004-06:00

I grew up in West Texas; I should be used to windstorms. However, this lonely hill top we live on has taught me a lot about the power of the One who makes the wind blow wherever He wishes! We were enjoying a typical morning when Taylor sent me a message saying that the cold front we are expecting was on it's way, pushing a lot of wind in front of it. (Translation: please brave your way outside and rescue anything that's blowing around and cover the water faucets we should have covered two days ago. Thanks! ) So, leaving Daniel to sleep on his mat in the house, the big kids and I went out to brave the blast, which Taylor informs me is gusting up to 45 miles per hour. :) The kids picked up their toys and put them in the barn while I took the mail out to the mail box. When I came back, Glory bravely threw herself on top of the laundry basket while I stuffed clothes under her to keep them from blowing away. By this time, Levi was tired of standing up, so I sent him to sit on the porch with the dog out of the wind. As soon as we had rescued the laundry, I sent the kids inside and fed the chickens and drained the water hoses. We are now all back inside the calm of the house, four kinds of tired and hair standing up like we had volunteered for a science demonstration. Whew! Scripture tells us to be content with such things as we have; I suppose that includes the wind - which we definitely have our share of!

Of Big Kids and Bunk Beds

2008-11-10T15:21:00.003-06:00

In preparation for Daniel joining in the kids' room sometime this winter, our big kids got new beds...of which they are very proud. I had to stay outside their door and watch them sleep a bit that first night amazed at how much God has grown them up! Also, since it's been way too long since Dan got his picture up here, I added one of him and me! :)

That Sneaky Serpent

2008-11-10T15:02:00.004-06:00

Just before lunch today, while working in my office I began to hear a buzzing kind of noise. I got up and listened to my computers to determine if one of the fans were humming a bit loud...nope. Then came the dreadful feeling that I was going to have to venture outside. As I walked around the side of my office I heard the buzzing sound got louder. I glanced under my office and saw the cat sitting there which is not too unusual. The cat and the buzzing sound meant one of two things: 1) he caught some sort of cricket that was vainly trying to get out of his mouth; or 2) he found a snake (a rattlesnake of course!).

In this part of Texas, there was no need to take any chances. I immediately ran into the house and grabbed the shotgun. With no verbal communication, Alesha knew what that meant. She put the kids inside on a mat and had them stay there. My office is raised between 4"-8" off the ground so generally I can see under it, but the rattling sound was coming from behind some grass weeds such that I could not see it. We poked and prodded the hiding snake from one end of the office to the other. ... To make a long, 45 min episode a bit shorter, we corralled the snake, with much effort, near an outside corner of the office. Then using a long PVC pipe I pushed it out into the open and pinned it down with my pipe. Meanwhile, my father-in-law shot at it with his revolver (since the snake was only 2 ft from my office and 12 ft from the propane tank, we did not want to use the shotgun). After wounding him, I took a hoe and chopped his head off. The battle was over.

As usual, during and after a fight with a rattlesnake I must think of my real enemy, Satan. See my other post. This time though was the first time that the head was preserved enough to watch it continue to bite at the air, or dust, or anything else that the snake thought it could inflict harm upon. Though Satan has lost the war, and Jesus is proved vicorious over sin and death and hell, that evil Serpent continues to slither his way into our lives just to cause us a bit more pain and suffering. Or perhaps we see the wiggling decapitated body and choose to stay away from it, but forget to consider that it can do no more harm, but rather the head, still biting in the wind, will strike at any unsupsecting victim.

Well, that was my adventure and those are my thoughts!
Enjoy!

Election Post

2008-11-05T20:58:00.002-06:00

Hmmm, I wonder if Alesha even knows who won the election yet. I would not know either if it were not for someone already telling me.
Here are my two most enjoyed election posts:
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/11/432-election-post-you-have-to-write.html
and
http://thepoint.breakpoint.org/2008/11/politics-and-th.html

Enjoy!

Trusting My Father

2008-11-04T20:32:00.010-06:00

Here's a recent picture of Daniel and his Papa! :) I love the strength of the one and the comfortable helplessness of the other. TRUST. It's awesome! :) This weekend I thought quite a bit about my Fathers...my earthly father had chest surgery this past Monday, which, thanks to my heavenly Father, seems to have gone very well. One lobe of his lung was removed; the two cysts they found do not seem to be cancerous. At this point, it seems to be a wonderful report and Daddy is doing well. Through the waiting and suspense of all this, though, I have been thinking some about prayer. As Christians, we are given an amazing opportunity. Since we have surrendered all we are to Christ, God can now see His Son when he looks at us instead of seeing who we used to be. Because our sin is then out of the way, we have an audience before the all-powerful, all-wonderful Creator of Life. Even more amazing, we don't come as slaves, but as dear children as we pour our requests and our fears at His feet. Unbelievers don't have this position. They are loved as much, but have no access into His presence since they have rejected the access He has provided through Christ. What do they do then, in stressful circumstances? They can try to solve them by themselves, but soon they will come to problems bigger than their solutions. They can hope things all work out, but deep in their soul they know they have no control. If this is you, you do not have to stay in this position! God is waiting and eager for your love and your trust! TRUST. This brings me to what I've been thinking the most about. I have been ashamed over the past few days at how in spite of my prayers, worry has ruled where peace should have. I AM a Christian! I HAVE this hope that the world does not! It is not the fault of my Father, Who has promised me His perfect peace, but with me, who like Peter, started to sink in the waves that faith would have easily held me above if my eyes would have truly been on Christ. Graciously, like with Peter, my Lord is always there to reach out His hand, even when my fear rules over my faith. As I look at my husband with our young children, and hear him stare them in the eyes and say, "Trust me", when they have to walk with him through something scary, I know that my Father says the same to me. :)

Fairy Tales

2008-10-18T21:08:00.007-05:00

I was reading a book about the Chinese people, Christianity, and Communism. There was a comment in the book that Chinese people rely heavily on pictures and symbols to convey meaning. For example, a man has a old, beautiful, 200 year old tree in his yard. Someone (not his friend) may come along and cut down the tree. The meaning: leave town or your family roots will die when I kill or hurt you. (Remember, that Chinese families are only allowed to have one child, so if a son dies then that is the end of his family heritage.) In other cultures, I think that speaking in analogies is common also.

But when I hear an analogy or some other word picture, I am usually too dense to figure out what the meaning is behind the story unless someone gives me a clue. I wonder how many other people (particularly Americans) do not pay attention to the meanings behind a story (especially when the story does not have "real" characters). We have fairy tales of the ToothFairy, Santa Claus, etc, and then there are make-believe movies, which we have learned to not believe. There are fiction novels which are not true, however many fiction writers write with an underlying purpose in mind. So basically, we do not like to put a lot of thought into anything unless it comes from our own experiences or perhaps for academia. But how do we know when something REAL comes our way?

Jesus also spoke using simple word pictures to make the connection to greater things. He spoke of hidden treasures (Matthew 13), lost sheep (Matthew 18), seeds bearing fruit(Matthew 13), and unfaithful workmen (Mark 12). We can come up with some simple moral for each of his "stories", but the main point of these was not in a simple moral for everyday life, rather it was for us to know and understand who he is and what our relationship with him should be. He gave these to us to know how we may enter into the kingdom of heaven. So if all that you know are the simple morals that Jesus taught, then you are truly missing out. Please search out the truths in the parables of Jesus. A few hours of searching now may save you a lot of heartache in the future!

-Taylor

The Day the Bubble Burst

2008-10-13T15:09:00.003-05:00

Yes, I work for a financial software company, but this post has very little to do with the current financial markets (though link below may be helpful if you are an investor). Today, Glory spent the last part of her quiet time with me in my office. While I worked, she also worked on another computer practicing her hand-eye coordination by moving the mouse cursor over a digital piece of bubble wrap and then by clicking it she could "pop" the bubble.

Now this may seem silly, but we actually had a good learning experience. Some times I would start a pattern of bubbles to pop and she would have to finish the pattern. Other times, she practiced spelling short words by popping the appropriate bubbles.

For those of you who need some bubble wrap, but do not have any currently in stock, then here is a cheap substitute: http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf.

Enjoy!
P.S. - Thanks for the webpage Granny B!

All Kinds of Smiles

2008-10-13T14:17:00.002-05:00

I thought you might want to listen in on a conversation Glory and I had while playing with Daniel last night.

Me: Soon, Glory, Dan will learn how to smile at us! Can you help me teach him how to smile?

GH: Yeah!!! He can learn all the kinds of smiles!

Me: All kinds? What kinds are there, Glo?

GH: (Smiling like anybody should know a simple thing like smile classification,)
1) Thank You Smiles
2) Camera Smiles (remember, she just turned 4)
3) Teach-the-Gospel Smiles!

Now, to fully appreciate that last category, you need to know our shy little Glory, who by nature tends to give people a cold stare and hope they go away instead of saying hello. You also need to know her Papa, who works with her often on being friendly "so that people will know that Jesus loves her and that Jesus loves them, too". So, smile for the LORD today!

Done!

2008-10-08T21:48:00.002-05:00

Today my thesis was officially approved by the Graduate School, and (as far as I can tell) I have fully met the requirements for my M.S. Math degree. You can even access my thesis from the TTU Library here: http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-09302008-094035/.

For those of you close enough to come to the commencement ceremonies, don't bother. We decided to forsake the official event and use that time and money to go see family in Houston.

Now it is time for a poll: What subject shall my PhD be in?
Enjoy!

Editor's Correction:

2008-10-08T12:46:00.004-05:00

Well, I feel better about my linguistic intuition now! Thanks to Tim's comment on my previous post, "Dreaming of Good Literature", I found that "snuck" is indeed an acceptable past tense of sneak. However, it has not always been so. According to http://dictionary.reference.com, the word has truly "snuck" into accepted English vocabulary over the past hundred years, coming to the point of almost replacing it's predecessor, "sneaked", especially for the younger generation of writers. So...now you know...whether you wanted to or not! :)

Working myself out of a job

2008-10-01T23:32:00.003-05:00

Glory made lunch for us yesterday! I helped her extremely minimally...in fact, with the exception of getting things out of the tall freezer and setting the temperature on the toaster oven, all I did was coach her verbally. Her masterpiece consisted of fish sticks and frozen vegetables, served with ranch salad dressing used as fish stick dip. (I still prefer ketchup, but I think she has invented a new favorite for her Papa!) She's getting so big! Her "helping" is really starting to be HELP! :)

Dreaming of good literature

2008-10-01T22:06:00.003-05:00

Levi has started asking to take a book to nap,which we usually allow, since it tends to help him be quiet, aiding in his actually falling asleep. Falling...the book, that is...usually somewhere on his upper body, where he let it drop as he lost consciousness. Taylor sneaked in to check on him the other day and had to leave promptly so his laughter would not wake him up. (Though it probably wouldn't have, since dropping the book on his face didn't seem to faze him any. :)

P.S. I just learned something: Spell-check, and my old Webster's dictionary inform me that "snuck", as in the past-tense of sneak, just aren't proper English - regardless of the fact that it has sounded just fine to me for the past 20-something years. Good old West Texas English...it'll get ya every time. :)

Black Jack of Belarat*

2008-09-26T10:18:00.004-05:00

Ok, so he was not really black, instead he was a medium grey, but he surely was a rat.

Sometime this last winter, various "critters" attempted to make their home under our box-barn. It had always been undesirable, but it became absolutely unacceptable a few weeks ago when we found a snake quartering under there. After killing the snake, I poured a small concrete footing to keep these "critters" out. Evidently, one rat remained trapped under there and eventually dug his way out. Upon seeing his hole, we tried to get him out but we were not successful. This morning, Pascal made a bunch a racket in the box-barn and came out triumphantly with a large rat. However, both Pete and Pascal have learned that it is more fun to play with their prizes than to actually kill them, so I carefully placed several lead pellets in his mid-rear section. I do not think that he suffered much at all.

I covered up his hole, so that hopefully we can be a happy, "critter" free family again.
Enjoy!

* Can you guess where "Black Jack of Belarat" is from?