Tall Friends...

The San Diego Zoo. Eric, 6'4". Giraffe, really big. Awwwww, how sweet.

We're in the USA!

We had no intentions of making a trip to the states again so soon. We were here in July, and expected not to be back anytime soon. BUT, we needed to leave the country again (our tourist cards expiring and we STILL cannot apply for our missionary visas). Both times we took Anna to Costa Rica, she became very sick. And when I found airfare to Los Angeles for a VERY good price, we jumped on the opportunity. Thanks to my parents for helping with the expense, we decided to come to the states for this week. Eric and I enjoyed spending this past four days with our good friends, and cannot wait to go to church on Sunday to see our family at CCSFS. So, the blog may be pretty quiet for the next couple of weeks as we travel and try to spend time with family.

Oh, and PLEASE keep Eric in your prayers. The first semester of the Bible Ministry School in Panama starts on Monday (he's going back Sunday, and Anna and I will head back in a few weeks). We have three American girls coming for the semester- so please pray that the Lord would do amazing things in their lives over the next four months!!!

One year later, & 54 pounds lighter!

Isn't that awesome!?
(Now I just need to catch up on this success!)

Short Term Mission Team!

Calvary Chapel Santa Fe Springs (our beloved home church) sent the first official short term mission team to Panama this past week! It was such an enormous blessing in many ways, but definitely for me personally. I sooooo enjoyed spending time with the girls and was so blessed by the fellowship and fun! They're on a plane headed home right now, and in the days to come I will be sure to post more photos on the Calvary Panama Website. For now, you can check out a summary of the trip and photo of the whole team HERE.

A Few Nice Words...

On a daily basis, I communicate via email with my blog clients. I usually wake up to at least 4, sometimes up to 8 new emails and it continues throughout the day. Although these emails are usually just business, fairly frequently these sweet ladies will write just the nicest things! And I have to be honest, even though I don't know any of them personally, it really, REALLY, makes my day! It's fun to "meet" new people weekly, and it's just so nice to hear very thoughtful & sweet things about my design work, or about our work here in Panama. So, if any of you are reading this... thank you. Thanks for taking the time to say a few nice words to me, a total stranger. You didn't even know that God was using you to bring encouragement and joy into my life down here in Central America.

Some Updates!

We've been having so much fun with Grammy here, that I have completely neglected my poor little blog. All the pics of the week are on Grammy's camera, so I'll just have to give you the highlights...

-swimming in the blow up pool

-making a special trip to the mall (Grammy bought Eric a slow cooker- hee hee)

-discovering a huge and fun pay-by-the-hour play center at Albrook, and Anna learned how to climb like a monkey for $6

-laughing a lot

-eating lemon cake

-being hot, cause Grammy has every fan in the house pointed directly at her at all times

-running out of tank water

-playing with toys- lots and lots of playing

-resting... don't worry fam, Grammy is sleeping in, relaxing in the evenings with her book, and having an all-around good time here in Panama... so don't worry... you'll get her back very soon

Thanks guys!

For the neato tea set and light-up spinny vacuum! I LOVE em!

Anna opens her Christmas gifts from Auntie Kwista, Uncle Tony and the cuzes... Dev & Dyl.

Grammy's Here! (and a slight correction...)

Grammy arrived safe and sound in Panama this afternoon, after traveling all night to come see us! We grabbed some dinner on the way home, and now she's in the guestroom trying to sleep despite the heat, loud music, and fireworks. Dad, thanks for letting us steal her from you for a few weeks!

I also wanted to take a second and clarify something. When my mom walked into my room, the first thing she said was... "THAT's your 'word wall' ?" She explained that based on the photo of my "word wall" from a previous post, that she (and the rest of the fam apparently) thought I was so lame that I covered my ENTIRE wall from floor to ceiling with posters of spanish verbs. Apparently the photo did not accurately show the perspective. So just to clarify that I'm not that lame, I've posted the original photo from my previous post, and a new one showing the correct perspective. (Maybe it's even more lame that I felt the need to make this correction?) I think I need to dig a little deeper for blog post inspiration... but anyways... here you go.

See? I'm only kinda lame!

Happy Sunday!

Countdown to Grammy: 3 days!

today and everday...

Our First Panamanian Christmas!

We survived our first Panamanian Christmas Eve... complete with loud music, midnight dinner, and a sky full of fireworks from every house! We got home around 1am, and woke up to do an "American style" Christmas morning with Anna. She doesn't fully get it yet, but she is loving her new toys and said "Wow!" and "OOOHH!" over and over while she unwrapped her gifts (thanks Grammy!). Check out the slideshow of our first Christmas in Panama!

Merry Christmas to everyone back home!

REJECTED!

Well... (head hanging low) I submitted three vector illustrations to istockphoto, only to be totally rejected. The inspector stated that I had open paths in my files, which I can't seem to find. So... do I try to fix it and resubmit? Or do I just let this one go? What do you think?

Christmas in Panama

Pastor Bert & Vero are headed to the states tomorrow to spend Christmas with their family. Eric will be taking over the Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday teachings and a few faithful people will be helping pick up the slack in the Children's Ministry. We will be spending Christmas Eve with a family from church, and we are very excited about it! Christmas Day we plan to spend together, just the three of us. After Christmas we have several exciting things happening! My mom is coming to stay for three whole weeks! And a team from Calvary Chapel Santa Fe Springs will be here in January for 9 busy days! Please pray for us as we continue to minister here even without Bert & Vero. We'll be sure to keep you updated!

Skin MD

This is my first (and maybe only) review!!!

I received a bottle of Skin MD natural Shielding Lotion + Sunscreen SPF 15! I NEED a good lotion with SPF living here in the intense tropical sun.

If you go to their Website, you can read all about the amazing moisturizing power of this new product and order some for yourself! I've been using it since I received it, and I love it. It's such a pain to apply chemical-filled sunblock on whenever we leave the house... but with this lotion I can apply it like I do any lotion (which I use regularly- even in this humidity) and I am protected from the damaging UV rays.

who doesn't love???

a good boy band! Not me! check out this Veggie Tales Silly Song! (We love them ALL by the way).

yesterday...

was my birthday! The big 2-8. Here were the highlights:

1. sleeping in
2. hubby made potatoes
3. me-time all day
4. dinner with the girls
5. cake & ice cream
6. English TV night
7. leg rub

All in all, a good day!