Spring, Summer which is it?

Spring, summer which is it? To some of you this might seem like a silly question. But this is a real question that Nicole has had. Here our average temp throughout the year is the mid to lower 70's. We only have a few changes that indicate that Spring is here. One of them is the blooming of the Jacaranda tree. This is a tree that is pretty ugly most of the year. It has these really funny looking pods that drop and smear all over the road when cars run over them. They also have these whirly twirly things that fall on the ground and make a mess as well. But right now these trees are absolutely gorgeous. Some of you right now still in winter like weather are probably thinking that we shouldn't be complaining. We do have warm weather but we honestly miss snow and the beautiful colors of fall. So to answer the question as to which season is it? We really can't tell around here. Trees always have leaves on them and flowers are always in bloom with the exception of the Jacaranda tree. So hang on all you Northerners! Warmer weather is on its way!!

The Horse Park

This post is an English assignment that I gave Nicole (7). She was to write about her recent trip to the horse park that she took with her sister and dad. I'm going to type it as it was written so that you can get the full affect.

La Marquesa

There wan's was a girl named Nicole. She was so exitede beucus she was going to La Marquesa! It's were you ride horses. Allso it was her frst time rideing a horse by her self. She went with her sister and dady. They got in the van and drove for an awr. They finly got there! They were so exited! They lookt aroud but ther were no horses. So they got bak in the van and they drove to the othor side of La Marquesa. They found tuns of baches of peple with horses. They were shouting "take my horse, take my horse! Dady took a huymunges brown horse! Nicole took a buytiful brown and white horse! They started to ride. Then a man sead to Nicole's sister do you want to galup? Yes sead the sister. The man seaad the brown and white hose is faster. So Nicole and her sister traded. Now Nicole has a black hose and her sister had the brow and white horse. Her sister started to galup until they cood not see her. Then Nicole got ustoe troting. They got uot of the woods and they sol a beutiful hil. Nicol's sister stated to galup agen and Nicole started to trot ugen. The horses wen't up the hil and they stated to eat. They they went daun the hil. Nicole and her sister sol sheep and two horses. They sol puppys. They started to bark at dady's and Nicole's and sisters horses. They started to go bak and a feuw mits later they were bak. They lookt for a pase to eat and then they foud a plas to eat. After aet they hiking. They went aroud in scrls and thay came bak. They sol a tire swine. Nicole and her siter swen on it togedor. They Nicole swen solo. Then her sister swen solo and then Nicole. And then they went home in the van. They took pikshers and vidyos. They were home! They toled the story to ther mom.
The End.

(I'm impressed with this story that Nicole has written. It still shows evidence of having been educated in Spanish the first half of this school year. It is interesting which person she wrote it in. She worked so hard on this and she spent at least an hour on the assignment. This is something that will go in her school folder that we will treasure for years to come!!

Time Flies

Our girls are growing up!! Can't believe they are 14 and 7!! Where has the time gone??

Field Trip

Sam and the girls had a field trip today!!! They went to La Marquesa or horse park as we call it. The park is an hour and fifteen minutes from our house. During rainy season the park is gorgeous. Right now it is dry season so the pics aren't very colorful. It didn't matter to the family. They had a wonderful time enjoying God's Beautiful Creation!!

Visitors or Livers

Our seven year old continues to keep us in stitches! Yesterday we spent the day just being a family and having fun. We were returning home when Nicole said, "we are the livers, right mommy?" She was referring to our semi-gated community. If you don't live in the community you are a "visitor" and if you do live in the community then you are a "liver" Nicole's logic is simple, but cute!

A couple of weeks ago I was getting some ham out of the fridge to make some sandwiches. Nicole asked me, "Mom is this homemade ham?" I had to laugh. I then figured out that she likes a certain brand of ham that I buy at the deli and not prepackaged ham. "Homemade" to Nicole means the best in flavor! I think my daughter has my knack to make-up words and confuse words!! The Websters did it why can't the Hornbrooks!! I mean the Websters made dictionaries not that they mixed up meanings!

God's Grace is sufficient!

A lot has gone on since I blogged last. Unfortunately, Tania's heart hasn't been broken by God's Truth. Tania didn't stay with us but a few days as she didn't like rules. She was lying to us and wasn't really wanting to change. She went to stay with an aunt and uncle and they too are having problems with her. Tania is headed down a dangerous road. Continue to pray for her.

I finished teaching at Gilwell. I'm sorry to say that the kid's behavior was much worse this time around. I came home everyday thanking the Lord for His Gift, His Word and His Grace in our lives. I have appreciated our girl's and their love for God a lot more since I was teaching. It's only by God's grace that we aren't struggling as the world does.

Our son Nathaniel went on a hiking trip this Spring Break with several folks from Purdue Bible Fellowship. We are glad that he made it back safely to Lafayette. We prayed everyday for his safety and that he would be warm and dry at night. These crazy young people camped! in the middle of March! We have yet to talk to him to hear how it really went but my parents report that he loved the week!! Oh to be young again!

We continue to minister to our dear deaf folk. Pray with us as we grow as a church to reach out and love these people.

Overwhelmed

Pray for us. I wrote about Tania, our troubled teenager in our church. She is now staying with us during the day as her mom works. Tania is a very smart girl but she has made some unsmart choices most of her life. So, I'm teaching English three hours a day at our girls former school, Gilwell; I'm also homeschooling our daughters at home; I have my in-laws arriving today and staying through Saturday, and we are teen sitting for the next two weeks. I don't know if I've been so stretched. Pray that Tania's heart will be broken with the Truth of God's Word. Pray that I will have patience through all of this craziness!

Just Call Me Crazy!

Most of you that have kept up with this blog will understand that what you read next will sound very crazy. The school where our girls were attending just called today and asked me to come back and teach for two weeks until Spring Break. We all were just blown away. Of course the school is desperate. They just had two teachers quit on them. Us pulling our girls out of the school has caused a little stir. We learned today that parents are starting to question the way things are done. But back to teaching. I agreed to teach for two weeks. I went to talk to the English Director and they offered me a job until the end of the school year. As of now, the answer is "no". Pray for me that I would have patience with the kids and be like Christ the whole time I'm there. My in-laws are coming up this week so things are going to be very, very crazy. Our girls will continue to be homeschooled as I run back and forth from the school. Fortunately the school is less than half a block from our house. Too bad it didn't work out for our girls. Pray that we would have opportunities to have a lasting impact on the school and the families. Only God can do this.

Signs

Sign. In the Old Testament God's people often looked for "signs" to know if what they were about to do was God's Will. Today we have something better, God's Word. A letter specifically written to us that outlines principles for us to live by and examples of both those that chose to follow God's ways and those that didn't.

Sign. Sign language is a way of communicating for deaf people. This language has always been something that I thought was beautiful. I remember seeing children's choirs sign songs at church and thought how more worshipful they seemed. God has brought some deaf folk to our church recently. At first I thought, "what could God be thinking". We don't sign. Natalie has had some classes from our deaf neighbor several years ago but that's about it. We have had as many as five adult deaf folks in our service. Sam has had to work very hard on his power points to make them easier for these people to follow. Oscar, the son of one of our deaf couples, has helped translate the past two weeks. Things are getting better. I sit at the end of the deaf row and write out phrases to help "fill in the gaps". We are enjoying getting to know these wonderful people. Sam is giving Oscar guitar lessons during the week. It has been amazing to see Oscar advance so quickly (he definitely has a gift in music). Omar, Oscar's brother wants to get baptized!! Sam plans to sit and talk with him to make sure he understands everything. These folks have been such an encouragement in their faithfulness, patience and eagerness to learn God's Word! Pray with us for wisdom as we stretch ourselves to work hard at learning sign language. Most of our communication is on paper or via Natalie. We are going to have sign language classes with Ana Elsa on Thursdays.

Our little church here isn't so little anymore. We had 50 yesterday and 10 of our regular folks weren't here. We've had 60 and this really is the limit for us. Mexicans don't mind being cramped so we can still hold out on moving and paying rent. We are having our next baptism, April 6th. We could have as many as ten folks take this great step of obedience!