upgrades

we have had a few changes around our house.

the new gardener, that comes from the school, comes and cuts our grass...the old gardener (that we used to pay for cuz we didn't know the school offered it for free) used to do it by hand with a bigger scissors. BUT yesterday they brought over a weed wacker! you can imagine the time it took to cut our big back yard by hand...but now...zippity doo dah and its over! upgraded! and my american-ness in me really likes those efficient upgrades :D

we had a great ibu. until we left for our furlough...after we came back things were very different. she would not do what i ask. she was pretty snappy. she broke things. we had a large amount of money go missing. friends stayed here while we were gone and they had something go missing as well as money. so too much going on with her that we couldn't get to the bottom of...so i let her go. our kids are sad. gavin and hazel even cried. broke my heart to make them go through another change.

but...

this change has upgraded us to two helpers. i hired one that i want to keep and then i hired one that had never been a helper and i am training her so that she can be a helper for one of our new teammates coming later this year. so it's kind of good to start over and have ladies who are fresh and wanting to please. so far so good. but i am having to start over...teaching right now how to know when a pizza is done cooking...cuz the first one is toast and totally DONE...how to iron...how to make caramel...how to clean a western toilet...how its good for a baby to cry a little...how it's important to use hot water when we wash dishes...what is mustard? and a variety of other fun things :D

another upgrade is that i have taken a position with our org as the HART coordinator. this spot helps those on the other side of the world as they prepare to come and then as they get here...i help them transition...with anything they need...(one of those being a helper)...and other things would be language school, showing around the area, going through a book of articles that are important to know about Indo, making sure they have what they need for good emotional, spiritual, and physical experience here their first term...so this is an exciting spot for me to take on because it "upgrades" my thoughts to helping others...and since we are freshly finished with going through the newness of Indo...we can help all the more. i love that kind of work so it gives me a spark. and we have quite a few people right now to be responding too...it's all good!

and then the trafficking is definately having a lot of my time as well...with research and questions and running into people who have things to offer or for us to pray about. so please keep all this in your prayers...if you want more info...let me know. we have facebook...that is a better way for us to share about this sort of thing.

and of course we have upgraded our kids to a higher standard of living again...or maybe not standard of living but dicipline...seems we have had to pull the reigns back in and are trying a new format...positive so far...but just hard for all of us to be consistant on a very daily level. but kids (and big people) do much better when they know the boundaries and we are clear...they teach me so much! i am in so much need of grace...

ian is upgrading his new talents every day...he is scooting and lauging and eating new foods and showing great responses to all...it's a fun stage with family life. i like it! it's just all moving so fast!