Pictures of the Philippines

Christmas Day

Last night we went to midnight mass, it was beautiful. We went up to the Benedictine Monastery. Then we came back down and had snacks with our friends and the Alvarez family. This morning we opened up presents and skyped with some family. Today was a crazy day. We went to two birthday parties and also to a Christmas gathering. Having tropical weather and sweating today made it hard to believe it was Christmas. But today was very blessed.   I'm so thankful to be in missions again.








I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas,



Abi

Community

I don't usually post many pictures so I'm trying to take and post more.  Today being the first Saturday of the month we have community work day.  So after morning prayers we get together and are given different jobs around Big Woods.  These pictures are of Mom and the little kids, the blond ones are all our kids. ;)

 

 The best way to help little people work is to turn into a game!

 Because of the storm we had we have tons of branches everywhere, the job of the kids was to pick them up and put them into piles.

It was fun to watch them, they were so cute. :D

 

 



They had to see who picked up the most the fastest.

I tried to get a picture of our house but I didn't quite get all of it. :)

Good job!

 

I hope everyone has a great day!

 

Abi

Home Again

And I'm back, Faith Camp was as good as last year, but different. I learned a lot, but I didn't come away with an emotional high. A lot of things happened that I want to reflect on. I know God was there at Faith Camp, and I saw some of the people He changed.  I'm so very glad and blessed that I was apart of it, and I hope to go again next year.
I am going to try and find pictures to post. ;)


God Bless you all!!
Abi

Isaac

This is my 2 year old brother Isaac. He loved nerf guns, Toy Story and Veggie Tales.  He talks all the time.
And he's super cute!

Stateside Mission

A week ago today my father, and three of my siblings, and I came back from Joplin MO. We went there to lead a work mission trip.  Six students from New York came down to help work on some projects. I wasn't very excited about going on this trip, I would have much rather stay at home with the rest of my family. But God did amazing things on that trip.  Every night I went to bed sore and aching, and every morning I woke with renewed strength. I made some wonderful friends, and watched the group turn into MISSIONARIES.  Its amazing how close people become when working selflessly side by side for the furthering of the Kingdom.   Being back on the mission field changed my heart. It's amazing how much God has to do that for us. And yet He never stops.
I'm very excited to go on more mission trips this year. :)

God Bless!
Abi

God likes little people.

This week God has really been teaching me that he loves little people, and he cares about little things in our lives.  One night our cord for our laptop stopped working, we would plug it in but it wouldn't charge. Needless to say we were all upset, the thought of having to get a new cord was in our minds. Suddenly Peter, (age 12) says, "Hey guys let's pray over the cord."  All of the little kids agreed and soon all ten of us are laying  hands on the cord.  My sister Ellie, simply asks God to heal our cord, we plug it in and it works.  All of us began to praise the Lord.  A cord is such a little thing, but God answered our prayers.
All of us have dreams of being something big, a famous novelist, a singer.  God wants us to be the best we can, but he also loves us as the little people we are.  A 16 year old, sister, daughter, and missionary. I am nobody to most of the people in the world. But I am someone in God's eyes. To him I'm His daughter, His lover, His little missionary.
I'm so thankful for God's love and mercy!

Blessings this Sunday,
Abi

Happy Valentines Day.

Happy Valentines day to everyone! Sorry its late, but I have been crazy busy, (like normal huh?)  Monday I went to a girl's study, which was about, guess what, Love. No kidding.  :) It was a great talk and I got to meet a handful of beautiful Catholic girls, who really blessed me.  Then Tuesday I had youth group. Now I'm in the middle of getting ready to help out at a Valentines dace.  Go me!
You would think a girl who is a missionary would be really outgoing right? Not me. I hate to talk to people I don't know, calling people on the phone terrifies me, but here I go, off to be a waitress for the night.  That's something I have to work on...anyhow I hope everyone has a blessed day.

Abi

Prayers

Hey guys!!
Today during our family prayer time I felt the Lord put on my heart the desire to go on the August mission trip. After thinking about it and talking to my Mom about it I realized that this was going to harder than I thought. You see it would be during my birthday, and I would be away from my family for about a month and a half! So please pray that if this is God's will that he would help and my mom and family to reach this step with peace.
Blessings,
Lizzy

News

Blessings on this fine day! Here are some pics of the baptism of Isaac, and our family with our friends the Majors and Father Francis.

And here is a letter to our old friends back in Oregon.

Dear Ace Students,
Oh how our family journey has been! Our way has been long, but very blessed. On April 18 we welcomed baby Isaac into our family. He was 10 lbs 9.5 ozs. He is now a month old, and doing great. So far we have been down to Abbeville, Louisiana once, to see what it was like and meet every one down there. It was a lot of fun, and it confirmed our feeling that we were called to missions. We spent time in prayer and community with the many missionaries that were with us.
We got back on May 11th to get ready for our grandparents who were traveling from Oregon. The Sunday after they arrived we celebrated little Isaac’s baptism and Rachel’s first communion. As of now we are waiting for when we feel its time to back to Louisiana. So as we wait we spend time working and living as a family.

LEAVING!

So we are leaving...really! I myself am amazed. But anyway we will be back around the 13-17 of May! I may nit have time, or be able to, blog while I'm there! So farewell for now.
~LIZZY

The name

So the name is...........Isaac Francesco! Welcome to family!

Hey all!

If you would like to see my new brother here is a link to my Dad's blog!
Still no name, I will update when we have one.
~Lizzy

BABY

IT"S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO.....

Mom's water broke!

Well.....

the new baby might be on the way!

Hey everyone!

So I am back, from a long time of no blogging! The news of the past week is, one: my Grandpa is back from the hospital! We are all so excited for his return. And two: next month we will be expecting number 10 to his/her appearance! We are on pins and needles to find out what our new sibling will be. Please pray for the continued recovery of my grandpa and for the safe arrival of our little baby.

~Lizzy
P.S Does it seem to that I use a lot of exclamation points? It does to me, LOL

Little Women/Namarie to Home

Right now I am rereading this fantastic book! I can not say how much I love it.
I might have mentioned but my family is going into Missions. Its a long hard road.... to me its exciting but my world has turned upside down.
"Here I stay."
~Emily of New Moon
My heart will always remain in Oregon.
Namarie all my family back HOME
~Lizzy

Latin!

OMYGOSH! My Dad just asked me to teach him some Latin! I am supposed to teach my Father, this is scary. I love my Dad a lot but to teach him is kinda scary.

Farm babies!!!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!
We have our first baby lamb, found this morning at 9:00.
It's a boy. It IS a little early, usually we have lambs in February.
Hope the little guy isn't to cold.
~Lizzy