FAMILY UPDATES - SEPTEMBER!

Dallas and I were saying this morning that it feels like this is the first week since June that we have had a "regular" routine! 

So many good things have happened since June, and they're also just simply things that make life busy.

The kids got out of school at the end of June and were home till mid-August. 

In July our new missionary co-workers moved to Guadalajara and we spent quite a bit of time with them in the summer, which was so great! 

On July 23, Salomón moved in with us (our 4 year old!) and as good as he did in adjusting, it still means adjusting for all of us. We took a family holiday together shortly after he moved in, which was such a great bonding time

In August all 4 boys started school and my parents came to visit for 10 days! Salo and Sofi bonded so quickly with my parents, as they had seen them on Skype and we talked a lot about them before they came, so it was so neat to see.

My mom and dad

And last week we had representatives from our Board of Missions in Canada here for a week, which meant meetings and people in our home all week, also good and also busy.

So, life continues to be busy but we are settling into a routine now of ministry, regular meetings, school, homework times, kid's activities, etc....at least for the next few weeks ;)

Here's just a quick update on each of us these days!

Carter (aka Chaí) - age 11, grade 6

This summer, Carter got into camping quite a bit. He went to Bible camp for a week, he spent a night camping with Scout friends, and he did a two day hike and camp-out on the mountain together with Dallas, Logan, and our friend, Juanca. 

He also loves spending time with his friends and once every week or two he is invited to someone's house after school or has a friend over here to the house. 

He just finished swimming lessons this week and was asked to be on a competitive swim team. He chose not to though, as it means swim practice every day of the week. Instead, he is going to join the Scouts program on Saturday afternoons and is also taking piano lessons during the week.

He also instigated starting a YouTube channel together with Logan and Brady :) We'll see where that goes. It's private for now but they like to do mostly food challenges at this point.

He also loves to draw, cook, play with the neighbor kids, and read books.

Logan (aka Logey, Logancito, Gancito) - age 9, grade 4

Logan also really enjoyed the hiking trip this summer and spent his time there hunting for mushrooms and taking pictures of them (he found about 10 different kinds). He also went to Bible camp for a week.

He just finished swimming lessons as well, and is going to start the Scouts program and is also taking piano lessons. As you can see we generally have our kids in the same activities ;) so far they like the same things more or less and it makes it easier with multiple kids and taking them to their activities.

He is a curious kid and likes to see how things work and what he could do with different things.

He also likes to draw and make up stories and comics, he loves Calvin & Hobbes, he likes to play with the neighbor kids, swim, ride bike, and bug people.

Logan is also a very sweet kid and loves to play with Sofi and Salo. He often asks to help put Sofi to bed and will sing and pray with her.

Brady (aka Tobey, Tom) - age 8, grade 2

Brady turned 8 on August 14 and asked us to do a friends party and then to surprise him for his family party. He invited several friends over to the house to make pizzas and play, and then we took them all to see a movie. For his family party we went and played mini-golf and went for lunch.

Brady is a people person and loves to talk to people. He is not afraid of very many things and likes to see what he is capable of doing. He prides himself on being everyone's friend at school and got an award from his teacher in June for being the funniest in the class :)

He likes to roller blade, bike, play with legos, swim, and play with his friends. He also just finished swimming lessons, is taking piano lessons, and will be joining Scouts.

He wants to be a teacher when he grows up and he already has such a great way with younger kids, explaining how things are done. Salo is in preschool here and has homework and Brady has a much better way of explaining things to him than I do! Maybe it's a patience thing :)

Salomón (aka Salo, Salomoncito, Salemono) - age 4, Pre-school

Salo has been doing so amazing since he moved in. He has adapted way more quickly than anyone expected and it's so good to see him flourishing. He shares a room with the "big" boys and loves to copy anything they do. 

He speaks 100% Spanish but is starting to learn some English. We speak to him mostly in Spanish, but he hears English all day both at school (it's bi-lingual) and at home when we talk among each other and he's starting to understand quite a bit. 

Having a 4 year old again is interesting as we get used to hearing "por qué" (why?) all day long! But he is learning so much about the way our family does things and how the world works in general right now. 

Salo likes to play with lego, play with with cars, he likes to ride his bike, go to the park, swim, and play dress-up. He likes the color red, loves Superman, lions, and monkeys.

Sofía (aka Sofi, Chofis) - age 2

Sofi has got the personality to run a household of 4 older brother! haha She is a girl full of life and fun and determination. She is a big people person and loves to be with anyone, but at the same time, rarely lets mama out of her sight. 

She loves to play with play dough, with cars, ride her little bike, be with people, wrestle with daddy and the boys, and she likes pigs at the moment.

She also likes to pick out her own clothes, change her shoes about 10 times per day, and always have a "moño" (bow) in her hair.

Tara 

I don't think it's hard to guess that I've been a little busy with mothering 5 kids! It has made life quite a bit fuller with adding two kids, although I think it's mostly because of their ages and that they need more attention and care at those ages. So it's expected and fun but I do find that I am still figuring out a new routine and balance with 5 kids. I'm so thankful that they all get along well and are happy for the most part!

Besides taking care of the kids and alllll that this entails....

I am a wife! and all that this entails :)

I also am involved in our ministry through leading two weekly ladies Bible studies, meeting with women one-on-one for mentor-ship, meeting with women and families weekly, volunteering monthly at Sofia's orphanage, hosting two weekend Bible studies weekly, teaching Sunday School, being part of our missionary team planning meeting and prayer times weekly, etc.

It all adds up to too much to do in one week...and I'm currently evaluating and figuring out, you guessed it, a new routine!

As far as enjoyment, I enjoy times of reflection, reading for fun and for learning, being with closer friends, skyping with family, relaxing and hanging out as a family of 7, organizing things (ha! yes), watching a couple of shows, drinking coffee, biking in the park, baking cakes here and there, and being creative in different ways.

Logan thought he was sooo funnyy....

Dallas

Dallas is also busy being a dad to 5 kids now! Between everything else he does, he has been trying to be intentional about spending on-on-one time with each of the boys as they go through adapting to new siblings and a new family. I think this has helped them to not "get lost" in the mix and in the process.

His focus is also our ministry, and he has meetings and prayer times each week with our missionary team, spends time planning and brainstorming and researching and praying and prepping for upcoming ministry things, preps and studies for the weekend Bible studies and services, meets with men and youth in the evenings for one-on-one mentor-ship or counseling, and many other things. Ministry is hard to pinpoint as it changes throughout the week but he enjoys the spontaneity of it and also enjoys visioning for our church plant.

He also is busy with another course towards his Counseling Masters online, which means a lot of homework.

And he enjoys mountain biking, biking as a family, wrestling with the kids, playing some sports with the boys, bbqing, etc

SOOOO that is a quick update on life these days! There is much we are processing and learning and much we are thankful for at the same time. God is good.

Grandpa Harder's passing

Just over a week ago, my Grandpa Harder passed away. It was quite sudden and it's still hard to believe that it actually happened.

I was able to go to Canada for 6 days to be with family and to be part of the funeral, which I am SO thankful for. Being far away can make things not seem real when they happen over there and I know it was part of the good-bye process for me to be able to be there in person. I also am grateful to have been there with all of my brothers and be able to support my mom and my Grandma, and uncles.

I just want to share here the tribute that I shared at the funeral on behalf of my brothers and I.

The first memories I have of Grandpa are from when he and my Grandma came to visit us on in Paraguay where we were growing up as missionary kids. Even though we lived far away from each other for several years, we always knew that he loved us grand kids and knew him as a grandpa full of kindness, eager to help anyone he could, with interest and knowledge in a wide range of topics, and with a genuine appreciation and joy for life. We also saw his love for serving others and God, which was evidenced in him singing and playing the guitar and harmonica in church while visiting us and his joy in building the staircase at the mission property for us, which still stands 25 years later.

Several years later when we had moved back to live in Kleefeld, we spent many days and Sunday dinners at his and Grandma’s house. He was good at so many things and he always allowed us to learn what he knew by doing and experiencing, not just by hearing about it – he showed us how to use the many tools in his shop to build different things, how to work his riding lawn mower, how to play golf, how to make the perfect juice for Sunday dinner, and how to appreciate playing music, among many other things. We also spent many hours hearing his stories about his growing up years, playing dominoes, having wiener roasts, watching golf, attending football and hockey games, and just learning from his life and his example of faith in God.  

As we grew older, we appreciated even more things about Grandpa. We saw the way he continued to volunteer and serve his whole life and learned from his commitment to his family and to his church. We also appreciated greatly the way he always gave us words of encouragement and affirmation to make sure we knew that he was praying for us, that God was with us, and that we were valued by him. He also gave this same love and encouragement to all of our kids, his great-grandchildren, who loved him just as much. Even though they are young and have never lived in the same town never mind the same province or country, they have many good memories of their time with Grandpa because of the efforts he took to make sure he had a close relationship with them. He had a way of making you feel cared for even in a short amount of time. Each person that came into his home felt welcome and felt his hospitality, which included good food but also a genuine care for you as a person.

We will miss our Grandpa a lot and thinking of him makes me smile through the tears because of the person he was. We don’t need to be sad for him and all that he’ll miss here on earth, because where he is in a place with so much more joy than we can even imagine. But I know that doesn’t mean that we won’t be sad as we think of being without him, so let’s encourage each other and be there for one another in the same way that he taught us to do in the many years that we had with him here.

Canada Part 1: The boy's bucket list

All right, it's now been almost a full month that we've actually been back in Guadalajara after having been on Home Assignment in Canada for 2.5 months! We were there November 4-January 17 (to see what Home Assignment is, see my post from fall! Click on the link to take you there).

Coming back though is always really busy with re-connecting with everyone, getting connected again with Bible studies, relationships, school, family routine, etc etc that I have let the blog get behind me. However, I will do a few quick posts over the next couple of days to re-cap and then move on to our current ministry and life!

First off, the boys made a bucket list before we went to Canada. It had been 7 years since we were there in winter, meaning that they really didn't have any memories of snow or of a good Manitoban winter. Many of their items had to do with these things, and many also had to do with things they wanted to do with their cousins and grandparents.

So let's go through their bucket list and see what they accomplished! 

1. Play "I have never". 
I can't remember who they all played this game with, but we did play it had our extended Zac gathering with their cousins, second-cousins, aunts, uncles, etc and they had a great time.

2. Eat Lucky Charms.

3. Eat Rice Krispies cake.
We can't get rice krispies here and they love this cake...I do sometimes buy them the pre-packaged bars at our Costco here though ;)

4. Eat Puffed Wheat cake.
We also can't get puffed wheat here. Another cake they love.

5. Have a snowball fight.
One big disappointment for the boys was the discovery that snow is not always sticky, meaning you can't always make good snowballs or snowmen whenever you want to! They did have a couple of good sticky snow days in November.

6. Make a snowman.
They did this together with their friends, Rueben and Joy, from our Kleefeld church.

7. Slide down a snowhill.
We went tobogganing a few times.

8. Make in igloo.
We didn't make an igloo exactly, but Dallas did make them a quincey, together with his brother Dale.

9. Make a snow fort.
I don't think they counted this one as done. Their idea was to make snow fort and hide behind them to have a snowball fight.

10. Watch hockey.
Lots of hockey on TV, and we also took the boys (and their grandparents and great-grandparent and great-uncle and uncles and aunts and cousins and friend) to a Manitoba Moose hockey game for Carter and Logan's birthdays!

Dallas also went to a Winnipeg Jets game as his Christmas present from his parents.

11. Sit in the hot tub, roll in the snow, and get back in the hot tub...maybe.
I guess they weren't convinced they wanted to do this one ;) and they didn't, that I know of, although their cousins did.

12. Drink Root Beer.
Yup. A&W root beer, sometime they love and that we find here on a rare occasion (although it's getting to be a little more common).

13. Drink Dr.Pepper.
This we can get here.

14. Wrestle with Grandpa.
Something they like to do with their Grandpa Wiebe sometimes.

15. Learn how to sew something with Grandma.
Their Grandma Zac has cross stitched each grandchild a blanket and they wanted to learn to do this. They each cross stitched a small picture that they picked (Mario themed).

16. Put on lots of pajamas so we're not cold. :)

17. Make white cookies.

I don't think we ever got to actually making white cookies, but they ate a lot of them courtesy of their Great-Grandma Harder.

18. Go ice skating.

They got to do this several times and all enjoyed it.

19. Drink hot chocolate.

Plenty of that to go around.

20. Decorate the Christmas tree together.

Did this at both sets of Grandparents.

21. Make Logan's Minion birthday cake.

We did a small Minion themed party for both Carter and Logan with the Wiebes and some friends. More to come on Logan's birthday in another post!

22. Make Carter's Lego Batman cake.

This didn't happen....we were so busy everyday that I didn't have (or take I should say) to make them elaborate birthday cakes. The minions were just cupcakes and for the boy's party with the Zacs we had an angel food cake, which they did request as well.

23. Play with our cousins.

A ton! More to come on that yet, still going through those pictures.

24. Play Chess.

25. Play Checkers.

?? haha not sure about these, as we have these here at home also.

26. Play Poker against Risa.

Carter and his cousin Risa had this thing going about beating each other at poker :) Unfortunately we only got to see Risa's family for 2 days b/c of work situations so we made the most of it in other ways and didn't get to poker!

27. Go bowling.

The boys did this for their Grandpa Zac's work party (which they say didn't count as Dallas and I weren't there) and then we also went bowling again with the Wiebes.

28. Make a fire.

We had a weiner roast at the Wiebes one "warmer" evening.

29. Roll a big snowball down a hill.

30. Jump into a pile of snow.

There wasn't a lot of snow this winter in Manitoba!!! But they did play in snow.

31. Night of Christmas carols.

We sang carols together for our Harder Christmas gathering.

32. Eat perogies.
Yuummm....the boys had this for one of their birthday parties and we had them for a Christmas gathering, and several times in between.

33. Christmas painting competition.
Not a competition but they did some painting, drawing, crafting type things with their cousins several times.

34. Find a hibernating bear.
Enough said.

35. Eat Canadian Candy.
Too much of it. But it was good.

36. Make stockings for our Grandparents and everyone.
Didn't happen! ;)

37. Drink a Peppermint Mocha and get donuts from Tim Horton's.
Grandma Zac introduced them to Peppermint Mochas, and Carter and Brady are all about anything that remotely tastes like mint.

38. Open presents.

39. Bonfire outside.

I guess the weiner roast refers to this one as well.

40. Fireworks.

Instead of finding some Fireworks for New Year's Eve, we went to the hockey game.

41. Crack glowing sticks.

Pretty sure they got this from a movie, that you should crack glowing sticks in snow. Well, I bought them some at the dollar store and they sat in my room for a long time until I forgot about them....

42. Same pj's for all the cousins.

My mom tends to buy the cousins matching clothes or pj's and they all had matching pj's this year! I do need to get some pictures off of other family members yet!

43. Sleigh ride.

We went on a sleigh ride at Roseau River Bible Camp!

44. Movie and popcorn.

45. Cover us in snowmen.

haha they wanted to make themselves into snowmen. Didn't happen.

46. Buy and play Clue.

The boys like this game, and they got it as a Christmas present.

47. Punch snowballs.

Another invention in the boy's minds :) They would throw them at each other and punch them in the air.

48. Make monster cookies.

So, that's it for their list! Of course they did a ton more as well, and next post I'll update on what Dallas and I were up to during our time in Canada.

Baptism!

A week ago today we celebrated a baptism together as our community of believers!

We first met Juanca 3 or so years ago through some of our cell members, and we got to know him as well as his whole family through various different events. He then started attending on of our Bible studies regularly a year and a half ago and has been growing more and more in his desire to be close to God!

It's been wonderful and encouraging to see how people working together can be used by God to spread his love - in Juanca's case he was friends with a family in our study group, we were then introduced to him, he then became friends with our ASCEND intern, Jesse, then he met the Kleefeld youth group that came for a week, and then he joined our Bible study group. All of these different people played a part in bringing him to the point of baptism and he recognizes each one. There are other believers that have meant a lot to him in the past year and it's been neat to see him grow from each interaction. 

It was not an easy decision for him, as his family doesn't understand and is not in agreement with what he's decided to do. It's hard to imagine being a young person and having the conviction to follow what God has placed in your heart despite opposition. His parents did attend though and I respect their desire to be there for him despite how difficult it was for them. We love this family and we all have things to learn from one another. It makes me think about how I will support my kids as they grow up and perhaps make decisions that we as parents don't agree with or that grieve us.

And after the baptism we of course had tacos all together!! A lady in our group makes great tacos and everyone brings something and we enjoyed a good afternoon together. 

A Day in the Life: Brady

It's time for our yearly A Day in the Life posts! Today we decided to begin with Brady, as it was a bit of a special day for him at school.

7:00 am - wake-up and get dressed
7:10 am - eat breakfast, brush teeth, comb hair
(forgot to get a picture of any of this)

7:30 am - leave for school (Dallas or I drive them in the van, a 15 minute drive)

Now, before you can understand the following pictures, I will need to give you a bit of background.

All Mexican schools have the Escolta (the Color Guard or the Flag Guard). Six students are chosen to be in the Escolta, based on grades and behavior. They serve on this Escolta for one year and are expected to show honor and pride and respect to the Mexican flag (in other words, to the country of Mexico).

They take their jobs seriously and practice every Thursday in order to know all of the marches, steps, turns, and commands. At our kids school the grade that Brady is in has one to represent the younger kids and then there is another group made up of Grade 6 students that represents the older grades.

As the Escolta marches with the Mexican Flag, following the routine they've learned with the National Anthem playing, the rest of the school are lined up facing them in a u-shape, like a square all around them. There are specific times during the routine for the Escolta to salute the flag and specific times for the onlookers to salute.

They also wear this uniform! Everything needs to be crisp and clean and on special holidays they also wear white gloves.

7:30 am - As I said, we leave for school and arrive there at 7:45 or so

Today both Dallas and I went as I went to attend Brady's program and Dallas had a meeting at the school (he's a Board member there). This being Brady's day, of course his brothers tried to block him out.

Classic posed smile.

Right after the Flag Salute they had a Spring Parade so Brady quickly changed into his favorite lion costume (it'll be an awful day in this house when that thing is too small for him).

Brady has such good kids in his class! I love the friendship they have even at such a young age. 

10:00 am - the program is over and I head home and leave Brady at school to finish off the day....he has a snack/lunch time at 11:30, and has all of his regular classes

2:00 pm - the boys all get picked up from school and come home...

2:30 pm - lunch time! Yes, Mexican lunch is between 2-4 pm typically and yes, you do get used to this schedule! And I totally forgot again to take a picture at lunch so he posed for me afterwards ;) We did have broccoli, along with sopes (a thicker corn tortilla with several yummy toppings)

And following meals, Brady's job this particular week is to clear the table after we eat and wipe up the table. 

 3:00 pm - get changed into uniform for Taikwondo class (this happened by fluke - Carter is on a soccer team and we hoped to put Logan and Brady in at the same place in their age group but those classes were full...Taikwondo was the only sport available around the same times as Carter's..soo....)

....and then Brady did some drawing while he waited to go...

3:40 pm - leave for Taikwondo class (actually Carter's soccer is from 4-5:30, while Logan and Brady's class is from 5-6 pm, both on the same University campus. This is on Tuesdays and Thursdays) 

Since Logan and Brady just recently joined they are waiting for their white uniforms...

 It's hard to get good pictures as the parents can sit outside of the classroom and look through a small piece of glass, but below you see Brady fighting :) him and Logan both love it

 6:30 pm - arrive back at home

7:00 pm - have some supper

8:00 pm - shower....no worries he actually has his pj's on in this picture already! But he wanted to show you what he does when he gets out of the shower and he's cold.

Then he and Carter played a little in their room with some lego and played with the cat as they waited for Logan to finish his homework. Ah yes, typically Brady has about 20 minutes of homework each afternoon as well, but this week is no-homework b/c of special events. 

8:30 pm - bedtime! (aka coffee time for this mama)

Their room does not usually look like this. These are bunkbeds, and Brady's bed is a pull-out one underneath. However, recently no one has wanted to sleep on the top bunk. They much prefer to sleep all together. Sooo.....we gave in and said they could keep it like this for a while. One big King size bed for the 3 of them and they're happy as can be. It means less floor space to play but hey, they've got the rest of the house. 

They also don't sleep with "normal" blankets, they only sleep with their special blankets that they've chosen. Incidentally, they are all blankets made by either my mom or my sister-in-law Dwylla or given to them by Dallas' parents. And there is always a slew of animals joining them on the bed.

And that was Brady's day today.

The boys did rock-paper-scissors and have decided that tomorrow will be Logan's day.