Lily's kids

Lily's kids

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Finally walking

Emanuel is FINALLY walking!!!! Enjoy this really short clip! I lost my voice from screaming I was soooo excited… 18 months and finally walking! He loves it! All the "big kids" (all under 5) in my house were almost more excited than Emanuel was. It is so cool to see them all cheer each other on. They definitely have their' moments of not getting along and tattling on each other and every once in a while there are tiny fist fights between the twins… But I love seeing them learn to get along. It definitely isn't the easiest to live with lots of other brothers and sisters all the time. But when they come alongside each other and root for each other it is absolutely precious. Moments like this make all the craziness worth it. :)

~Lily


Sunday, July 27, 2014

My babies

Love these kids. Enjoy a few pics from this week! 
July! Love seeing her smile!


Love this goofy guy!!! 

Trust

Trust.
Surrendering my everything to God.
My hopes, dreams, self, fears, frustrations, sorrows, joys…
Lifting up my soul to Christ.

"Take it. All of it. It's yours'. Here I am."

Why do I worry? Why am I afraid?
If God is for us who can be against us?
His plan is perfect and loving.

Rejoice my soul. Pick up your cross!
Looking to Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Run with endurance!!!

He will sustain us.
He will set our feet in safe places.

How beautiful.

Rejoice tired soul.
Sing to Jesus.

Trust.


Sunday, July 20, 2014

Starry night

Late last night I climbed up a mountain and laid under a dark, cloudy sky. One by one, stars began to shine through the clouds. Beauty is too small a word to describe the night sky here in Bolivia. Silence and God’s amazing creation. 
How small we are! How easily we forget this. 
How great His love is. How easily we forget this too.
Don’t get overwhelmed with the world. Get overwhelmed by how GREAT God’s love is for us. It’s beautiful to think that we can drop the heavy burden of the world and run to the outstretched, pierced hands of Jesus. The creator of every star who loves us in a way we will never grasp. 
Don’t forget. Don’t let business and life overwhelm you. Don’t forget to look at the stars.

~Lily

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Intense Camping

Crazy doesn’t even BEGIN to describe the past two weeks. 
Heading out with ALL the youngest kiddos and all the bags
I’ve been camping before... but not in Bolivia with 95 kids, over 30 adults, 2 dogs, and a team of 35 from the States. 5 days, lots of tents, a river to wash everything needing to be washed, three sick toddlers... it was an adventure. A very tiring adventure. We had a blast though! 
Every day there were games and TONS to eat with the final stragglers in the food line having to wash the big pots and pans. “LUNCH TIME” always followed with a STAMPEDE to the make shift kitchen. All the big boys strategically placed themselves next to the little ones who wouldn’t be able to finish their EXTRA large plates of food. Plus there were always seconds and thirds. Oh those boys were happy. 
Those kids LOVED the river! I haven’t uploaded my pics yet but they had a blast floating down the river on inner tubes and exploring and jumping off of rocks. We had a soccer tournament and for the girls the team of Tias won! YAY! I got 2 goals!!! :) 
Ely and Ismael riding on the mountain of bags
At night there was movie nights, late night tea, the kids played volleyball and everyone just enjoyed being together. Sleeping with 3 toddlers in a tent is very interesting... especially with 3 sick toddlers. Let’s just say we didn’t sleep much! 
On the last night before the rain came and soaked most of the tents (It’s gotta happen sometime) one of the Tios went and shot a Capybara! I had ALWAYS wanted to see one and it was HUGE!!! The next day for lunch the menu changed from chicken to Capybara. It was definitely a weird experience. It tasted like chicken and fish. :) 
Matteo, Tia Carla and Tia Ana 
On Saturday we rolled up the tents, washed the rest of the clothes by hand, ate Capybara, loaded EVERYTHING into the 3 trucks and piled into the cars and headed home. Everyone was happy but tired. 
Getting home late at night meant getting as much dinner into my little ones as possible before they fell asleep and then unpacking. We had TONS of clothes to wash and we still have blankets to wash. 
This past week most of my house (including myself) ended up getting sick so 100 things I had to do got reduced to 1 thing. Rest. I find it funny sometimes that God uses stomach bugs to slow me down. I push myself HARD here. It’s a nonstop/ 24 hour job and honestly it can be exhausting. Wonderfully exhausting. But this week I put too much pressure on myself and wore myself out. When I try to do everything in my own strength I see so quickly that I just can’t. 
I’m weak. God’s strong. 
I can trust His strength and His plan each new day even if I don’t cross everything off on my to do list. I want to take time to wash a sunrise or to just sit and watch my babies play. 
Life is short and fragile and I don’t want to waste a minute of it. I want to use up every moment reveling in God’s amazing glory and His love. He delights in His creation. He delights in us. 
Let God use you. Slow down and listen. Just wait on Him. Because when You hear His whisper you’ll be blown away. 
Peniel gives a thumbs up for going home :)
We make so much noise. In our heads, in our hearts, in our lives... Be quiet little heart. 
Isn’t that what God tells us? “Be still and know that I am God.”
In the midst of the craziness STOP and laugh. In the midst of rainy nights in a tent with 130 other people around you and a dead capybara in the back of a truck waiting to be cooked for lunch and a sick toddler laying pretty much on top of you be filled with joy. 
We are His! We aren’t going anywhere!!! Not one thing can seperate us from His love!
Much love and blessings!!! I’ll be posting more pics soon!

~Lily