Check off one thing, add 2 more...

There just isn't enough time in a week to write on the blog lol. oh wait...because I now have 3 children! :) I'll try to sum up what's been happening as best as I can. of course, i have to write about my kids first :). Sigel is almost done with his school year - the Honduran schedule has classes from February until November so he's starting to count the days and talk about sleeping in and no homework (although we know that within a week he'll be super bored and wishing for school). He had a nasty in-grown toenail that became infected so we took him to to the doctors this week - i actually think that this is only the second time in 3 1/2 years that we've taken him to the doctors - he's such a healthy kid! Maddy is 90% potty trained! I had been dreading the idea of potty training but really, she has made it incredibly easy on us! Except for going #2 (which she tells us) or bedtime, she's in panty's. I don't know what we're going to do though when we're in the good ole' USA and their rules of not peeing in the center park. lol. Maddy also is completely 2! She loves to go left when we say right - drives us crazy but we're trying to be consistent. Ali is almost 2 months already! I can't believe it! She's starting to 'coo' and make facial expressions and her whole chunky face turns into a smile when you start cooing back. She's such a sweet thing! Ali eats well - her rolls testify to that - and she usually sleeps well at night too - only waking up to eat and then right back to sleep!

A few weeks ago we had a few pastors come and visit us - with the main intention of just spending time with us and helping us develop the 5 year plan of El Ayudante. It was a FULL 3 days spent talking and planning and questioning and dreaming for El Ayudante - a great and productive week but we were on overload by the time they left :). Since they left, our brains have been working in overdrive! We have narrowed down our focus for 2013 to 4 areas in an attempt to create a solid foundation as a ministry and to not be spread too thin. The 4 areas are: 1. Clinic (up and running by Sept. 2013), 2. Water Filters (continue installing!) 3. Teams (lead 15 teams in 2013) 4. EA Campus (continue construction and finish up projects that have been started, including perimeter wall. In addition to these, in January, we are tripling in forces - the Howard family (from Maryland) and the LeDoux family (my sister) are coming to work alongside of us! WOW! So we'll be helping them get settled, learn spanish, and learn the ropes of ministry with El Ayudante. It's a lot to take in! I'm working hard at creating written policy and procedures for these areas + all the little things that fall in there somewhere.


Our goals for August - October were to catch up... do things like fix all the things that are wrong with our vehicles, finish installing the filters we had committed to installing, create these policies, ...basically finish all the little things that we'd begun or committed to and to not take on any new projects. well we're half way through this time and we're not really feeling caught up ...at all. *sigh. the problem is that the lists are never ending as as much as we try to not start new things, some things are inevitable and the daily running of EA that we can't ignore. So, we continue to push forward every day, knowing that we are advancing - and yet because of the advancements it keeps putting more to do on those lists. We're really looking forward to tripling our forces in 2013.

We've also begun to start the addition on the staff house at El Ayudante - with the plan of moving out there in February 2013. We're so excited to move out there and be in the center of the community and the happenings - it'll help us be a part and not be driving so much (except for bringing Sigel into school everyday). The addition is 2 bedrooms and another bathroom so that it'll be a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house - room for our family and an office/guest room. This week they start the trenches for the foundation. Tristan is so talented - he designed the house and has figured out the materials and building and all of that!

We have one more team coming up in October that will be a lot of fun - it was supposed to just be a intro team for a church - but now they're bringing 8 people and we're planning on keeping them busy with water filters, a kids program, and a community outreach in a village with a church. it'll be good :) Only 4 days but we're going to pack a lot into it.