some news

First off, my sis in law, Cynthia is pregnant! I'm going to be an auntie again. I can't wait! Congrats Cyn and Nathan, we love you!

Secondly, we celebrated 3 years together as a church in Cusco, Peru! Sometimes it has gone by quickly and other times veerrry sllow. BUT, God is so good.
But.... some come only for the food.

Ruth is the perfect example. Ricky and I actually bet one another (terrible i know) that she would show up for the anniversary. And she did! I confess, I was very irritated. We've known her for at least 2 years. She kept asking and borrowed money from us. Never paid it back (although we never planned on asking her for it). She felt guilty. Stopped coming to church. never talked about repaying. Instead she hid from us. We'd walk by and she would literally duck behind a tree or turn her head and not look at us as we passed by. It was SO obvious that we would laugh about it. Sometimes we'd see her head on and she didn't have anywhere to hide, so we'd stop and say hi, chat for a bit, try to invite her back. and Voila!, she appears on the anniversary (she knew there would be food because her daughter and niece faithfully attend church and told her about it). Anyway, I talked to her and said how glad i am that she came. and asked if she would be attending regularly. and her answer was absurd. She said, "yes now we can come weekly because now I live close by." What?? She has ALWAYS lived close by. We know where she lives.. we have been to her house before. It was just a silly silly answer. My response was, ok, great! (in spanish of course..haha) we will see you next week! Today, no show.

Another neighbor lady saw that we were carrying food down all the stairs. If you have been to Cusco, you know what I'm talking about when I say stairs. Anyway, she said to Ricky... oh Tio, you didn't invite us to the party, what a tightwad (this is my very loose translation). Ricky said to her. You live upstairs from the church. We have invited you for years. You know that we meet every single week. You are more than welcome to come whenever you want. Again... what silliness!
Thirdly, some great news is that on Saturday, 37 children raised their hands and prayed with me to accept Jesus in their hearts. it was so precious. i felt the Holy Spirit moving among us that day. Pray for those kids!

Fourthly, Isabella is 15 months old. I can't believe that my little baby is nearly 1 1/2. She amazes us every day. I'm probably biased, but she is so smart. She understands in English and Spanish. When people say "chao" , she says "bye bye". When we say "hi" she says "hola". Her English and Spanish are all mixed together at this point, but it's fun watching her learn. She surprises me all the time by the things she knows. The other morning, I was giving the official "lets leave the house annoucement" and I said, ok we are leaving now, Isabella go get your shoes on. And she went and got her shoes and brought them to me! We love her to pieces.

Fifthly and definitely not last- Happy Resurrection Day! We are not surrounded by the commercialized Easter, which is, on one hand, awesome. but on the other hand, a little sad for me. Isabella wore sweats today.. No pretty Easter dress to church (it's cold and dirty.. why put her in a dress... ugh!) Oh and Easter dinner consisted of a Ham and Cheese omelette (for Isa) and Brocolli Cheese Pasta. We are so lame! But yet again I awoke humming the Easter song by Keith Green. It's been close to 6 years, where I haven't listened to his music at all, but every year on Easter morning, I wake up with that song stuck in my head. I love it!

Here is a part of the song:

Hear the bells ringing
They're singing that you can be born again
Here the bells ringing
They're singing Christ is risen from the dead
The angel up on the tombstone
Said He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell his disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead
Joy to the word, He has risen, hallelujah
He's risen, hallelujah



Lastly, (and seemingly not nearly as big a deal as Cynthia expecting- but believe me, it IS!) My chili seeds sprouted (the Aji Verdes from Chile) and are GROWING! They are bearing the cold nights and even managed a few rain storms in their mini greenhouse when I forgot to bring them inside. I am SO excited. Being among my plants is one of my favorite places. I could snip, prune, water and talk to them for hours on end... or at least until Isabella comes and innocently tries to destroy all my hard work.