HE Amazes me...

The Lord never ceases to amaze me. We had a LOT to get ready for the missionaries visit. Rooms to clean, laundry to wash, beds to make, floors to mop or vac, food to prepare, and the kids needed a bath, all before the missionaries came. Scott wanted me to make Lumpia, as a surprise for the missionaries headed to the Philippines. Elyssia stayed up on Thursday night helping to get the wrappers wet before I rolled them. We had 109 before we ran out of the filling. We didn't need that many for the visit, but I figured that we might as well put a bunch in the freezer for later. We figured that the missionaries could arrive anytime from noon on. We kept plugging away at the things on our to do list. The kids did really well and I was thankful to have extra little hands to make the workload a bit lighter. God blessed and seemed to make the day stretch out somehow. We had things done by around 2:30 and actually got to relax a little before they arrived. Mr. Malazzo walked in and after he saw what I was making he said, "I knew that smelled familiar:)". We were happy to take care of them after their long ordeal over the past couple weeks. Pneumonia and hospital visits, etc... Deputation isn't easy when you're healthy, so it's hard to imagine doing it when everyone is sick. Just wanting to stay in one bed long term, but knowing that you have a schedule to maintain. They did cancel at least one meeting, but the Lord told them it was time to move forward.

The biggest blessing is that their family proved to be a bigger encouragement to us than we ever imagined. First they asked if they could teach Sunday School for me. I quickly agreed! This is the first time that I've gotten to sit in on Scott's Sunday School Lesson since we started the church! The kids loved their songs, missionary story and lessons about the Philippines. They LOVED playing with the Malazzo's 4 children that are very close in age to ours. While I was talking to a new couple in our church, Mrs. Malazzo walked up and started playing the piano. It was SOOOO nice to hear a piano playing again! The Goffs will be back next month, but they've been gone since November and we've really missed hearing the piano! The time that we had to just sit around and talk while the kids played was so encouraging. Mothering-wise, church-wise, Christian growth-wise! We were sad to see them go, but Elyssia has another pen pal now.

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday and today. I tried to take more, but just got a blur for most of them because they were always moving!


Okay, scratch that idea. The pictures aren't loading right now. I'll have to try later...