Spider-Man and Princesses

" I've seen "ider mon" already 2 times.-David ( in a Korean Accent)
"Yeah well I've seen Spider man thirty-one and eight times"- Tomas ( we are clearly still learning our numbers and have only made it to 20...)
" My favorite es capitana americana".(  Bi-Spanish much?) :)

OH I love the little conversations I get to catch throughout the day. Conversations that I will never hear 3 or 4 of my little girls talking about, and vice versa. How different Boys and Girls truly are right?! For me, its been somewhat eye opening. I thought I would compile a list of those differences that by age 5 are the same at age 25/35/45 and are usually things that I have heard can be frustrating in relationships. Whether its a guy wanting to watch a football game instead of a romance movie, or wanting to play with cars or tools in his garage instead of decorating the house, to wanting to do things himself when your wanting to ask whoever and however many people that you know to help ( because of course that makes more sense and would get things finished sooner :))  God has truly made us different creatures, and here are some I have observed so far! Hope you enjoy! :)

Boys: Only want to color pictures of Superhero's ( Spider Man BY FAR being the favorite) and if it isn't a super hero, its a dog or big scary animals.
Girls: Only want to color pictures of castles, princesses, kittens, flowers, and rainbows
Boys: Dodge my hugs but pick me endless amounts of flowers
Girls: Pick flowers to keep, but want to hug me throughout the day
Boys: Take their school work seriously in a competition type way
Girls: Want to offer help to whoever they think needs it ( often times when they are not suppose to look at each others papers, but proceed to any ways!)- this made the Assessment Tests we took this week... really interesting!
Boys: Want to play ball with the older boys on the playground, and truly believe they can keep up :)
Girls: Fight and hover over the swing the entire time not giving a care to the loud ball game going on feet away from the swing set.
Boys: Flex in the bathroom mirror and try jumping the farthest off the bench as possible
Girls: Smile and giggle into the mirror, and use the bench for twirling
( I might add these are all things I've caught them doing while they were "going to the bathroom")
Boys: Always want to be. First. or the Fastest
Girls: Hold hands and walk together and doing things constantly pared with a buddy or in a group.
While playing with the Little People toys in "Play center"
Boys: Always go for the big cars and trucks and make car sounds and rail road tracks out of anything they can find.
Girls: Always find the princesses and Prince and the big mini van. While the boys are creating rail road tracks and battle grounds, the girls are rearranging the insides of the doll houses.
 Boys: Play in the dirt on the playground and always have to be asked to clean up.
Girls: Play with the dirt/sand on the playground and usually volunteer to go wash up in the bathroom after recess before being asked.
( And there is a huge difference here folks!!)
Boys: Tell me that i'm pretty
Girls: Ask me why I am not married
Boys: Stick with the same thing for MAYBE 10 minutes and are bored and ready to conquer something different
Girls: Could do the same activity the entire afternoon -perfecting or changing it up, the entire afternoon.
Boys: Make guns out of construction paper and find enjoyment in saying " Tia Candace I got you!"
Girls: Make jewlry out of construction paper and always want my affirmation and praise " Aw, what a pretty ring...it looks real!" :) haha

Good example. Boys huddled together over in the corner, and girls playing with the Princess Carriage and the castle. :)

 The Purpose of Prayer: : 1 Thes 5: 10 Says to pray without ceasing, but so often the day can end and it is only as I am laying my head down to sleep that It hits me that, I let an entire day pass me by without speaking my Savior. What are my motives for praying? Am I truly being honest with myself and the Lord when I pray? When Do I find myself praying the most, as well as praying the least? These are questions I have been struggling with for the past couple weeks, as I've been made more aware of the intimacy prayer provides as well as the privilege it is and yet how easily it can be skipped over as an appetizer that we nibble on, but turn to other things as our substances and main meal ( whatever that main meal might be for each person). I have been more inclined to turn to relationships for my Main course, substanance giving Meal, turning prayer often-times into an "additional necessity" but not the absolute foundation for my spirits refreshment and daily renewal. I've been made more aware of this tendency through being here in Chile, and I am thankful for it. I am thankful for the times of feeling completely alone,  because its led me to communicate more with the Lord in a more intimate and continual way, bringing an understanding of why prayer is suppose to be constant communication with our Lord throughout the day! "Without ceasing".

 May 25 - Morning and Evening
" On looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever answered them. There may be some who think their prayers worthy of acceptance-as the Pharisee did; but the true Christian, in a more enlightened retrospect, weeps over his prayers, and if he could retrace his steps he would desire to pray more earnestly. Remember, Christian how cold your prayers have been. When in your prayer room you should have wrestled as Jacob did but instead thereof, your petitions have been faint and few-far removed from that humble, believing, persevering faith, which cries, " I will not let you go unless You bless me." Yet, wonderful to say, God has heard these cold prayers of yours, and not only heard, but answered them. reflect also, how infrequent your prayers have been, unless you have been in trouble, and then you have gone often to the mercy seat: but when deliverance has come, where has your constant supplication been? Yet in spite of the fact that you have stopped praying as you once did, God has not ceased to bless. When you have neglected the mercy seat, God has not deserted it, but the bright light of the Shekinah has always been visible between the wings of the cherumbim. Oh! it is marvilous that the Lord should regard those intermittent spasms of insistent requests which come and go with our necessities. What a God is HE thus to hear the prayers of those who come to Him when they have pressing wants, but neglect Him when they have received a mercy: who approach Him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address Him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few. Let His gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts, so that we may henceforth be found to "pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." 

“If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” -Piper

Senior Trip to Pucon, Chile!!

Our wonderful Cabin! The Lord totally worked out a blessing in us finding these clean, accommodating and new cabins. We started out the trip in a cabin that would of been about a Motel 8 in standards. Dirty sheets, dirty dishes, no Internet, small, and everyone by the second day was desiring the same thing. To move. Thus began our search for a different cabin that could hold a group our size...and was within our VERY limited price range. After a couple hours of dead ends and closed doors, a discouraged group of teens began the trek back to the cabin and right before we arrived Chongbin noticed some cabins nestled off the road that we hadn't checked because we were "sure they are too expensive". We we went for it and just asked, and the guy gave us an amazing deal...and we moved in 30 short minutes later! The Lord provided us with a Hilton! :)

We're HERE!!! Well not yet. We landed at the smallest airport I have ever seen in my life. In fact, for those of you who have seen Scoobidoo, you know the deserted houses were the bad guy always lives, in the middle of nowhere, no human life around, yea ....that was this airport! From there we waited for a taxi to then take us to the Bus station, that would take us 2 hours into Pucon! What an adventure it was lugging our suitcases in the rain from airport to car, from car to bus and then walking from the bus station a couple blocks to our cabin! haha.

Such sweet girls eating at an Italian Restaurant that had home made noodles that were AMAZING!! Makes me want to learn how to make them myself.....

Sweet Stephanie. She reminds me so much of my little sister at times i just would look at her or hear something she would say, and miss charity all over again! They even play the guitar and sing alike!!

And out in the rain we go again!! :)

Even though it was rainy, the kids had such a great attitude and we still made the most of it. We ziplined, rafted ( jumped off a cliff into the cold river) paintballed, and shopped in the rain....and at times the Lord brought the sun out to warm us up and dry the rain, which was very sweet of Him. :)

One night we walked to this adorable chocolate shop that was started by some Germans and the German influence was definitely noted, which made you almost feel like you stepped outside of south America and into a little European village and stopped into one of the bakeries.

Misol being ....Misol. :) Love that girl!

Most of the buildings in Pucon are made from this type of wood! And I loved it!

They had Christmas lights everywhere too!!!

The Enormous Fireplace inside the chocolateria. In Pucon most of the restaurants had fireplaces because their is not central heat, so anywhere there is a fire, you want to be!

She kept saying " NOOO my eyes dont' look right when theres a flash!!" haha....

I got to know this sweet girl Abbey really well, and Whether we were sharing our favorite Gaither vocal band songs, or talking about Liberty ( as she will be attending there in the fall) I felt a true kinship with her, and am thankful the Lord allowed me the opportunity to get to know her. Her family is serving as missionaries in Santiago, and she has lived here for a couple years. I am most looking forward to getting together with her many more times before she heads to the states in July, and keeping in touch with her while she is off beginning a brand new stage in her life :) At the best collage ever. :)

So forget traffic laws and seat belts....and paved roads....all you need is a backless old war wagon with two wooden benches stapled to the floor, and a leaky tarp roof and your set to go!! Talk about pumping yourself up for a battle of paintball, because by the time you get where your going, your believing you really are being escorted to war.

It was freeeeeeeezing and raining and dark, made for a foggy ( mask) blurry, wet, cold game of paint ball capture the flag! My personal favorite event of the week!

I think they asked me to be Captain because im loud, or maybe it was.... i'm crazy enough to be the one running towards the firing squad...over and over again in an effort to grab a flag that was the size of a large napkin!?

The Chaprones! I was so proud of Ms. Laura! She got down in the dirt with the rest of us, and actually helped their team win by being a great shot in protecting their flag. As I approached the Flag stand and saw victory in my reach Ill never forget hearing " CHOW" and getting a good one in the leg! haha...so funny!

The Sand was actually Volcanic Rock!! And I actually liked the texture of it more than the yellow sand. It was not as messy! Oh and I took a bag of it home with me, and am still hoping I don't have the sand patrol cops pounding on my door telling me it was illegal and I unknowingly committed a Chilean crime! Yikes!

The beautiful Lake of Pucon....

Add caption

Since it rained 4 out of the 6 days on and off, and Chile doesn't have a drainage system...they put cute little bridges out to cross the deep puddles that had accumulated!

I was feeling a little inspired by all the trees everywhere, I don't know I just kept picturing tarzan flying through the branches and thus I pretended for the moment to be Jane. Hey, you never know what you might find when in a foreign country.

Our home away from home!

Oh Hello active Volcano. You sure are a beautiful, terrifying testifier to the greatness and creativity of our Creator.

These girls were always at it! In fact, Misol was always at something, all the time!She was one of the most outgoing hilarious people I have ever met. And I must admit a couple days into the trip I looked at her and just said" Misol,  you are the loudest Korean I have ever met" hahah. She and everyone else agreed!

CHONGBIN. Was our musical entertainment on the rainy days inside the cabins. " I wish I was Korean, you can do everything, and well!" haha :)

She brought popcorn!!!! Which was not only a treat in Pucon, but is a treat here in Chile period. And forget finding really good buttery, salty popcorn that melts in your mouth...they are more a fan of the sweet popcorn, and it is expensive. ( I learned that after asking each parent to bring a bag in for our Movie Day a while back. No one said anything, but only 3 students actually brought a bag!!) Learning as I go!

The Whole gang, minus the only guy ( talk about odd man out) he was prolly taking the picture, bless his heart!

Our mode of transportation for the week but hey..living on a budget calls for cutting corners on the things that aren't as important ( like comfort :)). Oh and that is me sleeping.

The Last evening in Pucon the girls wanted to go out and try out ONE more of the adorable "cabin like" restaurants. And we picked a place that had ( of course) a nice fireplace right beside our couch, and that had choclate milkshakes - well, ice water with chocolate powder blended together -so  NOT a chick-fil-a milkshake but it was still tasty! :) All in all I am so thankful for some of the conversations the Lord allowed me to have with many of the girls, and also being able to share a good amount of my testimony at Bible study one of the nights. It is such an amazing comfort to me to see that the Lord truly has allowed me to go through certain experiences in my life, to provide me with the ability to relate to a group of girls who are from different cultures, life experiences and family upbringing than myself. Who have many things not in common with myself , but yet, many desires stemming from just having a women's heart, that were very much in common . Every young girl wants to fall in love, have a romance filled courtship and get married, and we just know it will be by 24. But what I was able to share with them as a group and then separately when a few of the girls reached out to talk, was that Christ is the only fulfilment in life, and marriage is just one of MANY blessings the Lord may or may not CHOOSE to give. But how much more blessed you are when your in the center of God's will, than trying to control things yourself and ending up stressed out and dissatisfied. I told them how I understand that feeling of having "everything" I thought I had wanted and heading towards marriage and into the  life  my simple faithless heart thought I desired. Oh how Being able to tell those young girls the Lord's plan for each of their lives will far exceed anything they desire now, and really be living it and able to testify for His provision and direction, was such a special moment in my time thus far in Chile.
 I will always remember the funny laughter filled moments at 2 am. Waking up to The girls running into my room in the morning to stand in front of the tiny plug in heater I almost didn't bring. Bus ride chats about life and big decisions. Singing round the fire on a rainy day, and everyone stuffed into the kitchen eating and talking. Wearing 3 layers inside and still being cold. So many special moments, and memories, But more than that, I have 7 more lives to invest in for the remaining month they are here, and hopefully via email and facebook once they have left. But regardless of how contact, I feel a deep responsibility to continue to lift their lives up to the Lord, as I know many of them will face big decisions and will eventually come to a place where they must decide between following the plans they have made or the plans God has specifically designed for each of their lives.

What a week!! Before I tell you about what went on this past week I want to start by saying how more and more each day I am truly coming to understand just what a wonderful Mother I was given. The way she always sought to bring us closer to the Lord, and push us towards our best potential in general, is part of the reason I am where I am today. In proverbs we read that a Godly mothers children rise up and praise her, and so that is what I am doing today. Praising her for the kind of mother she was and still is. I am saddened that All I could give her on this day was a card, but am at least thankfully it made it safe and sound to the states! :) Especially considering I wasn't quite sure what the post office lady was saying to me as she was throwing it into a box! I love you mommy!

So this past week was a favorite of mine, as it was Spirit week at the school! Each day 1 or 2 children from each class would win a prize for the Best Dressed, and boy did they dress to impress!! For example this little dude on Super Hero day!! Aaron won the prize for best dressed -Hulk- getup! And he earned that lollipop because Poor little buddy,  by the end of the day he looked miserable with how itchy he was!

The second day was twin day!! And the winners were Shiloh And Bi! I mean come on, how cute are their little faces with those little top hats!!

However, CLEARLY Bi was tired of Ms.Candace taking pictures! :)

Every afternoon when we have story time, I have started teaching them different songs as well! " Do your ears hang low" was the hit of the month I do believe! Every day  I call up two at a time to do it just themselves and they just laugh and laugh and laugh! Especially with the "ear hanging low" motions! :) I've found that teaching them songs is my favorite time of the day, because they seem to pick them up and learn them so quickly ( And of course its getting them familiar with English at the same time! Thankfully i'm using a resource in the classroom that has all of the children's songs you could ever remember from childhood and even more! At this point they could do a concert consisting of about 6 songs complete with their hand motions! 1. Jesus Loves Me 2. This little light of Mine 3. Father Abraham 4. The B-I-B-L-E  5. Do your ears hang low. 6. If your happy and you know it!

Another set of twins!

For some reason on "superhero" day the girls all wore princess dresses...except Esther!! She showed up in my FAVORITE power ranger EVER-the Pink one!!! I loved her even more for it! haha.

I was trying to figure out what princesses had to do with Super Hero and so I started thinking of all the Disney movies and came to a realization. MOST the Disney Princesses actually had a Super power...and liked to help people?! :) Think about it.

My personal favorite theme day was NERD DAY!! AHHH Shiloh!

Our superhero's in Order: Tomas was a "Skateboarder Missionary" ( because his dad actually really is a missionary to the Skateboard community here in Santiago...SO sweet) Hulk, Spider man 1 and 2 and a Pilot ( very touching ) :)

Crazy Hair day winner!!! Sweet little Esther!

Such a little Latino Stud muffin already!

At the end of the Spirit week  we of course had to come up with a great gift for our wonderful Mothers!! So what do you do when your on a STRICT budget? Use your feet and different colored paint! What mom doesn't love their little ones footprints and a hand written letter?! I think not very many . There aren't too many things cuter than a little ones footprints, In my opinion.

On each Letter they wrote 3 things they loved about their mommies. For example I had a " She is pretty, She cooks for me, She hugs me, She takes me to the park, She is sweet, She buys me things." Ect.

So ticklish! They had me laughing so hard, I ended up having paint all over myself as well!

:)

And of course I had to participate....

Nerd-ets :)

For twin day, I chose to create my own twin..and named her Candisa. Except she spoke Spanish. But usually she wouldn't respond which led Juan Jose to frustration when he asked " Why doesn't she ever talk back to me!!"

The wonderful week ended with spending the day at Word Of Life to cheer on SCA's team as they played in the Futbol Tournement! The Lord really worked through the message and special service in the middle of the after and many young people received Christ into their hearts! Now it is our prayer that the Lord will bring Mentors into their lives so they can grow through discipleship. And in the picture is Cody who recently received Christ into his heart as well!!

They played from 8am-6pm! They love their Futbol here, and I love to watch it here!!

We spend mothers day having a special tea after Church for the mothers ( where everything...down to the chocolates were home made by women in the church) and then a special lunch with just the family. :) How thankful I am to be a part of this family, and how kind it was of the Lord to of allowed them to play such a significant role in this part of my story. She is a precious mom away from mom . :)

This sums us both up pretty well! 

Then to finish up the week two of my sweet friends Susan and Sharon are coming over and we are going to drink a hot cup of coffee since it is freezing, and just enjoy each others company!

3 Things about this week I was blessed by.

The reminder that the Lord not only gave me a wonderful mother and family back home, but has doubly blessed me with my extended family here!
MY little ones-Seeing Each of them in their little costumes just blessed my heart! Their personalities are all so different and I find I learn more and more about each of their special personalities as the time goes on.
My church Family. I'm excited I've learned the Metro route to get to the church is not difficult at all!! And that is exciting because between the different bible studies/worship practices and just fellowships take place...it will be just like back home, I'll be at church more than any other place!!:)

Thank you for your continued prayers...this coming week will mark 3 months in Santiago, and I just praise the Lord for the continued growth in my Spanish speaking and comprehension, as well as just a pure love for this country. His grace is sufficient for me.

A praise I want to share with you was being able to purchase tickets to go back to the states for an ABWE training conference! Now...You might be thinking my count down is for the training right?! Nope! That countdown is for the blessing of spending a couple days with my wonderful parents while I am there!! YAY!! :)

Proverbs 31:  "Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."