Busy Times, Good Times…
It has been over a month since our last post. Between having very poor internet, Christmas, birthdays, the wonderful Thompson family arriving, a fun-loving 16-member team from Belize arriving, construction and farming of the new property and remote island living – we have been swamped. God is so good and He is at work, in our lives, our community and in the islands. We see the seeds being planted and pray that God waters those seeds. Now begins a huge number of photos taken from multiple cameras (hence the random order) recapping our time here: Ellie shows the Thompson girls the ‘secret water hole’ With built-in water slide Ellie head...
Nana y Papa y Noviembre
Much to our delight, my parents made a trip to visit us for two weeks in November. Because of the uncertainty of my dad’s health, Mom thought it best not to share the news of their plans to come down with the kids, just in case they had to cancel plans at the last minute. With much prayer support behind them, a wonderful doctor’s kit filled with “in case of” meds, and armed with gifts and goodies, they arrived a day earlier than we expected (yay for no night-stay in Panama City!), and here is the reaction of the girls… I (Shirlene) put a movie on for them to avoid any early detection of my parents as they came up the walkway. I let my mom and dad in, and they walked into the room where the girls were watching their movie. It...
Bat Cave
To the bat cave! We heard about a bat cave fairly close to where we are living. Chris and Ashley (Terry & Liz’s son and his wife) were visiting at the time and love adventures as much as Shirlene and I do. Terry and Liz graciously offered to watch our kiddos. Shirlene & I headed over to where Chris & Ashley were staying, across the bay and while we were there, Chino, a local Ngobe man who’s family owns the land the cave is on, offered to drive us in our cayuco. So, all five of us piled in and headed off towards the bay of Bahia Honda. In the bay we started towards a small clearing in the mangrove which was a creek that headed up into the hills. As Chino navigated the creek for about a half an hour, I was glad he was driving. ...
October Photos
Some October photos in completely random order for your viewing pleasure. Ethan’s downward dog. Bella and Ethan love to play on the hammock. Ethan looking for “Lih” (Liz). Rides on the “wee wee.” Moving day for Terry, Liz & Odie. They are heading to Potrerillos, Panama to work with the YWAM base there. We will miss them. We spent 6 crazy months with them here on the island. 😉 Ethan tries to start every motor he finds. He has the form down. Loading Gene’s cayuco – it was awesome! We needed to tie down the mattresses so they drove some nails into the sides and tie downs were born. The precious mattress. This is Terry & Liz’s incredible memory foam mattress. The...
Oh Glorious Day!
Oh Glorious Day! Many of you know that my parents are about to board a plane to begin to the journey down here to see us. Oh glorious day! I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am!! We left PDX airport in the middle of March, making a stop-over in Virginia to say goodbye to dear friends, and arrived in Panama on March 29th. It’s been 7 ½ months since we’ve seen any of family “in the flesh” and in the words of our Bella, “that is just too long, Mommy!” I agree. One of the downfalls to having a wonderful, loving family, in case you were wondering, is that when you are apart from them, the pain is much greater! Because of Dad’s uncertain health (he’s been living with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for over 25 years now, a beautiful miracle...
Reset
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. As believers many of us know this verse. In fact we have heard it so many times we almost respond half way through reading this verse with, ya… ya…, I know. But every day, over the last two weeks this has been the answer I have received when praying through a difficult and complicated problem we are going through here. God does not say these things lightly, He means them. We first came to Panama in March, we stayed at a house in Tierra Oscura (Dark Lands) for a little more than a month, God used that time to really throw us into the cultures here. We learned so much and started friendships that have only...
Raw
Well, it has been quite a tiring last few weeks. A whirlwind of good and not so good. But, we know God is at work, we stand on all of the provision, protection and love He has and continues to provide. Amen!? Ok, here is a summary of things that are happening here: It appears God is calling people here! This is awesome! Of course you heard The Thompson family is coming. And, in the works, are potentially three other families, one other couple and a short term team coming in Feb / March. Please pray for these people and the others we know God is calling but have not contacted us yet. Pray that satan will not hinder the things God is doing in each of their lives, here or where they are at. The other thing we have really been praying for is truth. ...
Our Family is Growing!
Yes, we are announcing a new baby via our blog – sorry mom. The Thompson’s have made a commitment to join our community here in Panama! Isaac (the dad): Jennifer (the mom): Lily: Guinevere: Turin: Iona: & Valor: Isaac and Jennifer and their five kiddos, yes FIVE, are planning to move here in November. We are super excited! The Thompson’s have a blog sharing their adventures as they make their way here: http://TheAdventuresOfSevenThompsons.com Of course they will be joining our family and Terry & Liz and potentially others by November. God is working! Be in prayer for us as it appears God is calling more families, couples and singles to live here in community with us – praise God! Pop quiz, which one...
Capitánes, Towing, Quinceañera, Hamacas, Egyptian Prince & More
Two weeks has flown by! When we first moved here people said, “the days go by slow but the weeks go by fast.” This is totally true! We are short on time this blog posting but will be posting a couple of announcements soon along with ways to help here in Panama. Pack your bags… or unpack your wallets. 😉 And here we go… The kids love playing in the water, ocean or creek, they are searching for starfish, shrimp, Jesus lizards, stingrays, crabs and all sorts of other creatures. Ellie has become quite the swimmer, boater, fruit picker, canoer, tropical girl. Ethan goes anywhere and pets everything, yes everything. Although right now its about killing every bug he spots, yelling “yea” with his hands straight...
Panamanian Food
This is Shirlene, blogging yet again about, you guessed it…FOOD! It seems I am unable to refrain myself from sharing more about food and all things “food” related. It’s amazing to me how varied foods can be from one place to the next. I’ve been wanting to learn what a true Panamanian meal looks like and to learn how to make it, from the time we arrived. A simple undertaking you might think, or so I did, however I found this was no small feat. I naturally learned that rice, beans, seafood and chicken were staples to their diet locally. When I asked some of the indigenous what a typical meal looked like, however, they stared back at me, rather blankly. So I prompted, “what do you eat for breakfast, for instance, and...
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