Weekend Wrap-Up, Week 13

The last weekend in March, can you believe it?  It seems crazy that its been 3 months since Christmas. And only 6 weeks left until we visit the states! That's exciting for us.  But here is what we've been up to in Colombia this past weekend.....

Friday night, Isabella attended youth group again with United Church of Bogota.  While she was there, Avery, Brook, & I met some of our teammates for dinner.  Brook was finally able to have a delicious steak here!  She has been missing that.  The rest of us had hamburgers, which were delicious. Here is a picture posted on facebook from the youth group. This is a picture of 5-12th graaders (middle & high school).  Isabella is in this picture :).

I enjoyed my Saturday catching up on some computer things & laundry, then Avery & I met with a young lady (20 years old) to talk about church (we were originally given her contact information from a mutual Colombian friend). She is Colombian, but left here 5 years ago to travel & live with her brother & sister-in-law.  She was raised Jewish, but just converted to Christianity 7 months ago.  We also met her for church Sunday morning & she came with us.  There is a chance for discipleship with her & to get to know her better in the future.

Saturday night, Avery, Isabella, & I watched the movie Unbroken.  I suggested Brook not watch it, & she was glad she didn't after hearing our reactions.  I really wanted to see the movie & am glad I did, but it is a tough watch, especially knowing this is based on a true story.  This movie never came to Bogota & now I know that was a blessing in disguise, because I'm not sure how well I could have handled that in a theater!  There is more to the story though.  I've not read the book, but the movie only follows the story until chapter 33.  It was after chapter 33 that Louis Zamperini came to a saving faith in Jesus, his life was radically changed, & he inspired so many others.  

Sunday after church, Isabella made homemade banana bread, with chocolate chips added :).  

I wanted something to resemble spring here....there are no spring or Easter decorations anywhere because Colombia doesn't celebrate seasons.  I asked Brook to look through one of her art books, & she painted this.

Until 3pm, it is a full Monday schedule for us.  So off we go & hope you have a good Monday!

Friday Favorites

It's finally Friday!  It has been a good week, but just a long one.  I have been off on my days this week, so I've thought "tomorrow was Friday" since Tuesday!  It was a pretty low-key week, so this post includes some random things from my week.

I have a countdown app on my phone.  It lists upcoming events.   First up, my trip to Lima, Peru.  & the Memphis update is 42 days!

This isn't necessarily a favorite, but just a part of life here....rain.  It happens most days, but Isabella looks pretty trendy with her new, clear umbrella.  It creates a little dome around her!

We also had hail this week.  The southern part of Bogota had a lot of hail damage & many homes were destroyed due to collapsing roofs.  

The girls watched my dad online teaching about the spinal cord.  We are always amazed at his knowledge of the human body & he is a great teacher.

I go to the mall a lot (grocery shopping, paying bills, going out out to eat, etc.), but rarely do I shop.  This week, I did some shopping & actually bought my first piece of clothing in 11 months for me here.  These are the 2 stores I bought clothes from yesterday:

Tonight is youth group night for Isabella (she missed 2 weeks ago, so its been a month since she has been).  While she is there, we will have dinner with some teammates who live near the church. Saturday seems to be a low-key day as well, but that is okay with me.  And if you are wondering, we did survive our spanish test on Wednesday & are reviewing the test in class & writing out corrections for homework. Hope you all have a good weekend!

Bogota Bridges

Happy Wednesday!  Today's post is at www.bogotabridges.com.

And a quick prayer for our Spanish exam would be much appreciated.  Gracias amigos!

Book Review, 4th Edition

As I sat to write this post, I found this on the computer...

My oldest daughter, Isabella is AMAZING!! and p.s. she did not write this...at all:) have a great day! Proverbs 30:31

True. I am blessed with amazing daughters!  And my husband isn't so bad. I was about to go crazy last night (nights are often hard here), so he said let's walk to the mall to get a drink.  I got my favorite fruit drink, strawberry juice in water.  When we came back to the apartment, we spent an hour in the lobby talking with 2 guards.  In the elevator, we said that conversation would have lasted 7 minutes in English, but everything takes a lot longer here.  It was good to build those relationships with our guards.

On to the book review....

I will share some more highlights from The Power of a Woman's Words.

First, the power of a woman's words to her friends spoke a lot about the Naomi & Ruth story from the bible.  We need friendships for mutual support, accountability, & friendship.  It spoke of being a Ruth & caring for a broken spirited friend.  I've needed a "Ruth" this year & I want to be a "Ruth" to friends.  The chapter spoke of us sharpening our friends, but we have to have a relationship where we love them first & it also spoke of looking inward where we need correction.

Next, the power of a woman's words to fellow believers spoke of being in the body of Christ & "we are dependent on each other to function well, to love, well, & to struggle well."  It made reference to the many one another verses in the bible.

Last, the power of a woman's words to the world spoke of how we live our day-to-day lives as a representative of Christ.  Here is a quote from the book: "  Most people are not drawn to Jesus because of an advertising campaign, a sign along the road, or a steeple along the skyline.  Most people are drawn to Christ through cords of kindness formed in relationships with other people."

I will finish up this book on the next book review & have a few others to write about too.  This has been a good book,  but I'm generally a slow reader, especially when I have several books on my nightstand!

Today, I have lunch with a teammate & tomorrow, we have a big Spanish exam.  Pray for us to remember what we've learned!

































Marilyn is pretty amazing too:))

Weekend Wrap-Up, Week 12

Good Monday morning to you!

Friday for lunch, we went out to eat with our language professors, including Clara (our teacher) & Marta (the girls teacher).  Marta had a birthday earlier in March (that we missed), so we wanted to celebrate with a belated lunch.

Friday night, we rented Night at the Museum, the newest movie in that series, from Amazon (this is how we rent movies here).  The girls & I had seen this movie here back in January, but Avery hadn't seen it & the girls wanted to see it again.  It really is a cute movie, so we had popcorn & movie night.

Saturday morning, I attended my book study with 3 other ladies then met Avery & the girls on the bridge to take the bus to a mall about 100 blocks south.  We were headed to the movies again!  We went to see Cinderella, which was well done.  Buying movie tickets, popcorn, drinks, & candy for under $20 makes the 1 hour transport, including the bus ride & 1 mile walk round trip,  worthwhile. Since it does take some time out of your day to see a movie, it always includes a meal too, so we had lunch at the mall. Here is my recent post about going to the movies here.

After being gone all day, Saturday night was a time of relaxing & I did some reading this weekend too.

Sunday was church & lunch at home.  We sure miss Edwin at church!

Lunch was chicken salad, fruits, crackers, cheese, & vegetables

Brook's friend, Brianna, who I've mentioned before on the blog, came to spend the night with her. We ordered pizza & made brownies.  Because we had eaten so much, we walked down the stairs & back up the stairs.  As a reminder, we live on the 16th floor!! I honestly need to do this every day for some exercise.  This time I went prepared with a water bottle, wore a t-shirt, & a ponytail to stay cool.  I was out of breath afterwards, but I survived!

Today is a holiday in Colombia.  Again, they have close to 27 holidays here, so I totally have lost track of what each holiday is.

Friday Favorites

Brook showed me this. Ha, ha!  I do love bacon better than exercise.

Speaking of Brook, here is one more photo of her on the jet ski.  Look at her face...she was loving it.

We resumed Spanish class this week.  Okay, so I don't always consider this to be a favorite thing, but I do consider my teacher one of my favorite things & I definitely have more to learn in this language.  Today I heard more verbs I had never heard before.  My mind is blown with all the languages.

Monday night I cooked steak for the first time here.  It was imported from the states, so delicious.  We also had criolla potatoes with onions (one of our favorites here), carrots, onions & peppers, salad with avocado & strawberries.  Yum!

The downside to cooking a meal like this is that is requires a lot of dishes, & well, we don't have a dishwasher here.  Thankfully, Avery did the dishes for me!

As I mentioned earlier in the week....St. Patrick Day pancakes!

A little food coloring goes a long way :)

Brook put fruit on her plate leading to her "pot of gold" ~ a Reeses cup we found at Price Smart here.  No Rolo candies here :(.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

San Andres, & some photos by Isabella

Today I have some photos Isabella took to share with you & then pictures from our beach trip. A lot of them.

First, Isabella took some pictures when we went to visit our Colombian friends, the Parras.  They served us the typical evening food in Colombia....bread, arepas, & hot chocolate.

My favorite arepas

Delicious Colombian hot chocolate

My sweet friend, Monica

And her sweet family

Last Thursday, we left for San Andres, a small island in the Caribbean that is legally a part of Colombia, but actually located closer to the coast of Nicaragua.  It was a 2 hour flight from Bogota.  This was the first time I had left the city limits of Bogota since November, so it felt very good to pack a bag & leave, even if it was just for 2 nights.

The girls standing by the pool of our hotel.

The exit on the other side of the pool leads to the beach.

Our cabana where we stayed.

Brook before going on her first snorkel with Avery

This is looking from the beach to the front of the hotel.

Here are some views of the island:

Isabella with Avery's dad on the jet ski

Avery & Brook on the jet ski

Notice she is making a muscle here with her arm?

Musical entertainment by the hotel pool

While Avery & Brook went snorkeling, Isabella, Robin, & I took a tour around the island.  It stopped at this area where you received a piece of bread to feed the fish.  They would jump up out of the water to eat it.

Fish jumping for bread

Photo cred: Isabella

This slide went into the water, but we didn't swim.

There was also this diving board

Isabella & Robin

Isabella & I

Our next stop on the island tour was this natural  blowhole.

Isabella - self portrait

Brook - photo cred: Isabella

Palm tree shadow - photo cred: Isabella

Our language teacher, Clara, flew into Bogota from the USA the same night we flew in from San Andres.  We met at Crepes & Waffles, one of our favorite restaurants, at the airport so she could meet Avery's parents.  Clara & I both had this dessert.  Desserts are delicious & beautifully presented there.

We stayed at a hotel near the airport that night & this is Brook enjoying more Colombian hot chocolate for breakfast the next day.

That wraps up this adventure.  Thanks for scrolling through a TON of pictures!!