Miss Maureen Milham has bestowed on me a lovely blog award. Thanks, Mo! You rock!

Isn’t it pretty? Below are the 5 recipients that I am extending this award to because I think they are lovely ladies!

Carin of “United Here” is a friend who lives here in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She moved here with her husband and two wonderful kids earlier this year. She inspires me with her worshipful heart and prayerful spirit. We run together in the mornings, that profits us some. We also run together for the cause of Christ, this is reaping eternal rewards.

Birgit Whelan is a Kiwi living in England. She has an amazing testimony of how God has rescued her from the darkness and placed her as a shining light in this world. Visiting her blog is always a thought provoking and inspiring stop. Aside from the devotional posts she has some unbelievable photography. I am glad to have met Birgit.

Sarah of “Junglewife” is a sweet woman serving in Indonesia with her husband and their darling daughters. They are so cute! They get it from their mom, of course. Sarah is a down to earth chick. She is creative and finds ways to make life livable and even enjoyable in extreme situations. She is a dear lady.

Sarah of “Missionary Mommy“  lives in Botswana with her husband and their two kiddos. They have been serving as missionaries long enough to have to renew their drivers licenses. Her upbeat and fun approach to life are an encouragement. Her real life hospitality shines through on her blog as she tells stories about living in Africa.

Julie of “Keepin’ the Faith” works alongside her husband in Paraguay. They have just begun the process to adopt; their son will be a great big brother. Julie is not one to mince words. She is thoughtful, has a heart inclined to the heart of God and chooses to make every moment count. Oh, and she collects orchids! Cool, eh?

You will not be disappointed if you click through on those links. They really are a lovely bunch of gals.

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On Flickr there is a set of shots I took around the city of Cochabamba. They are already nicely captioned and displayed in a snazzy little set. I really enjoyed going out on the town and capturing some images of some of my favorite places here. I don’t think this will be the last time that I do something like this. There are some other night sites that I would like to grab on film.

Click the image below or follow this link: Cochabamba Night Shots on Flickr. Comments here or there are welcome and appreciated.

“Dime con quien andas y te diré quien eres.”

Translated, this common Spanish saying goes, “Tell me who you walk with (hang out with) and I will tell you who you are.”

The followings links are to people that I hang out with. The first two links are folks I have never met face to face, but who I enjoy being with here in the blogosphere. The last link is to some people that are here with us in Bolivia.

In case you were wondering about the title “Quien Soy” means “Who I Am”. So here are some glimpses at some people who make me who I am.

1. “On Tears” – The author, Jill Carattini, is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

2. “Impressions” – Birgit Whelan is a Kiwi living in England. She is an aspiring (and inspiring) young author.

3. “A Couple New Hands” – Romon and Melinda Gore are our interns. Now you can see some pictures of them.

Why not leave me a ‘quien soy’ link in the comments below or on my honk page to an article or blog you have read recently by someone who influences who you are?

Did you know that we are not the only people in Cochabamba, Bolivia that have an orphanage? There are more homes than just Hogar de Sueños (House of Dreams). We are friends with some of the people who share our burden of caring for these sweet kiddos.

One such person is named Jennifer Thompson. This woman is absolutely amazing! Her dedication to love the kids in her care is unmatched. I am continually inspired by her sacrifice and fierce diligence to providing for the children of Bolivia.

She happens to be a blogger as well. (Yeah!) To celebrate one year in the blogosphere she is hosting a fun little contest. You can check it out here: http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2009/07/200th-post-230th-post-1-year-blog.html

We love you Jennifer!

(click the image to jump to her site)

Usually I share photos on Wednesdays. It is Saturday. I am just so pleased by how these pictures turned out that I wanted to share them. There are more on my Flickr account if you get into this kind of stuff. Oh, and speaking of Flickr, if you are a member over there then feel free to add me as a contact. I like pictures.

The deal with these pictures is that I have been practicing taking close ups. There is a setting on our snazzy camera, but it is tricky to use; thus the need for practice. Then there are the artsy things like lighting, composition, line, color, etc. to consider. I gave myself a challenge: good close ups with no computer editing help. I took about a hundred shots in the botanical gardens one afternoon last week. These are some of the ones that I am really pleased with. (You can click on the images to see them in all their thousand-of-pixels glory.)

Over here today talking about bears and parsley:

(Click the image to link to the article)

In that precise moment I had a choice of how to respond. I could become repulsed by the tradition and offended by the unsolicited advice. I could obey this command to the letter of the law in hopes to gain a convert. Or I could thank the woman for the advice, be amused and go about my merry way.

I am over here today:

The title of my post is “The Wall”. Here is a taste.

I felt sure that the only way God was going to use me was stated clearly in Isaiah 28:11 “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” The stammering lips being my Spanish and the other tongue my English. He was just going to have to give the Bolivians the gift of interpretation of tongues if I was to do any good here.

Hyperlink to post: http://everydaymmoms.blogspot.com/2009/05/wall.html

As always, feedback is welcome.

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”   Abraham Lincoln*

It was probably in a Maxwell book that I first was exposed to this quote. It appealed to me because I am a preparer. Planning, weighing the options, making comparison charts, looking at pros and cons, attending classes,  studying, plotting time lines and just plain thinking are some of my favorite things to do.

Since the beginning of the year I have been looking into writing more. My personal writing has increased. I also want to branch out to more public writing (i.e. books, magazines, articles, etc.) I even did some informal research. Like old Abe, I have been preparing.

A chance came! I have been invited to be on the writing team for a blog. Ana Degenaar has her own blog. But she has also put together a site for moms. She is so sweet! We are neighbors, sort of. She lives in Brazil with her husband and baby. They are missionaries. The greatest part about this set up is that Ana is an artist so she is encouraging creativity and giving us lots of free space to write what we want, how we want to.

My first instinct was to think about it. After a bit of that I remembered that this was something I had been hoping for. Instead of me searching for a venue the opportunity found me. I am so happy! I am now the Thursday writer for the blog. Yeah!

Here is the link: “Everyday M. Moms” **

Today my first entry is featured there: “Grass Green”

So, how about that? This is going to be fun!

*Quote taken from: ThinkExist.com

** Or copy and paste this in your browser address bar: http://everydaymmoms.blogspot.com/

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• Yesterday there was a nation wide vote on the implementation of a new constitution. The result was 61% in favor. What does this mean for Bolivia? I am asking that question right alongside you. It is not really clear, but it would seem that the president has more direct authority. Time will tell what he does with that authority.
• During voting days (which are always on Sundays) driving and public meetings are among the things prohibited. This means we had to rearrange the weekly worship service of the church we pastor. Saturday night was a very good service.
• Sunday I cut my boys’ hair and trimmed my girls’ hair. The girls wanted bangs. I thought that the bangs would make them look younger, but they look older.
• They are ready for school to start one week from today (Feb. 2). Bolivian school year runs February to November. This week we will be purchasing school supplies and school clothes.
• You know that infamous Bolivian i.d. card that I have been in the process of getting since the middle of December? Yeah, so, I don’t have it yet. Waited my turn for three hours on Tuesday was told to pick up the finished product Friday afternoon. Went back this morning, to give them a bit of leeway. Was told it was not ready yet and probably won’t be before Wednesday.
• Friday Bill Hybels comes in. Saturday AM he will meet with 150 key pastors and leaders that we had the honor of selecting from all over Bolivia. Then we will have lunch with 12 people and him. In the afternoon he flies to Peru. Quick trip. I wish he could see more of the city, but we are glad to have him here nonetheless.
• The kids have been enjoying printing off pages from this website that my mom referred them to: http://thetoymaker.com
• Tuesday afternoon I am scheduled to meet face-to-face for the first time a met-on-the-net friend. I hope that it comes together. She and her husband are here in Bolivia for a whirlwind trip before they will be moving here from Canada with their kids in April as missionaries.
• One of my friends here specifically prayed that in this adoption process doors would divinely be opened and closed. We had two more doors close this morning. The preschool aged girls from our friend’s orphanage are also assigned to families to be adopted just like the preschool aged girls in our orphanage. We just keep taking the steps we can. Thanks for praying that we make good choices.
• We took care of my friends’ kids while they moved Friday and Saturday. That meant 7 kids from 2 years old to 10 years old here. It was a good time. I found myself thinking more than once: I could handle 7 kids.
• Been thinking that I would like to have an iPod.
• My two year old just gave me a huge hug and kiss and said, “I shyuv shyou”. The rest of my kids are sitting here in the living room talking. It is nice.

My new fun thing to do is edit videos. I still have much to learn but this week I did some videos of my kiddos. They planned the content. If you would like to check them out here are the links. (If  these links are not working please alert me to that fact.)

Video of Tyler (5:26)

Video of Gabrielle (3:47)

Video of Timothy (6:51)

Video of Raimy (3:36)

Numbers indicate playing time.

I would love to hear feedback and suggestions. Who am I kidding? I would like to hear compliments, too. Please leave comments here rather than on the family site that the links lead to.

Also, if you have any suggestions of video editing programs (preferably free) that I could download from the Internet then please let me know about that too. I have a photo editing program called Photoscape that I use to put effects on my photos and it was a free download. So I am thinking that there might be something else out there that would allow me to incorporate effects like slow motion, black and white, etc. to my videos so they would more snazzy.