A blog challenge and prayer request

I was looking for some clip art of some sweet praying hands when I came across this guy! I thought it would be a fun challenge to ask my blogging friends to write a blog that they could use with this clip art. I will link your blog post back to this picture on my post. Let me know once you have written it. Go for it girls (or guys)!!

Without the sweet praying hands, I ask you to please be praying for the mission team and the work they are trying to do in Santa Rosa/Gosen. Pray it is in done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray that God's Spirit would draw the people (not a great turn out today) and that He would use the team mightily while they are here. Our entire Phamily is going out tomorrow. Please pray for us as well.

What are the Pham's doing on this lovely Saturday?

While John and Parker are out with the mission team, the other kids and I....well....

see for yourself!

You know you're a missionary when.....

a mission team brings you a bag of American candies and your kids ask what Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are. They had never heard of or even tried them. Can you imagine? I could hardly believe it, so I shared a little with each kid and their taste buds were freaking out with excitement. Can you blame them? It's the small things in life that bring such joy.

Also, the same team brought Kit-Kats (nope, they haven't had those yet either, but I will definitely share). And, they brought the kids some Peeps. She said we couldn't have Easter without Peeps. God is so kind. Just earlier this week I was thinking about how cool it would be to have some Peeps for the kids. They DEFINITELY know what those are. Now, if I could just get my Cadbury Egg cravings satisfied..... :)

And yes, I know that candy has absolutely NOTHING to do with Easter!

So in love......

After a LOOOOONG DAY!!
Posing for mommy in this special blanket that fellow Missionary June Tate hand made for him.

I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIM! I seriously just sit around kissing him all day long.

He took the blanket and pulled it around his face like this. I also want you to see this outfit. Kitty and I have been passing it back and forth for at least 10 years now. It's just a little Gap Jean jumper than is unisex. We started doing this with either Gunner or Kelsi and all of our kids wear it and then we pass it back for the next kid to wear it. It is so special and sentimental. So far, at least 10 kids have worn this.

I am just smiley and happy like this ALL DAY EVERY DAY! Especially when I am being held.

Phillipians 4:8

Hop on over to Stef's blog because she is a giving away a book about this challenging verse:

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

To me, this means that we constantly need to take our thoughts captive and replace the negative voices, images in our mind, grumbling, doubtfulness, etc... with the truth of God's word which is constantly right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise-worthy. Of course, MUCH easier said than done. This verse also, to me, means that we need to be EXTREMELY careful what we let into our hearts and minds. What am I listening to? What am I watching? How am I speaking? Who am I hanging out with? Because if we are letting a bunch of garbage in, then guess what's going to come out - GARBAGE? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks! So the starting point is the mind...what you think, what you dwell on and what you allow in. I love that Phillipians is so specific as to what our minds need to focus on daily.

Check out Stef's place to enter to win a copy of this book - just make sure you send it to me after you read it IF you win!!! )

Happy Birthday

Happy 8th Birthday to our sweet Allyson (Ally) Paige Pham.

We celebrated with our tradition of going to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I made a homemade Carrot Cake for the entire elementary school (haha) as well as Lasagna since that is one of ALly's favorite dishes. And this evening I told Ally we could do ANYTHING she wanted and she chose to play bingo for candy. Sweet tooth much? Her birthday party will be March 20th, girls only, and will be butterfly themed.

I want to do a picture montage, but John is studying for seminary right now and he is on the computer with the pictures, so they will have to wait.

But here are a few things that make our princess unique:

Gentle Spirit

Kind Hearted

Patient

Loving

Friendly

Adores Jesus

Gracious

Hospitable

Forgiving

Sensitive

Super Sweet

Quiet

Servant

Polite

A JOY to be around

Godly

I know that I am Ally's mom, so of course I am going to write great things about her. But if you asked me to write a list of negative things about her, I would be hard pressed to get past number one. She is not perfect by any means, but she is a gem and I can't praise God enough for giving us such a special little girl.

"Wimpy theology makes wimpy women." John Piper
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If you get a chance, please check out today's message at http://www.reviveourhearts.com/ WOW! Powerful stuff!!

Our first mission team of the year will arrive on Friday. They are a group of college students from William and Carey College in Mississippi - not to be confused with William and Mary in Virginia. :)

They are helping us start a new work in an area called Santa Rosa/Gosen. We are hoping to impact the community while they are here and then be able to have a small Bible Study to be able to have the beginnings of a church. Will you join us in praying? The work begin on Saturday. Please pray for our family against Spiritual Warfare as it always comes on strong during times like these. Please pray for the missionaries who are coming here to help as well as the community. We are praying for strongholds to be lifted, chains to be broken and hearts to be given!

On the homefront:
I tried to make Gallo Pinto today. It's beans and rice from Costa Rica and if you ask me, I will tell you I make great Gallo Pinto. Well, today I learned that NOT all peppers are created equal. No sooner than finishing the entire dish, I took a bite to savor my creation, only to discover that the creation was made with the hottest hot peppers that a person can grow. I was wondering why these were smaller than normal green peppers and had black seeds in them. And now I know!And now we will be eating Peanut Butter and Jelly for supper. Oh well, I'm sure that has happened to Bobby Flay a time or two. Right?

Pictures Pictures Are so Fun....Pictures Pictures Why Upload Just One?

What's the point in taking all of these pictures if I don't share them? Besides, posting pictures is easier than thinking of something clever or interesting to say. Avery took this. She is practicing her photography skills.
All of the kids from the ENTIRE Fetzer Academy at swimming lessons. Most classes in America have this many kids in just one class. All the kids are stretching before lessons. These lessons are a part of their P.E. for the month of March.

Ally working on her freestyle stroke.
Jaxson trying to perfect his kicks with the swim tablet.
Parker is a great swimmer, but he's not really into form.

Look how long and tall this guy is!!!

She is 4 and he is 5 months. He will catch up to her one day. You can see his length really well next to her.

This is what we do while the kiddos are in school!!!

Jaxson still loves to freestyle dance. Now he dresses up like this before he puts on a show. He refuses to take any kind of dance lesson and says he can teach himself.

Jaxson 6, Ally 7, Parker 9, getting ready for the first day at Fetzer Academy - all smiles, but kind of nervous, too!

My sweet girl let me fix her hair and snap some quick photos of her.


The first "I've found me toe picture." I love when they find their feet. I call this picture PEAS and TOES!!!
More Peas PLEASE!!

Sunny Smiles

The sun is shining over here in Lima and it's a sweet feeling 78 degrees. And how about the fact that we can actually enjoy it since Jaxson is about 95% better and I am on the tail end of the Mastitis, as well, only dealing with residual body aches and fatigue. John's neck is at least rotateable, as if that was even a word. Weeks like last week surely make us extra thankful for health and easy sailing days. :) And we press on towards tomorrow with much hope.

Jaxson

After going the homeopathic route yesterday with no improvement, today I went to the sweet doctor who helped deliver Miles . He put me on a very strong antibiotic and also gave me and anti-inflammatory that he made me take while in his office. He was very concerned with how severe the mastitis is. Within hours of the medication I felt SOOOOO much better. Praise God! I can actually move my arms and my body again without terrible pain. The body aches have decreased as well.

Please continue to be lifting up Jaxson. Here is what his skin looks like tonight - AFTER BENADRYL! You should see it without the medicine. We are thinking it is a virus after talking to two doctors. He is not feeling well and the hives are moving up to his face and out to his limbs. Please pray this passes soon.

Happy Blogging Anniversary

Kind of random, but I realized I have been blogging for exactly 3 years now! WOW! So glad some of our memories and adventures are preserved in written form. I will continue to blog as long as God has us on this overseas adventure.

A tough week

What is going on? First John threw his neck out on Monday. It is about 10% better, but he is still suffering and can't really turn his neck. He has to turn his whole body to turn and look at something. Then, Avery's eyes have been gookey green with a ton of puss. It's quite disgusting and I have no idea why. And last night I came down with the worst Mastitis I have ever had which has included a fever and crazy body aches. And just when I think my cup is about as full as it can get.....Jaxson gets these:

I think they are hives, but I don't know from what. Needless to say, John left the conference early today to come rescue ME/US . And have I mentioned our freezer/fridge, that is only a year and half old, won't freeze anymore and we are losing food right and left? The repair guys came last week, charged us a bunch of money said they fixed it and now it is exactly the same and they won't come back. Spiritual warfare or life?

Mastitis

Mastitis came on fast and furious last night: fever, body aches, fatigue, headache, extreme tenderness. UGH!!! John won't be home until past 10 p.m. tonight. I beg for your prayers.

Maximum details in mimimal words

An update in as few words as possible:

School: AWESOME!!!!

Homelife: WONDERFUL!!!!

Refrigerator: Broken. Repaired once already! Broken again! Scammed! Out of money!

John: IMPROVING! THANKFUL for this week's FELLOWSHIP!

P90X: HARD! WORTH IT! Bring it!!

Weight Watchers: Down 15 lbs since beginning! -10% of overall weight!

Driving in Lima: Angry! Frustrating! Stressful! Pray 4 SAFETY!!!

Avery: Goopy eyes! Ear ache! Luvs 1 on 1 time!

Miles: Hyper, adorable, PERFECT!

Ministry: On hold during conference!

Oasis: Fleas AGAIN - after 1 week of visiting!

My Spanish: TERRIBLE! :)

Jessica overall: Transitioning better! MASTITIS!

Swim lessons: Nice treat during hot summer days!

Homemade Iced Coffee: Not as easy to make as it looks!

Time with the Lord: Refreshing, consistent and needed daily.

Facebook: Don't miss it at all!

John

Last night while we were exercising, John pinched a nerve in his neck pretty severely. He didn't sleep much and was in a load of pain this morning. He went to the pharmacy to get a muscle relaxer around 6:30 a.m. - this from the man who never takes any medicine, so I know the pain must be pretty intense. Anyway, he is attending the Central and South America Young Leader's Conference that is being hosted here in Peru all this week. The meetings start bright and early and go until the late afternoon or into the evening. He is learning a lot about his leadership style and some holes that he needs to work on. It is an honor for him to be able to partake in this. I am just praying that the pain and the meds don't interfere with his day or week. Poor guy!

We are having a crazy situation in Oasis. A young man who used to be the worship leader of the church plant stopped coming about 4 months ago. He just stopped showing up for no reason. When John talks to him he says he is going to go and then never shows up. He has told John at least 5 times or more that he will be there. Well, a neighborhood in Oasis gave John a piece of land to build a church. Now there are all kinds of problems in this neighborhood and the young man who quit coming to church wants John to give him the land or for John to plant a church on it and he will take care of the land. When I say land, think like the size of your living room kind of land. Anyway, I am not doing this story justice at all. The original plan was that the guy and his family were going to help start a church on this land and would have part of it be their house. They are living in the smallest room (like 10 x 10) right now. There current room is going to be torn down by the community because of community politics. So this family will have no place to live. Well, now they are calling John and wanting the land or to help start a church so they can live on the land, but they still don't come to church. Even last Sunday John spent the afternoon with the guy and he said he would be at church when it started. He never showed up AGAIN!!!! Well, last night this guy's mom, who John doesn't know, calls BEGGING John to give the land to her son and to intervene and talk to the leader's of Oasis. It's NOT our land. It is land that belongs to the community. It's so hard because we don't want to see the people without a home, but would we give the land to someone who never attends church to be a caretaker of the church? Plus, John isn't going to start a church there anymore so he says the community can just have the land back (he doesn't feel like it is his) and do what they please with it. But this family thinks it is our responsibility to go to the leadership of the community and beg them to give "our" land to them. Mama MIA!!!! All I can say is PRAY!!!! John is confused and torn and quite irritated as well. He really doesn't want to be in the middle of ANY of this drama.

Baby is crying. More later.