Home Alone

I've been at home since Wednesday when Stephen went to West Plains to visit his parents.  Baring anything unexpected happening, this is his final visit before we leave the Kansas City area.

Today I'm one day short of being 10 days post surgery and feeling, moving, eating much better.  Now that I'm getting back to normal I have to remember to obey the lifting (10 pounds) restrictions for two more weeks.  In fact, yesterday I thought I might try sewing a couple of small projects as samples for our women's sewing ministry (Hilo, Aguja y Biblia) in El Salvador, but caught myself before I lifted my sewing machine from the closet floor.  I'm guessing it weighs at least ten pounds.  I decided it wasn't worth trying to sew while sitting on the closet floor--better to wait until this afternoon when Stephen's back.

Hosting the Saleeby Family

A week ago Monday, Joseph Saleeby and his family flew to El Salvador to spend several days getting to know the city.  Through past mission trips we had gotten to know Joseph and his wife, Christy.  This time, however, they brought their three girls, Hannah, Jordyn and Layla.  

On Tuesday morning they met with Pastor Steve and Pastor Julio; the girls and I went to visit a classroom at New Life Christian School.  Afterwards, we all went to lunch with Koky, Ena and Guillermo.  Tuesday evening we joined the "gap year" kids in a family festival/campaign in Santa Tecla.

Hayden Comes to Visit

We were blessed to have Hayden Bridges come to see us on Saturday.  We met him on our last trip to Nicaragua (in March.)  He was the youngest of the three "dog-bite" guys.

We saw him again at the campaign in Costa Rica in August.  He really has a heart for Central America.  It was while in Costa Rica that he talked to us about the possibility of visiting El Salvador and, perhaps, seeing if he could find a teaching job here.  We encourage him to come for a visit so he used his fall break to fly down.

Stephen picked him up at the airport just after lunch on Saturday, which was a very busy day for us.  I was gone all day to a women's ministry event and Stephen had to take the inflatable to an event in Lourdes in the afternoon.  

When we were in Costa Rica, he got to know all our translators from El Salvador.  So, we made arrangements with Wilbert and Rodrigo to pick him up and take him to the youth service on Saturday night.  They even took him out for dinner afterwards.  Stephen and I were both home by the time they dropped him off.

More about the rest of his visit tomorrow!

Early airport trip and Hilo, Aguja y Biblia

Saying hello is so much easier than saying goodbye, but after having Daniel and the kids here for a week, today was the day they flew home.  

We had an awesome time and the kids were so well behaved.  We loved showing and teaching them about El Salvador.  

After the airport trip, I headed to Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.  Today we started a cross stitch project.  It was a first for most of the ladies!