I’m going to (metaphorically) write the longest blog I’ve ever written because I will be sharing a plethora of pictures with you from the past month. And a picture’s worth a thousand words, right? I’ll start with today and then work my way backwards. Here we go!

1. Today, we turned into zombies and took all of these cuties to the mall to eat pizza and see Zootopia. This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week), so a lot of stores and restaurants were closed and a lot of people went out of town. SO the mall was basically empty, and it was cool & kind of creepy. We had tons of parking options and didn’t have to wait in line and didn’t have to stalk people to find an empty table in the food court, and it was just strange.

2.  This was my mall/movie buddy today. We fearlessly hopped on and off of the escalator, held hands, and did a good job of sharing the popcorn with each other.

3. Yesterday, my lovely roommate hosted a Ranch talent show as a welcome for our newest family. We had an excellent time participating in silly in-between acts & watching the talents. These sweet & silly animals performing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” won first prize!

4. This was from Tuesday. We’ve had the whole week off and it has been glorious! I’m so thankful for this time to rest and be refreshed. A couple of the girls and I were able to experience this new coffee shop in the mall, and I thoroughly enjoyed my non-plastic/non-paper mug of pretty, yummy, chocolatey coffee. I have a dream of one day taking a coffee tour all over the world where my days would consist of reading, writing, blogging, good conversations, coffee, Italian cream sodas, pastries, soups, and sandwiches. Mmmm (:

5. Last Friday we had a half-day Easter Festival at school. The kids were divided into four (color-coded) groups and got to rotate between different Easter-related stations. Here you can see the science-y station where they had to create a package to protect an egg when dropped from the top of the stairs. This was the team I was with (3rd grade & 6th grade) and they were a lot of fun!

6. Here are my sweet third graders on a hunt for -ed and -ing words! You’ll also note the ch, th, and sh brothers on the bulletin board. Chuck, Theodore, and Sherman have helped us so much in first grade! They’re so good at chopping wood, giving thumbs up, and shushing people in the hallways. 😉

7. I really love my little students. They can definitely be a handful at times and act like stinkers, but these sweet moments kinda make up for the crazy. I’m constantly blessed by their willingness to share and help–me and each other. Last week, one of the first graders came in after lunch and threw up at his desk. He started to cry, but none of the kids laughed or said,”Eww.” They all came over to comfort him and we prayed for him. I had one of the students take him to the bathroom to put some cold water on his face and clean up, another threw away his dirty paper, two girls took out the trash, and one other student took the wipe out of my hand to clean the floor. I was so impressed by their kindness and willingness to help their friend!

8. Speaking of good friends…these are MY wonderful friends and roommates. Two weeks ago we celebrated our church’s 15th anniversary! I felt so privileged to take part in it. We watched a slideshow that showed the church’s growth and change. All the people who came to know Christ through Impacto during the past 15 years were able to come up, light a candle, and place it into a giant cross-shaped cake. The pastors blew the candles out, and after the service we had sweets & soda and time to talk and share.

9. Another place that we get to share together is in our house group! I don’t know if they know how much I love them or how thankful I am to be part of the group, but I’m really thankful. We started attending this Grupo Casa in August and had a normal attendance of about 8-10 people, but now it’s normal to have 16-18 people every week and we meet in our house. Our group has consistently been welcoming new people and they’ve continued coming. Woohoo!!  We are so pleased to be involved in a small group here and to be able to use our house for ministry. Hip hip hooray!

10. I’ll finish here. On this day, I’d had a terrible morning. I’d almost cried five times before 9:00. I was trying to pray and focus on God instead of how I was feeling, but I was struggling. During Bible class, my dear friend brought me a cup of coffee and I almost cried again. I told my kids that I’d had a rough morning–that I was tired & didn’t feel very happy–and I asked them to pray for me during our prayer time together. And the rest of my day was so much better! I was still tired, but I was joyful and I was productive, and I made it through. And it actually ended up being one of the best days. It’s good to need God to get through the day. When you have to depend on Him, you get to see Him provide.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photo blog and that maybe you have a better idea of what I’m doing here and how my normal life is. I’m so thankful that this is where God has me! Thank you to all who are making it possible! I hope to be writing another blog that will give you a little photo tour of the city. I know I showed pictures of my bedroom and the Ranch when I first moved here in 2014, but I haven’t shown my new surroundings since moving to the city this year. So be looking out for that!

If you want to pray for me, you can pray for:

–our car to be fixed! (It’s been in the shop since October.)

–our house group to continue growing in unity and depth in the Lord

–wisdom in teaching my students

–me to grow in humility and purity of heart

–more support & donations

Thanks, homies.

Peace,

Lindsey