Thorns

Every time we go for a walk I am amazed at the variety of thorny bushes here in our area.  This part of Spain is quite dry and desert-like.  I took a few pictures today as Rachel, Mathis, and I went for a hike.

And one of Rachel and Mathis:

Faithfulness

Keri and the kids's residency appointments were yesterday afternoon and as far as we know, everything went as it was supposed to.  The red tape of moving to a new country can be exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, and downright scary.  We are so thankful for our super-hero lawyer who has helped us from the beginning.  She is a believer and is worth her weight in gold for her expertise, but besides that, she is just so friendly and genuinely helpful.  I really don't know what we would do without her.  After an exhausting afternoon in the Madrid government office, I was reflecting on the favor the Lord has continued to show us from the very beginning of this journey - from the sale of our house and cars to the incredibly gracious Amelia at the Spanish Consulate who bent over backwards for us in the days leading up to our departure last August, to the many friends here in the ECA community who helped David so much with his driving test issues, the Lord allowing a brand new driving class in English for him, for many fluent Spanish speaking friends to help us when we need it making appointments, etc.  We feel so taken care of.  We don't doubt for a second that it is because of the prayers of His faithful followers around the world who lift us up daily.  Yes, we have had some difficulties, but I feel I must stop for a minute and give praise where it is due - to the Lord for His continued protection, blessing and favor on us.  

Rastrillo

Rastrillo is literally translated "rake," and more loosely used to mean either "flea market" or "thieves' market." Our school has hosted one for several years in order to raise money and as an outreach to the community around us. Imagine a cross-between a giant yard sale and a school carnival, all in one.

Here is the "flea market," venue. About 50 people (Americans and Spaniards alike) reserved tables and brought their items to sell, some selling them at a bargain, others at not-so-bargain prices. One Spanish lady sold hand-crafted jewelry she had made. We were delighted to find some great deals ourselves on books and toys for the kids.

Under this huge tent were the concession stands...

Various entertainers (pictured is Jacob Bock, a veteran missionary here in Spain, whose children have attended ECA for most of their schooling.) The Bocks were in children's ministry/evangelism for many years and are tremendously talented and well-loved by all of our students.

There was a silent auction. Beautifully wrapped baskets full of mainly American goodies - a rare treat for us! We bid on a giant bag of M & M's but were outbid at the last minute. :(

Some of the baskets - you can see the one with the Betty Crocker cake mix and ready-made frosting...Yum!

For food, we served "American Food and Pastries," including homemade smoothies, hot dogs, quesadillas, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, rice crispy treats and, our favorite, Dominos Pizza.

Dominos just opened their first store a few weeks ago in Alcala, the large town about 15 minutes away. The school ordered 60 pizzas and sold every piece. The Americans were happy and I'm sure Dominos was happy. :)

Then there was the game tent, including...

face painting...

What a cute cat! :)

Ping-Pong Slide...

Potty-Toss...

And various other children's games. Rachel had a blast. We all had a blast. It is a ton of work to pull this thing off, but it was a great success.

Our little MK's

Here are some recent pictures of Rachel and Mathis.

This is Rachel having Sunday School with all her babies.

She is reading to them from the Bible.

Mathis and Rachel playing with boxes. Who needs expensive toys? :)

IBC

We still haven't settled into a "church home," here in Spain, but most recently we have been making the 25 minute drive into downtown Madrid to attend Immanuel Baptist Church.  It is a fairly large international congregation, the worship and preaching is in English (huge bonus for us!) and we love the international demographic.  The pastor's children attend ECA.  I know it's not proper to take pictures during a worship service, but I tried to anyway - to give you all a glimpse, you know... :)  Sorry I couldn't get more, but I was trying to be discreet.

This is a not-so-great picture of the choir.  Speaking of every tongue and tribe...there are Africans, Asians, Latinos, Americans and Europeans all singing here.  It's so beautiful.  Someone once told us that when they visit IBC they feel like it's a small picture of what heaven will be like.  

This picture shows the two African drummers, though it's a bit blurry.  

Keri especially loves the African drums.  

Persianas

"What is a persiana," you ask?

  It's a heavy-duty windowshade, and one of our very favorite Spanish inventions.

Here is a typical Spanish window. The window has two panes that swing open to the inside.

The persiana (pronounced PEAR-SEE-ANA) is a shade that drops down on the outside of the window.

Most homes in Spain, ours included, do not have air conditioning. Summer temperatures often reach into the hundreds. Persianas are used to shade the house and help keep temperatures inside bearable. If you want to block the sun, but still allow for circulation, you can put the persiana down partway. The holes in the persiana allow for airflow.

If you want to take a nap in the middle of the day, or if you want to sleep in in the morning, you put the persiana all the way down, and it completely blacks out the room.

Here is the persiana from the outside of the house:

Driving around town at any given time most of the windows on the houses look like the picture below. It takes some getting used to to not be able to see the windows on the houses - it looks kind of like a town that is boarded up and ready for a hurricane.

Persianas are generally all closed when no one is home to

 help insulate the house and protect against intruders.

Parque Juan Carlos

Last Saturday we took a family day and went to this famous park about 30 minutes from us. What a fun place for families!

We took our kite. (see it in blue just above the second tower?)

We rode bikes.

We have set a goal for Rachel to be able to ride without training

wheels by the end of summer. Any pointers?

There were several great playgrounds for all ages, but this was their favorite.

A huge climbing web. Rachel scaled it to the top in no time.

Mathis couldn't climb, but he could swing. :)

Here are some benches under grapevines.

Wine is the #2 export in Spain and there are grapevines all over.

A Spanish water fountain.

If you look carefully, you can see the water where Mathis's mouth is.

Then there were the roses. Not just any roses. GORGEOUS roses - the kind you get in a vase at Valentine's Day. And they were in full bloom. You could smell them from a distance.