Family Archives - Page 29 of 81

2 October 2012

Ethan, Documents, Study

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

Today. Stuff just keeps happening.

Today we got to “see” our nephew Ethan for the first time – all the way from Nairobi – via Skype! Here’s a snapshot of the little fella and his Mom. He was 5 days old.

Today I sent some documents to our lawyer, as we continue to work on our visas. I sent her 51 papers – yes, 51. (Not including photos of us) May the arrive safely and be accepted by the powers that be! What a looooooong process . . .

Today I have a Bible study. In just a few minutes, actually – I’m just about to head out the door.

This week’s study is How can I understand the Bible? and next week’s is How can I study the Bible? Trying to boil down those topics to something useful has been quite the experience. We’ll see how it goes tonight as we talk about some basic principles and try them out on some passages.

That’s not all, but that’s some of what’s going on today. But not time to write more! Today was painful, difficult, blessed and challenging. And tomorrow is coming fast.

29 September 2012

Born: 1 Nephew!

Jim Family 1

There has been a lot going on the last few days, but first and foremost we want to welcome our nephew into the world! Here’s the announcement from Shari’s brother-in-law Nate on Facebook – at 5:52am their time (in Nairobi) (if I’ve figured it right!) yesterday:

We’re all at home now, everything went really well. We’ve named him Ethan Samuel Kidder and he was born on 27 September 2012 at 4:42am weighing 8.0 pounds (3.67 kg).

So – welcome Ethan Samuel! We praise the Lord that everyone is well – Shari’s sister Amy, and even proud sister Karina. 🙂

I won’t steal their pictures, but there are a couple up on Facebook, and both Shari and I have shared them to our timelines if you would like to see them.

28 September 2012

Why I like School (Nathanael)

Nathanael Family 1

I want to tell you about some things that I like about school.

I like history. I like that there’s crafts. I made a lighthouse from the time of Alexander the Great. I made paper dolls of Greek soldiers.

I like that school is fun. I like math, and I like that you play games in math.

I like spelling because it’s just kind of fun and because it’s cool.

In science, I drew a picture of the Earth … I drew a picture of the sun … I made a Sun collage with pictures with suns on them. I found the pictures in a magazine. I drew a picture of Venus (and Venus is a hot place).

I made a cartoon about mining in caves on Venus. The guys were trying to run away from the volcanoes that were erupting, and they were kind of stuck, and after the volcanoes almost exploded on them they went in the caves and cooked pizza with the campfire.

Then they went to their home and asked each other if they could come over and eat pizza.

27 August 2012

Yeah, it’s all in Spanish.

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses 1

Sometimes I just assume people know things that they really don’t. I know, bad me. But we all do it, don’t we?

For example, in our most recent newsletter (have you received it yet? If you don’t get it and would like to, click here.), I talked about Hannah’s 5 years in Mexican schools, and Nathanael’s 3.5 years in Mexican schools. We were looking back over their years in school so far.

Well, just to clarify, yes, that was all, 100% in Spanish. Well, all right – they did have some English classes in there. But they were pretty basic – just learning the basics of English that in most cases (I hope!) Hannah and Nathanael would already know.

Playing at this past Saturday’s (Spanish) kids’ club!

And yes, when we’re talking about ministry here – giving a Bible study, going to visit someone, services – yes, it’s almost always all Spanish.

Sure, sometimes I translate things into English for you, here on the blog. But really just about everything we do here we do in Spanish.

When our kids are playing with their friends (which they do a LOT, even out of school) – it’s generally in Spanish. In fact, even when they’re playing with friends who know English, they still generally speak in Spanish.

There are English classes at the community centre, but we’re rarely involved in them.

In our house? Well, more English there, but really it tends to be a mix of English and Spanish. Espanglais.

Now that may sound wonderful – actually, it is – great atmosphere for the kids, and we’re all learning lots. But just to be clear, we all have a long way to go in our Spanish. So don’t get too many romantic ideas of the great missionaries chattering away in perfect Mexican Spanish with no accent. We all have a lot to learn. No, it’s not false humility. Just saying it like it is.

And, by the way, with Hannah starting school more in English this year (homeschooling) – we’re reminded that she has a lot to learn in English too! As does Nathanael. So it should be interesting. 🙂

So now you know! 🙂

30 July 2012

Remembering Aunt Ruth

Jim Family 2

We were sad to hear about the passing of my first cousin (once removed), Ruth Foreman – otherwise known as "Aunt Ruth". She went to be with her Saviour on the 21st of July.

Ruth was born a Cottrill (and she strongly affirmed to us later in life that she still was one!) in 1923. She was a very warm and friendly person, a wonderful part of the family, and we always enjoyed visiting with her. We last saw her on our last visit to Ontario in 2009.

For a long time Ruth prayed for us and our ministry every day. People like that are rare – but we’re so thankful for them!

That being said, we do have a few others who pray for us daily – you know who you are – and God only knows the impact that you have had.

We’re thankful for Ruth’s service to the Lord, and we look forward to seeing her again. In the mean time, she will be missed.

Read Ruth’s obituary here.

26 July 2012

Random Tidbits about our Recent Trip

Jim Family, Missions 0

Here are some random facts and stories about our recent trip to Colorado…

While we were in Estes Park area, we saw wildlife everywhere. Deer, gophers, birds… and elk. One day two huge specimens wandered through the YMCA grounds, eating the carefully planted flowers.
Camino Global (USA) inaugurated their new president at Convocation (Douglas Livingstone). Also, FAM International (the Latin mission agency which has a branch here in Mexico) is looking forward to installing a new president – Gustavo Soto.
You’d think that after working with Americans (that is, people from the USA) and going to conferences with mainly American missionaries, and having lots of American friends, that I would have them all figured out. The reality is, for a lot of the conference I was completely lost. I wonder what the other non-American attendees thought. That being said, we as believers ALL have one Lord in common (who even speaks American English), and we enjoyed worshipping together.
It was great to connect and reconnect with a lot of people at Convocation, and people before and after. Praying together, talking about ministry and life – even playing together. Nice! I would start mentioning their names, but I’m afraid I’ll forget someone. You know who you are!
As expected my health was not so great during Convocation, particularly the first two or three days. After that I was careful, and was able to enjoy things a little more, although not do as much as I might have liked. Hannah got sick too, but just for one night.
As a family we visited the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. We especially went to see the space exhibits and the Egyptian mummies (two things Nathanael has been studying in school), but the animal displays were pretty interesting too.
Out of gazillions of candy shops in the town of Estes Park, not one had maple fudge with no nuts. (Well, ok, one said they had just run out.) But good news – The Candy Shoppe in the Denver airport has maple fudge without nuts.
I was on I think 7 shuttle bus rides on this trip. At the airport we were supposed to meet greeters who would point us to the shuttle to take us to Convocation. We were told they would be in either the east baggage claim area or the west baggage claim area. After walking around and around, we couldn’t find anyone and it was almost time for the bus to depart. I tried calling, but the payphones didn’t work. When I found a phone that did, the number didn’t work. The information desk couldn’t help, but they connected me to the shuttle bus company via telephone. They didn’t know where the greeters were either. Then I noticed – close to the information desk – the greeters. Not in the east or west baggage claim areas, but in the middle (with a tiny sign!). But they were very nice – and we caught the next shuttle.
Our US counterparts launched a new website – here it is. Thanks to Brittany’s photography, there are loads of pictures from Ixtapaluca on the site (in fact, I think I saw Hannah in there somewhere). CAM Canada has a new site too – but it’s in process while we see if we can ever change our name to Camino Global.
We’ve had quite the adventures trying to get books to Mexico for Hannah and Nathanael’s schooling. Finally we found a couple of people who kindly brought them to Convocation (we had them shipped to the mission office in Dallas), and we were able to fit them all in our luggage. Which believe me, was no small feat.
On our way to Colorado, we realized that Hannah and Nathanael would need backpacks for the day camp they would be attending. With no vehicle, we had no choice but to look for backpacks at the airport. We managed to find and purchase two (for a price that wasn’t too outlandish). During the rest of our trip, we were given no fewer than 5 more backpacks. Ummm… is there a lesson here?
Hannah and Nathanael made tie-dyed shirts at the YMCA craft room. They are very cool.
Greeting us at the Denver airport was the VW bug you see below – covered in tiny beads, and created in Mexico. Wow.
Music at Convocation was provided by Dick and Mel Tunney. Dr. Bill Lawrence spoke. We also heard from Dr. Hans Finzel. And lots of other people, including those with Camino Global.
Over the course of a week, three places made the international news. First, Ixtapaluca – for an attack at a Roman Catholic youth camp. Next, Scarborough (home of our Canadian director), for a mall shooting. Finally, Denver (more specifically, Aurora), for a shooting in a cinema (the deadliest of the three – no one was killed in the attack near Ixtapaluca, I don’t think). Is the lesson that nowhere is safe – but especially not the USA? Sadly, a woman who left the mall in Scarborough 5 minutes before the shooting was shot and killed in the Denver shooting.
We went to mail some letters close to our hotel, and discovered that the plaza was named for a large printing shop – Cottrell Printing. Since we’ve had printers in our family, I find that… interesting. Distant relations?
This is the sermon we heard this past Sunday. It was a church plant near our hotel. It was interesting to talk with some of them about the similarities and differences of church planting in Ixtapaluca and Denver.
Colorado sure was a lot warmer than here in Ixtapaluca!
At Convocation we were reminded again – we have awesome co-workers here in Mexico!
Our flight out of Denver was late leaving, and our connection was very tight. Once we got off the plane in Houston, we had to take a train to another area, and we ran and ran and ran to the next plane, arriving about 5 minutes before it was supposed to depart. As we went to board, I smiled at a fellow runner and said – orale. He smiled back and said orale, pues. (And I knew I was on my way back to Mexico). But then we sat in the plane for about two hours while they tried to solve various problems. On the bright side, it certainly gave our luggage time to catch up, and it all arrived safely (with the exception of one ripped suitcase, but nothing was missing).
We are very glad to be home!

I’ll try to get some of these photos uploaded – someday soon!