I know, I've been horribly unfaithful with this blog but here I am, picking up the pieces, returning to you my friends and family. :) Life has been busy! I am now a K4 and 1st grade teacher, ta da!! My students have survived 3 days of my "teaching" and I'm liking it. It's very new for me, this whole staying home thing but I like a good challenge and one of the main perks is that I'll be skilled in the schooling my children thing when Wynter and her future siblings grow old enough to learn Kindergarten and 1st grade. For now she's doing very well being schooled by her Uncle Dan Dan (my brother, Danny) who teaches the 3 toddlers here, they are PRECIOUS and he does an amazing job with them. I have pictures to prove that but blogger is being stubborn still and won't let me post pictures, I'm sorry. That is actually the real reason I haven't been posting, I don't want to bore you guys with mere words. Sigh.
Christian is feeling much better now and he's been doing handyman stuff around the house as we're moving to a new house really soon. Pretty soon he'll get to know the city and be going out a lot more, that'll be cool. Um, what else? Oh yes, our band here (David (of Hosy), Danny, Miguel, Willy, Hosy & I) is asking our team to pray about us going to play at Wordstock this year, I'm leaving it God's reliable hands. I don't like pushing for things that might turn out to be a disaster, hee hee.
Oh, how could I forget! Wynter is turning 2 on Friday! I can't believe we've had her that long, so beautiful. I asked her what kind of cake she wants me to make and she said "A ladybug cake, Mama" so that's what it'll be--hopefully. :) I think I'll make it chocolate because she makes the cutest faces when she devours the stuff--totally worth the sugar high she'll most likely have for a few hours afterwards. Well, more news later. I love you all so very much and miss and pray for you whenever you come to mind (more often than not, I assure you.) Ciao!

Sorry about this but for some reason blogger isn't letting me post pictures, no matter how many times I try. :( I'll keep looking into it and hopefully you'll see the new stuff soon. We just got home from our first visa trip here, it went well. Almost 5 hours to Mexico and then the same back. Wynter was an angel. She just soaked in all our attention and behaved herself. Tomorrow is our day off so I'll post about what we did tomorrow night,ok? Bye for now!

Welcome Home, Baby!

"Honey, I'm home!!" Yes, these words are real and he is home! Christian got back the day before Valentine's Day and he is beautiful! He told me on the phone before getting here that he now weighs 250 lbs and that he needs to get in shape. So I told him that I didn't care what he looked like, I just wanted him home. So, when I spot him at the airport my jaw literally dropped and I was thoroughly shocked by how gorgeous he looked! He had been working out every night for 3 weeks before coming home and he wasn't even able to do cardio because of a knee injury but he looks amazing and I'm so proud of him! Now he's playing basketball with the guys here (2 of them are my brothers) so he's shooting towards perfection. :) It's such a great feeling to be the proud wife of a handsome man.
Wynter Jane is a totally different person since her Papa returned. She's so secure & animated now, she's talking up a storm. Right now she's taking a nap with Christian, he's not feeling well.
We went to Antigua with David & Hosy for our night & day off. We stayed at the house of one of David's friends and it was a really relaxing time. Some of the pictures are from there. I'll try to be more faithful with this blog, okay? Thank you all for your heartfelt concern for us, we really love you and know that we're together again because of your prayers.

Family & friends

My beautiful Hosy in Winter splendor, Daniel, my wonderful brother & Lizzy's birthday with her best friend, Kayla (Hosy & David's 4th) & with her uncle Dan Dan. Life is beautiful.

Christmas morning & friends having fun

Reen Reen & Dan Dan & Wynter's cousins

My beautiful family.

1 more for the girls.

Uncle Woop Woop

This is my amazing brother Willy. Wynter's hero, my guardian angel & camp comedian. More on this guy later.

Music

I called one of our old friends, Bart in Houston to let him know about our need for a drum set for our band. It was great to talk to him, I haven't seen him in years but I've known him since I was 12 and I decided to call his music store and ask for the donation of a guitar for my younger brother, Danny who was turning 10 that week. Bart's reponse was that if I could gather enough knives from our missionary community that he would consider a trade. Thinking back on it now, he may have given me that answer thinking that I would just try around somewhere else but I did gather the knives and got my parents to drive me down there to show Bart what I'd collected for him, ha! He was shocked to see me and looked over the knives, finally choosing one of value, a whaling knife my dad had kept for years. Then after seeing Danny's current guitar that my dad had bought for $8 at a flea market in California when Danny was 8 years old, Bart tells us "That's not a guitar", and then pulling a new one off the shelf, he says "THIS is a guitar!" Such a nice man. Danny got the best birthday gift and I was floored by the miracle. Anyway, ever since then Bart has donated thousands of dollars worth of musical equiptment and instruments and when I mentioned our need for a drumset he quickly asked "How do I get it to you?" Isn't that precious? He didn't think twice or hesitate and when I told him he's one of our angels, he said he will always help "The Family Singers", the name our family singing group has always had. So, Danny, David & Hosy will be bringing home the drum set in a week and we can start practicing hard core! Oh, if you want to see a music video we did for one of my songs at my parents place, check it out here: 12foundationstones.com Click on "Pray For You" on the far right, you'll see a picture of me.

Christian

Talked to Christian tonight on Skype and I just found out that he'll be longer than we'd expected. I was so excited about seeing him in a week and it's hard for me to understand why there have to be so many delays but I refuse to give in to defeat and doubt. God help me believe! I want so much to be one of those women of faith that believes without any thread of evidence, without any rescue call, without a deadline to look forward to. I want to trust just because I love Jesus and I want to give him that compliment, that I know He will work everything out perfectly for me and the precious ones I love. I don't know when I'll see Christian again but I know Jesus knows so I'll stay closer to Him than I ever have before to hear the first breath of news regarding his return. It's been 2 months now that we've been apart so I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day with all my heart. Wynter talks to him on Skype whenever I do and she dances as he sings to her through the huge earphones. "Five green speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating some most delicious bugs--yum, yum! One jumped into a pool where it was nice and cool, now there's only four green speckled frogs." That's her favorite and when I ask her what she thinks of her Papa she tells me "peckled frogs, Mama!" She's worth it all. When your almost 2 year old wakes up in the morning and the first thing she does is grab your face with both her hands and says "I luf you, Mama"-- that is life. I have so much to be thankful for. Wanna hear the lyrics to the song I wrote to Christian on Christmas Day? It goes like this:

I'll Stay

Holding back tears,
Thinking of years we spent so well together,
Wondering why
At this special time we have to be apart.
He's the One who gave me to you,
I wanna be in your arms,
But He'll hold me as He always has,
My emotions feel disarmed...

Chorus:
But I'll stay
For He is the Way, the Truth & my very life,
If His will is for me to fill my whole heart with Him than I'll try,
To be
His eyes & to see the hurt souls He's pleading for,
"They say distance makes the heart grow fonder",
It's true, I love you more,
I can't wait 'til you walk through that door.

At my weakest, trembling knees test ground they haven't felt,
I have never felt the level of prayer my soul just dealt,
I'm here leaning on Him, weaning myself off of the facts,
Impossible won't be an option, on blind faith I will act.

Repeat Chorus til you have the faith to believe :)

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!

Christmas in Guatemala

Okay, this is an example of the happiness I feel in my new country! Christmas was amazing here and I loved every second of it, so wonderful. These pictures are of most of our singing team when we performed for a poor neighborhood where some of our friends were giving away clothing and gifts.

Wynter Jane

You would never know what a proud mother I am by the look of our blog. I post so many pictures of me that you could think I'm a vain, self absorbed person (which I hope I'm not!) So the theme of this post is our darling Wynter Jane. She's been such a good girl lately, giving me so much love and behaving so well with her friends that she deserves a little hall of fame. I was just thanking God this morning for giving us such a precious little girl. She's not a brat and she loves Jesus so much, prayer is a constant in her life and if you heard the way she prays and saw the way she squints her eyes closed, clasps her chubbly little hands together and gives her whole heart in prayer, you would want to squeeze her the way I get to every day and night, I'm so blessed! Here's to Wynter Jane Weiler!

The substance of things hoped for

Hello my dears! I was battling depression the past 3 days and that is why you haven't heard from me, because I don't want anything but upbeat, positive, uplifting, praise-filled words to fall on your lovely ears! So, I'm happy now because I have the victory which is......drum roll, please! --Faith! Yes, simple childlike faith. What a discovery and how much lighter I feel now that I've stopped trying to fight God in His plan for my life. (In relation to Christian being away all this time and the many delays he's encountered in his fundraising and trying to make it home to us.) So, yesterday I told Jesus that I don't want to be stubborn and questioning Him anymore. I made a pledge in front of a friend (Renae) that I will not utter one single word of doubt regarding our situation and I will keep an attitude of faith and humble trust, knowing and expecting that God will do a miracle. The minute I said those words I felt lighter and then lighter until I was happy again and free to make other people happy too! So cool. I'm a believer, hahah! So, I'll post some pix on this page so that my sermon can be accompanied by some scenery. I LOVE ALL OF YOU! Ciao!

Christmas Morning

Wynter Jane discovering her new toy blender.

The promised pictures

Goodie! It works! Now I can share my life with you again! So, Antigua was beautiful and the company was even better. We had a great time walking through the darling marketplace and buying trinkets and then we got to eat Pupusas (El Salvadorean originally but common food here too) and drink beer atop the hill overlooking the city, such a pretty view! Ange brought a guitar so we shared songs, laughed and took pictures of eachother, good times. I'll post more pix of Christmas, New Year's and more later. Ciao!!

Antigua

We had a wonderful day in Antigua. The 1st picture is of Renae, Angelina, Me & Sharie chilling out on the hill overlooking the city of Antigua (former capitol of Guatemala). Next pic is Renae & I in the town square. I'm posting more pix in a few minutes, just checking to see if this works. Love you!

Happy New Year!

I've been saying Happy New Year all night and now I'm missing the people I've shared old years with. :( New friends are wonderful but there's just something about people who know the real you and don't run, you know? Anyway, I am looking forward to a whole new set of everything this year and I know that's what I'll get because life has already changed so drastically. Yesterday I went to Antigua with some new friends and it was a wonderful day, I have pictures to prove it but this computer isn't letting me post pictures on blogger for some reason. I'm gonna try yet one more time and if it doesn't work, you know why. Happy new year, friends. Love you.

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello my long lost loves, I'm back to fill you in on the exciting details of our new life! Okay, besides the ache in my heart from missing Christian so deeply, Christmas was wonderful and we all had a great time. Wynter got plenty of gifts and she was thrilled with her stocking. (The one that I stayed up 'til 2:30am to make with Hosy tutoring me on more efficient, time saving stitches, ahem.) We did a show on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so by the time dinner came around at 7:30, we were all ready to relax but that didn't happen until like 11pm after all the kids were down and we could just chill. So, it was fun, we danced a lot and celebrated the amazing things that happened during the Christmas season. I have so many good memories of going singing, we had an awesome group. The guys actually know how to sing really well here and they perform great, one of them plays bongos so we sounded terrific in my opinion. Willy got to join the group after his persistance and determination to show off his musical skills. :) He did great, mouthing the words he didn't know (which were many.) Anyway, David, Hosy, kids & my dear brother Danny are leaving today for the States and they're supposed to be gone a month but I'm praying less because there's a good possibility they're bringing Christian back with them! Sings: "Daddy, please come home, Mommy can't make it on her own. Little Wynter needs you too, we're not a family without you!" I'd sing more but the tears will flow and then the keyboard (which isn't mine) will get destroyed...a definite no-no. Okay, I'm in a slightly odd mood today so I'll cut off here, I'm gonna try to post some pix of our Christmas singing, such a fun time!! I love you all, write me if you feel the urge. A little reminder: Mysticsand2@yahoo.com Oh, no making fun of the email address. I've had it since I was 13. It used to be mysticsand@aol but then I couldn't afford the monthly fee and I went for the freebie with the addition of the number 2 at the end of my sands of mysticness. Ciao!

We're Home!

So the most amazing thing happened! We were in a minivan. The four of us "older people" with 5 children, these are their ages: 7, 4, 2 1/2, 21 months & 4 months. All girls. So, the amazing thing that happened is that NOTHING happened! --Nothing bad that is. Tons of good stuff happened which leads me to believe you all were praying for us double time, THANK YOU! We spent 6 days on the road making stops in San Antonio, Harlingen (where Wynter got to meet her grandpa for the first time, Christian's dad.), Tampico, Vera Cruz, Arriaga and now we're home in Guatemala City, we love it here already! Everyone we stayed with was full of hospitality and gave from their hearts, really sweet. The house here is huge and beautiful and the people are great, we're truly blessed. I've gotta go now but I'll come back to tell more of our travels, there are plenty of great stories...Willy probably has a lead role in most of them so they're sure to be entertaining. Ciao!

At last!

You just wouldn't believe it! We are in San Antonio on our way to the border and from there through Mexico & on to Guatemala! Thank you for your prayers but please keep praying for Christian as he's not with us yet, still raising funds. I don't have anymore time but I love you! XOXOX!