Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Favorite Moment

One night at dinner I asked Luke if he knew his bible verse for school the next day. He said his verse and then Jordan began saying his verse. In the middle of saying his verse, Molly yells out, "Ooh-ooh I know that verse". I asked her to wait her turn. After Jordan finished saying his verse in English about David and Goliath, Molly began saying her verse in Spanish about David and Goliath. I had no idea she was memorizing scripture at her pre-school. One of my favorite things was always to hear Molly playing in Spanish. Now it is to hear her quote God's Word in Spanish!

Here are Jordan and Molly saying their verses for you:

Friday, March 12, 2010

La Roca Skate Event


Casa Gabriel had the privilege to help our friend and Youth World team member, Brock Luginbill with a skating competition. Brock and Nancy have started a skate board ministry here in Quito.


For this big event he had professional skaters, Jud Heald and Jared Lee from the United States to judge the competition, do a demo, and share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with over 300 hundred people. Casa G had the opportunity to talk and pray with people who made a decision to follow Christ.

Love Alejandro's big smile - he was so excited to meet Jud and Jared!
It was a fun day to be all together.
Coming home after a long day at La Roca...

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Supercines VIP


This Christmas, I had lots of fun with the kids counting down the 12 Days of Christmas. "On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 5 movie tickets for the family". The hard thing is that most of the kid movies are only in Spanish. We decided that we knew Toy Story well enough that we would understand, and it would be fun to go to a 3-D movie. The new movie theater here in Quito has VIP seating, so we decided to give it a try. So fun...


Lunch was pop-corn, Oreos, and Cokes. Yes, no Mother of the Year would be given to me, but it was a huge treat for Luke, Jordan and Molly!


This is what VIP seating looks like - leather recliner chairs with mechanical buttons. Supercines would be happy to know that the buttons work very well and were tested throughout the movie by my kids.


Molly and I decided to snuggle together in one chair.


Toy Story 3-D was a fun family outing!!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

First Casa G Wedding


On January 23, Boris and Fernanda were married! Boris has lived at Casa G for over one and a half years and has dated Fernanda for almost 2 years.


Jordan, Luke and Molly with the groom before the wedding ceremony


Saying vows


Casey and Phil were asked to come and pray for Boris and Fernanda at the end of the ceremony.


Boris with his best friend, Mike Zova.


Molly and the flower girl playing at the reception


After many hours at the wedding, Luke and Jordan began to entertain themselves!





Congratulations Boris and Fernanda! We love you and are praying for you. It was not until we were driving home that it hit me that I was saying goodbye to Boris. We will definitely miss him living at Casa G, but we wait in expectation of what the Lord will do through him.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Jordan's Star Wars Party


Jordan is ready to pass out his invitations to the boys in his class.


Day of party: With the help of our good friend, Marlo, she and Casey filled up their cars and brought home 8 boys from Jordan's class. The party started at our neighborhood's park with a Jedi Training Obstacle Course. First station - Zero gravity light saber practice


Second station: Force choke on Darth Vader (aka Nick)


Third station: Balloon pop with force foot or light saber



Final station: Light saber battle against the Sith (aka Luke)


The Jedi second graders always dominated the dark side fourth graders.

I do believe Jordan had a great time! Poor Luke and Nick, I think Jordan and his friends went through the obstacle course at least 4 times!!
After the Jedi Training Course, the boys decided to play soccer. Here is team: Star Wars
Team: Wookies

Jordan and his friends love to play soccer.




We ordered Dominos Pizza and drank Yoda Sodas.



Marina is our precious neighbor and a part of our family.

Blowing out the big "8"

Sweet friends

The silly picture is always my favorite!

We ended the party playing at the park waiting for the parents to pick up their kids. What a fun day to celebrate our Jedi Jordan!

Asaf


Here is Jordan with his first friend he made when we moved to Quito. *Asaf Ladines* This picture is taken the first day of school this year. On the first day of second grade, Jordan and Asaf were standing in the back of the room with terrified looks on their faces...until they saw each other and could sit together - now look at the smiles on their faces! They have a special friendship.

We found out that Asaf and his family are moving back to Uzbekistan to be missionaries there. Jordan is so sad to see his closest friend move. I tell you all of this because we were planning to have Jordan's birthday party on Friday the 29th. Well, Jordan came home on Tuesday and told me that Asaf is moving on the 29th! Needless to say we moved his party up a week. A great thing about living here in Ecuador is that you pass out invitations for a birthday anywhere from 3 days to the day before the party. Jordan and I made his invitations that night, and he passed them out the next day. Now for the Star Wars birthday party...

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Luke's Birthday Sleepover


Luke turned 10 on November 23, and we finally had his birthday party on January 8. Luke wanted a sleepover party, so he invited 3 of his friends and what a great time we had! First, we went swimming at our friends' pool at their apartment.


Jon & Luke


Nick & Caleb


Little sister Molly had fun swimming, too!


Second, we ate tacos (Luke's request) and cupcakes.


Third, we went to our neighborhood's park with glow-sticks! Casey was so excited to find some glow-sticks here in Quito. Our friends and neighbors in Tyler can appreciate Casey's excitement for discovering we can buy glow-sticks here.


Fourth, the boys watched G-Force and ate popcorn. Then finally fell asleep right at midnight. We woke up to lots of giggling in the tent a little before 7:00 on Saturday morning. Casey made his famous chocolate chip pancakes. Lastly, there was time for more playing and everyone was delivered home before noon. Fun, fun times!
Feliz Cumpleaños Luke!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

New Year!


2009 - what a year! I feel like our family has been turned upside down, inside out, and everything in between. We are very happy to welcome 2010 in the Bryans' home. God has shown Casey and me the importance of fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ. We were faced with many challenges in 2009 and sadly much of our time was spent focused on ourselves. Casey and I both finally ran out of our own strength - praise God! Each day we ask the Lord to increase our trust in Him and keep our eyes fixed on Christ, spend time together reading His Word out loud, and praising Him for at least 3 things. Worship may not change our circumstances but it can definitely change our attitudes. We praise God for His unfailing love, all-sufficient grace, and constant faithfulness. Thank you Lord for your gift of salvation, your mercies that are new every morning, and for opening our eyes to Your Truth.


Feliz Año! Hooray for 2010!