Aargh!   Our laptop has been acting funny and we’ve been trying to fix it.  I wish we knew what we were doing… It says we don’t have enough memory.   I thought I had a few more years before that would happen…

Whoa!  What was that sound?  Oh, it was our computer crashing breaking years of hard work into tiny pieces to be chewed up byte by kilobyte by whatever bug or monster that happens by… 

All is lost.  Alas!  Whoa…, I mean, Woe is us!

We have someone looking at our computer who (unlike us) knows what he’s doing.  He informed us it is time for last rites for the files, programs, photos, and all the rest of the stuff on our harddrive.  “It’s no one’s fault,” he said.  “Sometimes things like this just happens.”  Yippee for us!  (I know it might be hard to read the sarcasm in that last statement, but believe me, it’s there.) 

Good thing is he is willing to help us rebuild the laptop to be better, stronger.  We have the technology… We can rebuild him…  In the meantime, we are borrowing an old desktop computer from some old friends.

Besides all that, it has been a good week…

Happy New Year!  Here I am finding myself at the beginning again.  We took a bit of a rest over the Christmas break (we actually had Christmas Sunday without a speaking engagement–which is too bad, but nice all at the same time).   I’m not sure if anyone else is feeling like getting started is an uphill climb, but I’m sure not feeling much momentum left from last year.  We are blessed to have many places to speak this month, so I’m hoping that will jump start the year, energizing me and moving us toward Peru soon!

We have been spending lots of time together as a family during the break from school.  We are having an especially fun time watching Soraya and how she changes daily.  She has started smiling, laughing and “talking”.  It’s hard to believe she will be three months old this Friday.  I have had time to step back and take a look at all of the kids and it’s amazing to see the changes in them that I have taken partially for granted.  Kia is almost as tall as me, her hands have outgrown mine and she can wear my shoes!  She is responsible in many things and I have to try hard to remember she is only thirteen and still a kid in many ways.  Aylis’ would be glad to stay her current size–the better to dance she thinks!  We share reading material and compare thoughts on characters and outcomes.  She is very helpful and mature in many ways and yet confusing as well.  Todd is an interesting combination of outgoing, friendly, electronics guy and philisophical puzzler, question asker and says stuff like, “Mom, I think you’re gonna be mad.” and sometimes I am, but I have to admit I broke so many things as a kid that I have to understand where he’s coming from. 

 I have seen God working in our family preparing us for our new adventure in Peru and I’m looking forward to this time next year when I can see more of God’s plans fulfilled in us.  Please continue to pray for us as we put one foot in front of the other on this journey set before us. 

Blessings!

Audra