Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Victoria's Seasonal Changes!

This fall, poor little Tori took a fall!

She was dancing in her bedroom when she tumbled over and accidentally fractured the growth plate in her foot. So, bless her heart, she's in a cast for the next five weeks. Through it all, she's been a great trooper! She gets along fairly well with her crutches, but when she's tired of them, she hops along on one foot.

Not only has she temporary lost the use of her foot/leg...
but she also lost another tooth and is in the process of losing her first top tooth as well! She was so excited to find out that the "tooth fairy" knew she had moved to Mexico.

She has been working hard these past several weeks to bring her math and phonics grades up a few points.

I'm proud to say that she did WONDERFUL
on her weekly test!


Her reading is also coming along well. Sometimes it's hard for me to know just what to expect from her (I am so NOT a teacher...Anne, Joanna, Julie, Rachel, Nancy...etc!). However, I am very pleased with her progress. She is doing excellent with counting by 2's, memorizing math families, counting American money, learning special phonic sounds and spelling. On top of that she learns poetry and also Bible verses.

Because of her broken foot, she has had to drop out of her swim classes...much to her dismay. At the time when her foot was broken, she had learned to swim under water and to stroke. (Before she started classes she would have NEVER dreamed of immersing her head under water...baptism was definitely out of the question for her!)

The other day she told me, "Mom, I want to have a real job when I get big." "Really", I replied. "What are you thinking about?" "Well, I want to be a veterinarian" "Oh, why is that?" I asked.
(It surprised me because although she loves animals, she HATES blood and we've explained that in that profession, she would be exposed at some time in her career to something open and bloody.)
"Oh, that's easy! Cuz I want to have one of those cool white coats to wear!"

Hmmm,
not the response I was looking for. She definitely is showing signs of being "all girl'!

We love the fact that God has given us
such a wonderful gift in Tori.

What a blessing the children
are in our lives!

The Autumn Colors of I.B.P.


This past Sunday, October 7th, we celebrated 5 years of ministry in Iglesia Bautista Peninsular (Peninsular Baptist Church)! Wow! It's hard to believe that we've been ministering together with Jeff's family for five years now. We've seen many lives changed and families restored. It was amazing to see new families that have been added to the congregration within the past year...and even more encouraging to see families who were present with us from our first service back in 2002 and have thus far remained faithful!

We rented a lovely quinta (a building for a formal/party event) and had a special guest speaker, Doctor Shoemaker, head up our commemorative services.

The church members helped to provide the food, special music...and of course, many friends and family members.
Dr. Shoemaker delivered his messages in English with James as his translator. As a special surprise, Jeff put together a power point presentation of I.B.P from it's birth to its present state. It was fun to watch the people get excited as their pictures flashed over the screen.

The rain did nothing to dampen the people's excitement as we celebrated another year of growth together as a church family. It was a wonderful service that we wish you too could have shared with us. Start making your plans to be in Merida for our 6th anniversary next October. Trust me, you wont want to miss it!

Thank you for supporting the ministries of I.B.P. Because of you, there is a church that is being established.

Slowly but steadily we are growing and experiencing the glorious colors of an autumn harvest!


The Jeff Carney family

Tyler's Changing Colors!




Tyler has been growing by leaps and bounds this fall season!

Throughout his K-4 schooling, he has been learning to read blends, recognize and count numbers, and memorize scripture and poetry. By the while, he has also been practicing the fine art of skateboarding!

Likewise, this fall he has begun helping with chores around the house...from helping mom cook (he'd like to take chef lessons) to learning how to set the table and empty trash cans.
Now we're not going to lie to you...his attitude while preforming these various chores at times, well quite frankly, yea, it's pretty bad! Nevertheless, we've seen great improvement in
his personal development.

As a matter of fact, the other day at dinner time I heard him tell Jeff, "No, Dad. Let me get the ice for the cups. You just sit down." I thought to myself, "Wow! He's becoming more mature about his chores!" Then I heard him mumble under his breath, "I really want a BIG allowance this week!" *Sigh* We've definitely got our work cut out with
him-but we're loving every minute of it!

In
September he started up with swim lessons and has been doing excellent with them. He really enjoys jumping/diving into the water and has been working hard to develop a stroke pattern. With it being so hot here, it's an added benefit for him to get to go swimming several times a week. He says he wants to be a: "firefighter, navy seal, police man, chef, soldier, ninja, helicopter pilot, astronaut, Nascar driver"...and the list goes on and on...!

It's a joy watching him grow and become the individual that God created him to be.




"Highlights"

September has been a great month for the youth ministry!

We've seen Samuel, the young man who made a decision for Christ, grow and mature in the Lord with his weekly Bible studies. He's never missed one...so far! As a matter of fact, he was baptized this last Sunday.

For the past several months we've been encouraging a young couple, Humberto and Marina, to come along side of us and help us with the youth. Well, this coming Sunday evening they've committed to helping us with our teen program. They didn't say how much they would be willing to commit too; however, they are willing to at least "see" what it's all about on the 14th! Please be in prayer that God will continue to work in young couple's hearts regarding youth work.

Because of the rains that we've been receiving, Jeff's weekly soccer matches have been put on indefinite hold. Nevertheless, last Tuesday (his "official" soccer day of the week) the sky was clear and he headed over to the courts with little hope of a decent group due to the inconsistencies of the rain. Much to his surprise, he said there were at least 30 or more present ready to play...many of them being un-churched, local community kids!

With the help of James, one of Jeff's younger brothers, the teens have become more unified as a group and there seems to be a better spirit among them. (Thanks, James...you really are a help and and encouragement to us!)

We've been averaging a solid, core group of 15 or so. What's so special about these kids is that they are coming on their own to church (we don't pick them up or take them home), they are paying for their activities, and many of them are coming without their parents. They're at church because they WANT to be there! We are still working with them to be consistent with daily Bible reading and prayer. They have a long way to go...but we are seeing them slowly mature. Several of them are involved in positions of leadership in the church as well. It's exciting to see God at work in their lives.

The changing colors of our ministry are bright and captivating! Please continue to keep us in your prayers this fall season.


The Carney Clan
Merida, Mexico



September 2007

September has come and gone and now we are officially into our fall season of the year when the leaves are beginning t change and the air is more crisp and cooler...Well, if you don't live in the Yucatan you are probably enjoying some of these changes!

The other day I unpacked our fall decorations and Tyler asked me, “Mom, what’s up with all of the orange, brown and red stuff?” “Well,” I replied, “We decorate with these colors because they remind us of the changing leaves and also of the changes taking place in nature. It’s called the autumn season.” He ran over to our sliding glass door and observed the emerald green grass (thanks to our dog’s economical fertilizing system) and the bright, waxy green leaves of our recently planted Ficus tree and said, “Uh, Mom. I think you got your fall colors messed up!”

Although our weather has only slightly changed
(Observe the inserted picture for proof of our "fall" weather!), our ministry and family have been constantly evolving. Because there are so many highlights and “lowlights” to share with you, we’ve decided that it would be too many to post for one “blog” entry. Therefore, you’ll see several postings listed from events that occurred in September. Then we’ve also posted our church’s 5th anniversary here on the mission field that just took place last Sunday!

We hope that you enjoy reading about the changing colors of our family and ministry.

The Jeff Carney Family