New Flooring

So we decided to redo the flooring in our home. We are so glad that we did it is so beautiful. We went with a dark Tennessee Bourbon Hardwood for the living room and hallway and light beige silk carpet for all the bedrooms. It is so soft.

The carpet before in our living room

After our beautiful hardwood.

Zoey enjoying the soft carpet. She really loves it.

Crusing the Western Caribbean

So Justin and I just got back yesterday from our first cruise ever. We booked a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise that took us to Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; Costa Maya, Mexico; and Cozumel, Mexico. We had a great time at each port. At Roatan we went snorkeling on the second largest reef in the world. Even though it was overcast the whole day, under the water you would not have known the difference. There were so many different colors and shapes of fish. We had a great time. Then we laid on the beach for awhile. We asked our tour guide if we could eat somewhere local. We went to this restaurant (if you can call it that) and tried the local cuisine - Iguana. It was like chewy chicken with tons of bones. But I liked it, I could eat it again. In Belize City we found a tour guide that was a Jehovah's Witness and went with him on a tubing tour of the Crystal Caves. It was so nice to be able to go with other witnesses. He was telling us that in Belize the second biggest religion is the Jehovah's Witnesses. That made us really happy to hear. We also had other couples that were witnesses with the group, it was so nice they were on their honeymoon. In Costa Maya we got to hold a baby lion, Antonio. His mother tried to eat him because she thought he was weak and this group saved him. After that we went to a beach and relaxed the whole day. Then in Cozumel we went to the port and all there was was shopping. So we decided to go back to the boat and relax. It was a great cruise. We met some great JW's friends on the boat and had dinner with them the last night. It was a perfect finish to a great cruise. At the end of it though, I am glad to be home. Vacations are fun, but they tend to wear you out because you wanna try to get in as much fun as possible. Here are some pics.

Pool on top of the boat. We never actually got in.

1st night at sea.

Night before we land in Roatan. Going out to eat.

Iguana, fried plantains and rice and beans.

Roatan Honduras

Cave tubing in Belize. The witness couple is directly behind us in their tubs.

Entering the cave.

Crystal Eagle. The Mayans believed it would guide them out of the caves.

Brother Rick our tour guide for the day.

Yummy drink after tubing.

Justin had a local beer Belikin.

Baby lion Antonio. I was so excited my right eye went crazy. Lol

It was so cuddly.

Costa Maya, Mexico

Cozumel, Mexico. Our ship the Norwegian Dawn in the background.

Chocoholic Extravaganza Night! We shared just one piece of cake. Pathetic. LOL

5K With Friends

A few weeks ago, in between working on our KH Construction project, Stephanie and I ran a 5K with friends from a few of the Spanish Congregations in our area.  This particular run was called Color Me Rad and when you're finished your are quite colorful! We all started out wearing white shirts but as you run through the course they shoot out paints and powders with the end result of your looking like a bag of Skittles :)

We'll have an update on the construction project soon, there are some really exciting things to share - you'll just have to wait for that ;)

Crocheting Beast

I have been crocheting for the past three weeks. These are the things that I have completed so far. The only thing not pictured is some leg warmers that I haven't taken a pic of. 

Zoey's first sweater

Zoey's second sweater

Infinity scarf

Great News From A Former Study

A former study of mine who was making good progress in Bolivia and had became an unbaptized publisher while we were there, contacted me online today with some exciting news!

In his words "We're now official brothers" He along with his father were just baptized at the District Assembly that took place a few weeks back.  It would have been so nice to be there to see it, but it certainly warms my heart that he along with his father are now part of our worldwide brotherhood.  Here's a photo of him below.  Hopefully we'll be able to congratulate them both in person sooner than later.

Remodeling our Kingdom Hall

So it has finally come after years and years of trying to get our Kingdom Hall remodeled we have finally started. Our hall was in pretty bad shape. But now we get to destroy the old and remodel it into a respectable Kingdom Hall. The colors that were chosen were blacks and beiges. I can not wait to see how it will look. The past two weekends we have been working really hard to get the hall demoed for the remodeling crews to come. It was a lot of work. They completely destroyed out bathrooms and are planning to make them bigger. Our whole hall was gutted because of mold issues and because it was purple. :) It is so nice to see that all being taking care of. Justin is in charge of organizing all the food arrangements for the next two months. He is so happy that the English congregation has offered so much help, because us being only 40 publishers in Spanish would have made it very difficult to accomplish. We have had such a great time so far meeting new ones and seeing old friends. Justin and I have been assigned to drywall, but I have asked the brothers to teach me electrical as well and they said yes. I also got invited onto the demo crew. I can not wait to start remodeling. It was fun tearing down the old, but I cannot wait for the new. Also side note: Justin's study Carlos came every weekend with us at 6:45am - 6 pm. He enjoyed it so much and was very eager to help. Here are a few pictures of the before and during construction.

Before: Our Auditorium

Before: Sisters' Bathroom

Before: Sisters' Bathroom

Before: Downstairs Second School

During: Demo of Bathrooms

During: Carlos (Justin's Study) and Br. Guzman helping out

During: Ceilings are being removed

During: Bathrooms Gone

During: Auditorium Demo

During: Sisters from English feeding us yummy foods

Justin, Steve and Carlos waiting for lunch 

During: Me demoing the sign. SO much fun.

Our Growing Family

First off, it's worth noting that we aren't expecting a child which might have popped into your mind when seeing the title of this post. :) Instead it's to talk about some of the young ones that we've been able to work with recently.

Stephanie has been having a lot of success in the ministry as of late (just started her 6th Bible Study thanks to Jehovah) and 3 of them came to the Sunday visit of our Circuit Overseer this past week.  A few of her studies have kids which they bring so we've been trying to work with the kids so that the adults can pay attention to what's going on with the program. 

I snapped this picture tonight which shows a few of the kids that we're working with. 

Some of the kids

I never expected to take up a whole row at the hall (6 of them sat with us and the rest with their parents) but the kids automatically come up to us when they arrive at the meeting begging to sit with us.  They're really well behaved and look up the scriptures.  What's amazing is this is only their 4th or 5th meeting and they are getting better every time. It really has been a blessing for our family and we are thankful to Jehovah.

As a side note, we're currently having our meetings at a nearby hall because this coming weekend will begin the demolition on our Kingdom Hall.  The project is set to go for a month and a half so look for pictures on that.

The Past Few Weeks

So for the past few weeks Justin's mom, Linda, came to stay with us. We had such a nice time. We did a lot of service, went to Dollywood, tons of yard work, and even got some family photos done. It was nice of her to come and spend her vacation time with us and we enjoyed having her around. Even Zoey realized she was gone today. When we came back from the meeting she went into the kitchen looking for her, because Linda usually went there when we would come home. We were all sad to see her go home today. Here are a few photos from our family photo shoot and some from Dollywood.

Train Ride in Dollywood

Some retro cars

Fun times on the Merry Go Round

Waiting for the train to start