Interview

The following is an actual transcript of a recent interview with Shelby Otto, age 7.

What do you like about Guatemala?
I like about Guatemala that we have a good neighborhood and we're having a great time.

What do you miss?
I miss everyone.

What do you like to see when we're walking around?
I like to see horses pulling carriages, and I like to see chicken buses.

How do you like our dates?
Very good, they're the best dates I ever had down here.
*Editor's note: Our dates are mostly to go to the bagel wifi cafe and play Webkins.

Anything else you'd like to say?
I miss my friends in Florida, but I'm having a great time down here because we get to spend family time and my mom loves me. And that's it. Bye.

Road Tripping Again

We love a road trip. The kids pop out of bed way before dawn, dressed and ready to go, super-pumped. Part of the excitement might be the enormous quantities of fun junk food we know we'll be consuming on the road, not to mention the hours of movies to be watched on the laptop (not by Steve, he has to drive).

The fact that we start our trip out with a stop at our favorite donut shop (the Lighthouse on Indian Rocks Beach...yum!) and an extra-hot Starbucks, extra-caffeinated doesn't hurt. By 9:30 when the sugar buzz has worn off and the kids are clamoring for the Holy Grail of road trip stops (that would be McDonald's, in case you don't have kids under 10), we fill up on carbs and sugar again and are good to go for another few hours, um, I mean miles.

Anyways, our last trip was 2 weeks ago, and we were headed to Ft. Walton Beach, FL, where we'd been stationed at Hurlburt Field from 1994-1996. We love our church family there at Hollywood Boulevard Baptist. They shower us with such love, care, prayers, and make us feel like we're back home after a long absence. The body of Christ is an amazing thing.

Oh, yeah. And they feed us very well, too.

On the way home, we had planned to stop at the Armament Museum near Eglin AFB. Nate had been talking about it for months, but that last morning, as we got ready to leave, we were told that it was closed. Instead of getting angry or sulking (like I would've done!), Nate told Steve, "Dad, that's ok. Let's just be thankful for what we HAVE gotten to do on this trip." Wow. Amazing.

The cool thing is that, while the inside of the museum was closed, the outside, packed with static aircraft displays was open, and we had a wonderful time exploring and taking pictures. The gift shop was open as well, and everyone got a great souvenir of our visit. We all cheered and clapped, thankful for God spoiling us with a mini-vacation, an encouraging time with friends, and, oh yes, great eats (McD's notwithstanding!)

Airshow

This week was Nate's birthday, and so we took him and Shelby to the Airshow. What a blast!



Nate in a REAL army blackhawk helicopter(this was much too solemn an occasion to smile at the camera...)













Shelby asked the pilots a whole lot of questions, and couldn't wait to go inside the plane...













There was a re-enactment, where a downed World War 2 American pilot was rescued by American tanks and planes.

Here are the tanks and soldiers "moving out".

Planes were flying overhead with guns blazing, German machine gunners were firing back, and American GIs approached from the ground. What a great reminder of the bravery of our soldiers as they defended our freedom!

Nate's comment - "Awesome!"

Shelby's comment - "Daddy, I have to plug my ears because it's too loud!"

Travel abroad...

We just returned from a whirlwind visit of family. We truly enjoy the friendships we have with our extended family (not something to take for granted, we are very blessed!).

On the way, we stopped by the historic town of Savannah, Georgia. And you can't stop by this town without checking out Paula Deen's restaurant, and we also found the Pirate House Restaurant (legendary hang-out of pirate Captain Flint - from Treasure Island).

Next, we stopped by Shelby, NC to visit Steve's cousin and family. They own several coffee shops (Broad River Coffee - with excellent coffee, by the way).

Next stop: Columbus, OH to visit Steve's brother and family. Lot's of fun with 6 kids in the house for the week. :0) Actually, we all thought it was easier with more kids, since they hung out and played a lot together! Also visited the Creation Museum in PA, which shows the history of the world through a Biblical perspective.

Finally, Charles City, VA (near Williamsburg) to celebrate with Jessica's brother and his wife as they were ordained as a pastors. How exciting - we're very proud of them both! We stopped by colonial Williamsburg and the highlight of the visit was the....

...amazing history? Nope.

...old buildings dating back to early 1700s? Nope.

....it was the horses. Friendly horses, actually.

We also stopped by their home and enjoyed the amazing view of the river from a friend's dock. Amazing!

We will miss everyone, and we are so thankful for this very special time in our lives in which we could share these wonderful relationships! We love you all! :0)

We had a wonderful day on Saturday. We took the family to the beach, and we found so many amazing sea shells that we had never seen before. In fact, Nate (8 years old) found a very special one. He wrote about it here...

"we found the shell in the beach.we found an octopus in a diferrent shell."

In fact, when Nate found a shell just like the one pictured, we opened it and found a small octopus in it and we played with it for a while. That is, until it BIT Nate on the hand. That's right, who knew that a baby octopus would bite? Well, this little guy had a beak, and the first clue should have been that even the little ones use their beaks to break open clams and crabshells. No doubt he just had lunch thanks to the former owner of the shell. Anyways, what an amazing sight to see it as we put it back in the water and watched it jet away like a squid.

Fiesta!

On Sunday afternoon, we were surrounded by over 60 people who joined us to celebrate all that God is doing in Antigua, Guatemala and in our own family. We worshipped together, ate, laughed, listened to a few stories, shared a few of our own, and watched as God moved in a fresh way in all of our lives once again.
So much to celebrate! Six people were recently baptized at our sister church in Guatemala (Iglesia del Camino), and we watched a short video that Pastor Mike had put together to celebrate that event (Click here - it's available on his online journal).

SO MANY people responded to our financial needs too! Due to the outpouring of God's people, we leaped to 70% of our monthly support!

Over $3000 of our moving expenses were provided, and in addition, another $1000 matching gift could bring this total to $5000 by the end of this month!

We are so grateful! Please continue your prayers that we will be prepared when God releases us to go.

TOO LOUD!!

So...the fourth of July. We all got together as a family, ate, and decided to set off our own fireworks before heading to the park for the "big show!" As you can see in the first photo, Shelby was not too enthralled with the resulting noises! She spent the entire, and I mean entire show with her hands over her ears. We kept telling her, "It's ok, they're far away, they won't hurt you. " But she did not believe it! We were so proud of her, though. By the finale, she kept saying, "Wow! Wow!" Her decision was that she would stay, not cry, and enjoy the brilliant colors, even though the sounds scared her. HMMMM.....How many times does God tell me, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, " and I stand with my hands over my ears, not listening, not believing. I can choose to run away and miss the big show He has for me, or, like Shelby, I can stay and push past my fears. I'm gonna stay. I don't want to miss the finale!!

Where did the last 8 years go??

I guess God's really trying to get the concept of TIMING through my head...I'm glad He hasn't given up on teaching me yet!

My way-too-big 8 (almost 9, he'd say) year-old boy went off to camp this week. The only reason I could send him off without crying was because his daddy was going as a counselor! Which, by the way, will be a great shock to the boys in Steve's cabin. Steve seems to think it's a chance to relive his Air Force survival training, and took off for camp with his actual survival hat and grand plans of waking the boys up to sit-ups, hunting for bugs to eat, and maybe even buzz haircuts!!

Anyway, I realized just how FAST the past 8 years have gone when Nate informed me that it was fine for dad to be a counselor as long as he didn't hug him in front of the other kids. What is that?! I already told him I would not be able to stick to that rule when the bus pulls back in on Friday. Then, he let me know: "Mom, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but" (that's when I brace myself), "I may be having too much fun at camp to miss you. I might even forget to think about you." OK, no problem. Only the Holy Spirit kept me from reacting to that one with wails of, "I'm your mother, I gave birth to you, I'd die for you, " and so on and so on. I just nodded....

All this to say. Life is just a blip on the radar screen. God meant for my life to matter. I don't want to waste any more time worrying about the silly things. I mean, when I get to heaven, where I'll be spending a LOT more time than I ever spent on earth, it won't matter if my house was picture-perfect. In fact, my house will be gone. It won't matter if my clothes were cute...I'll have a whole new wardrobe!! (Is there an Old Navy in heaven?) It will matter how I treated my friends and family, my neighbors, and anyone else who might end up there too if I open up my mouth and tell them about Jesus. So, I can't wait to see you there, and if you want to look me up, I'll be at the Starbucks!

Time's a tickin

We're celebrating 13 years of marriage this month!

We are also 2 weeks into "full-time" work on our transition for Guatemala. Steve's last day of work was the beginning of an exciting part of this journey.

We found a little nugget of truth in patience from our 3 year old. He has just learned to stay in his room until 7am. When the digital clock says "7:00" we hear loud and clear from his room..."Moooooommmmmmmmyyyy, it's seven!". We were all excited! That is until we decided to teach him how to sleep in another 30 minutes so he'd get up with his siblings. We set the alarm for 7:30 and told him to stay in his room until his clock "sings". Easy, right? Well for the next 2 weeks we got the 7:00 wakeup call "Mooooommmmmy, it's seven!" and we would go to his room each day and tell him to wait until his clock sings. He's finally got it, and we are all so excited! We laughed about it the other day as we work towards leaving for Guatemala. If there's a change in plans or a delay, we get all flustered with God. "But why do we have to wait so long? Why can't we just pack up and move down there now?" is the typical below-the-surface grumblings. Thanks to our 3 year old, we can better realize that a little extra time is actually meant to help us prepare, not to frustrate us. So, now we are taking every opportunity, and are excited about the lessons ahead. :0)

On the Road...

Our family loaded up and went to Ft. Walton Beach, FL last weekend. What a time! This was where we had been stationed by the Air Force when we were first married, and the church there had been a family to us. So, it was like a reunion, and we felt so at home. I (Jessica) would rather have walked across glass on the hot motel parking lot barefoot than get up front and speak, but the Spirit wouldn't let me go, and guess what?? He gave me the power to do it! At first, I was so nervous to be standing at a pulpit, speaking to a crowd, but He totally filled my mouth and heart, and soon I was crackin' jokes and feeling right at home! Steve preached, too, and God gave him boldness and power, and many folks were touched. The church voted to take us on for support, and we are very thankful!
We also got to catch up with old friends and have a little down time on the beach. On the way home, we visited the Air Force Armament Museum, where these pictures were taken. But, it DID feel so great to pull into our home...and I would be thrilled not to see another french fry for about 3 months!!

An Easter to Remember

Every year I think, "This was the best Easter ever!", but this year, it really was! Nate and Shelby were given the opportunity to be in a small Easter drama, and our neighbor (who'd never been to our church before) came to church with us.

As I watched my precious kiddos crowd around "Jesus" and follow him with such delight, I could not help but let the tears flow! And when He picked up sweet Shelby and put her on his lap, I really lost it! I just thought how He loves and carries my children every day. How awesome it will be to see Him and sit on His lap someday! He is alive!!