Little Caroline

Caroline has been growing and changing so quickly!  She's almost 3 months old!  She's all smiles and loves making cooing sounds.  She's getting stronger, and I wouldn't be suprised if she starts rolling over soon.  Here are some recent pictures of her so you can see how she's grown.



Lots of Cookin' in the Kitchen

We love having people over.  Here are some pictures of activity taking place in the kitchen.  Below  is a traditional Nicaraguan dish called Baho.

 Youth from a Bible Club came to our house and here are a couple of pictures from that time.

Below are some friends of ours who just got married yesterday.  They came over and wanted to cook for us!!!  :)  It was delicious!

We're so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people and to be able to share meals with them in our home.

K-Love

I just wanted to share a wonderful Christian online radio that we listen to a lot here in the house.  It's called KLove and the link is http://www.klove.com/  They just added a new Christmas music option so that you can listen to just Christmas music if you want.

Caroline and her doctor

Here are some pictures of Caroline with her doctor.  She has a wonderful doctor with a great sense of humor and, he is very good a what he does.  We found out a few weeks ago that Caroline has reflux so she's been taking medicine.  We had tried some meds that were working for a few days, but then stopped having much of an effect on the reflux.  A couple of days ago the doctor prescribed Nexium (the purple pill) so we'll see how it works.     



Caroline presented before our church

This past Sunday we decided to present Caroline before our church.  We work with lots of churches here in Managua but this is the place where we attend Sunday mornings and what we consider as our home church in Nicaragua.  The pastor presented Caroline to the congregation and shared about how biblically we as parents and the church, the body of Christ, are responsible for instructing her in God's ways.  The pastor prayed for her and we as parents and the church agreed to be the example of Christ in Caroline's life.  We desire for God's word and the Holy Spirit working in us to impact Caroline with His love.  We pray that in the future as she learns about the grace and forgiveness found in Christ she will put her faith in Him and be saved.  



Pastor's Conference 2010

The pastor's conference, took place Oct. 7th-9th, was a great time of encouragement, fellowship, and equipping for pastors, church leaders, and their wives.  In all we had 92 people attend, 64 men (48 pastors and 16 church leaders) and 28 woman (22 pastor's wives and 6 youth leaders).  There were teaching sessions for men and for women, a fellowship outing, funny ice breakers, and prizes.  Many pastors and church leaders were able to reconnect after not seeing one another for a long time.  During the last session there was a time for the pastors to share and many expressed how they enjoyed it and want to encourage their other pastor friends to come next year.  It's exciting to see pastor's challenged spiritually because that impacts many churches all across Nicaragua!  Praise God for this opportunity and the way He touches hearts and lives in order to reach more with the news of Christ!

.

On mission with Caroline

Yesterday Jader, Caroline, and I all went to Pricesmart, it's kinda like a Sams, in order to buy the food for a high school retreat.  Jader and I have been to Pricesmart so many times, but having Caroline with us just made it so sweet. 

Caroline is one month old today and she's been learning how to be a baby on the go.  She's gone to a Pastor's Conference, church services, bible studies, team meetings, and much more.  Our desire is for Caroline to naturally be a part of our lives and ministry here.  It would be easy to say I have a baby now and that means not attending activities, not participating as much in the ministry, etc.  There is nothing wrong with that either but we're striving towards Caroline and I being involved as much as possible.  Here are some pictures from our outing to Pricesmart.  :)

Cute Caroline

She enjoys sleeping a lot.

Conference for Pastors

This upcoming Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 5th-7th, we'll be hosting a conference for pastors in a retreat center in San Marcos, a little outside of Managua. The conference has been put together by a church in the U.S. and they are sending a group of leaders here to give teachings and materials to build up Nicaraguan church leaders and their wives. This church has hosted the pastor's conference in many different countries of the world and we are excited for them to do their first conference here in Nicaragua. Please be praying for many in church leadership to be able to attend and that it would be a great time of blessing and equipping.

Caroline's Arrival

We'd like to announce that Gema Caroline Arguello was born on Tuesday, September 21st at 7:29 pm by suprise c-section. She weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and measured 19.5 inches. I'll explain more about the c-section soon, but in the meantime here are some pictures!

The Waiting Game

Caroline's due date is the 23rd, that's this Thursday! We'll see if she actually arrives on or before that date. My parents came on the 10th and now we are just waiting for her appearance. This is my mom's first time to Nicargua and she's really enjoying it. We've been able to visit different places here in Managua and Jader has been a wonderful tour guide! My parents have their return tickets scheduled for the 26th, this Sunday, so we are praying that Caroline arrives before they leave. :) I'll keep y'all updated as to how things are progressing!

Getting ready for Caroline

Caroline's birth is right around the corner!  We've decided to have her here in Managua in a private hospital and God has provided us with a doctor who came recommended by others and seems to really know what she's doing. 

I'm so thankful because it's been an easy pregnancy free of many aches, pains, and symptoms that I read about in my "What to Expect When You're Expecting." book.  That book has been so helpful to me!  I haven't taken any birthing classes because that's not a common thing here, but I do have a book on labor and delivery that has been very helpful and http://www.babycenter.com/ has been a great resource to me also! 

Something that I like about the Nicaraguan culture it that the women and girls all want to touch your pregnant belly.  My belly has been rubbed like a genie lamp by complete strangers.  I even had a couple of women lift up my shirt to look at my belly. :)  I felt like that was going a little too far.  I'm sure Caroline knows the voices of many of the Bible Club girls due to the ammount of time they touch her and talk to her.  She is completely loved and we're all waiting to meet her face to face!

I've had several people ask me if we have her baby room ready and decorated, but we live in a two bedroom apartment and we want to always have a room available for guests.  Romans 12:13 says "Practice hospitality." and there are many other verses like it.  Often people come from out of country to help with ministry and we want to have a place available for them to stay. 

So, for the first few months Caroline will be sleeping in a pack n' play at the foot of our bed and once she starts to sleep longer periods throughout the night we'll move her pack n' play into the guest room.  When guests come she'll be moved to our room when we don't have guests she'll be in the other room.  I think it's good for her to learn even from a very early age the value of being flexible in order to serve others.

Jader and I are excited because my parents will be visiting this Friday!  We are hoping and praying that Caroline will arrive while they are here.  The doctor said it looks like she should be arriving very soon!

Super Match

Here are some photos of an activity called Super Match that took place this past Saturday.  I'll write more about the activity soon, but wanted to share some photos in the meantime.