Let's Catch Up

Well to say its been awhile would be an understatement.  However since I'm basically under house arrest because of all my sick little chicks....just kidding about the house arrest part, but it does feel like my wings have been clipped a little, but dragging around small sick kiddos can be a light form of torture, so except some updates in the coming days.

For now lets catch up, since our first day in Spain we've done a few things.

• Found an apartment.  
• Put together lots of furniture from Ikea.  
• Enrolled Karis in pre-school (which is pretty much mandatory here and starts at age 3).  She is still adjusting and having a hard time being in all Spanish from 9 to 4 but seems to be making friends despite the language block and is picking it up...she LOVES her teacher.  
• Jeremy completed all of his paperwork for the first year of his residency visa (the girls and I start our paperwork in May)
• Prayer walked in our neighborhood and several other parts of Madrid Sur (South Madrid).  
• Jeremy has started building relationships with a few of the Evangelical Pastors near our town.  
• Jeremy has started mapping and researching Madrid Sur
• We have our team over each week for team prayer time (such a blessing)
• Jeremy has been able to share with a few men that live/work near us.
• Did an "amazing race" scavenger hunt around downtown Madrid, put on my our team leaders (it was a fun day of getting to see some awesome places around town- sad moment was we got pick-pocketed on the bus- we lost Jeremy's new iTouch 5- even sadder Jeremy figured out who did- two latin guys). 
• The IMB teams hosted the chapel service at the Baptist Seminary (which was a great time, it was also sobering that with all the faculty and staff at the Seminary- I think we equaled their numbers with all the IMB team/families that were there.)  Jeremy meet two Peruvians studying that...one was from the high jungle so it was fun talking "jungle foods" with him.
• Today Jeremy is at a Symposium on Church Planting and Organic House Church and there are 18 or believers there to discuss these methods and what it looks like in Spain.  
• We also went on a trip with our team leaders to Andorra and went sledding.  Jeremy and the girls had never been in that much snow before- so it was lots of fun for the entire family.
• We've also had our fair share of illness circulating around the family: ear infections.  strep throat. fevers. sinus infections. head colds. skin rashes.  lots of NO FUN.
• This month we are putting together a prayer piece for Madrid and planning on some intense times in prayer walking (with the girls being so sick, J might be praying solo)

assembling our apartment

Karis' big 1st day

Addie's ABSOLUTE favorite activity- feeding the ducks in Parque Retiro (like Central Park of Madrid), we also have to ride the train into the city to do it, which is her second favorite thing to do

making a snowman in Andorra

Addie's only moment of really enjoying playing in the snow...this jungle bunny was too cold...although she loves EATING snow.