Celebrating Adalina

In October we were blessed by our friend Hien with the gift of her photography skills. We always read her blog and have admired the beautiful photos she takes of her crafts, kids, projects and food she makes. So when we were thinking about maybe taking some maternity photos, she was the first person who came to mind. We were thrilled that she was willing and excited to take our photos! We had a great time early one October Saturday morning a few weeks ago parading around the quiet streets and parks in Plano, Texas.

Here are a few photos:

The following weekend, we were blessed once again with a lovely baby shower from our friends. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support of our friends here. We felt honored, loved, and cared for by everyone who came. God has placed us here and we feel His love and presence through each beautiful friend He has blessed us with. We are thankful for LaShuandra & Minerva for organizing the baby shower and making it a fun, memorable and joyous day.

Click here to view these pictures larger

This week, our home group from church threw a double baby shower for us and another couple in the group who is also expecting a baby girl, a few weeks after us. It was such a fun time celebrating with our church family. Lots of laughter and joy! We've been a part of this home group since the Spring, and we've loved growing closer with them throughout the year. We've been reminded over and over again how God created us to be in community and to share life with others, and that we see Him more and more through the lives of others. What a blessing!

Liz, one of the lovely hostesses

Lily, the other mommy-to-be

So many awesome gifts! 

Guessing baby food flavors

Wearing bibs of course, for the full experience

We're in the final stretch now, excited and waiting for Adalina's arrival! Hopefully we'll have her with us in time for Thanksgiving Day, but she'll come whenever she's ready :)
Thank you all for your support, gifts, help and encouragement through this time, we're thankful for each of you.

Getting ready!

As mentioned in our last post, Audrey and I are expecting in November. What we didn't know then is that it's a girl! Her name will be Adalina Borges. We're still trying to figure out the middle name, but we're pretty set on the first and last. :)

These past couple of months have been great - so far Audrey has had a good, healthy pregnancy and we're praying for continued health, and a smooth delivery. During this time, we've been getting ready by getting some things for the baby. We feel very blessed by God, and are thankful for His provision. He's given us friends and family that have been very helpful and generous on our journey to become parents, and in giving us things that our daughter will need. From baby clothes to an infant car seat, we have what we need, and more!

Here are some pictures!

Pack-N-Play

Crib!

Baby swinging apparatus

Lots of baby clothes! Audrey often squeals at their cuteness

:)

Aren't they cute?

Homemade Burp Cloths

Baby Blankets

Rocking chair for rocking baby (or daddy) to sleep

Stroller

Please keep Adalina in your prayers to our Father in heaven, that she may be of good health at birth (and after) and that our Lord Jesus may stir her affections for Him early in her life. God bless!

Summer's here already!

Summer's here, and we can't wait to see what God will bring!

Audrey and I have been keeping a good balance between being busy and relaxing.

We're loving our new church, and we've been learning a lot during the current sermon series on the book of Galatians. We recently took the membership class, and just have to undergo a sort of interview before we officially become covenant members. Can't wait. We've also joined a home group, and it's been great. We meet every other week for Bible study/discussion/prayer, and occasionally we meet just to hang out. Last week we went on a picnic to a local park, and next week we're getting together for a game night, which should be fun.

Audrey's doing great in her pregnancy so far. She had the occasional craving during the first trimester, and didn't really eat a lot in general. Lately, though, things are changing. Our visits to Taco Bell are more frequent, and we'll eat seemingly random foods every once in a while. Yesterday we went to Krispy Kreme for National Donut Day and had a free donut, which was perfect because Audrey had been talking about donuts recently.

Speaking of donuts, I've been on the Jenny Craig program for about a month and a half now. So far I've lost about 15 pounds, and I have another 10 or so to reach my goal. I plan to be on the program for the rest of the month of June, and then I'll try to either lose the remaining pounds (if I haven't reached my goal) or stay at whatever weight I'm at. It's been good.

Some things we're looking forward to is that Audrey's parents will be visiting us in early July for a couple of days, during which time we're planning on going to San Antonio and Austin with them. Also, our one-year anniversary is at the end of July. We're thankful to God for a great first year, and we're praying for His grace and presence in our marriage for many more years to come.

Have a good summer!

Isn't my wife beautiful?

Setting Up

Welcome to our apartment!

=D

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Bedroom

 Bathroom

 Where the couch is supposed to go

Where the couch usually is

(we don't have a TV, so we watch movies on our computer)

Balcony

 Living room

 Kitchen table 

(the missing chair is currently being used as the desk chair)

 Kitchen

Kitchen 

Kitchen

 Entry way

(washer/dryer in those closet doors) 

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Bye, thanks for stopping by!

Another New Home

We have used the word "home" a lot lately, in reference to numerous different geographical locations: our house in Vietnam, the city of Danang, the hotel we stayed in for a week in Saigon, Puerto Rico, Washington State...and now, our apartment in Dallas. Our home is where we are together, where we are at the end of the day, where our toothbrushes are :) In Vietnamese, the phrase "nhà tôi" is used to refer to your spouse. It literally means "my house," or "my home." I really like that. Where Pedro is, that is my home, for now. As the Lord tells us who are Christians, this (earth) is not our home, "but our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20, NIV).

So for now, for this season, our physical home is here in Dallas, Texas!

We've slowly been setting things up and settling in, so I will get another post up soon with photos of what things are looking like so far.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Joshua 24:15b

My experience as a teacher in Vietnam

Teaching English in Vietnam has been very rewarding.

In the year and a half I've been in Vietnam, I've taught at two different schools. In 2010, I came here with English Services International (ESI), and taught at the Viet My English center. I had a great time. Of course, there are ups and downs to most everything, but in general, I had a great experience. Due to the way the contract was set up, I had a lot of free time. The organization I came with focused on giving their teachers an opportunity to get immersed in the culture and have time to build relationships, so contractually, teachers were to teach a maximum of 15 hours a week. This meant I had time to hang out with friends, and invest in new relationships that seemingly came at me from every direction (I taught a lot of students my age, so we'd go out and stuff).

My second school was UCSI Vietnam. I started teaching there in September 2011 after Audrey and I returned from the US. Being a new school, there were a lot of changes starting out, and it was a bit difficult at times. This time around, I didn't have as much free time, as contractually, I was to work 40 hours a week, which was a big change from the previous year (and now I'm married, so time became even more valuable). Things did balance out, since I was now actually receiving a salary instead of a stipend (I was basically a volunteer with ESI). UCSI focuses on quality education, so I had to step it up as far as my teaching went. This is not to say that VMG doesn't focus on education, but that environment is a bit more relaxed in that sense.

Even though the two schools I've taught at are different, the teaching experience itself is very similar. Teachers are valued and respected in Vietnam. Students are friendly, and want to get to know and spend time with their teachers. I've been able to get to know quite a few students, and in some way or another, God has allowed me to make a difference in their lives. Whether it's by teaching them English, good values (sometimes the lessons would involve talking about values, perspectives, etc), or even sharing His truth with them as friends (of course, it's not allowed in the classroom), I have been blessed by being in my position.

Right now, I only have one more week as an English teacher in this country. Next Sunday, Audrey and I will go to Saigon for one week, and when we return we'll have about a week and a half in Da Nang before we go back to the States "for good". I will return to the company I was working for before coming to Vietnam, working as a software engineer. It comes as a bittersweet thing, since I've really enjoyed my time in this country and I know that I will miss it, but I'm also looking forward to returning to the States and doing life there.

Even though I know it'll be sad to leave, I'm still thankful that I followed God's leading in coming here. The relationships I've made, the blessings I've received, the growth I've obtained, and the things I've seen are all things I know I'll treasure. And that would be my advice to you: if you feel God leading you to do something, no matter how difficult or costly it may seem, just go for it*. It'll be worth it.

These were the very first students I taught in VN. They became really good friends, 

and I still hang out with them from time to time.

These are the highest level students I got to teach. They're so young, too!

I taught these students for a WHILE. Got to know them pretty well.

This is one of my latest groups. They were a fun class!

*of course, I would also suggest that you pr.y about it, consult the Bble, discuss it with Godly people, and in general make sure it's actually His leading and not just a desire of your heart or whatever

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year friends!

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Photos #74, 75--Christmas (Eve Eve) Lunch: Bread of Life had a Christmas lunch on Dec 23rd, since Christmas was on Sunday, and they are closed on Sundays. We went and had a great meal! You can see in the background also, they had old Christmas movies playing :)

When we walked out of the restaurant after lunch, this is what we saw. Some friends had told us there was a fire nearby, and we'd seen the people looking down the street at something, so we finally saw it when we left. It was about 4 shops down from the restaurant. We haven't heard of anyone being harmed, but the fire was very bad.

Photos #76, 77--Superkids Christmas Gala: Superkids English Center is the school I first came to Vietnam to teach at, and I taught there for over a year. We're good friends with the owners and some teachers there, and they invited our "choir" from the international fellowship to sing during their Christmas program on Christmas Eve Eve.

Photo #78--Christmas Eve Service: On Christmas Eve we went to the Vietnamese chrch. We got to see many wonderful performances of songs and readings. We also sang a medley as the DIF Choir, but I'm still waiting to get photos of that from a friend. Here are some of the children who performed. Click here for the video, they are adorable.

Photos #79, 80--Christmas Night: On Christmas night we spent the night in Hoi An. We found a decent, inexpensive hotel online, and when we arrived, they upgraded us! Merry Christmas to us :) We ate Cao Lau on the river (literally, the table was about an inch from dropping into the water). Cao Lau is a food special to Hoi An. It was yummy, and such a great atmosphere.
A few weeks ago we had noticed a tiny chrch tucked into a wall in an alley in Hoi An. When we passed it on Christmas, it was all lit up, just glorious.
Photo #81--Baking: I taught our Korean friends how to make pumpkin bread. Sally here, wanted to do everything, and she poured and stirred very well. She has grown up so much recently!
Photo #82--Neighbor Girls: Bi Do (Pumpkin) and her older sister Tam, often come by to chat or play. This week the were inspecting the Christmas tree again, and wanting me to take photos of them/with them. Bi Do had her hood on like that all day long.

Photo #83--Happy New Year!: Pedro has been teaching English to the staff at a local resort, Sandy Beach. We went there for dinner this week using some birthday money I was instructed to use ONLY for a date with my husband :) It was lots of fun, and some of Pedro's students we were working so we got to see them in action. There were some fun decorations around the property also...

Happy New Year! May 2012 bring you more faith, love, peace and joy from our Heavenly Father.