Guess who turned 17???

J e r e m i e !!!

On Monday was the big day! We celebrated - with a very small family - just 5 of us - with meat fondue - yumm- yumm! Miss you, Nathalie and Rich :(

That bottle you see is sparkling cider - in case you were wondering =)

Just when we were bringing out the cake, Rich called from New Caledonia - - -


A few minutes later, while we were consuming the scrumptious carrot cake - note the strawberries (leftovers from our breakfast - strawberry season has just started!), we were on a conference call with Rich in New Caledonia (4:30pm) and Nathalie in Germany (6:30am - had just woken up) - it was 6:30pm for us.

It was AMAZING to be able to all talk together - Rich and Nathalie were on loud-speaker!!!

What a time we live in - - - gotta love that technology - WOW!!!

Anyways, Jeremie, you are the greatest son parents could have! We are proud of you and who you have become and privileged to be your parents! Keep going hard after God - and your future will be B-R-I-G-H-T - yeah!!!

Before I go to bed...

... I would like to share with you this post in a blog I enjoy reading.
I am not into politics and didn't even listen to the first video about Obama.

What gripped my heart was the speech of the lady that survived abortion!
Very moving! Just scroll down a bit and you'll see it.

Another video that touched me deeply a couple of days ago is the one on this post.

Until I know how to get those videos on my own blog, I'll have to refer you =)

Prayers appreciated for Rich

This will have to be short, since Jeremie needs the computer for homework - and he also still needs his deep wound on the bottom of his foot treated - our drama of the day...
After a night filled with coughing Mommy and sick-to-her-stomach-throwing up-Kylie.
Hmmm - at least there was nothing pressing during the day. We took it easy and things are looking pretty good tonight.
Even had a young girl come for an 1 1/2 to babysit Shayden this afternoon!
Shayden had never seen her before and went playing outside with her without any problems - boy, what a change in him! He's gotten so good with strangers. Thank you, Jesus!

Anyway, just talked to Rich via skype (what a blessing! YWAM New Caledonia JUST got broadband internet before Rich got there!!!). His teaching on the "Father Heart of God" is going well - - - he's started the ministry time today and will continue tomorrow morning.

We would appreciate your prayers - if you read this soon - for God to move mightily in the students' lives - for God to use Rich creatively and powerfully.
None of the 4 (yep, only!) students has known a father's love - and not a mother's love either...

SAD - - -

GOD, would you REDEEM them and give them a supernatural revelation of your heart of LOVE for them!

HOW COME..

... every time when Rich goes on a trip overseas, STUFF happens?!!
Arrgghhh!!!

There hadn't been sickness in the Betts house since Rich's last trip, and sure enough, the day before his departure, it hit. Yikes!!!

I'm still not all the way better and spend a lot of time at night coughing - and being tired at day. I guess it's because I wasn't able to rest the first day or two...

Kylie was almost healed from her cold, when she came home yesterday from school not looking good. By the way, she had brought a dead bird (!) home in her school bag. She'd found it on the school grounds. This girl won't even pass by a worm that she finds on the street without rescuing it.
When she came down with a fever, I wasn't so sure what to think - - - hope it's not anything to do with this dead bird (that got buried VERY soon by Jeremie and her!).
She's been sick all day and threw up tonight. Poor thing.
I don't think it's anything serious, though.

Anyways, besides the sickness, the internet being down, we almost lost one of Kylie's guinea pigs today. It had escaped from the cage when I must have moved it into a new position (for them to eat the grass). The ground was a bit uneven and she took advantag of a little opening.

THANK GOD, our neighbour just happened to see Rosebud running around free and quickly looked up her cat, came over and told us. AMAZING Leilani was able to find Rosebud, luring her with a piece of carrot! That was a feat!
It is one miracle that this guinea pig is alive and back in the cage tonight! There are at least a handful of cats that keep coming and sitting around the cage, waiting for an opportune time to express their hunting skills! Not today, cats!

Am I ever glad!!!

And even in the sickness, there is grace - - - Kylie has been easier to deal with sick than healthy... Go figure... and the timing of her vomiting tonight was "perfect"! We had just come home from taking Jeremie and Leilani to church when she was just about to slip into my bed (she's taking Rich's place while he's gone) to go to sleep. All of a sudden, she starts running - - - straight for the bathroom - and she made it to the toilet - just barely - only a little mess in a very easily cleanable place!

Thank you, God, for watching over all of us. 'night!

Last Friday

There's so much to blog about - - - too bad our internet has been down for a few days - - -
So here's just a little:

I've never liked McDonald better than last Friday! We went to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland with everybody except Jeremie (who went to school that day). Shayden had an appointment with NZ's top orthopedic surgeon because of his club hand(s) (one is very mild). Anyways, I had come down with a bad cold the day before (Shayden and Kylie, too) and was feeling most miserable that day. Also had hardly slept after 2:45am. By lunchtime, I knew that there was no way I would be able to drive the 2 1/2 hours back home without taking a nap. (We were leaving Rich in Auckland because he was taking a flight to New Caledonia the next morning).

I had seen a sign in the hospital about a "Ronald McDonald Family Room" that you could visit. When Shayden needed yet another x-ray (that Rich could take him to) and the girls were glued in front of a TV, I knew my chance had come. I headed to that family room, not sure what to expect, and found out - - - they had small rooms with beds that they make available for people to use for free! And they just happened to have one free! So - I was able to lay down for 1/2 hour and doze off - perfect! Excactly what I needed to tie me over and help me get home - (it took more than 3 hours.)

This was such a HUGE RELIEF and answer to prayer - God knew what I needed and made provision - as usual:)

Not only was I able to rest, but after that our whole family was treated to some free lunch!!! Doesn't get much better than that! What a blessing! THANK YOU, RONALD MC DONALD!

When I got home, after dropping Leilani off at youthgroup (Jeremie was there already), I was surprised by a beautifully cleaned kitchen and dining room!!! Jeremie had been at work - without having been asked, I may add - and did an amazing cleaning job (as he does), including vaccuming the floors! I was soooo blessed!!!

Just before getting Kylie to bed right after coming home, I needed to eat something and heated up some leftovers. Kylie noticed how tired I was and commented, "I'm concerned about you, Mom. You're so tired". When I was finished eating, she took my plate without me saying anything, and brought it in the kitchen! How sweet is that?!!

She even told me stories while I was eating (she wasn't hungry, had eaten on the way). One was about a girl called Kylie having a special day with her mother Isabel. The two had a lot of fun that day and even went to see a movie (she's never been to the movie theatre). It was a scary movie.

When I interjected that maybe a little girl shouldn't be watching a scary movie, she quickly answered: "No, Kylie wasn't a little girl, she was 7. And Mom was 81!"

There, you have it! Nice story!!! I had a good laugh at the end of a very tiring, but good day!

Our Week-end in Pictures

Saturday was the famous "Calf Club" at Kylie's - and formerly Leilani's - school. It's a yearly fun fair/fundraiser - with calves, lambs, goats and chicken that have been raised by (some of) the children, face-painting, bouncy castle, food and LOTS more.

Kylie took this lamb for a VERY LONG walk around the field. She's such an animal-lover!!!

And Shayden finally got to see some sheep and calves from close-up and heard their real-life-sounds that he's only heard from us so far:)

He was pretty impressed - but also a bit scared of the lamb - - -

Yesterday, Rich went fishing for a bit with the girls...

Watch the BIG FISH - SEAMONSTER - coming

Here's the BIG CATCH!

Haha! Nothing but seaweed!

Leilani did catch a real fish later =)

A very patient Kylie enjoying the experience...


In the meantime, I went to the nearby playground with Shayden, where he got to pretend driving a real tractor - YAY!!! We all had a lot of fun - enjoying the spring weather and being together

This Friday, Rich will take off to New Caledonia for 12 days...

Kylie's first sleep-over

I know, I know - - - it's been a while - - -

We've had a couple of weeks of school vacation - a great time to take things just a bit slower and have some good times - mostly with Kylie - and visitors. It seems like there's a constant stream of visitors =)

With Nathalie gone and Jeremie and Leilani working at kids camps, it sure was much quieter (and cleaner, I may add) around the house.

Everybody always blames Kylie and Shayden for the mess in the house (toys and food crumbs everywhere), but let me tell ya, it's not just them - - - haha!!!

Kylie had her first sleep-over EVER! Her friend Sarah from the neighbourhood insisted she was ready for it and Kylie kept bugging me, so it was a done deal. Oh, maybe not all that done...

After some fun playing, dinner, a movie with popcorn, a looooong bubble-bath,a story and a prayer, the drama started when I left the room. At first, I heard some quarelling I tried to ignore while working on the dishes, then the volume got more and more intense, including crying, and when I checked, sure enough, Sarah was in tears.

Kylie always wants to sleep in the pitch-dark, and Sarah needs to have some light. AHA - there was the problem.

By the time I arrived, Sarah had made up her mind that she wanted to go home to her Mommy!

Well - that was too much of a disappointment for Kylie and before I knew it, she was now in tears. With both girls crying, between sobs, Kylie suggested to Sarah that she would surely be able to find a spot in the room that was dark (she proposed to sleep underneath her bed!), while leaving the door open with light coming in for Sarah. What a compromise!

But Sarah REALLY wanted her Mommy and there was no changing her mind.

So, with Kylie bawling, I had to try to get ahold of Sarah's mom (which didn't prove an easy task for some time).

Sarah got picked up and Kylie DID go to sleep eventually.

What a flop of a first sleep-over... I felt so bad for Kylie... she had SOOOO been looking forward to it for a very long time =(

Oh well, I'm sure it won't be the last one =)

How GREAT is our God!

Even though I am not directly involved in the iDTS, besides hosting the weekly staff meeting and meeting the students occasionally, my heart is involved in prayer and I love hearing from Rich at the end of the week what God has been doing.

Yesterday, Rich's small group had a special breakfast at our house.

There were 3 Americans, 1 Korean, 1 Fin (from Finland) and a Maori from Tauranga! It was great hearing a bit more about their families and seeing pictures. I also learned that the word for "Thank YOU" in Korean depends on who you're saying it to - - - hmmm, interesting!

AND - that in Korean culture, you don't ever consider people that are of a different age than you, friends - - - hmmmm again...

Everybody is learning heaps - not just about culture - and seems to be enjoying the school a lot.

This week, the speaker was Frank Naea, former president of YWAM. He's the funniest teacher/preacher ever and makes everybody laugh all the while passing on incredible gems of understanding about God the Father. The ministry time yesterday was AWESOME - - - lots of tears... good tears!

Just to give you a taste: one of the students wasn't even a Christian when he came. He was mostly interested in the cute girls. He has since been born again and baptized. Yesterday, he yelled out, "This has been the best day of my life!" - and it wasn't because of the cute girls but because of GOD touching his life very deeply!!!

Rich says that he can already see incredible change in each of the students! WOW!!!

Bring it on, God!!!!