Up and Running

What exciting news!!! We have buildings here in Cochabamba!! We have been so very blessed in the past few weeks... to find two buildings, within budget that are going to meet our needs as a church body. The first building we found is pictured here. We are going to use this facility as a contact center... meaning that each of the men on the team will have an office space here (in the pictures you can see the walls being built to create separate office spaces) and we will have a large room in the back like a conference room that can be used for meetings, bible classes, and other group activities. The first photo is taken from the front door in, and the second from the upstairs (where two offices will be located).. looking down. The construction is actually complete now and we are going to break it in this Sunday by worshipping there, so I will post more pictures next week of the finished product. The beauty of this building as well is that it is located on a main street in Cochabamba known as "El Prado." This street has many main business office buildings, restaurants, and almost every public transportation route passes through town by way of this street. So.... talk about a presence in the city huh? We are so thankful to God for this open door. And then just last week God opened another door as we found another building, probably about 8-10 blocks from the Contact Center to use for our first worship building!!! It has open spaces upstairs and down, which will allow us to use one floor for a common worship area, and the other floor to create classrooms. It's still a work in progress, but we are so excited. It's just so wonderful, I can't even adequately put it into words, to see the hand of God moving, providing, and creating opportunities for us to follow here in His work. Thank you for all your prayers and support of this new church body in Cochabamba.

Playing with JuJu

Nate the great here again... and I wanted to show you all a picture of me and my friend Juju playing at my house. She and her mommy and daddy came over for lunch last week and we had fun playing. The only problem is that I think I came on a little strong at the beginning of our friendship and so now sometimes Juju gets a little scared of me. See... I'm a speed demon in my walker, and Juju is so much fun to chase... and then there was the time that Juju's curls just looked like they would be so much fun to play with that I got a little out of hand... let's just say she didn't have fun at all. So all that to say that, little by little mommy and daddy are trying to teach me that tough love is not always the best way with my friends, especially the ones who are girls. I'm working on it... I promise I'm trying hard!

Fish Face

So for those of you who know the Wallace family, you know that my mom Charlene is a wonderful photographer, who has recorded wonderful memories throughout our lives' on film. The fun part about taking pictures with my mom... okay and I do it too... is that every pose must be taken twice, just in case :) So throughout the years as my sister Emily and mine's faces tired of smiling for extended periods of time while Mama Wallace snapped those fotos... we came up with a solution to the tired cramping face muscles... the fish face. Known to many in this world as a funny face, but known to the Wallace girls as a saving grace for the cheek muscles during extended photo shoots :) So here, carrying on the Wallace tradition, in great form I must say, is my son, doing the fish face like a champ :) Enjoy!!

In and Out

Well, yesterday was my 10 month birthday!! Yea for me! Mommy says that now I've been out as long as I was in. Daddy says I'm getting so big. My favorite new thing is to walk around the living room holding on to the furniture. I do really good taking a few steps when I'm not thinking about it, but the minute I realize what's going on, I sit down. I mean wouldn't you, because the minute these folks know I can walk, no more being carried everywhere, they're actually going to make me do it myself. So I think for now I've got 'em fooled :)

Mommy and I are traveling to the U S of A in August to visit all our family. Daddy says that Nana, Papa, Aunt Emily, and Uncle Barry are going to "eat me up." So... I'm not really sure what that means, and not sure if I should be scared or not :) But I think those guys really love me so I don't think I'll worry about it too much :)

In honor of my ten month birthday, which I share with the Gorham's anniversary (mommy's best friend - pretty fun huh?), Mommy decided that it would be a good idea to put some of my most flattering recent pictures here on our blog. Hope you enjoy. I miss you all and can't wait to see everyone in just about a month now. Man.... we're going to have so much fun, if you're up for military crawls and lots of drool :)

New Faces

Nathan has gotten to the point in his life where the one position in which he is happiest is standing. Here he is standing up at the end of our bed, playing peek-a-boo with his daddy. And proving to the world that yes, just like other babies he has his moments. He is really starting in with the attitude, displayed beautifully in this picture :) I can only imagine the fun that we have ahead of us. My mom, Nathan's Nana, says that we might ought to start watching our Bringing Up Boys DVDs now :) Not a bad idea Nana :) Looks like this one's going to be a pistol. But we sure do love him, none the less.

New Wheels, Continued

So there are still adjustments to made, possibly a color change :) but here are the new Bull Family wheels. It seats seven, so visitors are welcome. And see that luggage wrack on top, all ready to haul luggage back and forth from the airport to our house. We are so thankful that God blessed us, once again, with exactly what we needed. So watch out taxi drivers, Laura's back on the road again :) Maybe that Dallas driving experience will come in handy here :)

Same 'Ol Girl

So those of you who know me well, know that I love a good bargain. And I am learning that you can't take the bargain shopper out of the girl, no matter what continent she is living on. Let me back up. So when I was pregnant with Nathan, it was important to me to have things for him made by those we love. So I chose to ask my mom to make bumper pads for Nathan's crib, which she did graciously. They are so precious and we have put them to good use. I think they were the first thing I unpacked from the container. The only problem is... I have a little boy, and I do mean ALL boy. So lately his new past time has been destroying his bumper pads made with love from his Nana. Okay, not destroying, but seriously putting the hurt on them. These bumper pads use ribbon as ties and Nathan has found out that if you pull that little string at the end, the whole thing comes unraveled, oh the fun :) So I was on a mission to find new bumper pads so as not to totally destroy the ones my mom made. I looked online and found a few and even searched ebay and had resigned myself to ordering some and sending them with visitors coming to Cochabamba. Until.... Julie mentioned that she had been down in the 4 or 5 blocks of used clothing stores here in Cochabamba and had seen a few sets of bumper pads. So I hauled her down there with me today to show me exactly where and you will not believe what I found. So apparently people here in Cbba receive shipments of used clothing and linens from the states and this area is like blocks and blocks of garage sales. So I found some Pottery Barn Kids bumper pads for 30 bolivianos. Let me translate.. at 8 Bs a dollar that's what... less than 4 dollars huh? Oh, the fun I had today :) They are perfect for Nathan with choo choo trains, all ties still in tact and not a stain on them. God continues to amaze me at how he provides for us. Even in the little things (which at times seem to matter most). Praise God for making this mommy's day!!!

My First Fourth of July

Hello there fellow Americans :) This is the Nate Man again. I got to celebrate my first Fourth of July this week, in Bolivia, and as you can see Mommy thought it would be fitting for me to wear my Red, White, and Blue. What an adventure. Daddy got up early and went and played the all American game of golf with his team buddies while mommy and I cooked for our team cookout. We went over to Aunt Julie and Uncle Josh's house and man did we have fun. Mommy made Grannie Wallace's baked beans, Papa Wallace's brownies, and Nana's potato salad. I got to try all kinds of new foods. Uncle Josh grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs and we actually got to drink Dr. Pepper and Root Beer. Okay... not me, I had to stick with my apple juice, but one day, maybe they'll let me in on the good stuff. Then Uncle Josh brought out fireworks. You know... maybe I'll like them better in the future :) But right now they were a little too loud for me and so I got a little... okay alot scared. But we had so much fun playing and eating. The only crazy thing that mommy says was really different was that we're used to being in T-shirts and shorts, not jeans and coats for the Fourth of July. We also had friends from Mary Knoll who are from the states come and eat with us too and that was lots of fun. So all in all, aside from the fireworks incident, it was a really fun night and I can't wait for next year. Maybe then I can get in on the Dr. Pepper and sparklers :) Happy Fourth of July!!!