Familia Marcum

My pride and His all-sufficiency

2008-05-16T15:22:00.004-04:00

Piggybacking off my last post: every child is different - even out of the womb. As much as our 3 girls look alike - they all looked very different to me. There were differences in how they wanted to be carried (Eliana wanted to be carried facing forward), how they went to sleep (Michaela loved to be swaddled), eating habits. And Jana has her own set of preferences. Lately, much to my dismay, she's been refusing to nurse. She wants the bottle!

With Eliana, I shot myself in the foot because I didn't make her take a bottle from an early age - and she never did take one, and the switch over to a sippy cup was a battle. With Jana, I have pushed both the pacifier and the bottle (for my ease, and also because of the fact that we'll be traveling so much this summer). And I think that's part of the reason she has decided she likes the bottle better.

But I also think my body is tired after 3 pregnancies in 3 years and I'm not producing the milk she needs. I noticed a change in sleeping habits - waking up more frequently. And then the other day Jana wouldn't (or couldn't) nurse and cried and cried. I finally mixed some formula for the first time and the poor kid drank it like she was starving. Since then, I've had to give her at least one bottle a day.

I'm one of those moms who really enjoys nursing, which has been the hardest part of all this. I enjoy the physical closeness, the knowledge that my milk is best... and let's get real, the fact that it's only something mommy can do - at this age, I'm everything to my baby. And that's where the pride part comes in. I like being able to tell a Bolivian that my baby nurses (most assume if you're rich that you automatcially will have a c-section and give formula). Pride.

But the reality is - I can't be it all for my children. That's where His all-sufficiency comes in. He is everything to me - and I have to turn over everything to Him, even my children.

I thank God I live in a day and place and am on a salary where I can buy formula for my baby. I know she will be healthy. And so I cried about it some, and then gave it over to God - asking Him to be it all for me - and for my baby.

May His all-sufficiency be obvious in your life as well.

Gifts and Personalities

2008-05-16T15:03:00.003-04:00

It's amazing as a parent to watch your children grow and learn and to notice similarities and differences between them. Of course, you always hear how every child is different, and you know it cognitively, but to see it in action... well that's something else. And of course, you always doubt if, as a parent, you're reading too much into it because, well, they're your children, so of course they're talented. But, at risk of looking foolish, I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think my children have certain talents even at this young age. Eliana is our musical child - she loves music, dancing, and rhyming words. She's learned some words and phrases solely from the rhythm. And Michaela is our artist. She loves painting, coloring, and lately - drawing on the magna pad my parents sent for her birthday. The other day she came to show me what she drew, and I have to say - I thought it was pretty good for a 3 year old. (Remembering back to my art class in college and kid's development stages, she is very advanced for her age!) Anyway, I took a picture to preserve it and here it is below. And in case you can't see it - it's a person - complete with eyes, mouth, nose, body, arms, and legs!

Visit from Matt

2008-05-16T14:54:00.003-04:00

We were blessed this last month with a visit from one of Josh's good friends from college and grad. school days. Matt Bogard came down for about a week to visit the work here. He's searching for God's direction in his future and wanted to see what work in Bolivia was like. We enjoyed our time with him (especially Josh!) and did a variety of things that would help him see what daily life is like here in Cochabamba. And of course, no visit to Cochabamba is complete for a first time visitor without a trip to the Cristo statue. Here's our newest family picture overlooking the city. Unfortunately, we don't have one picture with Matt! How terrible is that!

Prayers for Bolivia

2008-05-02T14:39:00.002-04:00

One of the blessings of being on a team is the fact that each person brings their own giftedness to the team. Jeff Forbess has the gift of linguistics - both in English and in Spanish (and I'm sure whatever other language he put his mind to learn). He just posted a blog that requests your prayers for political peace in Bolivia, and because I know that I will never be able to put it as well as he has, I ask you to read his blog post and join us in prayer for this country. Thank you!

Fun with Family

2008-04-30T11:39:00.005-04:00

Jenny and Erik and Zion came to visit us this last week from Sucre. I am thankful to have at least some family living in the same country with us! We had a good time visiting about our different works, about kids, and everything else under the sun. We did some shopping and even had time to go for an ultrasound for Jenny to find out if they're having a girl or boy. We celebrated Michaela's 3rd birthday with them too (more on that to come!). Here's some pictures from their visit.

Can we say "mug shot"? I don't know why they were so serious. And the mark on Zion's chin was from learning to climb the ladder on the slide.

We went to a place called Langostura about half an hour from Cochabamba that has paddle boats, a play ground, a zip line and serves good fish.

How precious is this picture?! Jana with her Aunt Jenny.

All together now... And I promise that is NOT a beer bottle in the foreground. It's a type of juice called Jugo de Valle that comes in bottles here.

Pictures of Jana

2008-04-23T08:31:00.003-04:00

I've been trying for weeks to get a picture of Jana smiling - and can't seem to get it timed right. The following picture is the best I could do...

We also went to get some professional pictures done. We had some done for Michaela at 2 weeks; Eliana was a month; Jana... well, we didn't get around to it till 2 and a half months - but they turned out super cute. Don't worry, grandparents! We ordered you guys some copies that we'll distribute on furlough...

Cross Cultural Moment, Anyone?

2008-04-16T15:03:00.003-04:00

For all of you who have ever lived or spent much time overseas.... Have you ever had one of those moments when you're walking down the street and see someone wearing something that you wish you could just go up to them and ask if they REALLY know what their clothing says??? Well, one of the sisters at church just gave Jana the sweetest little outfit - and I'm quite sure that she didn't know what it said. When Josh and I opened it up, we nearly died laughing! I just don't know how I'm ever in good conscience going to put the following outfit on my baby!

The 3 Amigos

2008-04-05T10:53:00.003-04:00

At risk of being redundant - I used the same title as Laura did on her blog - but it just seemed too perfect. I still can't believe we all have babies born within a month of each other! It'll be just as fun watching these 3 grow up together as it has been watching our other "3 amigos" (see previous blog) grow up together.

Church and Team "Happenings"

2008-03-26T15:18:00.005-04:00

I realized lately that our blog has become slightly family focused. Perhaps that's because mom, who is in charge of the blog, is here at home - and so that's what gets posted. Which is not to say that the work doesn't go on - and that Josh is very busy with a variety of ministry activites. Here's some highlights from what's been going on.

- The youth and the young at heart begin playing volleyball as an outreach on Saturdays in January.
- Maggie and Palmira were baptized in February!
- End of February, Roland Bowen, a member of the missions committee at our sponsoring congregation of Austin Ave., makes a visit to help out with preaching and teaching responsibilites while all the new daddies are still getting back in the groove. Thanks, Roland!
- The youth have an outing to welcome their new members at a local pool in March.
- We have a team get-to-gether on Good Friday to spend some time in prayer and give the kids a chance to hunt Easter eggs.
- We celebrate Easter Sunday with an evangelistically focused service, inviting lots of friends and canvasing the neighborhood. The kids and youth perform some special skits, and the fellowship meal afterwards allows us to visit with the many visitors (we had about 80 in attendance!)
- Our small group, which usually meets at the building, decides to rotate the last Tuesday meeting of every month in members' homes to allow for a little more familiarity.
- And please be praying for this coming weekend: Josh is teaching a weekend course(the last weekend of March, April and May) at the contact center on preaching and Bible exegesis, which is open to churches across Bolivia. He's expecting 10-15 students - and they'll have lunch at our house - my first big hospitality event since Jana's birth.
-The first weekend in April marks the men's annual campout as well. Please be praying for that too.

Saturday volleyball

Palmira's baptism

Roland preaching

Our old red Chevy is well used during events like the youth outing!

Easter egg hunting

Josh preaching on Easter Sunday

Our CAFE group

Our 3 Little Ladies

2008-03-19T18:26:00.003-04:00

We were enjoying a beautiful day outside - and this picture was the result - the first one I've been able to get with all 3 girls by themselves!

Eliana

2008-03-19T18:12:00.004-04:00

In an attempt to be fair (like she will ever know - but to ease my guilty conscience :), I decided I should do a blog and post some pictures solely of Eliana. She is learning so many new things these days - has conquered stairs, is now moving comfortably around the yard, climbing the slide, lots of new words, blowing bubbles, dancing, eating with a spoon, putting herself to sleep (yeah!! Sure makes my life easier). But one of her favorite things, since we live in the middle of a dairy farm, is to stand at the fence and watch the "vacas" (cows) as she calls them in the neighboring field. On a side note - I think these days of Michaela at school will be good for Eliana. We'll get to spend some time together and she'll get to play a little without her older sister bossing her around so much. Sisterly affection and rivalry sure starts at a young age : )

Michaela starts "school"!

2008-03-18T12:40:00.003-04:00

Today was Michaela's first day at her day care. We've been looking for a good fit for us for a while - thinking that Michaela would enjoy the social interaction and that it would really benefit her Spanish. We checked out quite a few - some were not too thrilled with our desire to send her only 2 days a week; others were too out of the way; others not clean enough.... We finally decided on one right on the way into town - Christian, bilingual, a nice garden/play area, smaller with only 10 kids in her class. They even get to go to the tennis club on Wednesdays for tennis lessons. The first day went well - she went in happy and came out happy (although we did have a little resistence in putting on the uniform.) Here are a few pictures.

Michaela - ready to go

Michaela working with her new friends

The play area

Thank Goodness for Teammates!

2008-03-14T16:59:00.002-04:00

Josh always buys a Sunday paper - it helps us keep up with news politically, but also helps us know what's going on locally. A couple weeks ago he saw advertised a Russian ballet on ice, coming to Cochabamba. Who would think? So seeing as we had been reading a book to Michaela about ballet, we bought tickets. Sunday night at 7:30 was sold out, so we bought tickets for Monday. They wrote 5:00 on the tickets, and we were excited, thinking that was a much better time for us and we'd be able to take all 3 girls. We showed up at 5: 15 - better late than never, right? - and stood in line, thinking they would open the doors soon. We waited and waited - and finally struck up a conversation with the lady next to us - turns out the thing didn't start till 7:30! Here we are with 3 kids standing on a street corner in the middle of Cochabamba. Not to mention the fact that the only reason we brought Eliana was because she would be happy at 5:00 - we knew she'd be climbing a wall at 7:30. At this point, it's 6:00 - so I pack up the kids and take them to get something to eat at CineCenter while Josh calls our teammates the Sandovals to see if they can watch Eliana. As we're walking into CineCenter - I see Butch coming toward me, talking on the phone to Josh. Wonder of wonders - they were there eating as well - so we got something to eat, I passed off Eliana and we went back to find Josh (who had stayed in line) just as they were opening the doors. In spite of the crazy time factor - the ballet was lovely. Michaela was enchanted - Jana slept the whole time. We ended up leaving at intermission (too much of a good thing is not good at all) because it was getting late. But I'm very thankful for flexible teammates who will baby sit at a minute's notice. Not to mention all the other things our teammates provide for us!

One Month Old

2008-03-07T09:36:00.002-04:00

I wish I was more of a photographer, especially after seeing some other baby pics on other blogs - but this snapshot will have to suffice for now! Jana is now one month old. Eating well, sleeping - well, she has her good nights and her not so good nights. But she's taking a bottle (praise God! Eliana never did!) And a pacificer (Amazing! I can't believe it - my other 2 never did that either! It sure makes my life easier.) And at the least she's survived her 2 older sisters for a month! We've even gotten a couple good smiles out of her the last week.

Team Picture

2008-03-05T10:20:00.003-04:00

Our team has changed a lot in the past 8 months! We are now only 4 families, and just recently added 3 new team members: Malakai Forbess, Jana Marcum, and Grant Bull. Welcome to these 3 new little ones!

Highlights from my parents visit

2008-02-18T15:41:00.003-04:00

Our first family picture with 5 of us

The main highlight was Jana of course!

Making special snacks with Nyanya

Bath time

Swimming with Nyanya, Babu and Dada

Reading with Babu

Playing in the little house my mom made for the girls for Christmas

Playing memory with Nyanya and Babu

Pillow fights and wrestling with Babu

Blowing bubbles with Nyanya

Living by Faith and other Valentine's Day Reflections

2008-02-15T15:56:00.002-04:00

We said goodbye to my parents yesterday. It was definitely a time of mixed emotions: thankfulness for their visit - it has been such a blessing having them here; sadness - it's always hard to say goodbye; relief - knowing that we'll be seeing them in 3 and half months, which I'm sure will fly by; doubt - wondering if I'm up to the task of handling 3 under the age of 3 without their help. Josh asked at the dinner table who was going to go through the most Nyanya and Babu withdrawal. I know without a doubt it will be me!

But as I was journaling in my time with the Lord on this Valentine's day - I reflected on how much love surrounds me. The love my parents made in making the financial sacrifice to come down here and be with us at this time. The love they've shown me my whole life in parenting me - how much you appreciate you parents after you are one. A loving husband who serves me and our children beyond measure. The love and snuggles of our daughters. The love of our friends and family from a far. Most of all the love of our God in our Savior, Jesus, and the other countless blessings He bestows in His favor.

And in reality, the answer is - I'm not up to the task of raising 3 under the age of 3! At least, not without Him. Part of the reason I liked Faith for a middle name for Jana is because I knew that it was only going to be through faith in Him that we would be able to raise these beautiful girls in His light. The last few days the refrain to a hymn has been running through my head "Living by faith, in Jesus above, Trusting, confiding in His great love, From all harm safe in His sheltering arm, I'm living by faith and feel no alarm".

May God grant you the faith you need to meet the task of living day by day.

Jana Faith Marcum

2008-02-05T16:41:00.000-04:00

We're thankful to our God to announce the birth of our third beautiful daughter, Jana (Hebrew for God is gracious) Faith Marcum, yesterday, February 4th at 12:32 pm. She weighed 3 kilos, 100 grams (just about 7 pounds) and was 52 cms long. She has red-blonde hair and blue eyes, like her daddy and her 2 older sisters. The birth was without complications and we are home now, enjoying being with my parents who came down to help us out for a couple weeks. God is good! We love you all! Enjoy the pictures.

New Births

2008-01-21T08:31:00.000-04:00

Well, as 2 of us are waiting for the immenent physical births of our children, we were excited to celebrate the spiritual births of 2 of our youth. Rene and Vanessa made the decision to put Christ on in baptism yesterday. They have been faithfully attending church, Bible class and our CAFE group for months. I have been impressed by their sincerity, and their longing to learn. After expressing their desire to be baptized, Josh spent 7 weeks studying with them both - and said he was always impressed when he arrived for their study, because they had everything ready - Bibles out, homework done. Sometimes in the midst of being a mom and wife, it can be hard to see what, if anything, I am contributing... but after teaching Rene and Vanessa in Bible class, and seeing their desire to follow Christ, I am struck again by what every teacher feels the weight of - the promise of the future. I am excited to see how God will lead and train up these 2 young people to serve and honor Him within the church. Please pray with me for Rene and Vanessa.

Pray for Kenya

2008-01-05T16:22:00.001-04:00

My whole childhood is wrapped up of memories spent in Kenya, a beautiful country with beautiful people - and the last few days have made me so sad. How Satan can work - to turn people against one another. Email and news reports tell of the town I was born in burned and gutted; people afraid to leave their homes, going without food and water; living in forests in fear for their lives; homes burned; people killed for their tribal ethnicity. I can't help but think back in my mind to members at our Komarock church - who was Kikuyu? And yet it is not just the Kikuyu whose lives are being threatened. Christian brothers are sheltering Kikuyu families, putting their own lives at risk. And that is the work of God and the love of Christ in action! It is at times like this, I am proud to be called a Christian - when faith is put to the test and shines forth like a beacon in the darkness. Please pray with me for this country and this people that I love!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T15:43:00.001-04:00

We ended the year with a church-wide time of fellowship at our house, complete with a smoked leg of pork (thanks to my multi-talented husband!), sports, karaoke, a hay ride for the kids in the back of our 79 Chevy pick-up, burning the "old man" (an Ecuadorian custom of making and burning a dummy to symbolize getting rid of old habits), a devo, and fireworks. What a wonderful way to bring in the new year! (Although for the first part of the day, I had a few concerns: it rained all day -luckily we had rented a tent- but it cleared up and was beautiful; the flies were the worst I've ever seen, thousands of them - I have a new appreciation for the Egyptian plague in Exodus - we went through 6 cans of insect spray just to make it bearable - but the temperature dropped and the flies went away; the first guests showed up over an hour late, and most people didn't arrive until a couple hours after we said we would start.) The devo was a special time of singing and sharing some spiritual goals for the next year, and I think it really helped people reflect. Bruno, one of the young men of our congregation who has taken on a leading role with the youth, tearfully expressed a heartfelt desire to be a good role model. Renan, his father, reflected on all that God has blessed them with this last year, and a desire to serve God with those blessings in the year to come. Miguel stated he wanted to be a better father, spending more time with his kids and having more patience. Letticia wanted to humble her heart more before God. Please pray for all these brothers and sisters in their walk with Jesus.

Fellowship

Gaston with the "old man" dummy

Happy New Year!

Eliana Walking

2007-12-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Tis the Season!

2007-12-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

Here's a taste of what's been going on during the Christmas season in the Marcum household:

We put together gift bags of hygenic items and treats for the children who live in the women's prison. Here in Bolivia, it is common for the families of the inmates to live with them in the jail. Katie has been key in this ministry, holding a weekly Bible study for the ladies in the prison, and one in a sort of "half-way" house. This year she involved the ladies in putting together and delivering the bags.

We wrapped up studying Colossians and Philippians in small group and had our small group over for a Christmas party, making it more of a formal occasion with a sit-down dinner and small recital featuring the children in our group (2 of whom attend a special music school here and play the viola, piano, and sax.)

A taste of home! In a random conversation with one of the brothers from the church, Josh mentioned how much we miss rhubarb from the States. Amazingly, this brother grew up in Oruro, attending a Catholic school in a monastary. He told us the nuns there grow rhubard! Of all the things! He brought us back some on his last trip home, and came out the day before our small group dinner to learn how to make strawberry rhubarb pie - Josh's favorite by the way!

Following in my mom's footsteps! Growing up, my mom would make multitudes of Christmas cookies - lots of different kinds, and many years we would make plates to give away. This year, I decided to follow suite and made 8 different types of Christmas cookies and 17 plates to give away to the members of the church, our small group, and some of our neighbors.

Two weeks before Christmas, Josh informed me that since he was preaching the Sunday before, he would really like the kids in the intermediary class to present a little drama of the birth of Christ. So I went to work on costumes. It was a simple little production (the kids actually just read and acted out the Scripture from Luke), but I think all enjoyed it.

Meet Priscilla and Alejandro. She is a single mom with 2 children. Her oldest, Yusaara, has spinal meningitis and attends a special school for the disabled here in Cochabamba. Priscilla lives in a small room with her two kids, and works really hard to provide what she can for them. The church's benevolence program, of which Jeff is in charge, helps them out some with groceries. Alejandro is quite a handful, but has such a good heart, you can't help but love him to death. He loves to sing - and you can hear him belting out the songs above everyone else in church. Anyway, on the Sunday before Christmas, Miguel, another one of the brothers, bought gifts for all the children who regularly attend services (and a few extras for the visitors who came!) The look on Alejandro's face when he opened his little car was priceless. Definitely what the Christmas season is all about. And Priscilla was thrilled to death when we sent a gift home with her for Yusara. Please pray for this precious family and the many like them in Cochabamba.

35 weeks and counting! Just a few more to go before the newest baby girl Marcum makes her appearance. We spent Christmas day with the Forbess family (Katie is due just 2 weeks before me!) and Jubilee and Michaela enjoyed playing together as always. We dispensed with traditional Christmas dinner (this pregnant woman didn't feel up to turkey and all the sides!) and had lasagna instead (a special treat here because the ricotta cheese is hard to find). Michaela got a trike for Christmas, and loves riding it everywhere. And mom's best Christmas present was that Eliana started walking! Video to come shortly.

Merry Christmas from the Marcums!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-05T15:40:00.000-04:00

Seems like a lot has happened since my last blog post. Josh took a trip to Sucre to visit his family there and for the inauguration of the church; his family returned with him and spent 10 days visiting with us here - Jenny and Erik's stay being unwillingly (although we loved having them!) extended due to the polictal problems we're experiencing (for more on that please visit BBC news); we celebrated Thanksgiving complete with smoked turkey and cranberry sauce; Eliana is taking her first few steps; we said goodbye to the Sandovals as they left on furlough (now it's just us and the Forbesses!). Here are a few highlights from the last couple weeks.

Turkey time! Josh and I got a good laugh this year when we went to buy the turkey. We heard of a place that according to everyone sells the best turkeys, and so went exploring one day down in the Cancha to find it. We never would have found it if not for the huge 6 foot inflatable turkey outside the door of an autoparts shop - yes - I say again autoparts! This family raises turkeys on their farm outside of Cochabamba and sells them in the back of their autoparts store out of a deep freeze - but they were good turkeys! I tried my hand for the second year in a row at cooking the bird - but we had such a crowd (Josh's parents and James, his sister and brother-in-law, the Forbesses and Sandovals and 2 from the Sucre team), we actually cooked 2! Josh smoked one - and I actually think his turned out better. There's nothing better than Thanksgiving dinner - especially when you are able to find cranberry sauce to go along with it. Everyone pitching in to bring sides and desserts (including pumpkin and pecan pie!) and the fellowship around the table made it a year to remember.

Michaela had a blast playing with James. I was worried she'd be bored out of her mind when they left.

Josh and his dad went to work and replaced all the screens on our windows - many of which had rotted through. As it gets warmer and starts raining more, the flies and mosquitos get bad. I have been very thankful for our new screens the last few days.

Nana was in heaven with 3 out of her 4 grandchildren. We missed you, Kaidan!

This is our first year since being married that we'll celebrate Christmas in our own home. It was also Michaela's first year to decorate the tree! She caught on quickly to what the Christmas spirit is all about.

We made Christmas cookies with Nana and James. I wasn't quite prepared for the whirlwind of decorating Christmas cookies with a 2 year old! But in spite of the mess, it sure was fun.

We found a little plastic bat and ball for Michaela for a dollar and my creative husband set up a makeshift t-ball court in our back yard with a pvc pipe. Michaela loves playing baseball - and is actually getting pretty good at hitting the ball (although she still needs a little practice with the logistics of running the bases!)

Josh's mom and I made a trip to the used clothes section of the Cancha (the Bolivian version of goodwill) and she bought Michaela some dress up clothes for Christmas. She and Michaela then proceeded to have a tea party in their new clothes. Michaela loved it!

Michaela in her dress up clothes.

Eliana took 12 steps on her own! She had lots of people to practice with, and loved every minute.

We spent the day a local retreat center and the daddies and kids went swimming together. It was Eliana's first time to really enjoy the water - and Michaela had fun as always swimming with Daddy.

Zion and Eliana discovered the tupperware! They had fun playing together (although Zion can run circles around Eliana).

And the news is...

2007-11-09T09:04:00.000-04:00

Eliana is officially crawling! Not far yet - but definitely getting from one point to another on her hands and knees. This 7 month pregnant mom is definitely happy that she will now be able to get places on her own - and looking forward to the day she starts to walk (although I may regret my words as soon as she starts getting into everything!).