Leaving Los Ticos

It's over now, all but the crying.
We have our graduation ceremony in two days, and then fly back to
Mississippi for a month. It has been a great time here in
San Jose learning a lot of Spanish and making some great friends.
God has helped and blessed and provided for us and our children,
but we are ready for the next step. These next few months will be hectic and stressful,
moving around a lot and making a lot of visits with friends and churches.
We hope we don't loose too much Spanish while away from latinos.
Remember to pray for us and keep us posted on your lives also.
hasta luego
dale

Watch this slide show about Peru Mission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpQAj5Z4hRA

hope it works
dale

Graduation time

Rebekah graduated from kindergarten and is now ready for first grade. She has a ceremony at our school's chapel. The boys
did not have a ceremony but are glad to be finished with school, and now they are in summer camp. The schedule is much the same, but classes are different; less homework, more playtime, and more games. Susan and I are being tested weekly, and learning as much as we can until we finish in August. Last month we had our 15th wedding anniversary and three birthdays. Lauren is climbing now and has a big fat lip to show for it; she tipped over in a small chair Sunday and lost a little blood on our back porch.
more later,
dale and family

Zachary's cake

Susan made a cake and put some animals on it, representing Noah's ark.
Notice how Zachary refuses to look at the camera.
Notice also how Rebekah is always looking at the camera.

Birthdays galore!

Lauren started us off on April 19 when she turned one.
She seems to be the only Ellison who doesn't like chocolate cake.
Jacob followed May 7, and then Zachary on the 13th.
Susan will finish the month with a birthday on the 24th.
We had a 10 day visit home to MS a few weeks ago and we enjoyed it much.
Now we are back at language school, hard at work, and staying very busy.
We have had a lot of sickness recently, but praise the Lord today we are feeling
pretty well. I hope we can stay healthy for a while.

For those praying please pray that our studies go well, that we all work hard and
encourage each other, and grow as a family in the knowledge of the Lord.
dale

the first is over

It has been a while,
but we have been studying hard and learning much.
Next week we return to the states for a short visit between the semesters,
and start school again May 9th. We have seen our support grow some these past few months and
rejoice to see God working. Pray for our continued growth spiritually, and with the Spanish language.
Next September we will be in Peru, ojala, y si Dios quiere.
dale

a day in the life

This week at ILE we are taking a little break from Spanish class and focusing on
worship. We have no homework and classes are a little shorter. The school has
brought in an evangelist from Texas and everyday we have chapel instead of just on Tuesdays
and Thursdays. Also we meet at night and there is childcare provided. We are focusing on
worship and hearing a lot of encouraging words about how to be prepared for the struggles
we will face when we leave here and move on to our fields of service. The man is a Southern
Baptist, so I feel right at home in a lot of ways, having grown up in that denomination.

Our language is coming along fairly well and we are not tired of school! Thankfully.
Many of our classmates seem to be struggling right now with the language and culture, but
God is helping us and we are enjoying it very much.
Pray for our progress, and pray for our spiritual encouragement.
Leaving our home church is difficult, but we know God will meet all our needs.
All you bloggers our there, please write and remind me of your blog address.
I have changed computers and no longer have bookmarks.
Hasta luego
dale