Furlough - Day 12

Well, in all the excitement I missed a few days :) We have had a very quick wonderful trip to Rogers, a white xmas in Dallas, a visit to Sea World (with the Johnsons, Labowskis and Escalantes!) and a fantastic lunch in Austin (with the Bottas) since the last time I updated this blog. Safe travel and happy children. Couldn't ask for anything more! I hope to post pictures today! Love, Katie, Jeff, Jubilee and Malakai

Furlough 2009 - Day 3

Yesterday was a fantastic Lord's Day in Chillicothe, MO! This congregation is a light and encouragement to our family. Jeff did a wonderful job on the presentation and sermon. Jubilee was in a Christmas program. We had a potluck, roast at home with family and then back for the program and treats. In between Jeff, Jubilee and Pops went iceskating with the kids from church and a side trip to Wal-mart for passport pictures. Grami, Maley and I stayed home from the skating fun to start repacking our stuff. We are planning to leave this morning about 9 to meet Grandmother and Susie half-way so that they can take us to Rogers for the night. We will hug as much family as possible in Rogers and then tomorrow morning head out for Dallas. To God be the glory! Today we are praying for Johnathan Sandoval and his surgery. Please continue to pray with us! Love, Katie, Jeff, Jubilee and Malakai

Furlough 2009 - Day 2

Yesterday was another wonderful day. We had a relaxing morning and then went out into the cold to run errands with Grami. We went to the post office, payless, wal-mart, stage, the dollar store and goodwill. The last five stops were to find shoes for Jubilee. She doesn't have her mommy's feet yet but we ended up with $2.50 boots from Goodwill that are so thight that will probably only fit for week. I am thankful for the options of places to look for her shoes. Then we came home and had roman noodles and hung out until it was time for the first xmas. Presents for the kids and strogenoff for the adults :) - we are growing by the minute - and I don't mean spiritually! It was wonderful! Then the kids went to sleep and the grownups watched Hallmark! God bless and hope you had a blessed day too! Enjoy the pictures! Love, Katie, Jeff, Jubile and Malakai

Furlough 2009 - Day 1

We had a fabulous first day in Chillicothe, MO. Jubilee had a Pop's date at McDonald's and a date with Grami at an afterschool Christmas gift exchange. We, Jeff and I, made our first trip to Wal-mart. Always a double edge sword. Good for the spirit. Bad on the wallet. We also had a very nice dinner with the Blakely's at AppleBees and went to see the xmas lights of Chillicothe. Both kids were asleep by 8 and we stayed up talking with the Forbess' until Jeff and Rod were basically asleep in the chairs. Great day!

Today we are praying for Johnathan Sandoval who will have follow up back surgery on Monday. Please pray with us for his family, the doctors, his safety during surgery and a great recovery.

God bless you all!

Katie, Jeff, Jubilee and Malakai

Arrived safely!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived safely! No problems and the kids were A+ on the flights and during all the travel. Thank you for your prayers. God bless! We love you all! Katie, Jeff, Jubilee and Malakai

Prayer Request

Hello everyone. Hope this update finds you all well and getting ready to enjoy a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones. We are doing well but I wanted to relay a very important prayer request to everyone. I do believe in the power of prayer and we have witnessed the might hand of our Heavenly Father so many times while living in Bolivia, I know this time will be no different.

I need everyone to be praying that I will receive my passport in time to travel on Wednesday this week. Katie, Jubilee and Malakai all have the documents they need. Katie and Jubilee are working on their Bolivian ID cards today but they do have their passports and permanent visas. I on the other hand am still waiting for my visa and passport. On Wednesday I had gone to the immigration office here in Cochabamba to present a formal request to pull my passport out of the process in order to be able to leave the country. On that day the person I spoke to told me there would be no problem and that I could come back the next day on Thursday and get my passport. When I returned yesterday the person I gave my request to was not to be found and after much hemming and hawing the other secretary finally found my letter which had not been sent to La Paz which meant I was not getting my passport that day. When I went in to speak with the head honcho with whom I have had run ins in the past, he informed that these requests normally take two weeks. He told me later that I could maybe get it back in one week but that was still not really a guarantee. I retracted my formal request and now plan on traveling in person to the immigration office in La Paz on Monday. I am counting on all you prayer warriors out there for you to lift up a special prayer on my family´s behalf that I would get my passport back in time to travel on Wednesday.

Additionally, I am very overwhelmed today as I am trying to get all of my final projects done for the semester before I go out of town tomorrow to the countryside for a service project with some of my English students. It will be a good trip but that along with all my school work is adding major stress. Please pray for Katie and the kids as well as this is very stressful for all of us. Thanks to all of you. I can´t wait to update you on how God is going to work this out!!!

Jeff

Pictures say a thousand words - or more!

There are updated pictures of the Forbess family and activities on www.dropshots.com/forbessfamily including Jubilee birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving with the English students, intermediate bible class, Thanksgiving with the team, Angela's chats with the single ladies, Renata's baptism, the last day of tennis for Jubilee, the last day of school for Jubilee and Malakai, and random cute pictures of the kids! Hope you enjoy them! - Katie