from left to right (click to enlarge): Jeremiah, Aaliyah, Jorge, Maggie, Mario, Cathy, Nyelie, Isaac, Jorge

thank you for your prayers and support. I’ll be posting updates to my twitter account (link below) as we find out further details. (fyi: you don’t need to have a twitter account to view the updates, simply click the link below)

http://twitter.com/abelara

I’ll write a follow up email/post in a couple days once things have sorted out.

thanks for your support and your prayers.

UPDATE:

thanks for your prayers everyone,

the joint connecting her sternum to her ribs was inflamed. they gave her some pain medication.  although they’re not sure what caused it, but they said it should go away in a few days, if she can rest and do her best to “take it easy” with 6 kids; and take pain meds if needed.

once again, thanks for your notes of encouragement, support, and prayers.

we recently got a family season pass to our city pool, but it’s closed on sundays. so we headed on over to the cousins house for some fun.

the cousin’s pool had a leak so the water wasn’t filled up as much. perfect height for the twins though since they could touch the bottom and stand with their head above water.

this by far though has been the scariest video I’ve shot with my new iPhone. as you can tell part of this was shot with me holding the phone over the ledge just above the water in order to get the lower angle shot. I just kept thinking, “don’t slip, don’t fall… don’t slip, don’t fall… don’t slip, don’t fall…”

btw: click on the picture to see a bigger version

i just love how it captures the important central role Deborah plays in the lives of our girls.  as she shapes and molds them into women of God.  Happy Mother’s Day.

here’s some other Mother’s Day “instant classics” that i enjoy:

although not an instant classic like the one above, i just couldn’t resist this close runner up:

in case you wondered what being a daddy of 6 girls is like: (anna is hanging on too behind me. you can see her hand below my chin and her other arm around my right shoulder.)

i wanna apologize to any of you that have recently tried to contact us using the contact link at the top of the page. i just realized that the plugin that i use to manage this changed the default email address to “you@example.com” the last time the plugin was updated. so unfortunately, we haven’t received any contact requests in who knows how long and we have no way of retrieving them.

really, we haven’t been purposefully ignoring you.

here’s a cute picture of us to make you feel better :)  (click to enlarge)

• you can call me Abraham or abe. (notice that when shortened to abe, i prefer the A to be lowercase)  

• growing up my sisters started calling me aber or Aber (they never wrote it so i’m not sure if i like it upper or lowercase).  while this feels very natural coming from my sisters, if feels/sounds VERY weird coming from anyone else, no matter how long you’ve known me. my wife doesn’t even call me aber.

• also when used with my wife’s name i prefer that both of our names be long as in Abraham and Deborah, or both to be shortened as in abe and deb. we’re just kinda weird like that, it looks strange to us to see either Abe and Deborah, or Abraham and Deb.

• Deborah isn’t as particular as to whether her first initial is upper or lowercase when using Deb/deb.  Although she always initially introduces herself as Deborah, and only after people get to know her do they start calling her deb. she’s mentioned that after she returned from the year she was in the internship at TeenMania, it was weird to hear all my friends who hadn’t met her refer to her as Deb because that’s what i had been calling her. but she also prefers to have either both names long, or both names shortened when used together.  

• we do sometimes refer to ourselves as deboraham (only when speaking, not in writing). we’ve heard others refer to us that way, but not when speaking to us directly. and it may be cute the first time or two if you were to start referring to us that way directly, but we’d probably soon tire of it.

congratulations Cathy on your new iPod Touch!

here’s a candid one that I just love.

we stick together.

when we were in Little Rock this past summer they had some kids of staff members come share their experience in moving to Little Rock and their adjustment to life there. every one of them mentioned that during their family’s fundraising process their parents made some kind of chart for the whole family to see how much progress they’d made.

but for the Laras, we didn’t want to simply do some “boring” thermometer. we liked the idea a family had of making a large magnet of a map from their home to Little Rock that they stuck on their fridge and had a little car magnet that traveled down the road.
but we wanted something even BIGGER. so we figured, “hey, we’re not going to stay in this house forever. why not go crazy and make a HUMONGOUS map on the living room wall.”

so that’s what we did. we announced to the girls that they were going to write on the walls, through a projection of the US on the wall, handed out pencils, and then let them go at it. after we’d put them to bed, mom and dad stayed up outlining it in Sharpie markers, and then we colored in the highway to Arkansas with them in the morning.

take a look for yourself.

(youtube link)

how will it affect your…
work…
school…
family…
church…
sport…
ministry…
“other”…

(youtube link)

i saw this today. and i consider myself pretty “connected” to the social media scene. but there’s still a lot i haven’t been a part of, or simply don’t “get”.

and then i started thinking how i’ve kinda been neglecting my social media “skillz” because of how busy we are with MPD* and family. and then i started to wonder, “can we really afford to let our social media presence take a back burner if it’s turning out to be such an important aspect of the culture we live in?”

what are people saying about YOU?

- – - – - – - – - -
*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife

———-
Julia (5): a boy in my class says he wants to go on a date w/ me.

Deb: what do you think you would do on a date?

Julia: whatever a mom & dad do, I guess.

Deb: we usually just buy groceries :)

———-
yeah, sounds exciting huh?!

but seriously, go on dates with your spouse no matter how “unromantic” they sound. not every date has to be a scene out of a movie, or beat the expectations of the last time you went “all out”.

couples need to spend time together. period.

now after 3 weeks…we’re juggling a 40hr work week, kids determined to live in a messy house, and people forgetting or rescheduling the appointments they’d previously set with us.

but through it all God is faithful. i have a job that i’m thankful for and enjoy doing. we’ve been blessed with a babysitter who not only watches kids, but cleans as well. and deb have enjoyed getting to spend unexpected time together when our schedule is suddenly “freed up”.

plus, after FOUR appointments this week that were cancelled, rescheduled, or simply forgotten we were blessed with another couple who have partnered with us for $100/month.

that’s exactly what we needed at exactly the right time.

thanks God, you rock! :)

- – - – - – - – - -
*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife

This past week, during my Bible reading, I’ve read again the story of Esther. This book, in the Old Testament, tells of an incident that occurred in Jewish history. The king of Persia, having disposed of his queen, was in search of a replacement. The king’s attendants suggested that the entire empire be searched for beautiful young women; the young ladies would then be brought into the royal harem where they would receive beauty treatments. Following this time of preparation, the girls would be presented to the king. The woman that pleased the king the most would be made queen. The second chapter outlines how Esther was brought into the fortress of Susa, the location of the king’s harem. Esther found favor with the attending eunuchs; she was treated kindly, given a special menu and received twelve months of beauty treatments in the best place in the harem. When it was her turn to meet with the king, Esther was ready. She had been coached and prepared. She smelled good. She looked good. And she had the aura of royalty. The king loved her, even after their first meeting. He was delighted with her and promptly declared her queen.

What does this story have to do with parenting? A lot. It has changed how I have been parenting my six princesses this past week.

My home, anyone’s home, is like that fortress. We all belong to God, but when He calls us into action, will we be ready? Will our children be ready? Will the King be delighted with what we have to offer? Will we exude an aroma of praise or possess an aura of pride? I can prepare myself to meet with the King by reading His Word & practicing a lifestyle of praise.

What about my kids? As a mother it is my task to help my daughters become presentable princesses. They must be ready to listen to HIs voice & eager to obey; they must be beautiful with gentleness & kindness. They must know that their time is coming soon- the KIng will call for them. They must be ready. When a child is alone or hurting, will our children allow God to love others through them? Will our kids be characterized by obedience and gratitude?

There is another, more masculine, example to follow. The book of 1Samuel shows how a mother gave her son to the Lord, to be “the Lord’s helper,” (1Sam 2:18). And, when the Lord called on Samuel to be His prophet, Samuel was ready & obedient.

We are raising royalty. Will our charges be ready when God has need of them? No longer are we nagging parents; it is our privilege & responsibility to make sure that our children are aware of the fact that they were created for a purpose. I am not parenting for my own enjoyment; the mandate is much higher. The King desires that our children know Him and His commands. As parents, we cannot simply feed & clothe our children until they can do it themselves. We must give them the best ‘diet’ & ‘beauty treatments’ so they will be pleasing to the King when He calls for them.

1) don’t be afraid to talk about how your parents spent money.
that’s right, i said your parents.  it’s easy for accusations to fly, and feelings to get bruised when we’re discussing how our spouse spends, or defending how we spend.  but it’s not quite so personal to talk about how our parents viewed money when we were growing up.  and in doing so it gives your spouse a lot of insight into why you make the decisions you do.

2) find help
although most of us are far wealthier than we think are compared to the rest of the world, we could all use some advice in the area of finances.  and there’s no excuse for not finding that advice.  there’s books, cds, podcasts, blogs, websites, and software all dedicated to helping you get “on track” when it comes to your finances. if you have now idea where to start go to www.daveramsey.com and click the link at the top of the page titled “new to Dave Ramsey?“

3) know where your money is going
“budget” is not a four-letter word. and it doesn’t mean “not spending”.  it simply means knowing where your money is going before it’s gone.  DO IT!! whether you do it on paper, in a spreadsheet application, or some fancy computer software, DO IT!!  (and do it together with your spouse)

4) be generous
even Ebenezer Scrooge didn’t want to be known as  a scrooge by the end of the story.  and in all honesty, i’m not even throwing this one in because Deb and I are currently in a process asking people to support our ministry with FamilyLife.  even if you aren’t or don’t want to give to our ministry, we still want you and your spouse to be generous people.  and save the excuses for why you’re not, i’ve heard them all.   you’ll thank me later.  be generous.

abe: “i think i’m falling in love with you again.”

deb: “oh, really? what do you mean?”

abe: “i think it has to do with all the time we’re being forced to spend with each other through this process. and even though the time we’re spending together is spent doing the SAME thing over and over again. it’s just nice to be able to be with you.

we don’t have kids pulling on us, we’re having interactions with other adults and it’s just nice.

it’s nice to be able to be working on this project together”

deb: “that’s nice”

that was a snippet of conversation deb and i shared this past tuesday as we drove home from yakima.

we also happened to be driving separate cars home, and we talked on the phone the WHOLE way home. (45 min) we haven’t had a 1 on 1 uninterrupted conversation like that in years. i might even say since our college days when we’d go for long walks or talk on the phone for hours.

i’m looking forward to not having any appointments this weekend – our kids could use some dedicated uninterrupted “mom and dad” time.

we’re two weeks into this process, and from my post last week , you can tell it’s thrown our “normal” routine schedule into a tail spin. that particular tuesday, we had just gotten done with two appointments with great friends and i had been gone from home since 6:20am and returned home around 10:50pm.

but through this challenging/exhausting MPD* process, i’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself falling in love with my wife all over again.

- – - – - – - – - -
*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife