Homeschool Fun - Heart Chart Lessons in Virtues

The kids are learning a lot. Ethan goes to French pre-K to learn French (and they are teaching him French cursive!) and he seems to be doing great. Claire is completely home-schooled (she's 3 and will go to French pre-K in September to learn some French too, but we might just do a half-day). She's currently learning the letter "M" and is starting to recognize some numbers and letters here and there. I'm so proud of my kiddos! They are so curious and excited to make friends. They had very little adjustment to work through in coming to France. Praise the Lord!

So this is my first entry about some of our homes school projects or ideas. I want to remember them and maybe others can profit from these posts too. I like to be creative and think I have some capability, but really I don't have a ton of time to invent new things for the kids to do, so I quickly search things online (using my creative juices to choose good projects). A lot of what we do, I've borrowed - I can not take credit for it.

This first one comes from the Women Living Well Blog (I have a button for it on my site - check it out!).

So a Heart Chart is a way to track your child's progress pertaining to a certain virtue. I made a grid by using colored electrical tape on a dry erase board.

Our virtue last month was Kindness. They had to work together as a team. If they were kind (polite, helpful, caring) they could earn a heart that they would draw in one of the squares on the dry erase marker board. If they were mean or rude, they would lose a heart. By the end of the month, they filled the chart and earned their reward. They got to choose what kind of ice cream pops they wanted.

Claire age 3 & Ethan age 5 (almost 6).

This month we are working on Obey Right Away. It might be a long month, but it will be worth the effort. We're in the process of sculpting souls. Ministering to my kids is important - it is well worth the effort.

BIG Need for Ministry - Vehicle for Africa

Here's something to add to your prayer lists:

The Brollier fam is in need of a serious vehicle for when we arrive in Africa.

Actual photo from in "our" country

We'll need it travel between villages to get supplies and to travel up country to the capital (a 2-3 day drive because of the roads and the distance) for branch meetings three times a year. Part of our traveling in country is made hard by heavy rains and pot holes the size of hippos and trucks! (No kidding! You'll get to see pics).

We have asked our branch what they recommend for such travel, and they gave us a serious answer.

We will need a 4-Wheel Drive Vehicle which we're estimating will cost close to $50,000. 

This is a big need, but God can meet our needs in whatever way He sees fit. 

I know you're thinking, "Why does it cost so much?"
We need a reliable vehicle - one that won't break down much. We're not mechanics & we don't want to get stuck out in the bush in between our village town and the capital. That means we need to buy a new vehicle - not a used one. Something kinda like this:

Our branch leadership also requires us to have some very specific features for this vehicle:

- a snorkel (pipe pictured above - helps the engine can breathe when we drive through high water during rainy season)

- a winch (a crank with line to help pull the vehicle out of mud when we get stuck - we're told we will)

- space for enough gas (spare tank) to make the full trip to the capital because there are fuel shortages in country.

- a 12 seater to fit our family (4) and possibly other teammates (2+). The remaining fold down seats will be space for cargo crates that we'll bring from the shipping port up in the capital. (These crates contain our set-up supplies for getting our African style house live-able and workable: pipes, wiring, solar panels, battery cells etc.)

Our family & teammates in the 1st two rows - cargo for the rest

In addition to these features, we will need to include in our fund raising, customs fees/ taxes for importing such a vehicle from Japan.

Since the vehicle will be coming from Japan, we need to get a jump on raising support to have this vehicle pass customs and be in country waiting for us when we arrive late Spring 2012. The branch expects there to be some delay with imports from Japan because of the recent devastation from the tsunami. They regularly estimate at least 4-5 months to get the vehicle in country so that means we need to place the order well in advance of our arrival.

Although Brent & I grew up in Assemblies of God churches (AoG), we can not benefit from the Speed-the-Light Vehicle program because we are not AoG ordained missionaries. We are commissioned to serve with Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT) and we're required to raise funds for a field vehicle before departure for the field.

On the road  (no it's not a river) to our village town

Will you pray with us for God to move this mountain? 

Will you pray for provision... like only He can provide...

For something that's seemingly out of our reach?  

He is able & He is amazing!

Please PRAY that God would provide for this need.

If you'd like to donate
towards our PBT Africa Vehicle Fund...

Checks can be made out to PBT 

And mailed to our Stateside forwarding agents:   
 M & C Shell

 1502 NE 11th Terrace

 Cape Coral, FL 33990 USA

To Donate Online Right Now,
Scroll Up & Click on the yellow Donate Now button on the Left and...
  Select "Projects" and
 Choose "Brollier Vehicle"

We know that not everyone can give, but
  Everyone can pray. 

We know that your prayers make a huge difference because PRAYER is POWERFUL!

Thank You for Praying with Us!!!!!

Actual pics from trucks stuck in the roads in country

HEAVE!!!

The unpaved road on a good dry day

More roads in country

Holes the size of Hippos (spans the entire bottom of this pic)

Please consider being an advocate for us - share this need with your friends and your church. Thanks again for praying!

You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep - by: Laura

Who Am I Really???

I have many titles: Some classmates in France think of me as "the American woman", some people call me "Sister", some call me "daughter", so far 2 call me "Mom", some call me "Auntie", one dear one calls me "ROOMMATE!!", and one graciously, loving man calls me his wife.

Friends through thick N thin - my awesome family!

Sister-in-law (a bestie!)

Roxanne - fellow missionary, homeschooling mom, friend (a bestie!)

Love of my life - a very special bestie, of course!

Fun with our two kids - awesome lil friends!

College Roommate (Heather) - still best-ies after 10 years!

Of all these titles I am honored most by the people who choose to call me "friend," and if I am not fooling myself too much, then all of the other titles (including the family ones) I bear, fall into the category of friend as well.

For who are we really without our friends?

I am thankful that my heavenly Father considers me a friend (John 15:10-17 scroll to bottom to read this passage). I hope to live my life in a way that reflects Love, but I know that I am human and am bound to fail quite often. I am not perfect nor will ever claim to be. I am a linguist by profession (oh, lah-tee-dah...just a fancy word for someone who works with/likes languages - not one who is perfect at speaking languages *smile*).

What do I want to do with my life?

God called me to "Be a missionary & Take care of His children" when I was 14 years old. I had no real idea what that meant at the time, but I knew that I loved God and desperately wanted to show Him love. It's been a long road since 1993, but it's coming along now, and God has directed my every step along the way (perhaps that is another story to save for later). So, what do I want to do with my life? Well, I plan to use my love for people and my talents/training to do full-time missions work in West Africa.

Started out ministering to kids in Latin America (Summer 1995,'96,'97)

BA degree in Missions and Bible from CBC 2001
Yes, that's me in chapel on the CBC brochure -
had no idea they were taking my pic

Grad Institute of Applied Linguistics 2008-2009

Bush Mechanics and Electronics Class - Summer 2009

Primary Health Care Course - Summer 2009

This is the plan if that continues to be what's in the Big Man's Will, since I've learned early on that His Will is what's best for my life. So my hubby, Brent, and our 2 kids, Ethan & Claire, will make our home in West Africa in some small little village where life is simpler but still quite complicated I'm sure. We will serve as Bible Translators for a people group who do not even have a written language yet, much less a Bible.

West African women walking

Pics from the village

I'm dedicated to loving & serving God, and I am also big into family. Family can be the backbone of your life (though I know not all would agree.) My family is like that mostly. We're all human, right? Really, I consider my parents and siblings as really AWESOME family - a gift from God. I'm telling you how special family is to me just to let you know how important it is for me to follow the will of God in my life. My dad has stage 4 cancer and was told by doctors that he had a certain length of time to live. I knew this in advance and love my dad so SO much, yet I still chose to move my family to another continent even at this time just to follow the call of God on my life. My dad is so great that he wouldn't have it any other way. My dad knows that this life is fleeting and we all like flowers will fade away one day, but he also knows the importance of living for God, the Giver of Eternal life.

My dad & our kids (Jan. 2011 before leaving for France)

So here I am a whole continent away from my dad, my friend. (He's doing pretty well, by they way.) I'm currently living in France with my family & we're attempting to learn French so that we can communicate well in West Africa.We have a year of French ahead of us and then we return to the States for a short interlude between France and West Africa.

Why did you move so far away when you could be spending last moments with your dad, you ask me?

I really hope to see my dad on this side of eternity again, but I know that if I don't he will be waiting healthily and happily in Heaven with my dearest friend in the world, Jesus. I've seen it with the eyes of my heart (my spiritual eyes - yes, God shows me things.) I can survive on that image for now - my dad living it up for all eternity with Jesus, I mean. (I also am surviving at the moment on a great internet/phone package plan that allows me free calls to my folks in the States! What a great technological age we live in!) In reality when the phone and internet no longer continue to connect me with my dad, what will? Or I should say, "Who will?" The One Who made us all - Are you connected with Him? God really does love you.
Can I introduce you to my Friend?

Sharing my best Friend with other friends around the world - this is what I am really all about! (Yes, even as a linguist I still ended that sentence with a preposition!) *smile*

--------------------
As promised:
In John 15:10-17 Jesus says:

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.
(Compliments of NIV 2011 from Biblegateway.com)

Our Move to France (Previously posted on Facebook) 21 Jan 2011

WOW! We made it safely and only lost one bag (did not get picked up in Geneva - working on getting it delivered). After flying from FL to NJ to Geneva, Switzerland, we then rode on 3 trains and got picked up in Valence, France by our landlord, Harry. The kids did great considering we traveled for 2 days. We didn't get to sleep much on the plane so by the time we got to the trains we were exhausted. The first mini-transit train from the airport to the Gare (train station) was delayed because of a tree falling on the track. We only had an 80 min free transit ticket. We prayed for the track to be cleared or for the Lord to send an angel to help. He did both! 75 mins into our ticket, the track was cleared and a transit helper assisted us with our baggage and came on the train to help us at the next stop. Then another helper stored our baggage and helped us to the train and phoned ahead to send another helper! Wow! Thank you Lord for angels! I was sick for most of the train trips - stomach troubles - still have some - new diet and all, but nothing terrible now. Was feeling weak and dizzy and hot and cold as we ran from train to train, but I just would sit down and pray and feel better in just a few moments. =) At least it was me who was sick and not the kids or Brent. Brent did great with figuring out where we were and what to do. I had no clue. I am learning I can understand some French because of my Spanish training, but all in all it is quite overwhelming. Thank the Lord for polite people and for Rosetta Stone and French kid's shows. We got to go to church on Sunday, what an incredible experience. =) Even though I did not understand much of the French, I could feel God's presence. We visited a pentecostal church and I asked Brent if someone was speaking in tongues and he said yes. Even though I couldn't understand the language, I could feel it in my Spirit when that happened. So COOL! God moves in all languages among His people. Well, there is a lot more I could say, but for now this will do. We're safe here in France and are soaking in as much language as we can. We do self-study at home in the mornings and then go to the bread store, etc. to buy bread and talk with people, and then in the evenings we watch a French game show or something on TV. We're constantly discussing, what did that mean? or did you hear what they said? It's fun but also exhausting. We are learning to pace ourselves. God is so good to us! Thanks for all who are praying us through this language learning process! It really makes a difference.