It's beginning to look a lot like Navidad

It is starting to feel like it too! I was elated to come back to the warm Mexican sun, but just as the cold has hit Indiana, it has arrived here also. Yaneli brought in a chunk of ice this morning!

Thankfully, the Christmas spirit is spreading and the Christmas tunes are blaring as the kids have a few days off school. There has been much snuggling and preparation for Christmas. (The snuggling is caused by the frigid temperatures. There aren't many heaters around.) The heaters that we have found are being well used and in the kitchen, we may not have a heater, but we have an oven!

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Here are a few more photos from my recent trip to Indiana. The time was filled with family, friends, eating and goosebumps. I had full intentions of uploading more pictures, but, it is time for more Christmas decorating. :)

I ate too much...

After a great 10 days, I am heading back to Mexico. I am staying with Kristen who is taking Jeff and I to Indy airport tomorrow. More pictures of the holidays to come. :)

It was great to see everyone! It is so sad to leave, but bittersweet, as I am excited to return. (Plus, I am going through guacamole withdraw.)

I am thankful for...

...My family. Unfortunately, some of the family wasn't around the night of the photo shoot or being uncooperative with the camera. Jeff shot at his first deer yesterday and he was very enthused (as you can see by his hunting gear).

I am having a great time, catching up with family, friends, old teachers, coworkers, etc. Today we start the great Thanksgiving fiestas!

Today at Thanksgiving Service we read Psalm 103. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Ya me voy

Today is Armando's 10th birthday, and as you can see from the above picture, he was aggresively shoved into the cake. For a small period of time, I thought that we were going to have our first cake-related-drowning here at CVE.

Timi has been sick recently, with respitatory problems, so he has to wear a thick jacket. All of the little boys seem to perpetually have runny noses. I have nicknamed Moises Señor Moco (Mr. Snot).

I leave early tomorrow morning to visit Indiana for Chad's baptism this weekend and then to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I will try to post while I am gone, but no promises...:)

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. Psalm 18.1-3

Who wants guacamole?

This past weekend, we had our CVE Board here and also World Relief's Mexico Board (Which meant Dad and Mom and Rick and Joyce and Ron and Edie from Indy.) We did a variety of activities after the meetings were over and lots of hanging out with the kids.

Dad was able to visit the corn first hand (and for all interested, it is tassling, but is still very short...hmm). We talked, hiked, hung out with the kids and ate a lot of guacamole.

Today in Sunday School, the lesson was over the Day of Pentecost and the entering of the Holy Spirit into His apostles. This led to some cute conversation and I was so excited as some of the kids seemed to begin to grasp the Holy Spirit. We memorized and acted out Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The bottom picture is of the House of Life and Hope Board. (L-R Marshall Heinold, Tom Hoffman, Jerry Tooley, Wayne Banwart and Jon Kokanavich)

The girl from Kansas

Stephanie Bahr has just joined the ranks here at CVE. She is originally from Kansas and studied Spanish in Morelia, Mexico, previous to coming. I am excited to get to know her better and see God use her talents here. (I haven't seen anything she can't do.) Stephanie is a very creative in all the fine arts. A random fact for all of you, she cries at commercials. :)

We had a photo shoot that replicates trying to get a good picture of the kids on command, pretty much impossible.

We are having the board meeting here, actually, they wrapped up this afternoon. Mom and Dad, Rick and Joyce, and Ron and Edie also came down for the Mexico meeting, so it is great to have them around for the weekend. The kids are so intrigued that Dad isn't my biological dad and they have all kinds of questions when Mom and Dad are here.

Oh Sunday School

These are pictures of the wonderful Sunday School class. Jenna and I take three week rotations teaching the 7-9 year olds. The class size changes every Sunday, but we probably have an average of 20 kids. Most of the kids come from surrounding neighborhoods and are brought by one of the many drivers who have Sunday routes around Magdalena and its' surrounding areas.

The middle photo is a picture of Hector. He came to our VBS in August, but I haven't seen him since, and Sunday he showed up. He has stolen my heart. ;)

The bottom picture shows a real life depiction of the children after their two minute attention span is up!

"Hey, Let's run to Walmart!"

The other night, I learned my lesson the hard way. When Gloria and Nicole say, "run to Walmart," that means something different than when I "run to Walmart."

I found out that "running to Walmart" means driving as fast as possible to the border, waiting in line and then taking hours to leisurely stroll through Walmart looking for things you would someday like to own and then through hundreds of things that you didn't even know existed. Needless to say, it was a late night and the next time they are going to Walmart after the kids are in bed, I may be a little more reluctant. :)

Books on Tape

Books on tape make me reminiscent of my childhood days, but who knew they still existed? We have several walkmens and the kids fight over who gets to listen to the books on tape. Denise and Carissa have started a books on tape schedule. :) It is so cute when they are all lined up, quietly listening.

Caborca

Yesterday Joan and I went to visit Alma's University in Caborca. Mexican schools have off today as it is a national holiday, The Day of the Dead. We brought Alma, her brother and her friend to their homes for the long weekend. We attended a few classes with her and it was interesting to get a perspective on a Mexican University.

On the way back, Joan was researching where we could buy fruit trees and we stopped at this nursery. I couldn't decide if it felt like a tropical rainforest or a secret garden. While Joan was busy researching, Alma and I had a photo shoot.

The second picture down on this post is an example of a Day of the Dead altar. They make altars for people who have passed on and put out all of their favorite things, even favorite foods. Many spend the night in the cemetery, waiting on whoever to come and enjoy the night, eat the food, etc.

Last night Gloria, Nicole and I had a slumber party with the girls. The party continues today as they don't have school and they are sleeping in, eating a special breakfast, and then get to hang out with Denise in the schoolroom.