What Do You Think?

It is time for another caption contest! Let me know your clever captions for a great prize. (okay, it probably won't be that great, but I would love to see your ideas!)

Thoughts From Francisco

Franc uses the game pieces from "Giant Jenga" to construct a plane. He has never been in a plane, but apparently pilots wear really cool hats. ;)

Hey Franc, How is your day going? Fine

So far, what is your favorite part of 6th grade (still part of elementary). My teacher, Carlos, he is really nice. I also like my classmates.

What makes you really scared? The devil and the dark

If you could do anything for one day, what would you choose? I would like to eat a big breakfast of oatmeal and then do my jobs in the morning. I would like to play with Tobi until lunch. I would want to eat an early lunch of pizza and afterwards spend the afternoon with my friends playing in the river. I would want to come back and eat hotdogs and go to bed at 10:00.


What do you want to do for a profession? I want to be a preacher in a church.

What is your favorite vacation spot? The beach in Bahia de Kino.

Would you rather spend four days at Rancho Betania or two days at the beach? Four days at Rancho Betania.

What bothers you? Nothing really (an interjection by Amy)...maybe the little boys I live with. Oh, and when I am playing and the adults here tell me I have to do my work.

What is your favorite Bible story? Goliath! oh wait, no, the story of Samson because someday, I want to be as strong as him and destroy a building.

How would you like people to pray for you? That God can help me be a preacher someday.

What other thing would you like to tell anyone reading this blog? That Jenna is really beautiful. (Jenna yells from the background, "Don't you dare write that Amy!") That everyone send me a gift for my birthday and "Hi" to Jeff B.


Limón adds, You can also send Francisco's mentors gifts for their birthdays.

First Day of School

With children starting school in five different learning facilities today, emotions were high, some of the kids being thrilled to start school, others wishing school didn't start until December and the mentors, wondering why it didn't start last week. ;)

The kids looked ready to confront whatever life would offer this morning in their fresh uniforms and nervous laughter.

With the variety of different schools, we worked out a tentative driving schedule last night...As you can see from the schedule, it got a little complicated, but I am sure we will soon fall into routine. :)

Because the guys' schedule rotates by the week, we used the following clever abbreviations.
M.M.=Morning Man
E.M.=Evening Man
O.M.=Other Man

Karla, Lili, Magda and Michelle

Uriel, Paola, Lili and Michelle ready face middle school! I was nervous for them!
The girls (minus the middle schooler candy stripers). They were definitely the cutest girls in San Ignacio Elementary this morning.
José, Lupita and Jaqueline
Uriel and Yaneli (Don P., This morning I tried encouraging Uriel by telling him that everyone loves a man in uniform...he was unconvinced. ;))
Francisco impatiently waits until we can leave for school.

All of the boys graciously cooperate for a group photo. Don't they look great?

7:00 am, pulling out of the CVE drive, with Franc yelling things like, "hurry up, drive faster, can't you pass that semi?, etc" A minute away from school, in a panicked voice, he yelled, "We are early! Can't we drive around the block a few times before you make us get out?"

Our Newest Bundle of Joy...

As of about a week ago, we officially have a campus dog. Our new puppy, Tobi, is a beautiful black lab. The kids love playing with Tobi and dragging him under their little arms. He is full of puppy energy and so it is a struggle to keep him in your arms just to cuddle. :)

Tobi's name was selected by the kids. They each nominated names and then voted on their favorites. This happened during the kids' meeting about "puppy treatment" conducted by Jo-el and Limón (the two who have agreed to be "in charge" of Tobi).
In this picture he chews on my camera bag strap as I try to get a photo of him.

Karla is locked in with Tobi, thanks to some quick work of Francisco's. :)

Jo-el and Limón worked with the kids to make a large fenced area that Tobi will call home.


Eli offered her helping hands.

I think a campus dog is going to be a huge blessing. :)

Jungle Fest

As we face our last weekend before school starts, we decided to celebrate with a special supper and evening for the kids.

The guys decorated the comedor in true jungle style and we ate on the floor and enjoyed tacos of monkey brains (translation: beef). All the trabajadores pulled together to make for one great night.

Giant Jenga Anyone?

In the above photo you see a normal game of "low risk" Jenga as José and Karla enjoy a break after lunch.

Brian brought up wood scraps to create our own game of Giant Jenga. Definitely a huge challenge, especially because the game could squish young children who get in the way. Fede, Uriel and I went round and round this giant pile, considering every piece, becoming more determined with each turn that we would not be the one to topple the tower!


Uriel is glad to be able to breathe again as he was holding his breath until he could gently pry the piece out from the pile.


Fede is exuberant that the tower is still standing!

I got fairly into the game myself and felt triumphant pulling out the piece as Fede, Uriel and other onlookers deemed it "impossible."


Fede slowly pulls the piece that proved to be the toppling of the tower.

Who wants to try it? :)

Back to What?!?

It is that time of year again! The feeling of excitement to start school is permeating the campus. We will have kids in four different schools next year and all the kids start on Monday. We are in a state of "relaxed scramble" as we shine shoes, sew book bags, give out new materials and power up for the busy time, while still enjoying our last days of summer.


Maycon is super excited about the possibility of new school supplies.


José stands outside of the schoolroom, waiting for his turn.


Poncho only entered school for the short time he lived with us last year. He is excited to go back, but very behind for his age. (He doesn't seem to notice. :))


Connie Schambach, Denise and Carissa worked on the distribution line, filling the bookbags with necessary school supplies.



The kids compare their bookbags, notebooks and pencil sharpeners.

Uniform Shopping

For all the kids we have, we did some online ordering, Joan worked her bargain magic and we passed shoes down and had most of the kids' uniforms handled. However, the middle schoolers require a special uniform that you can't find in French Toast or Land's End catalogs.

The girls that are entering into middle school have to wear these pink jumpers. They are being impressively good sports.


Poor Uriel. As he tried on his new uniform in the back room, he moaned, "I look like a soldier and I am roasting!" Uriel is a solidly built kid and shopping for his exact size with three girls his age isn't exactly his idea of a good time. He did look a lot like a Mexican soldier and he was sweating profusely in the hot dressing room. I finally let him go out to the van and wait for another day to find the perfect uniform.

The countdown is on! 4 days until school!

A Popular Month for a Birthday

Last year we didn't know when Yaneli's birthday was, as she wasn't registered and didn't have a birth certificate. We still don't have one, but at least know her birth date now. (Please pray that her mom would be inspired to register her as her schooling can't count until she is registered.) Yaneli had two days of birthday as she was convinced her birthday was the 20th and told everyone on Monday that they needed to tell her "Happy Birthday." We didn't have anything ready on Monday, so we celebrated on Tuesday, which she later conceded that it must be her birthday.


All she wanted for her birthday was SpongeBob pajamas and a set of bunny ears. Thanks to Target, this was made possible.


She then proceeded to jump all over the dorm. :)


Before bed, the girls wanted to pose with the little bunny.

Other Birthdays


Bill and Angel both had birthdays on August 15th. Bill was a little resistant to his head being shoved in the cake...but obviously the kids won. :)


Bill tries to share his birthday cake with Joan.


Angel celebrates his birthday with a beautiful dinosaur cake and a Chewbacca figurine.


Uriel wants to be a pilot and that worked perfectly with the package I received from the Earney's, brimming with posters, t-shirts and airplane items.


A few of the staffers went to Alma's Birthday party in Imuris.

We just found out that we missed Poncho's birthday (another case of registry confusion) so we are celebrating his on Thursday. The kids love birthdays, everyone gets cake and gets to dream about what they want when theirs rolls around.

"Banzai Blast!"

The box read, "1. Inflate 2. Assemble 3. Make a Splash!" I looked at our new water slide that our friend Tom had donated and shrugged at how easy assembly was going to be. After pulling all the pieces out of the box and noticing one of the items was labeled, "motor." I used my astute reasoning abilities to realize that if the girls were really going to use it within the next hour, I had to call in some help.











I don't know what "banzai" means but it was a blast!

The guys had the second shift and so then took it down. They said the deconstruction directions specifically laid out, "Before deflating, ensure all children have left the apparatus." I am so glad for helpful directions.

ALLOWANCE!

Four of our CVE kids are entering into middle school in a few short weeks. As an additional privilege and responsibility, they started to receive an allowance. They all received three cups (representing their tithes, savings and spending) into which they will divide their money.

They were thrilled! It was fun to watch them begin to understand how much they could save as Seth did the calculations on the whiteboard of how much money they could accumulate if they were careful.

Lili shows her three cups.

Uriel holds his tithe cup. He labeled it "GOD".

Michelle

Paola