The Water Hole

Gloria went walking Friday morning and came back with the good news that there was water in the river! She said she had found the perfect spot and Saturday we took the girls to swim.

The girls walked through the dry river bed. At this point I must admit I was a little skeptical we were going to find water further down.
But, just as Gloria promised, we arrived at the river and found a great spot to meternos.
There were several large trees overhanging the water that the girls enjoyed perching in.
Eli was the first one to climb the tree and jump into the water. One small part was at least three feet deep!
Magda was a little unsure of making the plunge. :)

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

The "girl who lives in a box"

I walked out of the school room the other day and heard a little giggle. I looked over to see where it was coming from. "Yaneli? What are you doing?!?" She pranced around a cardboard box and in a sing-song voice said, "Look, I am a girl who lives on the street, in a box!" Yaneli spent the rest of the afternoon begging for things from anyone on campus, then she gave it all away. I received a half-used bottle of white-out from her productive begging.




I was thinking back to my make believe games and although I can vividly remember playing "school," "library" and "Dr." but I don't think I ever played "beggar." :)

A Time for Prayer

If you would drive through Magdalena today, nothing about it would seem dark, the sun is shining, a nice breeze is blowing, everything looks in place.

Magdalena is a city of special historical significance, especially to the Catholic Church. The darkness is one of a spiritual nature. The two week festival of Saint Francisco officially starts tomorrow. Alongside the road, the travelers are pouring in from all directions, making their pilgrimage to pay homeage to St. Francisco, buy "holy" and "blessed" Magdalena water, and fulfill the rituals of the "true faithfuls."

Please pray:

-That light would pierce this town and hollow religion would not fill people's hearts.

-Physical and spiritual protection for those at CVE and also our church family.

-Ezekiel 11:18-20 "And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

After the Great Flood

Magdalena doesn't handle a lot of water well. Because we are desert and most of the people in this town have lived their lives in the desert, torrents of rain can almost shut everything down. There is no good drainage system and as seen from Joan's post, the rain results in excessive amounts of water in the streets.



The day after the storm, the sun came out, shone brightly and dried the earth once again. Fede and Ben were apparently practicing how to properly use an umbrella before the next storm.

Perspectives

The girls constantly teach me about considering and loving other people. On Sunday evening, I was talking with the girls and said, "Wasn't that an awesome storm?!" (I get very excited about rain because of our lack of it.) Lupita looked at me and obviously upset said, "How can you be excited about a rain like that? Did you not think about the people that live by the river? Some of them had to have lost their houses and they are already so poor!"

As much as I don't like to be called out by an 11-year old, I was thankful for her view on the world to prompt me to consider life in someone else's shoes.

1 Corinthians 1:27-28

It never rains here in the desert

On Saturday we heard the rain was coming, the remnants of
a hurricane which hit southern Sonora. Thankfully church was dismissed, the bus loaded, the vans all returning people to their homes Sunday afternoon...and the heavens opened and the rain fell.................

The trusty White Van full of adventure seeking little girls and Bill
paddled upstream on Obregon, the street leading to the Schick's, Maller's, and
Jenean & Carissa's houses...

Not to worry, this street is usually a river when it rains but this was a little over board!

The view of our water front property which only lasted about 6 hours.
This drops into the river which...

Most visitors wonder if there is ever water under the bridge in Magdalena...
Here is proof!
Thankfully we all returned back to CVE, a bit wet, but all amazed at the blessing of rain!

Ames, thanks for letting me guest blog! Joan

It's Monday

I know it is time for a post, I think this picture of Aaron sums up how I feel after the weekend. :) After school he climbed into the passenger seat, didn't ask any questions and his eyes started to droop. "Are you tired, Aaron?" After a few second silence and through eyes that barely opened, the classic child response, "No."

This picture is taken about 45 seconds after his response.

You can all soon anticipate a new post from guest blogger Mama S. Yeah! Stand by. :)

Attack in the Jungle!

The other day after homework and our jobs were done, the girls, Aaron and I went to explore. We confidently left the gate, strutting past the niños. When asked where we were going, they heard the confident response that the girls were going on an "adventure in the jungle."

We leisurely walked to the bamboo hut that the boys had built. I was bringing up the back of the pack as we trekked through the brush and a bright color flashed out of the corner of my eye. The boys were running towards us, Super Soakers beaming in the sun. "Girls! Run! The boys are coming, run!" They shamelessly soaked us, as we were unarmed and then ran off through the brush, yelling about their accomplishments. They say they just had to protect their turf. (Lili is to be credited with an action shot of the battle. Thankfully she had my camera, or I think the water would have ruined it.)

The wet girls regrouped in the casita and played while plotting revenge.

Lupita enters the house through the front door.

Yaneli eats membrillo while perched in a tree.

Karla Josie cleans up the place with a stick as her broom. (Maybe the boys should be grateful.) :)

Magda and Karla hoard their membrillo and talk about their most embarrassing moments.

Jaquí thought she could swing from the vines she found. Unfortunately for her, when she hung from they, they both broke.

Be afraid boys, be very afraid.

Prayers for Paola

Gloria and Paola left on Wednesday morning for a medical workteam in Juarez, Mexico. On Wednesday morning at the bus station, Paola was so nervous/excited that she didn't even know what to do with herself. :)

Pray that Paola's heart would be soft and that God would use this trip as a turning point in the life of Paola.

Tigers, Bears and Anacondas, OH MY!

"Hey, there is a bear and a tiger along the side of the road! Do you want to take the girls to see them?" After clarifying that the animals were in cages, we loaded up. The circus was coming through town and one of the trailers broke down across the road.

As many as could fit loaded up into Jenean's pick-up truck. The girls were talking about the sign they had seen advertising the circus, complete with "REX the ANACONDA." ("Rex the Anaconda" needs to be said in Mexican announcer voice for the true effect.)Aaron wore a mask on the top of his head so he could be a "soldier." He actually looked like a circus monkey. We drove to the sight of the broken down truck and it was gone. We drove on in pursuit of the animals.
We found the sight of the circus on the other side of Magdalena. The animals travel from town to town in these cages. The circus is from Michoacan! (Gloria's home state, 24 hours South.)
In the first set of cages we saw, there were tigers, black panthers and a brown bear. Diego and Pollito look at the tigers from the safety of the truck.Eli, Magda and Karla Josie weren't quite sure what to think.

I have never been so close to a tiger. Notice his neck chain is broken. The trailer of baboons, bears and other various circus animals. I don't think PETA has strong presence in Magdalena yet.

I was beginning to get really depressed for the poor trapped animals when I looked inside the truck and couldn't imagine the life of a circus performer.

We didn't see the anaconda and probably won't be rushing back to see the skinny animals perform under the big top, but we had a memorable time watching the circus come to town.

Candi, one of our smallest CVE family members, is our precious baby girl. As I think about the first day she came here, I think of her, nearly hairless, diaperless, listless, in her dirty little onesie. I remember thinking, "maybe if we can clean all that grime off, she might be cute." She didn't walk, crawl or seem to have a personality.

God has been good to this little girl. She has come to life, is quick to smile and her little eyes sparkle. She toddles herself all around campus and has a personality that could charm a porcupine fluffy and a temper that would force a jaguar to back off.

Please pray for Candi. Pray that she will be raised up as a strong woman of God.
Pray that Candi's past can be overcome, that she doesn't repeat the cycle from which she came.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; " 1 Peter 2:9

Who is my neighbor?

Today's Sunday School lesson of "The Good Samaritan" was brilliantly acted about by some exceptionally dramatic 7 & 8 year-olds. Each of their own personalities and interpretations of the characters brought a new light to the well-known story.

The Levite sauntered past the wounded man and said, "Uff, You aren't my style!"

Finally after the poor man was passed by the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan man (aka Yaneli) entered to clean his wounds.

The Samaritan man pays the good hotel manager(Daniel). (His hotel is under the table).

The group of actors gathers together to show off their tea towels turned robber/Levite/priest/Samaritan/Jew costumes.

The funniest part of the whole day was that the little Levite, Dina, refused to let me wipe off her mustache. She giggled and told me she was going to go leave it to be "scolded." I told her for that reason maybe we should take it off. She wouldn't back down, but near the end of class was embarrassed of reentering church with a mustache. We wiped it off and I was so relieved as I thought of her trying to explain to her mom why she came home with a mustache. :)

The complete story of "The Good Samaritan" can be found in Luke 10.

¡Viva Mexico!

This Sunday is Mexico's Independence Day. It is celebrated with much flare and great Mexican flavors. Because the kids have to go to bed early on Sunday, we had our big celebration with the kids last night.

The cake reads, "Long live Mexico (and the gringos)

The kitchen was a hub of activity yesterday and somewhere in the flurry of action, Magda was in a Sharpie fight with Joel. She won, you should have seen him.

We made food from Michoacan,up to our elbows in masa trying our best to be like las antiguas.

After supper we went back to the dorms for a bonfire.

Fede took my camera and did a wonderful self-portrait.

We played "Hot Squirrel" and tossed a stuffed animal around as we didn't bring a potato with us.

¡Viva Mexico y la Patria!

In our celebrations yesterday, we were reminded that even though we may "belong" and celebrate a country, we are just pilgrims passing through, with our citizenship belonging to a heavenly kingdom.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country."
Hebrews 11:13-14

You Never Know Who Will Stop By...

Yesterday as I headed to the kitchen, I was startled as President Bush flew by me on a bicycle. We chatted a little bit and he agreed to a short interview for all the blog readers before biking on. (Apparantly there were other people to see.) Before actually meeting Bush, I never realized his affixation for orange. I think he would really like Armando. :) Armando was unavailable at the time of the interview, so Fede filled in as Presidente.

President Bush, What do you feel is the biggest issue affecting U.S. society today? The rich, snobby people, they have a lot of money and don't share.

Hey, careful President Fede, are you calling me a snob? No! Yes! What?!? Some are, but I have met some Americans who aren't stuck-up.

How do you feel about the current war that U.S. is involved in? I think war is a really ugly thing. Wait...Amy, who is fighting who?

What is your plan to most effectively change the state of the impoverished in the U.S.? There are poor people in the United States?!?

What do you think about the current policies on illegal immigrants? I think that all the Mexicans should stay in Mexico. The country is really beautiful and I don't know why they want to leave.

What is the issue you would most like to address and change in this world? Hmm...poverty and pollution in our world. For the poor people in poor countries, I think we should, as American citizens, give our money to the people who don't have money. I also think pollution is bad and we should stop doing it.

Who would you support as the next President of the United States? Why don't we have kings anymore, I think the word kings is a much better one.

Ok, who would nominate as the King of the U.S.? Jeff Beer.

Anything else you would like to tell the American public, Mr. President? I wish that we wouldn't fight...I also wish the Mexicans would stop fighting.

An Interview with Magda

(I feel the need to preface this interview with a little commentary about Magda. She is probably the bravest child I have ever met. Life has dealt some hard things and she has become a warrior to confront these circumstances. She could fairly be described in the word "sassy." When a new staff member comes to work here, they know they have made it when Magda gives them a hug. She was the girl who spent so much time in the hospital last year, possibly making her learn hard lessons on depending on others? God is doing great things in this little girl's life.)

Hey Magdalota, How are ya, chica? I am really well.

Really? Why are you really bien? I have a really nice teacher in school.

Magda, what makes you scared? Nothing.

Nothing? No...Except for when I was in that wreck, I am scared that all the cars are going to wreck now.

Do remember the time you killed the mouse? (giggles)Yeah, it was running and the girls were screaming and so I killed it. I just stepped on it and all of it's guts came out. It was really funny.

What is your favorite thing to do? I like to play Monopoly when I win.

Tell me about your boyfriend. :) NOOOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooO!

Where is your favorite spot to go? Bahia de Kino, the beach. I really liked that we ate a lot when we were at the beach.

You do like to eat, but you are so small! Where do you put it all? (shrugs shoulders) I don't know, I really like to eat, but not beans!

What bothers you? Paola...and Joel.

What makes you laugh? When Paola ripped her skirt and when Jaqui imitates the Pink Panther.

What is your favorite Bible story? Jonah because they throw him in the sea (a giggle fit).

What is your favorite thing about God? That He made animals, especially owls. They are my favorite animal because their eyes are so big.

When you are older, what kind of job do you want to have? A kindergarten teacher.

How can the blog readers pray for you? That I can behave myself and that it can rain so it isn't so hot here!

What else do you want to tell everyone? (discussion back and forth explaining some of the people that she would know that read the blog.) Jeff B needs to come and that Joel needs to behave. (through giggles) Oh, and tell them I died and see what they say!

The Amazing Time Between Bathtime and Bedtime

There is something incredibly precious about little kids during their "wind-down" time before bed. Usually they are ridiculously cute, but they won a prize in creative the other night. I am not so sure anyone wound down, but they were so funny!

Candi plays "Peekaboo."

Pollito

Diego lathers up with the baby lotion.

Aaron kept putting on random articles of clothing and yelling, "Take a picture of me now!

Jenna and I looked over to see the boys put socks on their hands and then begin to box. Aaron was "airboxing" but Diego was going for gold as he promptly right-hooked Aaron right below the eye and Aaron fell to the ground holding his eye, yelling "Diego! Oww! You aren't really supposed to hit! It hurts! It hurts!" After a dramatic ten seconds, he realized he was okay and he stood up for round 2.

"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 18:3