Catching Up

Seeing as I've neglected this space for a couple of weeks, I've got some catching up to do!

Life's been a bit of a whirl since we started moving out of our our rental house on Tochtli Street...one Saturday we packed up a few things and changed over into the house we're taking care of this summer.  Gradually, we were able to go back and finish packing up the rest of our things.  Which didn't take long, because we don't have that much!

The next challenge was to find a house to rent in Apizaco, but we were busy preparing for a fun missions event and didn't have time to go out and look for a house.  Miguel was also spending hours at the immigration office finalizing the paperwork for our religious visas (religious visas are a little more complicated than regular resident visas).  Then some of the kids got sick and we had to stay home and then finally, we had a day when we could take off for Apizaco to see what we could see.

We were able to contact a real estate agent via our friends and he showed us 5 or 6 houses, several of which were good possibilities. The one we liked the best was an older house, but had a fabulous yard! The kids were really excited about the yard...lots of grass and many fruit trees...plenty of space to run around. The carport was even partially covered, which would have been a good place for them to play during hot or rainy days.  One of the main issues with that house, however, was its location...it is way out on the edge of town and not very close to where we would have liked to be situated.

After seeing all the houses that the agent had to show us, we were heading back to our friends' house when we happened to see a little sign from another real estate office advertising a house for rent in that area. We called and as it turned out, the house is just a block away from our friends' house, which is also the LAMM offices (read more about LAMM here)!  The house looked promising, but we couldn't get it to see it until later.  So we hung out at the park...well, Gracia and I stayed in the van playing Phase 10, which was more fun than playing soccer or football...and then we finally got the call to go see the house.

We hadn't been able to see much of the house from the outside because the outside walls are so high, but as we stepped into the patio, I really liked what I saw! The front of the house is pretty and the carport area is really big (which is good, since we have a large vehicle)...a large part of the carport is also covered, which is awesome for those rainy days when the kids just have to get out of the house! Once we stepped inside, we just kept liking what we saw...it has four bedrooms, a studio, 2 1/2 bathrooms, large living room and dining room.  One of the bedrooms is small and decorated in pink, perfect for Gracia...another is a bit larger and decorated for young boys, perfect for Jojo and Gugui!

The only thing that was a con about this house is that the patio is completely paved, there is no grass and there are no trees.  Miguel left the final decision up to me to choose the house and after lining out all the pros and cons of both houses, we quickly realized that even though this house doesn't have the patio we would have liked, everything else is exactly what we were looking for!  It is a block from LAMM offices (which is also our friends' house), it is a block or so from a nice park, there is an empty lot on the other side of the street where we can exercise the dog and it's just a few blocks away from the church that we will be attending.  We are rather social people and we decided that we'd rather be closer to the action than more isolated, even if it meant giving up the yard.

The kids weren't exactly sure that they wanted to give up the yard, but once they saw the house they were pretty much sold on it after discovering this awesome 'secret' room behind the toilet in the bathroom downstairs!  I just hope they don't startle a guest one day by popping out at an inopportune moment...

So we were able to return on Friday to sign the contract...and Friday turned out to be a day of celebration, because that was also the day we received our visas!  We spent a boring couple of hours at the immigration office, while the kids entertained themselves playing Pass the Pigs, much to the amusement of the other people there who had never seen such a game.  The kids thought it was most exciting to be able to give their fingerprints...apparently that was the highlight of their time there!  Miguel and I considered actually receiving our visas to be the highlight...now we're set to legally work as missionaries/ministers here in Mexico!  This also means that we avoid having to take another trip to the border this month to renew our tourist visas.

So that was a good day as we accomplished those two major tasks...getting our visas and signing the contract on a house. The next day, Gracia participated in a dance performance with the rest of her dance studio...we were so very proud of her for that!  On Sunday, some friends helped Miguel move the rest of our things up to our new rental house in Apizaco and we were finally able to return the house to the owners.  It feels good to have that taken care of.

Our next big thing is receiving a team from our home church in Arkansas on the 14th, which is coming right up!  This team will visit the mountains and some of them will participate in giving medical care and some will do some simple construction projects.  There are several young people coming along as well, so Miguel has some fun things planned for them to do with the kids in the mountains.  We were hoping to go as a family, but there was a mix-up and now there is not room, so just Miguel and Micah will be going along.  That was disappointing to me, but I am trusting that God is in control, even in this.

After the team leaves, then we'll be able to make the final move up to our new house in Apizaco.  We're excited!

So, now you are (mostly) caught up with what's been going on with us.  It's always an adventure!

Crazy Day

Yesterday was a really crazy day.  One of those days when you really wonder what's going on, you know?

Miguel originally had another trip planned to the mountains this week and was to be gone from Thursday to Sunday.  But then the pastor that was coming to give the conference sessions had to cancel his trip because his mother-in-law became very ill and the whole family had to go to California for a couple of weeks.

So then we decided to go to another Totonacan community in the mountains and were planning to leave today, Saturday. As we were making plans for that trip, Miguel's mom called from Venezuela to let him know that his pastor, Gilberto Nieves had passed away the day before.

Pastor Nieves was very influential in Miguel's life and is what would be considered a 'padrino' here,  something like a godfather.  In many ways, he was more of a father to Miguel than his own father.  Pastor Nieves was Miguel's pastor from the time he was young, baptized him and was also instrumental in how Miguel came to be a missionary.  Miguel was also very close to the family and spent a lot of time at their house as a teenager.

So when Miguel found out that Pastor Nieves had died, he really wanted to be able to go attend the funeral (an accompany his mom back here to visit us!). It's not easy to get to Miguel's home town in Venezuela from Mexico on such short notice, but Miguel found a flight leaving Mexico City around 1:30 a.m. that would get him to Caracas at 7 a.m.  He would have been arriving at his target location early afternoon, which was good since the funeral was planned for around that time.

So we hustled to get him ready and Miguel made his reservations online.  The instructions included the options of paying either at a bank or at one of the local grocery stores and Miguel had to pay within 9 hours to keep his reservation.  Neither of the bank options worked, but he was able to successfully pay the 8,000 pesos (around 800$) at the grocery store and they gave him a receipt for the payment that also indicated his reservation number.

He did a little shopping and then came back to finish packing.  I sent him off in a taxi around 8:30 p.m. to the  Estrella Roja (Red Star) bus station that would take him directly to the international airport in Mexico City, which is a really convenient bus service to have and cheap at about 18$ one way.  I heard from him a couple of times before I went to sleep and didn't expect to hear from him until he was in Venezuela.

At 1:40 a.m. I got a message from Miguel saying he'd missed his flight.  Turns out that his payment never showed up in the airline's system, so they wouldn't issue his ticket.  They told him that he had to pay 24 hours in advance, silly, because sometimes there are emergencies, people!  Then they told him that he should have paid at the ticket agency in the airport, even though the airline had only given him 9 hours to pay the ticket or lose the reservation.  Paying the ticket at the airport is risking not getting a seat if the flight suddenly fills up!

They were not helpful, in short, and at one point one of the agents at the ticket counter lied to Miguel when he asked for a manager. The man said that all of the managers had gone home by then, but Miguel later discovered that there were actually TWO managers on duty at that time.  He spoke to one of them who looked over his papers and said he'd go check something and be right back...only he never returned.  The other manager just handed Miguel a complaint form.

The only thing they would do for him was to change his reservation to the following day, but that wouldn't get Miguel there in time for the funeral, so he just decided to come back home.  He asked the airline for a refund, but they referred him to the grocery store and said he'd have to get the money back from them.  The most likely scenario will be, however, that the grocery store will just refer him back to the airline!

I had gotten to bed late and hadn't really been asleep that long when I got Miguel's message about missing his flight. Then I had a hard time going back to sleep.  Miguel arrived back home around 4 a.m. and I had to go down to let him in the door and pay the taxi, which further interrupted my sleep.  And Miguel had to get up early to take Micah and some other neighbor boys to the American football practices that Micah goes to on Saturday mornings.  So neither of us got much sleep last night.

Such a crazy day!  I was already emotional from having to tell Gloria that we're moving and seeing how sad she was...and while I was happy that Miguel could go to Venezuela for a couple of weeks, I was feeling the strain of the separation and goodbye (it's a bit disconcerting having my husband be a continent away...you never know what will happen!).  And then just like that, he was back, snuggled with me in bed and not going anywhere.

I also knew he was severely frustrated and very disappointed by the whole situation.  He told me later that it just wasn't a good idea to try to go on such short notice, but I don't agree.  It wasn't a bad decision at all!  Pastor Nieves was a huge part of his life for many years and there is nothing wrong with wanting to attend the funeral of a man like that.  People have emergencies all the time and airlines should be able to provide the services needed for emergency travel like that.  For some unknown reason(s), it didn't work out and we're trusting God that He had a purpose and a plan.

But yeah, a really crazy day!  And now we have some suitcases to unpack...

Hard Goodbyes and Changes

Goodbyes are usually hard, although some of them more than others.  Changes are a constant in our lives on the mission field and all of them bring with them losses and gains.

Change is on us again and we are once more saying goodbyes and some of them are really hard.

The first stage in our ministry plan is completed (woohoo!) and we have been sensing that in order to move forward with the next step of our ministry plan, it will be strategic for us to move to another town closer to the mountains.  The second step of our ministry plan involves a completing survey investigation/research project among the Totonacan people group to investigate the penetration of the Gospel into the Totonacan communities and the discipleship process in the Totonacan churches.  In order to really be able to carry out this survey project, we will have to make more frequent trips to the mountains to visit our Totonacan contacts in the various communities there.

In thinking about a strategic place for us to live, we chose a small town to the north of Puebla that is a hub for bus transportation for the mountain communities. This little town is also the home base of a small mission agency called LAMM. LAMM mobilizes Mexican missionaries to go overseas with agencies such as Pioneers, Wycliffe and Frontiers.  Since LAMM has a partnership agreement with Pioneers, however, any Mexican missionaries that God might raise to join our project among the Totonacan people would be members of LAMM.  This week we had a long conversation with the LAMM director and his coworker and we were able to discuss various ways that we could be of mutual benefit once we live in this little town.

As exciting as it is to be moving forward with our ministry plan, moving away from our cozy home on Totchli Street and away from Puebla implies saying goodbyes to some pretty amazing friendships that God has sent our way.  It also means disconnecting a bit from our local church here in Puebla, although we will continue to work closely with them as we continue to develop a partnership to help them carry out their vision for reaching the Totonacan people.

We're still letting people know that we're moving and it's hard knowing how people like our small group family (and Gracia's best friend who is their daughter) will react. I was able to talk to one of my best friends here last week, Monica, about our impending move and afterwards I allowed myself a few days to really grieve over the loss of her friendship.  We are really two peas in a pod and I have enjoyed Monica's friendship deeply.

What I dreaded the most, however, was telling our neighbors that we were leaving, especially our neighbors Liberal and Gloria.  We have found a rare kind of friendship in this special family and they love our kids as if they were their own.  And while we're not moving away from Mexico altogether and will be living less than an hour away, it still won't be the same as living three doors down from each other.

When we first moved here, I was tempted not to get to know the neighbors that well because I knew our stay here would be rather temporary.  But instead of holding myself back and away, I willingly opened myself up to the new friendships anyway and I found out that just like I read here, the relationship is always worth the goodbye.

So yesterday I worked up my courage and told Gloria that we were moving.  And I was right, she didn't take it very well and ended up sobbing on my shoulder for a few minutes as she tried to assimilate that news.  Then we went to her house and she loved on me with coffee and cookies and we talked of our plans.

Once we decided to move a couple of weeks ago, things started happening really fast!  Another missionary family here approached us with the idea of house-sitting for them during the months of June and July while they take a trip back stateside.  Their house is roomy (with four full bathrooms!) and located on a large property with plenty of space for kids and dog to run and play.  And taking care of their house will also give us the opportunity to move out of this house and turn it back over to the owners without the pressure of trying to pack while living here at the same time.

So by the end of July, we hope to have a house in a different town and be settling in there to focus on the survey investigation and new ministry opportunities.  We plan to continue to visit Puebla from time to time, possibly weekly since Gracia would like to continue her dance classes.  And we do look forward to continuing to build our relationship with our church here in Puebla as we partner together to reach the Totonacan people.

Exciting stuff, but in the meantime, the goodbyes rather stink.

Jesus Prayed for Me

This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Mexico and as in many countries around the world, it is an important time to celebrate the passion and crucifixion of Christ.  Since all schools are on vacation this week (and next), we are taking a school break along with our friends (although we may have to start back to school next week).

Semana Santa is a time when most Mexicans travel somewhere...back home to visit their families, take a sightseeing trip, to the beach or maybe to spend a day or two at a balneario (swimming pool/resort).  Miguel is the only one in our family who is traveling as he is taking another trip the mountains this weekend and will have the privilege of attending a baptism of some new Totonac believers today in a mountain river. Then he will go spend a few days in Cuautotola, the town where our Mexican church has its Totonac outreach.

Miguel in the sierra (mountains)

This morning, I sat down with the kids and together we retold the story of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension as told in John 16 through Acts 1, with a few added details from the other gospels.  A couple of things that stood out to me in this story is first how Jesus took the time to more clearly explain to his disciples what was coming for them, even though they had a hard time understanding what he was trying to say (and they wouldn't really understand until later)...

Jesus went on to say, "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me...very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

It was fun to imagine the disciples' joy when they realized that Jesus had truly risen from the dead!

Then Jesus goes on to pray for the disciples, continuing to bless and encourage them, but he didn't stop there...then he prayed for me!

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me (that's me! and you, too, if you also believe) through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one--I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." 

I am not sure why, but it was comforting to me today to read Jesus' prayer for all believers and know that even during a time such as the one he was facing, he was thinking of people like me.

Flowers

Been thinking about flowers lately now that spring is here and things like the jacaranda trees are in bloom...

An old abandoned hacienda close to our house 

with another jacaranda tree...

Bougainvillea has always been one of my

most favorite flowers, especially when paired

with terracotta roofing tiles...

There is some spectacular bougainvillea at 

church, too...

and a pretty flower of a girl! 

I took this picture last fall...it's one
of my favorites.

Miguel brought me some flowers last week...

Then the boys found this bottle outside and 

brought me some flowers, too!

Spring Break Team

If you talk to just about an expat missionary and ask them about the highlights of their time overseas, I would venture to say that receiving visitors from their sending churches would probably rank pretty high.  At least that's the way it is for us. Regardless of the controversy surrounding short-term missions teams (of which we are well aware and also have a few strong opinions about! but I'm not going to get into that here...), we do enjoy receiving visitors and teams from back 'home' (I say 'home', because well, it's hard for this international family to pinpoint exactly where that would be, for our purposes here it will mean the U.S.).

It is Spring Break in Arkansas and our home church has sent out teams to Belize, Guatemala, Mexico (that's us!), Memphis and a camp in Tennessee.  I have a niece and nephew who are in northern Mexico with their church from Kansas this week as well, wish it were closer so I could go see them!

Anyway, our team arrived from Arkansas last night, safe and sound, no luggage lost!  Which is good, because they brought a lot of stuff for us!  Having a team come from the states, is a good chance for Grammy to send chocolate and coloring books and our mail. I also finally got my own copy of One Thousand Gifts, thanks, my friend...you know who you are. Can't wait to read it!

It's also a good chance for us to buy things that we can't get here, or at least not as easily or as cheaply. It was interesting to see what we ordered, things like some car parts (the inside door handle on the van broke and it's quite annoying to have to roll down the window, wrench your arm opening it from the outside and then rolling up the window every time!), lots of missions/ministry books, a Wild Brothers video (that we can't wait to watch!), some electronic equipment for a pastor friend, some things Gracia needs for her Irish dance lessons, tennis shoes for Micah, peanut butter (we can get it here, but it's quite expensive!), and a few odds and ends of other things.

What am I most excited about?  Well, when Miguel ordered himself a laptop, he ordered one for me, too!  Woohoo!  It's an older model and refurbished, but I don't mind...Miguel and I are getting tired of vying for the one laptop we had, not to mention that it's also the computer that Micah uses for his home schooling.  So that's pretty cool and very sweet of Miguel to get that for me.

I also asked a friend to buy me some embossing equipment...so now I am all set to emboss something.  Gracia and I will be playing working with that later on today!  I have gradually built up my collection of scrapbooking/card-making supplies, so this addition is pretty exciting!  :)

My friend also sent me some food grade diatomaceous earth.  For an interesting read on diatomaceous earth, either look it up on the internet or click here. I am interested in trying it and seeing the results! Thanks, friend!

I also noticed that Miguel ordered a few things as thoughtful gifts and it really touched my heart.

There is an old man who comes by our house every week gathering cardboard and other recyclables in order to make a living.  This man is disabled and has a lot of trouble walking. Miguel has noticed that it's very hard for him to handle the large sacks he carries around the neighborhood using an old stick as a cane.  We don't know where he lives or how far he has to walk, but he has to compete with many others who gather recyclables as well, many of whom have bicycles.  It's a rough way to make a living, that's for sure.  So Miguel had a friend buy him a used walker to give to this man.  Like I said, that really touched my heart.

Miguel also asked for some used pairs of tennis shoes.  I thought they were all for Micah and some of them are (that boy goes through shoes like crazy!), but it turns out that there is one pair that Miguel ordered for a boy who is attending the American football practices with Micah on Saturday mornings. Turns out that this boy comes to practice in old dress shoes because that's all he has.  Miguel noticed and took this opportunity to get him some shoes that will work for sports.  Okay, my heart is melting here...

But even if the team hadn't brought us anything, it would still be a pleasure to receive them, to hang out with them, to have a chance to speak into their lives and (hopefully) be a part of expanding their world view.  I won't have the chance to hang out with them too much, probably, because of our home schooling schedule, etc. but Miguel will and I know that will be a blessing for the team because he's so awesome!

The plan for this week is a bit different from the Spring Break teams in the past, since they will not be visiting the outreach ministry in the mountains or doing construction.  The plan for this week is for them to have an Encuentro Juvenil, or a Youth Encounter.  They will be hosted by several families from either El Camino or the two daughter churches, preferably those families who have teenagers in their homes.  They will be hanging out together, accompanying their host teen(s) to school or whatever other activities they are involved in, as well as coming together as a group for some different times of worship and teaching.  The main topics will be on community, discipleship, and small groups, I believe.

This Sunday is also El Camino's 16th anniversary celebration, so they will get to be a part of a special service as well.

So I pray that this week will be a special time for each member of the group and that God will use their time here to speak to their hearts.  It is an honor to be a part!

Cultural Perspectives on Modesty

It's not often that culture shock really hits me any more. Not that I am above culture shock, just that I continue to adapt to the Latin culture more and more. While I may have moments of confusion or discomfort, I generally feel fairly comfortable in most situations these days, or at least I can sort of figure out what's going on.

So it really caught me by surprise the other day when something happened that left me standing speechless, mouth hung open.

The kids and I went to a balneario (swimming pool) last Sunday with our neighbors and some of their friends.  I went to the locker room to change into my swimsuit.  I didn't see any changing rooms, so just changed in one of the toilet stalls.  When I came out, that's when I saw it. Women walking around, well, completely naked. No pena (shame). No attempts to even try to cover any part of themselves as they walked back and forth to the showers and toilet stalls.  I think I froze.  I hope I didn't stare!  Am I just a prude?

It's not like I'm not used to nudity...after all, the tribal group my parents worked with in Colombia didn't really use much clothing and it never really bothered or affected me because that's just the way they were and I accepted it.

But I guess this is one aspect of the Mexican culture that I had not yet been exposed to (no pun intended!), because it really caught me unaware.  I returned to where my friends were sitting and I debated whether or not to mention it, but then I realized it was a great opportunity to get some further insight into the culture here.

They laughed when I told them, and it did lead into an interesting conversation about cultural perspectives on modesty, etc.  Apparently, complete nudity is quite common here in women's locker rooms and steam baths and is nothing to be embarrassed about.

They were quite interested in the fact that the nudity would surprise me since they had the idea that everyone from the U.S. is quite liberal in all things.  I shared with them that not all Americans are frat-party, girls-gone-wild, Spring-Break-at-Panama-City-Beach sort of people like they might see on t.v.  That some of us are from staid, Bible-beltish Midwest region and we don't necessarily care to bare ourselves in front of other people at the drop of a hat.

Most locker rooms in the U.S. that I've seen have individual changing rooms and I would say that most people, well, women anyway (I don't think that I am qualified to comment on men's locker room habits), would avail themselves of the changing rooms instead of changing out in the open.  And most would probably use a towel or something to cover at least some part of their bodies in the locker room (of course, I could be out of touch with reality since I'm not that up on popular culture back in the U.S. these days).

We talked about other aspects of modesty, other differences.  In Mexico, many women feel very comfortable showing more cleavage than is normal in the U.S. (well, at least in many places in the states and among more conservative people).  It is more appropriate for women in the U.S. to cover up more of the chest area than here in Mexico.

On the other hand, most Mexican women cover up their legs much more than in the U.S.  My friends told me that until recently, most women still wore skirts in this part of the country.  While pants and blue jeans are now very common here, skirts are still worn by many older women, especially in the more rural areas.

Although it was interesting for me to notice that at the pool, there was a wide range of bathing suits, from quite revealing to rather modest.  I gather that in that particular setting, it is not inappropriate to wear even a very revealing suit. I did notice, however, that while not actually in the pool, most of the women preferred to wear some sort of cover over their suit. And there were quite a few older women who didn't even swim or get close to the pool, they were there just to accompany the family.

In comparison to the U.S., shorts are rarely worn in public here in Mexico except for specific events, such as for exercise and sports.  According to my friends, this is because the sight of skin on legs, especially above the knee, is more of a turn-on for Latin guys.  Pants and jeans are often very tight, but as long as skin is not showing it is considered modest.  My neighbor told me that in many cases of violence against a woman, she might be blamed for the violence by dressing provocatively, showing too much of her legs.

This is an interesting contrast because in the U.S. shorts and short skirts are very common and not necessarily considered immodest or inappropriate for public attire.  

So anyway, I've been thinking more about cultural differences and how much I have yet to learn about the Mexican culture.  There will most likely be some more surprises for me around the corner...

So when it came time to change back into our regular clothes, Gracia and I headed back to the locker room.  We thought about changing in the main room just like everyone else, but when push came to shove, we just couldn't do it...so it was back to the toilet stalls for us...maybe next time.

What Will be Keeping Me Busy

This is what will be keeping me busy for the next two weeks...getting all these cards ready to mail to our supporters!

There is a group coming from our home church in Arkansas next week, so this will be a great chance for us to send mail.  The postal service isn't used very much here in Mexico, so we wait for these kinds of opportunity to send mail to the U.S.  We're also looking forward to having the group here, it's a group of high school seniors accompanied by some leaders and our missions pastor.  Miguel has been helping plan and coordinate their trip and will be hanging out with them while they are here.

I made all these cards last week, there are about 50 of them or so...I kind of lost count after a while and I secretly hope I will need to make some more because it was fun!  I felt a bit sad when I was done because I think I really enjoy making the cards more than I enjoy writing in them!  It's not that I don't like writing letters because I really do, especially imagining people receiving a little note from us, but I really do like making cards!

This is a fairly simple pattern.  I used white or colored card stock and chose either a patterned or solid colored paper for the front panel.  I stamped the front panel before pasting it (I really like to use a glue or tape runner) to the front of the card.  Some of the cards say 'Thanks Very Much' and 'Gracias', some say 'greetings from Mexico!'.  But this card would be cute as a birthday card or something else.

Side note:  I often use the clear stamps (also called cling stamps) because then I can use the alphabet sets to write all different kinds of things or write in Spanish.  There aren't many rubber stamps available in Spanish, so the alphabet sets have been really useful to me.  I have invested in several different alphabet sets in various sizes in both the clear and rubber stamps.  This also saves on storage since I don't have a lot of different stamps to keep track of.

On some of the papers, I took a napkin (a q-tip would have probably worked better, lol!) and rubbed some black ink around the edges of the panel. I really liked how it dressed up the card.

I stamped a matching flower pattern on different paper, again, either a solid color or print, and then I cut out the flower and used a double sided adhesive foam pad to make it stand out from the card.  As an added touch, I pasted a flower and stamped a little 'hola' on the inside.

Cutting out the flowers was by far the most time-consuming part of making this card, but it was worth it because I really love how it turned out.

So, now I really need to get to work on writing in them!

Life on Tochtli Street

We were recently offered another house to rent here in Puebla and we considered it, since our current house is a bit tight for our family of six (plus dog, turtle and snail).  But as I began thinking about moving to a different neighborhood, I realized how much we've made a home here on Tochtli Street and how much I would really hate to leave!

Our house is on the other side of 

that tall white one.

Within one or two blocks from our house, we have at least three little neighborhood stores that sell anything from diapers to candy to onions and tomatoes.  Prices are a little higher than at the bigger stores, but in a pinch, it's handy to have somewhere to buy a liter of milk or a half a kilo of eggs when we suddenly run out.  We also have a papelería two streets over...I have not visited the papelería, but they sell things like paper products, pens, pencils, wrapping paper and they also make copies.  Again, probably a little more expensive than a larger store, but nice to have in the neighborhood as well.  Other businesses in the neighborhood include estéticas (beauty shops), at least one lavandería (laundromat), a little gift shop and several houses on our street cook and sell tacos and other yummy Mexican antojitos (cravings, literally) most evenings.

We're getting to know a lot of the neighbors (and their children!).  The neighbors that live in the tall white house next door invited us to eat at their house a few weeks ago and we enjoyed spending some time with them.  They have an amazing house!  One thing that was really interesting was the large round window that separates their garage area from the living room area on the ground floor...I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before and it is really cool.  That top floor is a laundry room and the second floor has a really amazing play room.  They showed us how they installed glass stairs and hallways on the different floors so that the light comes down from the fourth floor all the way to the kitchen on the ground floor!  It is very common for  people to add on to their houses since the original houses are very small.  This is an example of how a small house on a small lot can be turned into a very large house with a little creativity!

We don't see these particular neighbors a whole lot, we usually just greet them as we pass in the street.  Their kids are very nice, but unfortunately don't play outside with the other kids very much so our kids haven't had much opportunity to make friends with them.  The other day, however, this neighbor's truck wouldn't start, so Miguel helped him find the problem.  We always like to look for ways to be good neighbors by helping out whenever we can.

I think it's the tallest house in the neighborhood 

and it can be seen from blocks around.  

Across the street from us there is a carpenter who has made a shop in his carport.  This is very common, we've seen many 'home carpenter' shops around.  He used to live a few houses down, but had to store all of his tools away every night since that house didn't have a front gate/fence.  Now they live in this house a few doors down with a gate, which is much more convenient for them, I'm sure.  The carpenter works all hours of the day and night and we often hear him still hammering at 10 p.m. or so!  Good thing he doesn't live next door to us!  Miguel has helped the carpenter deliver his finished pieces several times since he doesn't have a vehicle and once lent him some money to buy some varnish so he could complete an order.  One time his son had an ear ache, so we gave them some medicine for it.

Right next door to our house is a little kindergarten.  Classes usually run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  There are about 20 children who attend this school and they can make a lot of racket!  Most of the time, however, there is no one there and it means that we can park our van right in front of both houses at night (our van is longer than the house is wide and doesn't fit in front of our house!).  We used to park the van in our garage, but it is such a tight fit that now we just leave it outside.  Many people park their cars outside at night and it doesn't seem to be a problem.  On weekday mornings, we try to remember to move the van before 9 a.m. so that we don't block their gate when the kids start arriving.

Down the street, there is a lady who has a soft spot for animals.  She is always rescuing dogs or cats and also has a lot of parakeets.  If we want to have a conversation with her, we just ask her about her animals.  She also feeds the pigeons and other birds that hang around the neighborhood.

There are some neighbors that haven't been as friendly, however, such as the family that lives about five houses down from us who never, ever greet us.  They also drive their van down the street a little too quickly and we worry about the kids playing in the street sometimes.  There is also a lady that lives across the street who allows her rather aggressive dog to run loose sometimes.  This dog, named Lucky, has bitten Jojo and a few weeks ago also bit a friend who was here visiting Micah.  When Miguel and our friend's mom went to confront the lady about it, she denied everything and then began to tell us about all the bad things our kids have supposedly done to her house and car.  She even threatened to take us to court, but I don't think she was serious, I think she was just defending herself and trying to deflect attention from the real issue.  We have noticed that the dog hasn't been running free so much lately, so hopefully they will keep it restrained more in the future and we do hope we don't have any more problems with it!

Some other neighbors told us that this lady's older son is in jail for drugs and that her other son is a drug addict, which if true, is a very sad situation.  Her son does like to have really loud parties and crank the music up sometimes.  One weekend the music was on pretty much nonstop day and night.  A week or so ago, we began hearing really loud music again and we thought it was coming from this house, but it turned out to be a seafood restaurant that opened up one street over.  According to a Mexican friend, seafood restaurants have a fama (reputation) for playing their music really loud and this apparently attracts customers.  We haven't heard the music so much this week, so maybe it was on to announce the grand opening.

Two doors down, on the other side of the kindergarten, is a family who is staying there temporarily while they wait for their house to be ready.  They have a son who is about Gracia's age and our kids play with him often.  Sometimes we've given him drinks or snacks and he often borrows our kids' bicycles and scooters.  The other day, the dad talked with Miguel and told him how much they appreciated how kind we were to their son and that we had always treated them well.  They offered to take Gracia to Irish dance classes at an Irish dance school that they and their older son own and they aren't charging us anything for the classes.  So now Gracia goes to dance classes with them twice a week and is loving it!

Three doors down live our closest friends here on the block, Liberal and Gloria.  We've spent quite a bit of time with them and celebrated New Year's Eve with them and their extended family.

Liberal and Gloria with a Mexican dish cooked

in a traditional clay pot.

When we travel, we leave some house keys for them so they can watch our house.  Our kids often hang out at their house and they treat them like their own.  Liberal and Gloria have both been an invaluable resource for us regarding Mexican culture, Mexican cooking, prices, places to go, interesting cultural events and even neighborhood issues.  I often go visit Gloria and we keep an eye on the kids or enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee and talk about all kinds of things.  I have really enjoyed connecting with Gloria and I hope that our friendship can continue for many years.

A few weeks ago, we started noticing a young man carrying around some American football equipment, which was interesting since American football is not very common here.  It turns out that he lives at the end of the street and is the son of one of Gloria's good friends, Maribel.  Miguel has struck up a friendship with this joven (young man) and we are getting him some much-needed football equipment from the U.S. since it is hard to find in this area.  Maribel also has two younger boys who play with Jojo most afternoons.

Although our street is fairly quiet, there is quite a bit of movimiento (movement) every day...it begins around 6:30 a.m. with the bottled gas trucks making their rounds.  Each truck has a unique alarm, song or sound to let their clients know that they are coming and it's always very loud!  Throughout the day, there are other alarms or notifications of services, from the clanging bell that announces the trash to the drinking water trucks to the guy that rides by on his bicycle with a whistle (not sure exactly what he offers yet!) to the people selling tlacoyos (sort of a bean or pork rind stuffed tortilla), etc.  Every night there is a man who comes by selling pastries who has a very unique   (and loud) call/yell.  There is also a little Volkswagon van that faithfully shows up around 10 p.m. at night with the same announcement playing on the loudspeaker every time offering healthy, home-cooked food.  One night we happened to be out when it went by and we actually saw two little old ladies sitting inside cooking up the food!

Every morning when we walk the dog, we pass by this food stand located at the entrance to our neighborhood.

It is open Tuesdays through Sundays from about 7 a.m. to noonish.  It is run by a neighbor lady and we've been making friends with her since we often buy her quesadillas.  The corn dough is delivered fresh every morning and she has a griddle inside where she cooks the tortillas and gorditas and other items she makes to sell.  Our favorite quesadilla comes with a shredded tomato/chicken sauce, boiled potatoes and string cheese.  Each once costs 13 pesos, or about 90 cents.  Our whole family can eat well for around 80 pesos or about 6$ USD if we don't buy drinks...delicious!  Sometimes Miguel and I will sneak in a quesadilla or two in the mornings before the kids wake up...

We also like having the soccer fields so close to our house so that we can go walk the dog or throw his ball.  There are two full-size soccer fields and two smaller fields in this huge empty lot.  The kids like to go with us and ride their bikes or play while we exercise the dog.  Many people from the neighborhood walk their dogs or exercise at the campos (the soccer fields) and we're beginning to recognize some of them.  On Sundays the campos are really busy since a lot of soccer games and tournaments are played there on the weekends.  If we buy quesadillas on Sundays, we like to get their early before the rush!

In the end, we decided not to take the other house, mostly because of it's location.  It's all the way on the other side of the city and we prefer to stay on this side to be closer to our church and our friends.

And while I'd really love to have a bigger house, I think I'm rather relieved that for now, we'll stay in our little house here on Tochtli Street.

Family Camp

What started as an online friendship with the ABCDs has developed into a real-life friendship now that we're living in central Mexico.  Besides enjoying their friendship, we've also enjoyed their library plus their invitation to join them at what was termed MK Family Spiritual Emphasis Camp 2012 by our fearless director.

Basically, we thought of it as family camp since we went as a family and there were several other families there as well.  It was also a nice family 'vacation' for us, even though we kinda "worked" (didn't feel much like work, though) and were in different cabins.  We were able to take the puppy also and he really enjoyed spending some time in the great outdoors (sadly, the snail and the turtle had to stay behind).


Miguel and I had the opportunity to teach the older youth during their chapel times and we covered four stories about the Israelites found in Numbers 11-15 as a way of illustrating and exploring some Bible storying concepts.  Miguel was the counselor for the older boys and we helped out a bit in the kitchen and with crafts.  


It was a lot colder at camp than here in Puebla, so we were glad that we went prepared for the colder weather!  During the day, it was very nice, but as soon as the sun went down the temps really dropped...there was a significant altitude difference, which is why the weather was cooler there.  


Here are few pictures of our adventure at camp...for more pictures, go here or here or here! 

We enjoyed the scenery on the way to camp...that's

really red dirt there!  

The view from the front of my cabin...the 

kitchen/auditorium area

is down beyond those vehicles and the bathrooms

are in the building on the right of the picture.  The

cabins were very comfortable, but it sure

was hard to get out of my nice warm bed

at 3 a.m. to trek all the way over there to go potty!  

We had some great worship times led

by another missionary.  I think Miguel was 

making a J for J-O-Y although

it looks like everyone else had 

already moved on to Y!  

Jkaile with a buñuelo, similar to a funnel cake.

Meals were delicious!

I think the snack shop was our kids' favorite 

'activity' at camp!  

Their not-so-favorite thing...dishes!

On our way back from camp, we stopped by a little

town known for selling clay pots and other decorative items.

Apparently jack-o-lanterns are in high demand, 

they were everywhere! 

I got a kick out of these pots

drying on top of this building.  They

are all so perfectly lined up!

We stopped at several of the different shops...it was

hard to choose what to buy!  So many pretty things...

I loved this one!  We bought several of these,

but unpainted.  

I really loved these iguanas painted

in the talavera style...maybe next time!  

It was also interesting to see many Otomí people

in traditional dress...there are many communities

of Otomí in this area.  

We are already looking forward to camp next year!