The Lord is at work here in Mexico and we are see great things happen for His glory! There is so much to update everyone on...I'll try my best to keep it organized and to the point LOL
In the last month or so Bruce has had alot of opportunity to practice his Spanish. He has been asked by many people to help out. He has helped out in the tortillaria (tortilla shop), on farms doing multiple things (one day he rode a horse for 7 hours straight, they were checking on wells that were out in fields, you can imagine how sore he was LOL), trimmed trees, and he also was able to go to the market with the local grocery store owner and help him stock his store. These have been awesome learning opportunities for him but even more importantly these have been opportunities to build relationships with the people here.
The kids have also been able to help in the local grocery store quite a bit. They package sugar and flour, price items and clean...They love helping out there!
I have also been blessed with being able to practice my Spanish and learn how to cook a few new things such as gorditas, fried rice (restaurant worthy LOL), empanadas and tamales!
The community has been AMAZING here! We have been welcomed into so many families. Just a quick story... I had so many plans for our first Christmas in Mexico. Our first Christmas that we were going to be able to do what we wanted with our kids...no running around to this party or that party (side note...we loved spending time with our families before but we also wanted to be able to start our own traditions with our kids). Well the week before, we had been informed that there was an anniversary service for a church on Christmas Day.This church is over 2 hours away and anniversary services are usually at least 4-5 hours long with a meal to follow. So it was becoming very clear that this Christmas was NOT going to be what I had hoped for. Christmas morning had arrived and we had to be up and ready by 10 am to leave for the church. Well, I had been planning on making the kids snowman pancakes that morning. I decided that I was still going to make them.So at 6:30-7 in the morning Bruce and I were up and preparing these cute pancakes. The kids LOVED them. Anyways...then it was off to pack for the day and head out. It happened to rain the WHOLE day (did I mention that our drivers side windows' switch is broken and the window is stuck down). So when you mix rain with temps around 40-45 degrees and a broken window...it's pretty cold. So, you can imagine how great my attitude was :( Well anyways, we got to the church and it was even colder there...and all the buildings here have no heat and are made from cement. So basically it's like sitting in a refrigerator for HOURS! By the end of the night we were tired, wet, cold and grumpy...ok maybe I was the only one grumpy :) I had so many plans and nothing was going the way I wanted it. This was my first Christmas away from family and I didn't get to spend it how I wanted...ok rant over :) Well, when we got home after 8 p.m., some of our friends were waiting at the house for us. They had brought over presents for our whole family!! Needless to say, I felt ashamed and embarrassed about my selfish behavior I had for the whole day. The Lord has given us another family here and I was too busy with my own agenda to enjoy it.
Anything that we need help with...doctors, school, cooking, moving things, etc... there are people willing and ready to be there for us.
WE ARE MOVING!
We found a nice little ranch just outside of the Colonia to rent. This is only about a mile from where we are right now. The house that we have now is beautiful but there is no space to have animals here. At the new place, we will be able to have our chickens (we have 26 right now and keep them a few block from our house) at our house. We will also be able to have more room to raise sheep and cattle for meat. We are hoping this will save on food cost here. The food is the same price...if not more on some things than in the states.
The kids have learned so much Spanish from living right in the Colonia and we don't want that to stop when we move out to the ranch. Therefore, we are meeting with the school today to see about enrolling them. Tori and already been to the school here, with a friend, several times and Shelby has visited once. They are very excited! I can't wait to see how much Spanish they learn in the next few months! Also we are hoping this puts us more on the same level as the people here. When people here ask if our kids go to the school and we say, "no, we home-school.", you can see in their faces they don't understand. And they see it as the school is not good enough for our kids. So we are hoping this unifies us with the community even more!
TRAINING CENTER
The Lord has given us an awesome vision of what we are to do here in Colonia Hidalgo! We are currently putting together bible classes for the people. Some will focus on leadership. Others will focus just on teaching the basics of the bible. We will also be continuing on with the English class as well. We will share more about this when the time get closer to start. We are hoping in just 6 short weeks!
We are hoping to plan a community fiesta in the next few weeks also. We are hoping to share what the Lord has shown us and let the community know about the center.
ROOT CANAL
We had the pleasure...ok maybe not pleasure :)...of visiting the dentist for the first time. Bruce has had a tooth that has needed work for some time now. For the last few days he has been in extreme pain, so we figured it was time to make an appointment. The dentist informed us that Bruce needed a root canal and crown...not fun :( Yesterday, he went through the worse part of the process...he couldn't be more happy that it is OVER! Now over the next week or 2 they will finish the work. I think he will have 5 appointments by the time it is finished. I couldn't believe how much cheaper this procedure is here than in the states...But then was quickly reminded by a friend that not all care is of the same quality LOL For example, when the dentist was ready to do some drilling, she couldn't get the "very old" air compressor to work. Another example, there was no suction in his mouth when she was working (Bruce also bleeds ALOT when he has work done in his mouth) So at one point he was choking on his blood and saliva...GROSS! But none the less, it has to be done :) So please keep him in your prayers the next week.
OTHER EXCITING NEWS
Nope, we are not pregnant LOL But almost as exciting for those of you who know us well. Samuel is NO LONGER using the pacifier!!! He is three and always "needs" one ALL DAY LONG :) So this is a huge step towards big boy land! How did we do it you ask?? Bruce gave him a black rabbit LOL Only in Mexico... So that brings our rabbit count up to 2...I'm guessing soon it will be alot more than that :)
Well I think that is all for now...we will update everyone on the training center/community fiesta as things unfold.
As always, thank you so much for your support and prayers!!
As always, thank you so much for your support and prayers!!
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