Friday, May 25, 2012

Lori's Trip Thru Surgery-land May 2012

25 May Hey, Blog followers Pray for Lori. This week, she had surgery here in Calif. She's had a rough time with it, including nausea, vomiting, weakness, wound infection... ... AND being a little discouraged by the ordeal. Pray, pray, pray (plz) Chris

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Mothers' Day in Mexico

Mothers' Day in Mexico is celebrated on May 10th, but the party can last for days. This year the festivities started on Wed. during the evening church service. When I arrived, a handmade pin was handed out while I was ushered to the front of the church where all the other mothers were seated. The next hours were filled with sharings, songs and scriptures honoring moms. Then Thursday afternoon, 20 mothers from the church gathered for a trip to the "city" about 1 1/2 hours north of San Vicente where we enjoyed a Chinese buffet and walking along the beach. Families had pulled together pesos to send moms off to the relaxing day. On Saturday, the town's park hosted traditional Mexican dancing, prizes, and a meal. The celebration ended with a band playing into the night hours. Yes, we could hear the music from our home several blocks away. Mexico goes all out to honor moms.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Scarry Night Visitor... 11May

OK, so I am doing the dishes in our little casita in San Vicente. It's dark outside, and Lori is off at a church women's thing. I hear this 'noise' behind me, and find this bug on my floor... which I had accidentally stepped on, and it was goo-ing out. With spoons, I put it in a jar, and begin looking... OMG, is this the 'dreaded' 'Niño de la Tierra' we've heard so much about? Local legend has it that they can inflict a venomous bite that will kill you in 12 hours. What? I just did the whole house perimeter in bug spray yesterday... you know, the Mex stuff that would be illegal in the US... Ahhh! Invaded by a deadly visitor! And... our internet connect was down for a few days... SO, we started a little more aggressive watch of the floor when getting up tot eh rest room in the middle of the night... BUT WAIT! Finally able to research... it's actually named in English the 'Jerusalem Cricket'(Stenopelmatus) even though it's not a cricket, nor does it come from Jerusalem... but every (authoritative) site says it can give a nasty bite that could become infected, it is NOT venomous.... It's called 'Niño de la Tierra' (baby of the Dirt) because it supposedly has the face of a fetal human child... Just another day in Mexico, no?? Chris

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Into The Glorious

Driving down to San Vicente, doing the winding mountain passes, seeing the Village as we come into the Valley... and this fantastic song from Christy Nockels blasting.. I was made for more than this world can offer me My heart to hold true mystery My voice was made to fall on holy ears My life to collide with majesty Out from the ordinary into extraordinary Into The Glorious (Into the Glorious, Christy and Nathan Nockels, CD Into The Glorious) yes we were! onward in Grace! Chris

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Children's Day 2012

What a blast celebrating Children's Day 2012 with the Nazarene Church in San Vicente. We came alongside of the church to put on a day filled with FUN in clebration of kids. Puppets, clowns, music, games, lunch, pinata, and dessert made the day extra special for 75+ little ones. Chris and I were the oldest kids there, but there is no better way to stay young. Besides we're children of the KING!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Always Learning

We are always learning new Spanish words. To assist our language expansion, guests to our home are frequently asked to help us to say new words. Writing these onto the chalkboard jogs our memories. Recent additions to our vocabulary include codornices/quail (there are an abundance of quail running around just outside our home) jaula/cage (some of our neighbors catch and then cage the quail) Another way that we pick up new words is reading our bilingual bibles. It's often thought provoking to see how words are used in the scriptures and to compare English and Spanish side-by-side. The learning never ends.