Too much fun

So many fun things to do and such little time to blog. Enjoy the posts and remember you can always scroll quickly!

Baptisms

If you have read Sara or Jeanine's blogs, you know that we have had some baptisms lately.
Two weeks ago we had church out at a camp site, where we have had our retreats. It was beautiful to watch Flor and Nestor be baptized. They are a direct product of our park project last year, and to add to the delight, several of the ACU students that helped with this project were here again this year to see them give their lives to Christ. Also on that day, Estela was baptized. This is the first time that she had come to church with us, but she was convicted and my mother-in-law did an amazing job at talking to her and explaining the new life that we gain in Christ. It was a blessed day of fellowship, fun, food and new life.
Rebeca, who is part of Jose Luis and Adriana's cell group, has been studying and contemplating the seriousness of committing to Christ. She had planned to be baptized that day also, but was not able to come because of some family conflicts. But today, she came, along with several family members and gave her life to Christ in baptism. It was beautiful to see and know that her commitment is true and strong. Please pray with us for these people as they walk a new path that promises eternal life!

Nestor


Flor welcoming Nestor out of the water



Estela being baptized



Rebeca with Jose Luis and Adriana

Team fun

Since the girls have two weeks of vacation, we took advantage of the second week to have a little team outing. We went to Ixtapan de la Sal. It is a little town about 4 hours from here. It is famous for its thermal waters, very large water park, and various spas. The hotel pool was heated with thermal waters; although, the girls got pretty cold. Olivia shivered and shivered, but didn't want to come out of the water. We enjoyed the water park, which was rather impressive with big, big slides, a couple of rivers and several wading pools for little ones. The water, however, was not heated and it was pretty cold! Olivia and I stuck to the easy stuff. Sofia was disappointed that she wasn't quite tall enough for some of the rides, and the rest of the gang enjoyed the slides and rides several times. There aren't too many pictures of our time there since the camera was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. That afternoon, Sam and I enjoyed a very nice Roman bath (a large hot tub in a quiet room with no kids)!
The next day we took a little side tour to some caves with stalagmites and stalactites. It was very impressive. Mexico is trying hard to preserve and take care of natural resources, so it was neat to see how they are doing that with these caves. Victoria's statement as we walked into the cave was that she didn't see any point in all the walking to see some dumb rocks! After the trek, she decided that maybe the rocks weren't so dumb after all...(oh the joys of what lies ahead for us). We all did agree that we would have appreciated a little more scientific and historic explanations rather than the guide pointing out Santa Claus, the kissing couples, lions, pitchers and various other figures.
The funniest thing happened on the way home when we stopped in Toluca (very large city outside of Mexico City) to grab lunch. We drove through Burger King, and as we got ready to order, the lady said they didn't have any beef, but would be glad to serve us some chicken sandwiches if we wanted. Huh???!!! How does Burger King run out of beef? I guess they forgot Lent is over.

Sam, Sara, Jeanine, Victoria, Sofia and Olivia ready for the water park.


Sara, me and baby on board waiting for some water fun.



Vicotria, Sara and Sofia waiting for a train ride around the water park


Olivia playing her new favorite game of "Ice, ice" with Sofia. It must be played sitting on the floor, and repeated many times! She's too cute!


Sam and I and Olivia (not cooperating) on the cave expedition


Cool wonders of nature


Sara and Jeanine in the cave


One of the open areas of the cave -- it looks like a temple, and sure enough, the indians used to use it as a temple for the gods

Camping with Dad

Easter weekend Sam decided to take Victoria and Sofia on an overnight camping trip to some hot springs. It also gave me a little down time at home with only Olivia and Maria Luisa to entertain. They had a great time!!!! This weekend is probably the biggest weekend for travel in Mexico. EVERYONE takes vacation, so the campsite was tent to tent people, and Sam said that there was standing room only in the hot tub (can't say I'm sad that I missed it). The only draw back was that it was very cold at night, but they survived and are ready to head back again.
On the home front, we enjoyed some great naps. We tried to find some quesadillas on Thursday before Easter and everything was closed! The city was fairly deserted. Friday night we had dinner with Jack Walker and Spring Breakers from ACU who were returning from working all week on the coast. We enjoyed dinner downtown and watched the procession of silence downtown. Various groups wear KKK looking robes, carry candles and figures or large statues of Jesus on the cross or in the grave. The lights are all turned out except for the candles and everyone is silent as they walk past. It is impressive, although, not as solemn when you're enjoying a little steak on the side!

Grandparents visit

My parents come to visit during Spring Break each year, the special treat this year is that our girls were also on Easter Vacation -- known as Holy Week. So, we had a lot of fun with grandparents. Sam's mom also came along, so the girls were swimming in attention! Our big trip while they were here was to go see the Monarch butterflies. It was a lovely trip about 3 hours from here. We spent the night at a hotel near the butterfly sanctuary and hiked up to the butterflies the next morning. As we hiked up, and up, and up, and up and saw no butterflies, I was getting a little worried that there might not be any left, but lo and behold, we did find them at the very end of the trail, and it was truly amazing! God's creation is always awe inspiring from mountains to butterflies to rivers to seas. As an extra special treat, we bought a large basket of fresh strawberries on the way home at about $0.50 a pound!!!

At the foot of the climb, ready to find some butterflies. Sam's mom decided she would hang back and hold down the fort, since the climb at 10,000 ft. is a little breath taking (literally!)


Victoria took her turn at carrying Olivia in her pack.


Some of the less fortunate butterflies


Butterflies gathered in clumps in the tress.


A family picture with the butterflies


A snack break on the way down from the 1 1/2 hour hike up!


Maria Luisa waited for us at the bottom of the sanctuary and enjoyed good food and good conversation. She had some ladies ready for her to move there!


Lunch in one of the various food huts before heading home.


Another treat was to have a special meal to celebrate Victoria's accomplishments as "queen" and Sofia being a very supportive sister! We enjoyed shrimp Alfredo and for dessert chocolate covered fruit. Fun, fun, fun...

Shrimp Alfredo


Chocolate fountain and fruit waiting to be devoured!

Victoria is crowned queen

Wow, she won! We were very excited to find out that Victoria did indeed win as Queen of Spring. She worked hard and was thrilled! She did indeed get first place in jump roping. We are very proud of her. Yesterday, the school had a spring parade around town with all the cars decorated. Our car was duly decorated and some of Victoria's classmates rode with us. Victoria was supposed to ride in the back of a pick-up truck with the other princesses. However, at the time of departure, the truck was loaded with the kindergarten girls and their moms, so there was no room for her. She was going to ride with us, but one of her classmates' dad had his convertible bug there ready to take a few boys. They graciously took her and Victoria couldn't have been happier to ride in the back of a convertible. She had a blast and waved like a true queen.
After the parade, they had the coronation ceremony where she received a crown, flowers, a gift certificate to a clothing store, and a certificate to some kind of modeling school (I'm not so sure about this one, but we'll have to look into it!).The event ended with a carnival and hanging out at school. It was a fun, but tiring day. We were one of the last ones out the door and we all came home and crashed for a little while.
Victoria looked really beautiful, but her queenly duties were a little tiring. Sofia had a great day also, joining the festivities as a butterfly. With all the busyness, she got away with eating I'm not sure how many Popsicles...at least they are made of fresh fruit! Olivia got to stay home and enjoy the stillness of the house.
Sam has been gone all week, so he missed out on the big day. We are excited about him being home so we can tell him all about it. Here are a few pictures, but if you want the full array of pics, just click here.

The lovely girl


Looking cool in the convertible...


Our car looking good



Pretty butterfly



Victoria being crowned along with her classmate, Andres



Victoria and her friends

The next queen of spring?

Many of the schools here have a contest in the spring to find the Queen of Spring. The girls' school is no different. Victoria has wanted to do this for several years, and we have refrained, but this year she has finally gotten her chance. In years past, the girl to collect the most money is the winner. Not really what we're after; although, it also leaves the beauty contest aspect away from little darlings. This year; however, they (we, since I was part of the decision making) decided to make some changes. So, money is still an important part but we added a talent aspect to it. The girls had to do some type of talent and then had to wear a regional outfit and talk about it. Victoria was rather anguished, literally, when she heard about the talent part and getting up in front of people to do it, but after a great pep talk from her dad, she was ready to go. The talent part was this past Tuesday. I have to say, I was so proud of that girl!!! She had decided that she would do a jump rope routine (none of us know much about that!) and we helped as much as possible. I really didn't think she would do it, but she did and she did a great job. I would say in my unbiased, objective opinion that she did the best job, but we'll see. The boy that escorted her was so excited that he wanted to jump rope with her also. Next week we turn in her piggy bank to count the pennies and see what the final score is. It has been neat to see how her classmates are rallying behind her and helping her sell candy at school. I have totally lost all common sense and decided to invite her classmates over tomorrow for a movie and hot dogs to raise money for the event. I'll let you know how I survive! Once again, this is important to us because it allows us to deepen those relationships with people at school. We will find out next week what the results are, and it ends with a spring parade around town and carnival at school on Wednesday. If you're feeling compelled to donate, just let me know. I'm sure Victoria would appreciate it! Our jump roper in action!! Victoria sharing about her regional outfit with her faithful companion, Andres. He looks enthralled... She is truly beautiful, inside and out!

A Night to Remember

A few weeks ago, we participated in a dinner for the girls' school. Since I'm part of the PTA, we had no choice but to go, and it was a good thing. We enjoyed an evening of getting to know some of the parents a little better out of the school setting; let our hair down and spend a little time together with no kids!
Sam and I got all dressed up (I literally squeezed into the only dress that still fits) and headed out for dinner at 9:00 pm. Needless to say, I was tired before we even started. Dinner was served at 11:30 pm. We gobbled down our food and halfway through the meal noticed several people kinda picking at their food and not really eating the delicious veal. Hmmmm...Oh yeah, it was a Friday of lent; therefore, they weren't eating meat. Ooops... We enjoyed our meal and encouraged them to just wait 30 minutes and they could enjoy their meal with no problems!
It seems everyone had a good time, and as I already mentioned, for us, the highlight was to get to know some of the couples better and build on those relationships.

Looking all spiffy


This was THE table to be at! We had all the fun and people kept looking at us wishing they were at our table...(what can you say, when Sam is at the table, everyone wants to be at the table)

Sofi's Shows

Sofia has had a couple of events at school this past week. This first was a "play" in English to show off the class's English abilities. She did a great job with her one line, and it was a little tough to understand the rest of the kids, but they all looked very cute! The second event was a ceremony commemorating the Mexican flag (I think). Again, she did a great job. Enjoy the photos...

A few wig issues



Dancing with the dolls



Olivia wants a piece of the action



Showing honors to the flag

Lo and Behold, a Taxi...

For those of you that have been waiting with baited breath, our neighbor, Jose Luis finally got his taxi back. It took quite a bit of doing to get it running and home, but alas, it is home. He has had it back for a few weeks, but hasn't actually used it to make money. He has been working for the doctor that his wife works for also, and he is seriously considering what he wants to do for a living. The car is old and well used, and he spends more in upkeep than what he makes driving it, so he is contemplating other options. Pray with us for them that God will show him the best place for him to be and allow him the flexibility he has had for church work also.