An Amazing Week

My roommate Emily's birthday falls on the Friday before mine, so we basically had one week-long birthday party.

On Monday, Olivia and Sarah took us out to this neat little cafe in town. Then, when we got back for Bible study with the High School girls, it turns out that they had planned a whole surprise party for us!

My girls being crazy.

My birthday landed on Field Day this year, so Emily arranged for someone to decorate the gate of the location with amazing birthday signs. Super sweet of her!

Blowing out candles at our joint surprise party.

Field Day 2007

Every fall, the school puts on a sort of "Track and Field" day for the kids Here is my class before all the competitions started.

Gracie getting ready for the ball toss.

Because I have such a small class, we got done with the activities in about 20 minutes. The next 40 I spent making up things for the kids to do. Here was Paul competing in my spontaneous "push up competition." Haha. He did pretty well, too.

Harvest Festival

Every year, our school puts on a harvest festival to raise money for the Senior trip. This year, I invited Karla and her daughter Emily to join me.

Emily enjoyed getting her face painted.

Cutie pie!

Me and Karla

The senior with the most money in his cup got the pie in the face!

New Friends

I am so glad for the friends that the Lord has given me here, both in the other missionaries and in the Mexicans that I have met since moving here. Here are a bunch of us hanging out, watching a movie and drinking coffee.

Fake Injury Day

Don't worry, I didn't beat up my kindergartners. :) Our school had a "fake injury day" where the kids could dress up with any injury they wanted to. It was a fun day, although the kids definitely had a hard time concentrating on school work!

My poor, injured class.
I even got into it a little. Haha, they looked so FUNNY!

The winners for each class.

Spa Night with Emily and Karla

My roommate Emily and my Mexican friend Karla were having a stressful week, so we all got together one evening and decided to relax, soak our feet, do our nails, etc.

Emily... asleep?

Me and Karla. I don't think cucumbers actually do anything, but it was fun anyway!

Moody's Missions Conference 07

Thank you to all of you who were praying for my trip to Moody for missions conference. I really believe that the Lord used the trip for His kingdom, and I'm excited to see what will come of the contacts that we made during that week. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

Setting up the booth.

I got to hang out with a lot of the students at the booth. These two are friends from my high school in Mexico that stopped by to say hi.

I was even able to catch up with some of my best friends in the world while I was there. Jamie and Ginger still live in Chicago and it was great to see them both at the same time!

Catching Up

Me and my Bible study girls at our first meeting

Life has been so incredibly busy these past couple of weeks, so I'm sorry that there hasn't been much blog action!!! Instead of trying to put them up individually, I am just going to post the pictures that I have collected in an album from the last month. Here is the link to my September album



http://moody.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013617&l=bd03b&id=163800382



I would appreciate your prayers for me next week as I will be attending Moody Bible Institute's Missions Conference as a representative for my mission. Here are a few specific things that the mission would appreciate prayer for:



1. That the Lord would raise up the following specific staff members for the mission: church planters for the tribes in northern Mexico; a Communications Manager for the home office staff of the mission; a Graphic Designer for the home office staff.


2. That the Lord would raise up more staff members in general.

3. That he would speak to many hearts during this conference and move them to work in the harvest in ANY mission field.


4. That we would be able to put the finishing touches on the presentations/displays, etc. before the trip.

5. That the Lord would keep us both healthy before, during, and after the trip.


6. That the Lord would help us to be faithful on the follow up with the contacts that we establish on this trip.



Thank you so much for your prayers!! I'll make sure to post some pictures of the trip as soon as I get back :)

Garage Sale

This past week, my roommate and I decided to hold a garage sale. I think I'm a bit o f a pack rat, so I decided to go through EVERYTHING to find things to sell.

Here is the link to my complete September photo album:

http://moody.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013617&l=bd03b&id=163800382

Reading through every single note, letter and card that I've ever recieved since about third grade. That was entertaining.

I even found an un-cashed check in a card from my high school graduation!

We held our garage sale on the 15th of September, which is the day before Mexican Independence Day, so we decided to be a bit festive.

Our garage sale.

A few of the front of our house and all the junk stacked everwhere.

rage

Complete July Photo Album

Here is the link to all my July photos if you would like to look at them:

http://moody.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011650&l=9b7e5&id=163800382

Wisdom Teeth Removal!!

Well, we finally decided that I should get my wisdom teeth removed. So, here is the before picture. Signing my life away. My hands were so shaky I could barely sign my name!
After.... so cute...

Evan's Home!!

Evan is home from Maui now (he's been at Bible college there... tough, huh?) We were so happy to be together as a family again.

Breakfast with Emily

I had Emily, one of my high schoolers over for breakfast this last week. We made omletes and had a good time chatting.

Decorating for Kindergarten: After

The finished product. In the background you can see my "reading willow." I just hope the kids don't try to climb it... which they probably will... I enjoyed letting my creative juices flow in this room.


I cut up an old desert calendar and put the pictures under the glass on my desk to add some color to the room.

Decorating for Kindergarten: Before

These past couple of weeks I have spent in Chihuahua trying to get my kindergarten room ready for next year. (If I forgot to mention it, I will be teaching kindergarten in the morning and music in the afternoon.) Here are a few before shots.
Here's katie, one of my higschool students helping me decorate my room.
Katie and my other helper Emily

Missions Trip to Quintana Roo

For the last two weeks, I have been working with a missions team down in the state of Quintana Roo. My roommate Emily and I went along as translators for the team. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

My first experience translating for a church service. By the Lord's kindness, it went very well.

Our team was a mixture of people from churches in Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Chihuahua.

This was a Mayan family that I was able to spend some time with after one of our children's evangelistic programs.

If you want to see the complete photo album of the trip, click on this link: http://moody.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011156&l=536bd&id=163800382

Tigres

On the way home, we stopped for a few minutes at this hotel that had some very illegal tigers as pets. The tiger was getting a little too close...
I found a hole in the gate and tried to get some close-up pictures of the tiger... I think this was a little too close for comfort.

Cascadas de Cusarare

Near Creel is a neat waterfall that we visited on our trip. It's pretty dry during this time of the year, but it was fun splashing around in the water anyway. This is a view from the top. Group picture at the bottom.
The water was FREEZING! I could hardly keep my feet (foot) in the water for this picture.
Sarah and I at the top
Me, Sarah and the girls