Declare His glory among the nations,

2008-11-17T21:33:00.001-06:00

hey everyone, i just wanted to let you all know that i've moved my blog over to wordpress. the new address is: http://isaiah68.wordpress.com. please be sure to change it in your RSS feed or reader or whatever. i will only be updating over there from now on. thanks!!

2008-10-30T03:10:00.002-06:00

in just about an hour and a half i'll be leaving for the airport to fly back to the states (i'll already be well on my way by the time most of you read this). i can't believe it. reality hasn't quite hit me yet except for a few moments every now then. i dropped izzy off at the airport this afternoon (she had to be there early to get through all of the customs stuff), then spent the day with the Haynes, had dinner with them, Laura, and the Ostertags and have spent the rest of the night packing. rather than only sleeping for an hour or so, i decided to just stay up all night (getting up at 3 am just didn't seem worth it!) and here i am. i've got just a few things left to do and i'll be ready. it just doesn't seem real. i told becky the other day, i don't even really remember life before i knew and loved this city. it's only been 3 1/2 years since i first came, but it feels like forever. this is home. and leaving home is hard. and yet i know the Lord has so much in store for me and i really am excited. i will miss this...this city, this house, these people, but i am looking forward to all that is in store. it's been quite a journey to get to this moment and i expect nothing less in the coming days. and oh has it been good!

2008-09-29T21:30:00.006-05:00

After almost 2 years of wanting to come visit me in Guadalajara, my friend, Adrian, finally got to come down last week. She is a photographer (her blog is over on the right -->) and she was able to come down to document some of the ministries here. We had such a great time running all over and letting her take pictures. Of course, we found time to goof off a bit as well!
Adrian found a lil time for a nap one afternoon:
Saturday night, we went to the Ostertags to celebrate McKenzie's birthday. My camera batteries were dying by the time it was time for cake, but I was able to get a couple of shots. I love the look on her face. She was definitely up to something...
The birthday girl with some of her balloons:
Kaitlyn had fun dressing the dog up in a matching lei:
Adrian, Laura and I stepped outside to try to take a picture together. Apparently Laura wasn't too happy about that:
I guess Adrian and I got bored waiting for Laura to smile. Haha!
The birthday girl and I:
Sunday morning Adrian and I rode out to Santa Fe for church. I was so glad we got to go. They were celebrating their 3rd anniversary that morning. I'll post more about that tomorrow. One of our favorite things to do when we go out there is to stop for ice cream bars on the way home. One thing we noticed while Adrian was here is that she's not so good at taking pictures sometimes....it seems she likes to try to take over and block everyone else out. For example:
We drove up to a look out next to a catholic church in Santa Fe before the service.
Even Landri wanted a picture! Isn't she beautiful? I love her red hair!
Sunday night, after our English class in Los Cantaros, Laura, Adrian and I walked down to Dairy Queen with Izzy. Izzy's not so great on the leash and it looks like Adrian might've had just a lil more than she could handle:
Laura and I decided to imitate Adrian in a picture. Haha!
I can't even tell you what a joy and a blessing it was to have Adrian here. It was hard to believe that we hadn't seen each other in over 2 years!

2008-09-26T00:05:00.002-05:00

Puppies, puppies everywhere!! Last week the Haynes went to Missouri for a missions conference and I house-sat for them. The best part of them being gone though, was getting to spend a week with 3 dogs! I took Izzy with me and she had a blast playing with the Haynes' dogs, Bella and Spencer (her mom and brother, respectively). They did wear themselves out though and spent a large portion of the week asleep on the couch. You can see below just how much they love to cuddle though!

2008-09-26T00:01:00.002-05:00

September 16 marked Mexico's Independence Day. Laura and I celebrated by attending a party at the C.E.B. (Baptist Student Center) once again. We had a great time hanging out with friends, but the highlight for me was the group of folkloric dancers who performed. They were great and so much fun to watch! Just check out their costumes. How could you not enjoy that?

2008-09-25T23:51:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago, all of us were over at the Haynes for dinner. Mackenzie just loves Izzy and so was glad that I brought her. She had quite a great time giving her kisses and Izzy was more than happy to oblige!

2008-09-06T20:34:00.004-05:00

One year ago today (September 6) my grandmother passed away after a quick but intense battle with pancreatic cancer. These pictures are from the last time I saw her before she got sick and I just love them. She was a beautiful woman and full of life until the very end. She was an incredible person and taught me so, so much. Everyone loved her and she loved everyone! One of my favorite memories of her is all the Friday nights I spent at her house growing up. We would always sleep with our heads together on her L-shaped couch and often, she would wake me up in the middle of the night (or so it felt like to me when I was 7 or 8, it was probably only midnight!) and tell me to "Get up baby, we need to eat us some ice cream!" I will miss Nanny every day for the the rest of my life, but I know she is with our Lord and that one day I will see her again. Maybe we'll even eat some ice cream....

When I Get Where I'm Going (Brad Paisley)

When I get where I'm going
on the far side of the sky.
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly.

I'm gonna land beside a lion,
and run my fingers through his mane.
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain

(Chorus:)
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
I will shed the sins and struggles,
I have carried all these years.
And I'll leave my heart wide open,
I will love and have no fear.
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
Don't cry for me down here.

I'm gonna walk with my grandaddy,
and he'll match me step for step,
and I'll tell him how I missed him,
every minute since he left.
Then I'll hug his neck.

(Chorus)

So much pain and so much darkness,
in this world we stumble through.
All these questions, I can't answer,
so much work to do.

But when I get where I'm going,
and I see my Maker's face.
I'll stand forever in the light,
of His amazing grace.
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
Hallelujah!
I will love and have no fear.
When I get where I'm going.
Yeah when I get where I'm going.

2008-08-24T20:49:00.001-05:00

i downloaded some new actions for photoshop and have been playing around with them a bit. i love this picture of me and izzy. she's just too cute, don't ya think?

izzy and buzz

2008-08-15T21:53:00.001-05:00

right before i moved to mexico my friend, cindy, went to build a bear and made this cute buzz for me. it kinda freaks izzy out just a lil though!

2008-08-03T20:51:00.002-05:00

i've been working on my blog a bit today, what do you think of the changes? i'm pretty pleased with it all (though sick of trying to figure out the html i needed!). if anyone knows how to make it so that my picture on the side is centered a little bit more, please let me know (or if you have any other suggestions for changes i can make). hope everyone's having a great week and enjoying summer!

a few more videos...

2008-07-30T13:48:00.002-05:00

steve's morning announcement for family night (we asked him to do this about 30 seconds before he went up!):

one of the teams singing "amazing grace":

Kaitlyn singing in the talent show:

Sarah singing:

chubby bunny

2008-07-30T12:14:00.003-05:00

one of the games we did during family game night last week was "chubby bunny." basically you just shove as many marshmallows into your mouth as you possibly can and try to say "chubby bunny." it's pretty funny to watch and just as funny to try for yourself!

annual meeting

2008-07-29T22:06:00.007-05:00

ok, these pictures are pretty out of order, so please bear with me!

last week, we had our annual meeting for all of the missionaries in mexico. we had a great time seeing everyone and spending time with our mission family.

meet sarah brungardt. she is one of my all time favorite MKs ever! some of you will remember her from october when she told me i'd probably swallowed a STINK bug. :)
mackenzie wasn't a big fan of having her picture taken this week, but i was able to get this one when she wasn't looking. i think she and her sister had a lot of fun this week.
on our way out of town, we stopped at HEB to stock up on some things we can't find in Guadalajara.just look at all those biscuits! 4 different kinds + cinnamon rolls!!the kids performed their VBS songs and got REALLY into the dancing!
sarah just LOVES taking self portraits.

laura and i with one of the other Journeymen, Rebecca. Rebecca works in El Paso at the Spanish Baptist Publishing Houselaura and i with brungardt girls, sarah and rachel
the ostertags and i organized "family fun night." we did an amazing race style scavenger hunt with different challenges set up all over the hotel. here they had to eat the doughnut off the string
here they had to sing "amazing grace" to the tune of gilligan's island
after our game, there was a talent show. kaitlyn ostertag (one of my other favorite MKs!) sang "open the eyes of my heart Lord." she was SO nervous but did a great job!
bowden shared his favorite verse and why it is special to himsarah sang "how great it our God"
this is patti sorrell, my supervisor. i will be working with her in vancouver as well.
mackenzie was not in a picture taking mood at the gala, but kaitlyn was happy to snap a quick picture with me!

all of the journeymen went out to eat one night at italliani's. it's an italian chain here (shocking, i know!) and the closest thing we have to olive garden. our group was so much smaller this year than last and we missed everyone who has left this year, but we still had a great time.more family game night: making a pyramid by laying down blindfolded
and finally: "chubby bunny" shoving as many marshmallows as possible in your mouth as you can.
laura and i after the ladies' banquet
leanne and i after the banquet. leanne used to live in GDL, but now lives in Richmond. i'm looking forward to seeing her again in Dec. when i go to debriefing.
on the way into town (see, i told you these were REALLY out of order!) we stopped at HEB and picked up some mint chocolate chip ice cream. this it nearly impossible to come by (baskin robbins is the only place we've ever found it before) here, so we were really excited. it was SO GOOD!!!
at the gala, those of us who are finishing our terms were recognized and given certificates.
landri normally won't let anyone take pictures of her, so i was pleasantly surprised when she wanted to take a picture with me!
i've got a few videos from the week that i will try to post soon as well, so be watching for those!

what a bum!

2008-07-16T12:11:00.002-05:00

it's noon here and izzy just FINALLY got out of bed (and only because laura went downstairs to get some breakfast. clearly we're having a highly productive morning around here!) i took izzy out a couple of hours ago and she promptly went right back to bed. what a bum! i went in a couple minutes ago to grab a quick picture of her and she sat up for a minute, yawned a few times and then flopped back over. it must be tough being that cute!

"mini-gansta"

2008-07-12T22:57:00.002-05:00

bowden and his friend, Adrian, got new hats and sunglasses last week. when i came to get something out of the van one day while we were out working with a volunteer team, this is what i found. they had so much fun dressing her up and getting her to pose. isn't she adorable?!? my favorite part is the white sugar all over her lips leftover from the donuts she had just finished.

4th of July (again!)

2008-07-12T22:30:00.004-05:00

yesterday, laura and i celebrated the 4th of july with our mexican friends. they didn't really care about the significance of the holiday, but they did enjoy the food (although they thought the baked beans were pretty weird! nothing like any of the beans here!) and we sure had a great time going waaaaaaaay overboard with decorating and decking ourselves out with some of the stuff i brought back with me last month.

don't you just love my headband and laura's hair ties? haha
our "family portrait." izzy had red, white and blue bows for her ears!
she even got a red, white and blue toy. like i said, we went ALL OUT!
just a few of the decorations
we borrowed an ice cream maker from the haynes. it was really noisy though, so we plugged it in upstairs where we wouldn't have to hear it. doesn't everyone make ice cream in the bathroom?my friend, Ana, and i. we met in March of last year and hung out a lot. then, in august, i lost my cell phone...and her phone number! she thought i just didn't want to hang out with her, and i was really upset that i had no way to get in touch with her. i prayed and prayed (and had several other people praying) that i would somehow just run into her (not so likely in a city of 6 million). then, in january when my dad was here visiting, we were walking around downtown and all of a sudden i noticed Ana just sitting on a bench as i walked by. we were both so excited! after much shrieking and laughing and jumping up and down, i was able to explain what happened and get her number once again. God is so faithful! we haven't gotten to hang out much this semester because she has been working and taking french classes, but i was so glad she got to come yesterday. we have plans to get together this week too. here is a picture of (almost) everyone who came. way more people showed up than we imagined. there were close to 30 people here!
for dessert we had banana pudding, and a flag cake (please ignore the fact that we had to use blackberries instead of blueberries. you do what you gotta do here!) our mexican friends were so impressed that as soon as we got the dessert out, they all started taking pictures of it!we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers (well, actually we just got it all ready and lit the grill, then let our friend, manuel, do the rest!) and had potato salad, baked beans and chips. yummmm
everyone loved the food!
izzy did pretty well most of the day, but she was worn out when everyone left! she's pretty much done nothing but sleep ever since the party ended!

it's rainy season

2008-07-12T22:22:00.002-05:00

...can you tell? haha. it's raining at least once every day, so laura and i are getting tons of use out of our rain jackets right now...and so is izzy! since i have to walk her to the end of the street every time she goes out, i picked her up a little rain coat while i was in the states last week. she loves it and it really does help her from getting soaked when she goes out in the rain and then tracking it in all over the house. now, if only i could find her some boots...haha!
this is what we call izzy's "crazy eyes" they're huge!

a little izzy

2008-07-10T17:39:00.000-05:00

while i was home, my sisters asked me to send them some new videos of izzy. so here ya go girls!

4th of July

2008-07-08T20:57:00.005-05:00

for the 4th of July, laura and i went to the park with the haynes and the ostertags. it was a beautiful day and we had a fabulous time! we played a great (albeit looooooong) game of wiffleball, cooked out, had a bit of a water balloon fight (ok, we really just attacked becky!) and then played a great game of kickball. and all before the afternoon thunderstorm!

i think laura was trying to tell me something when she pitched the ball straight at my face! i still go the run though, so ha! ;)
on the way to the park, we were all talking about 4th of july family traditions and becky mentioned that "it's just not the 4th of july without water." granted, she meant a pool, or a lake or something, but we decided to help her out and give her a lil water to make her holiday complete. david supplied us with some water balloons and we waited until she had NO idea and then attacked!

we had an all-american cookout. hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, dill pickles, potato chips and peach cobbler. yummmm!

after we got home, laura and i tried to take a walk in the rain, but it wasn't really raining too much. oh well. we did get a nice picture with a red, white and blue sign at a school near our house though!

self portraits in the car

2008-07-06T22:36:00.003-05:00

for some reason, my sisters and i always wind up taking crazy self portraits when we're in the car together. here are just a few:

messy games night

2008-07-06T22:29:00.002-05:00

a couple of days after i got to town, mal asked me to go with her to messy games night at church. i'm always up for that and we had a blast! we did, however, sit out when they played softball with dead fish. gross!
at the end of the evening there was a gorgeous sunset. of all the things that i miss from my time in oklahoma, blazing sunsets are at the top of the list. this one took me right back there!

baccalaureate

2008-07-06T22:23:00.003-05:00

just a few days after i arrived, mal had her baccalaureate service at school. several youth pastors from the area spoke, including TJ, from our church. here is mal with TJ and her friend, Jen.after the service, we went to panera for dinner. it was SO GOOD!!! and we took just a few silly pictures (shocking, i know!)
seriously, my family is crazy. but i do love them so much!

graduation day

2008-07-06T22:05:00.004-05:00

mal's graduation was outside on a sunday afternoon at 2:00. needless to say it was a bit warm! it was a beautiful day though.
black wasn't the best color choice, but somehow all 4 of us girls wound up wearin it!
later that evening, we went out to dinner with the youth pastor and his wife from church. we had a great time! and took a rather impressive self portrait, don't you think?
and, of course, a lovely family portrait.
after dinner we stopped by one of the other pastors' houses. they had taken in a couple of baby deer, who were two weeks old that day. they were so cute!

trip to Virginia

2008-07-06T21:41:00.002-05:00

while i was in the states, our family took a short trip to virginia. we left the morning after graduation so that we could attend a banquet for the graduating seniors at our old church. we only got to stay 3 nights, but it was so great to get to see so many people!

i just LOVE these girls! it was so great to get to see them all together!

my "stafford parents," ray and jean jones. they are so sweet and i was so happy to get to see them!

Father's Day

2008-06-28T18:39:00.004-05:00

For the first time in about 4 years I got to spend Father's Day with my dad! And to make it even better, I also got to spend it with my grandfather! It was quite a day. We decided to take a "few" pictures. Haha!

"America's Next Top Model" here we come!

2008-06-28T17:56:00.003-05:00

Mallory had a graduation party at the park one night. Since Em and I didn't really know many people there, we amused ourselves by taking lots and lots of pictures. Shocking, huh?

Dad and I got to do one of our favorite things one afternoon...we went to the shooting range!

Dad insisted upon taking pictures at the airport at 5:30 in the morning before I left.

trip to the states!

2008-06-24T12:47:00.007-05:00

on sunday i returned to guadalajara after almost 3 weeks in the US. i had a great trip and was so blessed to get to spend time with family and friends. it was my first time to visit my family since they moved to Ohio last summer and it was fun to finally get to see their new house, town, church, etc. we also got to go to Virginia for a few days, so i was able to see lots of friends there. and to top it all off, my aunt and grandfather got to come up from Miami for a few days. when i flew back the other day, i had almost 4 hours in the dallas airport, so i played around with photoshop and a few of the pictures from my trip. here are the ones i edited a bit. i'll post more pictures from my trip soon!

we took plenty of silly sister self-portraits
of course, i had to stop by wawa while we were in stafford!
em and i drove out to the lake in stafford one afternoon
my "little" sister's high school graduation. hard to believe!
since emily and i really didn't know anyone at mal's graduation party, we entertained ourselves with the camera. :)
dad and i went to the shooting range one afternoon. so much fun!
i went to chick-fil-a the very first day i was in the states (and several days after that!). it was just as wonderful as i remembered!
my sisters and i with our friend, chris, at the senior banquet we went to virginia for.

2008-05-09T20:45:00.002-05:00

every day i get to take izzy with me to school. she loves getting to play with her brother, spencer. they wear each other out! she also loves getting treats from the kids. she and spencer have learned to wait (sorta) patiently for their treats. aren't they adorable?

aguascalientes

2008-04-23T15:42:00.002-05:00

last weekend, becky, kandi and i traveled to aguascalientes (a town about 2 hours away) for a student ministry training. we arrived friday afternoon and spent the afternoon/evening shopping and hanging out with another missionary. then we spent all day saturday at the training event. it was hosted by the latin american branch of youthspecialties, whose conferences i have attended in the US a couple of times. it was a long, hot day (it's officially hot season! and there is no air conditioning to be found...) but so good. the speaker was argentinian and his spanish was very difficult to understand, but he had good powerpoint notes and that ALWAYS helps! all in all, it was a really great trip.

this eagle in downtown aguascalientes marks the very center of mexico.
we ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant. it was so cute!
i snuck a picture during one of the sessions.
becky, kandi and i before the last session of the day.

more goodbyes

2008-04-23T15:37:00.002-05:00

one of my least favorite parts of being a missionary is that we have to say goodbye to people all too often! last week, the haynes hosted a going away party for the treme's and the sorrell's, two missionary families that i have grown to love since coming to Guadalajara. both families are leaving mexico to take on new positions in other locations and even though we hate to see them leave, we are excited for the many things God has in store for them. and the really great part is that i will get to see them both when i go to richmond for debriefing conference in december!

leanne treme and i
patti sorrell (my supervisor) and i
laura, kristy and i at the party

soccer

2008-04-23T15:34:00.002-05:00

landri is playing soccer this spring and a couple of weekends ago i went to one of her games. although they didn't win this game (they lost in a "double overtime" by one goal), landri scored twice and played great!

kaitlyn and mackenzie made signs to cheer landri on!

photoshop fun

2008-04-13T13:27:00.008-05:00

i've been playing around a bit with photoshop this weekend and am pretty pleased with what i've been able to do with some of the pics i've taken recently. aren't these kids just precious?? as my sister reminded me the other day, i am incredibly lucky!

Luis

Kike

Fernanda

Isidro (he's one of the craziest kids i know, but loves to look uber serious in pictures!)

Kike and I

Karina

Janet and Karina

Gustavo

Jorgito

Josue

100th post!

2008-04-06T13:27:00.002-05:00

woohoo! even though my blogging most of the time is sporadic at best, this post makes 100 posts here. only took me about a year and a half. haha. i wanted to post something a little special and have been thinking for a few days about what to do. then, this afternoon as i walked home after church (well, after a stop at Starbucks!) i was listening to a mix on my ipod and came across the song "stars" by david crowder. and i couldn't help but be taken back to the night i first heard that song. and that is when it hit me. i would do a post about moments in my life that i will never, ever forget. some happy, some sad, but all unforgettable. i won't, however, list 100! i'll leave you with 15. in chronological order, here they are:

going outside the morning after hurricane andrew (i was 8) and being able to see forever because everything had been flattened by the storm.
sitting in math class one tuesday morning at the beginning of my senior year, watching the twin towers on a big screen tv and having another of my teachers come into the room and say "raise your hand if your parents are working in the pentagon today"
pulling up in front of Kerr dorm my freshmen year and having my car unloaded by a bunch of screaming upperclassmen and being amazed at how fast they'd gotten all that stuff out after i'd spent SO LONG putting it in!
casually mentioning to my dad in the walmart aisle a couple of weeks before my first trip to GDL "maybe i'll meet a some great missionaries and wind up going back as a journeyman." haha!
saying goodbye to the precious children i'd gotten to work with for a couple of weeks in Mexico on my first trip to GDL. they were literally pulling on my arms and legs, begging me not to leave as i tried to get in the van to leave that last day. it was then that i knew that a piece of my heart would be here forever and that i had to somehow come back.
sitting in a crater in the middle of the andes mountains in Ecuador with my first MFUGE staff, worshiping around a fire, looking at the stars, first hearing the song "stars" and just being in complete awe of our amazing God.
driving along a road in ecuador, listening to the "share the well" cd by caedmon's call, hearing the opening line to the song "the roses"..."high above the valley of quito..." looking out the bus window seeing the city of quito and realizing that, at that very moment, we were high above the valley of quito
the night before my college graduation. after an evening with all of my extended family and friends who are like family. getting back to my apartment and running around campus in the dark, dressed in black, with my roommates, another friend, and sister taking crazy pictures and jumping in the fountain. realizing it was the last time we would be together like that and trying to soak up every moment.
saying goodbye to a friend before i went to orientation the fall before i moved here and knowing that my life was about to change in every way and that everything would be different the next time we saw each other.
sitting in class at orientation, surrounded by 238 other soon-to-be missionaries, and realizing that these people, who had become like family to me, would soon be scattered all over the globe. literally.
the first time one of the kids from my small group at orientation called me "aunt kim" and realizing just how much of a family we had become. what a unique, amazing bond we all shared and how incredible this mission family really is.
hours and hours of packing for my move to GDL with my friend Cindy helping me and keeping me from really flipping out at the realization that i was MOVING to MEXICO for two YEARS in only FOUR suitcases. slightly overwhelming.
waiting and waiting and waiting the day my sisters arrived for a visit in GDL. glimpsing them through the doors going through customs and FINALLY getting to hug them after way too long.
talking to my grandmother just a couple of days before she died and having her tell me how proud she was of me and her last words to me being "i love you baby. i'll see you in heaven."
arriving in canal 58 (the neighborhood where we hold a kids club each week) and having the van surrounded by sweet kids, so excited we're there, before we can even put the van in park!

puppies, puppies everywhere!

2008-04-01T12:10:00.003-06:00

the haynes are on vacation this week so i'm house/dog sitting. it's quite a circus around here with all three dogs, but oh so much fun. they're just so sweet! i caught them taking their morning nap today. aren't they cute?!? and they just LOVE to cuddle!

2008-03-25T20:18:00.002-06:00

we had a great team of high school students spend their spring break working with us last week. it wasn't an easy week, but it certainly was good and blessed. on their last night we had a time of worship together and they sang a song that was new to me (we tend to be a bit behind on music here!) and i haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

"Ruin Me"
Jeff Johnson

Woe to me I am unclean
A sinner found in your presence
I see You seated on your throne
Exalted your glory surrounds You

Now the plans that I have made
Fail to compare
When I see your glory

Ruin my life
The plans that I've made
Ruin desires for my own selfish gain
Destroy the idols that have taken Your place
Till it's You alone I live for
You alone I live for

HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD ALMIGHTY

march just hasn't been my month!

2008-03-24T20:45:00.003-06:00

i started off the month with another round of food poisoning, somehow injured my knee last week while working with a team, and then was badly burned while cooking at the feeding center this weekend. here's hoping april's a little healthier!

Izzy

2008-03-15T22:59:00.004-06:00

Can you believe how big she's getting? What happened to the tiny little puppy I brought home in October??

Queretaro

2008-03-10T17:27:00.003-06:00

This weekend, Laura and I traveled to Queretaro to visit Garry and Lori Jones (missionary friends) before they return to the states in a couple of weeks. We had a great weekend and enjoyed lots of Golf (card game) and Farkel (dice game), not to mention some great shopping in a nearby city (San Miguel de Allende) and sightseeing. Queretaro is known for its aqueducts, which run through the heart of the city and were originally constructed to bring water to a convent.

Garry shows off his impressive digital scoreboard for Golf.
At the end of the aqueducts
View of the city...

Laura and I with Garry and Lori Jones

matt's birthday

2008-03-05T14:45:00.002-06:00

we got together monday night with the haynes and the ostertags to celebrate matt's birthday. it's always great to hang out with everyone all together and monday was no different. we certainly laughed a lot!

at some point the girls disappeared upstairs and this is what we saw when they returned:
matt blowing out the candles on his apple pie
Kandi and Becky

Central Field Retreat

2008-03-05T14:37:00.004-06:00

sweet Elena
meet Emily. she's 2 years old and was recently adopted by a missionary family from kahzakstan (sp??)

there were tons of beautiful peacocks all over the resortthe kids thought it might be fun to try to touch them. don't worry, i stopped them before they actually caught them. michael is actually jumping backward here
this was emily's first time swimming and she LOVED it!

cute little lois

she's not that spoiled.....

2008-03-05T14:28:00.003-06:00

izzy got fixed a couple of weeks ago. it didn't seem to slow her down much even though she had to wear a bandage for a week or so.she took her love of shredding tissue to a new level this week when she got ahold of a roll of paper towels.

Ladies Retreat (finally!)

2008-03-05T14:17:00.003-06:00

finally...a few more pictures from the ladies retreat. as you can see, the evolution of dance was pretty amazing. haha. it really was a great weekend and, of course, lots of fun!

Prepare to be amazed....

2008-02-11T16:50:00.001-06:00

ok, i'm pretty sure that since becoming a missionary in mexico i've done more crazy dancing in front of other people than ever before! this is just one more example. you can search for "the evolution of dance" on youtube.com to see where we got our moves. haha. we might not be great, but we sure do have fun!

just a preview...

2008-02-11T00:05:00.001-06:00

i will post more (better?) pictures soon, but wanted to give you a little preview of our mexico missionary ladies' retreat. we had a great great weekend! and laughed a lot, in case you couldn't tell!

because it's funny...

2008-02-06T23:23:00.001-06:00

a friend of mine told me to do this and it was really funny!

go to www.google.com

type in "find chuck norris"

hit the "i'm feeling lucky" button

at least its an update...

2008-02-06T21:28:00.001-06:00

i recently started dabbling in the world of digital scrapbooking. i'm by no means an expert and most of what i use is just stuff i've found online to download for free, but it's a lot of fun. here's just a little of what i've been working on.

My Family

2008-02-04T12:56:00.001-06:00

Just realized that I never actually posted this video on here after I uploaded it to youtube awhile back. This is the video I sent to my family as part of their Christmas present. Enjoy!

just for you adrian!

2008-01-30T11:29:00.000-06:00

just a few pictures of izzy in her christmas sweater from adrian

just a picture

2008-01-27T15:18:00.001-06:00

I finally got a copy of this picture when dad came to visit a couple of weeks ago. this is most of my mom's family (minus my sister) in Miami back in August before my grandmother passed away. We're quite the group, but lots of fun. It was so great to get to see everyone.

Dad comes (back) to Guadalajara!

2008-01-22T20:29:00.001-06:00

Dad recently got to come down for a visit. We had a great time celebrating my birthday, hanging out and doing a little sightseeing and shopping!

On Thursday night, we went over to David and Becky Haynes' house for my birthday dinner with the Haynes, Laura and the Ostertags. These other missionaries are truly family in a way that is hard to explain, so it was really special to get to celebrate with them!Lookin' at the candles and wondering if Becky had used the trick candles on me like she did on Laura...
luckily she only used a couple!

It's a tradition at the Haynes' house that the birthday girl (or boy) gets to use the star plate. I'm definitely family now!

Some of my favorite ladies in the city! Kandi Ostertag, Laura Smith and Becky Haynes
On Friday (my actual birthday) Dad, Laura and I went out to breakfast and then to the zoo. It was so great. We got to feed giraffes out of our hands, play with monkeys and see about a million animals. Not to mention it was a gorgeous day! Of course, Dad and I, both being OBU alums, had to get a picture with the bison. Hey Bison, go with Ka-rip!! ;)
On Friday night we went to Outback for dinner. YUMM-O! Some of the waiters came out to sing.
Laura and I with a ginormous piece of chocolate cake!
YUMM!
Saturday night we had a bunch of our Mexican friends over for enchiladas and (more) chocolate cake. Izzy looked super cute in her vest! Thanks Aunt Cindy!
Dad and I before everyone arrived.
Laura trying to push my face into the cake again!
After "la mordida." It's a Mexican tradition to shove the birthday person's face into the cake!

Izzy was pretty worn out by the time everyone left.Sunday night we went out to Canal 58. Kike and Isidrio LOVED posing for pictures!
So did my sweet Cynthia!
This is my Mexican family: Ruby, Jorge, Jorgito and Gustavo
Isn't sweet Gus just precious?!?
Izzy also loves her new vest from Aunt Adrian!
Monday afternoon we went horseback riding at the park near our house.
Tuesday we went downtown with the Ostertags, Laura, and the Haynes (minus Becky)
Thursday night we went to Chili's with everyone (minus Laura). Again, YUMM!

It was such a blessing to have my dad here. Especially for my birthday! I don't think I've ever celebrated quite as much as we did!

interesting link

2008-01-19T15:09:00.001-06:00

just an article to look at (it's more pictures than words).

http://ambersbug.gaia.com/blog/2007/11/what_is_eaten_in_one_week

Guanajuato

2007-12-28T22:00:00.000-06:00

The week before Christmas, Laura and I traveled for a few days to Leon (where we spent a week this summer for mission meeting) and Guanajuato. We had a great time shopping, sightseeing, and hanging out with another missionary family, the Brungardts.

After shopping at the leather market (sorry, no pictures) we stopped at HEB. For those of you not familiar with HEB, it is a grocery store that is very popular in Texas. We were so excited to find many of the American things we can't find here and for GREAT prices. Seriously, you have no idea the level of excitement. :) We also enjoyed the fun shopping carts. Rachel especially enjoyed getting to "drive" around the store.

Guanjuato was a beautiful city. It is an old mining town and built into the sides of the mountains. All of the buildings are really close together and so cute!
We loved all the outdoor cafes!Isn't it pretty?

I think we could have spent weeks wandering around the streets...

There are also all of these tunnels to drive through. It's definitely a unique city. Very different from any other I've visited here.
Their market is so much smaller than the one here in Guadalajara!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T15:16:00.001-06:00

2007-12-19T15:49:00.000-06:00

Can you guess who at least one of these elves is? Journeymen, you should be rather familiar with them both! ;)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1580969101

more izzy

2007-12-12T10:36:00.000-06:00

just a few more pictures of crazy izzy!

2007-12-08T14:52:00.000-06:00

Last night, the students at the middle school where I help with English classes performed a few Christmas carols that I had been teaching them. They were so excited, and did a great job! They also really enjoyed the cookies I baked for them. They were pretty impressed that I had baked them myself (most people here just don't bake. in fact, it's much more common that an oven is used for storage than anything else here!). One girl said, "homemade cookies are kind of like a window to what it means to be American, right?" haha. Merry Christmas!

Only in Mexico?!?

2007-12-05T21:50:00.000-06:00

This van has been parked on our street for quite sometime now (over a month):

It says: Psyco-therapy on wheels. Apparently you can have your session in the back of a van. Haha. Gotta love it!

Science Museum

2007-12-05T15:48:00.000-06:00

The Woods, a missionary family from another state here in Mexico is in town this week, so yesterday Missy (Wood) and I loaded up her three kids and the Haynes three kids for a field trip to the children's science museum here in town. I had never been, but it was great! Not to mention we had the whole place to ourselves!

Crazy Izzy

2007-12-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

My dog finds the craziest sleeping positions and seems to get comfortable just about anywhere she can! Notice how she likes to have her head up on anything she can use as a pillow. Can we say princess?!?

UT vs. LSU game

2007-12-05T14:38:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, David and Becky invited us over to watch the UT/LSU game. Knowing that I'm not the biggest football fan, Laura asked David if I was invited too. He replied that of course I was invited, but I had to show up barefoot and with a tooth blacked out to show my enthusiasm for the Vols. So, Laura and I both showed up barefoot, with freckles drawn on our faces, wearing pigtails and bearing some pretty cute UT football cookies! The Vols may have lost, but they played a pretty good game and we had a great time!

Laura's Birthday: Part 3

2007-12-05T14:27:00.000-06:00

On Laura's actual birthday, we had another party at the CEB. Not only did we have a couple more pinatas, we had a "bonfire" (basically we burned whatever wood we could find in a grill. haha. talk about an urban bonfire!) but had to go across the street to the park to get sticks to roast our marshmallows, funfetti cake with funfetti icing! and a "mordida." I got to be the one to mordida Laura (push her face into her cake!), but she got revenge and attacked me with some of the icing. haha.

Laura's Birthday: Part 2

2007-12-05T14:23:00.000-06:00

A few days before Laura's birthday we went over to David and Becky's house for dinner to celebrate. Becky "accidentally" put trick candles on her cake and we all got a great laugh out of that one! We also got a picture of the Haynes in front of their tree.

Laura's Birthday: Part #1

2007-12-05T14:13:00.001-06:00

A couple weekends ago we began the celebration of Laura's birthday with a party at the CEB (student center) for her and about 7 other people with November birthdays. We had a "carne asada" (cookout), pinata (of course!) and cake. We also played some silly games and had an inflatable moon bounce thingy. Haha!

izzy, izzy

2007-12-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

i seriously have the sweetest dog. she might be a bit mischevious, but how can you stay mad at a face that cute? and yes, she is spoiled rotten!

thanksgiving #2

2007-12-01T13:10:00.000-06:00

on thanksgiving day, we got together with other missionaries in the city. there was somewhere over 65 people there, and we had a great time and enjoyed some great food! here are just a few pictures:

laura and i before we ate

missionaries LOVE american food!

etel and i. i just love her!

one of my favorite MKs. she's so much fun and it was great to see her, even if just for the day!

thanksgiving #1

2007-12-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

i admit, i'm a little behind on blogging. ok...a lot behind! anyway, on the monday before thanksgiving, laura and i hosted a thanksgiving party for about 23 of our mexican friends. we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, baked macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, purple lady (jello thing...dont knock it till you try it. it's amazing!), cranberry sauce, biscuits, corn bread, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and brownies (because even if they hadn't liked anything else, we knew they LOVE brownies!). we were a lil concerned about trying to cook so much, seeing as how our oven is a lil unreliable to say the least, not to mention incredibly small! but God definitely blessed our oven that day and the entire day went off without a hitch. izzy even seemed to have fun and didn't go too crazy with all the extra people. here is a picture of some of us (several had already left by this point) enjoying the evening:

2007-11-24T09:56:00.000-06:00

sorry i've been so bad with the updates. its been a very busy month and a half or so, and i've gotten pretty behind on posting pictures. so, until i can do a proper update, just check out laura's blog: http://laurainguadalajara.blogspot.com. she has all the same pictures i do AND she's put up some good explanations. i will leave you with one picture of us from Day of the Dead. this is us enjoying some bread of the dead. yummm.

did i get a dog? or a cat?

2007-11-11T15:50:00.001-06:00

laura was flipping through a magazine the other day (a magazine in ENGLISH!) and came across this picture of a cat. no big deal, right? kinda funny. then she looked over and saw izzy on the couch... notice any similarities??? greeeeeeat, my dog thinks she is a cat. priceless. :)

this is why i love puppies...

2007-11-05T18:51:00.001-06:00

i've been house/dog sitting for david and becky while they were away this weekend. it has been so much fun to be with my puppy, their puppy, and their dog (even if a lil crazy at times!) today i came in from the school room out back and found the puppies like this. how can you not love them?!?!

2007-10-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share a quote I came across today by Oswald Chambers:

Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. ... Remain spiritually tenacious.

oldies but goodies

2007-10-27T14:27:00.000-05:00

i was messin around this morning and put together a slide show of old pics. some going back as far as high school, most of college and the summer after. enjoy!

Fiestas de Octubre Parade

2007-10-17T15:19:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, Laura and I headed downtown bright and early with our friend Adrianna for the big "Fiestas de Octubre" Parade. This marked the beginning of a month long festival known as "Fiestas de Octubre." Basically its the GDL equivalent of a state fair. I haven't gotten to check out any of the other events just yet, but I'm looking forward to it! The parade was certainly an experience. In many ways it was like your typical parade in the US - lots of little kids dancing, a marching band or two, lots of people walking, and big floats. But then there were some things that I've never seen in a parade before. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. ;)

We had to leave our house really early that morning so we could get good spots. Once we got downtown, we basically just sat for about 2 1/2 hours. So, of course, I got me in a good nap (or two or three...). Laura and Adrianna thought that was pretty funny and snapped a few pics.
Laura and Adrianna waiting for the parade to start.
There were so many people! We read that there are about 1.5 million people who attend this parade each year!
We were right by the corner one of the local stations was broadcasting from. I kept having visions of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... :)
Most every parade here starts with the city police doing stunts on their motorcycles. Now we know why they aren't so helpful with anything else around here....they're practicing their motorcycle stunts!
These were some traditional Mexican dancers. Definitely not what you'd see in a US parade, but really fun!
This is the crazy lady who normally hangs out in one of the plazas downtown. Seriously, she's crazy. She walks around w/ her guitar and tries to get you to give her money to serenade you. And it doesn't matter how many times you say no, she still sings.
I'm not sure what these guys were representing, but they had great costumes and did some pretty impressive stunts while wearing stilts.
What parade would be complete without a charter bus? Especially one decorated with balloons and two girls sitting on top. lol.
Some fun salsa dancers....
The area known as Guadalajara is actually 4 cities grown together: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tonala and Tlaquepaque. They have grown together so much that no one really knows where one ends and another begins, so it's all known as Guadalajara. I think this float was supposed to be from Tlaquepaque.
More fun dancers. Isn't the lady in the middle cute?
This might be from Tonala? I think....
How could you have a parade without a float from the paint company?
or without Star Wars characters? I think someone said that there is going to be a live performance of Stars Wars sometime soon.
Of course you also need some gas trucks to make your parade complete!
Gotta love the marching band! Haha.
More traditional Mexican costumes
Drug and alcohol abuse is a big problem here, so this was an anti-drug float.
The original Chivas soccer team! These guys are gettin up there in years... The Chivas are the Guadalajara team and just about EVERYONE here is a fan!
Pepsi was one of the parade sponsors, so of course they had a float too.
Fun dresses on horses. I was amazed at how many of these ladies were riding side saddle!
This little guy was just too cute twirlin his rope!
And finally, a float for the Pan American games that Guadalajara will host in 2011. They are so excited about this.

Izzy

2007-10-07T22:17:00.001-05:00

Izzy found a new toy tonight...

funny video

2007-10-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

for anyone who has ever tried to use their high school or college spanish, this is rather entertaining! enjoy!

Cristian

2007-10-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

this is one of my sweet kids from Canal 58, Cristian. most of the kids there just call all of us Vicky (their attempt at Becky, the name of the lady i work with), Cristian learned my name a couple of weeks ago and just loves to walk around saying it now. it's become his new favorite song. haha. enjoy!

the past few weeks...(i'm so not great with catch titles!)

2007-09-26T10:49:00.000-05:00

just some pictures from the past few weeks. enjoy!

my sweet Ulysses is getting SO BIG!

this is Fernanda. (for those of you who remember, she is the one who got hit by the car this summer). isn't she precious??

Izzy was lovin the kush ball...and her brothers and sisters!

all tuckered out on her first afternoon at home. thanks for the rope toy aunt cindy!

SO EXCITED that i found MOUNTAIN DEW at the import store!!!!! it is the first time i've ever found it anywhere here. WOOHOO!!!

Omar is a lil crazy, but so fun. he was havin a blast w/ the remnants of the pinata.

Ulysses and Cristian were lovin the moon bounce!

Gustavo is growing so fast! he's running all over the place already!

this was a couple of weeks ago before I brought Izzy home. she loves that bear!

"Noche Mexicana" at the student center. We celebrated Mexican Independence Day and had a great time!

it seems that, no matter what country you are in, this is what happens when you ask guys to take a picture for you. lol.

i'm so mexican, aren't i? ;)

this is one of those "only in mexico...." moments. some friends and i were walking to the bus stop one evening and came across this scene. a minivan pulling a trailer full of girls dressed in Mariachi costumes, dancing to loud music and tossing out pens, highlighters, tshirts and balloons to advertise a cell phone company. gotta love it!

Puppy Love!

2007-09-06T22:24:00.000-05:00

meet isabella (aka izzy). she is a 4 week old cockerspaniel puppy and in just a few short weeks she will be coming home with me! she is just too precious! she and her 6 brothers and sisters currently live with the family i work with, so i get to see her almost every day between now and then. enjoy the pics!

oh, you know she loved the being in the bowl. haha. she is very patient for pictures!
"can i get out now?"

she looks slightly mischevious here, but dont be fooled!

she does love to chew on fingers...i will definitely be getting her a good supply of chew toys and bones!
she loves to take naps, even (especially?) sprawled out on her back
she also LOVES to cuddle. she is the perfect dog!

2007-09-04T22:02:00.000-05:00

long time, no update. but whats new, right? much has happened since i last updated. we had our annual meeting of mexico missionaries in Leon at the end of July, my friend Christa from my OBU days arrived to study here in GDL for the semester at the beginning of August, we started school in the middle of the month, then i returned to the states for a couple of weeks at the end of August to visit my grandmother who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few weeks ago. it has been a busy 6 weeks or so since i last updated, but good (even if a bit trying at times). since a picture is worth a thousand words (and certainly more fun) i will just catch you up with pictures. sorry they're not really in any order. :)

i LOVE chicken and dumplins and enjoyed them so much while i was in the states!

my sweet Ulysses!
and more!

my mom and sister and i
me and my Nanny :)

mal and i w/ our nanny

i was excited to be driving in the states again!
dad and i entertained ourselves by taking self portraits

more entertainment

we had a lil trouble w/ this self portrait....i'm not really sure at all what is up w/ our faces. all i know is we laughed, a lot!

quite possibly the most redneck campaign sign i've ever seen!

so, laura and i had some friends over and they asked us to teach them to "dance country" haha. so laura taught us all the tush push. i will hopefully get a video up soon!
we also introduced them to dr. pepper. they weren't fans! so shocking!!

David and Becky's dog, Bella, had puppies! 7 of them! they are so fun and so precious!

i was SO EXCITED to go to target when i got to miami!

christa and i went out to lake chapala one day....

we also went horseback riding!

i got a lil sunburned at the lake! oops!

super cute puppies!

more of the silliness w/ the girls. we had an all out sleepover....pizza, brownies and ice cream, girl talk, chick flicks and so much more! :)

laura and i were SO EXCITED to find canned biscuits and crescent rolls and cinnamon rolls at walmart!!!

dontcha just love the pinatas? we do!
Susy and i took christa to the flower market, one of our favorite places.

we also went to the VIP theater. so nice!

we started a new ministry in El Tizate. precious kids.

personality profile

2007-07-20T21:57:00.001-05:00

during orientation this fall, we took the myers-briggs personality test. i recently took it again, and while the results were the same, they were a little more extreme. interesting how that works. anyway, if you click on this, you can take the test for free. i'd love to know how some of you score.

The Cuy Song

2007-07-19T12:15:00.001-05:00

one of the girls i worked camp in ecuador with sent this to me. its absolutely hilarious! a common site on the streets in ecuador is guinea pig being roasted. it's really not so bad either! anyway, check out this song some campers wrote this summer about their experiences. enjoy!

butterfly kisses

2007-07-17T20:49:00.003-05:00

my sister and i taught a few of "my kids" what butterfly kisses are. they loved it!

Ulysses

2007-07-17T20:23:00.000-05:00

if you've ever looked at my blog, you've more than likely seen pictures of my favorite little kids, Ulysses. here's a video we made a few weeks ago of us playing with a jump rope. watch how excited he gets! i think he demonstrates the essence of a true "happy dance" :)

RAIN!!!

2007-07-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

we had a great storm one afternoon while my sisters were here. i'm pretty excited about rainy season!

more randomness

2007-07-17T19:31:00.001-05:00

my sisters and i were being pretty silly. as was my friend wes, who was on the phone. :)

amazing chocolate cake

2007-07-17T18:17:00.000-05:00

my sisters and i really enjoyed some yummy chocolate cake while they were here! ;)

6 Months

2007-07-16T11:20:00.001-05:00

today marks 6 months to the day since i arrived in GDL. hard to believe really. in so many ways, i feel like a completely different person. God has stretched me in ways i never imagined (and in all the ways i imagined) but He's been so faithful and taught me so much. what a ride it has been! i look forward to the next 15 months!

It's been awhile!

2007-07-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

man, i'm really not very good at this blogging thing. in my defense, it's been a rather busy summer so far! but so so much fun! after the first team left in june, my aunt came to visit for a few days. then, we had another high school team. this one from shelbyville, KY. they came to Mfuge here two years ago, so it was great to get to see some old friends. AND my sisters flew in with them. we had an incredible week and i loved getting to show my sisters what exactly it is that i do here. the next week, my parents joined us and we enjoyed some family time. it was wonderful just to be with them! we also spent a few days at a beach resort in Manzanillo, which didn't hurt! ;) anyway, enjoy the pictures.

"marine versus cat"

2007-06-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

this is a video my friend and i made back in the fall. just us bein silly at the zoo!

Just a few pictures...

2007-06-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

this week i have enjoyed some much needed downtime! it's been so wonderful to spend a few days at my house not doing much and not feeling the least bit guilty about it! so far this month, we have had one high school team (who was here for 11 days!) and my aunt came to visit. both were great fun! below are a few pictures from this month so far. in a mere two days my sisters will be here to visit!!!! they are flying in with another high school team (from FBC Shelbyville, KY, a youth group that came to MFuge '05.) i'm excited to see some students that i haven't seen in awhile and to show my sisters what it is that i do down here. at the end of next week, my parents will also be arriving and we will spend our time sightseeing here in Guadalajara, and relaxing on the beach in Manzanillo! i can't wait! enjoy the pictures. i'm sure i will have even more in just a couple of weeks when things slow down again! :)

this is my sweet Ulysses. he got to go swimming that day and was so excited!
this is my friend sandy and her two daughters, Suri and Paola. she also has a son, Eli. she is so sweet and helped us so much that week!
becky and another of our friends, Mari. every saturday, mari has a kids club at her house for all the kids in her neighborhood. she is the light in a very, very dark neighborhood.
one of the precious kids we got to work with all week.
some more sweet faces!
half of the FBC Powell group, with the church members we worked with.
becky and i drinking our "waters" (they make juices out of different fruits and call is "water of ______") out of plastic bags. this is normal here!
this is my favorite guy at my favorite taco stand. he loves to practice his english when we come. here, he is taking a bite out of a cow eye. high school boys are pretty adventurous and my taco stand serves just about every part of the cow. so, they ordered an eyeball (along with tongue and udder). they were a little grossed out at first, so my friend here showed them how to do it. lol. two of the guys tried it as well. yuck!
my aunt came to visit last weekend! we took a double decker bus tour. such a great way to see the city...and get a tan!
we also did some shopping. i was excited about my new beach hat!
there was a pretty sweet mural at one of the restaurants we ate at.
shocking, i know, but i was bein a little silly with the camera. :)
we ate at a place called Italiani's. it's not quite olive garden, but it's the closest thing we've got and the cheesecake was amazing!

we also bought matching sandals. i picked them out and then she decided she needed to try them on as well. once she felt how comfy they are, she had to have some too!
after my aunt left, i decided to tackle a project i've been wanting to do for awhile...painting my room. i waited until 11:00 at night to start and quickly realized that may not have been the best idea....
painting really isn't much fun by yourself! i got bored pretty quickly!i finally finished the next day and was SOOO excited! i love it and it looks great!

more lyrics...

2007-06-20T01:31:00.001-05:00

i happened across this song today and it really spoke to me. as much as i love being here, and as great as things seem to be going most of the time, there are days when it is really, really hard to be here. especially with so much going on at home. anyway, this song was just a really great reminder. giving our lives to God is not a one time thing, it's a daily choice. and even though i mess up a lot, it's the choice i want to make.

"Here's My Life" - BarlowGirl

once again i said my goodbyes
to those i love most
my heart feels that familiar pain
as i long for hope
cause this road is hard
when i feel so far

Chorus:
And God i'm crying out tonight
cause i've givin you my life
but im tired and im missing whats behind
so once more heres my life

on the day that you called my name
all that i knew changed
I found when i said yes
that i
would never be the same
though the call is hard
you are worth it all

Chorus
and God Im crying out tonight
cause ive givin you my life
but im tired and im missing whats behind
so once more....

even when the tears are falling
when i find i fear the calling you
remind me, (yeah)
words you've spoken over my life
promises ive yet to see
you come for me. (yeah yeah)

(you come for me) (yeah) (you come for me)

Chorus:
And God i'm crying out tonight
cause i've givin you my life
but im tired and im missing whats behind
so once more heres my life

To the "Western Europe plus Mexico" Posse :)

2007-05-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

The picture below flashed across my computer today (I have a random pictures screensaver) and made me smile. These girls (plus the lovely Carrie Stallings who is, sadly, missing from this picture) are incredible and I miss them greatly. Some of us met at the Journeyman conference and then went through orientation together. Those 7 or 8 weeks were some of the hardest, most intense, most wonderful, most exciting, scariest, most fun weeks ever. We laughed together, cried together, made many trips to Chick-fil-a, Starbucks, Borders, Target and even to a tattoo parlor together. We played late night games of Taboo, Sardines and Mafia. We drank lots of coffee, were late to meetings, and played crazy games to stay awake during some of our classes. These girls mean the world to me, even though they are half a world away (they're all in Western Europe). This picture was taken the night before commissioning. It was absolutely FREEZING, but we figured a picture in the fountain was probably quite necessary (though I'm not so sure why!). Anyway, this one's for you girls. I love you (and the priceless looks on our faces!)!

2007-05-17T20:50:00.000-05:00

just somethin i read and liked. enjoy!

A Franciscan Benediction...
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Bella

2007-05-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

in other, less eventful news, david and becky's dog, bella, has been staying with us this week while they are on vacation. she really seems to love our red couch. but even more, the pillows i made to go on it. she's not spoiled at all! ;)

2007-05-17T20:01:00.000-05:00

well, the past few days have certainly been eventful to say the least! on sunday, laura, her friend briana (from the states), jorge, ceci and i went to a street market after church. while there, we encountered a squirrel in a cage. as we looked at it and tried to play with it, the lady at the table behind the cage told us she would let us take it out and take pictures with it for only 10 pesos (about $1). of course we paid her and promptly took it out! she put it on my shoulder and i was a little freaked out, but it was funny.

then she put it on jorge's shoulder. i guess this made it a lil nervous because it quickly relieved itself all over his shoulder! i think we all thought it was much funnier than jorge!

monday and tuesday weren't too exciting. i taught on monday, and we went to the mall with our friend adrianna. adrianna is a teacher and had off in honor of "dia de los maestros" (teacher's day).

yesterday was when the really crazy stuff started....it all began with this amazing mullet:

we did a bunch of shopping for the team coming on saturday. on our way back to the student center to drop off all of the groceries, we had an "incident" with a man on a motorbike. we were parked at a redlight and he was driving down the sidewalk. well, he hit a curb and went flying over his handlebars....right into the side of the van! luckily he was fine and got right up and walked away. nothing hurt but his pride!

later that evening, we were on our way home. there was a lot of traffic and i was driving the ginormous 15 passenger van. the truck in front of me stopped suddenly and, with great force, i rear-ended him. not a happy moment. laura and i really had no idea what to do, so we moved both vehicles to the shoulder and called another missionary. he helped us locate the number for the insurance man, who arrived about 30 minutes later. also, another missionary showed up to help us out. everything worked out fine, and the insurance man wrote out a check for the man whose truck i hit.

we decided that a day like yesterday called for some comfort food, so on our way home, we went by KFC. it really was the perfect ending to such a day....when we ordered at the drive-thru, they told us they were out of CHICKEN! how does that even happen? do they realize what the "C" in KFC stands for?!?

today, we decided to make some yummy chicken-broccoli-cheese-rice casserole. we picked up "half a chicken" at the grocery store, thinking it would contain just the meat parts. we were oh so WRONG! the pictures below depict our reaction. as does the video in my last post.

chicken feet

2007-05-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

just another "slice of life" in mexico...

2007-05-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

ok, these pictures are way out of order, but it's late and i don't feel like rearranging them! :)
i wish this picture were less blurry! this is me and my sweet Ulysses. i try not to have favorites, but if i did, he would be one of them!
gotta love the fact that we were still playing in the street at 10:15 at night and this was considered perfectly normal!
these guys keep things interesting for me when i'm out in canal 58!
on monday, we had a class on "paint talks." basically, you have a painting started and finish it while telling a story. it's pretty cool and great here in mexico where most people are visual learners. here is one of my paintings after i gave a talk and completed it.
laura and i passed this sign the other day while out exploring (and trying to find the shoe mall, which we did!) we weren't quite sure what to think, except that it has got to be the craziest road sign ever!
mexicans LOVE their hot dogs! it's so funny! this is only part of the vast selection at our local grocery store :)
my sweet Ulysses and the marshmallow flower for his mom. these flowers are popular gifts for anything, so we made them tonight with the kids to give to their moms for mother's day (which was celebrated today here in mexico)
Paola (from Canal 58) and I at the going away party for Jim and Peggy Stokes on sunday
laura and i w/ paola and jorgito on the giant inflatable slide at the party
more of my sweet ulysses
my camera was not cooperating, so i couldn't get a good picture of these two smiling. but they were grinning and laughing like crazy while i was pushing them on these swings. they loved them!
leanne working on one of her paintings at our paint talk class
these trees are blooming all over the place right now. i love them!
me and a sweet baby at the party. if you happen to remember the picture i posted in february of me and a baby wearing a santa hat, this is the same baby
laura, etel and i. etel is one of our favorite friends here. she is so kind and an AMAZING cook!
more of me playing with the kids at the party
of course, laura and i had to get a lil time in on the merry go round!
becky giving a paint talk in canal 58 tonight. she did a great job!

2007-05-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

so, one day last week, i lost my burt's beeswax. luckily, i found it the next day. unfortunately, bella (david and becky's dog) got to it first. this was the result. haha! thank goodness i've got a few backup!

my parents recently sent me a few things, including this amazing shirt. i know a couple of my texas friends will just love it ;)

i got my haircut today for the first time here. i was a bit concerned because i've heard quite the horror story! luckily things worked out fine and it looks pretty good. :)

2007-05-01T16:33:00.000-05:00

so, laura and i recently ventured over to Chili's for a celebration dinner. we celebrated her 6 months on the field and my 3 months. good times. i was really hoping for some mango tea, but had to settle for strawberry lemonade. which was still verrrrrrrry good!

on thursday night, i took some cupcakes out to Canal 58. my kids loved them! so much that they wore the remnants for the rest of the evening!
we also passed out balls in celebration of "dia de los ninos" these girls had lots of fun decorating them. funny story...the one on the left actually bit my nose last week. it was crazy! i was holding her and talking to another kid and all of a sudden she just leaned in and bit the end of my nose! of course, i put her down VERY quickly! lol
these are some of the older kids in canal 58. so sweet and so much fun!
on saturdays, we sometimes go to david and becky's church where there is a feeding center. on average, they feed 35-40 kids each saturday. this week there were 85! i had a lot of fun playing with this little girl. don't let her sweet face fool you though, she was trouble!

this is her cousin. there were about 8 of them that were related and they were all a lot of fun!
more cousins!
after the feeding center, we went out to Santa Fe which is an area i first got to visit when i was here with mfuge in 2005. this is francisco and luz and their son, max. i met them that summer, just a month or so before their wedding. when i was here in jan. 06 luz was pregnant, and now they have a beautiful family!
it was so fun to finally meet max! isn't he a cutie?? just look at those eyes!
this is my friend, angeles, and i. we also met when i was here with mfuge in 2005. we don't get to hang out as often as i would like, but she is a sweet friend and i really enjoy it when we do get to hang out!in other, random news, we lost water in our house on friday. we thought it was because we paid our water bill a couple of days late, but it turned out that our entire neighborhood was without water. things got interesting, but it finally came back on late last night. i don't think i've ever enjoyed a shower as much as i did this morning!!

Aqui Estoy (Here I Am)

2007-04-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

On Thursday nights, I have the privilege of going to an area called Canal 58 to work with the kids there. David and Becky lead a Bible study for adults, and before I start the kids lesson, we go inside and sing with them. Below are the lyrics to one of the songs we sing, at least once, every week. I did my best to translate it, but it's not exact and definitely better is Spanish. If you get a chance, look it up on itunes and listen to it. It's a powerful song and the prayer of my heart and of so many of you that I know.

Aqui Estoy
Jesus Adrian Romero

No quiero perder, las cosas que me quedan por hacer
(I don't want to miss, the things You have for me)
las cosas que me quedan por vivir en ti
(the things You have for me to live in You)
No quiero olvidar
(I dont' want to forget)
Las cosas que planeaste para mi
(the things You have planned for me)
Los sueños que me diste lograre por ti
(the dreams You gave me, I will achieve for You)

CORO:
No tienes que buscar a nadie mas yo quiero ir
(You don't have to look for anyone else, I want to go)
aqui esta mi tiempo aqui estan mis horas
(Here is my time, here are my hours)
Aqui estoy yo
(Here I am)
Mi vida es para ti y en ti la quiero yo invertir
(My life is for You and in You I want to be)
Aqui estan mis manos, aqui esta mi voz
(Here are my hands, here is my voice)
"Aqui estoy yo"
(Here I am)

Listo quiero estar,
(I want to be ready)
los dones que me diste voy a usar
(The talents You gave me, I will use)
los años que me has dado vivire por ti.
(You have given me my years to live for you)
Voy a conquistar la tierra que me diste
(I am going to conquer the earth that You give me)
y sin dudar hare lo que me pidas
(and without doubt, I will do what You ask of me)
vivire por ti
(I will live for You)

CORO:
No tienes que buscar a nadie mas yo quiero ir
(You don't have to look for anyone else, I want to go)
aqui esta mi tiempo aqui estan mis horas
(Here is my time, here are my hours)
Aqui estoy yo
(Here I am)
Mi vida es para ti y en ti la quiero yo invertir
(My life is for You and in You I want to be)
Aqui estan mis manos, aqui esta mi voz
(Here are my hands, here is my voice)
"Aqui estoy yo"
(Here I am)

Aqui estoy yo
(Here I am)
Aqui estoy yo
(Here I am)

smiles

2007-04-22T14:29:00.000-05:00

Just a few things that have made me smile this weekend:

seeing some kids with curly fries at the mall on friday. we're not sure where they got them, but laura and i were both considering trying to swipe one from them as they passed us.

we found mint chocolate chip ice cream at Baskin Robbins!!! this may sound like a small thing, but as with curly fries, it's really exciting to find a favorite food from home. the ice cream was by far, more exciting than the curly fries though, as it is our favorite flavor.

while looking for chicken in the meat section at walmart, i spied an entire package of chicken feet. i'm talking at least 12 or 14 feet in a package. and there were many packages. that's a lot of chickens that had to give their lives!!

our cab driver on the way from walmart had tshirt seat covers (by which i mean he had tshirts over the seats in his car as seat covers). this made laura and i both chuckle a bit to ourselves...we refrained from laughing aloud so as not to offend him, seeing as he wasn't the friendliest guy to begin with.

last night we had some of our mexican friends over for a "girls night." this involved pizza, sodas, brownies, ice cream, chick flicks, and DDR (if you're not familiar with DDR, you should be!) when Bere told me that she would leave the DDR with us for a few days i did a happy dance. the girls had never seen such a thing and asked me to teach them what exactly a true happy dance includes. this made me laugh, a lot...especially when they went all over the living room practicing! ;)

today laura and i became good friends with google earth. if we have your address, we probably tried to spy on you. we also scoped out some of our favorite places (like target, chick-fil-a, starbucks) and made a virtual sonic stop! we tried to put in our order, but we're still waiting for the carhop to deliver.