old pictures

my sister sent me these picture last night and they made me smile :) they were taken at Mal's band concert in December. here we are w/ the director. we've all three been lucky enough to be under his direction and he certainly deserved the award he won that night for teacher of the year!


and what evening would be complete without pictures like this?!? typical for us!

this made me laugh :)

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns. -- Craig, age 9

one more:

this little girl was SO excited to see me again and begged me not to leave! she was thrilled when i told her i live here now and would be back. :) God is so sweet to remind me why I'm here in moments like this.

two posts in less than a week!

just got this picture from one of the members of the team that was recently here. this is Dave, Betty, and I with Sandra. We worked with Sandra a little over a year ago when we came down to Guadalajara on a short term trip. one of the best things about this team coming was that several of the members were people I came down with last year!

Ok, I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted, but things have been pretty crazy! Here's a recap (in pictures) of some of what I've been up to:

Earlier this month, we had a ladies retreat here in Guadalajara. It was a great time of fellowship and refreshment (as well as a lot of fun!!)!

The ladies that came down to lead the retreat brought lots of fun things that we can't find here. Goldfish were one of Laura and I's favorites!! We were so excited!

We were really excited about the things we "won" playing The Price Is Right...though some said we had an unfair advantage having only recently left the states! ;)

Bowden and I had a great time horseback riding at the park by my house a couple of weeks ago and it cost less than $5 for an hour!

Laura and I are having a great time exploring the city.

A team from Cassville, MO came down. It was great to see old friends, and my uncle got to come with them!

Of course, the babies and little kids are my favorite part of going out to visit here! Don’t you just love the Santa hat? :)

Laura and I drove for the first time this week! Mexican driving is lots of fun and we both did pretty well, but watch out!

So, I realize it's now Thursday night, last weekend was awhile ago and we are fast approaching a new one, but I still thought I'd post a few pictures. Though my roomie, Laura, was, sadly, gone all weekend (she said she had a "work retreat" at the beach...but I didn't see any pictures of work...), I wound up with a pretty busy, pretty fun weekend! Saturday evening I got to go to a welcome back party for the missionary family I am working with (they just returned to Mexico a couple of weeks ago after 7 months in the States). It was hosted by one of the churches they've worked with and I had a great time getting to know some of their friends and other members of the church. Everyone was so friendly and, like any good church function, they had a great potluck! However, I did, accidentally wind up eating tongue (cow tongue that is)! I was being brave and trying different things without asking what they were and someone pointed at a pot and said it looked good. Not always such a good idea to not ask what it is...even if it looks like innocent meat! When I told Becky (the missionary I work with) that it was really good and asked if she'd tried it, she just started laughing. That was when I knew I was in trouble! Oh well, life here is always an adventure!

Sunday night I got to go with the same family to a Superbowl party at their neighbor's house. It was a blast and felt almost like I was at home. Most of the people there spoke at least a little bit of english and someone had just returned from a trip to Chicago, so there were tons of actual "Superbowl" decorations. The only difference was that the game was broadcast in spanish and we didn't get any of the fun superbowl commercials. Oh well. We did have some other entertainment. These three little boys kept us rather entertained during commercial breaks by dancing and singing for most of the evening!

Monday was a holiday here (something having to do with the constitution, I'm not sure what exactly) and everyone had off. So, that meant we were off to another party! The same church that had the party Saturday night had a cookout on Monday. We went out to someone's "hacienda" (a ranch-type weekend home outside town) and played soccer, grilled hamburgers and basically just hung out and enjoyed the day. It was great and I, again, really enjoyed getting to talk to the people there. They are a really great group! Here are a few pics of the place we were at:

the setting sun looked so gorgeous on the hills!

Landri and I in the van getting ready to go home.

Though I haven't been to any more parties, this week has been good. The kids "experimented" with balloons to learn about electricity the other day:

Later that afternoon, Laura and I stopped by and they were selling "bolis" (popsicles). Here they are, working hard!

This weekend we have a women's retreat for all the missionaries in central Mexico. It's being held here in Guadalajara and led by some ladies from David and Becky's home church. It should be a great weekend and I'm looking forward to getting to know some of the other missionaries in our region. Also, on Saturday a group from my aunt and uncle's church in Missouri is arriving. This is the group I came down with last year when I decided to pursue the Journeyman job. I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, including my uncle! I'm planning to spend the majority of the week with them and can't wait! I hope everyone is doing well. I'd love to hear from you all!

i just came across this picture (somehow i missed it when i looked at our pics from Christmas before):

this makes me laugh! if we ever decide to record a rap album together maybe we could use this as our album cover "simpson sista gansta christmas" or something maybe...or maybe not. regardless, it makes me laugh and miss my sisters. they are so much fun and i'm blessed to have sisters who are also some of my best friends!

Barney-dog

So, my new friend Barney-dog is still around! If you're wondering where we got the name, I don't really know. It somehow just seemed appropriate for a dog like him. My dad asked if it was because he displays characteristics similar to those of Barney Fife, which he does now that Dad mentions it... ;) Anyway, we're having lots of fun w/ him and he seems to be enjoying the food we put out for him! Here are a few more pics of him:







Also, today was my first day actually teaching. Everything went great! Luckily for me, the kids still think I'm cool and it's fun to have me teach them instead of their mom. We'll see how long that lasts, but it works for now! :)