I thought I would post again telling more about our week. We took a group of students from a christian school in Maine. They were the best group of young people we've taken!
The drive to the border was only supposed to take 8 hours but took about 12...Calixto could not stay awake, we pulled over twice for some much needed sleep! We had plenty of spare time so it worked out ok.
We arrived in Tamazunchale Sat evening. Sunday morning we went to a perspective new mission about an hour into the mountains. We were served a Sunday morning delicacy of mutton...which to put it mildly is not my favorite!! I did eat some with lots of salsa! It was there that Catherine gave away her new baby doll to a little girl. We returned to the Tamaz. church for their 20th anniversary service. This lasted 5 hours!! From noon until 5pm! It was great though, lots of praise and lots of clapping!
Mon-thur we spent in the village of Jalpa which is 3 hours into the mountains through some pretty rough terrain. We did get stuck twice just as we entered the town, but were able to get out pretty quickly. The team poured columns for the new church building and built 13 pews. Thanks to the templates my dad left we were able to get those done rather quickly and efficiently! We did have to tweek the plans a bit but they turned out nicely.
Jalpa is quite the remote place! As you can see in the pix below our bathing took place at the river. The "
bathroom" was not very desireable, that's all I'll say about that! The kids handled it all very well. We slept ok at night although we were awakened every few hours by a cat in heat. When she stopped the roosters started crowing. Roosters in Mx don't wait until dawn...they start crowing in rapid succession at 2 in the morning. unfortunately I forgot to bring ear plugs! We had 2 services in Jalpa. We showed a movie each night and many people came forward for prayer. The prayer time lasted about an hour each night!
Catherine spent a lot of time playing with new friends and making tortillas with the women in the kitchen area. Everyone loved her and they were amazed by her hair, they couldn't quit touching it. One man even thought it was a wig!! Christopher helped return the empty buckets while pouring cement. He enjoyed spending time in the river! He always has fun playing soccer with friends in Tamaz. Of course they play on a steep incline in front of the church with a plastic bottle in lieu of an actual ball!
There is a lot more I could write but, that is all for now. Thanks for your prayers!
Calixto and I put together Catherine's kitchen until 1 am!
These are the fleece blankets I made. I made 8 of them all together.
Chessie enjoying her limited time indoors!! Yes, Calixto did get new socks for Christmas!!
Isn't this a cute doll? Calixto thinks it is ugly, it reminds him of a marionette.
other part of livingroom and another lump on the couch.
This is part of the livingroom don't mind the lump on the couch.
The diningroom from the livingroom
this is the diningroom from the kitchen
This is our new addition to the family! Her name is Chessie, she is a yellow lab.
I had to give her a bath to get rid of all her fleas! She did a great job and didn't fuss any!
I can't believe Calixto finally gave in and got us a pet. He has been very anti-pet! He secretly bought her a few weeks ago and picked her up today. He surprised the kids and then surprised me with her. She is so sweet right now...I hope she stays that way! I know we have a lot of work ahead of us...but, what fun!!!
We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Dallas. Christopher is reading to "Lala", Calixto's grandmother. She is just 6 mos younger than Mimi. Her mother lived until 100!
Dec 1st, it was a nice chilly night to go to the Christmas parade. I find it is difficult to get a hat over Catherine's hair!! Maybe ear muffs would be a better idea!
Dec 2nd...and yes, another watermelon. This was the last official one of our so called patch, it even survived a few frosty nights!
Trying to get photos by the tree...how frustrating of a task that was!! You can see some of my cross stitch ornaments in the background. The cross stitch was easy but sewing a 4" straight line on the sewing machine was quite horrendous...Isn't that pitiful!
Our tree (sorry the quality of the pic is not so good) I decided to do a red and white tree this year. The "Lowe's" tree is getting a bit dry...not drinking much water...but I think it will make it through Christmas this year!
Here we are hiking to the church in Jalpa. The area is beautiful! Notice Catherine's butterfly back pack!!
This is a coffee plant (or tree?) Christopher is showing some of the ripe beans
Catherine had fun with the ladies in the kitchen. This is a tortilla she made by hand!
We were able to make 13 benches. We had to tweek the plans a bit, but they came out pretty nicely!
Catherine sharing her toys during a church service
This is how we bathed for the 3 days in Jalpa. The kids loved it!
This is the new church in Jalpa. The team poured the columns. This like most village churches is built into the side of a mountain.
This is looking from the top of Jalpa where the church is located. You can see the rest of the town below. You can see part of the road (if you can call it that) straight ahead on the mountain.
The ladies are measuring flour to make bread for morning pastries. Catherine snuck a piece of dough!
Ok this is part of my kitchen. I am trying picaso and I can't figure out how to post more than one picture to a post 
My first update is our new van. I am so excited. It is a 2005 used van so I got a good deal. It only had 27,000 miles on it compared to my other van which had 202,000. The other van was dieing. It has had a hard time of it these last 7 months. It did it's job well though. 
This is my new furniture. In the garage waiting to come in. It is a cranberry color. This picture makes it look rather bright. it isn't quite that bright. It is called cardinal red.
This is the livingroom. Brenda note the new warm paint color. It is actually a little darker than it looks.
This is the kitchen from the diningroom. That is not a doorway it is where the fridge was.
This is the diningroom with the piano sitting in the middle.
This is the kitchen from the livingroom. Yay it has hardwood floors too........
