For those of you in the Northeast, I wanted to show you that we get cold weather too! This is the frost we woke up to the other day. Catherine thought it was snow! It gets cold here but then the next day it is in the 60-70's...like today!

We finally have a mantel on which to hang our stockings. Unfortunately, we have no stocking holders, so I taped them up. Any suggestions on the brick on the back of the fireplace. I think it looks to busy with the different tiles on the facing and floor so I thought about painting the inside bricks...any opinions?

Since I've not posted for a while I thought I would post an update:
Praise God for his faithfulness...Calixto got a big landscaping contract for a bank just when our cash flow came to an abrupt end! At the same time he received a lot of calls for yard clean-up since the leaves have finally fallen. We pray that he will continue to get work over the next few months before Spring officially starts. He will be preaching this Sunday and has preached several times at different churches since leaving Crossroads.
Christopher is officially on Christmas break until Jan 7th. He was home sick for the past 2 days and enjoyed that time at home. He did finish his homework and doesn't have any make-up work looming over his head over break. He currently has two school friends over and is enjoying his afternoon with them. Basketball starts Jan 5th but has been practicing for the past few weeks, he is excited about the start of the season!
Catherine was tested for Kindergarten yesterday at school, she did great and will do fine according to the Dean. She is very excited about going to school! This morning she made a bell out of a glass coke bottle with a toy tied to it with string, she then got a red box, like a chineses take-out box, put a slot in the top. That way she could ring the bell and people would put their extra dollars in it for her! Just like the Salvation Army bell ringers. I thought that was very inventive!!
As for me I am tutoring a student in The spelling/writing/reading curriculum we use at school. This little boy has been a challenge and the work is going pretty slowly. My heart goes out to him as his dad died suddenly right before Christmas 2 years ago. I think his grief has really prevented him from succeeding in school. I have many projects around the house but so far have been pretty unmotivated to do them. My hope is to get to them in January.
We still have not settled into a church home! Over the summer we consistently attended a Baptist church 15 min outside of Longview but, feel this is not where we are to join. We have since gone to a Spanish church, where they do translation through headsets; a historic, country church (where Calixto will preach this Sun); and a Cowboy church that meets in a barn! A client of Calixto's was preching so we went to hear him. Many of you may not have heard of Cowboy church but, I guess it is a denomination of sorts, there are several of them around and this is a start-up church in this area.
We really miss our friends from Crossroads and realize we gave up a lot by leaving! But, we know that we did the right thing and that God led us to leave...doing the right thing is not often easy! We have grieved quite a bit over the past few months! We covet your prayers on this matter!!
After Christmas we are off to Tamazunchale to meet with the Pastors for some visitation time and planning for the future. That's all for now...hope your pre-Christmas plans are going well!