Noche de Chili y Pay this week!

Saturday morning horse back ride last week.

Saturday Softball. Tadi likes to carry his cup by the straw. :)

Sunday Soccer. Watching from Jodi's porch.

Luisa playing with the kittens on the porch.

Monday at Wulf's, Tadi doing the superman exercise with Garret. (P.E. homework)

More exercising with Garret, Tuesday afternoon.

Tadi sorted colors for me.  Not for very long, but he visibly understood what he was doing.  I was super excited because we've tried it before with other objects and he's never sorted enough correctly for me to be sure he got the concept. He didn't sort everything in those piles though. :)

Tadi spent Wednesday morning watching Limon, Pablo, and Adam bale sorgum.

Tadi all ready for bed.

Friday afternoon, Ann helped me saddle up Conde and give Tadi another ride.

The peach pie I made for the annual "Noche de Chili y Pay" Friday night.  It didn't win. :) Marce's strawberry cheesecake pie won! (I don't think she'd made pie before.)

Pau did an impromptu photo shoot for Tadi and I Friday evening while the judges were judging.

Birthday party for Mani (holding balloon).  His birthday is in February, but he was longing for a party so badly that they gave him one today.  He is four years old.  He is the newest child here at CVE and he probably never had a party before.  He was a champion birthday boy, too.

Tadeo trying to figure out his blow toy.

Mani with his cake and guests.

On the way to cafe Sed where I am writing this post.  We gave Angela and her three girls a ride, so Tadi got to sit in the back (which he loves).

Please pray for Keyla, for Tadi's continued learning and progress physically, mentally, SPIRITUALLY, and verbally, and for me for wisdom, patience, and love.  Also, please pray I can feel further direction (in God's perfect time) for how long I should be here at CVE. 

We've had a Good Week

 Last Saturday's softball game.

Tadi and I usually go out and watch softball on Saturday afternoons.

 After breakfast, shower, stretches, toys, and reading a book, Tadi and I often join the kinder class for recess.  This particular day they were pretending to be lions with jump rope tails.  Tadi felt left out so I made him one too out of yarn.

After kinder class recess, we have about an hour of unscheduled time before PE class which is the half-hour before lunch.  Different grades different days, but always a PE class and Tadi likes to watch them play.  Then eat lunch, diaper change...

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons we head out to Duane and Ann's for the afternoon. Tadi sometimes sits outside and watches the animals in the pasture. Here Tori and he look out the window at a cow and her calf.  I try to keep whichever boys are home on task, play with Tori and Tadi, and sometimes get a little housework done.  Tuesday evenings we stay for supper which is really nice.

After breakfast while I was doing dishes, Tadi got to watch the kids playing soccer at recess.

Another fun activity we've discovered - these scooter seat things. Tadi can sit or lay on his back and push with his legs or lay on his stomach and pull with his arms. We can even both sit back to back and me pull him around with my feet, but that tires me out pretty quick! :)

Wednesday afternoon, Tadi watched a slideshow of last month's pictures while I folded laundry. In the future, Melody will hopefully be taking Tadi for me on Wednesday afternoons, but this week she was home in Tecate.  He watched pictures and then since it started to rain we played a version of hide and seek.

 Thursday, between Kinder recess and PE class, Tadi and I visited the girls' house, so that Marce could show me how she makes caldo de papas (potato soup).  Tadi and Mani played cars together.  You can probably see that his left arm has a lot of motion, but his right arm is weak.

Thursday afternoon, Tadi convinced "Mom" to put him on Tori's tricycle.  They had fun.  

Tadi's vocabulary consists of many names including "Mom" (which he uses for most of his caretakers), "mira" (look), "ella" (her), some other words that aren't so clear, pointing, sounds, and full sentences of gibberish.

Friday morning, at a Christmas planning meeting, we gave Ann a mini surprise birthday party.  Tori and Mili got to wear crowns too.

Please continue to pray for Keyla and her caretakers. It is an emotional roller coaster. Since two weeks ago they have said goodbye multiple times and been in the hospital for what they thought was the end and now have arrived back home again.  God's plan is perfect, but not always easily understood.

Also, the last I heard on Fede was that he was in the hospital with another infection and somewhat discouraged.

God's blessings to each of you!

Getting a Better Schedule

Sorry for the lack of photos this week.  My camera battery is dying and I'm awaiting my charger from home. :)

Sunday evening, Keyla started having convulsions and we thought it was the end, but they stopped in the night and she has been unresponsive since.  Jodi, Kendra, Nicole and Keyla went to Hermosillo Monday morning.  Geo took Jodi's parents, Fred and Pat, later in the day. Osi and Jorge were staying with Joel and Steph until Thursday when Fred and Pat came back from Hermosillo.  From Sunday through Thursday I stayed at the house with Tadi since no one else was there.

Kendra had showed me Tadi's stretches on Friday, so we have been doing those this week along with reading books and playing with some toys as therapy for his right arm.  As part of our better schedule, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoon, we went out to the Wulf's and I babysat for a few hours. It has been nice to have not quite so much freetime.  Wednesday, Melody Cervantes watched Tadi for me in the afternoon.  I got to visit a family that we spent quite a bit of time with when we lived here.  It was special to catch up on things and they were very excited to see me.

Yesterday afternoon (Friday), Tadi got his hand in a cactus, a kind that has lots of tiny "stickers." We just had to pull them out with a tweezers or our fingers.  Then we went to the church and I played piano for awhile.  In the evening we went to Joe and Denise's for a campfire with Dayton and Kathy, Madison, and Austin Kupferschmid, and Joe and Denise's company from Bluffton, Joel and Erin, Brett, and Emily Drayer. The campfire was really nice as we enjoyed snacks and visiting and singing. My family knows the Drayers, so when they arrived on Thursday, it was a pleasant surprise.

This morning, Tadi and I came into the Cafe.  There are a lot of people around Magdalena this past week and the coming because of the festival for their saint, San Fransisco.  We appreciate prayers for safety for us and others in the town and also for the spiritual awakening of the many who come to celebrate.

  Manny's (Emmanuel) favorite past time is riding his bike.  He is CVE's newest child and Marce takes care of him at the girls' house.  

With no one else at the house the beginning of the week, Tadi and I enjoyed some inside time.  Here we are playing with blocks and toy animals.

Some of you may have heard of the Slagel Meats benefit supper for CVE or attended it.  Denver brought this banner back from Illinois this week and it is hanging in the dining room on the fireplace mantle.  I enjoyed reading the many notes from folks in central Illinois.

Please continue to pray for Keyla.  She has almost won the victory!  Pray for her caretakers who will need to accept and adjust to the change after battling with her for nine months.  Pray for Tadi that God would work in His heart and for me that I could be patient and loving.  

Much love and prayers to you all!  God bless!