Is it almost Christmas?

I feel like the last month has flown by...

Play dough fun in the classroom.

The second weekend of December, I babysat for the Ramirez household.

Timi

Gisel

Lucy

Lucy, again. :)

Juana

Timi with his beloved dump truck.

Swinging. Alicia is standing by the tree. She is the oldest.

Timi at the supper table.

Sunday morning I figured out how to keep Juana and Timi quiet...for a little while. At least they weren't running through the house screaming like they were Saturday morning.

Sitting on my bed. Timi with the ipad and Juana drawing in my notebook.

We all survived! :)

Last Days of School before break

Tadeo loves dry-erase markers.

Chui and Luisa (and the teacher) put together this solar system puzzle. They were very tired of it by the end, but at least they look happy for the picture. :)

Christmas Party

We had three Santas, one Mrs. Claus, two elves, and a gift.

Tadeo ran the music for musical chairs.

Posed with the Santa pinata. Tadeo was terrified of the pinata.

Opening gifts.

Please pray for my trip to Illinois. I leave Tucson on the 22nd and return to Mexico on January 5th.

Thanks be to God for His great love, His perfect plan, and His most wonderful gift... Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Autumn Adventures

Cafe Sed's 5th anniversary party!

Face painting booth.

Sunday evening silliness...

Luisa and Chui showing off their completed puzzle.

Tadeo's sharp new haircut.

Puzzles with Tori on a no-school day.

Revolution Day parade - November 20th. Jaqui and I took the kindergartners in to town to watch it.

Flag escort in the parade.

Tadeo looked so handsome in his new sweatshirt I had to take a picture.

Wagon ride during softball.

The kids did puzzles today. High-five! They did a good job.

Tadeo with an earbud. He wanted to use them.

So...lots of random pictures...It's been a busy November.

For thanksgiving, all of us here at CVE wrote what we were thankful for on cut-outs of our hands to be used as leaves on a "thankful tree." 

I am thankful... 

for the mercy of God

for the blessing of loving and being loved

for the support and prayers of all my friends and family

for colors, beauty, nature, mountains, health, joy, and life

for a Saviour

Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving...

Joy Moments in Teaching

A week ago Friday, Jackie was sick, so I had two of her students for the day, the twins - Santiago and Corina. We learned the "i" sound which sounds like the English "ee" and they made I's out of play dough.

Jesus

Santiago

Luisa

Corina

This video demonstrates the progress Tadeo has made in a little less than a year. It is definitely a joy moment to compare what he can do now to what he could do a year ago. Best of all, he is communicating more! Also, note the difference between his right hand in the first video and in the second video. Thank God for all He is doing in this boy. He can be a trial at times, but he can also be a true joy.

Please pray for the household where I live: for Pau, Kendra, Marce, Yaneli, Kenia, Tadeo, Mani, and I. Pray that God works in each of our hearts, heals and fills, and uses us for His glory.

Tonight I am thankful for the relationships I have with my kinder kids and other little munchkins around campus and at church. It has been a joy to have kids greet me with "Teacher!" and run to give me a hug. They are precious children.

Up in the Mountains

A week ago, Saturday, a group of us drove about thirty minutes to hike a mountain on the ranch of someone with whom Limon is acquainted. We drove there packed into a big, white van and two 4-wheel-drive pickups.

Looking towards the mountains from the ranch.

Gathered around getting ready to take the pickups the rest of the way.

In the back of the pickups.

Looking back toward Magdalena which was at a lower altitude. If anyone knows what I mean by the big mountain south of Magdalena with the impressive cliff, that mountain (Cerro de la Ventana) is peeking up right on the left side of this picture. We were east of Magdalena. You might not be able to see the little white buildings, but Magdalena is straight ahead in this picture.

The beautiful cliffs off to our right.

The mountain we were headed for. It is actually a large plateau on top.

Facing the cliffs below the plateau.

Hiking below the cliffs towards a natural spring. 

Beyond the spring, you can see a slope of rocks where my group ended up hiking later.

Looking up from the spring.

The spring.

Some of us hiked up to the left of the spring and others to the right. I went to the right and we arrived at these rocks. They weren't such a difficult hike as a stressful one, more so on the way down. :) Some of them were unsteady and we had to be careful not to knock them loose.

Mani is climbing on the right in this picture.

  

Looking down from the top of the rock slope. Fernando is the boy pictured.

Alicia went with me on the hike. Here we are at the top of the rock slope.

We crab-walked down the rocks and arrived back at the spring. We were the last group back to the trucks.

As we left, we looked back at the rock slope. We hadn't gotten even close to the top of the mountain. :)

A few days later, Pau, Kathy, and I climbed the cross mountain close to Magdalena. It was just as usual, except for the cows which were very cute. :)

 Hopefully, with all our mountain climbing we'll be ready to climb the Cerro de la Ventana come March. 

Looking at the Cerro de la Ventana from the cross mountain.

Hiking the Cerro de la Ventana as a girl.

I can't wait!