Flag Day and Mountain Climbing

Tuesday morning, Kendra, Mani, Tadeo and I went to see some of CVE's secundaria students take part in a flag ceremony because it was flag day.

 Rene, Gonzalo, Belem, Nere, Belinda, and Julissa were our flag escort group. Some teachers and important people spoke and everyone recited the pledge of allegiance and sang the national anthem. A flag escort of soldiers marched...

...and students came forward showing the development of the Mexican flag.  It was an interesting experience.

Tuesday evening I went on a quick shopping trip with Geo. As we were buying some sour cream and yogurt, the toliet paper rolls on the opposite side of the aisle avalanched. It was rather comical!

Thursday afternoon, we finally got Tadi's bed moved to our house and here he is settling in on his first night in his new home.

Friday there was no school, so I did not do Tadi's class either. Jessica Mogler and her five children were here visiting and also some others for The Fatted Calf board meeting (Duane and Ann Wulf's organization).  So Friday morning, Pau, Rebeka, Zach, Garret, and Marshall Wulf, Bev Mogler, Jessica, Mallory, Ryer, Elise, Leah, and Marissa Mogler and I climbed the cross mountain. It was a fun excursion!

Me with Jessica's family. 

Pictured: Mallory, Ryer, Jessica, Me

Leah, Marissa, Elise

Elise and Leah resting before heading back down.

The crew.

Can anyone tell me what/who is hiding in this picture? :)

Please pray for: My family in the changes ahead and for CVE as we face changes as well. I have tickets booked to travel home March 17th through March 24th, so you can pray I will have a safe and successful trip.

Gift of the Week: For cozy blankets, trampolines, and starry night skies. Tonight I laid on the trampoline and looked at the sky and prayed. I thank God for opportunities, places, and atmospheres that help us draw near to Him.

Announcing...

Announcing the engagement of my mother, Marie, to Brother Gary Unsicker from Peoria, Illinois. (And my apologies that I don't have a picture available to share at this time.) 

I would also like to announce that my sister Megan started repenting about a week and a half ago.

‎Thursday, ‎October ‎9, ‎2014, ‏‎4:37:00 PM

‎Thursday, ‎February ‎12, ‎2015, ‏‎4:52:36 PM

Did they grow any in the four months between these pictures?

(4 months, 3 days, 15 minutes, and 36 seconds to be exact) :)

I think maybe the Z-vibe is helping Tadi's smile because it just gets bigger! :)

Rebeka and Marce. Headed to a Valentine's supper at Adam and Jenna's on Friday the 13th.

Monday, Rebeka and I took Tadi and Timi to see what the workteam was doing. We arrived in time to witness the removing of a tarantula from the worksite. Our workteam last week was from Gridley.

Mani's Birthday Party

His amazing cake, decorated by "Abuela" (Carissa's mom, Twyla).

Tadi was about as excited as Mani.

The hats were really fun!

The food line.

The mordida. Mani smashed his own face in the cake, twice!

Tuesday at the Wulf's.

I helped Tadi push Tori in his wheelchair. He thought it was great!

Tuesday evening in town with the group.

We moved some more of Tadi's things over last Saturday, so Mani and Tadi were enjoying his scooter boards.

Today (Monday) at Wulf's.

Marshall took us to see the nerf-gun fort that he and his brothers dug in the pasture.

Tadi walked there in his walker (with help) which was good practice. He was really excited.

Then Marshall and I had some pretend battles and we all escaped back to the house for "lemonade," made from key limes.

Please pray for: My family as we adjust to everything that comes with remarriage, including moving to a new home, new town, and a new church, and for Gary, marriage for the first time and seven children! I trust that God's will is best, but I don't want any one of us to allow this change to cause bitterness, resentment, or wedges in our relationships with one another. So please pray we can accept God's will even if that takes some time. Also, for Megan as she seeks God in her life. And for CVE that we would draw together and not apart as the changes taking place at this time are very painful.

Gift of the Week: Thank God for the messiness, the craziness, the brokenness, the uprootedness in your life. When our lives are neat and ideal, we are afraid of messy people, but when God shows us the messiness of our own lives, we are free to embrace others in their mess. 

This is my forever prayer, forever prayer, forever prayer.

This is my forever prayer, that I pray right now.

Break me, make me,

Fold me, mold me,

teach me, lead me,

Use me, I pray.

This is my forever prayer...

Sometimes the answers to this prayer are scary, but what better place to be than shattered in the hands of God!

Introducing CVE

These are the pictures we took last October.  I am missing family pictures for Jodi's house, Schicks, Beyers, and Wulfs.

 The Aupperle family:
Nere, Ramses, Alexia
Jose, Luisa, Juantan (Jonathan), Bere, Camila, Gloria

The Adam and Jenna Leman family:

Mariela, Fernanda, Perla,

Mili, Adam, Jenna, Leo

(Fernanda, Perla, Leo and Mili are Tadeo's siblings.)

La Casa de Rincon:

Cristina, Raquel (Jarrin), Belinda, Belem,

Chuy, Laura

The Limon and Kristy Leman Family:

Eduardo, Gonzalo, Jose

Ricardo, Soraya, Limon (Joel), Cristy holding Selah, Fernando

La Casa de las Chicas: 

Carissa, Marce, Pau, Kendra

Yerania, Yaneli

Many, Maria, Jaqueline, Belinda

(Carissa, Belinda, Jaqueline, and Maria are now living in town at the New Hope House. "La Casa Nueva Esperanza")

The Joe and Denise Maller family:

Bryan, Joel

Lucero, Alicia, Gisel

The Rinkenberger Family:

Marcos, Joel, Ithan, Steph, Eric

Aron, Candi, Diego, and Kitty-kitty

The Knobloch Family:

Angus, Zach (Pablo), Darilis, Daniela

The Kupferschmid Family:

Madison, Dayton, Kathy, Austin

Angela's Family:

Marisol, Angela, Eduardo

Tania, Aracely

The Ramirez Family:

Endi, Timi, Alisha, Juana

The Single Ladies:

Nicole, Geo, Melody, Laura

The Single Men:

Jason, Denver, Miguel

Seth, Todd

Tadeo and his siblings.

Thank you for praying for CVE!

New Adventures

Marshall likes to ride in the back of the pickup when he rides to his house with me. I took Tadi's walker a few times because it is a good place for him to practice walking.

Tori and Tadi and I played catch.

The Wulf boys got some remote control cars. We were enjoying Zach's out on the patio. 

More rainy days...which is fairly normal for January.

Another pizza night. Rather cozy when it was so wet outside.

Saturday, January 31st I spent a fun day in the states with Alisha and Juana. We saw a rainbow.  The next Tuesday I got full care of Tadi as Kendra went home for a visit.

Perla sometimes likes to go on walks with Tadi while he rides his bike.

Laying Tadi on his stomach to help him learn to hold himself up with his arms.

NEW ADVENTURES...

(my bed has the blue blanket)

Kendra left for vacation February 3rd and Pau, the next day, leaving Marce with Yerania, Yaneli, and Mani in the girls' house by herself. So I said I would stay there to keep her company. Five days later, on February 7th, I moved in for good! We knew it was a possibility and I had been thinking about it a lot. Then we found out a Hungarian sister was arriving on Sunday and it might work well for her to share a room with me there, so that really sped up the transition. We are planning to move Tadi out here as well when Kendra arrives home from the states.  Marce, Kendra, and Pau will be the houseparents here and we will probably be getting more children to care for. I am enjoying it here as it is much easier to care for Tadi and I really enjoy being with Marce, but I do miss being in on everything up in the main area, kitchen, etc.  I am enjoying getting to know Diriczi Rebeka, the Hungarian sister who is staying with me. She is teaching me Hungarian and I am teaching her Spanish. She also wants to improve her English, but already speaks quite a bit.

Tadi's Birthday

Monday was Tadeo's tenth birthday. The kinder class and his siblings both presented him with colored and/or decorated pictures/pages.

We made him a cake too and celebrated at lunch. He was ready to smash his face in it even before we got him a piece ready!

What fun!! He also opened a gift, a play basketball hoop and basketball.

At Cafe Sed with Rebeka the afternoon of Tadi's birthday. He got a free smoothie.

A little photo session with Tori behind Cafe Sed.  It would almost be difficult to take a bad picture of her, she is so cute.

Tadi and Timi Ramirez (Alisha's son) sharing Tadi's birthday present.

Please pray for: Rebeka that God would bless her visit here. She plans to stay for about 7 weeks. The Kupferschmids and Beyers as they delve into Spanish studies that God would bless their language learning. All of us here at CVE that as we adjust to all the changes taking place, we would wait, trust, and grow with willingness and thankfulness. 

Gift of the Week: For the ground asphalt on the roads here on campus. Last night, as I pushed Tadi home from church, Geo mentioned it. It is SO much easier to push Tadi on the ground asphalt than the rocks that used to be there.