SMCA Christmas

Here are a few pics of what we have been doing in school this holiday season! We had a Christmas party with the kids and deorated candy trees while in our pjs, definitely fun for all involved (including teachers)! We also put on a Christmas presentation for the parents. Ruby's class read poems they had written, recited a poem about snowmen, and reinacted the Christmas story. My class recited all the scripture we have been memorizing this semester. I have to say that the amount they have memorized is pretty impressive! My class also memorized and performed a Christmas Medley that I created. They dramatized sections of Isaiah 9 , as well as portions of the Christmas story and the death and ressurection of Christ. They did a wonderful job!

My three wisemen!

Feliz Navidad!

This is my first Christmas season in Mexico! Honestly, it can kinda be hard to get into the Christmas spirit when I am still getting sun burned :) Despite the warmer weather, this past week has been crammed full of Christmas celebration!!! On Tuesday night myself and several other staff ladies had a beading party with some of the teen girls on the property who are unable to go home for the holidays. It was fun to be together and be girly!

On Wednesday night a group of us staff went to a children's home called Betesda to make Christmas ornaments and read stories around the Christmas tree. When we arrived the kids were bathed and in thier pjs and sooooo excited to see us. Even though the casa hogar forgot that we were coming, they welcomed up with opened arms. We helped the beautiful children create ornaments for thier Christmas tree, then we all gathered around to hear a Max Lucado story read aloud in Spanish. The kids ate candy canes, snuggled with us in thier pjs, and fell asleep. It was a bittersweet evening for me. It breaks my heart to see these 20 some young children growing up in a group home. They do not get tucked into bed each night. They do not get mommy or daddy time. They do not get the individual love and encouragement that they so desperately crave. My heart was quiet and saddened by this reality. However these children were eating up the attention we were able to give them that night. One girl of about 9 was sitting next to me at the start of the story. By the the third page she had wiggled her way onto my lap. By the end of the story she was pretending to be asleep so we would carry her to bed. I remember doing that with my dad....

I was glad to have been a small part of the Lord's love for these kids that night. Please remember all the kids we work with this Christmas...

A Graduation!

This past weekend we were pleased to celebrate the college graduation of one of our first Hope Program students! Junior grew up at Casa Hogar Douglas which is a children's home just down the street. He entered the teen program with B2B when he became elegable for highschool. He has lived on the B2B campus for all of his highschool and college education. This past Sunday we celebrated with him as he finished his degree in graphic design! Praise Jesus for what He has done in Junior's life! Not only does Junior now have a college diploma, but he has a living relationship with Christ!!! This is the goal! It is very exciting for us as staff to see the fruit we have all long awaited! Please keep Junior in your prayers as he seeks the next step in his life.

Beautiful faces

I wanted you to see a few faces that have completely captured my heart. Please pray for these beautiful children who live in shocking poverty.... love them, Jesus!

Family

A week ago my family was here to visit! We had soooo much fun spending time together in Monterrey. My family was able to join me and the rest of the staff for Thanksgiving dinner. They also stayed an extra two days to visit with me. It was wonderful! Here are a few pics of some of our adventures. We went to the Cola de Caballo waterfall, hiking at Heusteca canyon, and shopping in the seven mile market. My family was able to meet many of my good friends here that they have heard so much about. Praise Jesus for this visit. It was so refreshing and encouraging to get a taste of home! Thanksgiving dinner with the B2B Mexico staff- around 130 people!

At Cola de Caballo. Trying not to be blown away from the breeze at the bottom of the waterfall.

A big happy family

Mom in her element

OBF Week!

I was so completely blessed to have my home church, Oxford Bible Fellowship, and my family come to Monterrey for a week! The group was here for a week over Thanksgiving. It was so fun and refreshing for me to visit with people from home, hear all the news, and reconnect after being gone almost 4 months. During the week that OBF was here I had a few days off of school for our Thanskgiving break. I was able to serve with my church at a few of the children's homes. It was beautiful. Two of the many things we did that week were serve at a children's home called El Retiro Juvenil and in the Rio - one of my favorite places. ERJ is a casa hogar that OBF has had a relationship with for the past 7 to 8 years. I have been blessed to get to know the directors there, Martha and Carlos. They are some of my favorite people. It was great to see them and introduce them to the rest of my family. I also got to go with my church to serve in a soup kitchen in the Rio. It was so much fun for me to introduce people from home to my friends here in Mexico. I felt so supported as my home church served along side B2B! Thanks to all of you who came and thanks to all of you who sent them :)

My little brother lending a hand at ERJ. My mom and Icela from ERJ.

SMCA over the past month

Okay, it has been WAY to long since I have updated this blog! I am so sorry! Time flies when you are having fun!!!! Here are a few snapshots of what has been happen at school this fall. We have been keeping busy for sure :)

Here I am with my roomates and co-teacher at the SMCA fall festival! "Calabunga dude!" The kids had a great time dressing up (we did too), playing games, eating candy, and taking a hay ride in the back of Pearl, our work truck!

My class and I all dressed up at the Fall Festival. You can see that we have a lot of fun together in school :)

For a unit on the Colonial time period I had my students make lanterns out of tin cans. This was just one of the many hands-on projects we did as we learned the trades and crafts of the colonists.

In culmination of our unit on the 13 colonies we had a colonial school day. My students and I dressed as traditionally as we could and I held school outside. We sat on wooden benches, wrote on slates, used hornbooks, and did oral recitations just as children growning up in the first 13 colonies would have done. In the afternoon we made homemade candles, butter, and learned how to write with quill pens. My hope was that this living history day would bring all that we had studied about the colonies to life for my students.

Here are four of the kids making hommade rolls. Mmm....

My mom was here that week and helped the kdis dip candles!

The boys shaking butter... this project turned out a little differently. Not sure if it was the Mexican cream or our shaking skills...

Colonial group shot