Natalie has been accepted at the Tec!!!!

Thank you so much for all your prayers for Natalie during this exam process. We learned today that Natalie has made it into the higher academic level of the high school at the Tec. We still need a big scholarship for us to even consider this as an option for her. We know that God is in control of all of this and if He thinks she should go there then the money will be available. We have to make our decision by March 17th. There are a couple of more steps that we will take in order to see if Natalie qualifies for an academic scholarship or an athletic scholarship. We'd appreciate your prayers. Natalie understands that there is still a chance that she won't be able to go to this high school but we are so proud of her for sticking her neck out and taking that College Entrance Exam in Spanish!

Green Thumbs??!!

Sam and Nicole are at it again!!! They grew black beans last year and this year they are doing it big and branching out! They are hoping to have a big crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers! We saved our milk cartons for a couple of weeks so that we could cut and use them as our starter containers. Right now Sam and Nicole enjoy getting up and watering and staring at the dirt!!! We have a little problem. We can't transplant the crops in the yard cuz the kids on Sundays would trample them. We can't transplant them on the front patio because the dogs would destroy them. So that leaves the back patio and there's no room. So, we are some how going to transplant them on the roof of our bodega (storage room/ back bathroom). It should be interesting as we don't have stairs to the rooftop. Projects like these help keep homeschooling interesting!!

Loving all of God's Creatures!

My girls are animal lovers! They have never seen an "ugly dog". And every dog on the street would be with us if they had their way. Now Nicole and Natalie are enjoying our neighbors kitty. We named him, Gatito, which means kitty in Spanish. This cat absolutely thinks it belongs in our family. Just the other day he climbed one of our little trees out front and then came into our little yard. Well, Sasha, our french poodle, didn't like that at all. Sasha then tried to climb into the yard as well to tell Gatito a thing or two. Nicole of course has to name every creature in our yard...has landed in our yard or even just visits our yard. She has named a very fat robin, (Mr. Fat) that likes to visit our dogs food. Yes, the birds here eat dog food. We also have a baby lizard that Nicole named, "Lizzy". Sometimes I think God placed us wrongly as all my children would love to be on a farm with horses, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, etc. I keep telling them to marry a farmer when they grow up cuz I'm a city girl through and through!!

February 14th--Valentine's Day!

Thank you for all your prayers for our Friendship/Valentine's Day Banquet! It went so well. We had 35 adults--plus a house full of kids--making a grand total in the house at one time 60! Not sure we will ever do a banquet of this size in our home again but we sure had a wonderful time!! The space limitations did make things interesting. I wasn't able to take pictures like I would have liked. I stayed busy in the kitchen, instructing our teen waiters, child care and clean up.

We had a wonderful catered four course meal. The main plate was chicken in a cheese and brocolli mixture or baked salmon in a limon and herb sauce. It was out of this world. Our piano teacher for our girls is also a licensed chef. Aida, did a wonderful job of making us a meal that we will never forget!!!

Our youth group waited on the tables, served in the kitchen and did child care. They did a fabulous job!!! We are so thankful for a great bunch of kids!! We also invited a guest speaker, Pastor Paco from a sister church.

We learned that this event is a "keeper". Next year we will have to rent a place or maybe the Lord will have us in a new building by then!!


Adrian and Karina celebrating their first Valentine's Day together as a married couple!


One shift of waiters and children awaiting to eat their supper, PIZZA!


Junior Chef, Omar making our non-alcoholic appetizer.


Junior Chef, Oscar making Congas!


Moí serving drinks.


Ernestito, Oriana, Samantha and Ulices waiting tables!


Our "entrada" or appetizer--Volovanes con atún--Tuna fish Pastry


Main plate getting prepped.


Chef Aida (on the right) and her sister, Rebecca.

Friday--Basketball

Friday night we went to a special activity for the Tec Clinics Families. We watched our girls get their new uniforms for the year. It really is kind of a silly thing but we enjoyed watching a college men's bball game that Tec played. The game was very fast paced but Tec showed they need to improve on defense.



Natalie with some of her team members!

Recruiting

A couple of weeks ago we got a phone call from a private high school here (Mexico City) inviting Natalie and her parents to a Recruitment Breakfast. We were shocked! Natalie is being recruited to play basketball at a very elite high school. Natalie's skills have improved greatly over the past year and at least one coach is interested. I know this is something unusual for all of you in the States but it is very common around the world. Education is very competitive as well as sports. It also comes at a very high price. The only way we could consider this school is if they gave her a very hefty scholarship. The monthly tuition is $1,000.00 dollars a month. This is for the Bicultural education. This means 50-70% of the classes would be in English. There is another track that she could take that is called Bilingual. It is a little cheaper but it offers fewer courses in English. Anyway, to get into this school you have to take a College Entrance Exam. You read right. Natalie is going to take this College Entrance Exam in Spanish. We are so proud of Natalie and all the work she has done in school and sports to get her to this place. We are thankful to God for how He has blessed Natalie in so many ways. The high school doesn't expect the kids to perform as if they've already been through high school but it is a weeding out process. Along with this College Exam they must also take an extensive English exam. Of course when the school sees Natalie's English scores compared to her Spanish scores they will understand the imbalance. We are honored that the school is interested in Natalie. We are enjoying the ride so far but there is a chance of coming down hard in the next couple of weeks. Pray for Natalie as she takes this exam on Saturday. Also pray that we all will handle the results as Christ would want us to!

Looking Back With Grace

Yesterday I wrote a note on my Facebook page of 25 random things about me. I thought it would be interesting to make a list of 10 Life Changing Events. I chose to put this on my blog to give more space for grace! I know it can be painful to look back but we should chose to look back and see all of God's grace in our life!

10 Life Changing Events

1. Adoption- I have to start here. I'm so thankful that God placed me in a Christian home. I'm also thankful that my natural mother chose LIFE for me!

2. Death of my adoptive mother. When I was 9 my mother passed away with cancer. It was through her death that I came to know the Lord. My mother's testimony in death gave me life in Christ.

3. Piano NOT- Sports YES. I wish now that I worked harder on piano when I had a chance when I was younger but I did develop discipline through sports. I'm so thankful for all the coaches I had through my sports playing years. I learned to work as a TEAM!

4. The Wilds Camp. The Wilds Camp was a perfect fit for me. My love for sports and a Christian atmosphere to do it in was awesome. I also saw college students on fire for the Lord. I so appreciated their enthusiasm. Their energy is something I've carried with me since the first time I went to camp.

5. Teaching Evangelines. What an honor to even have been chosen. I'm so thankful to Mrs. Goode and the opportunity she gave me back in '81 to teach in the Wednesday Clubs. My desire to teach children and come along folks began then when I was 19.

6. Purdue University. I really loved my time at Purdue. My eyes were opened to the "ways of man". I think Purdue was an excellent training ground for missions. I'm also thankful for Dr. Smith and Leona, and Joe and Susan Blake and their leadership in the College Group there at Faith during those years.

7. Marriage. Need I say more. I'm so thankful for my husband. I love him for his desire to please God in everything he does. He is definitely my best friend!

8. First child. I truly began to appreciate my parents more when I too became a parent. This appreciation has grown as my children have grown. My life has been better since God chose to bless us with our children. I'm so thankful for each of them and I've grown tremendously as a result of them.

9. Deputation Journey. Raising support is not a fun thing to do but the lessons we learned along the way have made us better. We had to grow to Trust God, His Timing, His Provision and His Plan. Waiting is never easy but once the wait is over I truly believe we are able to handle life better because of what we learned while being patient.

10. Arrival to Mexico. The first year on the field was way harder than the first year of marriage and that was hard enough in our case. For the first time in my life I had to depend on God and His Word for my source of "food". I didn't have Christian Radio. I didn't have my pastor preaching every week in English. I was too sick to do much but read my bible and pray. I'm thankful for this difficult time in my life because I learned that all we truly need in life is GOD. He is my reason to live!!