Lots has gone on since the last post. I will try and make a quick update.


A week and a half ago we joined a group of around 300 volunteers to plant trees in the forest. It was a Starbucks reforestation project. It was a lot of fun. There were about 50 from our group - members of our church and visitors. I was excited because our neighbors joined us. They are a family that I have been praying about and thinking about a lot lately. Also the maintenance man from our housing edition (Javier - he was baptised in February) and his son joined us. He hasn't really established a place in our church yet. I think he is really reserved and tends to hold back. A great surprise was that our friends from Mexico City - James and Erin Henderson - were also present. They were in town picking up relatives that had flown in from the states. This was also a blessing because they are friends of ours. Phil Miller was in our Aim class and it was great to see him for a little bit. Here are a few pictures of our kids and Javier and his son.


The kids have also started school this week. Josiah was really excited because her two teachers from last year got moved and they are her teachers again. This made me so happy. Its nice to know that she is being taken care of by teachers that already love her and that she doesn't have to get adjusted to new teachers. Josiah is just excited about being the oldest ones in his school. This is the last year before he will go to a new school for elementary. He thinks its great that there is no one older than them. He told me the other day that someone was picking on him at recess and Abigail came to the rescue and told the kid to leave Josiah alone. So even though he is the oldest looks like he can still use a little help from his little sister.

Hannah also has some big accomplishments of her own. We went out to dinner with two other family from our neighborhood. While we were eating I turned to look at Hannah and she was eating with a fork off of Abigail's plate!!! We have allowed her to feed herself since then and she thinks it is so great. She is very proud of herself.





In closing I wanted to share some cute/not so cute things the kids have said this past week:


I bought Abigail some flowers from the market last week and she jumped up and down in excitement and said "Now I can get married!"

Abigail asked me if I made the tree in the living room. I explained to her that God made it and she replied "Oh, Josiah's other daddy did!"


I bought the kids some special kid yogurts for the first week of school. Josiah told me "Its like if you give us a kiss in our lunchbox but in a different way"


This morning Josiah said to me "Mom remember right after Hannah was born and you were still fat. Now you are only a little bit fat. Maybe tomorrow you will be skinny again"


Thanks for sharing in our lives. Toni

Hannah has been doing really well. She is still a very happy girl. She loves doing whatever her Big Brother and Sister are doing. She was so proud of herself when she got up on Abigail's trike.

She only has 5 teeth but loves eating whatever we are eating. Unfortunately one of her favorite snacks is Arthur's (Our Dog) food. She runs over to the bowl puts a few pieces in her mouth refills her hand and runs over to Arthur and puts a snack in his mouth. The kids do a great job of tattling on her when she gets close to the dog food. Cory commented the other day - at least we buy good quality dog food.

She loves to climb the stairs and luckily hasn't had any big spills yet.

She is very much a people person and loves to interact with others. She loves waving and saying "Hola"

Abigail's personality is really starting to shine. She loves playing with her friends. There are 5 girls in our housing addition that are the same age. I have been thrilled because just recently the doorbell has started ringing and its a neighbor wanting Abigail to play. I think she held back for a while because of the language but now after being in school for a while she is really doing well.

Last week our neighbor Monica came over and they made chocolate chip cookies.

The kids took a week long summer Gymnastics class. They went 4 hours a day and learned Karate, Floor, Horse, Bars, Rings, Trampoline etc. Every day before class they wanted me to take their picture. This was on their first day. At the end of the week they had a presentation for the parents - it was a lot of fun to watch them have so much fun.

Abigail loved getting ready for Gymnastics every day.

Josiah on the even bars during the parent program.