This last week the girls had their school program. They were so excited about it and loved practicing at home. Abigails class sang a song from Jungle Book and Hannahs class sang Madagascar. They both did such a good job and it was a blast to watch them.

Hannah with her classmates after their dance.
Hannah and her teacher Lucy (who also was Josiahs teacher 4 yrs ago and
Abigails teacher 2 yrs ago)

Hannah and her classmates singing "I like to move it move it"

Abigail and Hannah before their performance

As we were leaving Abigail started crying. I asked her what was the matter and she said she was sad because she wasn't going to see her best friend, Natalia, again. She thought that the program was the end of year show and now they weren't going to go back to school. I explained to her that there is still a month left of school and that she would still see her best friend. We ended up returning to the auditorium to find Natalia so that they could talk and take a picture.

BOXES, BOXES, AND MORE BOXES

This morning when we woke up Josiah announced 23 days until we leave for the United States. I do not know if he is correct but he is pretty good at math so I will take his word for it. As excited as I am about seeing everyone in the USA at the same time I am really dreading leaving. I have way too much to get done in the next 23 days! The house is full of piles of boxes everywhere.

Today I was talking to one of my best friends and we both just started crying. I reminded her that it is only a year but that didn't seem to console either of us much. We have made so many good friends here in Guadalajara and it is going to be hard to say good-bye. Our next 3 weeks are filled with goodbye meals and get togethers. Its nice to be loved and know that we will be missed.

A few of my friends and I are going out of town this weekend for a going away trip. We are going to Puerto Vallarta (without kids). We usually drive but this time I found round trip plane tickets from here to Puerto Vallarta with tax and everything for $50! I am super excited about the trip and look forward to relaxing with my friends.

Once I get back there will only be about two weeks left. The kids will finish up their school (although they don't get out till July 9th). Abigails will have her kindergarten graduation which the school kindly moved up so that she wouldn't miss it.

Please be praying for our travel. We have almost always felt safe living in Mexico. Unfortunately we will have to drive through some not so safe areas to get to the USA. Fortunately they are some of the safer not safe areas.

We will be arriving in the USA on July 2nd and then spending a large part of July either getting settled in to our house in Texas or traveling to see family and supporters. Thanks for reading. You guys are so much more faithful than I am. I feel bad when I see that you guys are still checking my blog and I haven't been updating it. Thanks for reading and praying for our safe travel.

Chivas date with daddy

Abigail has always wanted to go to a Chivas soccer game. Most of the games Cory goes to are with a big group of friends and they are usually big rival games. When they are rival games safety is in question as far as taking a child with you. Tonight she is finally getting her dream. She is so excited. Cory is taking her and only her to the game. She feels super special and I am sure she is going to enjoy every second of it.

Kids Day

Today Mexico celebrates Kids Day. My kids have been so excited about it. Yesterday Josiah said " I can't wait for tomorrow but at the same time I don't want tomorrow to come" I asked him why. His answer was "well because if it was already tomorrow then the next day would be Labor day and I don't really feel like working!". Tomorrow is Labor day and I will make sure he doesn't work too hard.

At school today they are pretty much having a party all day long. The kids got to wear costumes to school. There will be pinata, food, candy, presents etc. at the girls school. Hannah decided she didn't want to put her princess dress on at the last minute so we improvised and she wore one of Abigais costumes. Its from a famous Mexican show.

Abigail was so so so happy to wear her princess dress. I am sure she is having a blast showing it off to everyone at school.


Josiahs school is actually putting on a carnival. They have rides and everything. He decided he didn't want to wear a costume so he just dressed in his John Cena T-shirt. I didn't get a picture of him before he walked out the door but here is a picture from last night at the grocery store.

Here are some pictures of some fun things the kids did over easter break. They get 2 weeks off from school and a lot of the malls put on shows, activities etc out for the kids.

This is Abigail and Kate working on decorating their purses.

They also had a really cool thing called Splash Ball. I think over the course of the two weeks our kids did it at least 4 times. Its just a big ball that opens with a zipper. The kids get in the ball and then they hook it up to the equivalent of a leaf blower and blow it up. The balls are in a pool of water and the kids run around like hamsters. They loved it! I think it would be a great thing for grandparents to have in their back yard!

Been awhile. This year has been super busy but we are loving it. I am trying to download some pictures of some of the activaties of the year but its not letting me arrange them in the order that I want. So, they aren't going to be in order but oh, well.

We have been trying to get a good family picture but haven't had much luck. This is the best we have come up with. We will have to get a good picture this summer when we are in Lubbock with Amy-Rose (Our favorite fotographer and great friend)

This is Abigail and Hannah with Stacie (One of our AIMers) talking to and feeding a homeless lady. Every Friday Cory and the AIMers take food to about 40 homeless in the center of Guadalajara.

Baseball is year round and keeps us pretty busy. This year they have started a girls team. Williamsburg is going to start a girls league in a few years and the coaches in Guadalajara decided to start a girls team a little early just to get the basics down. The girls practice on Wed afternoons and usually spend more time goofing around than actually playing baseball. Half of the team is missing in this picture.

This is Josiahs team at the inauguration of the season. They pick one girl to be the "Madrina" of the team. During the ceremony Hannah walked in front of the team holding a sign that said "Red Sox".

Volcano trip

Snow is uncommon in Guadalajara and most of Mexico. It has only snowed once in the last decade (1997) Josiahs friend, Mario, thought maybe snow was made up and not real. Josiah has been assuring him that it is real and that he has seen it. They plan on visiting us in the states next winter with the hopes that there will also be snow. Well, this weekend while we were on our retreat in the distance there was a mountain (I later found out was an inactive volcano) with snow on the mountaintop. When I got back to town I told my friend that I wanted to find out where it was and take them there. She showed me the newspaper where on the front page it talked about the snow that was on the volcano and how everyone was flocking to see the snow. So, after talking for a few minutes we decided to let the kids skip school and take them up to the mountain. It was a really fun trip. We had to go to Walmart last night to buy gloves and hats because we didn't have any (I left all of mine in the states thinking that I would never need them down here, since the temp has been averaging mid 60's).
We got up early this morning and headed to the mountain-volcano. We arrived at the base of the mountain a little after 1 hour but then it took us around 1 1/2 hrs to go up the mountain. The roads were horrible - not paved just dirt roads with lots of holes etc. Once we got there we had lunch in the car and got the kids good and bundled and headed to the snow. Where you have to park the cars is a good Kilometer from the top of the mountain. We climbled till we found a godo spot with clean snow and let the kids have fun, we then turned around and headed down the mountain.

Monteverde

We had a great Christmas vacation in the states meeting new family members. Cory and I have 3 new nieces (1) and nephews (2). It was good to spend time with them. We also got to spend some time in San Antonio with our friends the Pruetts. It was really good to see them. They worked in Guadalajara with us and recently moved back to the states. We got back from the USA on Tuesday night and on Thursday Cory decided that we needed to take the AIMers on a retreat the following day. It really was necessary but somewhat shortnotice. We decided that if we waited till school and baseball were back in full swing we would end up never going on the retreat. So, before having unpacked from the trip to the USA I packed to go to the mountains.
We had a wonderful time. We have been to this location 3 previous times but we always had infants with us which added stress. It was nice to be able to relax this time and not worry that the kids were going to fall down the mountain or stairs etc. We had some good time with the AIMers evaluating plans for their last 5 months here.
It was pretty cold although not as cold as you guys in the USA. The guys worked really hard at getting a BIG fire in the fireplace and keeping it big. In 24 hours we went through 9 good sized bundles of wood.
The cabins we went to have recently added an obstacle course. My kids (including Cory) love it and had so much fun on in. I definately think that our family will be planning a trip back there.

Here is a picture of the cabin that we stayed in. Its 3 bedroom and fits 10 people.

Abigail on the course

Hannah loved climbing this but always got a little nervous once she got to the top.

Cory and Josiah during one of their MANY races There was beautiful nature all around us.