baby Velasco

God has given me a talent that I am getting to use more here in Mexico. I have painted in several of the bedrooms of the staff kids here to give them some joy. Gabo and Kelly Velasco are going to have a baby any day and asked if I would help make the nursery special. So this is what they decided upon.

PureNRG

Last week we had the privilege of having the music group PureNRG here at Back2Back. These teens are popular in the US and have 3 CD's of music for kids. PureNRG consists of Jordan, Carolyne, and Caroline.
They took time out of their schedules to take a mission trip here and they all loved it. They told me they wanted to come back every year!
One night we had a mini concert for all the children in every Casa Hogar we serve. We used a local church and everyone piled in!! Each Casa Hogar had a chance to 'perform' and they each sang a song and Douglas girls played their tambourines. It was such a fun day to have all the children there. Even though PureNRG sang in English, it didn't matter. The children's eyes were glued to them and they were so excited to be there.

Imperio de Amor performing



PureNRG performing

Carolyne and Caroline

All the girls loved Jordan!!!

Sunday mornings

The girls at Douglas church are learning routines with the tambourine...It is so fun to watch them perform!!

Our school has a blog!

Miss Jessica created a blog for the students to share writing. My class will occasionally put things on it too. Check it out:

http://www.smcakids.blogspot.com/

My birthday 2009

Well, most of you know I don't like when my birthday comes cause it reminds me of my age...This year I felt truly blessed and happy! I love where God has chosen to put me right now in my life and I am thankful for all the friends I have here and back home. I had a great celebration and a few surprises...
At midnight, the night before, I had singers at my door again. It is a huge tradition to have mariachi bands play on the night of your birthday.


Sunday, was the day and at church the little girls from Casa Hogar Douglas kept coming up and saying "Feliz Cumpleanos"..It was so sweet that that was enough to make me happy!!
After church, Hope, Becca, and I spent the day having lunch, walking around the mall, and getting Starbucks - a very American afternoon..
I got home to find a package that had been delievered from my mom so then I talked to my family on the phone.

That night some of the teen girls came over to wish me a happy birthday and the staff women all surprised me and told me we were going somewhere. We went to a cute, new restaurant and had some snacks! It was a wonderful day!



But it wasn't over...the next day in school the kids had cards and a party for me. That night I was taken out to dinner by some of my guy friends!
Plus, amidst all this I had encouraging notes from friends back home!
Thanks to everyone for blessing me with your friendship and for loving me!!

Zacatecas, Mexico

We had 2 days off school so Jessica and I decided to explore a little. We heard about a cute little town and so we made reservations and got a bus ticket and took off. Everyone travels by bus in Mexico. You can leave every hour for anywhere. It took 7 1/2 hours and 4 movies in Spanish to finally arrive! It was well worth the ride! It was such a cute city with history and neat architecture and little squares with fountains. You can pretty much walk anywhere. We shopped, ate at restaurants, took the gondola ride, toured a mine, and met a ton of people from many different countries. It was a wonderful break from teaching and a fun adventure.










My favorite candy shop!!!



The bakery we went to in the mornings for coffee and sweet bread.

Gabi!!

Gabi is a hard worker! She is a waitress at an American-style restaurant. I helped her study the menu for her test and she works 6 days a week! I am so proud of her!!

Field Trip to the Mexico History Museum

My class is studying Mexico history this year and I am learning a lot too! We got to go to the museum downtown and had one of our parents as a translator. No photos were allowed inside but it was a wonderful museum!

The students got to do a craft after their tour.



It was raining so we ate our lunches tailgate-style in the parking garage..