To ease your suspense.... It all DID fit!! Steve did an amazing job of packing. By the end we were just shoving things into any "hole" we could find. He did such a good job that I think we'll make a run by Tonala on the way out! (Ask me what Tonala is sometime.) So we're packed up, sleeping at the Engage house and ready to take off tomorrow morning. Well, most of us. Cole had a rough night tonight and when I tucked him into bed he said that he didn't want to leave. Please be praying that our transition back is just as easy.

Here's what out car looks like, stuffed with a bookcase, about 6 decorative vases, rugs, a coat stand, aquividora (?) and 2 pinatas they brought home from school today. It's loco!!

Here's what we didn't bring (by choice): Cole's and Lydia's craft collection or should I say recycling bin.

Last night as we were getting a head start on packing, pretty much our whole Punto group showed up at our door with tons of wonderful, homemade food (Mexican of course)for our last good-byes. It was a surprise and it made our night. And even though a hangout in Mexico can mean all day, thankfully for us, they came at night and took off only a little after midnight. It was well worth getting nothing done last night. We will miss them terribly.

We got a little picture happy towards the end.

Finishing up

Even though things have been winding down, we've still been pretty busy. Update on the car: Got it fixed and back to us in 3 days costing $450 and got the check from the insurance company within a week to pay for it. Pretty stinkin' fast. We were amazing and grateful since we only had about that time to spare.

We leave Mexico in just a day and half. It's flown by but we are ready to go. Emotionally, that is. We are still praying for a packing miracle to fit everything into our truck. I keep telling Steve- it'll all fit. But he doesn't think leaving a couple junk sheets behind will compensate for the few things I've accumulated since we've arrived. It'll fit. Maybe we'll post a picture of the packed tight/puzzle fitted explorer when we're done. I'm banking on Steve's ingenuity to figure it out.

We had our last Punto meeting on Tuesday. It was sad. We've grown to really love these students. The praise part is that we really feel good about how we're leaving the group. We had some rough spots in there where we weren't sure who was going to commit but the Lord has answered our prayers and everything we hoped to accomplish while we were here has come together. We feel great about the number of students who are totally on board, their connections with each other and Angela's ability to lead this group where it needs to go next. We're now looking forward to heading home.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas party for Punto de Encuentro. All but the last are taken from Paola's phone so the quality isn't the best but oh well.

We had the party at the Engage house since it was already so beautifully decorated for Christmas. Everyone brought a gift to exchange- the biggest thing you could buy for 50 pesos or less ($5). Let's just say there wasn't a lot of stealing going on!

Adrian ended up with a big board of wood. He made the most of it and had everyone write things on it and it is now a nice wall display in his room.

Here's the group and their lovely presents. They are a great group of students. We'll really miss them.

Our plan is to pack up our car tomorrow while the kids enjoy their last day at preschool (Cole cried about missing school on Wednesday when I took the kids to the Zoo!!!) and then spend the night at the Engage house with our loaded up car safely parked behind their gate. We'll head North on Sat morning and 20hours later we'll be in El Paso (with a few breaks and hotels in there). We then head to the Denver area to spend a wonderful Christmas with my family and then to Ohio for our SALT conference which we've got a great group of WSU students going that I can't wait to see!!!! And Steve, like usual, is helping out quite a bit, but it gets us a nice big suite to entertain our family and students in. Please excuse my run-on sentences.

So since this may be the last blog for awhile due to lack of internet while we are driving and a lack of anything interesting to say... Merry Chrismas!!!

Thanks for reading, praying and missing us while we've been down here. We look forward to seeing you in just a little while!

Getting the full experience of Mexico!

This last week, we´ve experienced a little more of Mexico than we were hoping to. Last Wednesday, we parked behind a line of cars and went in search of some clothes for the fam. When we got back, all the cars were gone and ours had a parking ticket on it. They give you half price if you pay it within the first 3 days. - so we saved $7.

Then on Friday, on the way to pick up the kids, Liz was sitting at a red light when a really young looking kid ran into the back of her. Steve got a call, "A car just hit me. I´m in front of the Kinder." By the time Steve got there from CUCEA, the police and the preschool director were there. The light, the bumper, the hatch, the muffler and the corner are all damaged. In the States, it would probably cost $1200-$1500 dollars to fix. But here in Mexico - $500 for everything.
This is what the other car looked like. They had to get a tow truck to haul it away.

Explorer - 1, Jeep - 0.

Trying to figure everything out was a bit hectic and nerve racking. We were really impressed with the police and insurance guys. We´ll get paid $600 this Friday for the damages - just in time for us to pack up and take off for Colorado.

(Additional ironic info below)

When we bought the Explorer, it had a dent in the hatch that would have cost us $600-$800 to fix. But down here, it only costs $200. Well worth it for the resale value. We planned on waiting till we were about done here, but apparently not long enough. We had just got the truck fixed and returned the day before all this happened. The body shop didn´t know that I meant it when I said to them a day earlier, ¨Hasta luego¨ (See you later).

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving- a little late.
We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We celebrated here: turkey, pumpkin pie and all. There were 37 of us that gathered to thank the Lord for all the ways He blesses us. Even though Cole and Lydia still went to school in the morning (it's just another day in Mexico) and we didn't have any family around, it was a great time. It felt like family. We even watched football and a Christmas movie! We are very grateful to all the people here that have become our family while we're down here.

My Thanksgiving turkey (idea stolen from a magazine) was a big hit.

Amy Shoop does an amazing job of hostessing. Everything looked so pretty, almost like I was at my mom's house.

The three Amigos: Isaac, Andrew and Steve

Lydia helped eat the leftover raisins and grapes.

Even though Christmas decorations have been in the stores here since the end of September it is still hard to decorate until after Thanksgiving. We bought a little nativity scene and paper wreath to at least have something in the house that's Christmasy. It's pretty interesting, though, that Christians here view nativity scenes as idolatrous and make a point to not put them up in their homes because here Mary is the main focus of the scenes since it is when she birthed Jesus. She is esteemed over Jesus during this holiday. Quite the opposite in the states where we make sure to put a nativity scene up in our house as a reminder that this is what Christmas is all about, the birth of our Savior and not just a happy holiday time. Since we are in Mexico we put it away when any Mexicans are over so we don't confuse anyone and out of respect for the Christians here. The different cultural things we come across are very interesting. (I'm still excited about my $5 find of a nativity scene!)

It is very nice to miss the craziness of Christmas shopping that you feel in the states. We aren't bombarded with commercials (no tv) or go to the malls and I've already finished my Christmas shopping in the little market places here that are crazy all the time anyway. The only thing that is weird is to sit at starbucks with a chocolate caliente that has snowflakes on the cup and then walk out in my t-shirt. We were driving home the other night and it was rainy and yuck out and it seemed like it could be cold out. Steve said, it looks like winter in Ohio! Then we laughed that we were pining away for bad weather! Who'd a thunk.

Tick Tick Tick Tick

We can just hear the clock ticking down and we have so much we want to do. Eat tacos, invest more in students, (notice the order) go visit the Monarch butterfly migration, Christmas shop, help with the Engage building...

We only have 3 more Punto de Encuentro meetings left. We've really been enjoying them. The students are great, we've started doing worship and prayer times on Mondays. We're meeting for another core group meeting next Wednesday and continue to meet/hangout with/pray with/for Angela. (It's amazing how fast your heart can be tied to people in such a short amount of time.)

Angela with Engage students who help at CUCEA headed home after the meeting, Mexican style.

The time here has been great for our family and for personal rejuvination. We didn't realize how beat up we were after doing 7 years of ministry at Wright State until we got to Guadalajara. Being here has allowed the Lord to do some healing and added some Teflon for protection. This trip has been sort of like a sabbatical for us from the normal responsibilies of ministry. The change of ministry focus has been a blessing.

Paola and Liz have a fun time trying to communicate with each other. Each one knows about the equivalent of the other's language - not very much. Praise God that we'll all be speaking Spanish in heaven.
Our kids really love Adrian. Steve and Adrian have spent a ton of time together (which is code for mentoring).

[written by Liz] My most favoritest time of the year is the fall. I love the leaves changing, the cool weather, the beautiful fall decor, and chili. Even though it is definitely not the same here, there have been a few times where we've felt the greatness of the season. My amazing mom made sure to hook me up with plenty of red kidney bean (which are no where to be found in Mexico) and my secret recipe McCormick Chili seasoning packs. Steve has been able to watch more Colts football here in Mexico than when we were just 1 1/2 hours from Indy. And we did have a week long spell of cold weather where I got to wear a sweater. Other than that we are making the most of looking at pictures of leaf parties on facebook and savoring every bite of chili (which I've made at least once a week!)

We were asked last night if we're just ready to be home since it's so close to the time of us leaving. The nice thing is that we are really enjoying our time here. We haven't "checked out" at all and are really trying to make the most of the last 5 weeks at CUCEA and with Angela. There are definitely things that I'll be so excited about when we get back, like my washer and dryer, my awesome pink cell phone that takes pictures and receiving phone calls from people who speak English, and convenient internet access. But those are things I've grown to appreciate and hopefully it will be at least a month back before I take them for granted again. So until then...

Here's some pics of Steve's campout with the guys of Punto.

Core guys for Punto De Encuentro - Isaac (Engage student), Adrian, Isai, Me & Daniel
Boys and Fire - a fun combination!!
Adrian and I held a competition of who could kick the soccer ball through the uprights of the tree. Adrian won and I had to do 40 pushups, and I landed the ball ontop of the tree. (White spot on top right side of tree)
Beautiful view on our way to Rio Caliente - a river heated up by a volcano to scorching hot
Cole had a great time camping with the big boys! That's steam from the river even though it was about 85 degrees out.

What's going on...

The end of a short movie clip we sent to our XA

We're running out of time, with only 1.5 months left here and we're making the most of it. No matter where we are, it seems like we add more and more activities and ministry to our lives. This week has been (and will be) a lot of fun while we serve the Lord. Mondays we get to meet with everyone involved with Engage for dinner and go over everything happening and coming up within the different ministries. Tuesday mornings, just the staff meets to talk more candidly about events and pressing needs. That afternoon, we have Punto de Encuentro's main meeting (which went well.) This morning Steve lead a short devotion on worship covering the "Y - factor." Why do we worship, what's our motivation? At nine, Steve meets with the men involved in Engage to sharpen eachother as iron sharpens iron and then tonight, we are having the core students from Punto over for Liz' famous home cooked chili and to talk and pray about purpose and vision and destination for Punto.

Tomorrow, Steve is taking several of the CUCEA guys camping!! This is not a regular activity for them, so it should be a blast and a great bonding experience.

Cole at CUCEA after Punto De Encuentro

The kids are great, and are understanding more and more spanish. Steve is speaking to them more and more at home and hopes to keep it up in the States.

Disfrutando Mexico

Beaching it in October had a few benefits. All the hotels are majorly discounted during this slow month which made it a pretty cheap excersion for us. And we purposely planned it for over the Halloween/ Day of the Dead (Nov 1) holidays so that our kids wouldn't be in the mix of a bunch of yuck evil. They were absent from school the day that Lydia's class painted sugar skulls with frosting and Cole missed alter building for the dead. Instead we enjoyed a brief trip to Nuevo Vallerta, making the most of our proximity to the beach since we'll most likely never have this chance again.

Eating lunch with an amazing view!!

Cole loved the idea of boogie boarding. He did love the water and running up and down the beach in the waves.

Our cutie was freaked out by the ocean but loved the pool. She did enjoy some sand playing and helped Steve build his sand mountain.

Cutiest costumes at the "Fall Fiesta" goes to Dinosaur Cole and Ladybug Lydia (thanks to Steve's trip to Laredo,TX and Claire's discounted costumes)

Lydia had to work hard to get candy from the pumpkin pinata before the big kids got it all.

Tic Tac Toe Man and Hippie girl is all we could come up with on our drive back from the beach.

Fast update

Life:
Steve has been asked to take a 14 hour busride with Isaac, (an Engage student) to Laredo Texas tomorrow night. They are headed up there to help Steve Shoop (director of Engage) bring a newer van across the border with sound equipment and a puppet stage. So, Steve will be in the States for 3 or 4 hours - just long enough to mail another examen he took to continue becoming ordained.

Liz and the kids are getting ready to take a short trip to Nuevo Vallarta when Steve gets back. We´ll be staying right on the beach with everything paid for for three days and two nights. What a blessing to be able to go do something so exotic and have it cost next to nothing because we´re already down here in Mexico.

Pictures will follow (we know they are fun to look at!)

So Mom and Dad were here this last week and we had a great time with them. Highlights from their time here: spending time with us of course, the feeding program that Engage ministries does every week in a poor area, playing five crowns every night, the Indians games, great shopping, and of course the food!!! The weather was perfect for them. It was a holiday on Friday so schools were closed and they got to experience a crazy festival. And Cole and Lydia soaked up every moment. Starbucks got to know my Dad pretty well while he finished up some work from home over a few mornings. The cockroaches even stayed away for the most part to make them feel more at home. Overall, it was a great half-way point to our time down here (which is going by so fast!).

The super good food at a restaurant we took them too. The bowls are made from lava rock and were so hot that the sauce boil the whole time. Yum.

Mom seriously couldn't get enough of the great food here. We didn't mind the sacrifice of eating out.

Poppy's girl

Mimi loved the cuddle time she got with the kids.

Drinking coconut milk at the crazy huge festival.

King Cole dressed up for Columbus day at preschool.

Mom and Dad fell in love with the kids at the feeding program. You wouldn't have guessed there was a language barrier between them!

Other thoughts... We are feeling good about the core group of about 5-6 students that is forming and their faithfulness to the group and with Angela's leadership. Jesus is being faithful.

checking in

It's been a while!! It gets hard cuz we don't have internet at home and the internet at CUCEA (campus) is funky and we can't update blogs from there. So we have to do it from the engage house and the last few times we've been there, we got caught up in other important things like Steve's fantasy football.

We're having a great time. My folks are here and my mom has insisted on eating out every meal since she's fallen in love with authentic Mexican food. Luckily for my dad, all six of us can eat at a taco stand on the side of the road for about $5. After this trip it will be hard for them to go back to Taco Bell.

I'll post some pics when I have more time.

Other thoughts: Steve is loving the two guys that he's been pouring a lot into. He's really going to miss them. They are great guys and soak up everything that Steve is pouring into them. We're very excited about them. Their names are Adrian and Isai.

More later!

I thought I should get some more pictures up here so that you didn't all think we were in the pits of despair. Actually, we are doing well. It is through trials that we are made stronger and we realize how great the Lord really is. So we are just praising Him for being so good to us.

Our kids LOVE public transportation. Here we are on the train going into the Centro.

Not everything is this colorful but it's definitely different than our white houses in the States. There is actually every color of the rainbow on this block!

This is the most touristy we've felt, taking a picture of a guy at work in front of the bank. These guys are everywhere! In front of stores, banks, some parks. I don't know if I should feel safer or not!

Other fun news: Cole and Lydia run into Kinder now and love it. I've got an addiction to Chilaquiles (which is a spicy breakfast food). Steve gets to go to a Chivas game tomorrow night with some students (a futbol game). And my mom (and possible my dad if we can talk him into it) is coming in just over a week!! If you know anything about my family, we just can't stay away from each other.

Steve has also been working hard on his ordination classes. And I'm reading an amazing book that is rocking my world and walk with the Lord. It's A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. I read it ten years ago and just picked it up again. I'm soaking up every bit of it. It's like he's reading my heart. Everything he says is exactly what's going on with me and I love it. It is also a very hard book to read because I don't want to continue on until I "get it" or have a breakthrough. But I was stuck at chapter 3 for so long that I decided to just keep reading and I'll read through it a few times!

Grace

This has been a hard week. Call it an attack, call it life. Whatever is going on, we are definitely fighting this week. We are fighting our emotions that bounce back and forth between anger, frustration, and hurt. We are fighting our flesh from getting in the way of hearing the Lord's heart. We are fighting the father of lies, who has been deceiving people we love. Fighting out pride from feeling like our efforts are in vain (when it's all for the Lord's glory).
We want so badly to understand the balance between God's grace and His discipline. We have no comprehension of God's grace and the depths of it.
Steve was wrestling with the Lord sometime ago about always feeling like he was the older brother(in the story of the Prodigal Son), trying so hard to do everything right and not able to relax in His grace or enjoy the "party". The Lord spoke very clear to him that night that there are no older brothers. Every one of us is the prodigal son. Everyone of us has grace constantly poured out on us and there is rejoicing when we return to the Lord. We are all living by and in the grace of the Lord. Praise His Name.
This week has been a week of leaning on the Lord, seeking out His heart and trusting Him for the work we do for Him. It has been awesome remembering His Sovereignty and control over everything. He is always good and His love never fails. It never fails us. It never fails anyone.

Please pray for wisdom and grace to be poured out on us as we disciple and do our best to raise up followers of Christ.

Hairdos and prayers

Hairdo update for y'all

freedom!!! (from rubber bands)

Also, if you could please be praying for our WSU group. Our heart is breaking for a couple of students there. Pray that our leadership would rise up and seek the Lord in purity and integrity and be victorious.