I'm sure you could all probably guess what I'm going to blog about before you even read any further. If you thought long and hard enough, you could probaby figure out where I want to spend my New Years as well.

Well, about 4:00 today, Jessica and I are heading down to CdE and we will be there until the 1st. I'm so excited that I'm able to do this. I love all of my friends and family here, but it is them that I want to spend the holiday with.

What does this mean? I guess it means that someone other than myself will have to win the poker game at Obie's house. Consider yourselves all blessed as to having a real opportunity to win. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve, and I wish you all the blessings that God can give throughout the coming year.

Being a Prims teacher, I have one hope for the girls and that is for them to grow closer to God and learn lessons that will provide them a foundation to serve God on for the rest of their lives.

Yesterday, when we were at Amadeo, I was talking to Cais and Addi. Cais asked me if I would pray for her because she has a cough. Addi then said that she had a cough too and asked for prayer. I then prayed for the two of them. Immediately after we were done praying, Savannah said that she had a cough... then Sam, Annah, Seth, and Selena all said they had coughs and wanted prayer. Just as this was going on, Ben started the service. I hesitated to continue because I didn't want to disrupt the service, but then I realized how stupid that thought was. They all put one hand in the middle like we were having a team rally to say "Go God!" and then I prayed.

There are many things that make Christmas a beautiful time. I love spending time with all of my extended family and my church family. But praying with kids... them seeking God's healing and touch in their lives, that is the best gift of all (other than the gift of Jesus that is). Thank you all for sharing your children with me, the wonderful gifts that God has given to you.

I woke up this morning, took the dog for a walk and went to get the mail... and I saw a beatiful thing. Fog. I miss fog so much, and I think it's just beautiful. I love the smell, I love looking at thick air and only seeing for a short distance. I just love it. It makes me miss living in CA. It was really nice to be able to see some more of it today.

Merry Christmas to all. I love you all, and I hope that you have an incredible time with your families. Hopefully I will see some of you tomorrow at Amadeo. :)

As if it wasn't possible for me to share anymore, I wanted to share one quick story.

After the baseball game, everyone got back on the bus. Cristian was looking around and said, "Ana! Ana! Ana's not here!" I must have gotten on the bus when he wasn't looking, and Angel quickly pointed to where I was sitting. It was the cutest thing ever though, because I don't think I've ever had a kid worry about me in that way. He was seriously scared that I would have been left behind.

Okay, now I can talk about this past weekend. :)

Let’s see. The lady cancelled when I was at my 2nd Wal-Mart, so it ended up being me with 14 yr. old Jessica and 15 yr. old Jared S. I knew they would get along because Jared is one of my 2 15 yr. old brothers, and I got to know Jessica a lot the weekend before and throughout the past week. Anyhow, it’s just me and the two of them.



Amelia, Adrian, Jared, Joselin, & Jessica
We get there on Friday night, and it’s time to say hi to the kids! We go into the boys’ hall and said hi to all of them. They were beyond excited and were all hanging out and playing games. We then go over to the girls’ hall and say hi to all of them. I got to break up a fight between two of the younger 10 yr. old girls. Oh what joy! Attempting to take Rosa Adrianna over to Manuel’s house was the only time that she didn’t want to hold my hand or for me to carry her. After hanging out with the boys for a little bit more, Edgar went and got Adrian. We talked to him and Edgar for a little while when Abraham roller bladed up and asked me if I wanted to skate. After the 15th time he asked, I ended up putting on Adrian’s roller blades and skating and racing around on the basketball court with him. It was the first time I have roller bladed in probably 10 years! I have to say, it went surprisingly well. Then, we played basketball and had a great time. It was so awesome to see Jared and Adrian start to form a friendship. I joked to Jessica, “I knew that they would get along because I have the same relationship with both of them. They hang on me the exact same way. The only way I know which one it is is by which country I am in.” It was so funny too because Adrian started leaning on me the second that he came outside and when he started standing on his own again, it wasn’t even 30 seconds before Jared came over and started doing it. Oh, it just made me laugh inside!

Saturday morning, I went over to Manuel to talk about when we can put up the pictures and hand out the bibles. He was so excited. We pretty much started right after that. We brought over all of the framed pictures and the envelopes over to the main building. The front room ended out being locked, so we were stuck outside with all the kids coming up and wanting to see them. I decided to start to hand out their individual envelopes to try to distract them, but it only half-way helped. Once Gaby came over and saw the pictures, she wanted to have some put up in the office. After discussing it with her, she then decided she wanted all of the pictures in the office. Manuel has wanted a gallery of the kids’ pictures, and so we were turning the office into one. Jared put up every single frame, and he did an amazing job. He even was creative and did a great job of deciding where they should go. It maybe took us an hour to complete the whole thing.

Jared

We wanted tacos for lunch, so we got permission to take Adrian, Francisco Ramon (13 yr. old), Juan Ramon, and Diana with us. It was great; those kids are so much fun! The best part is that no other kids saw! They each got to get a treat from SuperVal too, and they totally shared when we got back. We ended out not doing the birthday project because there was another group there that had 3 piñatas and cakes and they gave every kid a Christmas present (it was like an Angel tree group).

So, here we are, sitting around and I’m playing with a couple of the little kids at a table when someone comes up from behind me and puts their hands over my eyes. I had no idea if it was a boy or girl or how tall or short they were. I just knew it was a kid. I reached behind me and went to pinch their waist or something so I could maybe hear their laugh. Lo and behold, the kid went off running, and then I looked. It was Francisco Ramon, a 13 year old boy, and then he does the pinching motion and then points to his butt. That’s right, I totally pinched a 13 yr. old’s butt. I couldn’t believe it. I apologized later that night, and I could tell that he was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it again. At least he knew I didn’t mean too… That’s a very good thing!

Francisco Ramon
Later that night, I helped one of the little boys learn how to play their version of Go Fish and I was trying to translate an English book to Arnulfo. I talked to a bunch of the older girls that tend to be the hardest to crack into their lives, and I really started to bond with them. While I was talking to them, Jesus was locked in his boys hall, and he had one of the kids come get me. He wanted me to take a picture of him pitching, batting, and catching the ball the following morning in his game. He also asked me to come down on his birthday, January 31st. I told him I’d ask my work, but that’s so hard. He’s so cute though. I hope that maybe somehow I can make it work. Elyot asked me to come on the 15th of Jan. because that’s when his sponsor is coming down (who I have met before). I felt like telling them that I can’t make 3 trips in one month… but I just told them I’ll see. I made no promises. After all of the little kids went to bed, we went to different stores to try to find fire crackers. We got sparklers and tons of other fireworks, and it was awesome. This was another thing I haven’t done for a good 10+ years. We then went to have dinner at 10:00 and took Esveidy (the 13 yr. old pregnant girl) and Adrian (again).

Before we went to dinner, I talked to Manuel again about the bibles and he said to pass them out in-between the boys’ baseball game and church. The baseball game was supposed to start at 9 and then church would start at 11. The game was also supposed to be on CdE grounds so there wouldn’t be an issue. Well, it’s 9:15 and the kids are getting on their bus. I asked if we could go on the bus, and they said yes, and so on we went. We went to a completely different part of Imuris, picked up the other team and some of the players on different spots on the road, and off we went. Jesus pitched the first 3 innings and he did awesome. Mario pitched the next 6 and he was really good too. They ended out winning 26-6. Wahoo! Yet, because they don’t have the 10 run rule like they do in little league here, the game lasted 3 hours because they did so well. By the time we got back to CdE, church was over. So, Manuel said to hand out the bibles at lunch time.

Jesus - Does he look almost 13?

Mario
I have to say, Manuel really does have a lot of wisdom with how to work with these kids. While they were eating, he told them to go into the commodore after they were done if they wanted a bible. I have never in my life ever thought that I would see kids wanting bibles so bad! They were all trying to get theirs before the kid next to them. They were so excited and thankful to get them. We must have handed out about 60 bibles to the kids. They still have a box that is almost full, so it’s awesome. Manuel also is keeping some bibles in their library so that the little kids can get them on Sundays before church but don’t ruin them the rest of the time. The kids I got for the little kids were a hit too. Some of the 10 year olds wanted those too.

Oh, so then it’s time to say goodbye. While I was saying by to the kids, I gave Arnulfo a hug goodbye. While I was hugging him, he was saying, “My pants! My pants!” I tried to fix it by pulling them up. But, what do you think I did instead? Yep, I gave him a wedgie and pulled up his underwear. After Arnulfo started to tell me what I was doing, I had Jared fix it. Yep, I’m great huh! I pinch a 13 year old boy’s butt and I give a 6 year old a wedgie! What a weekend!


Arnulfo
Last but not least… I got a text last night that told me about how the baby has been born! Yep, that’s right, the baby is already here, and he and Esveidy are doing great. He was born yesterday at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and she’s already back at CdE.

I’m going to be making another trip this month on Saturday with Jessica, so if anyone wants to come, please let me know. I would really like for someone else to help with the driving, because it’s harder on day trips. If anyone is interested, just let me know.

P.S. I am so emotionally drained and tired, and I think I have a headache from that. I will blog about the trip tomorrow. I am going to spend my night editing the 200+ pictures and vegging out to that.

P.P.S. After really thinking about this. God told me why I was so emotionally drained ever so honestly.... He said, "Yep, that's what happens when you give out your love and not My love." Oops.

Before I talk about the actual trip, it is imperative that I talk about the day that we left.

It all started at 8:00 in the morning, when I started getting ready to head to my first store. Here's all that I had to get done:

1. Go to Target to get hammers, nails, and face wipes.
2. Go to Barnes & Noble to get the little kids books so they didn't feel left out without having a bible.
3. Go to a WalMart to go to try to find more picture frames and get the groceries.
4. Go to Walgreens to pick up the 78 pictures I ordered on Thursday. Then, put them in the corresponding kids envelopes when I got home.
5. Continue going to various Walmarts until all the frames were bought.
6. Meet up with Jordan and Susie to get whatever frames they found in other Walmarts.

Well, I finally got home about 2:45 p.m. and I still hadn't packed, loaded the car, or showered yet, and I was supposed to be at the church at 4. Yet, somehow it all got done - after 4 WalMarts, sitting in a parking lot for 30 minutes waiting... and going to all the places.

Oh, but before I let it go. You would think that it would be just a productive, time to do everything day, but it was a day filled with blessings ~ even before we left.

When I was at Barnes & Noble, I was in the small spanish children's section. There was another lady that was looking at all the same books too. After 5 minutes of us both looking everywhere, I joked about how big the section was. I then asked her what she was looking for. She explained that she's looking for kids around 9 and that she's going to a party later that night every year they bring books for the crisis center. So, I then told her that I was buying the books for the little kids in an orphanage since they're not getting bibles like the older kids. She immediately went into her purse and handed me $10 and said that she wanted to help buy some books for them. She then continued to help me find good books for them. She also told me to ask for the teacher's discount and explain what I'm doing. Well, you all know me, and I don't exactly like doing that... Yet, lo and behold, she was 2 people in front of me when I was in line to check out. I also heard the cashier tell her to go talk to the store manager, but I surprisingly didn't hear the rest of the conversation. Well, as the lady is ringing me up, I told the cashier how she had given me the money. Right after I said that, she came up with the store manager, and they gave me a teachers card so that I can get 20% off most purchases. This lady that I just met saved me over 20 bucks and she is going to save me more money in the future. I told the cashier that I was shocked and I couldn't believe that they were going to give me the discount even though I'm not a teacher. She then said, "Well, that's what this is for - too help people that are doing good things in this world". I'm still a little shocked. I usually don't experience things like this.

Yet, now it makes me remember the cashier I had at Fry's before the November trip. I joked about the reason why I bought 8 bags of Fiery Hot Cheetos and she immediately gave me a $10 off coupon that another lady left to give to "someone special". (Sounds like something an older lady would say, eh?)

All of this stuff always shocks me, I don't know why though. God blesses us all the time. He's always there wanting to give us little reminders of Himself and the things He likes to do and can do for us.

Updates.

Tonight I was able to get the bibles from Sharon. Praise God, she was able to get 93!

I have most of the pictures printed. They are all in individual envelopes for each kid. I ordered more pictures last night, so now the fewest pictures that any kids is 3, but almost all have atleast 5.

Praise God, DD's mom always asks if there's something she can give CdE. She's giving styrofoam plates (I finally asked her not to get paper), Dixie cups, ornaments, and candy for the pinata.

I'm so excited for this weekend. Jared S., a new lady from our church, and one of the teenagers from this past weekend are going. It will be interesting because the teenage girl from last weekend is the only one that has been before. I am also the only person that everyone knows...

I'm also really excited to give the kids the bibles and the pictures. I am now hoping that kids will want to help put each other's pictures up on the wall due to the lack of people going on this trip. They always like to help, so I'm sure they will. Almost everything is taken care of now though, so the stress level is lessoning, and that is definitely a good thing.

Yesterday, I went down to the orphanage just for a day trip. We left at 6 a.m. and got home at 10:30 p.m. We were at the orphanage just over 7 hours, and it was perfect. I met a group of people from Gilbert and Scottsdale while I was there over Labor Day weekend, and they invited me to take this trip with them. I took it because I always want to see these kids, but also because I needed a picture of the new boy, Fernando. What a blessing it was. It was so much fun to just spend time with the kids. I played a lot of basketball (which some of them laughed at my lack of skills), I got scared while I watched them do backflips off of the top of the wall, and I taught them the game B.S. I changed the name of the game to "Mentiroso" (Liar). Oh my gosh, it was seriously so much fun. By the time we left, I prepared myself for it all day, I was just stoked that I was able to say, "See you in 6 days".

We're now in the car and I realized I had not given them any money for the pizzas yet that they served the kids lunch. It cost $275 for 25 large pizzas down there. Yet, every kid got 2 slices and 1/2 an apple, and there were still 10 pizzas left. They decided to not overly stuff the kids for lunch and save the others for dinner. I tried to give them money, and they refused to take it. I told them that they had to, and that I refuse not to help with the cost of the trip. They said that they were just happy that I would come down with them. Why? - Who knows! We then ate at this really good restaurant in Nogales, and I tried to at least pay for my dinner. Nope, they wouldn't even let me do that. I was blessed by just not having to drive! I didn't need anything else. Yet, they refused. Then I realized...

This is my Christmas present from God.

Seriously. There are so many times where I don't realize it until afterwards. Yet, I realized it before I left, before I realized it would be literally a free ride for me. However, God blesses me so much more.

Those kids are my joy. They are my gift so to speak. They are what God uses to bless me abundantly all the time. I am so thankful.

P.S. Keith - Jesus Guadalupe is freakin' amazing at basketball. If he wasn't on my team, we would have for sure lost. He can steal the ball from people while they are dribbling like you wouldn't believe.

Here is story, two stories that happened in Magdalena, Sonora, in the month of September. Some stories don't need words. They should explain it all. Story # 1Cast: Hannah and RamonExtras: Jaime, 1st scene








Story #2Cast: Susie, Hannah, Jaime, Ramon

I just found out yesterday that Eveidy (the 13 year old girl at the orphanage) had false labor a couple days ago. She has a cesarian planned for next week if she doesn't have him by then. Please pray for her.

I also found out that there's a new 8 year old boy named Ramon Fernando. He will definitely be called Fernando since there's already Ramon Abdiel, Juan Ramon, Ramon, Francisco Ramon.... Get my point? I can't wait to meet Fernando! I'm already in love just by knowing his name....lol

I'm going down there tomorrow. I was invited to go with another group, and I'm so excited. We leave at 6 a.m. and we'll be eating dinner in Nogales. It's an extremely short trip, but I can't wait. Even spending 5 hours with the kids is worth it! Just maybe Esveidy will have had her baby boy and I can still meet Fernando! And see all of the other kids I love so much! :)

It's Wednesday. I usually go over my last minute plans for Prims in the morning, put everything I need on my bed so it's easier to grab later.... but today I don't have to do that. We have a month plus of time off and it's weird. Last week after our party, I thought that the break might be nice, but I am already ready to get back into it. These girls are awesome. I love hearing all of their stories and seeing the things that they brought to share with the class. I love how I never said we would have show and tell, but magically it just started one night unofficially. It's great though. They get so excited about the things that they do in their lives, and they remind me of what the really important things are.

So, what am I doing instead?

Oh, what do you think?

I get the bookmarks today that I am giving to the kids at the orphanage. God gave me a vision last week about putting a bookmark with a little encouraging note on the back for each one of the kids. That's right. I (hopefully Susie and Michelle can help - this hasn't been confirmed yet) need to write 95 notes in spanish on bookmarks. I wanted to put a scripture reference that went along with the note and then put it in the bible we are giving them in the spot where that story is. For example, Ramon Abdiel has a problem with fighting - constantly. He might not be the stronger fighter during the fight, but because of his anger problem, he has to finish it - with rocks or various other things. He was the first one that God gave me a message for. It's simple, Let God be your defender. He is able and willing to protect you. The story? Nabal, Abigail, and David, so I would put the bookmark in 1 Samuel. This will obviously take a while, but I will start on it tonight. I really really hope Sharon is able to get the bibles by the 15th. As of yesterday, she is just starting on this... Please pray!

PS. Season finale of America's Next Top Model is on tonight too... Don't miss it. :)

Today, I "worked" at my second job from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. I say I "worked" because to me, it's not really work. I watched and played with 2 little girls that have "special needs". I have known their family for 5 years now....Wow... and to be honest, I feel at home when I'm there.

Today, I had the hiccups for probably 4 hours. No kidding. They still pop up about every hour, but they just don't seem to go away. Thank goodness they aren't the ones that hurt, so to me, it wasn't bothersome. It was hilarious though, because these two precious nine year old girls laughed and laughed everytime I hiccuped. They even mocked me. Good times, good times.