A month already!

Wow!  It's been 4 weeks already!  It seems unreal.
Saturday, I taught some more canning.  The women and I canned 7 quarts of cabbage, and 10 quarts of pickled jalapeno chiles.  It was funny because I left the room for a bit, and when I came back, two of the women were nervous.  They said, "The cans were making noise.  Is it ok?"  I told them of course, and that it was good because it meant that the cans were done.  That afternoon, Maggie and Kari drove me to the border so I could meet Adalia on the other side.  The first place to cross was super busy and had a hug line of people waiting.  We drove to the other place to cross, and the line was a lot smaller.  I waited in line for just over an hour, but finally got across.  Adalia picked me up, and took me to her apartment.  Then Adalia, her friend Christine, and I went to Coronado.  There we went through the Coronado Hotel and walked along the beach.  It was so pretty.  When we got back, Ray made a good supper of tilapia, salmon, rice, salad and broccoli.  I'm not a big fan of fish, but it was pretty good. :D

Sunday, we got up and went to church, after which we took Christine to the airport.  Back at Ray and Adalia's, Adalia made some steak for tacos.  Then we headed to another missionary family's house for a Super Bowl party.  I only knew one other person there, but everyone made me feel included and welcome.  I had a lot of fun, even though I am not really into football.  It was a good game, and the commercials were good too.

Monday, the kids at the shelter didn't have school because it was a holiday.  Ray decided to take all the kids to the beach.  So we loaded all of them up in the van and headed to the beach.  It was warm and sunny at the shelter, but cold, windy and cloudy at the beach.  We all had a blast though anyway!  The kids had fun jumping in the waves and playing in the sand.  To finish off the day, Ray paid for all the kids that wanted to, to have a ride on a horse.  They really enjoyed this as well.  By then, everyone was cold and tired, so we headed back to the shelter.  While we were at the beach, Melinda, a missionary dealing in human trafficking, visited and she and the women made stepping stones out of broken up tile.  They turned out really neat.  To finish out my day, I spent the time before supper playing "trais" (tag) with the kids.  It was so much fun.

Yesterday, the kids got ready to go to school, only to discover that both vans had flat tires. So they stayed home for the day.  We spent all morning working on homework with the kids, so they wouldn't be behind.  After lunch, I spent some time looking for zumba videos and trying to learn some more dances.  Right after supper, we had two more visitors.  Two women from LA came down to see the shelter.  They work at a company that deals with human trafficking and wanted to see how some shelters are run and discuss the issues of it in Mexico.  I also had a great night last night, because I got a package from my mom.  It's been so cold here, especially at night, and I didn't pack the right pajamas.  She mailed me some warm pajamas and other great surprises.  I was so happy, and warm last night!

Today, the women visitors went to the school, and then we chatted about the shelter and how things are done here for the women.  I spent most of my day today, helping out in the sewing room.  One woman drew the pattern for squares, I cut them, and another woman sewed them together.  We had quite an assembly line going.  Other women were putting bags together, making more flower pins or working on other things.  I was pleasantly surprised, when one of the women had something for me.  I had ordered a fleece jacket, and she finished it today.  Its a very nice blue fleece jacket with pockets, zipper and collar.  I am so happy and warm!  Now I'll be warm in the day with my new jacket, and at night with my new pajamas.  A lot of the women went to night school now, so I'm taking this time to update.

 Jesus by the sea.  As Ray explains it, Jesus is saying, "I once caught a fish this big".  :D

 The kids at the beach.

 Its kind of hard to read, but it says Hola Iowa.

 They are preparing for the next wave.  I love how they are like a big family, even if not related.

Two girls, from different mothers, who are best friends and look a lot alike, trying to build a sandcastle before the next wave.  They never got very far, but they had a lot of fun.

Even though it was cold, we had a lot of fun.  It was such a great day!  Well, I don't know anything else.  I'll update again soon!  Have a great week!