There She Blows!

Ok, so as I said before, I was feeling kinda cruddy Tuesday, and that lasted for a few days.  I'm finally over it now.
Wednesday, I helped Ray build a composter in the morning, and after lunch, I worked on painting the ceiling again.

Thursday, I painted all morning and finally finished all the trimming!  We had church that night, as usual, and during church, a new woman arrived with her 9 month old baby.  He was so cute!

Friday, I and two of the women squeezed a mountain (seriously) of lemons!  We'd fill a pitcher full of it, and Maggie would take it and make lemonade.  Then we squeezed another pitcher full!  They drank that pitcher the next day.  I thought we were all done, but yesterday, she showed me we still have more lemons! Yikes!  After squeezing all those lemons, we started on lunch.  I made a pasta salad, and everyone really liked it, even though it didn't really follow the recipe.  :D After lunch, I had a movie "night" for the kids.  They watched Brother Bear and ate popcorn.  They really enjoyed that.  Unfortunately, after the movie, we had a going-away party for Mayte and her family.  She decided she was ready to move out on her own.  She has a place to live and school lined up for the kids.  We had cake, and prayed for her, and everyone gave the family hugs.  It was hard to say goodbye, and many of us (including me) cried.

Saturday was such a nice day!  It was warm, sunny, and in the low 80s!  (Yes Iowa people, I'm going to rub it in a bit)  The kids had discovered that I can take videos with my iPod, so I spent quite a bit of the morning following them around taking videos of them giving the news, weather, and a tour of the grounds.  After that, the women had their movie "night".  We had popcorn, sent Oscar to the store for Coke, and watched The Proposal.  The kids wanted to watch too, but I said it was just for the women and not appropriate for them, and we locked them outside to enjoy the nice day.  The women really enjoyed the movie and we laughed so hard.  Afterwards, the kids watched another movie I'd brought them, Horton Hears a Who.  While they watched, we made lunch.  I baked 3 kinds of muffins using mixes they had in the cupboard.  Afterwards, we relaxed and hung out.  The new woman that had arrived on Thursday, decided she wanted to leave, so someone took her.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to Ensenada and La Bufadora for the third time!  Ray's family is here visiting, so we all went down.  We had a bit of a food tour again.  At Ensenada we had fish tacos, and strawberry and nutella crepes.  La Bufadora finally was active this time.  The last two times I've been there, it wasn't doing much.  Yesterday it was!  (Hence the title for this post)  Our food tour continued with pina coladas (pineapple and coconut juice in a cut pineapple).  We went on to Puerto Nuevo, where we ate again.  I had steak and quesadillas.  It was amazing!  I had so much fun!

The very large Mexican flag at Ensenada

La Bufadora spewing water!  I got wet this time!

Michelle (Ray's daughter) and Kristy (a visiting missionary) holding a Boa Constrictor.  I said no way!

It was a fun day, even though it was cold and mostly cloudy.  It seems strange to think that I have barely over a week left.  The women are trying to decide how they can fit in my suitcases and go home with me.  I'm sad to be leaving, but I also miss my friends and family at home (not looking forward to the really cold weather though!).  I already know I want to come back, but finding the time and money will be deciding factor of when.  These women and this place have really touched my heart.  I know I will never forget them or their stories.  

What a Zoo!

Ok, Thursday, after I updated a bit, I got busy.  I painted quite a bit if the ceiling with primer.  I also ate at my two favorite taco places in town.  :D  I went home with Ray and Adalia that night too.

Friday, I got up early, so I could go back to the zoo again.  I wanted to see the baby panda!  The baby and his mom are only available for viewing 9-noon.  I finally got to see him.  He's such a cutie!  He was wandering around, and getting into trouble as momma watched from overhead in a tree.  I spent the day at the zoo, exploring and seeing what I'd missed the first time.

Saturday, we went back to the shelter, where I painted some more before heading back across the border.  I met up with my second cousin and his wife who live out here.  I went to supper with them and spent the night at their house.

Sunday, we all went to church, and then out to lunch with some of their church friends.  Later, we caught up, and spent time talking about our lives and the family.  It was fun to get to know them both better.  I'm looking forward to the next family reunion.  Late that afternoon, I went back to Ray and Adalia's, where we watched the Oscars.

Yesterday, after sleeping late, Adalia and I went grocery shopping for the shelter and then came back.  I painted for a while, but was so tired I felt I'd fall over, so I took a nap.  When I got up, I drove the women to their night class, and later went and picked up them and the secondary students from school.

Today I drove the kids to school, and painted some more upon returning.  I think I'm getting a cold, so I haven't really done much today.  I feel like I should be busy, but I'm so tired.  I hope I get over this soon.  Being sick is no fun, especially when there's so much to do!

Ok, I know you're all dying to see the pics of the baby panda.  I won't disappoint you.  Here he is.

Cheetah and her dog friend.

 Baby panda!!!

Baby and momma!  So cute!  He's six months, and she is 21 years old. 

 Baby takin (Chinese mountain animal)

Red panda! 

All the animals were super cute!  I took tons of pics, but it'd take forever to upload them all.  Well, I should get off here.  Have a great day and I'll post again soon!  

Lions, Tigers and Bears! Oh My continued...

Here are the photos that I promised last week.  I have pics from SeaWorld.  I will also be posting a new update soon of what has happened in the last week, but I don't have much time right now.  So enjoy the pics while you wait to hear more.  :D

I'll write more soon.  Right now, I need to get back to work. Have a great day!

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

Thursday was Valentines Day, or here it's called El Dia del Amor y la Amistad (Day of love and friendship). To celebrate this day, I made lunch for everyone at the shelter.  I made 5 pans of cavatelli (pasta dish), and garlic bread, as well as made a sheet cake.  It turned out really well, and I only had one pan of cavatelli left over, which they ate for supper.  The cake turned out well, but I made homemade frosting for the first time, and it was really salty, and not very good.  Oh well, I'll keep trying.  That night, I went to Ray and Adalia's house for the weekend.

Friday we got up, and Ray taught me a new sport.  We went to a park and played Disc Golf.  I'd never played before, but I've seen it at parks.  I wasn't very good, but Ray says I show potential.  When Adalia and I grew tired of slowing Ray down, we went to the Cabrillo National Monument.  It was really pretty, and a nice day.  Afterwards, we went and got burgers (yummy) at In-N-Out (I highly recommend them!  So Good!) and went to Old Town San Diego.  It was a neat place to walk around and look.

 The lighthouse.

  Cabrillo National Monument

Saturday, we headed out early to go to the zoo.  I took tons of pictures, some of which I'll put up.  We walked all day, and had a blast!  It was so cool, and I got to see panda bears and koala bears for the first time ever!

This is kind of hard to see, but it's a Panther!  As a UNI Panther, I had to take it's picture.  Go Panthers!

Sunday, we went to the Wild Animal Park, which is like the zoo, but the animals have more space to roam.  We went to an amazing bird show, and got to see a cheetah run at full speed.  It was so fast, I couldn't get pics or video!  For supper, Adalia made pork chops that Ray had marinated!  This Iowa girl was so happy!

Monday was a day to recover.  I slept late, and helped Adalia do some work for the shelter.  Then we came back to Mexico.  There is a new woman and her son at the shelter, so I spent some time getting to know them.

Tuesday was very busy!  After breakfast, I taught Maggie how to freeze onions, and we filled 11 quart bags full of chopped onions!  If you know me, you know I don't like onions, and I was getting tired of eating them in every meal.  :)  After this, Maggie and I walked to the grocery store a few blocks down the road and got groceries.  When we returned to the house, I made potato soup for lunch.  After lunch, I taught a cooking lesson, on making No Bake Cookies.  They turned out really yummy, and the women were surprised you don't bake them.  After making cookies, I taped, trimmed, and painted the kitchen ceiling with primer.  I was so tired, that I ate supper and went to bed.  It was a very full day!

Yesterday was a ton of fun!  At 6:30 am, Maggie and I walked up the road and caught a bus.  We went down to the border.  There we got water, tamales, and chamurado (a delicious hot chocolate drink!) and got in line to cross.  On the other side, we sat down to eat our tamales.  The vendor had said that my tamale wasn't spicy (no pica), but when I ate it, it was pica!  Maggie tried it and said I was silly, it wasn't spicy.  Well she ended up finishing it for me, and decided that it was pica after all!  We caught the trolley that took us downtown, and met up with Maggie's sister there.  The three of us went to SeaWorld for the day.  It was so amazing!  I'd never seen dolphins before, and never whales up close!  I took tons of pictures there too!  Maggie convinced her sister and I that we needed to go on the one roller coaster.  So we went, and oh my goodness!  I was so scared and didn't like it at all!  Her sister and I both were terrified and shaky afterwards!  I got to see Shamu, and the park had a new baby whale born on Valentine's Day, and I got to see him too!  After we saw everything at the park, we went and got Chinese for lunch!  It was so good and so filling!  We walked along the beach for a bit, and then the sister took us back to the trolley.  When we crossed the border, Maggie got us a taxi to take us back to the shelter.  It was my first time in a taxi!  We got back around 8pm, and I went straight to bed.

Today I'm still kind of tired.  I haven't really done anything yet, except straighten up my room, and update this.  It's hard to believe I only have 3 more weeks here.  In some ways I'm looking forward to being home, but I don't want to leave these women and kids too.  I've become so attached and don't want to miss out on their lives here.  I've been trying to think of ways I can continue to help them from the U.S., as well as being more aware of people's needs at home too.  I've seen a lot of poverty and need, and it's not just in Mexico.  God has really opened my eyes to His people and ways that I can help them.  I hope you will start looking too and finding ways you can make a difference.  I'd also like to ask you to pray about possibly helping out here as well.  They have so many expenses here, to run this wonderful shelter, and don't always have the money to do it.  I'd encourage you to think and pray about possibly contributing to them here.  I can tell you that they are doing great work here.

Ok, enough of serious talk!  I'll post more pictures later.  Right now, I need to go get busy.
    

Standing On the Promises of God

Hello again.  I titled my post "Standing on the Promises of God" because I got to witness one of his promises on Monday.  We'll talk more about that later.

Thursday, I did another cooking class.  We made banana nut muffins.  The women had never had them before, and some had not clue what muffins were.  They really enjoyed them!  Unfortunately, there weren't enough for all the women and children to try them, so I'll have to make more when we have bananas again.  That night, the pastor of a new church came and conducted a worship service here at the shelter.  We had songs, and a message, and even an activity for the kids.  It was really neat, what I understood of it.

Friday, I worked around the house doing chores that needed to be done around the house.  I went to Ray's house for the weekend.  There I got a real treat for supper. Ray made barbecued ribs and mashed potatoes!  I was super happy!

Saturday, Melissa, Ray's daughter, made an amazing breakfast!  Nutella and strawberry crepes.  Then we went to the mall and saw a movie and walked around the mall for a while.  It was a lot of fun.  After lunch, we headed back to the house, where we hung out and relaxed.  I made cavatelli for supper and we watched movies.  Melissa and I decorated her room that night and laughed late into the night.

Sunday, Chinese New Year, we went to a new church.  It was neat because they have a Loatian, Hispanic, and English population at the church.  The Loatian members got up and sang a song in their language, which was really neat to hear.  The message was in English, with a person reading the scripture in each language.  The message was about Valentine's Day and loving those around us.  After church, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, we went out for Chinese.  After lunch, we hung out and watched movies.  I also had fun watching the Grammy's.

Monday, after returning to the shelter, I helped Maggie make lunch.  She fried tortillas and folded them to make hard shell tacos.  Then, I spread mashed potatoes in the shells.  We had potato tacos and soup for lunch.  After lunch, I helped the kids with their English homework.  While we were working, the women told me to look outside.  That is when I saw God's promise.  A double rainbow!  It was so brilliant and close!  I could even see where it touched the ground on both sides!.

Tuesday, I did another baking class.  The women and I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.  We tried a few right then, and then saved the rest for dessert after supper.  For lunch, Ray took me, and some of the staff out for Chinese food.  It was really good, but strange seeing the Chinese menu in Spanish, and the fortune cookies in English.

Today, some ladies from one of the churches came and hosted a bible study.  I had a hard time understanding the message, but it was still interesting.  After bible study, I went and helped out in the sewing room.  Before long, Oscar came to get me.  I have been going to the school with him, to learn the road.  Today though, he gave me the car keys.  I drove the older kids to middle school, before continuing on to the elementary school.  I did pretty well, even though I was nervous.  There are 29 speed bumps between the shelter and the school, and numerous pot holes to avoid!  I must say that I did not avoid all of them.  We finally got to the school, and got the kids loaded.  I was pulling away, when people started yelling at me, and a car even pulled up beside me and yelled something at me.  I was very confused, until I looked back, and realized that one of the kids was running down the street chasing the van.  We quickly got him in, and continued on our way.  I need to come up with a system so that nobody gets left behind again.  I felt really bad.  We finally got back to the house, safe and sound.  Oscar said he gave me a  9 out of 10 rating on my driving.  I felt good about that, especially knowing that it could've been better.  After lunch, I helped out in the sewing room again, before Skyping with mom.

 You can kind of see the second rainbow.

 God's promise over the city of Tijuana.

 Banana nut muffins!

 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

 Chinese menu in Spanish.

 Coconut chicken and fried rice.

The rainbow over the city and shelter.

I was reminded of God's providence and promises when I saw this.  I wanted to share it with all of you.  Remember, rainbows only are visible after the rain.  Have a great Valentine's Day, and remember that you are loved by me, but most importantly, by the One who paints rainbows in the sky. 

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!  

3 (and a little more) Weeks

Wow!  Sorry I haven't undated for a while.  I just realized it's been over a week since I did.  So this will probably be a long post.  You are forewarned. :D

Ok, so on Thursday morning, bright and early, actually dark and early, at 5 am, we headed to take the West Virginia group to the airport.  I drove a truck with some of the women and Ray drove the rest of the women plus the luggage.  I was super nervous about driving in Tijuana and in San Diego without knowing where I was going.  I basically just stayed glued to Ray's bumper though.  All was fine until we got in the line for the border.  Oh my goodness, it was soo long! It took us a couple hours.  We finally made it across, and to the airport.  Adalia brought me back across the border so Ray could get some sleep.  After lunch, Adalia and I and 2 other women stained a bunch of wood planks.  It was a lot of fun!

Friday morning brought a surprise breakfast item: Pancakes!  It rained all day, and taught a short English lesson.  The kids didn't have school, so it was a day of resting.

Saturday morning, I got one of the women to do my hair in a very pretty braid!  In the afternoon, we had a fun event.  There was a wedding to go to.  A former volunteer had gotten married and wanted to have a second ceremony here too for the women and workers.  We all dressed up and slogged through the mud to the chapel.  It was very nice, and I was impressed I understood most of the sermon.  When it was all done, we came back to the house and I relaxed with the women and children.

Sunday, I got ready for church, and was waiting, when I was told we couldn't go because it was too wet.  It was so muddy.  So we all just sat and rested, read, or watched tv that day.  It was fun and good to relax.

Monday, I helped the manager sort through clothes donations they have here.  After lunch, we had bible study, which is a lot harder than in English.  :D We even got homework, which I got permission to do in English.

Tuesday, I helped make lunch, under the watchful eye of Maggie, assistant manager.  I also started looking for recipes to teach the women baking with, and supplies for canning.  Right before lunch, a fellow missionary here, Ruth, asked if I wanted to go on a ride with her.  We visited a family who lives in a canyon. We drove as far as we could, and walked the rest of the way.  I was so humbled because 8, soon to be 9, people live in this one room house, with just packed gravel for a floor.

Wednesday, the one woman and I made lunch together.  We had spaghetti, lemonade, beans, and tortillas.  I showed her how to tell when your spaghetti is ready, and she was so excited about that.  (For those that don't know how, you take a string of spaghetti and throw it at a smooth surface, like a fridge or dishwasher.  If it sticks to the surface, it's done, if it falls, it isn't.)  Following lunch, Adalia's friend led bible study on single mothers and Timothy.  After bible study, I rode along with the guard/all purpose helper to take the sewing ladies home, and pick up the big kids from secondary school.  It was cool, but the city is so huge and there's so much traffic.  I thought we'd be gone an hour, but instead it took 2 1/2 hours.

Thursday, I got up early, and rode with Kari, manager, to take the kids to school.  I am learning the route, so that I can do it myself someday soon, maybe.  After we dropped them off, Kari left me with Ruth at Banati.  Banati stands for Banco de Alimientos de Tijuana (Tijuana Food Bank).  Non-profit organizations or communities of families can come and get food at a greatly reduced price.  We got lots of food, and then delivered some to former families, or families in need on the way back.  When we got back to the shelter, Ray and the women were spreading new gravel in the driveway and parking lot at the shelter.  We took a break to eat, and Ray, Adalia, Oscar, and I ran for tacos at our favorite taco stand down the street.  On Mondays and Thursdays the tacos are cheaper, so it's a good reason to go.  When we returned, I sat down with the women and we came up with a weekly schedule for English lessons, Zumba classes, baking, and canning classes.  Once we got the schedule made up, I started looking for canning recipes for the food we'd gotten at Banati.

Today, I rode along to the school again.  I think I know my way there now, but I don't know how to get home for sure.  When we returned, I started teaching how to can tomatoes.  The women watched and helped too.  We ended up with a little more than a canner load.  After that was done, they started making lunch of chiles rellenos (filled chilies).  Today's had cream cheese in them.  Once all the kids had left, we did a Zumba class.  It was fun, but also hard!  I haven't done Zumba in almost a year, and I've never taught it before.  We had a lot of fun though!  Then Ray said he needed help leveling off and spreading more of the gravel.  We did that until lunch was ready.  Now I'm updating this, and waiting for my laundry to finish drying on the line.

Tomorrow, I think the plan is to can some more veggies, like zucchini or cabbage.  I was going to do baking tonight, but I was informed they bought a cake to celebrate one of the boys' birthday, which was on Sunday.  Better late than never.  I couldn't explain the canning process with my limited Spanish, but they picked it up by watching me, and then they wrote it for themselves in Spanish.  It was fun to watch them get so excited about taking turns filling jars and peeling tomatoes.

The sign you see on the way to the border.  

 My hair for the wedding.  

 Me all dressed up at the wedding! 

The bride waiting to walk down the aisle.  

Well that's all I have for now.  Happy first day of February!  Have a great groundhog's day tomorrow! Please let me know the outcome.  I'd like to know if it'll be warm by the time I come home.  :D