It has been an interesting Christmas season so far. We've had a couple of opportunities to hand out gifts, food and clothing to some very poor people. We've experienced the church's Christmas program, the communities firecracker fiesta and some traditonal and not-so-traditional Christmas festivities.
We found out on Christmas eve that Mexicans celebrate Noche buena (Beutiful Night) more than Christmas day. Noche Buena is on Dec 24th. It started for us with Church from 2-5 (that was the advertised time, the reality was 3-6!). We had about an hour long service with songs, skits, a short messag and some dances followed by supper. Supper was a North American version with turkey, instant mashed potatoes, dressing and vegies. There was also Birria (a soup made from a cheap cut of meat, tomatoes, garlic and Chili peppers- you season it with lime, onions and cilantro just before you eat it). Traditonally folks will have Tamales (corn flour dough placed on rehydrated corn husks or banana leaves, filled with meat, a slice of potatoe, sometimes an olive, or peppers and / or cheese. You tie the husks together and steam them for quite some time until done. One family we visited with had made a pot of them. The pot was too big to fit on a burner on the stove ( it would likely sit on all 4 burners) so they cook it outside over a fire. They had probably over 100 of the tamales cooked. It being too big for a fridge (besides they had 2 more huge pots filled with birria and Atole (sauce for the tamales made with milk, chocolate and cornflour) they just kept everything out and warmed it up as they needed it. These huge pots of food would feed their family of 4 for a week as well as anyone else who came by to visit.
Noche Buena is about families being together, usually around a bonfire (you wouldn't believe how many bonfires we saw!) and fireworks, with firecrackers. Traditionally the group hangs out until midnight when they will have a huge meal of turkey, tamales, birria, pozole etc. etc. And at midnight the bulk of the firecrackers and fireworks go off... it was quite loud!
We did not know this until that night, so we had invited a family over to our house for Christmas day supper, which seemed odd to them. This is a family from Southern Mexico who are here because of their daughters ailment. they can receive better medical treatment here, and have even been helped by hospitals in the USA. So we had 6 folks over (gramma, grampa, momma, daughter, aunty and cousin) and enjoyed tamales, turkey and the trimmings.
We also had Mexican fruit ponche. I found a couple of recipes on the internet and mixed them together to make my own. It is a hot punch with crabapples, granny smith apples, guavas, raisins, dried plums, orange peel, piloncillo (processed sugar cane) brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and jamaica (dried hibiscus flowers). It was good. Really good. They could not believe that a gringo had made this ponche. The one lady says to us- "It's better than mine!" to which her sister replied-" She's right- it IS better than hers!!" We had some good laughs, shared recipes and dessert until it was time to take them home.
About a week ago, Elijah woke up one day with flea bites (Click here to read that story) And we had quite the flea killing ceremony afterwards. Well, on Boxing Day (Dec. 26 for Canadians) Jacob woke up with similar spots, only with a cold too and a very tired- sick feeling. It was chicken pox (Jake calls them his polka-dots). It turns out this is what Elijah had, only he had such a mild case, it didn't seem to us to be chicken pox. He went about life as usual without even getting very itchy! If it wasn't for some spots on his face, you'd never know anything was different with Elijah. Jacob, though, has a pretty bad case. He spent most of this afternoon in bed, has a cough and drippy nose and it covered with the little itchy spots from head to toe. We can only assume that Caleb is next. We just hope it isn't until after the new years! We were given some free passes to Legoland that expire that day and we were going to go celebrate legoland new years eve- they have fireworks etc at 6pm (new years in LEGOLAND!). We're praying for healthy kids for that day- the kids have been looking forward to this...
SCHOOL.
I haven't found out yet. if enough donations have come in for us to register the kids in school by January 8th. If you could be in prayer with us for that. We are going to need about $1000.00 to pay for the registraiton fees, school uniforms and tuition for the first month. We appreciate your prayers in that regard, I'l update you by January 8th!
LANGUAGE LEARNING
We've hit kind of a wall with the language learning. We've got enough to "get by". Language learning is always done on a "need to know" basis. Meaning if you NEED to learn more, you will. Which is why new immigrants to Canada get by on so little English when they live in little communities of their fellow ex-pats. They get enough language to do day to day stuff and then coast by on the rest. Frankly, we need to need to learn more. With the kids in school for 8 hours a day, it'll give us the opportunity to be more involved with people somewhere, we just need to find out where! There are some possibilities we are going to be looking into for the new year.
Here is a list of specific prayer requests!
PRAYER:
- School. $1000.00 by January 8th for tuition, uniforms, and registration fees.
- Pray for the boys if they do get to go to the school- new school, new friends and the issues surrounding that!
- Language. Pray as we examine options that we would have wisdom to know what to do.
- Ministry opportunities- Pray that we'd have the opportunities to be a blessing as we are learning Spanish.
- Homesickness- We've been away from family at Christmas for years, we've lived in Victoria so lived through green Christmases, but being in Mexico means no familiar carols, no Christmas sermons (that we understand well enough yet), no Advent and not much "familiar" about our holidays. That has caused a wee bit of homesickness here. Please pray with us about that!
- Chicken pox- Pray for Jaob as he gets through them, pray for Caleb that he doesn't get them till after Dec. 31- or that he gets a mild case. The boys have been looking foward to using our free tickets to Legoland!
Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate you and the part you play in this ministry!
Until next time,
Mike for the family
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Projecy Joy 2
Elijah and Mike went out today to help a group of Mexican Pastors hand out "Project Joy" Christmas gifts to needy families.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Are you sure this is Mexico?
Yup... Northern Mexico.
I've been sitting on this post for a few days, wondering how do you communicate this to people- espescially those of you in Canada and Northern US.
I must admit, I was ignorant of the fact that it gets cold here in the winter time. Not Saskatchewan cold... Not Ontario at it's coldest cold, but cold nevertheless.
It wouldn't seem so cold if we had heat in the houses, but most places don't. We are very fortunate to have a mobile home. It is not Concrete Block construction. We have friends here who have a nice home of concrete block walls with tile floors. And their house is cold- almost all the time these days. The other day when they woke up- they could see their breath. The morning temperature (and likely their house temperature) was about 5C or 41F. Most homes here are concrete block walls, which take longer to heat up in the milder parts of the day. Our house was about 50 (10C). We have a small oil-radiator heater which is most needed in the mornings, but you cannot have the heater and either the kettle, microwave or toaster on at the same time or else our main outside breaker busts and we need to reset it. It can only really heat up one small room adequately, but cuts down the chill a bit in the living room/ kitchen/ dining room area. People here are a bit surprised that we are feeling cold- "aren't you from Canada" they say "where it is REALLY REALLY cold?" .... and we are... the difference being that in Canada we go from our heated homes to our heated cars to our heated churches and heated grocery stores. Whereas here- for all but about an hour a day (12:00-1:00) it is 13C or usually less in the house, in the church or in the store.
We are by no means complaining, we are just incredibly surprised a the depth of the humid cold and the effects of cold ocean winds too. We expected a lot of different things here in Mexico, but to be cold was not one of them!
SCHOOL STUFF
I registered the boys in the private school yesterday. We pay for it on the 9th of January, but in the meantime need to purchase about $400.00 worth of uniforms for the 3 boys. We are looking forward to this new venture in schooling with the hopes that our kids will learn Spanish as well as core subjects. The public school was not equipped to help our kids out in this way. We still need to have an additional $250.00/ month for tuition raised and are trusting the Lord for that! The other blessing is that the schools go full day (8:00am-3:00pm) which give us better opportunity to learn Spanish. We are looking at Spanish lessons 3 days a week for an hour a day at a language school we found here in Rosarito. The cost is CANADIAN$300 / month total for Shar and I, if you could remember that in your prayers as well!
The kids classrooms are just concrete block rooms with concrete floors and a tin roof. In the morning it is about 6-7C outside and in their classrooms too, which makes learning a bit difficult! It makes writing almost impossible with such cold hands!
THAT FLEA BITTEN VARMINT!
We brought our cat from Canada down to Mexico with us- His name is Rosie. Rosie the Boy-Cat. Rosie has fleas. Rosie has lots of fleas! Rosie, like most cats, loves comfortable, warm places to sleep. So Rosie the flea-bitten Canadian boy-cat has been sleeping in with Eljah, our oldest son. The other day, Elijah woke up with a bunch of red spots on him! No fever, no lethargy, no sore throat- just red spots. So we took him to the Cruz Roja (Red cross). What I never knew before is that red cross doesn't just provide emergency medical relief, they are the main provider of medical services and ambulance services in developing world countries. Tijuana has one main large hospital and some red cross stations across the area. This one in Rosarito requires you to pay $7.00 to use it. The Doctor looked at Elijah, prescribed some antibiotics for possibly infected flea bites and sent us on our way.
That's when the fun started...
On the way home, I found a pharmacy on a side road. I took the corner at the light and as I was travelling up the road a police pick-up truck passed me. I saw in my rear-view mirror that he was turning around and I needed to turn around too, because the pharmacy was on the other side of the road. Soon enough the lights went on and I was being pulled over.
This is the first time I have been pulled over in our 4 months here, but not the first time a policeman has checked my ID. Ocassionally ( 3 times in last week and a half) there have been "roadblocks" by police in various parts of the city. When they see I don't have a front plate (SK no longer requires front plates) I get stopped and asked for license etc. These guys at the road blocks are armed to the hilt with machine guns and high powered rifles.
Once the policeman realized I live in Rosarito and am a missionary, he sent me on my way. There was no explanation as to why I was pulled over. I am glad my Spanish has progressed to the point that I can converse with the locals and explain where I live. I think it might help that I drive a 12 year old rusty vehicle and don't live in a condo or mansion by the ocean, but live in the "hills".
After that we went to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions. It was a topical anti-biotic cream, a no-perfume soap, an a penicillin-type suspension.
The issue was that the penicillin suspension was a powder in a jar with Spanish instructions. I read and re-read it several times, but still wasn't sure how to do it. So I "called a friend" as the old game show used to say... and it turned out that you add boiled and cooled water to the bottle and shake vigorously to make the liquid suspension. In Canada the Pharmacist does the mixing. They must cut down on drug costs here by letting you mix it yourself. And now we were good to go.
Remember- this all started with the flea bitten varmint.... let's get back to that...
We were over in the States early this week and got some flea spray and house spray for fleas at the pet store. so Shar took Rosie the Canadian flea-bitten boy-cat and thoroughly (and I mean THOROUGHLY) sprayed him and massaged into his fur the oily, flea kiling spray. After about 45 minutes of oily-dousing and massaging, the cat had had enough. ( actually he was done much earlier, but Shar is feisty and she handled that cat with gusto!) She finshed him off and let him go- this oily, stinky cat with attitude, hoping to hop into one of our beds to rub off the stinky flea oil. It is made from peppermint oil, cinnamon oil, lemongrass oil and some other oils. It basically smells like one of those cheap dollar store plug in room fresheners on steroids after a massive power surge. You can imagine this wet, oily cat walking around shaking his legs after every step, twitching relentlessly and rubbing on everything so as to share the joy of the smell.
We put him outside. Next time we saw him, he'd been rolling around in dirt. So now we have this wet, oily, stinky cat covered in fine clay dust- our previosly orange and white cat now looked like the stuff you pull out of the bagless vaccuum cleaner! Sharlene must love that cat, because now, rosie our canadian flea-bitten boy-cat was getting a bath. They both came out of it ok.
Only now it's almost like the cat is avoiding us for some reason. He doesn't come around much anymore... hopefully he'll get over it and hopefully, the flea business will be done with. Until next month when we need to do it all over again!
Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate the part you are willing to play in this ministry. Have a great Christmas- May God bless you and keep your family this year, may you renew your sense of wonderment about the coming of God to earth to set us free!
Until Next time,
Mike for the McDonald's
I've been sitting on this post for a few days, wondering how do you communicate this to people- espescially those of you in Canada and Northern US.
I must admit, I was ignorant of the fact that it gets cold here in the winter time. Not Saskatchewan cold... Not Ontario at it's coldest cold, but cold nevertheless.
It wouldn't seem so cold if we had heat in the houses, but most places don't. We are very fortunate to have a mobile home. It is not Concrete Block construction. We have friends here who have a nice home of concrete block walls with tile floors. And their house is cold- almost all the time these days. The other day when they woke up- they could see their breath. The morning temperature (and likely their house temperature) was about 5C or 41F. Most homes here are concrete block walls, which take longer to heat up in the milder parts of the day. Our house was about 50 (10C). We have a small oil-radiator heater which is most needed in the mornings, but you cannot have the heater and either the kettle, microwave or toaster on at the same time or else our main outside breaker busts and we need to reset it. It can only really heat up one small room adequately, but cuts down the chill a bit in the living room/ kitchen/ dining room area. People here are a bit surprised that we are feeling cold- "aren't you from Canada" they say "where it is REALLY REALLY cold?" .... and we are... the difference being that in Canada we go from our heated homes to our heated cars to our heated churches and heated grocery stores. Whereas here- for all but about an hour a day (12:00-1:00) it is 13C or usually less in the house, in the church or in the store.
We are by no means complaining, we are just incredibly surprised a the depth of the humid cold and the effects of cold ocean winds too. We expected a lot of different things here in Mexico, but to be cold was not one of them!
SCHOOL STUFF
I registered the boys in the private school yesterday. We pay for it on the 9th of January, but in the meantime need to purchase about $400.00 worth of uniforms for the 3 boys. We are looking forward to this new venture in schooling with the hopes that our kids will learn Spanish as well as core subjects. The public school was not equipped to help our kids out in this way. We still need to have an additional $250.00/ month for tuition raised and are trusting the Lord for that! The other blessing is that the schools go full day (8:00am-3:00pm) which give us better opportunity to learn Spanish. We are looking at Spanish lessons 3 days a week for an hour a day at a language school we found here in Rosarito. The cost is CANADIAN$300 / month total for Shar and I, if you could remember that in your prayers as well!
The kids classrooms are just concrete block rooms with concrete floors and a tin roof. In the morning it is about 6-7C outside and in their classrooms too, which makes learning a bit difficult! It makes writing almost impossible with such cold hands!
THAT FLEA BITTEN VARMINT!
We brought our cat from Canada down to Mexico with us- His name is Rosie. Rosie the Boy-Cat. Rosie has fleas. Rosie has lots of fleas! Rosie, like most cats, loves comfortable, warm places to sleep. So Rosie the flea-bitten Canadian boy-cat has been sleeping in with Eljah, our oldest son. The other day, Elijah woke up with a bunch of red spots on him! No fever, no lethargy, no sore throat- just red spots. So we took him to the Cruz Roja (Red cross). What I never knew before is that red cross doesn't just provide emergency medical relief, they are the main provider of medical services and ambulance services in developing world countries. Tijuana has one main large hospital and some red cross stations across the area. This one in Rosarito requires you to pay $7.00 to use it. The Doctor looked at Elijah, prescribed some antibiotics for possibly infected flea bites and sent us on our way.
That's when the fun started...
On the way home, I found a pharmacy on a side road. I took the corner at the light and as I was travelling up the road a police pick-up truck passed me. I saw in my rear-view mirror that he was turning around and I needed to turn around too, because the pharmacy was on the other side of the road. Soon enough the lights went on and I was being pulled over.
This is the first time I have been pulled over in our 4 months here, but not the first time a policeman has checked my ID. Ocassionally ( 3 times in last week and a half) there have been "roadblocks" by police in various parts of the city. When they see I don't have a front plate (SK no longer requires front plates) I get stopped and asked for license etc. These guys at the road blocks are armed to the hilt with machine guns and high powered rifles.
Once the policeman realized I live in Rosarito and am a missionary, he sent me on my way. There was no explanation as to why I was pulled over. I am glad my Spanish has progressed to the point that I can converse with the locals and explain where I live. I think it might help that I drive a 12 year old rusty vehicle and don't live in a condo or mansion by the ocean, but live in the "hills".
After that we went to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions. It was a topical anti-biotic cream, a no-perfume soap, an a penicillin-type suspension.
The issue was that the penicillin suspension was a powder in a jar with Spanish instructions. I read and re-read it several times, but still wasn't sure how to do it. So I "called a friend" as the old game show used to say... and it turned out that you add boiled and cooled water to the bottle and shake vigorously to make the liquid suspension. In Canada the Pharmacist does the mixing. They must cut down on drug costs here by letting you mix it yourself. And now we were good to go.
Remember- this all started with the flea bitten varmint.... let's get back to that...
We were over in the States early this week and got some flea spray and house spray for fleas at the pet store. so Shar took Rosie the Canadian flea-bitten boy-cat and thoroughly (and I mean THOROUGHLY) sprayed him and massaged into his fur the oily, flea kiling spray. After about 45 minutes of oily-dousing and massaging, the cat had had enough. ( actually he was done much earlier, but Shar is feisty and she handled that cat with gusto!) She finshed him off and let him go- this oily, stinky cat with attitude, hoping to hop into one of our beds to rub off the stinky flea oil. It is made from peppermint oil, cinnamon oil, lemongrass oil and some other oils. It basically smells like one of those cheap dollar store plug in room fresheners on steroids after a massive power surge. You can imagine this wet, oily cat walking around shaking his legs after every step, twitching relentlessly and rubbing on everything so as to share the joy of the smell.
We put him outside. Next time we saw him, he'd been rolling around in dirt. So now we have this wet, oily, stinky cat covered in fine clay dust- our previosly orange and white cat now looked like the stuff you pull out of the bagless vaccuum cleaner! Sharlene must love that cat, because now, rosie our canadian flea-bitten boy-cat was getting a bath. They both came out of it ok.
Only now it's almost like the cat is avoiding us for some reason. He doesn't come around much anymore... hopefully he'll get over it and hopefully, the flea business will be done with. Until next month when we need to do it all over again!
Thank you for partnering with us! We appreciate the part you are willing to play in this ministry. Have a great Christmas- May God bless you and keep your family this year, may you renew your sense of wonderment about the coming of God to earth to set us free!
Until Next time,
Mike for the McDonald's
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Mommy's Home!
Yeehaw- No More Toast for Supper!
We were very happy to meet Shar at the airport at about 9:30pm Saturday night. I had originally planned on getting a sitter for the boys, but they were very excited to see mommy, so we all went and braved the 1 hour + border line wait and made it in plnety of time to explore the airport and meet mommy at the right time.
She was surprisingly alert for someone who had gotten up at 4am pacific time and arrived after one layover and an almost 5 hour flight at 9:17pm our time. We were all excited to see her come down the escalator and into our arms.
We made it home around 10:30pm and all had a good sleep!
Shar's mom is doing well. She is progressing, although a bit slowly. Please continue to pray for her as she recovers and as the Lord brings her to mind. It really was a blessing for Shar and her mom to be able to spend that time together this week. It's one thing to hear about how shes doing, it's another to be able to go and help do her nails and hair, to take her for coffee, just hangout and see her progression as she goes through rehab. They had a chance to talk a bit about housing options when they release her. She is due to be set free sometime near Dec. 23rd.
Thanks for praying,
Until next time,
Mike for the McDonald's
We were very happy to meet Shar at the airport at about 9:30pm Saturday night. I had originally planned on getting a sitter for the boys, but they were very excited to see mommy, so we all went and braved the 1 hour + border line wait and made it in plnety of time to explore the airport and meet mommy at the right time.
She was surprisingly alert for someone who had gotten up at 4am pacific time and arrived after one layover and an almost 5 hour flight at 9:17pm our time. We were all excited to see her come down the escalator and into our arms.
We made it home around 10:30pm and all had a good sleep!
Shar's mom is doing well. She is progressing, although a bit slowly. Please continue to pray for her as she recovers and as the Lord brings her to mind. It really was a blessing for Shar and her mom to be able to spend that time together this week. It's one thing to hear about how shes doing, it's another to be able to go and help do her nails and hair, to take her for coffee, just hangout and see her progression as she goes through rehab. They had a chance to talk a bit about housing options when they release her. She is due to be set free sometime near Dec. 23rd.
Thanks for praying,
Until next time,
Mike for the McDonald's
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
School Issues
One of the things we are learning first hand is that a major issue for missionaries with school age kids, is the school issues.
When we first came down, the idea we had was to homeschool. That worked out OK at first, but we found ourselves wondering how they were going to learn Spanish if they were with us all day, and how we were going to learn Spanish if we spent the majority of our time homeschooling. There were also some issues with the material that wasn't appropriate for where our kids were at.
So now we have the kids in the public school system. Lots of Problems have come with that. Caleb was set back a grade and Elijah is struggling in every area. Believe it or not, the Mexican school system is further ahead than the Saskatchewan one, at least in mathematics. Elijah is having trouble learning the concepts because he's almost missed 1/2 a year of foundational stuff that would have been taught last year in Mexico. that and he can't understand the instructions. So all of the other classes he has are suffering terribly because he can't understand Spanish. We knew there would be struggles like this for the boys, but we were willing to go through them until Christmas holidays in order for them to get a good grasp of the Language.
They are still lost in Spanish. Really lost. We have a tutor coming over now to help out, but that is a longer term project.
So are kids are in school, not learning much, not advancing at all in Spanish. We have spent a lot of tears over the school situation. I'm afraid that learning is becoming a curse to them.
So I've been doing a bit of investigating. There is a private school about 5 minutes drive from our house. We saw it today and they have small classes ( 15 or so in primary, only 5 in Jacob's kindergarten). they have gym, computers, art as well as the regular subjects. They are a bilingual school so ALL of the students will speak at least some English and understand lots. They have 2 hours of instruction in English each day, and they have teachers aids for their English-only students ( they have about 5, our guys would make 8) and they have extra instruction with the aid one on one for 1 hour each day.
When I think of private school I think "fancy". This is not that at all. The classes are rudimentary, the "library" has about 200 books. The playground is small with older equipment, and it is in a working class neighbourhood. This is not a school for the rich, it is a middle class school whose facilities would not pass the grade in Canada. The difference is the teachers are paid better (Elijah's current teacher drives taxi after school to supplement his income) they are better educated, they have smaller classes (15 as opposed to 35) they have individualized attention and they have a bilingual goal.
Would you please pray for us that we would have wisdom to know if this is the place to go.
If we do , we'd need to raise an additional $450.00/ month for all 3 kids to go. We are praying that God would raise up the partners needed to do that, if it's his will.
Please pray with us!
Thank you for partnering with us!
We appreciate you!
Mike for the McDonald's
When we first came down, the idea we had was to homeschool. That worked out OK at first, but we found ourselves wondering how they were going to learn Spanish if they were with us all day, and how we were going to learn Spanish if we spent the majority of our time homeschooling. There were also some issues with the material that wasn't appropriate for where our kids were at.
So now we have the kids in the public school system. Lots of Problems have come with that. Caleb was set back a grade and Elijah is struggling in every area. Believe it or not, the Mexican school system is further ahead than the Saskatchewan one, at least in mathematics. Elijah is having trouble learning the concepts because he's almost missed 1/2 a year of foundational stuff that would have been taught last year in Mexico. that and he can't understand the instructions. So all of the other classes he has are suffering terribly because he can't understand Spanish. We knew there would be struggles like this for the boys, but we were willing to go through them until Christmas holidays in order for them to get a good grasp of the Language.
They are still lost in Spanish. Really lost. We have a tutor coming over now to help out, but that is a longer term project.
So are kids are in school, not learning much, not advancing at all in Spanish. We have spent a lot of tears over the school situation. I'm afraid that learning is becoming a curse to them.
So I've been doing a bit of investigating. There is a private school about 5 minutes drive from our house. We saw it today and they have small classes ( 15 or so in primary, only 5 in Jacob's kindergarten). they have gym, computers, art as well as the regular subjects. They are a bilingual school so ALL of the students will speak at least some English and understand lots. They have 2 hours of instruction in English each day, and they have teachers aids for their English-only students ( they have about 5, our guys would make 8) and they have extra instruction with the aid one on one for 1 hour each day.
When I think of private school I think "fancy". This is not that at all. The classes are rudimentary, the "library" has about 200 books. The playground is small with older equipment, and it is in a working class neighbourhood. This is not a school for the rich, it is a middle class school whose facilities would not pass the grade in Canada. The difference is the teachers are paid better (Elijah's current teacher drives taxi after school to supplement his income) they are better educated, they have smaller classes (15 as opposed to 35) they have individualized attention and they have a bilingual goal.
Would you please pray for us that we would have wisdom to know if this is the place to go.
If we do , we'd need to raise an additional $450.00/ month for all 3 kids to go. We are praying that God would raise up the partners needed to do that, if it's his will.
Please pray with us!
Thank you for partnering with us!
We appreciate you!
Mike for the McDonald's
Nosotros Enfermer
We are sick!
Saturday night Jacob woke up in the wee hours with an upset stomach. He was sick to his stomach a few times in the night and early morning, but felt better by church time. I started to get light headed and headachey at that time and as soon as we got back home, I went to bed to rest. We went to the evening service at church, came home, and daddy was beat. Ill, I got everyone to bed early. "Why do we have to go to bed early when YOU are the one who is tired???" was a valid question that night.
Monday seemed ok until early evening when Elijah complained of a splitting headache. He went to my bed with a tylenol and a plastic baggie of ice for his head. The baggie was not closed entirely, and he (and my bed!) got soaked. But when he woke up, he was feeling great and went to the bottom of my bed, leaving me to avoid the cold wet spot at the top!
Tuesday night was the kicker... Middle of the night Caleb got up- He needed a new blanket and his floor cleaned, if you catch my drift. He then spent the next 2 hours hugging the toilet bowl. His poor little stomach was hurting him really bad, and there was really nothing we could do! We tried internet- inspired home remedies including honey and hot water with lemon. That didn't work.
Then we tried 2 teaspoons of vinegar. Apparently it's equally bad entering and exiting. Finally we tried a "tums" for the tummy, and that either helped, or he was just plain done- and he went to bed. Today he's been feeling OK, but didn't really eat anything of substance till tonight.
Elijah woke up sick and found the bathroom early. He has just been lethargic all day- getting worse as the day went on. He went to bed tonight at about 5:00pm. VERY unusual for Elijah.
And I have not yet needed the bathroom as often as the others, but just have a general malaise about me, tired, headachey, sore...
I sure wish Shar was here...
Saturday night Jacob woke up in the wee hours with an upset stomach. He was sick to his stomach a few times in the night and early morning, but felt better by church time. I started to get light headed and headachey at that time and as soon as we got back home, I went to bed to rest. We went to the evening service at church, came home, and daddy was beat. Ill, I got everyone to bed early. "Why do we have to go to bed early when YOU are the one who is tired???" was a valid question that night.
Monday seemed ok until early evening when Elijah complained of a splitting headache. He went to my bed with a tylenol and a plastic baggie of ice for his head. The baggie was not closed entirely, and he (and my bed!) got soaked. But when he woke up, he was feeling great and went to the bottom of my bed, leaving me to avoid the cold wet spot at the top!
Tuesday night was the kicker... Middle of the night Caleb got up- He needed a new blanket and his floor cleaned, if you catch my drift. He then spent the next 2 hours hugging the toilet bowl. His poor little stomach was hurting him really bad, and there was really nothing we could do! We tried internet- inspired home remedies including honey and hot water with lemon. That didn't work.
Then we tried 2 teaspoons of vinegar. Apparently it's equally bad entering and exiting. Finally we tried a "tums" for the tummy, and that either helped, or he was just plain done- and he went to bed. Today he's been feeling OK, but didn't really eat anything of substance till tonight.
Elijah woke up sick and found the bathroom early. He has just been lethargic all day- getting worse as the day went on. He went to bed tonight at about 5:00pm. VERY unusual for Elijah.
And I have not yet needed the bathroom as often as the others, but just have a general malaise about me, tired, headachey, sore...
I sure wish Shar was here...
Monday, December 04, 2006
Project Joy- YUGO's version of Operation Christmas Child
We had a great opportunity this weekend to help out an a "Project Joy". Our church, Grace Bible Church, in Lomas de San Antonio was the location for this project. What happens is YUGO partners an American or Canadian Church with a Mexican one in a needy area and the Mexican Church hosts the event, gets word out, and does alot of organizing of the event on our side of the border. What the American or Canadian Church does is collect the items for the shoeboxes ( good, new items- clothes, school supplies, small toys, toothbrushes etc.) and then they come down either as a group or with a small contingent of representatives to hand out their gifts to the kids of the neighbourhood. It is a blessing to the kids, because without these, they may not receive any gifts this Christmas. It is a blessing to the Mexican Church because it gives them the opportunity to reach their community. It is a blessing to the North American churh because they get to experience giving to some of the most needy in our area.
Our boys participated in some of the events and then did some of the helping out as well. It was a real blessing to be able to help. It was good for me to be seen at the church heling out, because many of the folks who were there were the same ones who see us at school dropping off and picking up kids. I've wondered who they thought we were or what we are doing there, now most of them know and they all will by the end of the week! (the taco telegraph).
Thanks for browsing- Lots new on the site today- keep scrolling down. I finally figured out how to get video on this via www.blip.tv. I get unlimited videos and it's actually pretty easy to do, once you get the hang of it. Let me know if you want more info on that- no sense all of us going through the elongated learning process...
Until Next Time,
Mike for the McDonald's
CLICK BELOW TO PLAY A VIDEO ON PROJECT JOY
Our boys participated in some of the events and then did some of the helping out as well. It was a real blessing to be able to help. It was good for me to be seen at the church heling out, because many of the folks who were there were the same ones who see us at school dropping off and picking up kids. I've wondered who they thought we were or what we are doing there, now most of them know and they all will by the end of the week! (the taco telegraph).
Thanks for browsing- Lots new on the site today- keep scrolling down. I finally figured out how to get video on this via www.blip.tv. I get unlimited videos and it's actually pretty easy to do, once you get the hang of it. Let me know if you want more info on that- no sense all of us going through the elongated learning process...
Until Next Time,
Mike for the McDonald's
CLICK BELOW TO PLAY A VIDEO ON PROJECT JOY
Sunday Drive...
Here is a typical Sunday Drive in Mexico. the building ahead of us is the Grace Bible Church. It is the church that will be planting a new church in Porticos / Santa fe where we will be working.
CLICK ON THE PIC TO SEE OUR DRIVE!
CLICK ON THE PIC TO SEE OUR DRIVE!
It cut out on me almost near the end, but this gives you an idea what we drive on and how you can pray for our vehicle situation!
Christmas Decorating
We decorated our tree the other night before Shar left to Canada-
CLICK HERE TO GO TO blip.tv AND WATCH THE VIDEO
CLICK HERE TO GO TO blip.tv AND WATCH THE VIDEO
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