Maná!!

Melissa, Tara, Ismael and I went to see the band Maná last weekend. They are Melissa's favorite band. Even with a cracked tooth, she managed to have a great time. The crowd was standing and singing the entire time. Melissa decided to rock some incredibly high, red heels. She even insisted on a picture, to remember the pain and the fact that they dyed her feet red. :) I will never complain about traffic after a concert again....it took us over an hour to get out of there. No interstate, highways, etc....YIKES! It was fun to be out for a night having fun with friends!

Me and Tara

Melissa and I

Ismael, me and Tara

Tara, Melissa and me

The infamous red shoes :)

Chivas v Atlas

I finally attended a Mexican "futbol" game. The stadium was PACKED, the crowd crazy and the cheers...interesting. I'm still not convinced it is as good as (cause it's definitely not better than...) American football. :) We had a lot of fun. I got to learn some new words listening to the crowd's cheers and chants....not that they are words I will ever want to use. We saw a man get kicked out for throwing his beer all over the crowd following his disgust at his team...the Atlas. Chivas won 2-0.

Jacque and her boyfriend Rodrigo...(the next wedding :)

Rachel's Wedding

Rachel and Sergio's wedding was beautiful....It was out in the Barranca on huge cliffs overlooking the valleys below. Everything went perfectly and Rachel looked like she belonged in a Bridal magazine. We had a blast salsa dancing and acting crazy. Now all of the "when are you going to marry a Mexican" questions have started.......great. :)

The Orphanage

Every Friday a group of students and teachers leave campus to do some local outreach. Elizabeth, the Bible teacher in charge, asked me if I would go with them today (and drive....YIPPEEEEE). We volunteered ourselves to clean, iron, sort through vegetables and play with the kids. Basically, we agreed to do whatever they needed us to do. I don't think we could have been humbled more by the situation in which we found ourselves. The living conditions at this orphanage were far from "ok". Elizabeth and I hope to return and help the people running the orphanage to make the changes necessary to stay open. They have been warned that unless they make some pretty significant changes, that the government will close them (I was actually surprised the government even came in to check on such things here....). The kids were great...I only wish we could do more to help.

The Ugliest Shirt I've Ever Worn

I made a bet....bad idea. It was a good idea at the time when my mind was reeling with excitement at the prospect of the Packers beating the Cowboys. We all know how that ended. So, today, with a look of great disappointment on my face and a feeling of nausea in my stomach, I put on number 81 and walked with as much dignity as I could muster, to begin my day of harassment at school. The kids got a great kick out of seeing me in the ugly Cowboys' jersey....especially the kids with whom I made the bet. Cooper (above) was beside himself with giddiness today. Every time he saw me he laughed and pointed (I know, you're wondering how this is different than other days at school for me...haha). It was all in good fun............GO PACK!!!

Rachel's Civil Ceremony

Saturday we celebrated with Rachel and Sergio as they completed the LAST of the crazy Mexican hoops and paperwork in order to get married. We hosted the ceremony in our "garden" with about 25 guests. It was perfect! Everything went smoothly....now for the "real" ceremony January 4th...can't wait!

Sports with the Kids

We usually dread the news of a full day of sports with the kids...mostly because we end up listening to whining all day about it being hot, about kids being bored, thirsty, etc. This time, we had lots of fun. The kids were pretty involved in their games and, for the most part, pretty well behaved. We even got to play a little volleyball against the high schoolers....won one, lost one.