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.