whew!

friday was a good day. the morning class went well - this was the first week we had some students earn all 5 stars throughout the week, which meant they got to pick a prize from the prize box. they earn stars for doing things above and beyond what is expected of them, and i'm not quite sure i explained that adequately. then again, kids don't always understand that concept. we are slowly making progress on learning the days of the week and remembering that no, we don't have school on saturday and sunday!
preschool was good with our new structure - work at the table, organized play on the floor, songs, and a wagon ride. my ear infection is back and i cannot hear a thing out of my left ear - i had to apologize to all the people who may have heard our music session because i'm pretty sure i'm tone deaf right now hahaha

paco picked me up after dinner and we hung out with the boys for awhile. they are so funny when he's around - a million questions and since 3 of the 5 boys can't talk he's getting pulled in 3 different directions too! he has some great ideas for a mission type thing in the future, and one of them is a big brother big sister kind of program. he wants to start at gabriel house with the boys. right now it's just an idea - he still needs to talk to the appropriate people, but it would be awesome if it worked out.

he had a soccer game and so i watched him play. that was so fun. i was for sure the only gringa in the stadium but it was cool to be a part of that. mexican soccer is so different from the states. wow. it doesn't matter who the players are, what shape they're in, or what they look like - everyone is so good.

i slept at marta's in the same room as two gigantic pinatas that were almost as tall as me. they were terrifying. kerly's birthday is friday - she'll be 1! her party is this coming sunday. at first i thought, you know, a birthday party for a one year old. cool. should be fun. well goodness gracious i was wrong. this is going to be quite an event. i'm super excited. the whole church is invited, they already have the pinatas and tons of candy, and everyone's talking about it. marta asked me if i could come on friday to help get the gift bags ready and other prep stuff. apparently this will take more than an hour or two to prepare for. and of course kerly has no idea what's going on. she's kind of walking, and saturday night marta kept telling her that in the name of jesus she has to learn how to walk in a week, for her party!

adriana taught the class on saturday morning; it was about the holy spirit. she did a great job! she was really nervous all morning and i got to pray with her right before, which was cool. at night, when the worship band was practicing, marta had everyone watch. i'm not sure why - usually we are upstairs getting the food ready for sunday after church while the band practices. it was fun to watch though - they're starting to do some faster songs :)
paco leads worship and he's all about the slow ballads, which is very lovely, but once in awhile it's good to sing! we sang some good songs this week though. it was funny - david is the drummer but he has school on saturday night so he wasn't at the practice. a couple of songs needed a drummer, so first paco was singing, then he grabbed a guitar and sang and played for a few songs, and then he jumped over to the drums for a song, and then sang and drummed for a song. all he needs is a harmonica and he can be a one man band!

after the practice we were making the ceviche for sunday, and i was cutting cilantro. i asked marta about 6 times if it was small enough and she kept saying finito! finito! finally i cut it small enough and she says, 'okay, now you can get married.' thanks marta.

i finally saw al and rosa in church! al, rosa, and marta rotate each week as pastor's of the church. al preached today about dreams - the title of his sermon was the death of dreams. it was great. a lot of the pastors that i've heard in mexico preach straight from the bible and try to help the congregation understand what God is trying to tell us. al did more of a sermon that references bible verses, like at hrc. he talked about how our dreams sometimes don't match up with God's dreams for us, and what can happen when we pursue those dreams. he also talked about what can happen when our dreams and God's dreams for us are the same, and then he talked about the sermon on the mount and the dreams that people listening to that sermon may have had. he speaks very slowly which was awesome! i was right there with him, understanding almost all of it. woo hoo! thank you Lord.
we hung out upstairs in marta's house for awhile. she made some kind of fish that was amazing...cooked in foil with lots of spices, tomatoes, and onions. mmmm. david was showing al and rosa his website for kids camp, which they really liked.

i wore a dress to church today, and adriana was saying how pretty it was and how she doesn't have any. we kept talking and what's going to happen is i'm going to bring every dress i have here and she's going to borrow one for the party. she was so excited...it's fun to hang out with her. i forget what it's like to be 16. gahh.

after church we went with rocio to get some more stuff for school. she looks good - no more neck brace, and she said she has no more pain. i wish all of you could hear how fast this girl talks. it's just unbelievable. i'll be feeling good about how much i'm understanding, and then she gets in the car and i'm back to square 1. she's funny though.

i am so, so thankful and grateful for each weekend. i have my wonderful life at gabriel house, but then every weekend i have great friends who i get to be with. it's been a really good balance between work and play :)