well, i'm in the states! this will be my last post until i'm back at gabriel house in january.

i'll post pictures from this weekend later today.

friday we had our last-day-of-school-before-christmas-vacation party. we read the christmas story from a kid's bible. there was a pinata filled with apples, oranges, and candy (the fruit is tradition, i promise!) and spent the morning together celebrating. we did the pinata in front of the big house, so all the kids came outside and everyone got a chance to break that thing open.

since the tijuana brigada was cancelled, the group that was planning to help there ended up spending the whole weekend at gabriel house, instead of just sunday morning. they got to gh on friday night, and then spent saturday morning working on the boys' house and playing with the kids.

i went into to town to try and convince rocio to spend the weekend at gabriel house (she was going to come to the brigada) and she came back with me! she spent a lot of time on the computer :) but was up at the big house playing with the kids a bit.

the group painted the boys' new room - it's beautiful. they did a decoration around each window and door and wrote the fruits of the spirit in spanish. really fun, bright colors, and something that will always be nice to look at, whether the boys are 12 or 25.

rocio and i went to the movies on saturday night which was fun. i get the feeling she's pretty lonely since she lives alone and has school 2 days a week, so it was great to just be out with her. on the way there we were talking about how i saw tuinki and i was asking if she knew if he was back on drugs or not. she said she didn't know, and then i really wanted to ask her why she never took drugs. it would have been so easy for her to do. so i told her she didn't have to say anything if she didn't want to, but i asked her why she had never taken drugs. she told me right away that after seeing what it did to her family - almost everyone has or is on drugs - there's no way she's going to do that to herself. she's scared of what could happen and she has seen how it ruins lives. i told her i thought it was so sad that she had to have those people be her family, but so powerful that she is able to decide for herself what she will and will not do. what a life, man.

sunday morning was the christmas party. it was awesome. all the kids were in the kitchen, and we decorated the christmas tree, hung up stockings, made ornaments with each kids' picture, and listened to christmas carols. then we had a service with worship, a christmas drama, and another craft. it was great for the kids to watch and be a part of. then we decorated christmas cookies! it was hilarious. teddy had frosting lathered on his cookie that was thicker than the actual cookie. the boys had frosting all over their faces, they kept trying to sneak extra cookies, and i caught alex licking a spoon that was piled with frosting. i love moments like that...when they do stuff that they shouldn't really be doing but are just being kids.

then we made christmas dinner...we had 4 turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a salad. it was great! i helped in the kitchen which was a lot of fun; i don't usually get to do that. the kids like the food a lot and it was a nice change from hamburger meat and hot dogs :)

overall, a great way to head out. it's hard to believe i won't be back for 3 weeks, but it will be a healthy and refreshing break, i'm sure. i'm at krista's house (my college roommate) in san diego and will head to chicago for a wedding later this week. woo hoo! merry christmas!