friday was awesome. we dressed the kids up and paraded around for awhile. it was the most dysfunctional parade i've ever been a part of, but it was beautiful. our sign kept falling apart, everyone wanted a turn pushing the wheelchairs, no one understood that the person with the flag was supposed to lead the parade, marisol's baby doll kept falling out of its blanket, josue wanted to take the parade in a different direction, and naynay's skirt would NOT stay up. i was laughing the whole time. i wish you could have been here with me...

we were done with the festivities by 10ish and chuy said no school after that, so finally got to play with the kids at the big house! i haven't been able to spend the day with them in soooo long. we took all the kids outside and i took a bunch of them out of their chairs and we played on the carpeted area outside. it was so fun. it's such a different dynamic with the kids in the big house but still so much fun.

a group from california was at church this weekend, working on the new room. no one in that group speaks spanish - for most of them, english is their second language and mandarin is their first. they have mandarin-english bibles...it's so cool. i got to translate a lot for them and that was fun.
al and rosa were back in church - they've both been gone for awhile. rosa was in el salvador for the past couple weeks, helping her 94 year old aunt find a nursing home. her aunt refused to go to a nursing home even though they found one that was perfect, but the day before rosa left to come home she found a live in caretaker for her aunt. perfect!
martha taught me how to make ceviche de soya yesterday. she's intent on teaching me how to cook like a mexican. it's been her goal since i got here....it started with learning how to correctly chop cilantro and now we're working on actual meals. i consider this an accomplishment. ceviche is something i never thought i'd like but it's really not that bad. it's made with dry soy, or soy something...like soy crumbles. i don't know. and then cucumbers, tomato, onions, tuna, cilantro, tomato juice, lime juice, and salt. you eat it with chile on tostados. simple. yummy.

we sang a great song in church today...it's called te vengo a bendecir a ti.
these are the words:
it's more than a song, it's more than words
it's my heart surrendered to you
it's the best of me that i give you
a song isn't enough

what you ask me, i want to give you
i don't come to ask, i don't come looking for something
i just come to give you my offering of love
today i want to touch your faithful heart
and give you thanks my Lord
today i come to bless you

it's prettier in spanish, but still...you get the idea.