it was so great to have my mom here! the kids loved her and we had such a good time.
i'm headed to mexicali to help out with the mexico outreach camp there and will be back next weekend. lots of updates and pictures when i get back!

i spent friday and saturday at the ranch, helping set up and getting ready for the american teams to come on saturday afternoon. it was so fun to see the teams come...this is the 3rd year in a row i've been here for the spring trip and so it's like seeing old friends again! i recognized so many faces. it was such a great time.

i came back to gabriel house early this (sunday) morning to help the group from mexican medical bring the girls (chely, ely, sonja, thelma, and betzy) to church. i left the ranch at 6ish and as i was driving into maneadero, listening to a cd lourdes made me, the sun was rising over the mountains. the song is called beautiful, and it's about how life is beautiful with God...you can listen to it here.
it just one of those moments, you know?

and then bringing the girls to church was incredible. they hardly ever get out, so just the fact that they were outside of gabriel house was sweet, and then to be in church with everyone plus lourdes, andrew, michael, rocio, and even more people was awesome. i asked eliseo to play nina de tus ojos, a worship song the girls love. he did and they all sang along...it was precious! here's ely dancing to a different song. she did that the whole time!

after church we went downtown and got smoothies for the girls and hung out in the shade in a famous park by the flag. it was so great to be out with them, and we had so many people helping that it wasn't hard at all. i think every girl fell asleep on the ride home, and when we got back they all wanted to be in their beds. we wore them out! but in a good way :)

great news...the boys have moved! the mexmed group that came this weekend finished those last annoying details and they are sleeping in their new house! they're very excited. so are we!

this afternoon, as i was getting ready to start classes, we teddy goes, 'a worm!' it was a caterpillar, and it turned out to be a great science lesson! we made a little home for it, learned that it will turn into a butterfly, that even though it looks like a porcupine it doesn't hurt...it was a lot of fun.

look how good the boys looked for church!

at church tonight, the pastor told everyone to greet the people around them. alex and jose took this literally and whizzed around the entire church, shaking the hands of every person in the congregation. it was funny but also really sweet...

headed to the ranch until sunday.

i LOVE spring break! we had two more groups here today, and they were awesome. one of the guys is a professional videographer who co-owns a film company, and he's making a video for us! kind of like a who we are what we do type of thing. i got interviewed and had to talk into his massive camera while it blinked at me. it was weird. he'll put it on youtube when it's ready. woo hoo!

this afternoon, i went down below to pick up the kids for preschool. josue was still in his bed resting, and he jumped up and ran to the door when he saw me. he wears a helmet all the time except for when he's sleeping and showering, and so i said, 'oh josue, what do you need to put on before you get out of bed?' and he just looked at me and smiled, and then i hear this tiny little voice from across the room say 'casco' (helmet). it was nene, and she said it in the cutest way!

i went to pastor cande's house for dinner tonight and hung out with them for awhile...lots of fun! people are always coming and going, there's always food being made, something is always happening, and it certainly is never boring.

a couple of eye doctors were supposed to come today to check all of our kids. the boys and i spent the morning racing around to clean up, get the room ready for the doctors and everything, and they didn't end up coming! we didn't find out until about 11, when they were supposed to come at 10. oh well. hopefully they'll be able to reschedule.

spring break season is awesome! we had another group here today...a lot of newbies. it was lots of fun to show them around and tell them about gabriel house and all the incredible things God has been and is doing. they're coming back tomorrow...hopefully the weather will be nice and we can play outside.

COUNTDOWN TO WONDERFUL PEOPLE BEING HERE: 4 and 7 days!

alex and tonio got their glasses! they were dropped off on friday morning. alex has terrible eyesight and accidentally broke his last pair of glasses when he got mad a couple months ago. it was so sad; he takes care of them so well but something made him super upset and he lost it. just for a second, but that's all it took to break them. anyways, the ones he has now (as amy says, quite possibly made by lego) are not going to break anytime soon. he put them on and his eyes got huge...i was like what can you see? and he spreads his arm out to say 'everything!' then he said he would be able to read his bible now.

today was SO INCREDIBLY SUPER AWESOME AND FUN. the boys upstairs - alex, teddy, tonio, jose, sergio - marcos, victor, joshua (angelica's son), marlin (lerma's daughter), lerma and i went downtown. i knew that i wasn't going to take anyone to church with me this sunday (time for a break!) but i wanted to do something today. it turns out today was lerma's birthday, so it was great! we headed down by the huge flag and watched the boats in the harbor for a little bit, and then headed down the path along the water to see the seals that lay out in the harbor. we walked by this guy who gives boat tours and i automatically said no, because i say no to everything that costs money except food (haha) but then i asked him how much and it was 15 pesos ($1) per kid. lerma was like, come hilary, let's do it. i did some quick math and was like oh snap! absolutely! so these guys loaded everyone - even 200 something pound victor - onto the boat and off we went. it was a legit boat tour! they took us around the harbor and faaaar out into the ocean. we saw more seals, pelicans, lots and lots of boats, a construction yard, and seals sleeping on buoys. the kids LOVED it. alex was the only one that was scared and made me sit next to him the whole time. luckily no one got sick :) teddy kept saying 'i'm having so much fun!' and victor would just burst into hysterical laughter every so often.
after the boat tour we spent a little more time walking along the path by the water, and then went to las brisas for tacos. between all of us, we ate 35 tacos. gahh! the ride home was super fun, too. we were making up these stories about the cars around us and everyone was just laughing so hard. it was an awesome day. i can't believe that this is how i get to spend my time!

here are all the pictures and videos i've taken this month, including lots more from today. or just go here and look at the 'marzo' album.