Week's Worth of Highlights

Monday 21st
Highlight of the Day – Going to the airport to meet Diana’s parents in the middle of the night. Also in the airport we were given a new Dell laptop computer compliments of very special friends from the US.

Runner Up – The bottle that was thrown at and broke the windshield of the bus as we rolled in to Puebla at 2:30a.m.

Tuesday 22nd
Highlight of the Day – Taking the grandparents to the skating rink to enjoy watching the girls on the ice.

Wednesday 23rd
Highlight of the Day – Celebrating Daniel’s 18th birthday which included a lot of fancy eating – biscuits and gravy, kebabs and ribs. We made time to reminisce and give him some special words of appreciation. There was also that high school diploma presentation.

Thursday 24th
Highlight of the Day – Enjoying all that wonderful food during our Christmas Eve dinner. Especially savory was our first Stove Top Stuffing in four years

Runner Up – Playing wiffle ball together in the afternoon in our “domed stadium.”

Friday 25th
Highlight of the Day – Christmas Day activities included Christina reading the story of Jesus’ birth, gift giving (MP3 player, jewelry, CD’s, webkins, clothes, and journals) and a delightful tea served with croissants.

Runner Up – The FIFA and Madden games Daniel and I played in the afternoon.

Honorable Mention – Getting the water going again to fill up our cistern. We had been working with the water company for three days and was about to the end of our water supply.

Saturday 26th
Highlight of the Day – Using a new ESV Bible for the first time that came from a friend in the US.

Sunday 27th
Highlight of the Day - Nice sunny, warm day as we sat in an outdoor shelter and enjoyed the morning service .

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!

Around the House and Around the Neighborhood

I was sitting in the van when I heard the familiar whistle. The knife sharpener was coming down the street on his bicycle. Thankfully we needed some knives sharpened, but even if we didn’t I wanted the experience of seeing this guy do his craft. So out of the van I came to strike the bargain and go inside for the knives. Three knives - $5 – and sharp too – not a bad deal.

After two policemen were shot and killed last week on a major street near our home, we were a bit leery when the riot police showed up on our street corner five days later. “What’s up?” we wondered then settled in to watch. They remained though the night and into the next day armed with their riot gear. Finally, things began to take shape as a chain link fence went up on a vacant lot near the cemetery. We learned that there’s a little………..mmmmmm…………disagreement. New housing is being built, but the community wants the cemetery expanded instead. Now that was a new Christmas adventure for us.

Last night we kept a Mexico Christmas tradition alive. First we went to the Christmas program at Puebla Christian School and then on to Costco for big berry sundaes. We sat in the outdoor food court, enjoyed our ice cream, shivered, then went back to the van and turned on the heat. That’s as close to winter as it gets. Can’t wait to try the same thing next year at the Dairy Queen in the driving snow.

Today is an end of an era – Daniel’s last day of school. What started out as A,B,C….1,2,3 ended in logic and worldview. I’m sure he is thrilled to have completed this leg of his education…I’m not so sure about mom. None-the-less we celebrated with a round of pizza and frappuccinos (or in my case a toffee nut latte) to commemorate the rite-of-passage.

Check out the girls in the video below:

"The Offering"

The fireworks began exploding around us at 12:00 midnight and continued off and on throughout the night. It’s a celebration of Day of Guadalupe. On Tuesday evening a group of about 30 backpackers were walking by our home. I asked if they were on a pilgrimage, and they said yes, they were on a three day walk to Mexico City. What resolve. What dedication. What merit.

It all started in 1531 when the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared here in Mexico in the form of a young native girl bearing the name Guadalupe. Today millions of pilgrims will converge on the exact spot where the visitation happened.

Once there the pilgrims will enter a huge court area with both the old and new basilicas, the chapel built on the hill to honor her and a path that winds its way along the “sacred” grounds to “The Offering” of Mexico to the Virgin. This arrangement aptly depicts the spiritual climate almost 500 years later.

“The land upon which you walk is sacred…”

“Continue walking with attention and a joyful heart…”

“ ‘The Offering’ of Mexico to her virgin…”

“two perpetual waterfalls sprout, symbols of the valiant roots of the Aztecs…”

“…and of the missionary Spain…”

“…that join at the feet of Mary”

“…mother and forger of the fatherland of Mexico.”

A Lot Like Christmas

It is feeling a lot like Christmas, but I have to tell you that palm trees and flowers in bloom against blue skies with fluffy white clouds always manage to foul me up. Somehow those things just aren't associated in my mind with Christmas. However, we are still managing to follow many of the traditions we established over the years.

It all began with the day after Thanksgiving decoration bonanza. Diana and I decided in our first year of marriage that we would always decorate on the Friday after. Our reasoning was that when children came along, went off to college and returned home for Thanksgiving they could join in on the festivities. Now that that time is just around the corner you’ve got to wonder if they’ll really find their way home or instead end up on a beach in California or a ski resort in Utah. So much for long range planning.

We actually started out our traditional day of decoration in a very non-traditional way. We drove over to Home Depot and purchased a real tree. Our first one since the winter of ‘88. Gracing it is a beautiful new talavera ornament. Of course the stockings were hung by the entertainment center with care, and afterwards we took the girls out for ice-skating. (How’s that for a white Christmas celebration?)

Having people in our home is part of the Holidays too. We’ll have a Christmas party on the 17th for our small group and then entertain family from the US. We have a huge pile of “gozo” rocks to give to those who come though the doors. And what’s having guests without a bit of Christmas music playing which is more often than not supplied by Mannheim Steamroller.

Of course there is the meaningful side of the Christmas holidays for us as well which includes the daily advent reading and filling up our Jessie Tree with reminders. Then there are gift boxes for orphans and Saturday evening carols. It all adds up to feeling a lot like Christmas despite the palm trees and sunny skies.

[Editors Note: With the World Cup draw today placing the US in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia, a first round win over England would be a very nice belated Christmas present!]