I am a little behind with the blogging, no doubt! Here is a pic of some of my children in our chapel during Christmas time. We put the tree up in here so that all the children could enjoy it. I am sitting in my 'grandma' rocking chair. Just preparing for the future. We enjoyed celebrating Advent and making lapbooks which are a fun way to organize information.Christmas day was spent throwing candy and little gifts out the window as we pass by groups of children along the highway, wishing them una Feliz Navidad! We cooked a Christmas feast and had a grandmother, her two grandchildren, her sister and her two kids over for dinner. The grandmother, Julia is living with her two grandchildren in a adobe and cornstalk hut. It was abandoned by the owner and so they moved in. Dirt floor, open fire in the main room, no running water, no toilet. We are trying to invite them to live with us, but so far, no response. The mother of these two children leaves them in pursuit of a man that they tell me is her husband. But less than two months ago he left her and now she has run off with him again, leaving the grandmother and her two children in this hut. It is frustrating to desire to bring them in to take care of them, but it appears that they do not want to do this. If anything happens to the grandmother, the childen would have to fend for themselves or wait for their mother, hopefully, to return. She already has two more children from this other man. It is a very, very sad situation.
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This is a picture of the grandmother and her grandchildren. The grandmother is on the far right and her grandson, Giovanni is standing on the bench in the back, and Maribella is on the left next to Ryan (he's the one with the goofy look :) We are hoping to get Maribella in school permanently but her mother doesn't have her birth certificate so the school can't register her. We won't lose hope, hopefully........
We had Matt and Molly return for a visit. They had lived with us for 3 months this past year and we and the kids have really missed them! The kids would ask about them every once in awhile. The children seem to easily attach to our visitors, especially those who are involved in teaching them. Here we are celebrating Epiphany with a King's cake. The tradition is to hide a little toy baby inside, which represents the baby Jesus. Whoever finds the baby gets to be "King" for the day! Luckily no one chewed into the plastic or there would be another trip to the dentist.
