Christmas Toy bags

We are renting a house from a small ministry here in town.   They have 8 people working and 5 of them are new to EFF, including the directors.  Most of them have been here in Baja for years though.  It is a really incredible thing to be a part of.   We thank God for opening this opportunity for us.   We brought a bag full of small toys and a few other trinkets and cloth bags along with us.   We were thrilled to be able to join what we had up with this ministries outreach project.    The kids and Judy put together a couple hundred gift bags for boys, girls, teens, and women.   It was so nice for them to be involved.   We are enjoying this new ministry's humility, and grassroots smallness.  

Silas helping to make little note paper booklets out of donated scrap paper and loose leaf. 

Now for the fun part!

Our small group drove to a small impoverished community about half an hour away to throw a little Christmas party.

Our co-conspirator Amber and her son, who didn't find the rowdy big boys at the party much fun. 

The neighbor dog didn't appreciate the part much either. 

Cold little dirty feet.

So sweet.

We met in a little church in the community.  It was really quite a nice little place.  

We did a little drama to a Spanish Christmas song.  "Alabanza el Rey".  No nativity is complete without Samurai Gabriel and the Christmas panda.

At the end of our Christmas caroling time and drama came the gift bags. 

and hot chocolate and homemade muffins (courtesy of the director Judy).  

The checkered gift bags were made by some little 4-H friends of Aili's.  

Without being asked, Roman started gathering up all the empty cups.   I love seeing evidence of a servant heart, even in an 8 year old boy.   

I love these people!

The older siblings take such good care of the little ones.  

Amber's hubster sweeping up our mess.   

What life looks like

This is just a quick glimpse at life here in Baja.   Cece walking down the street in front of our house.

These are our neighbor chickens that occasionally sneak into our fence only to be chased around our yard by the neighbor boy with my own children following close behind.  

I know I will miss the sounds here once we leave.   As I hung my laundry this morning (it has to be hung by 10am or it won't dry before the dew starts to fall at 3.30pm) I took note of the mixture of sounds around me.   The barking dogs that roam every street and inhabit every yard.   A Spanish love song being played loudly from a house somewhere out of sight.   The loudspeaker attached to the top of a car blasting advertisements as it slowly drives up and down each street.  The constant crowing of roosters.   It is a myth that they only crow at dawn.   They also crow all night and day.  I don't really mind it although at night I sometimes wake up thinking I hear a baby crying or a child calling only to realize that it's only a rooster.   

We had a couple days of rain this week.  Rain here means not much gets done.  We spent two days indoors huddled under blankets watching movies and playing games.  The streets turn into muddy lakes and everything indoors feels damp.

I was very glad to see the sun again and to be able to wash some of our dirty clothes.   I didn't bring very many clothes and we wear a lot of layers here to keep warm. We were on our last set of clothes.   It seems strange to say we're cold in Mexico but December is the coldest month here.  Its a humid, windy, cold and the houses stay very chilly.  It gets down to freezing some nights.  To me it feels like October in Canada.   Still, it beats December in Canada!  

These are our friends and neighbors here.   I've linked her blog here before but i'll do it again.   She is as genuine as she is on her blog.   We are having a lot of fun hanging out with them.   She is a crafty, creative type and made these wreaths to sell at the local market.  They are a God trusting, faith living family.  They are the real deal.  You can find her blog here.   This family also used to work at the same orphanage down the street where we served.   God is doing a new work through them in a new ministry and we are excited to see what God is going to do through them.  We are really blessed to be able to be tag along and witness this  fresh new ministry.   It's refreshing. 

Speaking of the local market...here we are at "globos".  Every Tuesday blocks of the town are turned into a giant flea market.   Although I don't find the term "flea" anything very amusing... I'm pretty sure Pulgas are from the devil.   Tiny little demon creatures sent to torture us.  

Running into a friend at the market.

Globos "gap".   

I suppose this table could be Globos Walmart.  I always come home with bags of fresh produce.

One of our favorite things about living here is the food.   

mmm....tortas carne asada...

A Beautiful Day

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  

I will point out that only us gringos are loco enough to go to the beach in December with 8 kids when it's 50 degrees F outside.  

We got everyone home alive, ran 8 kids through a shower ( a treat for kids with no running water), I found clean clothes for everyone, and served up bowls of hot hamburger soup.

We watched Nanny Mcphee and played games.

At supper time we all went out for tacos at our favorite taco place. 

For most of us the day seems like nothing very special but for kids who only get meat at Christmas, have never seen hot water running out of a faucet, or been taken out for their own torta asada...it was pretty fun.  It was so much fun just to watch them enjoy themselves and to let them be kids for a day.  

We've been busy this week with quite a few different activities in some surrounding communities.   I have loads of pictures and stories to share but not so much internet time to share them.   Stay tuned.