Silent auction

There is a family connected to Puebla Christian School which has struggled with health problems for a few years.  First, the mother - the current secretary at PCS - was diagnosed with lupus.  Shortly after that, the youngest son of the four sons began a two-year battle with non-hodgkins lymphoma.  While the family does have health insurance, it did not cover all the options they explored to cure Aaron.  As a result, the family incurred significant debt with the banks and through personal loans.   The PCS community put together Gofundme pages twice to help with medical costs, but even so, the debt grew. On November 5, 2018, Aaron´s cancer battle ended with him leaving for Heaven at the age of 15.  A few months later, his father began the process of dental surgeries which he had postponed during Aaron´s treatments.

Now Abraham and I are organizing a silent auction online with the hope to diminish (or eliminate!) the family´s debt.  We have sought donations from friends and also from businesses near the school.  People at Dios es Amor church have contributed as well, and now there is a smorgasbord of goods and services available for auction.  People have been very generous and helpful.  The sale begins November 8 on the googledocs https://forms.gle/kgkbpWuAzCx9CifN7 and will last until 8 pm on November 16. 

There will be an event in the evening at the school to end the auction.  People from the community around the school, as well as from Dios es Amor, and from the school itself are invited to presentations given by many of the school´s class groups.  Several ladies have offered to sell food at the event, with the money gathered to be donated to the family.  The auction will be totally online, but there will be computers set up and students ready to help with bids at the school.

Please pray that all will go smoothly with the auction.  Pray that each item or service sells well and that the debt can be significantly reduced.  Above all, pray for the comfort of the family Esparza Espinosa as they move forward without Aaron.  They know they will see him in Heaven, but naturally, their hearts are broken here on earth.

VBS 2019

game time

Moses, humble liberator, VBS 2019 has ended.  Vacation Bible School in Huejotzingo is always an intense time of hard work and constant activity.  The work begins a few months before the actual VBS dates, with choosing the theme and then deciding who the principal characters will be who tell the daily stories.  We add the verses, crafts, worksheets, and theme snacks, and Abraham writes the monologues for each day.  Once the rough draft of the week is ready, we go back over the plans to see what needs to be changed.

at work on Moses mini-book

The VBS week approaches, and we go on shopping sprees to buy the supplies - food, scissors, colored pencils, end-of-the-week gifts, and more.  The house where we will be is cleaned and many items moved to storage to leave space for the expected group of children.  We find volunteers to play the roles of Jocabed, Zipporah, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses.  Dios es Amor church loans us costumes and game supplies.  Monday is a flurry of final preparations as we print out Tuesday´s worksheets, make name tags and attach their strings, decide on last-minute changes to the snack, and write out the verses and song lyrics on posters. 

the littles make their book

When Abraham and I returned home from shopping and general preparation in Huejotzingo, we found out that Abish had been suffering from an intense headache all afternoon.  Although he had been drippy with a cold, he had not actually felt bad until then.  He slept on and off in the early evening, between doses of his homeopathic medicine, but by bedtime, his headache had not diminished and he had a fever.  We looked for paracetamol in our house to help him, because he could not sleep for the pain, but we could not find any.  Abraham stayed with Abish, cooling the fever with wet towels, and in the very early morning, Abish finally slept well, fever gone.

Not long after that, Lani left her bed and climbed into bed with me.  At about 8, Abish bounced

proud of her work

into my room, waking Lani and I to cheerfully proclaim, "I feel fine!  I can do VBS!"
However, over breakfast Lani began to wilt, complaining of a headache and refusing to eat.  She gets headaches when she´s hungry, tired, or dehydrated, so her discomfort disappeared after we obliged her to finish breakfast.

Jocabed telling about leaving baby Moses in the Nile

Aaron

Typical of most first VBS days, we were running late.  We arrived hurriedly at the house where we used to live in Huejotzingo, and everyone got out to hang the shade tarp on the patio, put up string to hold the song posters, print out the registration papers, and set out the snack.  I left the bustle of activity to drive ten minutes away to pick up two kids and their great-grandmother who would be helping with food prep and clean-up.  Once I dropped them off, I drove the opposite direction to get six other kids.  Chauffeuring is normally my dad´s job, but he was unable to visit this year due to medical issues.

On that first day, 20 children learned songs and verses and ate a snack and did crafts to reenforce the story told by Jocabed about how God takes care of his children.  Day 2 saw a slight increase in attendance, as the children participated in activities related to Zipporah´s story of how God hears.  Aaron arrived day 3 to tell 34 children about how God acts on behalf of his people.

morning review

When we returned home late afternoon on Thursday, day 3, we found out someone had tried to break into our property.  They had cut the chainlink off the front gate, pulling it back half-way.  We do not know if they didn´t enter because our dogs scared them away, or what else might have prevented further entrance.  However, for the next two days, my brother-in-law, who had been the VBS photographer, stayed at home to discourage would-be thieves.

Miriam

Moses

On Friday, Miriam was played by a young lady from church.  She told how God saves, recounting the story of the Red Sea.  Finally, Moses came on day 5, waiting to tell his story until the end of the day, when the parents came for the finale.  We had decided to rearrange the day´s activities so that the parents could see how their children had been learning throughout the week.  Seven parents attended the finale, including two new ones whose sons had joined mid-week.

the littles with their teachers and diplomas

the biggers with teachers and diplomas

Five days of Moses.  Fewer than forty kids.  Some volunteers working daily, and some just once.  Some kids staying the whole week, while others attend one day.  Is it worth it?  We pray that the time spent with the kids will change their lives and touch the lives of their families.  At least eight of the children who were with us most of the week have mothers who work as prostitutes.  Those same children, and other children in the group, come from families where drug and alcohol abuse ruin lives.

Would you pray with us that the stories and activities would help the children and their families learn of God´s longing for a relationship with them and that patterns of destruction would be broken?  Would you pray that the children will continue to attend on Sunday afternoons so that they can learn more?

they won the week´s posters by memorizing all 5 verses

Rededi

After almost ten years of marriage, Abraham and I now own our first vehicle, bought with funds donated to our family.  Abraham researched online and asked for advice from friends and chose the Toyota Avanza as our best option.  The car has good gas mileage and seats seven.   It is from 2017, and the previous owner fitted it with a deer guard (dog guard, around here!) and lightly tinted windows.

In its time with us, Rededi (Regalo De Dios) has already had adventures.  Not long after we brought it home, we had several near misses with dogs running suddenly out into the street.  People aren´t always careful crossing the street either, and lots of the drivers on the road probably shouldn´t be behind the wheel.  The interior of the car was recently decorated with melted chocolate when a chocolate-covered balloon exploded as I took home one of the pre-teens I teach on Tuesday afternoons.  There is also always plenty of mud or dust to decorate both inside and outside.

Although driving around Puebla is still difficult for me - I like being able to know where the lane lines are and they aren´t usually marked, nor are most speed bumps painted - the car has been helpful in many ways.  Getting to and from the market on Saturdays is now much easier, as is traveling to Puebla Christian School to teach on Thursdays.  Also, we have been able to take friends from Huejotzingo to church, cutting the travel time from 1 1/2 hours to only a half hour.  For a few years now we have had a mid-week Bible study with a family with six children, and now we can pick them up from their home for Sunday kids' club as well.  The oldest girl of that family can participate in the pre-teens' craft or dessert class on Tuesdays, because I can drive her (hence the exploded balloon mentioned earlier).  Because of the car, we can now enroll Abish in swim classes, even though the pool is fairly far away. 

Rededi is a blessing, and we know it isn't really ours.  It belongs to God, and we intend to use it as he directs.  Please pray that it will continues to serve well and that we stay free from accidents.

What to Write?

Blog posts are fewer and farther between than ever.  Partly, it is because we have more to do than ever.  Continuing to make our house a home, teaching Abish in first grade, and all the other business of life keep us constantly occupied.  In a facetime conversation with my sister, I commented, "I don´t understand how anyone can ever be bored.  There is always something to be doing!" - and she, a very active preschool teacher, music and museum goer, and more - agreed.

concentrating on handwriting

However, I could make time to write in the blog more often if I knew what updates to give.  We haven´t really changed anything since the last time I posted.  Sure, there are a few updates.  For example, Abish started first grade in January, and he and I both enjoy the sonlight curriculum. (what teacher doesn´t love to hear their student ask to read another page?)  Abraham is Abish´s first grade teacher Mondays and Fridays, teaching in Spanish, while I teach in English Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Thursdays I instruct elementary art at Puebla Christian School, and Abish now joins the other students in doing the assigned art projects and drawings.

the Lorax

 Like last year, at the beginning of this month, we celebrated Read Across America with many Seussian activities, both at home and at PCS.  There are so many fun ideas online for the books that we focused on Dr. Seuss for four days and still didn´t do every activity I planned.

the corner of the bed, fenced off to keep poultry out

With warm weather here to stay for the next few months, I can now go crazy with the garden.  We have so much lovely space!  - with weeds, moles, gophers, our duck, my mother-in-law´s free-range chickens, and poor soil to take into account.  To combat the challenges, we will be using raised beds to grow our vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  Abraham built our first bed several months back, and now I enjoy seeing the new seedlings springing up after last week´s planting.  How exciting it was, two weeks ago, to receive a package of seeds, ordered from Baker Creek Seeds, in the mail at PCS.  (side note and shameless promotion - Baker Creek mails for free in North America!) As soon as I can finish the beds, marked off with recycled bottles collected from litter in Huejotzingo, Abish and Lani will each have their own place to plant, too.

As for the Bible studies, kids´ club, math and English classes, Abraham taking turns preaching at Dios es Amor, both of us helping to teach Sunday school, and crafts or cooking with pre-teen girls, all continues as before.  The Sunday afternoon group is smaller now that a family moved out of the neighborhood.  They had promised to send the kids still, but have not followed through.  One addition to the classes previously listed is that I began teaching basic reading and math to a six-year-old who does not go to school.  Hopefully, her grandmother will continue to take her to the classes every Tuesday and Friday.  Abraham and I go to her house on Wednesdays.

We will soon need to start writing our curriculum for the vbs.  Ours will be July 15 - 19.  The theme will be the life of Moses.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  Please pray for our health and safety and for wisdom as we lead Bible studies and teach the variety of classes.  Pray also for a family in Huejotzingo that we have known for a long time.  Their lives rival any soap opera for suffering and problems.  Pray also for another person we have known for long time in Huejo who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.