Wedding Celebration

On March 22nd we held a wedding celebration. Francisco and Gaby AND Vanessa - that's their little girl - are happily married! Ivonne is Gaby's mom - remember? I work at the office with Ivonne and we enjoy a very special friendship. Ivonne was devastated when she heard Gaby was expecting, but now dotes on her first granddaughter, totally spoiling her! Good thing Vanessa has parents who are stricter than Grandma! It was a beautiful wedding. I gave them the traditional Bible, Alan and Beth gave them the lazo (the symbol of union). We hired a gal to bring delicious food and handmade tortillas, and in spite of the mother of the bride's stress level, everything went beautifully! Thank the Lord with me for Francisco and Gaby - and Vanessa! - and pray for them!

Tastes and sights of Mexico

There are so many interesting and unusual sights and tastes in Mexico. Consider the roofs - oh, not ALL of them, but once in awhile you see - grass?? If you don't have enough on your lawn, grow some on your roof! And consider the blue doorway. In the U.S. you might think it's gawdy, but here in Mexico, it's beautiful! And the tastes! Nothing better than a hot-from-the-grill tortilla with something delicious like TINGA inside (tinga is chicken and onions with a luscious sauce). MMMMM. Can't get any better than this! The jacaranda (ha-cah-ron-dah) tree is also known as the "arbol de Pascua" - the Easter tree. Why? I don't really know - maybe because it blooms at Easter? I'll see if I can find out!

Great reading

I just finished Faithful Women & their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. Wow! It was a book that was hard to put down. I would read as I brushed my teeth, as I waited for the family to head out somewhere, as I was making my bed, as I was eating supper... I literally couldn't put it down! Thanks, Jeff and Kim, for the challenge this book gave me! And for the rest of you, if you don't have it, find it, buy it, borrow it, steal it (well, maybe not), but READ it!

Easter Sunday 2008

Today the churches in the Bajio (central part of Mexico) got together at Camp Koinonia in Amealco (45 minutes from San Juan). We celebrated Jesus' resurrection with music, a wonderful message, fellowship and sharing the food each of us brought. What a wonderful day! I visited with friends I hadn't seen for years and enjoyed getting to know some great folks from Oklahoma who were down to serve the Lord at the camp. Here are just a couple pictures showing us at worship.

Enanoslivo

There are four "enanos" at the Livovich home in Chesterton, all of them cute as buttons. (Enanos literally means "dwarves", but can also mean "little people". Which is what they are!) To see LOTS of pictures of them, check out the enanoslivo.blogspot.com. But here are some just for fun!

Maria and Lluvia, Ken and Esme's girlies

If you want cute, just check out these two little girlies! Maria is 2 and Lluvia (Rain in English!!) is 9 months old.

Dayton - or is it Zorro??

Dayton keeps things lively at the McManus/Hanna household! One morning when I was working at home, he came up (this is at 8:30 AM!) wanting me to play chess with him! To begin with I don't do chess, second, I was working! He couldn't understand that though and kept at it! And I kept at my thing - work!! Later he helped me with the dishes - and yes, afterwards we mopped the floor! But he kept me entertained, that's for sure! Later I spied Zorro - or is it Dayton? No, it's gotta be the real thing!

First Evangelical Free Church, Austin, TX...A Foundational Work Team

This past week seven very motivated and strong men were working long days to pour the floors for our main meeting area....But WAIT! Why should I write what's already been written?? Look on http://noothernameministries.blogspot.com for much more information, PLUS some great pictures! We're very grateful to these men who worked hard. Be sure to check out those great pictures!

Beautiful granddaughters!

Here you see Raquel, Victoria (Toria for short) and Clara. I think that makes 9 grandkids that live in Glenmoore, PA! They're growing up fast - I can hardly keep up!

Austin and Calvin Allem

Two more grandsons, Austin and Calvin. I was hoping for a better picture of Austin, but haven't gotten it yet. You'll just have to send me one, Austin, and I promise I'll change the picture - once I figure out how! No matter, all my grandkids are GOOD LOOKIN', right? RIGHT! I'll post the last three Allem girls this week!

Friendship Tea for the Ladies and Young girls

Last Saturday we ladies of Abundant Life Bible Church held our first Friendship Tea. The idea was for each of us to invite a friend who doesn't know the Lord. Many invited friends, but only five came! This is very typical. They always promise, "Yes! I'll be there!" and then don't show! But we were glad for the five who came. Our American friend, Kristin, came and had a delightful time! We set up the tables in Tina's yard and everything looked so festive. Our program included singing along with our worship team, drawings for prizes, a talk by Bethie and me on the Resurrection Eggs, a fun craft where we made a heart basket, prizes for our invited guests, and lots of delicious food! Mole (pronounced moh-lay) sandwiches, other fancy sandwiches, a fruit cup, tiny cupcakes, butterfly cookies and of course lots of soda pop! We DID serve sweet tea as well, but our Mexican friends are big on SODA POP! "They" say that Mexico has one of the highest uses of sugar in the world - and I'm sure most of it is in the soda pop! Our Friendship Tea was a huge success and encouraged us to look forward to what fun activity we'll dream up next!

More grandkids!

Here's daughter Kim with her two youngest Ada and Quincy. She reports that Ada thinks she's the princess of the household - well, being youngest, I guess she has that right! I doubt her brothers and sisters always treat as one though! Quincy never stops - he is the action boy of the century. Oh yes, he DOES stop, but only at night when he falls in bed for some sleep to give him that SPECIAL energy for another day!

Good bye to Jim and Cheryl

Today at 7:30 AM I boarded a bus to Mexico City for a "good bye" dinner with Jim and Cheryl Eberline, who will soon be moving to Uruguay to be involved in ministry there. My Mexican sister Carmen and her son Felix were also along. Felix met me at the bus station and we took the subway to where he had left his car with Carmen in it! There was some kind of demonstration in the middle of the city, so they couldn't get through! So, we took Plan 2, the subway! Dinner was at the airport at a beautiful Italian restaurant and the fellowship was sweet. We're going to miss Jim and Cheryl here in Mexico, but we know God has great things for them in Uruguay!

Wedding Shower for Gaby

Ivonne, who I work with, has a daughter Gaby who is getting married on March 22nd, so we had a shower for her! I started out badly, forgetting to give half the ladies the invitations at church the week before, so I had to call most of them! So, I wasn't expecting too many. Well, 31 of us crowded into what we THOUGHT was Grace Becker's large living room dining room - it isn't THAT large! Close company! Plus 4 toddlers, plus a teeny baby! And it was our pleasure to see two of Ivonne's sisters in law, plus an aunt, plus a niece join us. They are not believers, so we trust our fun evening was also fun for them, showing them that we Christians CAN have fun!

We began with a very nice talk by Bev Kendal expressing the need to build our marriages on THE foundations, Jesus Christ. We then played a lot of silly games. One picture above shows the ladies "making" wedding dresses out of paper. Of course, once they were done, the judges judged, NOT the dress, but how neatly each one opened her envelope that contained the paper! They had fun anyway! Gaby received some very lovely gifts. We missionaries all went together and gave her a set of pans, utensils, cutting board and knife - Ivonne told me later that Gaby NEVER DREAMED of having something so nice! We were thrilled with the special FUN evening and thank the Lord for the opportunity to do it! Just a few pictures to show you our fun evening.