At recess the other day...

**If you are having trouble viewing the videos (not sure what the problem is...) you can find them by following the link on the side that says Carissa's Pictures, under the Sept. album.**

Do we have a teacher in the making...? :)

Candi to Ángel: What letter is this?

Find me the letter... 

Thank you for your continued prayers for us here at CVE. The battle rages and we are becoming a little more knowledgeable about what we are up against. You can see the last post if you are interested in further prayer requests.

Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. Psalm 33:20-22

A catch-up post

I have a few shorter blog posts piling up so I am just going to combine them and make one random or "catch-up" post...

Preschool

Meet Osmara and Candi, my two preschoolers...

Pictures may be worth a 1000 words but they don't always tell the whole story...

So, what do you do when you have two little girls who at times mix like oil and water?

This is what I have found that works:

Having to hold hands, figure out how to color, and hold down your paper all at the same time or having only one hand free to search for the letter card you need or trying to figure out how to hold a broom and sweep while at the same time not letting go of the other's hand...it requires teamwork and honestly, it does seem to help them get along.

Now...if only you could try that with adults... ;)

On to...

Kitchen chairs

So, I believe these kitchen chairs have been here ever since I arrived in Magdalena 5.5 years ago... and they are falling apart (note the cracks, foam showing through, duck and masking tape, etc.). Well, the previous owner of these chairs happened to be down here and heard of our chair plight. And he happens to have a sister who is a seamstress and agreed to make us chair-covers!

Before:

After:

Much better!!

Thank you, Bruce!!


New student

Several weeks ago when Michel left I lost one of my students. A week later Daniel was added to my class schedule.

 

Daniel is in 5th grade and is just in private classes until the end of the school year (this Friday). He is a smart little guy and so far has been a good student. 


12 Eggs

Just in case you ever wondered what it would look like to drop a dozen eggs on the floor... well, I thought I would take a picture for you.. :P

 Now I can say, been there, done that...and hope it doesn't happen again!
(BTW I used nubuck/suede shoe cleaner to get the egg off the couch, and it worked great!)


Egg Experiment

Speaking of eggs, have you ever wondered which is better: a farm-fresh egg or a store-bought egg??

The other night in the kitchen I came up upon this...

I guess Bill wanted to show the girls the difference between a farm-fresh egg and a store-bought egg. (We have chickens who lay eggs, but as of yet we don't have enough to supply all of our need.)

Geo got to be the ginny pig. Here is her "double blind"...


 On video... :)



And then they found Duane and pulled him in for his expert opinion.

  

My video of Duane doesn't want to upload right now... I think the farm fresh eggs won out. :) (though Bill also admitted that the store-bought eggs must have been fresher than at times...) 

You just never know what you might learn here at CVE...

Luisa update and Gloria

A while back I posted pictures of Luisa and asked for prayers for her long-term placement here at CVE. Well, praise God those prayers were answered and she has joined her siblings (yes, she is a half-sister to the 5 Acroverde kids that Juantan and Bere are caring for) in the Casa Verde (Green House).

Here are some pictures that Pau took on my camera a week or so ago of Luisa with her big sisters, Alexia and Gloria.

 Gloria, Alexia, and Luisa

Praise God for keeping this family of siblings together. Please pray for wisdom and strength and a lot of energy for Juantan and Bere with their house-full!!

And because Gloria used to be the baby and is so very cute, I'll post these pictures I took when Bere and I got together for Bible study last week. What a cutie! :)

One last "post"...

Happy Birthday, Michelle!!

I don't always post about birthdays, but since Michelle is our oldest girl here at CVE, I will post a few of the pictures from her birthday.

Can't believe that she is 16 already!

I think she was cracking up about the Aquino sisters' rendition of "Las Mañanitas" :)

 Michelle with Nicole and Pau

Michelle with all the girls from the house (Yaneli, Tania, Karla, Jaqui, and Lupita)


Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8


As we (or at least I) say often, the only constants here at CVE are God and change...
Right now we are going through a time of a lot of change and transition.

Please pray that God will go before us and smooth the path that He has planned for each child, staff member, and family. Please pray that God's will and purpose will be accomplished through all that we do, despite of us. Pray that Christ will be glorified and that His Truth will be spread. Please pray that we would have wisdom, peace, and joy amidst the challenges and uncertainty that come with change. Praise God that He is does not change but is ever faithful!! Please pray that we would ever look to Him to be our Rock, Strong Tower, and Refuge.

the Rinkenberger kids

After their wedding on the 5th, Joel and Steph stuck around until Monday morning when they took their families up to the airport. Monday through Saturday I got to stay with their kids. (Hence the lack of blogging last week!) 

Here are some random pictures from the week:

Aron drawing a leaf.
 

 Candi with her baby doll (which went about everywhere with her).
 

 I don't remember what Candi was showing me here...

 Marcos, happy to be wet in this hot June weather!

Jorge (Jodi's) with a water-squirter that some of Joel's family brought.

The kids love to play in Rito's house. (Rito is their dog.)

 Candi

 Keyla (Jodi's) playing with her baby doll.

 Aron using up the last of the water balloons (leftover from the wedding weekend).
 

 Diego and Marcos reading

During the week we had a shortened preschool schedule and just did it here in the house.

 Candi smiling (I didn't post the other 3 pictures it took to get a smiling one!) with the puzzle she put together all by herself.

 Osmara who also put the puzzle together.

 Playing in the sala (livingroom) with Jodi's kids one afternoon

On Friday, Julián (the youngest son of one of our grade school teachers) joined us for preschool.

 Candi, Julián, and Osmara

 Osmara coaching Julián on how to write his numbers.

 Candi concentrating on her work.

Friday night I wanted to do something fun with the kids so I made homemade mac and cheese for supper--a pretty easy favorite! Then we put together puzzles and ate ice cream with mango and banana. 

The kids at supper...Aron making a face and Candi turning her head (she wasn't fond of the camera this week)!

 

Marcos, Diego, Aron, and Candi

Attempt #2 with just the boys: 

 Marcos, Diego, and Aron

After supper we started in on the puzzles...

Marcos and Candi were a team and started with a Princess puzzle. :)

Diego and Aron were a team and started with a Veggie Tale themed puzzle.

Hard at work

Marcos and Candi with their finished puzzle.

When they finished with the puzzles we bought out the ice cream, fruit, and toppings. Yum!

  As you see below, Aron was as into making funny faces as Candi was into not smiling

Aron with his ice cream sundae attempt #1

Attempt #2

Diego being a cheese too.

I must have missed a picture of Marcos and his ice cream but here is attempt #2 of Candi. Someone finally had to tickle her to get a smile!

It had been over a year, maybe more, since I had taken care of these kids for an extended period of time but praise God it went smoothly overall! I was thankful to see a "settled-ness" in these kids that I don't think was there before. Praise God for the family that He has created!


Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:4-5

Praise God for His continued work here at CVE! Praise God for raising up families and men and women to stand in the gap for the fatherless. Praise God for the maturity and growth we see (at least from time to time!) in our kids. Please pray that God would continue to work in their hearts, changing them, renewing their minds, teaching them the Truth, weeding out the lies that they are believing, drawing them close to Himself. Praise God that our kids (and we all), no matter what their situation is or who or where their earthly father may be, have the opportunity to have a Heavenly Father who is perfect, a Father who will never leave or reject them, a Father who seeks a relationship with them, is jealous over them, desires to know, protect, and provide for them. A Father who is more than they could ever dream of. Pray that they will seek a saving relationship with Him from their youth.

A preschool outing

Friday, I decided to take my preschool girls to the park and then to Café Sed. Sometimes, as a teacher, I get bored being in the classroom day after day so I figure they probably do too. It had been awhile since we had done a park or Café Sed trip so off we went. 

On the way, we were driving down a fairly main street and off to the side I saw a small group of people standing around talking. A woman in the group, facing the street, was standing there with her finger up her nose! I told the girls, that is why we are teaching you now not to pick your nose, so that when you are grown women you don't do it in public! (Guácala!)

At 8:00 in the morning most of the parks are still closed, because well, it is just early! So we went to a park that is part of a plaza and doesn't have a fence around it. I had brought Candi here once before. 

Candi on the arced jungle gym.

 

Osmara on the swings.  

There was a gazebo as part of the plaza, so the girls played there for a while. It was their "house" with Candi as the mom and Osmara was the child. Osmara went on to play out how she was put in a children's home because her mom didn't take very good care of her... 

 

Osmara posing in the gazebo. 

And here, pretending to be asleep.

 Asleep, once more... (Candi was avoiding the camera at this point.)

Across the street from this playground there is a Catholic church that they are giving a facelift. The work-ethic of some people never ceases to amaze me! A few of the men were working while the others stood or sat and watched them, us, or other things happening around us nearly the whole time! 

The girls decided to twirl in the gazebo...

 and then take a picture together.

 These girls can be great friends and playmates or with their strong personalities, it can be a struggle for them to get along!  ...we're working on that! :)

 Playing with bubbles. 

After about an hour at the park, we moved on to Café Sed. Here the girls shared some Sprite and a pastry that Katie had made. 

(Candi is avoiding the camera again!)

I had ordered a mocha and Katie explained to them how she used the espresso machine. Then she offered them a try of espresso. I had my camera on video all ready for a great reaction...but we didn't get one! Osmara was the only one brave enough to try it and she didn't react negatively at all! She actually said she liked it! :) (Then again, Jodi is her caretaker, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised! :) ) I don't know, maybe Candi would have liked it as well if she would have been brave enough to try.

 Osmara

 Candi with her frosting mustache. 

When they finished eating they wanted to color, so we moved back to Katie's kiddie-corner, complete with coloring books, crayons, and a kid-size table.

 Osmara

 Candi

And the girls, sharing the table. :) 

In my classroom I have the following verse painted on my wall (thanks to some very talented women from a workteam!):

And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13

Please pray that our children would truly be taught of the LORD, and that they would have great peace!