White Elephants and more. . .

Yesterday was the peak of Christmas celebrations at Binimea.
In the afternoon we had the first showing of the Christmas Extravaganza (also known as the kids' Christmas program). There will be another one next Friday, but since Jay and I will be winging our way to Nebraska next Friday (Yeah!), we dutifully made an appearance and were very entertained for an hour of our afternoon.

In the evening, it was time for the Jr. High Christmas party. Jay and I are Jr. High party sponsors, so we, along with another couple (the Murrays), were running the show.

We ate donuts and sang carols.
We played some Ghost in the Graveyard (a hide-and-seek in the dark game) and ate Pizza.
(for those of you who are aware of my aversion to seek and find games, no, I did not actually play the game. . . I was in charge of "base".)
And we finished the night off with a good old-fashioned White Elephant gift exchange.
Here is the gift selection and here is the fantastic "Canada" T-shirt I walked away with.

Welcome to our (new) home!

Okay, I know 4 different homes in 14 months of marriage is not normal, but I actually think we will be in this one at least 6 months.

We moved into this new house just this past week. The old one just did not feel safe to me anymore. It was isolated, hard to get to, and surrounded by vicious dogs. Jay absorbed by feelings and found us a new house that is two blocks from the school and that has neighbors (friends of ours actually).

It is much smaller and we are still moving things from our old house into storage, but here are a few shots from our new place.

Here is Jay warming himself by our wood stove (the only source of heat).

Our living room:

Jay and Torre (our neighbor) tossing the newly bought firewood:
And here's a treat for all the Spanish speakers in our lives - a glimpse at our bilingual Christmas celebrations:

The Great Orange Adventure!

It is strange, in Mexico even the most mundane things seem to be an adventure.
The most recent one was Jay and I attempting to get the (seemingly) ripe oranges off our tree.

The orange tree, unfortunately, is located between a thorn bush and a fence, so it was an adventure to trek back and retrieve the fruit.

Here I am surveying the course:The most formidable obstacle:Making it through:Reaching the Fruit:The Crop:Finding out it was bad and (literally) throwing it away:

It's Party Time!

Well, it is official.
The holidays are upon us.
(It is hard to believe since it is 70 degrees and sunny every day.)
We kicked off the season with two traditional favorites.

First: Thanksgiving.
Although we had to work this Thanksgiving, we were invited to a party after school. It was a potluck, and it was our job to bring enough mashed potatoes for 16 people. Making the potatoes almost resulted in destroying the Steins kitchen, but, nevertheless, we arrived on time with 5lbs of mashed potatoes.
Some said we overdid it, but at the end of the night, not a speck of potatoes came home with us.

The table for this meal was a pool table with a top and a tablecloth on it.
Here is the spread:
Here is the aftermath:Here are some friends:Tonight, Jay and I held a traditional "Baking and Bonding". (For more info on "Baking and Bonding" check out another recent post").
We took the chance on possibly destroying the Steins kitchen once again, but I truly believe the Lord protected us. I did blow up a pressure cooker and burn some beans (we had chili while we worked), but, other than that, the night went smoothly and was super fun.

Here was the group:
Here is some of our handiwork:
Yay for the Holidays and yay for being with family in less than three weeks! (not that I am counting down or anything. . .)

We've (Temporarily) Upgraded.

For two weeks Jay and I are house-sitting for a missionary family. Although it involves driving to our house everyday to walk the dog and check the mouse traps (we are currently waging war against the mice in our house and we've taken out six already), the house we are staying in now is quite a bit nicer than ours.

We've exchanged this:
for this:
And this:
For this:Needless to say we have temporarily upgraded.

Speaking of houses, we are considering a move to a different house in a safer neighborhood. Although many missionaries are supporting our decision, we are also receiving a lot of opposition.
We are praying for God's guidance and would appreciate you joining us in prayer.

Santa really does exist. . . even in Mexico!

Yesterday was a day full of fun and frivolity.

It began with a second round of "Baking and Bonding". For as long as I can remember, my family has had this Christmas tradition known as "baking and bonding". On some weekend before Christmas, my family along with another family, the Ronkettos, gather together to bake Christmas cookies, decorate sugar cookies, and spend time together. (here is a pic from an Original Baking and Bonding)

Since I have had to miss this beloved tradition for the last couple of years, I have worked to carry it on wherever I might be.

I have already had two "Baking and Bonding" experiences this year (and it isn't even December). The first was in Nebraska with Lori and Crystal (never were so many cookies made in such a short period of time).

The second happened yesterday, although the people planning it didn't know that "Baking and Bonding" was its official name.

Here are some photos from that time:(This was the first "Baking and Bonding" to include Tea Time.

And I am secretly planning a third "Baking and Bonding" in which the official sugar cookie decorating will occur.

Jay had a craving last night for tacos, so we set off in the minivan to find a (cheap) taco place.
Since it was only 5:30, every restaurant was open. . . but empty.

Here is a pic of Jay with the completely empty restaurant behind his head.Here are the desired tacos.

And here was the bathroom - I have had many interesting bathroom experiences in Mexico and this one is noteworthy because it was good! They had toilet paper and soap.
We didn't want to spend another night at home, and most places around Chihuahua right now are considered dangerous after dark, so. . . .

We went to the Mall! And I was shocked to find out Mexican malls are just as crazy with their Christmas decorations as American malls.

Everywhere we looked they had these Christmas candy creations set up. They also had a GIANT Christmas tree and a Santa figurine (no real Santa. . . at least not yet.)

OK, now for a sidenote: I pulled out the end of our loaf of bread this morning and this is what I found.The package was intact so we know it wasn't our mice (yes, we have mice, but I am getting used to it), So we figure it must have happened during the packaging. If anybody has any ideas, please let us know. Anyway, it made Jay and I laugh and ask "WHY!?!" for a long time.

Back in the Swing of Things

Well, we are officially back. With (almost) one week of school under our belts, we feel like that break may or may not have actually happened.

We arrived home to a house that desperately needed cleaning. It seems as though all of Mexico dried and shriveled into dust while we were gone. Said dust then proceeded to plant itself on every surface of our house.

Here is my attempt to capture the mayhem on film.
Here is Jay helping with the cleaning.
Here is our very dead plant that simply could not survive a week without our tender love.Also, with the whole drying and shriveling process has come something I don't think I was totally prepared for here in Mexico - Cold Air.

When we wake in the mornings it is about 50 degrees in our house, and a day full of baking in the sun doesn't do much to warm the place. So far, we are too cheap to turn on our heater. We simply layer up in the evenings and sleep nice and warm under our new quilt that was bestowed upon us by Mama Taylor in Nebraska.So we are ok. Adjusting to being back. Freezing our tushes off when we use the bathroom (the bathroom window is permanently stuck open about 2 inches), and returning to the service God has planned for us for this season in our lives.