The Vacas

Blanca's Birthday

Rosalinda's sister Blanca invited us to her home in Reynosa, Mexico, for her birthday party. This is a family that we have really enjoyed getting to know. Rosalinda and her brother Julio and his family attend our church in McAllen.

This is my friend Rosalinda and her two granddaughters Melanie and Alisa. Aren't they beautiful!

Field Conference

In October we had our annual field conference here in McAllen. Bill and Lydia Allshouse and Chrissy Greenwell came up from Irapuato, Mexico for the meetings. Tim and Sharon Hawk flew down from Marion, IN, to be with us. This was David and Angie Yoder's last week here before returning to Kentucky to start their HMA year. Bill and Helen Moon are in the picture along with Carolina Bocanegra, director of TCS.

Fire Department Visits TCS

The students at Taylor Christian School listened attentively as the firemen from the local fire station shared stories and explained their training and responsibilities. Several students got to try on the equipment.

The men explained about the equipment on their fire truck. The students were allowed to walk through the truck's cab.

We took this picture after the presentation while we watched the fire truck shoot water high in the sky. Two ladies waiting for the bus in the church parking lot across the street got a little wet from the shower.

South Padre Island

We drove over to South Padre Island for the day. We took the opportunity to go on a dolphin watch cruise. We did see several dolphins, but it was hard to get a good picture of them.

Ariana and Ariela enjoyed "walking on the plank."

Ariana is posing.

The cruise captain pulled up a net and showed us different types of sea creatures. One very interesting catch was called the bugger of the sea.

We can't remember what this was. Ariana thinks it was something spiny. I thought it was called a porcupine. If you know what it is, tell us.

This is a sea pickle.

Ariela says that this is a puff fish.

Ariela is holding a star fish.

Birthday Celebration

Ariela and Chloe both celebrated their fifth birthdays in November. We planned their party for November 10th, but they came down with the flu. We had it a week later. The two girls enjoyed dressing up for their party.

Leslie is a good friend. She is the granddaughter of our neighbors from last term.

Ariela enjoyed hitting the pinata.

She also celebrated her birthday at school with a pinata.

Ariela is the youngest of the five Kindergartners. One classmate was home sick.

Chloe is here with her sister Sidney, her parents Mario and Laura Ribera, and grandparents, Mr and Mrs. Long.

Ariela, Ariana, Jorge, and Laura

Two proud fathers and one proud grandfather

Thanksgiving with the Guajardos

The Guajardo family lived across the street from us last term. They are very special friends of ours. We were invited to their family Thanksgiving meal. Dona Maria and Don Eloy are the ages of our parents. They have four children, two son and two daughters. Their daughters Sonya and Yanet are elementary teachers in the McAllen school system. We always have lots to talk about.

Thanksgiving

Taylor Christian School students and teachers posed for a picture before eating a delicious Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday prepared by Mrs. Pena. Then we began our Thanksgiving break!