So here is a quick edit to show some of Judah and his teammates playing in a game.

Kick It

Well not last week but the week before we spent a week away in our old home Oregon. We spent some time with our good friends, Ben and Rebbecca Malmin, and had a blast! We also got to see the sisters, Rachel, and Rebbecca and a great surprise was to hang out with Daniel. We all went to the Portland zoo together where I forgot my camera, so I don't have any cool pictures to share with you. The reason for our trip was a wedding. Our dear friend Sam Deese was getting married to the sweet Renae! We were so excited for them, and Aaron had the privileged and honor of being a groomsmen. So Aaron and I parted ways and he headed for Eugene for the wedding while the kids and I held back in Portland till Friday! We met up again in Eugene for the wedding...and can I just say it was a really cool, upbeat and fun wedding. I always think my wedding was the best, but theirs was up there! The day after the wedding Judah got the surprise of a life time. My son has been indoctrinated into being a Oregon Duck fan...hilarious!!! So while we were in Eugene there happened to be a Duck Game and his grandparents happened to have tickets so Judah happened to be at the duck stadium when they showed up with his tickets. It was a great day with Dad, and Grandparents! He had so much fun, and I am sure at some point Aaron will add a video or two and or some pictures of the experience.

Now this last week we had a lot of firsts going on, and hope to get some pictures of that as well!
Judah had his first guitar lesson with the amazing guitar teacher of Ryan Horn who claims that Judah is smarter and picking it up faster then he thought...funny huh after one lesson. He is a smart guitar teacher! Alyx also had her first ballet lesson in which she was so adorable and loving every miniute of it! I would like to say she is a natural...at listening to her teacher anyway...but more than anything else she looks ultra cute in her little leatard! Next first was Judah's first soccer game. Judah has decided that his favortie sport to watch is football, and his favorite sport to play is soccer. So he is playing soccer and watching football. We stood on the sidelines and cheered our little guy on to a 5-2 victory with 2 goals scored by our little man. Can you say super proud parents! This is where you could get sucked in...the dreams you begin to build for you children...a pro soccer player and a prima balarina...yikes...I can see why some get so obsessed...it's definatly tempting! We will hopefully have pictures of all of that up soon as well.

Then this last weekend we spent it with our dear friends the Oettels at my family cabin in Monarch! We had so much fun, and stayed up way to late, and was woken way to early! But we took pictures, played games, roasted marshmellows, and made mint brownies and an amazing tri tip on the charcoal grill. It was a blast!

Something funny and kind of insane...I was talking to Judah and let him know that he was a super star at soccer! I was teasing him about how tired he was getting at the end of the game and mentioned that he needed to go running with his mommy to build endurance. Then we went home and continued the day! Before bed he came to me and asked me if he could go running with me in the morning before school...I was like...huh???do I do this...is this good or bad or huh??? I was like are you serious Judah? You really want to go. So yesterday and this morning my son and I ran walked a mile together. He is so fun to "work out" with, it doesn't even feel like working out. He just joggs along and chats up a storm it's so fun! He actually woke me up this morning to go. This could actually be the start of something really fun and healthy, and well just a great time with my son. We walk when he needs too, and run fast when he wants too, and he is just excited to be out there working on improving his endurance. I think my son is from a different planet...he truly amazes me with his simplicity of life, passion, and well frankly discipline. So I will keep you up to date to see if this lasts...well at least until the snow flies, or it gets to cold!

Well I should say this weekend was good! I can't say it was great because it was missing a really important someone! Aaron...he was busy shooting a wedding, not sleeping and working, while the kids and and I kicked it at the Cabin with my Mom, and her two friends Diane and Mikie. Later my Dad, Sue, Michelle, Bebbs, Gavin, Grace, Bev, and Jessa all came to hang out. From what I remember Mikie's neice even came and brought a couple of friends too. It was a great time of hanging out and having fun. I got some great pictures of the kids and I in a fun special place. All taken on my point and shoot! We hiked, made suncatchers, played in the crick, rode bikes, and much much more! It was a great time to hang out with my family - parents, kids, and friends!







See more on our Flickr HERE

So yesterday I turned 30 and I thought maybe I should have taken some land mark photo's of myself during that day...Maybe I will in a week or two, I have a lot going on. Just wanted to make a comment about turning 30...they say...or so I have heard that 30 is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30...however I don't know what that is suppose to mean...but I am sure someone can explain it to me. I am feeling more like an adult everyday, and further then my youth then normal...I feel like I will known as Judah & Alyx's mom then Nicole soon, so I decided, I would embrace my new found 30 year old maturity. I started out today with a little Crossfit, where I devoured my time last week at a similar work out. If Jeff and Kern are reading this, I told you this morning I am coming to get you...however I will have to do a burpee the real way to really say I am stronger and faster! That includes the big jump at the end! uhhhggg! Anyways my thought on 30 is that I feel older, less relateable (to young people), but more mature...one of those birthdays that actually made me feel older...I am sure none of the following is true...but it is what it is. By my 40th I plan to be older...(no doubt) but in the best physical shape of my life. I am on my way and diligence, perseverance, and discipline are my friends! I wanted to say thanks to my mom for making my 30th so special, and all that helped me celebrate. I appreciate all the Happy Birthdays on Facebook! Seriously thanks so much!
We (Judah, Alyx, an I) are off to my cabin this weekend(Aaron has to work...double time actually), where I will be bringing my trusty point and shoot, so the quality will not be so good, but maybe the content will be fun! Have a great Labor Day!

Ok so here it is! Judah and Alyx's first day of school...well kind of Alyx started a week ago, but we forgot to take pictures! Judah's starting the 1st grade and he is super excited! Alyx's first week at 1/2 preschool has been great! Her teacher has mentioned she is more like Judah then we know! That one kinda through me through a loop. I am assuming it's the good behavior and wanting to be the leader thing that makes them so much alike. Still I can't believe that my little man is a 1st grader, and that Alyx has gone from my baby to my little girl. You can find their "1st day of School pictures" by following this link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/themcadamfamily/ Hopefully there will be more to come!

Ok Seriously sorry, we totally said we would try to keep this thing up to date for family and friends who would really like to see what is going on in a more detailed way. For sure I will start now. I will not let you down this time.
So....
Let's See we will go from youngest to oldest...bring you up to speed and then hopefully just update as life proceeds forward.
Alyx - BIG news! She accepted Jesus Christ this week and it was so exciting. Aaron led her in prayer in our basement before she escaped the heat for bed time! She was so excited and eyes lit up! It has been a blessing for Aaron and I to pray with our kids to receive Christ! Anyways that is the best news of all, however the over all Alyx is still very much princess! Everyone who knows her knows she is still in love with big dresses, shiny jewelry, sparkly shoes, and everything girl. She asks for “mommy’s lip stuff” other wise known as lip gloss almost every other day. She has her own but for some reason mine is “much more better” she says. Alyx just finished swimming lessons where she started out in level 1 and she did a great job…she will graduate to level 2 next summer and learn to swim on her own for a short amount of time. Things she is loving this summer is the pool, sprinkler, riding her bike, painting her nails and summer dresses. She still would prefer to wear a dress everyday instead of shorts and a t-shirt. I honestly don’t know where she got it. She is growing up faster than I thought possible! She will start 5 day preschool this year, and excited to be able to finally go to school everyday. She asks everyday “how many more days till I get to go to school” even though she really has no concept of time.
Judah – He is working his way toward the 1st grade! Yikes, that in itself is enough to shock us all! He is brilliant and is so kind and loving. He has his father’s sweet spirit with others and his mother’s determination at home! He is a master at coming up with his own way, and not so brilliant at figuring out it doesn’t happen all that often with out obedience first. Judah also finished up swimming lessons and will get to participate in level 2 again with his sister. Maybe a little friendly sibling competition will help him concentrate on getting his face in the water! We will see, let’s just say he is not our next Ryan Phelps! He is technologically brilliant and has mastered the X Box at the age of 6. Um…should I even say that…he is now limited to an hour a day…as it is he would like he would play all day! Judah also had an interesting experience at the dentist this year. Turns out he was born with really bad teeth and it’s just that way. He had 10 teeth pulled, and only 4 are untouched as of now the other are all crowned! Ahh…it was sad, and emotional for him, but he is doing fine now. He lost pretty much all of his front teeth, but has figured out to eat one of his favorite foods, corn on the cob, without them. He has adjusted! He has quite the lisp now, and told everyone how the tooth fair left him sthix dollars and sthixty sthix stenths – interpretation – six dollars and sixty six cents.
Aaron – Well he is still at the Red Cross, but working as diligently as possible to get Eikon Media Productions up and running! You can check out the website at http://eikonproductions.com/ if you are interested! He is waiting on God to see how seriously we are supposed to be working on this project. He is actively participating as one of the main worship leaders at GFCC and is still involved with the youth group (Generation Church) as well. He has a funky schedule so it only allows him to be there half of the time. He has his hands full with those responsibilities, and being a dad, and husband!
Nicole - Well sense I am writing this I will reference Nicole as I. I am still the Administrative Assistant at GFCC and totally blessed to have such an amazing job! The church is amazing with their flexibility, and willing to work with such a busy person! I love to be able to work within the gifts that God has given me and to use those gifts to benefit the church has been more than I could imagine. I am still working on being a good mother and wife while maintaining a full time job. It has been a challenge, and I am sure I fail often, but I try! Through some of the time that we have set aside for God this year, I am in love with reading. So if any of you have any really good books you would like to recommend to me that would be awesome! Reading has truly changed my life in more ways than I could put down on paper.

So that is what I could think of for now. I will try to do more weekly updates, and have Aaron add pictures as we go!

Ok so we wanted to sum up the last month or more to let you know what we have been up too. Life as we know it here is now normal…and now we are on our way out. It’s crazy to think that we have lived in Mexico for three months, but it is true, and it has been a great opportunity that God has given us. We are blessed to live in this amazing city with some of the most amazing people. A final letter will follow up about our trip completely, once we have crossed the border.

But this letter is about the last month or so summed up of course. Some highlights that will be included in this summary will be the “Bull fight” if you want to call it that, Alyx’s birthday on 5-5-07, and just recently Africam. Some daily updates will follow up at the end. So if you were wondering if this was worth reading…there is a small index for you of the upcoming literature…if you want to call it that.

“Bull Fight”
I am completely shocked that they would call this a “bull fight” yeah sure the men put their life on the line….well kind of, but for those of you who are in love with this kind of thing, or actually honor the tradition….I am completely sorry, because I am going to shred the concept at this moment. We bought tickets with this knowledge in mind….there is a bull, red capes, and men in ring, and at the end the bull dies. Let’s see, we know that if we would have gotten all of the information on this so called “Bull fight” we probably would not have gone. But I will explain this event to you in colorful steps. READY
1. Lots of men in amazingly colorful glittery spandex come out and everyone cheers…yeah.
2. Then they all hide behind these things in the ring on the outside except one real fighter. The bull is let loose and they wave their little cloths behind the security of the wall, except one guy who stays near one. The bull is complete healthy and trained to run around this ring and charge at these cloths and there is white dots to guide the way for him. This we find to be the only somewhat exciting part.
3. A man wearing armor, full armor on his legs and lower body comes out on a horse that is seriously padded on one side with a spear, that is correct folks spear….um…a part we were not informed of. The man goes out and is job is to stab the bull in-between the shoulders and injure him and make him bleed A LOT!!!!! When he is done the bull runs around with a big hole in his back, and the blood is like… spurting out. Um…this was not in the introduction to “Bull fighting”….and in case you were wondering while the bull is getting stabbed the horse is being rammed by the bull…padded of course…but come on…..people.
4. Then two different men have these two little gadget thingies that have hooks in them and the bull charges them right after he has been stabbed, and they try and stick those hooks in his gaping hole. Ouch four or six I can’t remember…..Mann…are you guys thinking this would be fun? Nate, do not even answer.
5. So after this bull has been tortured….halfway dead….the “brave” bull fighter comes out for a show….PLEASE. A few “oles” (o-lays) here and there and then he hauls out his sword….and when the bull can hardly stand anymore he waves his little red cloth again, the bull slowly charges, and he sticks him in this “tiny” area in which the bull stands around for about 30sec….to a couple min and then falls down dead. Except when they miss and the sword comes out and they have to do it like 4 or 5 times to kill the thing. Ok folks this was not just once, or twice, three, four, or five times folks but that’s right 6 times…..six tortured dead bulls in one night….this was not in the informational packet. Ok so just so all know…they do sell the meat so this is totally humane right? So now if you are ever in Mexico you will be fully informed of what you are getting yourself into. We stayed till the end hoping one of those animal jerks would get trampled or something…I know cruel huh…but no luck. If you’re interested pictures are above.

Next, a much more cheerful event….Alyx’s B-day.

Here it is a big deal…Cinco de Mayo, but we didn’t celebrate it at all…no parade just a party for Alyx. There are millions of people all crowed around to see a bazillion schools walk by with there bands and somewhat floats…don’t really know…we didn’t go. Instead we went to a place in one of the malls here. It has a princess store where they do the girls make up and hair and take pictures…it’s really fun, so for Alyx’s B-Day we took her there with our friends daughter and they did that together it was fun and they looked so adorable. Pictures above are above. We did that…then Aaron took real pictures, and we headed off to lunch at a place where they have a sit down restaurant with play place for the kids. It was fun, and relaxing…the ones with the play place always are. We headed over to our friends house for a good old fashion piñata that Alyx choose….little mermaid. However the little girls had a hard time smashing it…so it was all Judah. He had a great time, while the girls were almost in tears…it was funny. The candy came out…and they all collected, and then it was time for cake and presents. Then the kids played all day at our friends’ house….it was great, and Alyx got to look like a little princess all day. They were all exhausted by the end.

Next, Africam

Africam is a place where you drive through in your car and animals surround you. It is really cool. All different kinds of animals, some you have to leave your windows up, and some they can be down. Then they have a kind of walk through zoo part, which was really great too. We went with our friends this last weekend and had a blast, and so did all the other kids. We had 6 in all….it was a ton of fun. Pictures above…it was really cool place.

Ok so over all we are still doing great and preparing for the trip back. Not all is in stone yet, but for those of you expecting us we will be getting a hold of you all soon with dates. Aaron’s web site is up and running it looks amazing…..you can go to www.eikonproductions.com and check it out. Spanish is coming along, I can have a decent conversation with most Mexicans if they talk a little slower for me….but it is good. Aaron’s has improved a lot; Judah is still resistant, but not as much. Alyx is doing great…and we are looking forward to establishing Spanish at home and English everywhere else…she is getting a little confused, and other than that it’s life here in Mexico pretty normal. We leave this Saturday and are looking forward to the future and what God has in store. We are excited to see everyone that we can and we will talk to you soon. Love you all and have a fantastic week.

Ok well....we wrote a really great blog and thought that we saved it to edit it a little. But we didn´t, and it took a long time so we were discuraged. But I thought I would write a little something...promising you pictures and more information in the future. Near future I hope. Anyways we are on the down hill now, and we are noticing God´s grace is so amazing. We love it hear and for all of you who might be shocked, we even considered staying here...we prayed, and but had no peace, so we are off. Then it was kind of sad that we didn´t get to stay, becuase it would be a great opportunity to learn Spanish that much more. Not to mention the church is amazing here, and it has been amazing to get to spend so much time with Mark and Aimee, and their family. However, it has been decided that we are heading back, and now just when it is needed the grace to be here is lifting slowly, but it is definatly noticable, and we are just as excited to return as we were to come. I am learning the complexity of spanish right now which is really hard, but I will get it, at least that is what everyone is telling me. Aaron´s website is up and running, and he will post a link on our blog as soon as he can. The kids are doing great! Alyx had a great 2nd birtday which we will explain in more detail later along with most things. However now I must return to my class. More later, as soon as we can with pictures and much more info on the last month or so. Love you all and miss you!

Well not much is going on right now, so we don't have much to talk about. We are still doing great, and school is going great for Judah and I. I think the two week break did him some good, in his case absence does make the heart grow fonder. I have to be honest with you, our goal to only talk in Spanish this month was a no go. I just wasn't able to do it, and I caved into procrastination, or as some would say mental organization...I can do it next month has crossed my mind. We really need to be disciplined next month for the sake of our language learning. We failed this month so if you could pray for us next month that would be awesome. I am at a place where I am talking 80% of the time with my guide in spanish...they are really great, and the best part is, now I am not getting corrected every other word. I talked today about my high school days, sports, cheerleading, and Abby if you are reading this even our pageant days came up. Aaron's website is close, but today he had the opportunity to hit balls on the range, he had tons of fun, it was a guys birthday in our cell group today, and they wanted to bless him. It was his first time hitting balls, and golfing, he had fun too. There won't be any pictures with this blog not much to show right now. Just the same old same old. This weekend I am going on a women's encounter with the church here in Puebla(or retreat) all in Spanish, with no interpreters...it should be fun and educational for me. Aaron is being so great to let me go while he stays home with the kids all weekend. The next weekend we have the opportunity to go to a bull fight...all we need is a sitter, so we are on the hunt. Besides that not much new is going on. Hope you enjoy this less then entertaining blog, and of course there will be more later. Love you all and talk to you soon. We hope to plan our trip back and will have emails into those people we have the opportunity to visit.

The new Easter slideshow and the previous are both on this one. You must choose one from the start. If you want to view other "albums" click on the bottom left button in the slideshow.

We hope you all enjoyed the last update, because we are once again going to fill you in on our exciting adventures!!! This last week everything was about the same, not much exciting happened, except Aaron had a serious sickness which he passed on to me. We aren’t sure what he had, but I had strep throat, but no big deal because I was on the meds before it had time to take over. However, I did have nasty white stuff all over the back of my throat. We are all recovered now, and had a great weekend.

Here in Mexico they don’t celebrate Easter, but the death of Jesus instead, Semana Santa, and all the schools go on break for two weeks…yes that’s right two weeks. Every school but mine that is… I had last Friday off, in which we all did nothing so daddy and mommy could get better. Which we did, so Saturday afternoon we were off to the jump house fair…where there is an enormous amount of those big play places filled with air, some were giant slides, some were races, some were for basketball, and soccer….needless to say we had a great time. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures…:( We are hoping to go again before they leave town, and if we do we will try to remember to take a couple.

Our families have an Easter tradition, so we drove all over Puebla searching for Easter candy, but not much was found, we made do with what we had. Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs, and I think there is are a few pictures and maybe some video…the kids had a blast, and the eggs turned out great! Sunday morning was great, and Alyx looked so beautiful in her dress to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus…Judah looked handsome too, but there is just something about a little lady in a big fluffy dress…well maybe to me. Pictures are included. After church we headed over to our friends, Mark and Aimee’s brother’s house…Justin and Angela for those of you who know them…and had a wonderful Easter lunch! We hid Easter eggs for all the kids…about 5 dozen eggs for 11 kids, it was great!! We had a blast!!! The kids all played together until they dropped tired, while the parents tried to have somewhat of an adult conversation. Then we started a new week of school and web design. We are both now hard at work at finalizing the website…sickness put it a little behind, but it is almost there. Judah and Alyx are doing great! Judah has been out of school on break for the last two weeks, and is looking forward to going back, Dad too I think. Alyx is having fun with daddy as usual. Aaron is working hard and having fun with the kids, and I am of course hard at work learning Spanish. Time is flying by; we are already half way through with our adventure here and beginning to think of our return. Hope I didn’t leave too much out, but it’s late and I need to get to bed. Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!!!

Well hello there folks. Sorry about the delay in writing I know that this is a little over due compared to the amount of blogs posted before and there promptness. This blog was written over a week ago, but the pictures took a little longer…so this is two blogs in one. Which probably means it may take up to three visits to read it all if you are in a hurry. Please forgive us for our tardiness. One month down and two to go….however I wouldn’t say we are counting down, Mexico is going great still, but a little busier then we expected. Still much slower then before, but filled with every day tasks that we are getting used to accomplishing. Things like eating dinner together, and every morning breakfast. It has turned into something great, no longer something foreign. We are loving the time spent together, and the time in Mexico. We are however looking forward to seeing everyone very soon.

Aaron is busy getting the EMP website up and going and planning for it to be finished at the beginning of April. After that he will be searching for clients who are ready to jump forward on the net. He already has some in mind who have mentioned the necessity of his servce. He is also trying to balance being a Mr. Mom….and it is a learning process, but he is getting the hang of it quickly. Fortunately for him there is a laundry service at the school that is relatively inexpensive, and he doesn’t have all of the dirty clothes a family of four produces weighing him down on his Mr. Mom challenge. Unfortunately he is learning what it is like to be a dad and be at home with sick kids….and on top of that which is worse is he has been very sick with a sore throat, and upset stomach…and having to take care of kids while I have to be in school. It is defiantly difficult task to take on, only having to take of sick kids while you are sick is worse. The importance of switching roles is now in effect more then ever on both sides.

Judah is adjusting to preschool, and last week had a little more difficult time then before. He had fun the week before, and faced some social challenges the prevoius week. One day last week some of the students threw dirt in his face…normal for his age, but it was hard on him, and I would say even harder on me. He has a two week break from school…no not spring break here…time off to celebrate the death of Christ. So he is home for the next two weeks. He is in a rebellious stage with the language right now and not wanting to speak it at home. My institute director says this is common in the first couple of weeks, so we are prayfully waiting it out. Other then that he is doing good, he misses Grandma and Grandpa, and asks about you often, along with Nanna and Papa, and is curious to when he will get to see you all again. Josiah, Judah says hi, and he says you are still his best friend, and he misses you very much and can’t wait to see you again. He is missing everyone this week, but making some new friends with our friends daughter Haylee, and their brother’s kids too. Oh and Haylee G. Judah talks about you often too. If I didn’t mention some one please don’t be offended, I am not here all day so I don’t get to hear what he talks about mostly, just in the evenings. I know he loves you all.

Alyx is doing well, and is adjusting a little better then Judah. She was having a hard time adjusting to the childcare last week when Aaron worked at the church, but she is doing great now, and loves the care taker. No one however will replace Alysha. You will be a story we tell her as she grows up. She is still young enough to not really know where home is, since she has been living out of a suitcase and in MANY different beds the last couple of months. As always she is happy to be with Dad all day long. She is picking up Spanish very fast, and not resistant to use it. Her speaking is still about 75% English, but she is using Spanish on her own now. We are really excited about that. She is still a Mexican magnet which is still really amusing to watch. We love to see Alex’s presence bring a smile to most she walks by.

Let’s see that leaves me. I am doing well too; Spanish is more confusing then ever. I now wish I would have paid more attention in English class. The grammatical elements in Spanish are much different, but the words are still the same. Direct objects, indirect objects, subjects, verbs…blah…ect…ect… It is getting a little grammatically crazy right now, but I have to remind myself that I have only been studying for a few weeks. I can’t possibly be able to know it all right now. I have now been educated on all the tenses…present, both pasts, and both futures…which brings me up to being able to have a decent conversation with someone…however I haven’t quite grabbed on to the past tense yet, it is a lot of information. Aaron and I have agreed that as soon as he is better and able to function some what normal we are going to be speaking Spanish in total. Even if that means our conversation will be minimal…it is important for me to learn as much as I can while I am still here…and Aaron and the kids two. Also this way our kids will be forced to learn. Today I started my first day of group classes…however there is only one other student besides me…it is really nice. They were all impressed by my language skill after only having 3 weeks of Spanish. Frankly I am impressed two. I can effectively share where I am from, how we got here…all about my family and kids…how long we are going to be here…where I live in Puebla, and why I want to learn Spanish…every thing else is pretty hit and miss, grammatical elements all messed up…I am at a toddlers level of speaking, and hoping to graduate to grade school after this month, and move into middle school, and maybe lower level high school when I am all done.

The pictures you see are from two Sundays ago…March 18th or something like that. I have completely lost track of the days, except the days of the week sense I am in school. We went to a city called Teotihuacan. This city has really old pyramids, in which Aaron took some great pictures. The trip was structured through the school and we were forced through pretty fast, but the Aaron and the kids got to go for barley any cost so that was really great. They did great, and had a great time. We bought Judah a bow and arrow and a quiver holder, he was so excited. There were some Amazing masks that I wanted, but we didn’t bring enough money, so I am hoping to find them somewhere else in Puebla. After the pyramids we went to a Sunday market thing…it about %100 times crazier then a Saturday market in Portland. It was in Mexico City in which our guide for the trip said there were about 28,000,000 people living there. That was about enough of that city for me. At this market place the kids got there face painted and they are so cute. Alyx was painted like Belle…from Beauty and the Beast, and Judah, Dash, from the Incredible. Does it get any cuter then that? We also shared our first cotton candy as a family in which Judah was so excited….a whole dollar for that huge thing Judah is holding, and Alyx only wanted to smash it in her hands…none for her mouth. We finished off the long day at the center of Mexico City where the architecture has surpassed any other place I have been too in Mexico so far. The whole center was surrounded by beautiful buildings. These are the pictures you see here too. We left at 7:30 AM and returned at 9:30PM and the kids were wiped, not to mention us. But they did great!!! I went to a different city this last Wednesday and I loved it…sorry no pictures I forgot my camera, but it war really impressive, oh and I can’t remember the name either…I might get back to you on that. The city is famous for using Onix for things…which is like marble that light can come through…I think that is a good way to describe it. Anyways, the family is going to go back some weekend to pick up a few things…was beautiful…Also there is a church that was left to fall apart until now…and it is amazingly beautiful…Aaron needs to take his camera there.

The past couple of weekends we have seen movies…in the theater. The weekend before last we saw in an American movie in Spanish….Arthur and something…I can’t remember…the kids loved it and I did two. We bought all of our tickets, large popcorn, two large drinks, two hot dogs, and candy all for a little less then $20.00 USD. It doesn’t get any financially cheaper to take your family to movie and treat them to the works. Aaron knew what was going on the whole time in much more clarity then I, but I had pretty much the gist of it. It was really cute…some parts for parents with kids had evil bugs….but as all good stories you know how it ends. And it was great even in Spanish. Judah was never bored, and Alyx was enthralled. Our friends, Mark and Aimee have been so great to us…opening up their home and having us over for dinner and a movie. It’s been really amazing, and we are so blessed to have them as friends. They are amazing people. This weekend was just as mellow, movie this time was Family del Futuro…I think….it was just as good…however Aaron got really sick this weekend, and has been out for the count ever sense Sunday morning.

Well that’s all for now. Once again I apologize for the length. If I wrote more frequently you wouldn’t have to take your lunch break to catch up on what’s going on over here. I apologize. I hope you are enjoying all of this. Oh and mom, that picture of the mountain is an active volcano. We can see it from our living room window. We have to give props to Mark though he is the one who took the picture. With all the huff puff with us living in Bend, we thought you might like to see a real Huff Puff. No worries we are safe!!!!!! Love ya all, and keep in touch.

Hola amigos. Well, all is going well here in Puebla, and we are now in every day life as we know it here. So far, every day life consists of, from my point of few. Wake up at 6:45ish…depending on the evening. Then we head out of the apartment at around 8ish…sometimes 8:15 it depends on how fast everyone is moving. You all know the routine. Then Aaron drops me off at school around 8:20ish, and takes off to drop of Judah at his preschool. He works on EMP for a while and Alyx plays, and he picks up Judah at 12:30pm meanwhile I am hard at work learning Spanish, and I get my “siesta” at 1:00-2:30. Then it is off to the main square where I meet with my guide, and we walk about Puebla for about 2 hours where we talk in Spanish most of the time. Well she talks in Spanish most of the time, and I listen and try. It is totally amazing she knows English pretty well, and she learned all from American, English speaking music. Crazy!!!!! I know. Popping into stores, museums, historical places, churches…etc. It is pretty amazing, and Mom, Elaine was right it is very beautiful here…the architecture is amazing. I am done with school at 4:30 and still exhausted from all the walking, my lazy body isn’t used to it, but it is really good for me, and hopefully my waist line. After school is always different, but today it was back to the streets for a walk with the family. We went down the street from us where there is park about 7 or 8 blocks from our apartment. The park has lots of different ramps, and stairs emulating pyramids that the kids can climb up and slide down. Also there is some playground equipment that they can have fun with. Today was our first visit to the park, and it was really funny. Alyx was like fly paper. Three little Mexican girls couldn’t get enough of her. It was really great for them to stick around though because then I got practice my Spanish with them. So I was much obliged to share my little niña (girl) with them. It was actually really fun. We headed back to the apartment and stopped for dinner. Ok Nate and Brittany are you ready for this. We had the tortilla soup that I love (a normal bowl at your house size), the kids had rice and eggs, and Aaron had Carne Asada….yummy it was so good, and it all came to a total of 13.50 US dollars and that is with drinks, too. You could have added a drink that we don’t drink for only $1.50. We totally thought of you at dinner tonight. Carne Asada for $5.50 cents…muy bueno…si. Ok so that was today.

My Spanish…um how is that coming I am sure that is one of the questions you all want to know. Well so far I have learned three verbs, and tons of words, and I am now able to put a lot of sentences together by my self. I am getting to a place where I can have a consistent conversation with a 3 year old. Not bad for four days…at least I think so. For those of you who know Spanish I have learned the verb ser, estar, and habar. That might help you with how far I am progressing, for the rest…the 3 year old conversation will have to suffice.

Yesterday I went on and excursion to a place about 40 min outside of Puebla. Oh…I hope I spell this right…it is called Tlxacala. It is an older city with more Indians then Hispanics. It has really amazing architecture as well, and the church there is pretty, how should I say this….um….gaudy. Um….too much decoration, lots of gold, and lots of manikins of Jesus in pain, and dead and other Biblical characters as well. In Spanish, no me gusta. The pictures you see are from this city. I don’t have any of Puebla yet, but patients my friends. Also the pictures I promised you of Mexico City, and of our apartment will be up today as well. So you can check those out. Oh yeah and mom I will try to remember to take a picture of the van. Sorry I am slacking.

Judah loves his school and if you ask him some words he can tell you the meaning, however he isn’t speaking it on his own yet….but I will say he is an amazing mimic. We are not sure what we are doing this weekend, but I am sure it will be fun. I will let you know how it goes. I do know for sure that the school has allowed the whole family to go on this weekend’s excursion to another city in which I am not sure of the name. But the trip lasts from 7am until 9pm a very long day, but it should be fun, and it is on Sunday. I will write again early next week.

Aaron is coming along with EMP he finished his logo, which I think is fantastic, and is currently working on the website. He will hopefully be done with that part soon, so he can focus on clients, and building the business.

Alyx, is a Mexican magnet, every one wants to touch her hair, and talk to her, and stare. It is really amusing. She is dong well, and picking up Spanish fast, she is a walking spanglish toddler now. She is having fun with Daddy, and is now a daddy’s girl more then ever.

Well that is it for now. Hope all is going well where ever you are at. Love you all and talk to you soon.

Hello all, sorry I haven’t been on for a while with an update. We are now in our apartment. We spent yesterday unpacking and getting everything functional. We went grocery shopping, and to Costco. Costco was fun; it was a little like home, familiar in sight, but not in sound. One of our favorite things was that in the little food area where you can get hot dogs and pizza you can get a Pina Colada smoothie. YUMMY!!! And it is cheap. We went there to get a couple of things for the apartment, and by the time we got home we were already exhausted from shopping even though we had a great night sleep the night before. Crazy how that works…but we pressed on to get the apartment clean and running for the next week. We had our first meal in our apartment too. It consisted of a fruit salad, crackers, and rotisserie chicken. It was good to eat together to eat as a family, and kina strange too, but we had fun. Here are some pictures of the house. It is about 800 square feet or maybe a little less. We are used to small places and our goal is to be here as little as possible so we can learn the language. It is clean and cute. So here are the pictures of where we live.

Judah is doing so great he went 10 days with being dry in the morning. Needless to say he got the game we promised him if he could go at least three. We bought him the Cars game for his leapster…it is all in Spanish. We are so proud of him. Alyx just might have a bunch of pull-ups for the future if he is going to keep this up. We more then likely found a pre school for him, and it is way less expensive then we thought…but a drive away. But only about 10 minutes from the church offices where Aaron will be at. It starts and nine and goes to 12:30 and is Monday through Friday. There are some other options, but in Mexico you are required by law to start school when you are three, and have three years of preschool before they will allow you to start the first grade. Three year olds already know how to read and write…it’s totally crazy. Also if he were to attend a preschool that is public he must have signed medical documents. While I am school tomorrow, Aaron is going to check out the school for him. He is really excited to start. Oh and guess what Mom, Judah drank a whole glass of milk the other day. We got it on camera for you, tried to get his milk mustache, but it didn’t really work out. The whole time he was drinking it we kept telling him how Nanna would be so proud. Just wanted to let you know.

Alyx is doing well too. She was sick for a bit…high fever for a couple of days, and then she threw up a few times and she was all better. It seems it is going around here. She is going to be spending days with daddy and that will be fun for her, as she is a daddy’s little girl.

Aaron is going to start work on Eikon Media Productions this next week. It’s great the people at the church have offered him a place to work and child care for Alyx…right there on site. They have someone on staff who watches the kids a couple hours a day so that the wives of the pastors can come in and work on some things for the church as well. They have invited Aaron to use this while he works on EMP. Not only will this help Aaron get EMP off the ground, but it will help him learn the language much better then he already knows…and Alyx will get to play with little ones her own language to learn at her level as well. God is so good, and is so good to us as well. This is such a blessing.

We went to church today, and it was amazing from what I saw. Worship was great, and Judah loved kid’s church. He is ready to go and play. We talked to Randy and Luicina Mischler today and it was tons of fun. I spent most of the time up in the nursery with Alyx she isn’t too sure of anywhere she doesn’t know yet, and the darker skin kind of scares her a little I think. It will be great culturally for her. It was interesting trying to communicate with the people who were working. One little boy tried to talk to me, most of the time we just looked at each other and laughed. We went out to lunch with our friend Mark’s Brother Eric and his wife and his family. We had a great time!! We are looking forward to the rest of our time here in Mexico, and so far so good. Oh yeah, we thought that we might let you know that we don’t have internet at our apartment, we are debating on weather or not it is worth the money to have hit hooked up. So if you don’t hear from us for a while that is why. I can get it at the school, and Aaron at the church, but that pretty much limits us to email only, and no skype, so let us know if you think you will be using skype enough for us to get it installed. It is not that much, but enough to wonder if we really need it here. It is kind of nice being media free. No TV…no internet…it forces us to really communicate with each other, but on the other hand it’s hard too. If you are going to use skype, don’t feel bad to let us know. For all you MySpacers out there…that means no IMing either. So let us know what you think. We will be checking our e-mail and MySpace this week.

I am starting school tomorrow, and that is about it. I am loving the food, and all the fun we are having so far. Tomorrow is when our schedule is really going to start. We are still on hunt for a gym with safe childcare, but some people have so kindly offered to call to see what is available. Well that’s all for now. Sorry they are so long again. I hope you are enjoying them. Love you all!!!

Ok folks we have finally made it Puebla, Mexico...no Spanish yet... that will come in time. I start classes on Monday and I am a little nervous, but I know I will be fine. Thanks for the encouragement Michelle C. Anyways, I wanted to share a little bit about our drive here it's worth the talk. We crossed the border Wednesday, which went pretty smooth. It just took a while to get the payment correct. We drove the not so attractive ride, which is filled with what I call the "harry palm tree." They were like palm trees, but they had many diffrent branches, and then a big white flower on top. And the tops of the trees trickled down like the tree was shedding. I think that is the best that I am going to be able to explain it. The drive from the border was filled with all of those harry palm trees....tons of cactus, and dirt. That was about it. It was rather exciting though. All of the different signs and little towns we went through gave, me enough reason to stay awake and if that didn't interest me the traffic did. I am so glad Aaron was driving other wise we would all be dead!! He was a rock star in such crazy traffic. We entered San Luis Potosi. It was dark and very interesting driving in a crazy big city with no knowledge of anything, trying to find a hotel that looked less then scary. For all you GUers we ended up staying in the Country Inn and Suites. Pretty great we would recommend it if you ever find yourselves traveling that direction. The drive from here to Puebla was very exciting...mostly because we were going to finally reach our destination. We got to drive through Mexico city, and if my mom was there she would have broke through the passenger floor with her fake break. It took us at least and hour to get through the super crazy traffic. The pictures are mostly of traffic and the the 7-10 lanes...we're not really sure...people just drove where there was space. The other pictures are of out side of Mexico city. Crazy huh. I defiantly, at this moment, don't look forward to going through there on the way back. However the drive to Puebla was amazingly gorgeous!! It was mountains and lushness...I had been missing sense we hit New Mexico. We made it through...and Mark Jaquith was so kind to meet up with us and they let us stay with them until we got all in order. We had a hot home made dinner waiting for us when we arrive prepared by Aimee...and boy did it taste good... all that travel food it was great to have a home cooked meal.
We got to see our apartment and it's cute. A little smaller then our house in Bend, and a little less furniture...but that is about it. It even has a garage...however our version of garage is a little different then in Mexico. I will explain more about where we are living in another blog. Pictures will follow once we have unpacked along with many other exciting moments. The crime in Puebla is not very high, but parts theft seems to be a big thing. If you don't get your wheels locked and your mirrors fixed they usually get stolen in the first week you are here. However you can go down to a certain street to buy back the mirrors and wheels that were stolen from you. They will even be so kind to install and secure them so they can't get stolen again. :) ummm. Besides that crime is very little. So today we got our car theft free, picked up some things for our apartment, and I visited the school to find out more about what I needed to do to be ready for Monday. So that is that. I am sure I am leaving out some, but these blogs are so long. So hasta luego for now.

Ok so we are finally out of that town. We can't tell you how we never want to visit Carlsbad, NM again. We are now in Laredo, TX a couple of minutes from the Mexican border, and will be crossing tomorrow morning. Pray that all goes ok. I do have a funny story...many have said that our luck with vehicles is less then fortunate...almost comparably with our friend and tickets. Um...we love you. Well after we finally left Carlsbad, and finally made it to Pacos, TX which was our destination to begin with, 83 miles from Carlsbad. We pulled over to get directions on the laptop, what do you know the hood started smoking...That's right folks our new car and there is smoke coming from the hood. I couldn't believe it. Aaron, as the man, which I am so glad went out to inspect the car and pulled a red work rag from the engine...yes that's right a red work rag. Then some nice "folks" from TX pulled over to help us out and they discoverd another red work rag... this one however caught flame while trying to remove it. We had to pull over to another dealership to make sure that our car was A-OK. It was, and we were again off.
Here in Laredo we went down to burn some energy in the pool, as everyone looked at us like crazy people. I was like why not, it's 75 degrees here. Um...little did we know the out door pool was not at all heated, and the water was a little above FREEZING. Needless to say we did not take a dip. Alyx sat on the side with her feet in for a little while. We pulled her out before they turned completely blue. They are now taking a dip in the bath for entertainment. They seem to have a good time in there. Well I think that's it for now....we got our track phone today and are waiting for it to activate so when that happens we will let ya know our new number. We would appreciate it though if you signed up with skype...which is totally free by the way...and got a microphone for your computer, and if you really want a web cam. Let us know your log on name and we will do the rest. Hope your enjoying this and pictures will be up soon. Sorry about the delay...that is Aaron's territory. Love you all and miss you, but excited to be on this adventure.

Ok so I have much to write about so maybe I will put it in the form of an out line. Let's start where I left off.
1. The VAN....um.....what was purple is now white.
You see.....our van ran into some kind of debree for those of you who don't remember. We found out on Wednesday that our fan had a cracked gas tank. Should I say that our van is really not worth that much.....through a lot of prayer, research, and thought we are now the proud owners of a used Chevy uplander. We will have pictures of our new van that has much style we think....at a later date. But we wanted you all to know that the purple van is gone and we have stepped into the world of electronic buttons and DVD players in an automobile....it has pretty much everything we wanted in a van. For those of you who aren't van lovers I would like to let you know I love my van!!!! Through interesting circumstances we are here in Carlsbad, NM until Monday afternoon. The details will follow.
2. School....didn't classes start on Monday.
Yeah....I know that is what you guys were thinking....but didn't I say in my last blog that it always turns out into something better. Well this is defiantly one of those times. At the institute they have group classes and private classes....and you can take private classes but for a considerable amount more. So because the car got wrecked, and we couldn't make it down there in time....I am going to have a private teacher for the first three weeks of class and then I will join the group class at the end of the three weeks for the next 8 weeks of classes. For the same price as what I would have paid for the group rate....that is right....I am so excited. I get to learn one on one for the first three weeks.....I am so excited, the school is being so great to us, and we are so grateful to God for all of this.
3. Now for what are we doing in Carlsbad, NM....this is going to take time and an extra outline
a. If you ever breakdown in Carlsbad, NM and you have to find a hotel to stay in we would not like to recommend the MOTEL 6.....take that down and store that in your long term memory. However we are on our third Hotel sense we got here, and we like the Days Inn, but we are really impressed with the Continental Inn, large spacious rooms, and cheap I might add with donuts. So if you are ever going to stay in Carlsbad....you might want to check it out.
b. I would like to paint you a picture of the town we are stranded in until Monday afternoon. The blog is called a day in the life of the McAdam's....this portion is going to include.....in Carlsbad , NM. Ok so all of you who feel like you are deprived of trends and things that take so long to get where you are at....please visit here. This is town of 30,000 people and we made the mistake at staying in a hotel that doesn't serve a continental breakfast.....we drove the entire length of town find a place to eat breakfast, and there was only one that we could find. Yes, Denny's is the only place we could find to eat breakfast this morning.....as we drove through the L shaped parking lot there was not a parking space to be found. We had to park across the street in another parking lot just to eat at the Denny's. When we walked into the Denny's we were asked our names, and told to wait till they called our names......that is right people....you heard it. There was a WAIT at Denny's. We could barely contain ourselves....however we must say it was the best service we have ever had at Denny's. Our assumption was that it must have been new, just opened, we were wrong it's been there forever. What do you think of that? What would you do if Denny's was the best breakfast in town? We left Denny's went to a laundry mat did some laundry and then drove around town to see what we could do. We found the local theater....which was playing three movies....that's right three movies. There is only one theater in town and you get to pick from three movies. That is next....what was fun in Carlsbad.
4. What we did that was fun in Carlsbad so far.
a. We ate at a scary restaurant called Happy's and if you drove by you would have thought it was closed, except it was the only restaurant in walking distance from our hotel and we had no car at the time. We chalked it up as a fun adventure.
b. We were on the waiting list at Denny's
c. We went to the Carlsbad Cavern's which actually was really amazing. We walked 800 ft. underground in a cave, and the kids loved it until they were so tired from walking. We told Judah that it was kinda like where Batman lives. He was really excited. It was about an one mile and a quarter walk which took us 2 hours with the kids. Fun and great......pictures....as you can see. Our first really cool out and about family experience.
d. Next we did see a movie at the local theater....however we have discovered that there is no liquor stores....nor bars in town that we could find. Which I think is amazing and great!!! A local told us there were three....and that was all. Needless to say the local movie theater is all there is to do on the weekend. We haven't even seen a put put, or a bowling alley....nothing like that. Crazy. I say all this to let you know why there were so many people at the theater. They scheduled all three movies at the same time, and what else is there to do in town but watch a movie. It is a choice between that and renting....there was a drive in, but no kids movies were playing. So we stood in line for about 15 min to get our tickets, and headed in. Once you entered the theater it was amazingly hilarious....it is everything you have seen in a theater about 10 years ago, and they also have adapted the unmade bed theory....why clean it if it's just going to get messy again. We were walking over tubs of half eaten popcorn, and wrappers cups.....interestingly hilarious.We really liked the movie, and the kids did too. It was very imaginative.
Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading I hope all is going well for all of you we will keep posting blogs as we go. I hope to hear from you all very soon.
The McAdams

I have a little extra time today.....we had a little bit of car trouble so we are in the waiting period to see what it is and how long it is going to take to fix. Unfortunately by the time we hear and it's fixed we will probably be in such a hurry to pick up some lost time that I won't be able to write back right a way to let you know. So just pray that all goes well. We were driving down the road last night and we hit some kind of debree in the road and we sprung a gas leek....it's hopefully getting looked at as we speak. Aaron and I have decided that either we totally can't hear from God and he really doesn't want us to go to Mexico or it is something that is going to result big things and satan is doing everything he can to try and get us to turn around. Obviously we are going with the later. We are sure that this is what God wants us to do, and although a lot of things have been thrown at us God has always made it work out even better then we thought possible. So we push on, we may just have to push on a little harder and faster to make it there by Saturday.....we will have to see. Anyways we made it almost to our destination yesterday....we are in Carlsbad NM a town about 30,000 and 83 miles short of our goal. Not bad, it could have been worse....so we found out that NM isn't all that great to look at.....I slept through some of it yesterday and Aaron said I didn't miss a thing. So that is what's going on with us....I think the kids are getting a little less excited to get in the car to go, so maybe this break will prove beneficial. Besides that, nothing else to report. Hope all is going well with all of you.
The McAdams

So we are now in New Mexico, but to get here we got to go through Moab.....ordinarily people wouldn't think that is so great but the rock formations there are amazing. We stopped to have lunch at one of their rest stops and we lost our lunch with the wind so we helped our all the wild life in that area! So we resorted to the car to eat, but after we were finished we went out exploring. You can see some of the rock formations in these pictures.
The kids are doing great...Judah constantly wants to know if we are in Mexico yet.....doesn't quite understand the 5 day driving concept, but all is good anyways. They are traveling like pro's however they just might be after all of this.
Today will be Aaron and my first time in Texas.....a warm 61 degree's I know you are all jealous...Well maybe not so bad the winter hasn't been horrible in OR or MT so that is that. I will be back to update soon. Thanks for reading!
The McAdams

Previously on the A Day in the Life of the McAdams.....We went back to Bend about a week ago to take a care of a couple of things before our house closed. What's so great is that our house closed a week and a half early so we get to go to Mexico a month early and we are so excited about this. So.....we worked really hard and are now on the road for our long drive to Puebla Mexico. We just can't believe it's actually happening...there were so many things that made it like it just wasn't going to work all the way up until the end. So we are really excited and praising God that we get to go.
For all of you who are like me it's kinda like my wedding day and having kids.....you watch everyone else do it your whole life and then when it comes to be your turn you can't believe it's happening to you. Understanding that Mexico isn't something that happens to everyone, but great and exciting things happen to most people, and now something great and exciting is happening to us and we are so thankful that we get to go. So that is it. We had a ten our drive to Boise yesterday to come and visit some friends, and we will hang out till evening here and drive for about four hours this evening to cut some time down on our last day to Puebla.
So we would like to personally thank Joe and Missy for thier amazing hospitality, and your willingness to stay up late to chat even though you had to work oh so early in the morning. It was great to see you and we love you guys so much. So there you have it. We are driving and all is going great so far and we are believing that it's going to stay that way!! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and we look forward to hearing from you while we are in Puebla. Talk to you all soon.
Love,
The McAdams