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.