Waiting for lunch…

 

Serving beans, Chile Colorado, two kinds of rice, etc.

Lindsay

Groszmama and her sisters-in-law and friends.

The cake

The ‘younger’ ladies

Groszmama with her son and his family.

Groszmama with her daughter-in-law.

 

Groszmama and her brother with his wife.

Another with his wife

Groszmama and the brothers she has left.

Happy amigos

Groszmama, almost hidden by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Groszmama with her daughter and family

A granddaughter and her family.

A grandson with his family

Another grandson with his family.

And another grandson with his family

 

The girls enjoyed their time together.

…for over a week already…

Sorry to all you readers for neglecting our blog. I often get frustrated at other bloggers for not posting more often but when it comes to me… I know why I’m not posting. Usually the excuse is busyness.

We have had a good time at home even though we are busy. We came home to a lot of snow. Saturday was spent cleaning out the trailer and cleaning up the things that were in it as well as getting back into routine. The program on Sunday went well and was well attended. We had Horizon Contractor’s Christmas Supper on Tuesday for supper. On Thursday, we had our last piano lesson in 2013. I don’t think my best lesson went better than this one did. On Friday we cleaned our house. I shouldn’t tell you this because it’s routine but I felt so fulfilled and it felt so clean that I went against the rules.

Saturday was our youth group’s Christmas banquet. After a very good supper, we played some very interesting games. i.e. Drawing a picture in a plate that was on our head, Left-Right, and a “Words-within-a-word” game. The gift exchange took quite a while with around 95 people, but at least it was interesting to watch.

Sunday evening we were part of a Homeschooler’s Christmas program. The girls got sick the next day and they said it was because they had been so nervous. I was so nervous that my voice shook in the solo part and I didn’t get sick. 🙂

Yesterday, I took all of my siblings along to Extended Care in the hospital and we did some carolling. In the evening I went carolling with a part of our youth group here in Bow Island. It was quite enjoyable and I was surprised at how well carollers are accepted. You know, if you would try this at any other time of the year, you would get doors slammed in your face. But now, you’re accepted with many “Thank-You’s” and “Merry Christmas’s”.

 

Merry Christmas from the Unger Family

To a lot of us, 40 years of age seems somehow “old” if you want to put it that way. But to me, Daddy isn’t old even if he is 40 now. True, he’s 24 years older than me, but he’s always been that anyway. And the saying I discovered on this trip describes it well:

Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

Thank you Daddy for being our provider. Providing, not only the essential physical needs, but also the more essential spiritual ones. Thank you for being willing to be different and passing that on to your children. I realize that that is a needful virtue these days. As Christians in this world, but also in the world of Christendom where those who live according to the Bible and the conviction of the Holy Spirit are bound to be different.

Thank you for sacrificing your comforts for the happiness of others, especially your family. i.e. Spending your birthday in a van whose occupants aren’t in total agreement (or at least not in the best frame of mind) after a number of hours of traveling.

A personal thank you for doing your best to enable me to attend the program on Sunday. I know you would have enjoyed spending more time with friends and relatives and yet you sacrifice that so that I can be part of the program. (For those of you in the area, you are invited to the Cherry Coulee Gym in Bow Island at 4:00 Sunday afternoon for a Christmas program by the Tween Valley Youth.)

May God bless you with another happy and fulfilled year (or another 40?)

Yesenia, for the rest.

P.S. I hope to add pictures once I have better internet.

 

Yes and No. Yes because, as soon as we connected to wi-fi, we had around 51 emails and 81 text messages! Although a lot of them were not personal emails, it felt good to be thought of.

No, because I felt like I left home to come home. When I told somebody that I felt like I had come home when we came to Mexico, they asked me where there I felt at home. “On the road,” I replied. Which was true because that’s where we spend a lot of our time in Mexico.

We were able to meet a lot of friends and relatives even though we only spent a week there. On Sunday we celebrated Groszmama’s 83rd birthday. She is turning 83 in a week from today but we celebrated it now because she isn’t going to be in Mexico on that date. This provided a great opportunity to meet a lot of relatives. 

The day before I had helped Tante Anna prepare the food. The children went on a hike during that time. A little south of Jorge and Anna’s place is a small river where they spent a greater part of the afternoon. Their shoes, socks, and the boys’ pants were wet and studded with thorns but they were happy. They really enjoyed their time together.

Ironically, while the children played practically in the water, Alberta was having very cold weather. (How often did ya’ll at home have -30 C?) Mexico had fairly pleasant weather although the people living there found it cold. 

We found out that we missed out on some very cold weather in Alberta, a lot of snow in Colorado, and ice rain in Seminole. We are very grateful for this and are hoping for clear roads the next three days. 

Gladly trusting Him who is Faithful,

                                                     Yesenia

P.S. Both border crossings went very smoothly. (Thanks to answered prayers!)

I guess some of you would feel that way if you were deprived of wifi and phone service but when we enter Mexico it doesn’t feel like we’re leaving civilization.

I decided to write a quick update post before we leave the USA. We are planning on crossing the border into Mexico today and I do not know when will be the next time I have wifi to connect to you. Your prayers are coveted as we cross the border and go through the process of getting a tourist permit. The memory of not being able to get a tourist permit at the one office last time we went is still haunting us so we are praying that we won’t have the same problem again. (We had to cross another border that time and were able to get one at a different office.)

Besides all this, I am looking forward to seeing my uncles and aunts and cousins in Mexico. It’s been almost three years since we were there so I should be missing them, right?

We had an enjoyable time at Mariche and Groszmama’s house. We celebrated Thanksgiving there on Thursday.

 

On Saturday we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. Susy and Walter had bought an RV which is called a ‘diesel-pusher’ and a ‘minivan’ by turns.

Anyway, Uncle Walter wanted to take that thing to Carlsbad Caverns so we loaded a bunch of children in there along with some aunts and the rest of us went in our van. 

I wish they would have put more lights in there but what we did see was quite interesting. My tired and sore body prevents me from expounding on the beauties. (:-)) Besides, Mr. Pink-Eye insisted on accompanying me to the Caverns which didn’t improve things.

 

Yesterday we left Mariche’s, along with Groszmama. Who would think that an almost eighty-three year old Grandma would want to join a noisy family of seven children to go to Mexico?

I can hardly believe it’s December already as we are experiencing spring-like weather. In fact, my sweater finished it’s job on the day we left Colorado. But I do know that a lot of you Albertans are in the middle of a snowstorm. I can’t really say that I’m jealous of you although I’m sure by the time I get there I’ll be wishing for snow. Wishing y’all the best.

In Texas,

Yesenia