On December 8th, the day the catholic church celebrated the immaculate conception, the Christmas season began in Barcelona. We purchased the requisite "Caga Tio" and have decided to celebrate Christmas Catalonia-style. The caga tio, or pooping log, is a log with a painted face which kids are supposed to take care of until Christmas in order to receive presents. Kids are expected to feed the log and cover him with a blanket at night. Then on Christmas kids beat the log with a stick and demand it to poop out small presents. Larger presents are reserved for January 6th, el día de los reyes.

Unfortunately, we have also begun the Christmas season with illness. The kids even missed their school Christmas program. Since they had worked so hard to prepare for it, it was quite a disappointment. After almost a week of being cooped up in our small apartment, yesterday we decided it was time to get out. We ventured to the movie theatre, a 5-minute walk, to see La Travesia del Viajero del Alba, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Fortunately the theatre was practically empty because by the time we got home, fevers had returned. Just when we think the kids have gotten over their sickness, their fevers return. Tomorrow will be another one home from school. We're headed to the doctor instead.

Once again it's been almost a month since the last blog entry. By far the most exciting event in the last month has been the visit from Uncle Bill. We spent a fun 3 days with him. Visited various sites around Barcelona. Went to Tibidabo, the mountaintop amusement park. Enjoyed cafe americanos. And learned a lot from him, who is a fluent Spanish speaker.

The other day I was trying to give directions to someone on the street and forgot a word. Duane couldn't remember it either. How delighted I was when from behind and below me I quietly heard "mochila." This is the first time Charles has helped me with Spanish in public. I do hope it's the first of many.

It is my custom to pass on to the kids words that I've learned, especially ones that they may find useful. Some previous words are,

barriga--belly
No me molestes.--Don't bother me.
Me hace ilusión hacer algo--It thrills me to...

In response to my "lessons" recently Charles has been telling me, "Mom, that's SO easy. It's like saying uno."

Daniel's language skills are coming along too. He will proudly reel off the days of the week in Catalan. He knows them better in Catalan than in English!

Today we visited the history museum of Barcelona. The museum is an underground archaeological site of Roman ruins beginning around 15 B.C. The experience began by taking an elevator, which doubled as a time machine, down into the ruins. We were surprised to see how large this underground world was. We walked along catwalks viewing roads, houses, factories, stores and a church. With a good imagination, one could reconstruct what life may have been like thousands of years ago. The kids commented that it was so large they couldn't remember everything! One fact we can't seem to forget is that people used to wash their laundry in urine to help disinfect it. No wonder the Romans needed to add lavender perfume to the clothes afterward!

Speaking of Rome, the pope was in Barcelona today. He led mass at La Sagrada Familia. Since our church is very close to the cathedral, and since the pope's message was broadcast to the crowds outside, we heard both services simultaneously. After church, walking to the museum, we happened across a very long police barricade. Rather than try to walk around it, we decided to wait.

Besides, it was pretty cool to see all those police lined up. It seemed like we were looking into infinity, into two mirrors facing each other. All the way up and down the street one could see the row of fluorescent police jackets. Five minutes later the queen of Spain rode past. In another 5 minutes the pope rode by. Not bad for happenstance.


We end each Sunday by preparing backpacks for school Monday morning. When chores are finished Charles and Daniel watch Spanish television to prepare themselves for another week in a foreign language. Tonight ended in a particularly sweet way as we tucked the kids in, one commented, "I can't wait for school tomorrow."

Happy Halloween!


These masks were inspired by a Mariscal art exhibit, which we attended last weekend. A neat feature of the exhibit was that one literally "entered into" the art. For example, the final piece was a walk in the woods which was created by light, sound, fabric and cardboard. Something so cool we may have to try it downstairs at home in MN!

The Mariscal exhibit was located in La Padrera, a building designed by the famous local architect, Antoni Gaudi. Barcelona contains many of his works. His masterpiece is still being completed and is a Catholic cathedral called La Sagrada Familia. It'll be completed in 2026, which is 100 years after the artist's death.

Here is the entrance to Escola Augusta. It is in the reception area that I drop off and pick up Charles and Daniel from school each day. A few weeks ago Daniel would enter this building with hesitation, staying close by my side and suggesting I come all the way to the steps to drop him off. As he slowly ascended the steps inside (not shown) he'd watch me waving at him and wishing him a good day. Charles had an altogether different reaction to going to school. He would run on ahead, spurred on by nerves and adrenaline. It hasn't been easy for them, but they're doing it, and are adjusting well.


Early on they told us the most difficult times of the day were during "pati" which is recess. As they get to know other children better, there is more to look forward to at school and "pati" doesn't seem so daunting or boring.

While we're not too concerned that they retain information from school, we do expect this whole experience to shape and benefit them in some broad way. Of course, Duane and I only hear snippets of what actually happens. Here are some comments that Daniel has made:




"There's this guy who always speaks English." (Daniel told us this very early on. The "guy" who we had thought was another student turned out to be the English teacher!)
"I said something in Castellano today." (What was said remains a mystery.)
"I heard the teacher say 'No me molestes' to Filip. (Don't bother me.)
"Bhryyc (Daniel's classmate) always takes my pencils."
"I'm telling you, Mom, that's NOT how they make a cursive z!"




Charles often gives us grand stories of what has happened at school. He tells us what happened in soccer games during recess. We've heard how he tries to get his work done as quickly as possible because the student next to him helps him more than he wants her to. We've also heard about the special jobs assigned to him in class and during lunch.

Their favorite classes are music, art and phys ed.

Though the kids are in school, we maintain the homeschooling mindset. We tell the kids when they leave Escola Augusta, they come home to school. And that even though the school day is long (9-5), their school day is actually 24 hours a day.

Daniel is eager to learn to read. He practices in both English and Spanish. Not surprisingly, he prefers Spanish, as it's completely phonetic. Since we don't have many English books here, Charles has been kind enough to write stories for Daniel to practice reading in English.

Charles is a budding business man and has had many creative ideas on ways to make money, including ideas such as: leading a soccer camp for preschoolers, opening an adventure park, building a center where people can pretend to fight bad guys, and selling items he's created like games, stories and musical performances.

We are also learning a lot together. Sometimes completing Charles' homework takes the whole family discussing what each individually knows and understands. The kids have the advantage of having seen the lesson and hearing from the teacher. Duane and I use our knowledge of Spanish and help from Google's Catalan translator to make our input. How funny it can be for us all to work together to figure out the homework!

One day Charles brought his calendar home with a note indicating "Control de matematiques. Unitats 1 i 2." Since his math book was also in his backpack with units 1 and 2 already completed, we figured he was supposed to show his parents the work. Not correct. It meant he was going to have a QUIZ in math and brought the math book home to study. So, now we know, and it's a good thing, because this week he's got three "controls"!

Spaniards certainly like to celebrate!

This weekend was La Mercé, a holiday to honor the patron saint of Barcelona. For three days there are special events all over the city. Even as I write this I can hear the final firework celebration booming from across the city. We took part in the festival by watching fireworks, attending parades, and visiting museums and city parks. A few highlights were the parade of giants, the "Correfoc," or fire run, and the "park of lights."

The fire run is supposed to represent the gates of hell opening. It's a parade where people dress up as devils and shoot sparks into the crowd. Spectators come dressed to jump INTO the shooting sparks. Sound crazy? It was! And we only attended the kiddy version!

While we were by the water to watch fireworks, we also went to the top up of the Christopher Columbus monument. Apparently it was in Barcelona where Columbus returned to report to the queen of his famous voyage west.




Also, apparently 30 years ago the port area was completely industrial and few visitors came to Barcelona. The port area was cleaned up for the 1992 Summer Olympics and now the city boasts over 7 million visitors a year. Here's what it looks like today. These views are from the top of Christopher's monument.

Hurray! Duane's back home.

Last night was the informational meeting for Charles 3rd grade class. It was good to meet the parents of his classmates and to see the school environment. The "information" was completely lost on me as the meeting was in Catalan. Oh well.

What made the meeting especially worthwhile was receiving a kind note from Charles, which he had written earlier in the day. I left a surprise note for him too.

In recent days I have been taking great joy in connecting with the kids through their minds. It's a new stage for the family. They aren't up for motherly affection anymore. Even a hint of affection in my voice prompts Daniel to say something like, "Mom, you're not going to start talking about love again, are you?"

It's been a quiet weekend at home. The kids have completed their first week at school. It's a totally different learning environment than they are accustomed to and they are relieved to be able to spend a couple days at home. The 9 to 5pm schedule is quite long for them, particularly Daniel. After one week they have already learned to dread Mondays!

On the bright side of things, Charles has said he feels like his Spanish has doubled in the week he's been at school. I was impressed one day when I heard the gym teacher tell him (in Spanish) he could either leave his backpack close by, or better yet, take it up to the classroom and come back down for gym class. The moment the teacher stopped speaking, Charles turned around and headed to his classroom--and my heart leaped for joy, knowing he had understood.

During the days while the kids are at school, besides daily household tasks, I've been studying on my own. It's great to have enough time to oneself to concentrate! I found a magazine for 7-year olds at the library that is just the right level of Spanish. Fortunately the library has many issues, so I have a lot of reading material!

I've also been watching TV to aid listening comprehension. In some scientific report on reading, I read that the "average TV show" uses a smaller vocabulary than the "average preschool book." I never expected that to MOTIVATE me to watch television, but dumbed-down Spanish is exactly what I'm looking for! Amusing, isn't it?

Duane left early this AM for a conference in Oxford, England. He'll return late Wednesday night.

There's a new rule in our household. ANY TIME we're home the doors in the apartment must be unlocked, or have the key in them, ready to be unlocked. From the first night in this apartment, Duane, in the interest of safety and since our windows all have bars on them, has kept the key in the front door at night as it is locked from the inside. He told me if there was ever a fire, every moment would count and that having the key in the door was necessary.

Well, apparently, and not surprisingly to me, Duane is absolutely correct. A couple nights ago there was a fire on the 5th floor. The renters were out and returned home to a blazing fire, which was somehow started from the TV plug. Here on the 2nd floor, we had no idea. That night someone did ring our doorbell, but by the time we got to the door, no one was there and we figure'd it was a joke.

The next day the cleaning ladies told me about the incident and told me that firemen had come and that the apartment had been destroyed. There were no alarms. In fact, our apartment doesn't even have a fire alarm and I'm led to believe, now, that the building doesn't either. There is only a fireman who pulls "pranks" on people. Yikes!

Happy Labor Day, dear friends!

As a last hurrah before school starts, and at the impetus to visit Duane's colleague, we rented a car for the weekend.

First we drove along the Costa Brava, the eastern coast of Spain. The winding mountain road allowed beautiful views of rugged cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea. Hoping to find a beach cove, we parked the car on the side of the highway and looked for a path down to the sea. However, this particular road down was cordoned off to all but "peotones." Thinking, by the look of things, this word must mean something like "patrons," we hopped back in the car and planned to look for another way down. Since there's no better way to learn vocabulary than through life experiences, just before we drove off we looked up the new word. How happy we were to learn the road was closed off to everyone but PEDESTRIANS! We quickly packed up the beach bags and set off on a walk.

What we found exceeded our expectations and created memories that will last a lifetime. Daniel said it like this, "This is my favorite beach I've been to in my WHOLE life." The beach was small and protected by large rock outcroppings. One could see schools of fish and rocks far below the surface of the crystal clear, green water. There were also rocks sticking up out of the water that one could climb on and jump off. What incredible fun and beauty!

On Monday we left the coast and headed to a small town called Berga to meet Duane's Spanish colleague from the University of Minnesota. She took us to an even smaller town in the Pyrenees, just south of France, for lunch (at which we ate wild pig meat, lamb's head, pig's feet, and blood sausages) and a hike to see the headwaters of the Llobregat River.



Traveling home we were caught in a mountain hailstorm. However, by 9:30pm we were safe and sound in Barcelona again, getting the kids ready for bed and for their first day of school.

After today, I highly recommend that people NOT go school supply shopping in a completely foreign language. As is probably typical (though I have no idea, since we're HOME SCHOOLERS), we received very specific lists from the school, of course in Catalan, of all the items needed for 1st and 3rd grades. We were told go to a particular store for the supplies and that they'd help us find all the items. That was true. And the store, though outrageously expensive, did help me a lot.

Trying to be well-prepared for this shopping experience, I'd translated the lists in google. The "box of scarves" turned out to be a box of facial tissues. The "colors of wood" turned out to be colored pencils. In retrospect they seem obvious. However, when one was at the store, amidst the pre school-year chaos, NOTHING was obvious. How to use one of Charles' folders is still a mystery to me! Why I paid over $20 for one pencil case is another mystery.

I'm just grateful there was someone to help. Who knows what the kids would have pulled out of their backpacks at school if there hadn't been! And now that those backpacks are prepared for Tuesday morning, I sit back, relax...and take joy in cross-cultural living.

A lot got accomplished today! Charles and Daniel are now registered to attend Escola Augusta. It's a small, partly private school very near our apartment. Their website (in Catalan) is

www.escola-augusta.com

The choice of schools came down to two. We finally decided on Augusta because of it's size and proximity. There is one class per grade, with a total of 300 students, preschool through high school.



We also purchased the necessary textbooks and uniforms. We were glad to see that the math and music textbooks are quite basic. We are hoping this will aid language learning as the material is already well understood.

The kids felt super about getting uniforms, even dancing in the dressing rooms! In addition to the typical gray pants, white polos, and gray sweaters, "robes" are required. These are similar to art smocks in the US and are worn during lunch and other messy activities.

The search for a school made for an interesting and long day. Primarily we were looking for a school that put an emphasis on Castillian Spanish.

The first two schools we visited were the two that, based on our research, seemed to use the most Castillian textbooks. Unfortunately they weren't what we were looking for. We didn't know this until we arrived, but they were both in an extremely ritzy area of Barcelona. The stately lobby of one school was decorated with ornately carved wooden banisters, beautiful wrought iron, huge crystal chandeliers and a marble front desk. Not quite what we had in mind.

The next school turned out to be for girls! Oops.

After going to a few more schools that didn't have any space left, we found two that had space and seemed OK. Though not private, they aren't exactly public either. They are both Catholic schools near Duane's work. After taking a tour and looking through the materials we were given, the kids are excited about this opportunity. Whoo! That's a relief.

Tomorrow we hope to visit a few more schools, including some public ones.

We've been in Spain two weeks tomorrow. While we still feel very unaccustomed to life here, we are getting more settled. Duane has been going to work and is meeting new people. Daily he goes out to lunch with a group. He also frequently skypes in the evening with people from the US with whom he is still working.

Our current concern is school for the boys. The whole idea of getting them enrolled in school is a bit daunting as the system is completely different. We've already registered them at the Dept of Ed (or equivalent) but were told to return to that office two weeks after school starts, presumably to receive the name of the school to which they've been assigned. That didn't sound very good to us, so this Wednesday we're going to visit schools directly to ask if they have space. Apparently this is another way to find a school for them.

Our hope is to find openings at a school that teaches at least one subject in Castillian Spanish. Most schools here are solely in Catalan, the language of Catalonia, an area in Spain of which Barcelona is the capitol. While this is what we're hoping for, it is unlikely given the late date. We tried contacting schools months ago from the US, but had no luck getting responses. We hope showing up in person will get better results.

Either way, once school starts, so will a routine.

We've had a few days of running all over Barcelona to get government paperwork completed. Finally today we have accomplished what is required, at least for now.

We also obtained public library cards.

One interesting event we attended was people, called castellers, making human towers. It was pretty neat to see little kids climbing so high. They'd climb right up the backs of the people on the lower levels, all the way to the top, six levels high. We didn't have a camera with us at the time, so to see a picture of what this looks like, check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castell

We have told the kids that to be city slickers one must walk a lot. The past couple of days we have put them to the test and they are doing extraordinarily well.

Charles is excited that all this walking will give him a strong body. After a summer of developing soccer skills, he highly values speed and desires to be an even faster runner.

When Daniel gets tired we simply spur him on with a math problem. His mind gets going so fast he forgets about the walking. I wonder where this trait came from....

The other night we walked home to save a few dollars on the subway fare. It was about 10pm (Mom and Dad, don't worry, it was safe.) and we had been out all day. That is to say, we were exhausted. Daniel kept asking, "How many miles left?" Since miles aren't used in Spain, this led to a discussion on the conversion between miles and kilometers. Daniel was told there are approximately one and a half kilometers per mile. With amazing speed, he would say things like, "Well, that means 1/6 of a mile is a quarter of a kilometer." and "3/4 of a kilometer is half a mile." After a few moments (he was tired after all) Duane would say, "Yes, Daniel, that's correct." Nearing home, Daniel declared, "Math is my favorite topic to talk about."

Today we visited the beach. A couple days ago when the plane was landing there were breathtaking views of the Mediterranean Sea. It made us all want to hit the beach. The airport cab driver suggested we try one in a town called Sitges, about 30 minutes west of Barcelona. The trip gave us an opportunity to experience public transportation. In the cities in which we've lived, Barcelona takes the cake for having the most confusing public transport system.

Though the day was overcast and cool, the kids had a blast at the beach.

On our way back to the train station it started pouring rain. We finally arrived home cold, wet, hungry and tired.

It's been an exciting couple of days! Sunday we met the family who will rent our house in the US. What wonderful people! We feel great leaving our house in their hands. We are amazed the situation turned out so well. Alessandro and Duane will even get to see each other in San Diego in November at a conference they will both be attending.

The trip to Barcelona went perfectly. We were exhausted last night but are now unpacked and feeling better. Today is getting off to a slow start, though, as jet lag kept us asleep until noon!

Daniel is enjoying his birthday. He awoke to streamers, balloons and presents.

We're off to explore and discover....

It's time for another, new adventure in the Nykamp family.

The kids are most excited about the plane trip (two aisles and individual video screens!). Duane and I are hopeful even more exciting things await us than travel day. :)

Daniel is also eager for his birthday to arrive. Our first full day in Barcelona, Daniel will turn six. Party supplies are packed. I considered packing a cake mix, but decided finding a cake in a new place sounds like a task we are ready to take on!

As to be expected, the kids are concerned about language learning and making friends. We are too. Another concern is finding a good school for Charles and Daniel.

Last night some good friends came over for dinner. They made a bull pinata for the kids. What fun! Thanks Fred, Susan, Julia and Luke!

Dear family and friends, we will miss all of you and look forward to seeing you again! Let's keep in touch.

The travel plans for March seemed SO exciting! Duane was headed to a neuroscience class in Chile to enrich his career, while Sarah and the kids were headed to Cape Canaveral to see one of the final space shuttle launches ever. Those were the plans. However, neither event was a "go." Both got postponed.

Due to an earthquake in Chile, Duane ended up enriching his career with hard work at home.

Along with Grandma and Grandpa, Sarah and the boys visited Kennedy Space Center anyway. Though there was no launch, the visit boosted any history or science lesson the boys would have had at home! Also, Daniel got an opportunity to ask an astronaut a question that had been bothering him: "Why does a space shuttle have such a large, round tip, while a comparatively slow-flying Concorde is pointed?"

Here are pictures from a terrific lunch at Fidel's parents' house. Fidel is another friend from Puente de Vida who moved back to Mexico. The pictures are of Fidel's mom making tortillas for us, the kids entertaining themselves with tree tag, and the table at which we ate. While we were outside eating, there was a loudspeaker publicizing upcoming community events. Just when our ears tuned in to the foreign language, we heard an advertisement for the church retreat we were about to lead! Duane and I led a session on marriage. Actually, Duane, whose Spanish is better, did the talking. Sarah simply read. Others in our group led a class for the children.

One day we visited small villages around Hector's house. We visited a family who was making baskets from the bamboo in their backyard. After talking with these people for a while we decided to buy all their baskets, which cost $2 each. Their humble house had a roof because one son lives in the US and sends money home. Along with pictures of the bamboo baskets, here are some pictures of their kitchen--the stove, the kitchen sink (no running water) and the cupboards.

Here are some scenes from the place we stayed in Morelos.

After the week in (the state of) Veracruz, we spent a week in Morelos, up in the mountains. We stayed with a friend from Puente de Vida named Hector. Hector has four children, some of whom Charles and Daniel already knew. The children had a blast playing together. They played tag for hours. Charles and Daniel were also able to accompany them to school for a couple days. Hector's family lives on a farm. They grow tomatoes and have cattle.

We have arrived safely home in Minnesota.

The trip home was quite an adventure. First there were car problems at night, in the middle of the desert. It was dark on the freeway and out of range of all our cell phones. Fortunately, we were still in Texas and it wasn't too cold! We ended up waving down a couple semi trucks that accompanied us safely (one in front, one in back) to the next town, 40 miles away, as we drove without lights to save battery power.

By the next day the van had been fixed and we were on our way again. We took a side trip to New Mexico so Egla and William could visit family. We stayed their two nights. We were eager to head back to MN but glad we didn't arrive any earlier! There had been a terrible storm in Iowa the day before we drove through. We saw 100 abandoned vehicles that had slid off the road or been in accidents. Very eerie. We were suddenly grateful to have been slowed down a couple days!

We are humbled by the generosity of people we have met. We have so much to learn from them! Some have so little, but give so much. One family we met didn't have glass in the windows of their house. They must have been very cold at night because while we were there it was unusaully cold, in the low 40s at night and in the low 50s during the day. A week of unescapeable cold. Their means of income is selling fried plantains. They were incredibly generous to give us all a bag of fried plantains and show us how they are made (i.e. give away their source of income and use gas to heat up the oil, just to show us the process). They wanted to give us more, but absolutely REFUSED TO SELL them to us. Finally we agreed to let them use the too-ripe plantains that they wouldn't be able to sell otherwise.

There is a lot more we'd like to tell about our time at Casa Hogar, only some of which we can post here. Recently, some orphanages in Mexico where children have access to the Good News have been under intense scrutiny by the government. Some have been closed down. The government has been watching Casa Hogar closely in the last months.

It's also difficult for Casa Hogar to maintain integrity under pressure from a corrupt government. Recently a government official wanted to take a girl from Casa Hogar as a "gift" without paperwork. Since they love the children, Casa Hogar leadership put their necks on the line by refusing this request. Thankfully this did not lead to the closure of Casa Hogar.

If Casa Hogar had been shut down some of the kids might be sent back to their parents. Given what has been done to them by their families, this would be bad. We pray they can remain open.

So much for keeping an updated blog of this trip. We have not had much internet access. When we have, Duane has been working on a personalized Snapfish calendar to send to Casa Hogar. We begin the trip back to Minnesota tomorrow.

I will try to record the main events in a series of entries.

We visited Casa Hogar on three occasions. The first was to celebrate Dia de los Reyes. Duane and two other men dressed up as the three wise men. We arrived with a bag of presents for each child. Many people were involved with delivering the gifts, so it was very exciting for Casa Hogar kids to see a multitude of people arrive carrying big sacks of gifts. After passing out gifts, we sang, read books, goofed around, and had dinner together. The children were incredibly sweet, polite, and well behaved. They were full of love to share, and even more willing to accept hugs and love we could give. It was amazing what a big family they seem to be for each other. Their ages range from 2 to 20 years old, with the majority being young teens. Duane, Charles, Daniel and I left the first day wishing we would spend more time at Casa Hogar.

Our second day with them was spent doing crafts, singing, reading, playing around, and celebrating the birthday of Conche, a 14-year old girl. Charles and Daniel especially enjoyed playing with the boys who were rough-housing and making scary faces in the dark together.

The final meeting with kids from Casa Hogar was an afternoon of fun playing outside. Up to then the weather had been rainy and cold so all of our activities were inside. The final day we played tag, badminton, SPUD and just enjoyed the sunshine.

Much of our time in the state of Veracruz was visiting other people, many of whom are associated with Casa Hogar in one way or another. Everywhere we went there were people to meet and meals to be eaten. Duane and I were overwhelmed with the kindness of people, especially Jorge, our host, and his family.

We have arrived safely. Tuesday night we stayed in San Antonio at the house of Egla´s sister. We got a late start Wednesday morning, but made it across the border. We spent two hours waiting while paper work was being done at the immigration and customs office. During the wait Jorge arrived to accompany us the rest of the trip. We had planned to stop at a hotel along the way but, for various reasons, none of them worked out, so Jorge ended up driving 12 hours straight to our town. It worked out perfectly for Charles and Daniel as they were able to sleep the final leg of the trip.

We will go to Casa Hogar to deliver presents, shoes, underwear, socks, etc. today. Yesterday we spent the day preparing the presents and visiting with Jorge´s family.

It is unusally chilly here. Also rainy. Friday it was so cold, school was cancelled. Last night it was in the low 40s.

Happy New Year!

In two days we begin the long drive to an orphanage, called Casa Hogar, near the gulf coast of Mexico. The purpose of the trip is to love the kids at the orphanage and to build a relationship with the people there. We will be bringing supplies, gifts, games, crafts and a desire to spend time with them. So far we only know the names and ages of the children. There are 25 of them. Most of them aren't actually orphans, but have parents who are not able care for them because they are in jail or high on drugs. Some of the kids have learning disabilities, which has made them particularly vulnerable to abuse from their struggling parents. Others who have visited Casa Hogar have given beautiful reports of these children. We are eager to meet them and hope we can teach them as much as they will teach us!

Our traveling companions, Egla and Will, have arranged for us to travel in the US with a Mexican-Minnesotan man who makes this drive frequently. Another Mexican man, who used to live in MN and attended our church, will meet us on the Mexican side of the border and accompany us the rest of the way to the orphanage. These guides are a relief as we were concerned about safety while driving, particularly in Mexico.

The primary reasons we accepted the invitation to take this trip are

1) To expose Charles and Daniel to a different life style. Whose heart and mind can possibly grasp that they are privileged until experiencing differently?

2) To further our Spanish skills

3) We are able to! The timing worked out perfectly as Duane will not be teaching next semester.

We cannot imagine a better way to begin 2010. What a privilege to begin a new year with a dream already coming true!

In the meantime, we have many names to learn. There is Brayan, Eduardo, Alfredo, Gustavo, who is new to the orphanage, America, Rosalinda, Erika, who has cerebral palsy, Cherlyn, and...