Amanda

We enjoyed attending a concert that Amanda played in. It was the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra.

I thought that once we were in the States that I would have time to blog and to scrap, since I wouldn't have my regular activities to fill my time. WRONG! I haven't had time for anything along that line. First, school takes up the morning, as usual. We brought along work for Janelle and Taylor, and they work every morning. Shopping doesn't take up a lot of time in Bernal, as Walmart and Sam's are 45 minutes away, so I only get there about once a month, and do all of my shopping then. If I don't have something, I just do without or make something else. If I need veggies or milk we shop at the tienda on the corner. Sure is different here. The small Walmart is only 5 minutes up the road, or the big one 10 minutes the other direction. Seems we are always needing something for dinner, or for the kids or whatever, and run up to Wally's.

One weekend in November we took a quick trip to Mississippi for a reunion with our adoption group from when we adopted LiAnne. It was fun to see everyone again, and to see the changes in the girls---and their siblings. The weekend was over too quickly! We are thankful for the good relationship we have with the great families that we traveled with four years ago next week.





We have enjoyed attending the church here in Nixa. It has been good to visit more with the folks who came down last month to help in the construction in Tequisquiapan, as well as with others that we know at the church here. All three of the kids have enjoyed going to Awana. The church gave them books, vests and carry bags. They loved that. They will be able to take them with them to continue to work on learning the verses when we go back home.

Thanksgiving we spent with family over at Brad and Ali's house. There were 20some of us there. Some of the non-family who were there are from China, so it was good for Janelle to be able to visit with them in Chinese. Two teen boys are students at the nearby military high school who needed a place to stay for the vacation week--and were staying with Brad and Ali. They were both from Shenzhen--where Janelle is from.

My Family

Scroll down to the bottom and check out my cute family!

PS to the post below...we think that this was Janelle's first time on a bike. She didn't have too trouble getting going, though crashed a few times. When we asked first if she knew how to ride she said, "kind of" so we don't know if that means that she had tried sometime in the past or not.

I so admire those who can keep up with their blogs. I haven't found a good time to do it. We do school work all morning, starting at 8:00. Taylor finishes about 11:00but Janelle works until 3:00 most days. Since we are not at home with all of the regular things to do, maybe I'll be able to do better in the days ahead.

It is 35 degrees today...colder than we are used to, but it doesn't keep the kids inside the house. They love going out to ride their bikes or take a ride in the jeep. Richard and Matthew left early this morning to drive to Tulsa to see Caleb. He sells radios at the Tulsa gun show every year. They figured that since he is so close that they would go. The rest of us went out to breakfast with my folks, my sister and brother, and various other relatives that are here.

North to the Border

Scroll over the picture with your mouse to see the titles.

In Missouri

We made it to Missouri on Tuesday afternoon, after 27 hours of driving in about 35 hours. It was a pretty good trip, though LiAnne started asking if we were almost there yet after the first couple of hours. We had an uneventful trip and a fairly quick border crossing.

We made it to Missouri in time to vote, and though we didn't win nationally, at least Missouri went with the right candidate and we helped by voting.

We took Wednesday off of school to recover from the trip, and the kids got to go to AWANA that night. They were given their Sparks vests and books, and are so excited to be able to have those. Janelle went with the T&T kids--younger than she is, but more at her maturity level and height.

Today we got down to Branson for a show...area appreciation day, so tickets are cheap. More on that tomorrow.

Richard and Matt are busy working on a remodel house.

A Powerful Message

I know that this has been popular for the last few days, but I didn't see it until this morning. I thought it was pretty powerful.

Thrity Years Ago

Can you remember what was going on 30 years ago? What were you doing?

Here’s a few reminders of life 30 years ago.

Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 805
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 11.75%
Average Cost of new house $54,800.00
Average Income per year $17,000.00
Average Monthly Rent $260.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 63 cents
1LB of Bacon$1.20
Dozen Eggs 48 Cents

You were probably watching the following shows on TV:

• Happy Days
• Little House on the Prairie
• The Rockford Files
• Good Morning America
• Jim'll Fix It (UK)
• Saturday Night Live
• Wheel of Fortune
• Charlie's Angels
• Quincy, M.E.
• The Muppet Show
• CHiPs
• The Love Boat
• Three's Company

It is also the last time that Richard and his 3 brothers were all together. Finally, it looks like a reunion is in the works! His brother, Mark, and family will be in Boise for Christmas this year (they are Wycliffe missionaries in Spain), and we are planning to be with Caleb in Casper, WY. We are planning to meet in Boise the weekend before Christmas, along with Richard’s two other brothers who live in Nevada and Washington. It will be fun to have them all together for the first time In so many years!

Bernal Water and Light Show

We enjoyed seeing Bernal's big attraction last night: the water and light show. It is really well done, especially if you consider that we are in a little town in the middle of Mexico!



Credits: strongshoes, JOTH,Irene Alexeeva, Misty Cato.

Friday Pictures

I've been tagged by Kimberly at: http://luckyfamily4.shutterfly.com/





1. I have lived in 6 countries in my adult life:
Canada
United States
Bolivia
Colombia
Panama
Mexico

2. I have 7 kids born in three different countries:
US
Bolivia
China

3. I have homeschooled these 7 kids for 20 years now, and have another 12 to go!

4. I would rather stay at home than go out and about. I have no problem staying at
home for days on end, and have projects on end to keep me busy: quilting,
digital scrapbooking, kids, etc. I am not really a "people" person, though
I do enjoy having people come to my house to visit (so I don't have to go out
much.) My husband is the opposite, and loves to go out to visit others.

5. I never imagined that I would travel to China, but I have been there 3 times in
the last 4 years. While there we spent time traveling by train over quite a
bit of the country. Check the map at the bottom of my blog to see where all
we have been.

6. I like to cook and bake. In fact, I have been doing just that for 25 people all
week, which is why it has taken so long for me to get this done.

7. Not wanting to get too political here, but my maiden name is McCain, and the
famous one is my dad's 3rd cousin. Too bad I don't know him personally.

I am supposed to tag 7 people.

Charlotte here
Kristy here
Lancy here
Lavonne here
Karen here
Julia here
Carol here