Just look at that face:


Pretty cute, right? Yes, he's a trouble maker. But here's the project he made:

Both of these pictures were taken this morning during the students' presentations of their "maquetas". Maquetas are just big projects that each student do at the end of the yaer. Mom judged the pre-k through 3rd graders, and Marlon judged the 4th through 6th graders. There was one winner from each grade. They got extra points if it was made from recycled material that they didn't have to spend money on. It can basically be over whatever subject they're interested in, or had learned about this year, or whatever. There were all sorts. Selena had one over different foods from animals and vegetables, she was the pre-k winner.


Emmanuel was the first grade winner, his was totally recycled stuff.


Kevin's was a computer model. It was made from old computer parts, obviously. But what you can't really see in this picture is how detailed it really is. It was completely recycled; the screen was a picture of a computer screen cut out from an old computer box. He won for second grade.


Cristina's, also completely recycled, was an abacus. It was made of plastic bottle lids. Pretty neat, right? Third grade winner right there.


All of them did a great job. There were so many others that didn't win that were really good. Adonis had a neat pyramid, Jocelyn had a health project because she wants to be a nurse, and lots like that. It was a neat thing to go to :)





After all the kids had gone home, Teresa and I got the chance to take Jocelyn (Victoria's older sister and Vanessa's aunt, not the younger one.) out for lunch. That was fun, I'm looking forward to more time with the girls here now that school it out for them. Even thought I'm still working hard on school...
We got a basketball goal put up for the school! The backboard isn't put up just yet, but the pole with a net is. We went out this afternoon and shot hoops for quite a while with Teresa, Victor, and Marlon. Nathan played for 3 hours, no joke.
And that's part of the reason we're so exaughsted and are ready to head to bed now, after our always refreshing English song service and a movie.
Thanks for the prayers, keep it up as the shipments from the States are going to be coming here tomorrow! More to be posted soon!
Su amiga,
Erin <3

Happy Halloween! Well, they don't really celebrate Halloween here. But, yes, we did have our own celebration including a couple ballerina princesses(with tutus we made ourselves!), Harry Potter, chili, chocolate, and s'mores made over the propane stove.

The day before Halloween, though, was a blast. It was Vanessa's birthday! My aunt Lisa is her sponsor, so she sent some presents down for her and Victoria, and we got to give them to them. They are so sweet. When we got there, they got out chairs for us and brought out soda and stuff; everyone is so welcoming. She got to open her card from Lisa, and then there were presents for her and Victoria.

They have the most expressive eyes (with the longest, most gorgeous eyelashes, I might add...), so watching them open everything was so much fun.
In addition to the presents, we brought a few balloons. We each blew up one or two, and then everyone just went crazy playing with them, keeping them in the air, and all sorts of fun stuff. They were laughing and jumping and spinning and just being little girls, and it was so cute. Plus, Raquel really got into it as well!

Vanessa wanted us to stay forever, I think. She was laughing and all happy, and then we mentioned we had to leave and her face was like a cartoon. It went from grinning to almost tears right away. How can you resist? We stayed for another 5 minutes or so. Every time someone would stand up, she'd look at us and yell, "Sientense!" Meaning 'sit back down!' We had to sing happy birthday, too. First we did it in Spanish. Then in English. And Vanessa is a really smart little girl. So she asked us to sing again. Because she knew we would leave if we didn't. So, we gave in and sang one more time before we had to leave, which was sad.

But overall it was a really great day, and we're glad she made it so special for us. :)

More to be posted soon!
su amiga,

Erin

In our living room are a bunch of sewing machines used for teaching sewing classes. The sewing machines were mostly donated by people in the States. One of them is an old one that isn't electric. The kind that uses a treadle base. At first, we wondered what we would do with it because we don't have the treadle base or anything. Today, we found out what God had planned long ago. There's a family with four children; Ana is 12, Jonathan is 9, Ezekiel is 7, and Sarai is 3. Ezekiel has leukemia. They live in a house with no electricity, maybe one window, you get the idea. His mother has to take him to San Salvador every other day for treatment. Last year, her house was broken into. She had a treadle base sewing machine. The sewing machine was stolen, but they left the base. Today, she came over, and we were able to provide her with a sewing machine that works with it. She was so excited!


You know, God really knows what He's doing. Why don't we remember that more often?

While Mom and Jose and her were working on it, Nathan and I were going to hang out with her kids. They are soooo sweet.

Jonathan at one point asked me what my name was, in slightly broken English, and he liked showing me what English he knew. So, we got out an English/Spanish matching card game, and he loved it. His favorite new word to learn was "chicken". :) It was a lot of fun.



They were all so sweet, and their mother kept saying how she had been blessed by God. Anyone else think there's a lesson there? This woman, who has no electricity in her home, and whose child has leukemia, lives her life content with what God has blessed her with. It kinda makes me cry. We were blessed by their visit today. Please, please, keep them in your prayers. More to be posted later!
su amiga,
Erin <3