Family

30 May 2023

Nathanael’s Birthday Party / Goodbye Party

This past Saturday, we joined together with the youth group for a special birthday party and goodbye party for Nathanael! As you may know, he’s planning to work in Canada for a while, so this is one of the last youth events he’ll be at.

Above is the banner we printed, showing the theme. Chess! And making the next move, of course – to Canada. Our theme verses were Joshua 1:8-9.

Of course, one of Mom’s cakes was involved…

Those chess pieces are homemade chocolate, by the way.

There were some games…

And a potluck meal. Yum.

There was also a Bible study time (part of the normal youth group schedule), and a time of sharing and encouragement for Nathanael, and a time of prayer.

There was even some actual chess playing!

We’re so thankful for these wonderful friends – and brothers and sisters in Christ!

20 May 2023

Retro: Xochimilco Ecopark

Jim Family, Just for fun, Mexico, Retro 0

Drive about an hour into Mexico City, and you’ll come across the beautiful Xochimilco Ecopark. Actually, we just went again this past March, and I was a little sad. What had been a somewhat “wild” overgrown place was now very developed. Yes, developed as a park – it’s still beautiful, but to my taste it isn’t quite what it was.

Ten years ago today we were there with Hannah and Nathanael. I think this is when they were doing some “wetlands” research for school. We had the place almost to ourselves – except for the many kinds of birds and bugs and plants.

Here’s one look – click the picture for a bigger version.

*El Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco – 2013*

12 April 2023

Retro: Sabritas Factory Workers

Jim Family, Just for fun, Mexico, Retro 0

10 years ago today, we were at Kidzania with our friends the O’Briens. Kidzania is a Mexican kids’ theme park, actually a mini “city”, where kids can go to work at popular businesses, or be involved in common services (dentistry, fire fighting…). Since its founding, it has expanded to several other countries.

So – one of the places the kids “worked” at was a Sabritas factory. “Sabritas” is a Mexican snack company, probably most known for their potato chips (sabrosa=flavourful, fritas=fried, hence the name). Of course, after manufacturing a bag of chips, the snack was theirs!

Nathanael and Samuel at Sabritas, Kidzania

22 February 2023

Everyone Working…

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 0

Our worship service on the 12th of February was kind of cool – because all three of us were involved! Yes, it happens sometimes.

Nathanael at worship music practice — *Music practice, David leading*

Shari was leading the kids’ teaching time, with a lesson about Jacob and Esau (Genesis 27:1-46; Romans 9:13). Nathanael grabbed his trusty ukulele and helped with the worship music. And I led the service.

We’re keeping busy, but there are a lot of other people working hard too! We’re still trying to get the “shade” just right, with some new mesh tarps. This Sunday will be attempt #3, but things are improving each week. It’s partly a matter of making things easier to set up, and partly a matter of covering what needs to be covered.

Last Sunday we had another practical problem, however – we ran out of chairs. Two men rushed out to get some stools so that everyone could sit down under our nice shade.

So… I’ll be buying some more this week. However, finding a place to store them all is becoming a problem. Good problems, but problems.

As God continues to work in our local church, the world, the flesh and the devil attack. So we would appreciate your prayers for people in our church who are struggling with health issues, family problems, and bereavement. It’s a challenging time.

We’re also looking forward to starting up a couple of Bible studies – a general one starting this Friday, and in the near future a new study for the women. Please do pray that people will come and that God’s Word will be applied to their hearts.

Thanks for your prayers!

31 January 2023

Retro: Cookie Decorating

Jim Family, Just for fun, Retro 0

Ten years ago today, Hannah and Nathanael were doing some cookie decorating with Tiffany at the community centre in Jesús María! Tiffany isn’t in this picture, but you can probably pick out Hannah and Nathanael. Just click the photo for a larger version.

7 January 2023

Random Notes from the past 3 Weeks

Jim Family 0

I realized recently that I don’t like blog posts that look back over the Christmas season after it’s over. Having launched into a new year (and for us, getting past the end of the holiday season on the 6th), it seems so anti-climactic to go backwards again.

And yet, here I am, sharing a few random notes and facts from the past three weeks. I’ll try to keep it short.

Hannah in Ixtapaluca: Hannah was able to visit us, thanks to a program through our mission that helps pay for a visit home for MKs. What a blessing to enjoy our first Christmas in four years together!
Shortages: Like most of the world, we’ve been dealing with random shortages here. For example, over the fall it was certain sizes of paper. This week I discovered that my brand of deodorant was completely gone (don’t worry, I haven’t run out yet!). But for us who have our special recipes over the holiday season, our challenge was to find heavy cream, which has oddly been very hard to find at certain times.
Dedicated mail carrier: Here’s dedication for you. Our mail carrier happened to see us driving down the street, and he had a small package for us. He chased us for several blocks on his motorcycle and flagged us down so that he could make his delivery.
Two chilly services: We enjoyed two special evening services at our church, by a campfire. One was oddly rainy (add because it’s dry season). But we put up some tarps and warmed ourselves by the fire and ate tamales, and were all right. In the end, both services were great times of reflection and worship.
New life: Hannah and I were walking to the store when we saw a pregnant lady on the street a few blocks from our house. We didn’t stop and help, because there were already some people there and a police officer was walking over. But when we passed by again, there was no doubt anymore what the problem had been. The lady was still in the street, and we heard the newborn baby crying.
Games: We were able to get some time off over the holidays, and we enjoyed playing games together. One of these days I should write some reviews for you! But anyway, for new games we’ve been enjoying Space Park, Furnace, and an expansion for Galaxy Trucker – Galaxy Trucker Keep on Trucking.
Luggage: From the time it was put on the plane to the time it arrived at our house, Hannah’s luggage took almost exactly 6 days to get here. It arrived on Christmas morning. But hearing other people’s stories, we were very thankful that Hannah made it – even though she arrived a day late!
John: This year we’re very excited to be studying the Gospel of John as a church! For Christmas, Shari gave me a “Journible” of John, which is basically a good quality journal in which you write out the entire Gospel (see Journibles here). So I’ve been enjoying starting the year out in John.
Tea: If there was a gift theme this Christmas for our family, it was probably tea. Everyone got some tea. Because, after all, everything is better with tea.

Well, I told you it was random!

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