Christmas at Del Norte

It's weird to write about Christmas on Valentine's day, but I'm backtracking still so be patient.  Christmas at a children's home is an interesting thing.  There are a lot of local schools/churches/businesses who want to do something generous for the holiday season.  It's a great idea, but sometimes the reality of it gets a little bit crazy.  There is usually one or two groups coming to the children's home every day for a whole month.  And usually each group brings cake, soda, candy, and presents.  So for a whole month the kids are on a sugar/present high.  It can feel overwhelming and isn't healthy for the kids, but they love it.  What kid wouldn't want 30+ presents and cake and soda every day for a month!  Here are a few pictures from this Christmas. 

 Angel looks very handsome in his Christmas sweatshirt, which lights up and plays music.  

 Ricardo's shelter sponsor sent him Spiderman action figures.  Super cool.

And the sugar high begins... 

 I like Ximena's sneaky face, she totally got busted licking icing off of all the cupcake wrappers.

 Edgar's smile gets super cheesy after lots of sugar.

 It was Natanael's first Christmas at the children's home.  He loved all the treats.

 More cupcakes please!

 Rosa's shelter sponsor sent her a journal and barbies.

Alejandra had a friend send her crafts, coloring stuff, and fun hair accessories.  It was perfect timing, she got her present and then had to stay home from school sick for a few days so she had lots of new things to play with.

I made a Christmas ornament for every kid in the children's home with their picture in it.  But instead of putting them up in the children's home I saved them to give to the kid's families.  Every kid has some relative in their lives and went home for a week for Christmas.  So their family members got a little gift too, and for many of them it's the only picture they have of their child from the whole year.  One of the moms that I know well has 7 children at Del Norte.  I just happened to be there when she came to pick up her kids, so I got to give her all of the picture ornaments.  She was so excited to have new pictures of all of her kids!

Growing Up

I promised to back-track a little bit to catch you up on the last 3 months.  Here are some pictures to show you how big the "baby boys" are getting.  I guess I can't really call them babies anymore, they both just turned 2!  I'm enjoying their grown up versions, even though they are both definitely two.  Apparently the terrible 2's are multi-cultural.  These two can throw some pretty impressive fits to get their way.

Sometimes they wear funny clothes.  This day was really cold so Angel had 3 different outfits on.  He was not amused, he couldn't really move his arms enough to get his sippy cup to his mouth.

 Alexis got a superman outfit for Christmas.  What you can't see is that under the costume he has on khaki pants with a belt and a button-down shirt.  Very fancy.

 They are learning how to eat themselves.  It's very messy.

Alexis is huge.  He can usually eat two plates at lunch.

 Alexis is figuring out that blocks are for building, not for throwing.

Angel is learning how to play with play-doh and not eat it.

Breaking the Silence

It's been 3 full months of silence on here.  Today is the day to break it.  I haven't written because I knew this post was the next one, and it scared me to write it so I just didn't.  I am very skilled at avoiding things I don't want to talk about.  But it is time.  7 weeks from today, or in 49 days, on March 30th, I am moving back to the United States.  Let me start by reassuring you that I am fine, my family is fine, and everyone here in Mexico is fine.

And now the hard part, explaining.  Ultimately, I was not able to raise all of the funding that I needed to stay in Mexico.  This is by no means a slight to my team of financial supporters, who gave generously above and beyond their means in support of what God is doing through Back2Back in Monterrey.  In August I did not have enough in my support account to be paid in September, and God moved in my team of supporters to provide the funds for me to stay in Mexico for an additional 7 months.  This winter I was faced with the decision of whether or not I wanted to return to the States to try and raise additional fundraising, or if it was time for me to return to the States for good.  I prayed, and then talked with my family, friends, and my bosses.  What initially looked like a frustrating and sad situation has turned in to an opportunity for me to return to the States and pursue my masters degree in social work.  And so that is what I am doing.

I will be staying with my parents in Cincinnati through the summer to re-adjust to life in the States and to save up money for school.  And in August I will be headed to graduate school, hopefully in Indianapolis.  Right now I'm waiting on acceptance letters from several schools and furiously searching for scholarships because graduate school is expensive and working as a missionary doesn't exactly have me rolling in all kinds of extra cash.

I have mixed feelings.  I am 100% confident in this decision, and I have full faith that God knows what he's doing with me.  There are many things I am excited about returning to in the States, and things I am sad about leaving in Mexico.  I have started to think about what it means to leave the children's home I work in, Del Norte, and especially little Angel, but that just results in tears so I am not thinking much about that yet.  And so for the next 7 weeks I will do my best to blog often.  To fill you in on all of the really cool things that have happened over the last 3 months, to process the transition of leaving full-time ministry, and to remember my last few weeks here in Mexico.  If you have more questions for me feel free to send me an email at webster.mindy@gmail.com or message me on facebook.

The Mountains

This is my friend Laura, she is one of the teachers at the school for our staff kids on campus.  So far I've convinced her that hiking in the mountains on our days off is fun.  I'm working on convincing her that running in the mountains on our days off is even more fun.  For now she lets me run off for a while and loop back to get her.  Last weekend I tricked her into a long hike up a mountain.

 This is me and Laura at the top.  It was the first time she's ever been to the top of a mountain!

See the little dot at the top of the mountain to the right?  That's where the picture of the two of us was taken at.  Yes, we hiked up there.  It was AWESOME.

Here is one of the views looking down into the city of Monterrey.  The view was a little foggy, with a city of about 8 million people there's a lot of pollution.  

Another view from the top of our hike.  Someday soon we're going to hike up to the top of the mountains on the left.

One Year Later

One year ago I started working with the babies at Casa Hogar Del Norte.  It's crazy to think about how much they've grown up in the last 12 months!  First teeth, first steps, first words, first days at school, potty training, etc.  Here are some pictures for you all to see the difference in the last year.  They sure are getting big!  Gaby, Ximena, and Edgar have all turned 3 and headed off to school this fall.  Angel, Alexis, and Carlos are all about to turn 2, and they're not the babies anymore because there are new ones.  

 Angel November 2010

Angel October 2011

 Gaby November 2010

Gaby November 2011

 Ximena November 2010

Ximena November 2011

Edgar November 2010

 November 2011

Alexis November 2010

 Alexis November 2011

 Carlos November 2010

Carlos October 2011

One Year Anniversary

As of today, I have lived in Mexico for one whole year.  How do I even begin to sum up the last 12 months?  They're full of opposites.  In some ways it feels like the longest year of my life, and in other ways the shortest year.  Sometimes I think what have I even done in the last year, and other days I think what haven't I done in the last year.  Days like yesterday I think I don't speak any spanish, and today I'm thinking I can hold my own just fine.  Maybe I can process this with the questions I use to debrief groups who come here.  

What did I learn about myself?  I'm not nearly as independent as I thought I was.  I don't know how to do everything, I make mistakes, and I can ask for help.  I'm also a lot stronger than I thought I was, both mentally and physically.  I weathered the crazy emotions of moving to a new country and learning a new language, and I can run the concrete mixer by myself in 115 degree heat.  

What did I learn about other people?  People are a lot more gracious and less judgmental than I give them credit for.  Not only are my coworkers willing to share in my successes, but in my failures too.  They want to know it all.  The good, bad, happy, and sad.  I have friends who have literally dropped what they were doing to help me, or have known when I was too stubborn to ask for help and stepped in without being asked.

What did I learn about God?  He's got a perfect plan that I often can't understand.  He's got a plan for all of "my" kids in the children's homes, he's got a plan for my friends in the States who are struggling, and he's got a plan for me.  And I'm glad I can trust in his plans, because the ones I made just aren't as good! When I moved here, I thought a year later I'd be back in the states starting graduate school and training for my next Ironman.  Boy was I wrong.

 

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Funny Boys

These pictures are just for laughs.  Angel and Ramiro were not amused by my girls only time on Friday afternoon.  There was some definite pouting going on since they are used to being with me and getting tons of attention.  I snapped a few quick pictures just because it was so funny!

I had to really discipline Angel for the first time this week, and it was so hard!  He was trying to take a toy away from another little boy, and when I told him no he hit me in the face.  Hitting is always a no-no, and hitting in the face is a real big no-no.  So we sat in the time out corner together and talked about having kind hands.  And I tried not to laugh, because when he gets mad he makes a face like a little tiny old man.