Monday March 18th

Went golfing with Al and Bonnie this morning at 7:38AM. Still dark out, but starting to get light when we started. Beautiful morning and stayed that way until a few holes left in the round when it was about 11:30. Very hot day 38 degrees Celsius. It was a fun round with our friends, and very enjoyable.

Katie and I came home, had lunch and relaxed a bit before it was time to hit the road and go to Mexico to see "the girls". We met Sister Maureen, Ken and Vickey, and a man named Win, who comes from Saskatchewan, but lives in the same park as Ken and Vickey...Pine to Palm in Weslaco. He sponsors a little girl in Canalas about 15 miles or so from Neuvo Progresso, where the girls live.

We met Sr. Maureen in her red truck circa 2:00PM on the U.S. side where we park the car for the day. Then it was off to Karelly and Livy's house. Sr. Maureen dropped us off there, and she Ken and Vickey and Win, carried on to Canalas.

Mom and Dad were both home, and as soon as the girls saw us, it was hugs all around. Not hard to tell they missed us, and we missed them big time as well. We went into a small bedroom, and caught up gradually on what we had missed. I used my English to Spanish translator again, where you can just speak into it. It translates better from English to Spanish, than it does the other way around. The girls are so much fun, hard to believe that Karelly is now in grade 5. She showed last year's report card which was all A+ and A's, and a 9.8 grade point average out of 10. Livy is in Grade one, and her report card is excellent as well. Good part is they are also learning English in school, so we heard quite a few english phrases throughout the time we spent.

We had our tablet with us, so we showed them previous pictures we had taken last year, and Katie was also taking plenty of pictures with her new camera. Katie also showed them the "Angry Birds Game" and Livy played it for a long time. Karelly also like it, and the two of them caught on within a couple of minutes. They are both so smart, and we were able to tell them so, as well as Mom Erica.

Erica brought us some potato salad, in a sauce which was very good. She had also made us Tamales last week, and we missed getting them from Sr. Maureen. They are in her freezer so we will get them eventually.

We were probably with the kids for a couple of hours, and we had a great time! Not always necessary to be able to converse in the same language, there are all sorts of ways to communicate, but the translator helped a lot at times.

Here are some of the photos we took...

When Sister Maureen returned we spent some time outside, pushing the kids on the swing that Dad had constructed out of an old tire and some rope. Livy was having a great time being pushed, and Karelly climbed up on the fence, and showed us how she does it. These kids are amazing, every once in a while for apparently no reason, they will just reach out to Katie and I and give us a big hug. Hard to explain how much we care about them, and we just wish that Durga, Katie's friend who sponsors Karelly, could experience the same thing. She does get some of it through pictures though, so much better than sponsoring some child with an organization overseas, where one is not sure where the money is going, and the child never gets to meet the sponsor, or have any other type of good contact.

Finally it was time to go. Katie and I wanted to go back Thursday, but Sr. Maureen said it is Winter Texan appreciation day, and that if we were really smart we would stay away as she is. So, now we will not get to go back, until the week after next, as Sister Maureen is on a retreat in San Antonio. At least we were able to convey that to the girls.

The next time we go back we will bring some clothes as well as other things for the girls as we now know the sizes. We were able to communicate with mom and she brought a couple of items out for each so we could look at the tags.

So sad, we had to say goodbye for now. We say in Spanish "Te Amo" which means we love you, and the girls both responded in English "We love you". Can't believe the feelings we have for those two. If something happened to their parents, and we were legally able to, we would take them in a heartbeat.

Can't wait to see them again! They have a way of filling you up!

and so ended another great day in the Valley

more later...