Cabinets.

The promised pictures...

At the red light.
We got a mini gymnastics show.

Money, please?

The cabinets are almost all installed at the house.

...cabinets...

This is how they got the counter top to the house. Handy dandy taxi.

Brought the counter top in...now cut it to size.

That's all folks!
Not too exciting, I know. It's not even FUNNY! Blah. I've been packing up my room, getting it ready to take over to the house, maybe that's why I can't think of anything humorous. I packed my funny bone.
Oh ya. Here's something cute Austin said:
The other night I was complaining about how I was so cold at night and that I couldn't snuggle with Austin, b/c he had fallen asleep in my room with only his boxers on...not his fuzzy, warm jammies. And whenever Austin goes to sleep...he gets all clammy. It's not pleasant. I had to conjure up my own warmth.
So last night I was listening to Odyssey (did you know they are getting a new Mr. Whittaker?!?!). So I was laying down listening to Odyssey when Austin came in and said in his cute little voice, "You wanna snuggle? I'm not clammy tonight."Aaaw! Get over here you little boogie bear!
Ok, so about Whit. We found out a few days ago that Focus on the Family/Adventures in Odyssey is getting a new Whit!! Paul Herlinger has some kind of health problems so...ya.
So the night before last, after I found out, I had a dream that I met him and he was Oriental. Nice guy, but he doesn't even SOUND like the real Whit. I heard an exerpt on whitsend.org
I'm not the only one mourning over this. Nicole is pretty distraught too.
I mean, imagine popping an old episode...listening to it, then popping in the new one. It's like a different show, completely. We should start a protest. They could do like they did when the 1st Whit died, ya know, and do another "Search for Whit". Like do a bunch of episodes w/o him, then find the RIGHT voice and hire HIM. I'm just so depressed about all of this.
Hey, if we have to have a new Whit, let's just have him have a mid-life crisis, then he decides that he doesn't want to live in Odyssey anymore. Then Wooten can be the main character!
He's my favorite, hands down!
Well...so much for not having anything to write about.

The Momentous 666

Lol...
I just looked at the blog counter and we've hit quite the momentous number.
Who was the lucky winner? ...or whatever the opposite of lucky winner is.
I was going to post some pictures earlier, but right in the middle of doing it, our internet mysteriously stopped working.
And it just started working again. But it's late and my eyes won't hardly shut because my contacts are so dried out.
So I guess I'll do it tomorrow.

Oh, the cabinet guy went out to the house today and is almost done installing them (for our kitchen). 4 more day till we move over there!

~Bethany~

Friday Youth Night and Painting

Our city-Puebla.
The view from the our front window.

Bad Idea: The guys are upstairs doing the electricity.
Nicole says, "You wanna sing?"
"Sure", I say.
So Nicole goes back to flip on the electricity.
*Flicker, Flicker* Then...nothing.
Hmm, what was that, I wonder? Then the guys start screaming and we hear this BUZZ!!
Haha, just kidding! No, everything just got real quiet, then Armando came downstairs, peeked in to look at the breaker, laughed at our expressions then went back upstairs. Ha!

Nicole showing off her talent.

Nicole, about to read her text. :)

PREACH it, Sistah!
Haha. We're having a Sword Drill.

"Jesus" and his (13-haha) disciples.
Trying to follow Jesus while looking back. It doesn't work!

Nicole translating for Austin.

...Nicole praying with the kids.
What is it? Nicole Day or something?
Well, all the good pics happen to have her in them. And I was the appointed picture-taker.

Austin praying.
Israel's look is like, "What are you DOING?!"
Anyways, Austin really got touched in Friday's youth service. Afterwards he came and hugged me for a long time, still crying. He said he was crying because "I want to be like Jesus so I can go to heaven." By the way, he got the Holy Ghost last year at the Arkansas campmeeting in Pastor Holmes' church. It was awesome!!

Marisol getting a blessing.
Her husband is Juan, and he teaches the youth services every other Friday. Him and Pastor take turns.

Today, bright and early we went out to the house to get it ready to move in. (In about a week.)
We had to paint sealer on the walls so moisture doesn't seep in.
And let me tell ya: We are NOT painters. We bought a 5-gallon thing of sealer, put it on the walls and THEN read the directions. "Mix with water." No WONDER that stuff was so hard to spread!
My muscles were quivering.

Nicole painting the ceiling.

I went around and put tape over all the light switches and on the edge of the windows to keep 'em safe and clean. Such a noble job. :)
Like my totally fashionable tape bracelets?

Arturo is SUCH a good "big brother" (cousin). Dolores came over to help paint and the boys did so well keeping an eye on Judah. Pushing him in the stroller until he fell asleep, making faces at him, entertaining him, and putting his shoe back on when he kicked them off.

Israel and Armando put the door back on our bathroom. And I just realized I forgot to flip this picture. Oops.

We walked down the street for lunch and got carnitas and cemitas. This is a vat of boiling grease. The 3 strainers have meat, some odd mixture, and pure pig fat.

Everyone except for me tasted the pig fat. It looks like worms!!
(How am I doing, Sis. McElhaney? Lol!)

Slimy, almost slithering, shiny, fatty, gross, nasty, jello-ish, repulsive, greasy, squeaky, blubbery, and germy. Someone throw me a thesaurus!

This one is the best! Before we went out to the church we had to run out to Home Depot to buy the sealer. We three sat in the car and sang patriotic songs. (Don't get me started!) We were teaching Austin a couple new ones, explaining the new terms like, "Old Glory", "Uncle Sam", and how "God shed his grace on thee". I think with us being here for Mexico's Independence Day and having missed consecutively a lot of Fourth of Julys, it makes us get all sappy and more thankful that we are from the BEST country! We are Americans and PROUD OF IT!!
This doesn't really have anything to do with this picture, come to think of it...
So Mom and Dad got back to the car, and Mom was bearing a peace offering (it was a long wait!) of hot popcorn. Nicole socked me the last time I licked the (community) popcorn so when Mom handed this one to me, I turned away real fast to get my one lick in, then passed it back to Austin. And HE DID THE SAME THING!!! Is this universal or something?!?! I thought I was the only one that ate it like this. So we had Mom take a picture of us eating our popcorn together.
Ya, Nicole says we should get a bumper sticker that says, "Honk If You Lick Your Popcorn!"

Bethany, Austin, and Nicole
"I lick my popcorn too, but NOT the community one!" -Nicole W.
Ha, well we showed her. Let's give a shout out to Nicole for sacrificing getting 'germed' for a cute picture.
And isn't Austin's tongue so ADORABLE?! Or is it just a sister thing? :))

I'm Not a Good Title-er

Finally the gate is up!!
9 more days till we move in!

We asked for a dove or flame design above this door, below.
Instead we got a dove that was on fire.
I think the gate guys thought it was ugly too because they changed it before we said anything.
Thank God!
Now it sort of looks like arrows wearing pajamas.
But believe me, it is better than the flaming monster.

My Dad says I post way too much about eating. But come on! We eat 3 times a day...ONE of those meals, once a week is bound to be bloggable. (We ARE in Mexico.)
So here's one more food post.
Last night Elder and Sis. Wakefield (Grampa and Gramma) called us after we left church.
The new grocery store/mall was having its grand opening and some restaurants were giving away free food and WINE!!
Grampa wouldn't let us get the wine, but the tacos were good. :P
Of course the coolest part about the restaurant is the name.
"Parrot Tacos". HA! And that's NOT meaning they cook parrots, by the way.

The flower arrangement is in the way, but see the huge...slab? of meat? There's a fire on one side and the 'giant shish kabob' turns slowly, cooking.
This guy was a really talented meat-cutter.
He would cut, cut, cut then fling a little chunk of pineapple off the top and catch it in the tortilla.
It was pretty entertaining. And the tacos were pretty good too.

Tacos al Pastor.
And we didn't get sick! Hallelujah!
The drink is called "Jamaica".
Its made out of the Jamaica flower. At least this is what Nicole is telling me.

The only annoying thing was the LOUD music.
We were practically yelling at each other to be heard above all the racket.

Oh, also one of the suits running around made me want to get violent.
FEMININE!
I think he is one of the owners. He came over TWICE to our table. Why? To put his hands on whoever's shoulder he was nearest to, get this I'm-trying-to-look-sympathetic/constipated look on his face and would say, "I'm so sorry for the long wait. Really." GAG! Thankfully he never touched me. Like Jada says, it would've been on like donkey kong!
I would have sicced Nicole on him! HA!

Bus Ministry and Mo'

Funny Story:

The last time I went over to Dolores' house to do Sunday school and so she could show me how to make some 'good groceries'.
So we walked down to the corner store to get a couple of chicken bullion cubes. Two in a little cardboard box. She gave the little box to Judah (see his pic below) to hold while we walked back.
By the time we got back to the house he had chewed off a (TINY!) corner of it. So Dolores runs in the house (like it's some kind of emergency). I get in just in time to see her shove a big-O spoonful of oil in his mouth!!! I was like...what in the WORLD are you DOING?! She said, "He ate a piece of cardboard and it'll stick to his insides and he'll get indigestion if I don't do this." So I told her, "It's just paper, deary." But she continued to do what I guess is her little "Oil Cure Ritual".
She rubbed, rubbed, rubbed his chest and his legs and cheeks.
Then she TURNED HIM UPSIDE DOWN and shook him for a couple seconds. Then laid him back down, bopped him on his booty, turned to me and said, "Ok!" Like, "So where were we?"
And I'm standing there...dumbstruck.

I went over to her house again today. I learned to make Chicken with Chipotle sauce. So good.
Anyways, we went downtown to the Zocalo. It's the CENTER CENTER CENTER of town where there are a gazillion people and lots to see. And we just happen to run into a few "aint's" from church... we won't go there...
Then the bus ride home...
Ok, I don't scare easily, but I was hangin' on for dear life! We're going down these pot-holed NARROW cobblestone streets. 50 miles an hour, NO SHOCKS, I'm sitting on the LAST row, and our lovely driver is swerving like a maniac all around the other cars and pedestrians. Oh dear LORD!! The only thing to hang onto was the open window's ledge. So I was, but I was scared I was going to get my fingers scraped off--that's how close the other cars were. And I'm trying to talk above the roar of the wind, my hair's flying every which way and I can't think of how to say what I want...
Those poor fellow passengers. They got an earful, I'm sure.
There's no such thing as "Bus Etiquette". The polite thing to do is get on quickly, and while the driver takes off, try not to land in the person's lap in front of you. Try doing this in heels and a high hair do. It gets a little wild.
You can't even win wearing flip flops. You go to get off and accidentally leave one on the bus.

Anyways...I digress. (Whatever THAT means.)

Unfortunately I forgot the camera!! I'm walking thru the streets downtown thinking, "This would be great for the blog!!" Oh well. Next time.

Hey, Aunt Darlene, I drank my Chai. Can you tell?

Real Mexican Food

Today we were invited to eat at the builder's house.
And this time we understood correctly. We weren't there for Coke...we were there for FOOD!
This is their house:

They fixed us Mole. Mol-ay. It looks a little scary, but it is really good! And it's only chicken, thank goodness...not stomach...or feet, or whatever.

Nicole and Mom

Me and Dad

Notice there are no forks. We're so good, we don't need one. Just grab a tortilla, rip a piece off and grab a chunk of chicken in it. It's an art. :)

Nicole made these cupcakes to bring for dessert. Everyone said they were delicious.

Me pushing Austin on the tire swing.

Eduardo hanging from a tree...hanging off the side of the canyon next to the house.
He makes my stomach hurt.

Alejandra, Daniela, Jazmin, and Anahi.

Nicole, Daniela, Anahi, Me, and Ismael.

Again...we had a really good church service and good Sunday School.

Collision of the Cultures

Balaam's grandma and the "Little Talking Donkey".

"Hey...Yep...Uhh...Nothing to see here. This isn't really a camera...Ha. Ha."
Some of the people here believe that if you take their picture, you are taking a part of their soul.

One of our local dentists. Scary, huh?

This is the Judah's mom. She is the one that helps me in Sunday School.

Look at 'dem cheeks!! I just want to pinch them!
Pastor and Judah.

Happy 1st Birthday, Judah!!
365 days ago today, Judah was welcomed into this world with a dislocated shoulder, on account of being yanked out by his *jerk* of a doctor (no pun intended). Then he got some kind of virus and the docs wouldn't let him out for about 15 days. We still don't totally understand what was wrong with him (no English traslators) but we do know now that God is our Healer!!
We also learned that dealing with the staff at the General Hospital is a nightmare.
Anyways, Judah is SO tough!! Last night in youth service he was teetering around in the row behind me while Hno. Juan was teaching when...BAM!! I whip around, knowing he had smacked his head on my chair, ready to hear a "WHAAA!!" and have a good excuse to pick him up and cuddle with him. I mean, he banged his head so hard on my chair, I almost fell onto the floor, it shook so bad! (Ok...A small exaggeration.)
But nope. He just plopped down onto his booty, scrunched up his face, rubbed his eyes then stood up and started wobbling around again. (I was glad he wasn't SO hurt, but felt deprived of getting to drool all over him.)
All the boys in my class are like this (except for Austin-haha). I've seen them smack their noggins on concrete floors, get whooped up on by their moms, beat each other up, etc...and never shed one tear. I'm a weeny. I probably would've passed out from the pain. Ha!
By the way, this is Bethany. Because God FORBID that anyone would think Nicole is a wimp. She's a sucker for pain. She'll probably die with her foot poised in the air, ready to kick somebody.

:)

Dia de Independencia in Puebla

Pastor Curtis Wakefield (Gringo) putting the Mexican flag on top of the church.

Let's get this shindig started!!

Austin being funny.

Mom TRYING to be funny. ;)

Yummy cupcakes!

(Nicole made 'em.)

"Shame on you, Nicole!! Sneaking a taquito before the people arrive!"

Playing "Who Can TP the Other Person the Fastest?"

Otherwise, being shamefully wasteful.

No really, when we were about to leave, the little girl w/ dimples (in one of these pics down here) came up to me and asked if we were going to use the pile of toilet paper. I said no so she got a bag, stuffed it all in there and took it home to use.

The kids playing that game where you tie a balloon around your ankle and try not to get it popped while popping everyone else's.

...Austin ended up beating himself. He stepped on his own. Haha!!

Nicole balancing an egg on the end of a spoon.
The Joiners in Belize taught us this really fun game. It's called Itchy Itchy Boo Boo.
So me and Javier get 2 spoons each I hit the spoons together saying Itchy Itchy Boo Boo. Up in the air, down low. Stand up, tap, tap, tap. Itchy Itchy Boo Boo.
I think its even funnier to do it here...where the people don't speak English. Javier was concentrating so hard on trying to pronounce the words that it took him a couple seconds to realize that he had sat back down...on a sopping, wet rag! Oooh...I loved that shocked look!

Donut on a string. This is actually kind of a really gross game. Men stuffing their faces, trying to fit as much of the donut in their mouths as possible...
And I share a mic with this man in church!!
...Never again...
;o)

Oh, this is another one game that Haley Joiner taught us.
2 cups...one with ash caked on the bottom. I get the clean cup, Alejandra got the one with the black bottom. "Do exactly as I do," I said.
So I dip my finger in the water, run it around the rim of the cup, and run my finger down my face. Repeat this a few times, then circle the bottom of the cup and wipe your face. Over and over again until the persons face has black streaks all over. :)
Thanks Haley!

It was raining outside so we had to be ingenious with the bottle rockets. We found that if you put one in one of the swirly circles on the gate and light it...it will shoot perfectly into the people's yard across the street! You shoulda' SEEN those cats running!
Lol! Well, after a couple time we started tipping them more towards the sky.

Up, up, and AWAY!

This is what the church looked like after setting off fireworks for a couple hours. Cough, cough.
We had quite a time though. We only quit after there were no more fireworks left, we accidentaly caught a bag of cement on fir and Nicole and I had both burned the tips of our fingers, had fireworks land on our heads, and scare us half to death. I got my toes burnt by sparks and my leg scraped up. A sparkler...sparkled out of control and started spraying all over Nicole and I. I covered my face...but Nicole started jumping and squealing...and pushed me over into the concrete stairs...hence the scraped up leg.
Eating...

"HA! Oh ya...that was a good one..."

We had an unexpected visitor...
I felt bad so I tossed him a couple pieces of chicken...which the people just could NOT believe.
I was "wasting good food."
"Oh my goodness! Did I just DO that?! What was I thinking?"
Wasting. Again.

Nicole and Dolores eating and talking.

And Dansito having fun with the doingy hat.

Now let's have some good church on Sunday!!