Niki's Birthday!

Here are some pics from Nicole's birthday. Kinda out of order, but hey...
Grampa lovin' on Beau. (Yes...Beau...)

Ranger and Rudy could NOT get along. They fought like cats...And this picture is too funny.

Beau snoozing. He fooled everyone into thinking he was some kind of peaceful, cuddling, lovey dovey dog. Then when he got back home, out came the fangs! He really does have a temper, I know it doesn't look like it but...

The two bad dogs in 'time out'.

Nicole's mordida.

Nicole bracing herself for the big *SMASH*!!!
Much to our dismay, it was another 'no fun mordida'.

Nicole and Grampa w/ their gift to her. It is basically a tree with drawers. It's a monster!

Grampa grilled these steaks, something about them being 'mesquite'. I've never had food that tasted so delicious. I mean, it just fell apart in your mouth...This is what we call REAL American food!


Gramma, thank you so much for letting us celebrate at your house and working so hard to make such a delicious meal! You are sooo wonderful and we love you sooo much! Can't wait to see you again...
:)
PS: Gramma's birthday is Feb 22nd!! Hmmm...what are we going to do?

The Big 17

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Nicole.....
Happy Birthday to you!

We're going to the Elder Wakefields to celebrate and grill some steaks. Yum Yum!

We Won, We Won!!

Usually these letters all go in the spam folder, but somehow this one made it into my inbox. When I saw it I yelled, "Oh my word!! I just won $5,000,000!!!!!"
Austin, who was sitting across from me jerked up and his eyes got all big. "REALLY?!"
So I read him this letter:

DEAR FRIEND,GREETINGS FROM MY OWN SIDE.I AM MRS.MARGARETE VOVO,A WIDOW TO LATE PEDRO VOVO.I AM 52 YEARS OLD,SUFFERING FROM PANCREATIC CANCER.MY CONDITION IS REALLY BAD AND IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT I WON'T LIVE MORE THAN SIX MONTHS ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS.I AM WILLING TO DONATE THE SUM OF 5,000,000US DOLLARS FOR YOU TO HELP WIDOWS AND THE LESS PRIVILILEGED ONES IN THE RURAL AREAS AND TO CARRY OUT OTHER CHARITY WORKS.I WAIT YOUR URGENT REPLY TO PROCEED.MRS.MARGARETE VOVO.

He said, "That's not our normal budget! We can invest in a house and sell it for more!
I didn't know Margaret was a millionaire!"

He is explaining it to Nicole right now and just said, "She has this widow business and she is passing it onto us. We'll just make money, money, money."
Nicole said, "So...you really believe this?" And he said, "OF COURSE I DO!! This is five MILLION dollars!!!"

Dogs Are Lovely.

Ranger and Bo/Sniper found Austin's bath water...

...I guess this is better than the toilet!

Three More Got The Holy Ghost Last Night!

A couple months ago we gave a few home bible to this lady, her husband, and her four kids. This was her 2nd time to ever come to our church and she got the Holy Ghost.

The lady's daughter, Veronica, also got the Holy Ghost.
Ealier in the song service, the young man that got the Holy Ghost LAST Sunday saw that his cousins (this girl and her sister) were just standing there, watching everyone else dance and shout. So he went over to them, grabbed their arms and pulled them out into the aisle to worship God with him. I think he has seen Israel's (his uncle's) burden for his family and he is starting to feel it too.

After singing, Pastor Dad called up all the men and told them they are the leaders of their families and they should be the example to their families of how to worship God. We started singing again and the power of God fell and these men started shouting and worshipping God, and the young man in the blue got the Holy Ghost.


...Exciting things are happening here in Puebla, Mexico!!

Austin's 8th Birthday!!

Austin got this binky b/c he hates to sleep in his own bed. (See picture below).
By the way, some people in our family say they just can't remember the name Sniper or "he just doesn't look like a Sniper!" So...sadly, his name might be changed to...Beau. Beau! I will only say that the person that is in love with this name is 42 years old and is a pastor.
Anyways, the name in itself is fine, but we tend to shorten our pets' names. And they turn out to be not so cute. For example, Ranger got stuck with "Rangy" Mattie is 'Brattie Mattie' and 'Stinky' and 'Suspicia', and worst of all, Dumplin' was dubbed "Dumpy". So we will butcher "Beau" into Bobo, Boey, Bo-bee...and if you use your imagination, you will realize that it only gets worse from there. That is why--in my esteemed opinion--Sniper should remain as Snipey. As you can see from the previous nicknames, things could be worse.
However, some people just do not appreciate my hindsight or foresight.


Anyways...back to the reason for this post...
When Austin blew out his candles he got this anguished look on this face and said, "I don't want to do the other one!"
To which all all responded in unison, "Huh??"
So he said, "YOU know...Biting the cake..."
Since he had so graciously reminded us, we started chanting, "MORDIDA!! MORDIDA!! MORDIDA!!" Which means, "Take a bite!"
It is a Mexican tradition that the birthday-EE has to take a bite out of the cake, and the birthday-ERS must violently smash his/her head into the cake with the intention of blinding them and filling their nostrils and eye sockets with frosting and cake. I've been the victim and the victimizer. Unfortunately, the only way we could get Austin to do the Mordida was to promise him that no one would touch him. So I only got to push up on the cake which got a little of his slobber on the cake. That was a bummer. We wanted to see some action!!



Gramma got him some really cool spy gear that wakes us up in the middle of the night.


"I get to open a present!!!!!!"

Sunday With the Garcias

We had an awesome service on Sunday...
The wife of one of the men that built our house got the Holy Ghost. She's been coming for a little over a year now, but she never really was serious, I think she just came b/c the rest of her family was. But when Bro. Mario told everyone that wanted the Holy Ghost to come up, she did. Bro. Mario told everyone to raise their hands and repent of their sins and ask God to fill them and as soon as she lifted her hands she was talking in tongues.
Also, there was a young man that came that had been working earlier on Sunday and had stepped on a part of a cement roof that was not dried yet. One leg fell through and the other leg stayed up. It's a little confusing, but he looked like he was in a lot of pain. He couldn't walk by himself, his dad had to carry him.
Well, he too came up during the altar call. His dad had to hold him up, but he got the Holy Ghost! It was so exciting!
Actually, Israel (the other guy that built our house) has been inviting his family to church. All of his brothers and sisters were there on Sunday with their kids and some of their spouses. Bro. Dad has been preaching about God saving whole families and Israel has really latched on to this concept. So much so that we don't fit in our church anymore. :( and :)



About 20 people came up seeking the Holy Ghost.


The lady in the blue sweater and the young man next to her in the black sweater are the ones that got the Holy Ghost.


All of the people that you can see in this picture, except for one, are somehow related to Israel and Armando (the builders).


Bro. Juan (the man that teaches our Friday youth services) works with this lady's husband and invited him and his family-his wife, 3 kids and his wife's brother-to church. They are in the middle of deciding if they want to be Jehovah's Witness or APOSTOLIC. Actually, the family wants to come to our church (they say it is more lively-ha!), but the husband is still on the fence. They've been coming for about 2 months now, but this was the first time that any of them really responded. It was so sweet to watch this lady; she just cried and cried.


Israel's sister's boys were really touched.


There really are no words to express how much we love and appreciate Bro. Mario and his family. We are so grateful to them for the example they are to our people of how a family should love God and strive to please Him everyday. Bro Mario is a huge help to Elder Wakefield, sometimes I wonder where we would be today if God had not put the Garcias and the Wakefields together.
So...Thank you to Bro. Mario, Sis. Hayde, and Abner for the blessing you guys were to Tabernaculo de Victoria this past Sunday!