We had a good Holiday time at home and spent lots of time with friends and family. (Well, the kids and I did. Gabe spent a lot of time at his office, as usual!) The week before we left, snow and sub-zero temperatures hit, so we were very glad to pile into the van and drive back to San Diego for our next trip to Tijuana.  The journey west took 4 days of driving due to highway shut-down that we encountered.  But we found a great rate at a hotel nearby, and it came with the best hotel perk EVER according to the kids: a code for the vending machine for unlimited snacks and drinks!  I am amazed they didn't bankrupt the place!

 Of course, the next night in the hotel was pretty good too, watching the OSU Buckeyes WIN THE NATIONAL TITLE!  

When we arrived back, we were greeted with a few surprises.  The first is that they re-did the tile in the "living room/office" area where we sleep.  It looks fantastic!  

Notice the couches in the picture.  These are the couches which we used on our first trip here in the fall.  The kids all try to sit on one during school because they think the other one smells a little.  Well, I guess when they emptied the room to do the tile, they put the couches on the balcony. But then it rained and the couches got wet. So they moved the couches to the courtyard to dry out.  But while the  couches sat in the courtyard, I watched the dog (AKA my nemesis!!!!) pee ON THE COUCH!  At night, we watched all the stray cats sit on the couch.  Ai yi yi!  Today the couches were moved back in. Tomorrow's job is to attempt to clean them!  And then someone is going to help us re-cover them. I am hoping the cleaner and baking soda do it. We are thankful for couches... it was just a funny sequence.  That dog!!!

We also discovered that our cleaning supplies (mop, bucket, cleaners, etc.) had disappeared and we found our bathmat inexplicably very high up in a tree.  We replaced those items today in San Diego. It was hilarious to me as I listened to the kids debate the various types of mops in the aisle. With all tile floors here, they are becoming pretty good moppers!  We also opened a PO box here (so you can send us real mail!) and ahem, joined a new library system, as we were having some issues  (AKA too many fines) at the last system.  (I think they don't check in the books, they think I don't return them. It is time for that library and us to take a break.) 

I digress. Back to our return here...our next pleasant surprise was that Estefania has moved here from the other site so that she can start high school next month! Yay! So glad to see our girl! And of course, she is always cleaning!

Out at Rosarito, the aquaponics system was built this week!  We have heard about it coming for a while, but we are excited that it is actually in. Hopefully Gabe and Josiah can be a part of the training and help with it while we're here.

We were happy to see the little kids at Rosarito, and pleasantly surprised to hear there was very low turnover while we were gone.  One new boy arrived.  We also heard that the kids received lots of Christmas presents and had lot of fun parties during the season, so that was good.

 Then last night, while two of our kids were brushing their teeth, they observed two kids sneak out the front gate. We let the staff know (not sure exactly what was going on), and sure enough, two high school boys ran away.  It was disappointing, but it happens. 

 Tonight we heard the dinner bell and rushed down there, only to find the kitchen dark. Turns out that a church had given them money to take all the kids out to tacos and a movie, so we joined them for the tacos part.  It was fun to see the high schoolers just out enjoying themselves... it is not that often that they get out and do stuff like that. 

 We have started back into our fundraising work a little, but hoping for a meeting Monday to discuss everything happening around here, like fundraising, groups coming down this spring, etc.  That will be helpful, and for those of you planning to come, we are trying to pin down more details for you!

 We are happy to be back in the midst of the chaos and smelly (soon to be clean) couches and kids!  Looking forward to what God will do here this time!