Mexico's 200th Celebration of Independance

Yesterday, 15 de Septiembre was the national celebration of Independence Day in Mexico. We went to Casa Hogar Douglas for a traditional celebration complete  with pledge to the flag, singing the national anthem and other patriotic songs and a parade by Mexican school children  followed by a wonderful Mexican buffet. So good and tasty. The party continued back at LDM (the B2B campus) with fireworks and salsa music and dancing.

Our Family at the 200th Celebration 15 de Septiembre-Independence Day

Official flag colors: green, while & red

Meme, Eileen & Mari

Meme, Dale & Mari

Dale & Eileen

Mari, Lupita, & Emma

Singing Anthem

Reading Viva Mexico

Mari, Evan, Papa, Meme & Olga

Off to Monterrey

Just a few days of unpacking and setting up we traveled (very safely) to Monterrey Mexico to stay with Todd & Beth's great kids while they journeyed to Jos, Nigeria to work with B2B staff. Our time with Evan, Emma, Joshua, and Adan is very easy. They follow the "rules" bathe and dress etc and even let us play with them! Joshua enjoys Mexican TV!

Sunday we attended worship at Casa Hogar Douglas. The chapel is perched atop a hill allowing wonderful views of the surrounds.

We've Moved

Our stuff finally arrived at our new digs at 834 Nada Drive Alamo Country Club, best known as "The Club". It took all day to unload and reassemble things. Now major breakage's and we're still unpacking.

Packing Packing Packing and almost packed

I have to be careful right now. If I stand still Eileen will pack me! She has done a great job and almost all of the packing. What a treasure she is.

7 Weeks Later a New Roof

They came they roofed and they left, all in one day. Now we have a brand new roof on the house we are selling! And I painted, sprucing up the place for future showings. What a "blessing". Eileen took the photos. The moving van comes Monday. It looks like we just might make it by the time they arrive!

One Day Later

Today Juan Carlos and his crew finished cutting, stacking and cleaning up from the storm. Here are photos of the great job they did. Firewood anyone, it's free!

One Month Later Plus

Notice the uprooted tree, root ball fell back into the hole when top was cut off, ball was ten feet across. View from above shows how close the large tree came from house and deck.

One Month Later

Lots has happened in the last month. We closed on our house in Alamo Country Club, shredded financial documents from 1958-2002, weathered a tornado-see pictures-, sorted and dispursed alot of stuff preparing to move, Eileen received her new d'Agle autohard (no pics yet it came before she dressed) and the beginning of the storm clean up. Does anyone want lots of firewood? Ten very large trees down, but thanks to Juan Carlos most are cut up and stacked neatly in the yard awaiting free firewood takers, but only if they take it all at once, otherways is'y $100 a truckload. Wood includes wild cherry and pine. Notice the beautiful flower that survived the storm just feet away from the large trees which almost missed the house. Thank heavens for Erie Insurance, they were here the morning after!

GLASS Frustrated Maestroes Rally

We just returned from the 2010 GLASS (Great Lakes Area Spring Spree) Rally in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Great time making music with our friends at the Rally. The photos show Eileen and friends performing with the Frustrated Maestroes at the Rally. No one really seems to know why we're frustrated, we sure have fun and make great music!

STUFF!

Here are a collection of before photos of the inside of our Indiana house. So much stuff! It's is amazing we have collected all this stuff, none have we used in the last eight months! So what does that say about us? We have too much stuff! We doing a great favor for our children. We're going to dget rid of it now so they don't have to later.

The real prize at our Indiana house is the Jack-in-the-Pulpits that come up every spring and always in a different place. How does this happen?

Taylor, one of our grands is helping sweep the decks.

Safe in Indiana

The trip to Indiana went well. We were rained out Sunday and stopped early but finished the last 750 miles on Monday! We've opened the La Porte house, summerized the motor home for the GLASS rally, visited some family and friends, attended the funeral of a church friend, rested and began the process of readying the La Porte house for sale, it's amazing just how much stuff one accumulates over a 70 year lifetime, especially when you save everything just cause "I might need that someday"!

We finalized the contract for the house in Texas yesterday so when all the paperwork is finished it will be ours!

Wanna buy a house in La Porte? Before we list with a realitor it could be a great price...and yes we will move allour stuff out! The sale could include an elecric start snow blower, a spa, all appliances. It's a three BR 2 1/2 bath (all upgraded last year) two story with fireplace in the finished basement family room, eat in kitchen, large rear decks extra large (24X24)attached garage on a 1/2 acre heavily wooded chain link fenced (back yard only) lot in a quiet rural subdivision in the New Prairie School District.

Here's two photos both before spring clean up. Remember we just returned Monday night at 9:00 p.m.

One photo is of the front the other is looking out over the decks toward our woods. There was a racoon on our deck on Wednesday.

Remember I said we live in a wooded rural subdivision, racoons, possoms, deer are common in our back yard. Our prize are the annual jack-in-the-pulpits that come every spring in a new location each year!

Heading North!

We're heading north this morning. Our plan is to meet Todd & family in Nad?????gochees, Tx this evening and visit. They're heading home (south) to Monterrey. We've decided to sell our La Porte house and buy a house here. We have an accepted contract to buy a house at Alamo Country Club (834 Nada). We're really excited and a bit overwhelmed. Our La Porte house includes 25+ years of accumulated stuff we have to unload and move to Texas. Do you know anyone who wants a full grown potted Bay tree (laurel nobilis) you know the kind bay leaves come from. And there is the 50 year collection of tax stuff! And the stuff in the garage. The good news is Todd and Beth are hoping to buy a house in Ohio...so they may get lots of stuff....

The pics are of the inside of the ACC house and that's my new kitchen with state of the art appliances. Three BR's a two car garage, large enclosed patio, golf cart with it's own garage master bath is large enuff for a dance.

Would you believe that when I packed the Solara to head north (Texas is home, now) we got everything in the trunk?!

See the beautiful flowers from Todd & Beth for Eileen's mother's day!

Five More Baptisms

Today a child and four teens were baptised into the faith. What a joy for everyone.