You know the saying, "all that glitters is not gold"...well that's the condition we found our new house in. The biggest headache was our shower leaked through the ceiling into Antonio's room soaking everything in, including all his clothes. It took 10 days of impact drills and hammer and chisel to get through the solid cement ceiling to find the water leak (think noise and dust), but finally they found it, repaired it, and soon the ceiling will be repaired as well. We've had leaky faucets and valves, burned out heater elements, faulty lights and fans just to mention a few things. We still have workmen here all day everyday and that doesn't help us to get things a home!
But we do have much more space: Antonio, Rosa, & Fabiola have rooms of their own while Mauricio & Angel share a room w/a bath and Cesar & Pedro share a room, but must use the bath in the next room. When we finally get settled we will be in a much, much better place. The location is great...we're twice as close to things as we were in old home and the travel is much safer and quicker...no traffic jams.
Things don't work the same here as in the U.S...all the things I mentioned to you earlier that were faulty, we're paying to get fixed...if you want it fixed, you fix it. The unexpected expenses left us short on our Christmas, but you wouldn't know it to watch the kids open presents this morning. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see such joy in them while remembering where they came from. God has truly blessed them. We actually got through the day without one major flare-up. We had the usual toys broken five minutes after opening, but no major problems, no whippings. Makes me think I'm getting soft!
BAD TRANSLATION: Some friends at church gave Joyce money to get her hair done before Christmas...you know, make the grey go away. They took her to a new beauty shop and one of them told the gal what Joyce wanted and then left. Two hours later I got a phone call from Joyce who said, "Bob, I'm coming home; don't be frightened." I didn't know what that meant, but as soon as I saw her I figured it out.
She came in the door with a black plastic bag wrapped around her head and two holes punched in it for eyes. She wouldn't take it off, she just kept saying you won't believe it. Finally she removed the bag and I wasn't sure it was her...her hair was a cross between black, brown, and red...I don't know how to tell you what color it was, but it definitely wasn't blonde. She brought home a home dye package determined to get back to her 'natural' color....but, it didn't do anything to her hair. The next morning our tutor took her to the biggest beauty salon I've ever seen; there must've been 40 chairs! The first dye job didn't take again, so she got another. This time it lightened the hair enough to where I tell my wife was in the house! Believe me, when mama isn't happy with her hair job; nobody's happy!
Last night I was one person in a two person play at the church. It was pretty long so there was a lot of 'line-learning' to do and Fabiola was my training mate. She ended up knowing the play as as good as me. Tomorrow I'm preaching, so it's been a busy few days.
Thanks for all your support and all our prayers...we're grateful for your presence in our lives,
Bob, Joyce, & Kids
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