More World Cup

Colombia lives on in the World Cup!  And that proved to be another exciting, noisy weekend here.

The girls & I under a national flag that was being raised for game day.  Literally, every other person here is dressed in a red or yellow jersey on game days.  It is bizarre, but fun to see the unity the World Cup brings this country.

World Cup Colombian manicure

So, we invited some Colombian friends over to our house to watch the game.  This was our first time to have Colombians over without any other missionaries here.  It was good & there were 2 English speakers who helped us with our translations.  One of our guest just brought us a can of peaches to contribute to our snacks.  I was thinking, in the states, people would bring chips & dip, or something like that.  But here, a can of peaches.  And may I say the peaches were a big hit & were all eaten!

Our guests

Our guests plus me

These are Isabella's new friends who live in our neighborhood.  One speaks only Spanish & the other speaks some English & of course fluent Spanish.

The girls 

This guy is a household name for us & these girls all like him!  His name is James Rodriguez & he scored the 2 goals that Colombia scored in our win against Uruguay.  In case if you wondering, Colombia plays again on Saturday.  In the meantime, USA plays Belgium on Tuesday.

Here is a quick video of our house after the win.  On a side note, after each goal scored, this guy (who is the brother of someone we invited) would just open our door & start blowing his horn.  He was very nice though & it added to the fun!

Flowers

Isabella asked to borrow my camera this week to take pictures of flowers & these are the results of me saying yes!  These were all taken in our neighborhood.

Outside our front door

Happy Friday & we will be cheering for Colombia as they play again Saturday in the World Cup.

Despedidas

Despedidas - farewell

Last week we had our team despedida for the Jesch family & last Sunday, we had one at church for them & another couple, one of our leaders here.  Tuesday morning, the Jesch family flew back to the states.  It was hard saying goodbye & we will miss them so much.

First, this is a picture from church on Sunday.  Colombia observed Father's Day a week late because of the Presidential election the previous Sunday.  They have elections on Sundays here. 

 

This is also a picture from Sunday at church.  This is during the children's sermon that our pastor, Javier, teaches to the kids.  That is Brook sitting in the back.  Pray she understands the words & meanings of this soon!

Avery, Marilyn, Esta, & Matt

 

Mateo spent his last night in Bogota with us in his old room.

Saying goodbye at 5:30am...in our Colombian jerseys in honor of game day

(Oh, & Colombia beat Japan 4-1)

There they go with the Colombian flag in the distance.  Pray for us as we adjust to not having our first support system here.  Pray for us as we said our goodbyes to the closest friends we had here for all 4 of us. 

Hiking in Bogota

Last weekend, Avery & Brook went on a hike with our friends here.  I enjoyed some quiet time at home & Isabella actually had her first babysitting job!

Here are some photos from the hike:

What a beautiful view!

Avery & Matt

Brook & Avery taking a break

They left our house at 6:30 am, so she was a trooper!

Brook & Esta

She was so excited to have her picture taken with a cow on the side of the trail!

Jim, Avery, & Matt

Jim is from the states & is in town for a week & is helping us with a few things here.  He grew up as a missionary kid, served as a missionary, & is fluent in Spanish, which are all very helpful to us!

Happy Friday!

Well, if you haven't heard, Colombia won its second World Cup game Thursday!
We were at our team workshop, but were able to see the last 15 minutes of the game.
My link didn't work, but there are videos online showing how the Colombian team does a team dance when they score a goal.  It is pretty funny & very quick if you want to look this up online!

We had a despedida (farewell party) for the Jesch's at a place just north of Bogota.  It was very beautiful.

Missionary kids on a trampoline....all of them in their Colombian jerseys in support of the game!

Esta & Matt

We ate at a place that was built to look like an old village.

Look at that beautiful view!

We ate right inside of this building.

Mateo, Brook & Isabella

Mateo has become like a brother to the girls.  

Here is a picture of our entire team, with the exception of a two year old boy belonging to one family.  We are so thankful for this support system here.  

After a long day & a bowl of cereal for dinner, I tried making homemade chocolate chip cookies.  That is something you can't find here.  For a little entertainment while I cooked, I found a Huey Lewis concert online that I watched :).  

No concert dates in Bogota :(

The cookies turned out really flat.  For the next batch, I added lots of extra flour, & that helped a little bit.  It is an adjustment baking at high altitudes.  Also, I've been told the brown sugar here is different from in the states.   I used my bag of chocolate chips I brought from the states.  They are very hard to find here & there is no variety of type of chocolate chips either.  The cookies actually tasted okay, although they look burnt here in this picture.  I have a long way to go to duplicate cookies from the US!

Happy Friday!

Floor Three

This is the last floor & pictures from our house.

This is a small hallway with our closets leading into the bathroom.

The bathroom has no closet, but open shelves for storage.  We bought a few storage bins to try to be a little more organized.

Then we have our bedroom.  Our bed has flannel sheets & an electric blanket on it!

Our of our nightstands

Across from the bed, we have an open area with our hampers & a hammock to hang up when necessary! 

We opted to have drawers under our bed as opposed to a full size dresser.  We did get this piece of furniture, which they classify as an entertainment center.  We bought the mirror & I keep the ironing board up, so this is how it looks!

 Thanks for taking the time to look around & hope you enjoyed your tour!

Now we are off to day 2 of a 3 day workshop we are attending here for our team.