It's Finally Friday!

It's finally Friday!  That's about all I can say.  It's been a brutal week of school, particularly for Isabella.  She has 2 more exams and 1 make up test today, so its never too late for prayers for her to have mental clarity, the gift of recall, peace and confidence.

So Friday means a few things for us....

1.  Last day of school before winter break!!

2.  Tonight, we have our MTW team Christmas party. Then we will go stay at a hotel near the airport because.....

3.  We are coming home to Memphis tomorrow!!

You can take a girl out of Memphis, but you can't take Memphis out of the girl.  Here was my lunch one day this week....BBQ!

See y'all soon & Feliz Navidad!

Christmas in Bogota

Today, check out www.bogotabridges.com for some photos of Christmas in Bogota (some of them have already been shared on this blog.)

And keep praying for Isabella and these exams!!!

Friday Favorites

Oh Friday favorites.  Here are some highlights of the week:

This is a photo of Corferias.  This is an expo center in Bogota which hosts a huge Christmas craft fair every December.  One building is artisans from Colombia selling their work, which is my favorite.  There is also an international building with artisans from other countries, like Equador, Mexico, Peru, etc. I bought a few gifts here and a handmade basket (made in Colombia) for me to put my imported American magazines. 

We had a new Colombian guest over for dinner this week.  We met him at church Sunday and he came to our apartment Tuesday night.  We ate together, listened to his stories, and talked about his questions about the bible.  We were thankful to have a night with a new friend here.

I made a new cookie recipe "Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookies".  They are made with cinnamon chips and a friend had just recently brought me a bag of them (because they dont' sell them here).

I admit, I do like the holiday schedule here in Colombia & that is one of the best things about having your kids in school here.  They have so many & most Colombians couldn't even name them all.  I honestly think we enjoyed the holiday this week better than the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you can see the string between the two trees in the park, that is Avery with Brook on a zip line.  They did that for a little while on the holiday.

So this is not a favorite thing, but more of a strange thing.  I was walking the other day and saw this "Puky Van".  It is actually a mobile van for washing your dogs, but with a funny name!

We are so happy to see the weekend come!  Next week, only 2 full days of school, 3 half days, then this family is boarding a plane for the USA!!!

1st of 2 Annual Street Shopping

On the main highway near our apartment, there are many street vendors, which are really common all over the city.  You can walk down the street here and buy shoelaces, sink drains, bootleg movies in Spanish, sunglasses, spatulas, trash bags, etc.  We decided to do our family shopping from street vendors this year and we each had a budget of what we could spend on one another.  We teamed up in pairs of twos & then switched so we could all buy presents for one another, but not have duplicates and also not to walk alone.  

Here we are with our bags ready to go!

We shopped on Saturday.  Monday, when the girls got home from school, we opened our gifts. We made this our family Christmas day/night since the girls didn't have school Tuesday. 

Isabella was excited for her Ray Ban sunglasses. (keep in mind, bought off the streets of Bogota :))

These were Isabella's gifts - hat, scarf, sunglasses, & mug.

Brook got a soft blanket.

She also got this scarf, candy bar, and a decorative glass sand art item.

Avery got a Fly Emirates t-shirt.  He flew this airline in September & was so impressed, I knew I had to get him this shirt!

Avery was surprised & laughing because just like he gave Brook the sand art, Brook picked one out for him too, although they chose different colors for one another. 

Isabella bought Avery this hat.

I received two scarves and two pair of earrings, and I really like all of it.  

We then walked to the mall to see the lights on inside at night.

They go all out with the lights!

If you remember from last year, it was just so nice to not see mushrooms!

After lights & dinner at the mall, we came home to watch a Christmas movie.  It was so nice to have a nice to just relax and enjoy the season.

Christmas Events

Oh my, I am so glad today is Tuesday.  Why?  Because it is a holiday in Colombia and the girls are out of school!  I will blog more about this tomorrow.

Last Wednesday, it was fun (but busy!!) to have two Christmas events on one day.  First, I attended a Christmas luncheon & bazaar hosted by the American Womens Club at the American Ambassador's house.  My favorite part was just going to the house & it was fun to attend with friends.

This is a view from our table in a tent outside looking back into the house.

I mean, how exciting to see the seal of the USA in our basket of chips!!

Just me, hanging out at the Ambasador's home in Bogota, Colombia.

I spotted an American flag !!  (which we normally don't see around here)

This is a cute little chapel that is right outside the residence.

The second event we attended was a Steve Green concert.  This was a fundraiser through the girls school, and Brook's class sang on stage with him for a few songs.  He is so talented & is great with kids. Other than the kids parts, the show was in Spanish.  

Brook & her friend Abby 

Steve Green on stage with Brook's class.  (Brook is next to the girl in the green scarf and red sweater).

Thursday night, we had a Christmas party with our tutoring group.  We only had 2 kids because Colombian schools are already on holiday here, however there were lots of adults.

I took a picture of the food tables so you can see one obvious culutral difference when serving food in Colombia.  Colombians always pre-serve and will serve food to you.

Americans, we just like it buffet style.  

The lighting is bad here, but we sang Silent Night in Spanish & in English.

This cute little girl has been so sweet & fun to work with, & always helps us with our Spanish while we help her with her English.  She was soo excited I had brought her gummy snacks from Disney (& in the shape of Mickey too!).