Feliz Navidad!!!!!

Juan's Graduation ceremony

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Arrival Day!

In a few hours Carey will be here! So I am quickly doing last minute cleaning of the apartment, even though Juan did it yesterday. It never seems CLEAN. GRRR. Especially for me when I hate cleaning,mopping etc.

Juan has been studying. He has 4 exams next week. Hopefully he will pass them, that would be a great Christmas present for me!! I see he is trying and that is all I can ask for! I think he wants to get them over with!

Tomorrow night he goes through the "graduation ceremony" even though he will not receive his certificate till all exams are passed. Yet, it is a moment to celebrate as we have come a LONG ways with him. We are proud of him for doing the work. It is my my favorite part of helping him through school, as I was more independant and knew when to study!

So, pictures will be posted tomorrow after the ceremony :).

I know his life would have looked different if it was not for GOD's intervention!
Gracias DIOS!!!!!!

The Final Stretch!!!

Carey and Juan photo via skype!
Carey helping Juan tie a tie via Skype!

Juan walking in with a school mate.

It is hard to believe that we are on the homeward strength. Juan has finished classes and needs to pass a few exams before officially graduating. The students organized a very nice graduation party, which I think represents NO MORE CLASSES. ON DEC. 18th Juan will have the diploma ceremony and then the next week take his exams. He has 1 in feb. So not until that one is complete will we head home.

During the party while watching him, laughing with his friends, taking pictures with his buddies and dancing with girls, I realized his life probably would have looked VERY different if it was not for GOD's intervention, and our commitment to him. It was special moment seeing him have so much fun!

Carey will be here on Dec. 17th til the 30th. We are looking forward to spending some nice quality time with him.

Gobble Gobble

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. My friends Tom and Colleen were nice enough to host Thanksgiving LUNCH. It was delicious, as I have not had a Turkey in two years! Turkey in Spanish is PAVO. They were able to find most of the traditional foods, minus the PUMPKIN PIE, but we had a Butternut Squash Pie and it was VERY good!

Speed Stacks

The New Bridge School (where I teach)asked me to host a Speed Stack class in English. Speed Stacks JUST came to Argentina about 2 months ago. We handed out flyer's to the younger groups. We had no idea how many kids would turn up... well.... 28 kids! A BIG success. With the help of the director's daughters, we were able to make sure all the kids were taught the basics! I spoke in English and they would translate. We did a relay race, a few competitions and built our first pyramid! We are going to host another class next Friday!

Juan's Trip

Here are a few photos of his trip down south! It was cold and here we were having a heatwave..crazy! Overall he had a great time. I am blessed we were able to give him an oppurtunity to visit another part of his country! At least he knew what SNOW was!

Fun Pictures

GO yankees!!!!!????

Oh, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...hahah

John and Elaine with my host family, Ana y Osvaldo

John, Elaine and I had a nice time together. Here are some more pictures of our time together.

We went to a tango show with my host family in Buenos Aires. VERY nice evening! Juan and I enjoyed having visitors and we WELCOME MORE( hint hint)...

John and Elaine's Visit

They bought icecream for the kids !

Having Carey's favorite..Milanesa de Pollo at La Mira!

New friends!

John playing with the kids( 10 minutes after arriving)

Juan and I and the kids at the hogar are enjoying John and Elaine's visit! Despite the CRAZY weather we are experiencing, we are having a good time. The weather has been either 97 degrees w/ high humidy, or cooler but pouring rain. Each night we are enjoying watching the World Series together despite the LATE start here!

Solo!!!

Left: Mark,Josiah,Jack,me, Colleen,Tom

Sunday night Juan left on his 10 day trip down south to do some service projects. So I am have had the house to myself. It was sad at first, but quickly realized this would be a nice break for me. I can do some quite reflection on my time here as the next 4 months will go by quickly.

I have decided to take full advantage of the oppurtunity to have MY friends/visitors over for dinner. Well, kind of..I did not cook...never had the skill or the passion, but "take out" is just as fun here. We had empanandas!

I have gotten the channel hooked up for the World Series, so hopefully we will have a few nights more of gathering at my apartment for the World Series.

The weather has definitley turned to Spring as today got up to 90, but will go back down in the next few days to the 80's.

I just heard from Juan and where he is there is SNOW. At least he knows how to play in it and start a snowball fight! He appears he is having a good time!

Chau,

Bonner

Feliz Dia de Madre

Estoy muy feliz!!

Rock Paper Scissor

Spring FUN

Enrique's Work Crew....

Having FUN with Speed Stacks!

Simple things are fun!!!!!


Working on their arms muscles....not sure if it was FUN???

Spring Time!

Hello Everyone!
I see the ending of this incredible journey. We still have about 4 months left, but i know they will go quickly. My focus is getting Juan to pass his exams and finish school feeling good about himself. He is going on a school trip down south for 10 days in a week. I am excited he gets an oppurtunity to see more of his own country. I will miss him.

I have been asked to teach more English classes which has kept me busier. The English school that I am associated with asked me to organize some American -Coffee Time chats. So every other Saturday I meet with people who want to practice their English with a Native. The TEEN TIME which happens every other Friday night has been a HUGE success. The kids wanted to hang out more than an hour, so we changed it to 1 1/2 hr. It's been a lot of fun. I don't get paid, I ask for a contribution which goes to the hogar. We recently bought the SPEED STACKS, which the kids really love!!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the Fall weather. We are going into Spring :).

Cheers
Bonner and Juan

Thanks Pam and Randy!

Pam and Randy

Pam and Randy came to visit this week. They are friends of the hogar. They treated the kids to all sorts of fun activities. Different activities for different age groups.

The kids were well fed and entertained. From amusement park to eating at Mc Donalds, to fishing, to going out to pizza and icecream!

The kids ALWAYS enjoy seeing visitors from the states!

Spring Time

HOLD ON!

Here are a few pictures from the first day of Spring. The kids went out to a bible camp and enjoyed a day of volleyball,soccer, music, and the BULL!

When Carey was here we took a few kids out to dinner.

Enjoy the fall weather!

Bonner

SURPRISE!!!!!

I was sitting at my computer on Sunday morning when the door bell rang. I was thinking who the heck would that be? I opened the door and there was CAREY!!!!! I couldn't believe it! He decided to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend plus the sale on plane ticket! Wow, we are SOO happy to have him here. We are enjoying a very relaxing time with him. What a great gift!!! I am like a kid in a candy store..thoroughly enjoying every moment I have with him!

The children at the hogar and friends were surprised to see him too!!

We are doing great here. Juan is getting excited as the end of the school year is in sight. He finishes end of Dec.

Love US

Children's Day

New Shoes!

Our visitors from Oregon

Cool Pillowcase!

Today was Dia de Ninos...Children's Day. People in the hogar and community people bought new shoes for ALL the children. We also have a group from Oregon who is doing some ministry work. They brought pillowscases sewn by a group in Oregon with different patterns for all the children also. It was like Christmas Day for these children. They were very happy receive these gifts :)

Dogs and Golf!

These are the moments I enjoy thoroughly!

We are back in Argentina and it will be a few days before we are both adjusted. It is cold here, so that is an adjustment in itself. Overall we are doing well.

Cheers

Bonner and Juan

A great vacation!

US!

Juan ,Yogi and ME!

Uncle PB beating everyone in Ping Pong!

Steaks on the grill!

We are presently in Dallas, as we missed our flight to Argentina. So I will take this oppurtunity to update the blog. I know I enjoyed my time back home and I believe Juan did too. Carey and I tried to show him things he had never done before. We also met people in the scoccer community whom suggested programs for Juan to join when we return in Feb. Juan did have the oppurtunity to play a few pick up games, which he enjoyed and the other players enjoyed having him! We did have some visitis from family and friends which was great! The weather was not too bad as we only had a few days of rain and were able to be outside most of the time.

If we did not see you we will see you in Feb!