Our New Website

The decision has been made. We are moving our blog to our new website. We will no longer be posting on this site so if you would like to keep up on our adventures, please bookmark our new webpage. You will always be able to come back here and look at pictures or old blogs. This site will not be shut down so feel free to look back on where we have come from. Thanks for following us and we look forward to seeing you at the new site.

Carlson's Adventures

We Have a New Website

We are starting a new website and wanted to pass the information on to you. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Carlsons's Adventures

Today's History Class

Today we did a history class on Mexico. We did some mapping and created a Mexican Flag. Here are a few pictures.

Mexico's Independence Day Parade

Today we had a parade going down our street for Mexico's Independence Day. Here are a few pictures of it.




I missed a big portion of the parade while trying to find the video camera that had no battaries in it, but here is a little clip that I was able to get.

¡Viva México!

Tomorrow, September 16, is Mexico's Independence Day. Tonight, one of the couples here invited people over and we had great food, played games and had great fellowship. It was a lot of fun. One game we played was Mexican Train. Hmmm...

Bridget, our hostess, dishing up some Pozole.
Esther prepared some of the food.
Erin loves to help with the babies.

Visiting while eating.


Jonathan and his buddies. Can you tell his buddies are not Mexican?
There was a game of Risk going on.
And here is the Mexican Train game.

There were even some dominos for the little ones to play with.
It was a great night. Tomorrow for school, we will be learning about some of the history behind Mexico's independence and making Mexican flags. Kids around here will be off school but we are still doing a light day. So, that's all for now.

Cats and Friends

Okay, so I am thinking we are becoming an animal shelter. LOL! Jim took the kids out this morning and on the way home found a tiny kitten wandering in the streets. Jim told Erin to pick her up and we would take her home. Now mind you, the plan is to bring her to the adoption place near our house tomorrow. But for now, she is sitting in my lap sleeping. She looks like she was probably abused but has a very good disposition. Erin doesn't like me saying that she's an ugly cat but this picture is after a bath. Part of her tail is shaved which looks really weird. I have the thought that our daughter will talk us into keeping her. Anyone want to take bets? Erin has already started calling her Sandy. Oh boy, Mandy, Andy and Sandy.

As for as our previous two cats, Andy and Mandy, they are getting along very well now. They even sleep together and we caught Mandy cleaning Andy. They are very cute. Mandy is the bigger kitten and Andy is the smaller one.This afternoon we had a wonderful time with our friends from church. They said that my Pozole and Chili Colorado were "muy rica" which means very delicious. That was even said by their two boys who are 20 and 16. Now that's a compliment. By the end of our time together, Erin invited Yitzel (pronounced Jitzel) to spend the night and all the parents agreed. Erin is on cloud nine now. Here's a picture of Erin and her new friend, Yitzel.

Dinner Guests

This afternoon we have guests from church coming over for dinner. We are really looking forward to this. Last Sunday we went to their house and had dinner. It was delicious! I hope mine comes out as well for them. I am making Pozole Blanco and Chili Colorado. My Pozole has gotten good reviews from our Mexican neighbor who said it was better than any she had bought around town here. That's good. My Chili Colorado looks like it is coming out better than ever before. Let's hope so. It is a little nerve racking to cook Mexican food for a Mexican family that you know could cook circles around you.

We got together with this family because Erin and their daughter are in the same Sunday school class together and have become friends. We have really enjoyed getting to know them. It has helped us practice our Spanish also. When we met with them last week, Marí asked Alejandro how they were going to communicate with us. Well, I think they were surprised with how much we knew, especially Jim. When I can't understand something, I just turn and look at Jim and he helps me. It's really fun to get together with the Mexican families. It was especially fun going to their house as it helps in understanding their culture a bit more. We look forward to a great afternoon.

Chili Colorado


Pozole Blanco

Shopping and a New Kitten

Today we went shopping with Erin to get her some new clothes. She has grown since we arrived here and had very few clothes that fit her. So, we purchased 3 pair of jeans and four shirts at one store and got some really good deals. Then at another store, we bought a pair of dress pants and a blazer for Sundays and more dressy events. We also got her one other pair of pants so she should be set for a while.

After that, we stopped by the pet shop to look at a kitten. It was a little difficult since Nacho, our old dog, was still there. He whined a lot but we did find out that he was going to a new home on Wednesday. They had several kittens there and so we got another kitten. It seems that we are going with a black and white theme with the cats.

Our new kitten's name is Andy.
He's just a little skittish right now.
Mandy, our first cat, is quite a bit bigger.
Mandy and Andy are learning to get along. Mandy isn't quite sure about Andy. Wow, are we going to get those two names mixed up a lot.

Consider It Pure Joy

James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

It was an exciting day and a sad one all at the same time for the kids. After much thought and discussion, we decided that we were not going to be able to keep our dog, Nacho. Many people thought we kept him longer than we should have but it was not an easy decision. You see, Nacho decided quite some time ago that Erin was the lowest in the pack and he would try to bite here to let her know that. Many times he succeeded but we would work with him and it would stop for a while. In the past few weeks it was getting more frequent and he would constantly jump up on her. When Nacho stands up, he is taller than Erin so she didn’t have much leverage against him. We finally decided we just couldn’t keep him because of this. The reason we let it go on for so long and it was such a tough decision was because we knew this would be the last dog we would ever have. Nacho isn’t a bad dog, he just needs a lot of training which we are not equipped to give nor do we have the time which isn’t fair to him. He is very trainable; he sits, shakes hands, and lies down all on command but nips and bites when he wants attention and when he wants his way. With everything considered, we decided that giving Nacho away was the best decision and so as of yesterday, we are no longer dog owners.

We have decided that we just are not dog people. However, we are cat people. We have had cats as far back as I can remember. Our first cats we bought shortly after Jim and I were married. So, about a month ago we bought a cat, Mandy, and we thoroughly enjoy her. We had told the kids that if we had to give Nacho away, we would buy another cat. We have always found that cats do well in pairs. So, we bought another cat two days ago. We had him neutered that same day which is what we did with Mandy also. The cat and the neutering cost only 100 pesos which is equal to about $7.50. They do things differently here. You have the cat spayed or neutered and you pick them up right afterwards. Well, we picked up our new kitten about 12:30 PM and he seemed to be taking a long time to come out of the anesthetic. He was looking worse and worse by the hour. As the night progressed, we knew he was not going to make it. At about 11:00 that night, our new little kitten died. Erin was heartbroken.

We have faced many trials while we have been here and God is walking us through each one. The morning after our kitten died, God brought James 1 to my mind. He put it on my heart for us to memorize this portion of Scripture for school during this year. There is so much in it that pertains to our lives right now; having joy in trials, asking for wisdom, counting all of our many good and perfect gifts from God, learning to be quick to listen and slow to speak (that’s always been a hard one), learning to do what we learn from the Word and not just hear it, and lastly to look after the orphans which is why we are here. God is good and he gets us through each trial and with each one, He teaches us new things.

For Erin, she loves animals so much and to see any of them suffer is very hard for her. So far since we came, she has had her bunny die in her hands. She has also had a bird die in her hands that fell from its nest and now she has watch her kitten die. Jim pointed out to her that she has such a heart of compassion and God is working more compassion in her with each of these trials. These have been teaching moments even though they are hard. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to learn all that God has for us here. He is good and faithful and will never let us go. We will never be alone even though at times it feels that way. Those are the times we need to redirect our eyes onto our loving Father and allow Him to hug us and comfort us. Overall, things are good. We thank you for your prayers and support. Blessings to all of you.

Oh, and by the way, we will be getting another kitten in the near future.