Happy New Year!

As we say goodbye to 2007 and welcome the new year, I am reminded of how good God has been to us this past year,and am excited about all the blessings He has in store for 2008. We wish you a very Happy New Year and pray that God will be the center of your life in 2008.

Here are a few photos to let you know what has been going on for us during this holiday season! Hope you enjoy!

Ron took the boys fishing one Monday - unfortunately they didn't do as well as when we went to the US (Thanksgiving) - there they caught over a dozen good size bass! This time they just got their poles wet! Oh, well. At least they had fun, I think!

This was our Christmas ladies' meeting. We had a good time and I made it through it! I always get so nervous and worried about how it will go! There were a total of 17 ladies there (including myself) and I think they enjoyed themselves and were challenged! I made a couple of Christmas tree cakes and they turned out okay! (Decorating cakes is not my forte!)

The Sunday before Christmas I brought cookie plates for all of our families. I made 24 plates of cookies - it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too! The girls helped me some and even Ron got in on the action by helping me dip the chocolate covered pretzels (of course - his payment was getting to try all the different goodies).

I made peanut butter blossoms, orange cranberry cookies, cinammon cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and banana bread. When Ron tried the cinammon cookies he said they tasted like Snickerdoodles. Later, Hannah was asking if she could have some "STINKER DOODLES" too. It was hilarious!!! I just love my kids. They make life very interesting!

Christmas was a very nice and relaxing day for us. We had our big dinner the day before with a family from our church! We had a very nice time and everything tasted GREAT! Christmas day we ate leftovers and just enjoyed our time together as a family - reading the Christmas story from the Bible and then opening presents! I hope your Christmas was just as nice! We love all our family and friends and hope you have "un Prospero Año Nuevo" (a Prosperous New Year - in the Lord)!

Goodman Family November 2007

Family Pictures / Thanksgiving in the States

Wow! Time sure flies. I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. We have done a lot since the last post, but I wanted to make sure to let everyone see our recent family pictures. We got them taken on our trip to the border in November. We went up for a bit of a break and to get some things we had waiting for us at the border. We really enjoyed being in the US for Thanksgiving since we had not been in the States to celebrate Thanksgiving for the past nine years. It was great even though we were not able to be with family. There are some really nice people in Donna, Texas that have a double-wide mobile home that they provide for missionaries while they are at the border. We had our Thanksgiving dinner with them. I made the Turkey, stuffing, gravy and a couple of chocolate pies. Several other ladies pitched in and made ham, potatoes, and other great sides and desserts. Our kids really enjoyed the time in the States as well, but we are all glad to be back home again.

The Bug Slayer!!!! and recent photos of the kids

Since I am always so busy, it seems like I seldom have a chance to post anything new. Today, however, I have a little bit of free time, so I thought I would tell about something that happened a couple of weeks ago. One night, as I was putting Lydia to bed in our room upstairs, I happened to notice a bug on the wall! It was a wind scorpion (non-poisonous, but very painful biter).

(This is a picture of a wind scorpion that I found on the internet.)

I killed it as quickly as I could with a shoe since he was on the wall right by her crib. I went to bed that night thanking the Lord that He helped me see it, but I was also still a bit nervous thinking that there might be more. Well, I woke up early that morning (around 4am) and went to the bathroom. There by our bathroom door was another one (wind scorpion - I thought). So, I got out the same shoe again and killed it! Then I went back to bed relieved that God had allowed me to see that one as well. Then when I woke up later, I asked Ron to clean up those ugly things on the wall. I didn't want to have to touch them at all!!! When we went to get them - I noticed that the other one was a real scorpion! Praise the Lord that I noticed it before it got one of us! Since then I have had "eagle eyes" for anything that might be moving along the wall. I guess my kids are going to call me the "Bug Slayer" now! Hopefully we won't see any more of those nasty things.



Here is a picture that Ron took of the scorpion that I killed. Yuck!





Changing subjects completely - I also wanted to post a few recent pictures that Ron took of the kids. I love my kids! They are so precious to me. Sometimes I get tired, but when I see these pictures it reminds me of what an important job I have and how I need to cherish the times I have with my kids today! They are growing up so quickly. Here they all are!


Andrew & Daniel





Hannah





Elisabeth



Lydia

September - So much to say!

September was a fun and busy month for us here in Morelia. That is their month to FESTEJAR (party) - actually Mexicans always like to party for one reason or another. On Sunday the 16th we had a special service at church for their Independence Day. We dressed up and our kids loved it. A neighbor lady came and braided the girls' hair for me. They looked so sweet! I painted moustaches on the boys and they thought that was really neat. After the service we had a pot-luck at church - something all Baptists enjoy no matter what side of the border you are on!

On the 23rd, Daniel turned 9! I can't believe how fast time flies. We are very proud of Daniel. He is growing up to be quite the young man. He loves the Lord and is a good big brother. I know that the Lord will use him as he continues to grow and learn. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we decided to celebrate on the 24th - Monday. We surprised him by inviting one of his Mexican friends who comes to our church. Daniel was thrilled to have Miguel and his family there to celebrate the big day with him.

Right after Daniel's party Ron headed to the airport to pick up the Kline family. Tom and Betsy Kline (from Castlegar, B.C., Canada) along with their four children are here for a 10 day visit. Since they have been here we have been able to do several fun things with them. But one big thing they helped us with was folding 10,000 tracts that we had printed.

We could not have done it ourselves - so that was a tremendous blessing to us. Ron designed the tracts (with much help from Bro. Holley as well) for our big Patriotic Day here in Morelia. Morelos (a big Mexican revolutionary hero) was born in Morelia on September 30, 1765. On that day every year they have a huge parade downtown. So we went to it this year and passed out all of those 10,000 tracts and more! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well.

Andrew working hard despite the heat!!

There is Daniel - both boys did a great job of passing out tracts and staying with it till the job was done!

Here is a photo from the end of the parade. We really saw very little of the actual parade because we were trying to pass out all of the tracts. The end is really neat though because that is when all the horses go by with men and women in traditional dress from the revolutionary era.

Well, I think that covers the main highlights for the month of September. We thank God for our friends and family and hope to hear from you.

Just a quick update

Well, I have been very busy, so it has been a while since I have posted anything. Since my last post we are into our third week of school. The kids are doing very well. I think they really like school - although sometimes they like to act like they don't! :)

On Labor Day (actually the Sunday before), the Holley family (missionaries in Toluca, Mexico) came for a short visit. We had a good time with them and Ron took the boys and Joe and his boys fishing at a nearby lake.







They were very disappointed about getting skunked! But they did have a fun time getting in the boat and spending time together. When they got ready to leave, the van got stuck deep in the mud. It took them two hours, several men, some jacks, and a lot of patience to get out!!!!









They had a great time, but they were sure tired afterwards!



Hopefully I won't take so long to update next time. Please keep praying for us -we need it. We love and appreciate all our friends and family. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!

School Started!!!

This Tuesday we started school. The kids were all glad to start, but no one was as excited as Hannah. She was just overflowing with excitement!!! It is a blessing to be able to do the ABeka DVD's. The Lord has been very good to let us do that and to give us a house that has enough room to be able to accomodate the setup for it. Getting back to a routine has been really good and although it keeps me very busy, it helps keep things running smoothly.

Visit from Jason and Sarah Knabb

Last Monday we had a surprise visit from some missionary friends. Jason and Sarah Knabb are helping out missionary Steve Miller in Queretaro, Mexico. Ron and I both went to OBC with Sarah (Sloan). Sarah was my roommate and we had a great time visiting and talking - hard to imagine all the Lord has done in our lives since college days! Our two day visit with them was a lot of fun. We went with all our kids to the Morelia zoo. The boys both had fun pulling a wagon around with their oldest two - Gaby and Kenneth. Sarah has four kids now - wow! And with our five we were quite the crew at the zoo!

Here is a picture of the Knabbs - Jason, Sarah, and their four kids - Gabriela, Kenneth, Jacqueline, and Stewart.






Sarah and I - praise the Lord for good friends.

Sunday, August 12th Services

Just want to let everyone know what has been happening here. This past Sunday we had very good services with 49 in the morning and 39 in the evening. There was a good spirit in both services.

In the morning we baptized Lupita. That was a blessing! She has been coming for a while and it was a difficult decision since her parents were not for it.

In the evening service we had a farewell fellowship for Sarah Stokes (our kids call her Miss Sarah). She was with us here in Morelia for two and a half months and was a real help and blessing to us. Our family and the people here will miss her.

Lydia Jeanette Goodman

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Surprise Party

The kids were excited to welcome us home with balloons!

Then came the banners!

And the cake and flowers!

While we were gone for our anniversary, the kids stayed with "Miss Sarah" (Sarah Stokes). They had a lot of fun and one of the things they did was plan a surprise Anniversary party for our return. They made banners, put up balloons, got us a cake, and gave us flowers. They really had fun!!!!

Our Tenth Anniversary

Well, we have been married for TEN years now. In some ways it seems like it can't be possible, but on the other hand it seems like we have always been together. We are very thankful for the Lord's blessings in these past ten years. They have been the best years of our life!


To celebrate, Ron and I went out for two days and stayed in a really neat hotel overlooking Morelia. It was wonderful! We had a super time.

Day at Tzararacua Waterfall

We went to the Tzararacua Waterfall here in Michoacan with the LBC group from California. It was great! We rode down to it on horseback. The kids loved it!