Hope you had a great Resurrection Sunday!

Well, Easter has come and gone for another year. I was amazed that it was so early this year - then I found out some interesting facts about why on Jackie's (my sister-in-law) families' blog. You can check it out at http://allofusblog07.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter.html .

This is a picture of the girls and I in our Easter dresses - we have worn them before, but we wanted to look nice for such a special day!




On the Friday before Easter (Good Friday - or as they call it here - Holy Friday) we went to a little pueblo just a few minutes north of Morelia. It is called Tarímbaro. Every year they do a representation of the crucifixion. We went out of curiosity and to maybe get some good pictures for slides in the future. This is the road they decorated with flower petals where those who were representing Christ and the two thieves were to walk up the hill to be "crucified".



Mexicans are very colorful people, so it looked very pretty.



When they got to the top, they tied them to the crosses. They say that the man who was representing Christ actually had his hands nailed, but we could not see that. If he did, they probably used very small nails. It is sad that they celebrate Christ's death more than they do His resurrection! It was an interesting experience and another look at Mexican religion and culture.



Another thing they do in Tarímbaro on Good Friday is drink a lot of "pulque" which is basically a type of moonshine. They make it from some type of cactus leaves. After all the religious activities many get drunk. So sad that this is what makes up the Easter season for them.



Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to rejoice in our risen Saviour! We miss everyone and hope all are doing well.

LYDIA IS FINALLY WALKING!!!

Well, I was beginning to wonder when this baby would walk. She has been able to for a few weeks now, but she still would only take two or three steps and then she returned to crawling! Well, yesterday she was walking all over the place. It was quite hillarious, because you could see her walk from one place to another and then she would look (with a big grin on her face) to see if anyone was watching to cheer her on! She is so funny! Also, on Saturday, she started saying "yes". She says it like she is asking a question and its like it is her way of saying "can I have that?" Well, I know everyone thinks their baby is the cutest and that's the way it should be - but I can't help but think that Lydia has the patent on CUTE!

The picture above is of Lydia wearing big brother Daniel's jacket. The kids were having fun watching her try to walk with it on!

Chili's Salsa Recipe

This is a recipe you've got to try!
Ron and I (and the kids too) just love Chili's salsa and I found a copy cat of the recipe online. Since then we havn't been buying salsa - this one is SOOOOOO yummy! Here is the link: http://www.recipezaar.com/59635.
Let me know if you try it and like it!

Family and Ministry update

Well, it is about time I updated this blog! It seems like I always think about doing it - but don't often seem to have the time. Here is what is going on in our world.

We had the Harts here for three days last week and had a good time with them. We got to know them very well while we were in language school in Aguascalientes and learning under their ministry. They have been a blessing to us. We took them to the national park in Uruápan. They really enjoyed the scenery and we had fun showing it off to them! We are really blessed to live in a very beautiful part of Mexico!


(The Harts by a small waterfall at the national park.)

(Our family at the national park in Uruápan.)

Hannah just had her 6th birthday on the 4th and had a really good time. She had been counting down the days to her birthday for well over a month! And everyone knew about it! From the birthday money she received and what we pitched in ourselves, she was able to get a new bike. She is SO excited!!! She is up on the patio almost every possible moment riding it. She is just thrilled! I'll have to take some pictures of her on her bike to put on the blog soon.

Lydia is such a sweety pie - but quite the stubborn one too. Those of you who know Ron and I just can't possible imagine where she would get her stubborness from. :) She still is not walking (at 14 months) even though she would very easily be able to. She just doesn't really want to! I guess once she decides to do it she will be off and running!

Here are a couple of pictures of Lydia at our nice new playground in Morelia. Her hair was full of static from the slide in the second picture. It was so funny!





We are doing well here and the Lord is blessing! Please keep praying for our work here. We are praying and working and waiting for the Lord to do some wonderful things. We are going to be having a missions conference at our church at the end of this month. Please pray that God will do great things in the lives of our church people and that He would really burden all of our hearts more for souls around the world.

I also want to update you on the girl I told you about - Elisabeth McDonald. She has been home from the hospital for a couple of weeks now and is doing great. The skin grafts took very well and the doctors are all very pleased. They say she is about two weeks ahead of what they would expect in the healing process. God is very good. Please continue to pray for her complete recovery.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Thanks for thinking about us and checking up on us

Hello! & Prayer Request

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to show off this cute little baby of ours! Also, just thought I should let all know that I am still alive! We are doing well here. Ron has been very busy already this year with lots of people to counsel and soulwinning appointments. Also in February we are planning a missions conference for our church. We are excited about that!

The kids are doing well being back in school and even though it makes things a bit more hectic, I am very glad also. It gives us the routine that we need!

Please pray for the McDonald family. They are missionaries here outside of Morelia and two weeks ago their 4 year old daughter was seriously burned. She has been in the hospital since then and probably will stay there for at least another two weeks. She has had some skin grafts and will be receiving more. I know the family would appreciate your prayers. They have nine kids and this has made things very difficult for them.

Thanks for checking in with us! Have a good week!

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.