Christmas time's a comin

Christmas is certainly sneaking up on us. I was reading my facebook page from all my friends and family in Wisconsin where they are getting a foot or more of snow. I miss the beauty of a first new fallen snow - the flakes slowly falling down, the sparkling of the snow on the ground, the reflection of the Christmas lights on the snow, the bundling up and heading out to cut a tree for the living room, and the smell of the fir trees. Here in South Texas the lights are glowing, the trees are trimmed, the carols are playing, but it is warm and lovely. I do not miss the cold! As we shop at the local grocery store (HEB) we walk past the cut Christmas trees (yes, I do call them Christmas trees), I stop to smell the pine smell, to savor the memories of the cold Northwoods, and am glad I am here in the warmth and comfort of the South.

This last week, our sewing group here at the park, "Helping Hands", finished a number of quilts and collected small toys for the colonias here in the Valley. The colonias or barrios are poor Mexican neighborhoods where many live together, trying to establish a family life here in the United States, many of them working at low paying jobs, while living in their ethic environment. These areas are very poor, sometimes with no heat for the cooler evenings, no refrigerators or stoves, sometimes no running water. We traveled to "Arise", a community development program for persons who are immigrants to the USA, primarily from Mexico. The transition from struggle for survival to success in an education based society is huge. "Arise-Las Malpas" is there to lend a hand, through advocacy, strengthening families, personal development, and job orientation to name a few. We arrived at Arise to a room full of Hispanic ladies of all ages, along with many children. The look on their faces as we carried in armloads of quilts, afghans, and toys was priceless. They were all very orderly as they lined up to receive their gifts - all chatting away in excited sounding Spanish. We were able to communicate in our poquito (little bit) Spanish as we asked how many children they had and what ages they were. Some of the ladies seemed a bit leery of us, while others were full of smiles, hugs, and kisses. I left with tears in my eyes as were were invited to the Posada next week-end. The Posada is a celebration wherein a huge crowd of people go from house to house looking for a place for the Baby Jesus to be born, singing songs of praise in Spanish. They finally come to a house that lets them in where they celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. The hospitality of these ladies with nothing but faith and a dream in their hearts amazed me. "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality". Romans 12:13

getting ready to load the vehicles

Kay, Zoe, and Bille with some of the quilts

Judi, Al (our only man that day), Carole, and LoMira, more wonderful sewers and volunteers

one of the houses in the colonia

Zoe with a recipient who looks like she is ready to cry with joy

this lady was overjoyed

someone donated a ladies billfold  and with the help of Amy, an Arise volunteer, Carole presented it to this sweet little lady - unknown to her was the fact that the donor also tucked some cash into the billfold! the generosity of people is enormous.

smiling faces, along with some of the volunteers

some more of the colonia homes

As a part of our Great Oaks Food and Clothing Ministry, we have asked our church here to donate small canned hams for Christmas dinner for those needing it. So far our park has just overwhelmed us - we have had hams and money donated that will feed a large number of those underprivileged for Christmas. We also we able to provide canned vegetables and some of the other items needed to try to make their meal complete. Again, most of these people do not have refrigerators or even stoves - they cook most of their meals outside on the grill so the small hams will work well for that. We have been invited to help hand these out next Sunday -  it will be such a privilege to be able to do this. We are hoping that we can covey to them that we do this through the love of our Lord, who loves them just as much as He loves us. I will have pictures next week, as well as the total amount of food, which already is amazing to me! (I am just sorry that we will miss the Posada in the colonias.) 

 

 

We did take time to travel to Progreso, Mexico for a bit of shopping, mostly for others who are requesting items. Friends Dean and Karen went along for a very enjoyable morning. We stopped to eat at The Red Snapper, a very good and reasonable restaurant in Progreso, where the very wonderful waiter proceeded to hand Karen and myself a rose he made by folding a napkin. I tried to take a pictire of it, but you really need to see it to appreciate it.

 

                                                             the boundry - Rio Grande Riiver

 



sign on the bridge - I was half in the us and half in mexico

 

 

Sorry, this is acting really weird tonight - cannot get rid of the duplicate pictures - bear with me, maybe I can figure it out. Well, guess I just will deal with duplicates -

 

 

 

looking down the street in Progreso - street vendors everywhere - this young man is someone's Mexican jeweler

 

 

 



this young man was selling baskets at very reasonable prices

As we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent, we are getting closer to the great event - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. "Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11