Fun Friday

Our adventure to the city was filled with fun and memories.  We made it to the mall after getting a little lost.  When Ben stopped to ask for directions (I was so proud!) a kind young man hopped on his motorcycle and showed us the way.  It was a very nice mall and very beautiful with the Christmas decorations still up.  The highlight for some of the boys was to ride on the escalators and elevators! 

 

The first place we had to stop was Starbuck's :)

 

 

Next stop - the Lego store.  The boys loved looking around and playing with the Legos and window shopping.

 

There was a beautiful carousel that a few of the boys rode on. 

 



We took our buddy Milton with us. 

 

There was a fun play area that the boys enjoyed too!

 

 

We were thankful to be able to get away for a bit and have fun together!

 

 

(I can't believe how tall Luke is getting!)

 

 





Excitement

Luke said something yesterday and I couldn't remember what it was, but I remembered today.  He loves birthdays and we were talking about Levi's upcoming birthday.  I can't believe he's going to be 10!!!  This time ten years ago I was absolutely miserable!  I could hardly walk.  That boy weighed 9 and 1/2 pounds!  Back to the story at hand - Luke then went to talking about my birthday - far away in July.  He was excited and said - "Maybe daddy will take you to McDonald's for your birthday mom!"  Ha! We did actually go to McD last year as a family for lunch.  Maybe we can go somewhere else this year.  I guess we have 7 months to decide.

Grandma sent us some money for Christmas so we are going to the city tomorrow to a mall that has a Lego store and a Starbuck's!  All my boys will be in heaven :)  Everyone is excited to say the least!  Hopefully they don't wake up with the roosters....

I Love your stinkin guts!

It was nice to stay home and play games with the boys and relax a little today.  We did do a little cleaning and had spanish this afternoon too.  We skyped with some family and got to see the snow.  Ben misses the snow for some reason.  I sure don't miss the cold or snow one bit!

The boys were cracking me up!  Caleb's favorite movie right now is the Little Rascals and he loves the line - "I hate your stinkin guts!"  SO,  we have taught him to say - "I love your stinkin guts!" and he says it all the time  It's so cute! 

We were watching a movie where a lady was training for the fire department and was running.  I am NOT a runner!  Joel asked - "How can girls run?"  He didn't seem to think that females were capable of running, only daddies I guess...  Oops. 

Celebrations!

We have been busy celebrating Christmas with our friends and neighbors.

We had a special Christmas lunch for almost 100 kids!

 

We had a great time at our Love Guatemala Christmas celebration, complete with a white elephant gift exchange.  Love that smile!

 

Antonietta and I at a special celebration called Posada.

 

Fun making gingerbread houses.

 

 

 

Delivering food baskets and gifts to families on Christmas Eve. 

 

Dinner with Julio's family on Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

Christmas morning at home.

We had a fun Christmas lunch with our fellow missionaries at the Schmidt's home.

 

We ended the day with a quiet dinner at home and watched The Santa Claus movie.

 

It was nice to Skype with some of our family back in the States!

 

The boys have enjoyed staying up very late the last few nights.  I'm sure hoping they sleep in tomorrow and that we can enjoy a low key day at home.

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas

It has been a busy week getting ready for Christmas!  We have had people sponsor 14 families here in Magdalena for Christmas!  We have been shopping shopping shopping for food and gifts for these families.  It is common here for people to celebrate on Christmas Eve, so we will deliver their baskets on Monday.  Many people stay up late and celebrate together and watch fireworks from the city at midnight.  The boys are looking forward to staying up and watching the fireworks from our rooftop.  I'm definitely gonna need a nap that day!

We had a great night celebrating Christmas with the Love Guatemala team tonight!  We had great food and fellowship!  It was a lot of fun doing a white elephant gift exchange!  I got an empty plastic Easter egg!  I'm so thankful for what God is doing here and for the team He has brought together! 

Unprepared

We had a lady from the cooking school and her family over for dinner tonight.  I usually put a lot of thought and preparation into a meal when we have company, but I had actually forgotten that we were going to have company until late afternoon.  So, I decided that we would just grill out.  Nothing fancy.  I felt rushed and wasn't really mentally prepared for company.  God has done some amazing things in this family and it was such a wonderful evening as they told us all about it.  We have been praying for this family for over a year.  Ana and her husband have had some struggles in their marriage and they have four children and two of their boys have some health issues.  Henry (Ana's husband) received Christ as his savior recently!  He was so excited as he shared how God has transformed his life.  Henry wants to lead his family and be the husband and father God has called him to be.  I was overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness at what God is doing in their family!  I was so unprepared in many ways for this evening, but so thankful for how it all turned out!!!

It's December!?

Today was a home day, which was nice.  I was kind of in a funk for some reason.  I got to take a nap - which is always helpful!  And I got caught up on laundry, for a day anyway.  It seemed like I cleaned up a lot of messes today, from the dog getting in the trash in the kitchen AND bathroom, to spills, to Luke throwing up on the couch.  Not sure what's going on with him, but he seems to be feeling better now and is sleeping. 

We had a nice weekend spending time with friends.  I can't believe that it's almost Christmas!  It doesn't seem possible that it's even December to me!  Time flies when you're having fun.  I do enjoy the warm weather and don't miss the cold or snow one bit!  Ben, however, would love some snow right now, crazy man!  We've been making snowflakes and drinking eggnog, but it just feels so....warm outside. 

1,000 times gross!

We try to only go to the city once a month to do our grocery shopping and today was that day.  The boys got up early and were raring to go!  So, we fueled up with coffee and set off for the city.  It is fun, but exhausting at the same time, and almost an all day affair.  Today the stores were pretty crazy!  Thankfully there wasn't traffic, so travelling was uneventful.  I have to tell you about the gross thing that I saw - while taking Luke to the bathroom there was a lady who wanted to clean the stall before he went in.  She used a washcloth and cleaned to toilet, under the seat, etc., then she went to the sink and rinsed it out (she did use hand soap...) and then proceeded to clean the counter, sinks and faucets with the same washcloth!  Eewwwww!  I wanted to bathe in special soap! 

Our friends invited us over for dinner tomorrow night.  Luke has probably asked me about it oh, 1,000 times!  And he keeps asking me what I'm making for dessert, but I just can't decide.  Carrot cake or brownies......




 

Naps and Doughnuts

Ben had to go to the bank today in San Lucas, so I encouraged him to take Julio and have Spanish class at a cafe there and enjoy some coffee......so he could enjoy the afternoon.......or maybe so I could take a nap :)  After my nap it was time to get dinner ready.  We had our friends Jose and Antonietta and their family over tonight.  Antonietta is the teacher at the cooking school and she makes wonderful desserts!  Tonight she brought doughnuts - the boys were SO excited!  Tomorrow morning she's going to teach me how to make doughnuts and Chow Mien.  I have mixed feelings about the doughnuts - they are so good and my family loves them, but then they will want them ALL the time.  I think we're all going to get fat.  I think I should start walking more!

O'Charley's Rolls

We had some friends surprise Julio (our Spanish teacher) with cake and a little party at our house this afternoon.  We all got to skype with the Bunso's which was really special for Julio!  Joel turned on the charm big time and got 3 (yes, 3!) pieces of cake.  He just smiled and pointed to the cake and Elma kept giving him more, little turkey!  He may not know much Spanish, but he knows how to get what he wants!

I made rolls for dinner - we all love bread!  I thought I would share the recipe for those of you who might be interested.  It's a mock O'Charley's recipe.  Oh, how we love O'Charley's! 

2/3 c. warm whole milk
1/6 c. sugar
pkg. yeast
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 stick butter or margarine
2 c. flour (probably more like 3)
1/4 tsp. salt

Warm the milk in the microwave and pour it over yeast and sugar in a bowl.  Stir gently to combine.  Set aside for about 10 minutes.
Melt butter in a separate bowl and beat the egg in the butter and pour into yeast mixture.  At this point you can put in a mixing bowl with a dough hook, but I prefer to just stir it in a bowl.  (less dishes)  Stir flour and salt together and add to wet mixture.  For me it is way too wet so I end up adding 1/2 - 1 c. more flour.  Cover and let rise for an hour.  Knead it for a minute on a floured surface.  Roll out and cut into circles or pull off pieces and roll in your palms (with a little flour) and place on greased baking sheet.  Let rise an additional 45 minutes.  Bake 350 for 10 - 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.  Enjoy!!!

I pulled pieces off and rolled them tonight and made about 24 rolls.

Craziness at the Kunkel's

Well, here we go!  I wanted to start a personal blog to keep our family and friends updated with the day to day happenings at the Kunkel house.  I realize not everyone will be interested in the trivial, but that's okay.  I don't consider myself an accomplished writer, so consider yourself warned.  With five boys and a new puppy, there are always a wide array of stories, pictures, and craziness that I can share.  I hope you enjoy our journey!