December 7 was Beto's birthday. We invited our apt. friends, our missionary friends, and our pastor's family. It was a surprise and instead of Beto showing up to his apt. and everyone being there, with the way the apt.s are set up we had to have everyone go to my neighbor's apt. and wait there until everyone arrived, then they all showed up on his porch, knocked, and when he opened the door, we shouted "surprise!" It was great. i made the ever so famous Tres Leches (3 milk) cake, from a box, of course, but it turned out pretty well. The holes are supposed to be there! I promise I followed directions! this was Beto's first pinata and our dog loved it, well actually she was hateful toward it since we were beating it up she thought it was a threat. it was the most hilarious thing to watch her in mid air tearing it up, grabbing it with her front legs and eventually dragging it away and "eating" it for about 30 minutes until she was sure that it was "dead" . it was like watching a lion with its prey.

the beans are just something cool i stumbled upon in the market. they are the shape of lima beans but are so beautiful and colorful I almost didn't want to eat them. they would make a great centerpiece or decoration in a candy dish.

today was the last day of classes. Tomorrow we practice for the Christmas program, the school kids, in the morning, and the program is at 4, so they say. We'll (2nd grade) be singing and dancing to Rudolph, Harry Connick Jr. style. I'm really excited. I've been really stressed lately doing too much and trying to do all the extra stuff, plus teach, that we have to do around the holidays. Pray that the program goes well. I'm so excited to finally be on vacation, I have been waiting so anxiously for so long, counting down the days, and now it's surreal that it's finally here. Saturday morning I leave for Tegucigalpa and will stay in my old house with Amber until Monday when I fly home.

God has been so good, as usual, and this season has been awesome. I appreciate all your prayers and thoughts.

Merry Christmas!