I'll be home for Christmas

Ben and I were incredibly blessed to be able to go home for Christmas. We were able to spend about a week and half in Camas with Ben's family and about a week and a half with my family in Cheney. We enjoyed lots of family time and relaxation time. It was so good to be back and reconnect with everyone.

Also big news, I took my Spanish oral test, the last piece I needed to get my teaching certificate and I passed! I am super excited about this. It was a huge answer to prayer.

It was a little difficult to think about coming back to Madrid after enjoying so much time with family but we have some fun stuff planned over the next few months and summer will be here before we know it! Many people asked what we will be up to at the end of the school year. Unfortunately we don't have a solid answer. We will be moving back to the States, most likely Washington state and we will be on the job hunt.

For now, we are going to enjoy what little time we have left here and trust our future to God. He is so faithful!


Camas/the beach: 

Cheney

Cousins: Tallest to shortest

And oldest to youngest

Fall is finally here!

It is the middle of December and the leaves are finally changing color and falling off the trees. We didn't have much going on today so we took a walk to the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Valencia Day #2

In the morning we went to Museo L’Almonia. The museum is built over the ancient Roman ruins from 138 BC. Many of the walk ways are made of glass so it feels like you are walking on the old Roman roads. Other times, it was a bit trippy because you would walk over a 30 foot deep well and it almost felt you were going to fall in.

After the museum we of course had to go see the belén in the cathedral. Belénes are my favorite part about Christmas here. They are so elaborate and celebrated here. It isn’t like in the States where they are almost taboo. Here, every store, school, church and mercado has a belén on display. Some of them are very simple but some can be quite extravagant.

Next we went to the Mercat Central. (No, not mercado. Valencia has their own language, a dialect of Catalan.) This is one of the biggest mercados we have been to. We had a lot of fun walking around checking out all the different stalls. We also bought some freshly made paella for a picnic lunch. After lunch we lounged around a bit in the sun and then headed back to the hotel.

Before dinner we went to the Museo de Ceramica “Gonzalez Martí” Palacio Marqués de dos aguas. It is a palace turned into a museum and was fun to walk through. Yummy Italian food for a dinner and then a night spent relaxing in the hotel TV room drinking tea and playing cards.