WARNING: Lots of pictures and lots of fun in this post!

 These monkey's were on Greg's car window! He barely had time to roll his window up before they jumped on the car....lol

Oh we had so much fun today! It felt like we were home in Texas at the zoo! (That was our favorite hang out in case you didn't know:) We went to the African Safari  and it was awesome. You drove through it....sometimes with your windows up during the dangerous parts like the lions! But at the very end you parked and walked through various parts just like a zoo with kangaroos, wolves, birds, reptiles, butterflies, red pandas etc. They had blow up things for the kids to jump on, little parks to play or picnic and of course, lots of food to eat. We walked alot during this part and just loved being outside.....the weather was perfect! Thank you Lord for these precious memories we made together today!

All day today, I thought it was only Wednesday and then tonight Greg told me it was Thursday......I began to cry. I only have two days left with James until next Christmas and one week with Elisabeth. I am sad this time has gone by so fast but so thankful the Lord brought them to me.

Christmas day (and the next day)

 Everyone at church. I put my camera in the car after church and then we ate some lunch with the members outside. We had pozole (soup) and all the big kids liked it. It is one of my favorite foods here. Lottie looks terrible in this picture but she got really carsick in the car on the way over.

 In front of the big Catholic church downtown

 Mark and Lottie holding hands while walking down the street. She seems pretty taken with him. We walked pretty far to the market area and then had to walk back to eat tacos and get to our car. Mark carried her about four blocks.....what a special friend:)

 Eating tacos downtown, they were delicious!!!!!

 Lottie and Sissy sharing a french fry

 One worn out precious little puppy

 Emma had a total Barbie Christmas and in the background you can see the Barbie dreamhouse Santa brought her.....she is in Barbie heaven! The girls haven't really had their own things since we sold them all in Texas so this Christmas was really big for them. Seems they have a little bit of some normalcy in their lives with having their things around them. They are so appreciative though and thankful for their new toys. When they woke up and came into the living room they just sat there and looked at the tree and their presents. We had to make them open them.......it was really sweet.

 James playing with the girls legos

 and........James' creation

 Mark reading Emma the story of Cinderella. He has already become such a special big brother. We are sad that he has to go back home on Tuesday but we sure have enjoyed getting to know him. We are oh so blessed he is marrying our Elisabeth:)

We had a wonderful Christmas day. It was really quiet and we just enjoyed watching the girls play with their toys.  We were all so blessed by people giving James and Elisabeth items to bring to us for the girls. The clothes are terribly expensive here and the girls received tons of clothes and other special gifts! Oh my....I was in tears when we opened the suitcases. Big hugs to all of you who took care of my little ones.....I just wish you could have seen their precious faces when they actually saw their gifts. I am touched and moved by your generosity and the way you guys always take care of our family. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.....I love you all so much!

Christmas Eve singing and dancing!

Christmas Eve 2010 from Kimberley Byrd on Vimeo.

A Mexican Christmas Eve

 Martha Elena with her grandson......he is so precious

 James, Martha Elena and Greg

 Hot hot salsa.....way too hot for me:)

 Tamales filled with vegetables

 Estefani and Emma

 Martha Elena and Elisabeth

 Alberto singing!

We had an amazing Christmas Eve dinner with our friends! I forgot to tell the big kids that they serve large meals but not all at once. So they loaded up their plates initially with ribs, tortillas, potatoes, spaghetti, salsa, bread and guacamole. Oops! Then they brought out a whole turkey.....then later they brought out garlic sauteed shrimp. It is not polite here to turn away food, it is insulting to the cook, so needless to say we were stuffed! (Well, I wasn't because I knew how it worked but forgot to tell them! I felt so bad) Mark was so full he couldn't even try the turkey or the shrimp. He kept standing up and walking around and the son-in-law of Alberto (in the above picture) is the only one who speaks English and he kept saying in a loud deep voice, "Mark! You are a warrior! Sit down and eat some more!" ha ha  Poor Mark. I also didn't get any pictures of me or Mark? I think because I was sitting beside Mark at the dinner table. That makes me sad but I do have him in a video with Alberto singing if I can figure out how to upload it on my blog. Mark, James and Elisabeth were entertaining the family by dancing with Lottie and Emma. It was a great evening with lots of fireworks and gunshots in our neighborhood. The tradition here is that on Christmas Eve they don't eat all day. They eat their first meal around 7:00 pm then again at midnight. They stay up all night and then reheat the food the next morning for breakfast. Alberto and Martha Elena were a little disappointed we weren't going to sleep there and be there for breakfast. We are so blessed. We love you all and we are having a wonderful time!