Much Needed Repairs

We have a nice large house with a great view of the city and the volcanoes and we have it for a fairly good rent price. The problem is, not much works well in the house and we have had an endless series of workers in the home trying to fix what is wrong and usually doing a poor job. Construction standards are not the same as in the United States of America or Canada. Finally, enough has been enough and we called upon two trustworthy men from our church to fix much needed repairs instead of letting the property manager choose the workers. What a difference! Celestino repaired our electrical box so now the power is not shutting off and turning on all day and night and Ricardo has built a new portion onto the cabinets so we can put in a new oven and stove. The previous oven and stove were awful. Everything here is powered by gas and the stove had only two settings: off and full blast! The oven door kept opening on it own and when it did that, the flame would quit, thus giving us a dangerous gas leak. Well, all that will soon be behind us.

Mom is still here and she seems to be liking the city. She really enjoyed the silver store, where we take our Gateway Teams, buying several very nice necklaces and earrings. She also loves the rich culture and the strong coffee. However, she has not really enjoyed Mexican food. Hence, we let her cook last night and it was great. I do miss mom's cooking. Mom's big heart has also meant that many people that beg in the subway tunnels and street corners are getting a little more these days. The kids have really been enjoying having her around and are already sad she will be leaving in a few days. We have to drive to the US border this week to renew our Mexican tourist visas until our permanent visas arrive. Mom is going to drive with us to Texas and we will take her to Houston to catch a flight to Calgary where she will visit my sister for a week.