We are back in the states again, this time it will probably be for longer than one month!

But since our last post, we have spent more time down at St. Innocent orphanage, visited a family we were able to assist with the building of their home last summer, Christened our god-daughter at the Blessed Feast of the Presentation of the Lord this past Monday evening. We feel so blessed have been there with her and to have her in our lives, as well as all the boys! We miss them already! We left Tuesday and have seen old friends and family in Southern CA, quick over-night stop in Vegas (we cannot gamble- we're too good at being frugal! but it was fun to see all the lights!), drove through Zion Natl. Park, UT, slept in the freezing cold snow in Bryce Canyon Natl. Park, UT (don't worry, we still had fun, and we're not tooo sick;) ) AND now we are staying with Kera and Chris in Denver! We had a lovely day today at the Celestial Seasoning's Factory in Boulder, CO, and a fabulous evening catching up with our good friend Mary! We plan to enjoy the rest of the weekend and have an AWESOME day skiing on Monday : )

Here are some photos for your enjoyment! Stay warm all you snow bunnies in Virginia! Sorry we're missing the big storm!

Los Dinos Estamos en el Rancho de San Innocencio!

That's right, we've been here having a blast since last Friday night. Our drive here through Arizona was great, we were able to stop and visit the Monastery of St. Paisios - what a beautiful place! Then we stopped at Seguaro National park and saw the cool Seguaro Cacti growing all over! Then, we hit some bad weather (we felt like Dorothy!), but eventually made it down here, safe and sound! We are having a wonderful time with the boys, enjoying the beautiful green landscape that the rainy season provides in Mexico. It's been chilly most of the days so our days have been spent playing inside mostly, legos, cards, reading, watching movies, having fun, an occasional game outside and today we finally got the wind anemometer tower standing with the help of some of the older boys. Phew! The near spring-like weather is also bringing new babies in the porcina - 2 new baby cows and three new baby lambs! We are bottle feeding one for now because it was a bit weak when it was born today - they have named him "Chocolate".

Here are some photos for you to see all the fun we are having!

As you may have heard... We are on the road again! We just weren't too eager to sit at home and wait for job interviews to find us, so we decided to hop in the car and head west! We have an exciting trip planned, mainly stopping along the way to see family and friends. Our destination this week is St. Innocent Orphanage, Mexico! Woohoooo! We are getting close - today we actually drove through El Paso, TX and saw Juarez, Mexico from the road! But we will head for California, so we have a bit of a drive still. Currently, we are in Safford, AZ. As with all of the places we have driven so through far out west, AZ is proving to be a beautiful place! But let me back up and briefly tell you where we've been so far:

Started January 13th, from Sterling, VA - to Nashville, TN

-Saw the Grand Ol' Opry; Enjoyed the home town of honkey tonk and listened to live music on Broadway St throughout our evening there.

January 14th - Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN (part 1 of this day)

-Drove by Graceland (literally, we had to turn around because we missed it the first time!)

-Toured St. Jude Hospital - If you have not done this, you must put it on the top of your list!

Check out their website if you have not read much on it: Stjude.org

-Walked around Beale St (Blues alley)

Part 2 of this day - Memphis to Dallas, TX

-Drove through AND ate in Hope, Arkansas, birth place of the one and only Pres. Bill Clinton

-Arrived late at Shawn and Yosi's house! (Deena's brother and sister-in-law)

January 15th- 18th stayed in Dallas, playing with the little rascals, I mean Skye, Dallas and Zoli! Great time catching up with them, we hadn't seen Yosi, Skye and Dallas since our wedding! Everyone has grown up! We had fun going to school in the morning with Dallas on Friday to his science lab! And over the weekend we had many a wrestling match, coloring and cake baking with Zoli, games of hide and seek at the park and good laughs shared by all!

January 18th - Dallas, TX to Carlsbad, NM

-This was a long driving day, but on a beautiful state highway. We saw deep rich earth colors, cotton fields, wind turbines by the hundreds, oil rigs and a warm sunny day

- We reached Carlsbad Caverns National Park basically right before it closed that day, so we set up camp for the night and went on a self-guided tour of the caverns first thing the next morning.

These caverns are the largest on the western hemisphere - we walked 800 ft down a steep spiral walkway to reach "the Big Room" where there are amazing natural structures that have been carved over time (millions of years)

January 19th - Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX

-Yes, after Carlsbad Caverns, we re-entered TX and spent the day at McKittric Canyon in GUMO Natl. Park. It was originally privately owned land until gifted to the Dept. of the Interior by the owner, Wallace Pratt, a Texan oil man. We enjoyed the similarities we saw between this park and parks in Patagonia (because of the high winds that come out of nowhere)

-Spent the night at Piney Springs campground in the park, amidst some high wind gusts throughout the night - but! Big Agnes, our tent, held up strong, and kept us warm and grounded throughout the night!

January 20th - GUMO Natl. Park, TX to Safford, Arizona

-The most beautiful portion of the drive so far; The end of TX was lonely on the road but more beautiful than we can describe. Houses were scarce out in these parts! We went through El Paso, then we again crossed back into New Mexico, and eventually made it to Safford this evening.

- Tomorrow we plan to visit St. Paisius Serbian Orthodox Monastery.

Merry Christmas everybody!

We miss updating the blog, so you may find that if you check in now and then, we will add a few tid-bits here and there about the new happenings in our lives! It may not be quite as exciting as the last few months... but we'll do our best!

Christmas was extra special this year because it was a Gakos & Khalil celebration - which meant BOTH of our moms were heating it up in the kitchen! WOW! What a combination! I think you can see for yourselves in the photo above that they made sure we did not go hungry on Christmas day (Thanks mommy's - we love you!)

There were many a game to be played Christmas night, with air hockey being the Khalil sister's fave, as well as Dean teaching me how to play Nok Hockey (must not be a southern thing because I'd never even heard of it!)

And it wouldn't quite be Christmas without a visit into NYC to see the massive tree in front of Rockefeller center!

Having our families together this year was really nice, and we want to thank them for all the thought they put into it, as well as all their thoughts of us as we traveled! Now that we're home, I'm sure they'll start wondering why they ever missed us so much... hehehe.

Alright now, have a blessed New Year! Ring it in loud and clear tomorrow night! I wanna hear those pots and pans!

Just in case anyone misses our blog...

we decided to show you all what a snow storm in Virginia looks like!

We were hit with just about 2 feet of snow yesterday! We've been outside shoveling for my parents but we also found time to feel like kids again... we went sledding! Twice! Last night was a bit anticlimatic because the sled almost couldn't move in all the snow, but when we went back to our hill this morning the conditions were way better. We even got my good ol' daddio to come out and play too!

enjoy the photos of the snow! Merry Christmas!

We're home!

It may seem a bit early, but with the threat of a British Airways strike that would leave us stranded in London for Christmas, we hopped the first flight out of Buenos Aires (6 days earlier than planned) and reached London on the morning of the 16th of Dec., on which we were able to fly home to Dulles, stand-by... we were not the only BA customers who were worried about their flights, but luckily they had room to accomodate us and bring us safely home.

Wow! It is a blessing to be home again, safe with our families. We are currently in Virginia with Deena's parents, whom we surprised the pants off of when we showed up unannounced this past Wednesday. Pretty soon we will head up to New Jersey to see Dean's family and celebrate Christmas, with both of our families! We're looking forward to it, because even with all the fun we were having - there's nothing like being home for Christmas with your families : )

Hola from Buenos Aires!

We arrived yesterday and have been busy exploring the town. But before we talk about Buenos, our last night in Calafate was spent visiting Nebepo Aike Estancia, at the foot of the Patagonian Andes. We had such scenic views from there, and enjoyed learning about the way the estancia works and the sheep shearing process (see picture below!). We also were treatedto a delicious Patagonia feast! Asado, Beef, Chorizzo and fresh salad from the estancia´s garden. Yum!

Ok, so now for Buenos!

Last night we went out to San Telmo Market and strolled around for a few hours, admiring the artisans´ work, along with just the neat feel of the city. The architecture is very old and beautiful. We enjoyed hearing many street bands along our walk last night! There were tons! We also made our way over to Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. They just happened to be hosting a choral concert that we were able to sit in on, and then we had a nice tour of the church. It is a beautiful church, with beautiful iconography and mosaic iconostas. The cupula is also a must see! we enjoyed our visit and hope to make it back for vespers on Saturday!

Today we spent time walking throughout the Recoletta, an old cemetary which houses some of the rich and famous of Argentina, including Evita. Each mosoleum is unique in it´s architecture and decor.

We plan to have a few more exciting days in Buenos Aires before we head up to Iguazu Falls!

Hola Amigos!

We are living it up in El Chalten, Argentina (still in Patagonia!)

We have been playing in the mountains again...! We spent 2 nights/ 3 days up in Los Glacieres Natl. Park, with up-close and personal views of Mt. Fitz Roy, Grande and Piedras Blancas Glaciers, and Cerro Torre.

We also were able to visit Perito Merino Glacier nearer to El Calafate, Argentina, where we went out in a ferry to get a quite closer look at the beautiful mass of ice! That kept breaking up and landing in the water, sending the boat in crazy, wavey upheaval! It was so cool! What makes Perito so unique is that it is one of a few glaciers in the world that are still advancing, instead of receding in size like most others.

We had been staying the last 2 nights with Flora, a lovely lady who owns an El Refugio in town, who we enjoyed spending time with last night. She even shared her Asado (grilled lamb!) with us - a Patagonian speciality. Very lovely lady!

We will be heading to Buenos Aires soon, but for now we are enjoying the little town of El Chalten!

Ciao! Buenos Noches.

-Los Dinos

Help our family at St. Innocent/ Project Mexico!

As you all know, Dean and I hold a very special place in our hearts for St. Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico. Please read the copy- pasted letter below from their founder about the year end matching program that they desperately need your help with! Please contact them directly by using the address at the bottom if you wish to contribute, or there is a way to donate online as well, probably on their website.

Please pray for the success of
our year-end matching challenge!

Dear (Dean & Deena),

A blessed Advent season to you!

As misfortune (and the little lenten demons) would have it, our mailing house made a huge mistake when manipulating the data for our annual appeal mailing and the entire mailing must be sent again. This means a potentially huge delay in response time to our matching challenge from our donors/supporters. While the mailer did go out last week, the names did not match up with the addresses on the ones that went to private homes (as opposed to churches, businesses and organizations). Many folks, I'm afraid, will have thrown it out, thinking that it came to them by mistake.

Of all years for this to happen, this is certainly the worst. We're all feeling the pinch of the economy. Churches, charities and non-profits are feeling it most especially. We experienced a setback after September 11th but eventually we recovered. Although we saw this recession coming, we did not expect it to last this long, and the impact of it has been far worse than September 11th.

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to re-send the annual appeal. Pray that the hearts of our supporters will be moved to support the appeal in SOME way. A little help from many can add up to a GREAT DEAL for those to whom we minister at St. Innocent Orphanage and among the poor of our neighbor, Mexico.

If you would like to help in this effort, please forward this e-mail to your own e-list of friends and family,and consider making your own donation towards this challenge online or by regular mail. All donations received by December 30th (up to $45,000) will be matched one-to-one by several anonymous donors.

May God grant you a safe and blessed holiday and Holy Day season!

In Christ,

Greg Yova
Founder & Executive Director

Send responses to this e-mail to: gbray@projectmexico.org


Donations by regular mail can be sent to:
Project Mexico
P.O. Box 120028
Chula Vista, CA 91912

We have been loving our time here in the Chilean Patagonia!

Since our last blog we have traveled by bus to Puerto Natales, where we celebrated Thanksgiving! We really got lucky, Dean had read in his favorite magazine ¨Backpacker¨, like a year ago, about the best hostel place to stay in Puerto Natales, the Erratic Rock. We looked em up and booked Thanksgiving night and were pleasantly surprised to find that we´d be having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner : ) Helped us to feel right at home!

The next day we took another bus to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, where we entered the park at the portion of the Circuit trek called the ¨tail¨, probably our favorite day scenery wise! We had excellent weather that day, with gorgeous sun and GUSTY WIND! (50 mph, no joke!) It was tough to walk through, but a great work-out nonetheless! We eventually made it to our first campsite that night which luckily for us had a nice enclosed shelter to cook and stay warm in before we went to sleep in our tent.

Next day, we took it a bit easier, to rest from our previous exhausting day of trekking and made our short walk to the next camp and then headed up to see ¨Valley de Frances¨. We then had a nice awakening the next morning to a few flurries, and headed out for another exerting day (15 miles or so) to our next campsite, Campamento Torres. We had another beautiful day, passing by many glacier aqua colored lakes and beautiful meadows, and then finally made our way up to the point where HEAT MISER and SNOW MISER were having a wrestling match! No joke (for those of you who don´t know your Christmas claymation movies, look it up!) summer and winter were trying to decide who would win this match! We were in the warm sun on one side, then peaked our heads around the corner and could feel the howling gusty, snowblowing wind! You could see summer in one direction, and winter in the other, with the turn of your head. Pretty awesome! but very hard trekking!

Eventually we made our way through our trek after one more morning of waking up in the snow! it was beautiful, helps us to get in the Christmas spirit! (Which has been hard, since it´s summer everyone that we´ve been recently!)

We are now back at the Erratic Rock and will enjoy relaxing till tomorrow when we head by bus to Argentina to see Perito Moreno Glacier and El Chaten, Mt Fitzroy.

Hope you all are well!

Ciao for now!