Quick Getaway

May is a crazy months in many ways! We have quite a few major activities planned for the church, there are a lot of holidays, and it's hot! The girls have several weeks in a row when they have at least one day off from school for one or another reason. The first week in May, they have a 5 day weekend (for labor day, catch up from labor day and Cinco de Mayo, which is NOT Mexican independence day). So, we took advantage of the opportunity and headed for the coast for a couple of days. We got to stay in our friend Phyllis' house, which is awesome! We only had to share the beach with the construction workers next door, but otherwise, it was all ours. Sam's mom came home with four bags full of sea shells and treasures.
We really, really, really enjoyed our time away. It was an opportunity to rest, to not answer the phone, to delight in God's creation. The girls spent most of the days in the water, and were rather waterlogged by the end of our time. It was such a blessing to get away in the midst of all the activity that we have going on, and we thank God for these kinds of opportunities.

The king of the house and his princess'... Sam won't let me post the picture of him swimming in his underware (I told you we were all alone on the beach) and wearing Victoria's pink goggles...quite the sight!



Victoria and Sofia looking much too grown up and beautiful!


The girls really wanted to fly this butterfly kite that Phyllis had at her house, but barring the traditional methods for kite flying, Sam hooked it up to his fishing pole, and it worked wonders!

Our Olivia turns 2!

During our church retreat, Olivia turned 2. We took advantage of the opportunity to share cake and sing happy birthday with 50 of her closest friends! She liked the cake, but was pretty shy when it came time to sing and blow out candles. Her sisters were right there to help blow out candles.
Olivia has been such a joy in our lives. She is developing a personality all of her own and it is so much fun to watch. She is communicating quite a bit and it is interesting to see how she chooses to use English or Spanish. She chooses one language for each word or thought, for example, she says: "milk, juice, sucio, sister, agua, etc." There is only one word that she knows and uses in both languages -- you guessed it, "mine or mio." We're working on the sharing concept.
She loves her sisters so much and wants to do everything they do. She also loves her daddy and cries anytime he walks out the door without her. She has especially grabbed the heart of people here, probably because she was born here and they have watched her grow up. So, at any church activity, I can usually rest assured that she is in good hands with someone! That is a huge blessing.
We look forward to watching our Olivia Grace grow up in the Lord and be the beautiful woman that God has created her to be.

Church retreat

The weekend of April 25-27th, we had our annual church retreat. This year, due to popular demand, we decided to have it in April, rather than October, since it's much warmer and there isn't rain (usually). We had our friends, David and Janie Padilla, who worship and work at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, come to speak at the retreat. Our time as a church in the word was an incredible blessing! David did a beautiful job of speaking God's word, encouraging us and inspiring us to live victoriously for Christ.
We had a great number of people come; although, the men were clearly absent in the mix. We had many, many more women and children than men. Our prayer is that God will bring these men and draw them to what he truly wants in their lives and raise them up as leaders of this body.
We enjoyed a couple of days at a "water park" equipped with cabins for us. The kids loved being in the water, and playing endless hours with each other. We even had a talent show where everyone was good sports about participating.
We praise God for these times of getting away, refreshing and fellowshiping with one another.

One of our sessions together



Food is never lacking and we love sharing a meal together!!!




Victoria wasn't so sure about playing organized games with the rest, so she played sloth for a little while


Sofia did an excelent job with the doughnut eating contest



The swimming was a highlight, and the kids really enjoyed swinging into the water; although it was a little shallow.



Just as an update, in April before the retreat, we said goodbye to our intern, Jeanine. She was here for almost a year and did an amazing job integrating into the Mexican culture, working with us and making lasting relationships with several of the people here. We already miss her very much and our girls especially were sad to see her go. We pray that God will continue to use her mightily wherever and whatever she does stateside. The next weekend, we also hosted the annual music seminar here in Morelia. We had five other churches from central Mexico (Cuernavaca, Lazaro Cardenas, Leon, Mexico City and Tlaplan) join us in learning new songs and praising God. It was such a blessing to fellowship with other Christians and be encouraged by each other.

Too much fun

So many fun things to do and such little time to blog. Enjoy the posts and remember you can always scroll quickly!

Baptisms

If you have read Sara or Jeanine's blogs, you know that we have had some baptisms lately.
Two weeks ago we had church out at a camp site, where we have had our retreats. It was beautiful to watch Flor and Nestor be baptized. They are a direct product of our park project last year, and to add to the delight, several of the ACU students that helped with this project were here again this year to see them give their lives to Christ. Also on that day, Estela was baptized. This is the first time that she had come to church with us, but she was convicted and my mother-in-law did an amazing job at talking to her and explaining the new life that we gain in Christ. It was a blessed day of fellowship, fun, food and new life.
Rebeca, who is part of Jose Luis and Adriana's cell group, has been studying and contemplating the seriousness of committing to Christ. She had planned to be baptized that day also, but was not able to come because of some family conflicts. But today, she came, along with several family members and gave her life to Christ in baptism. It was beautiful to see and know that her commitment is true and strong. Please pray with us for these people as they walk a new path that promises eternal life!

Nestor


Flor welcoming Nestor out of the water



Estela being baptized



Rebeca with Jose Luis and Adriana

Team fun

Since the girls have two weeks of vacation, we took advantage of the second week to have a little team outing. We went to Ixtapan de la Sal. It is a little town about 4 hours from here. It is famous for its thermal waters, very large water park, and various spas. The hotel pool was heated with thermal waters; although, the girls got pretty cold. Olivia shivered and shivered, but didn't want to come out of the water. We enjoyed the water park, which was rather impressive with big, big slides, a couple of rivers and several wading pools for little ones. The water, however, was not heated and it was pretty cold! Olivia and I stuck to the easy stuff. Sofia was disappointed that she wasn't quite tall enough for some of the rides, and the rest of the gang enjoyed the slides and rides several times. There aren't too many pictures of our time there since the camera was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. That afternoon, Sam and I enjoyed a very nice Roman bath (a large hot tub in a quiet room with no kids)!
The next day we took a little side tour to some caves with stalagmites and stalactites. It was very impressive. Mexico is trying hard to preserve and take care of natural resources, so it was neat to see how they are doing that with these caves. Victoria's statement as we walked into the cave was that she didn't see any point in all the walking to see some dumb rocks! After the trek, she decided that maybe the rocks weren't so dumb after all...(oh the joys of what lies ahead for us). We all did agree that we would have appreciated a little more scientific and historic explanations rather than the guide pointing out Santa Claus, the kissing couples, lions, pitchers and various other figures.
The funniest thing happened on the way home when we stopped in Toluca (very large city outside of Mexico City) to grab lunch. We drove through Burger King, and as we got ready to order, the lady said they didn't have any beef, but would be glad to serve us some chicken sandwiches if we wanted. Huh???!!! How does Burger King run out of beef? I guess they forgot Lent is over.

Sam, Sara, Jeanine, Victoria, Sofia and Olivia ready for the water park.


Sara, me and baby on board waiting for some water fun.



Vicotria, Sara and Sofia waiting for a train ride around the water park


Olivia playing her new favorite game of "Ice, ice" with Sofia. It must be played sitting on the floor, and repeated many times! She's too cute!


Sam and I and Olivia (not cooperating) on the cave expedition


Cool wonders of nature


Sara and Jeanine in the cave


One of the open areas of the cave -- it looks like a temple, and sure enough, the indians used to use it as a temple for the gods

Camping with Dad

Easter weekend Sam decided to take Victoria and Sofia on an overnight camping trip to some hot springs. It also gave me a little down time at home with only Olivia and Maria Luisa to entertain. They had a great time!!!! This weekend is probably the biggest weekend for travel in Mexico. EVERYONE takes vacation, so the campsite was tent to tent people, and Sam said that there was standing room only in the hot tub (can't say I'm sad that I missed it). The only draw back was that it was very cold at night, but they survived and are ready to head back again.
On the home front, we enjoyed some great naps. We tried to find some quesadillas on Thursday before Easter and everything was closed! The city was fairly deserted. Friday night we had dinner with Jack Walker and Spring Breakers from ACU who were returning from working all week on the coast. We enjoyed dinner downtown and watched the procession of silence downtown. Various groups wear KKK looking robes, carry candles and figures or large statues of Jesus on the cross or in the grave. The lights are all turned out except for the candles and everyone is silent as they walk past. It is impressive, although, not as solemn when you're enjoying a little steak on the side!