Ten years ago today, I had the privilege of escorting Hannah into her big celebration – her 15th birthday party!
As you may know, the 15th for girls in Mexico is a big deal. Looking back, it really was a huge blessing to see so many friends and family together, many who were there to encourage and pray for our daughter.
The theme was “heritage”, a time to also celebrate the family heritage that we are blessed to have.
Here’s Hannah with her friends – 10 year ago today!
So, what if I started to post again, once in a while?
Yes, it’s been a crazy time – not just today (which was crazy), not just the past few weeks, but the past few months. It would be nice to get back into some kind of equilibrium – but I’m not holding my breath. Instead, I’m just stopping by to post!
I might catch you up on a few things from the past few months, but let’s start with the most recent – the last month.
We’ve enjoyed quite a few visits! We got together with some new friends in Mexico City rather suddenly and spontaneously – in fact, our van was in the shop, and it j was just finished and we just grabbed it and we drove into the city to get together with Jon and Danielle. It was quick, but a good time of fellowship!
Then we got together with Jessica – you remember Jessica, she used to live here in Ixtapaluca, and is still with our mission. She was down for a meeting, and was nice enough to come by so we could catch up a bit. Glad she finally made it back!
Then along came what I called “Nathanael’s Gang” – Nathanael and three of his friends, Thomas, Emilee and Elira. The whole group had a bit of a “missions vision” trip, learning a bit about Mexico and ministry here.
Thrown into the mix was Natalie, former missionary to Guatamala who will be coming to Mexico – the state of Oaxaca – to serve. She came for a day of cultural orientation along with Nathanael’s Gang. As you can see, Mexican orientation has something to do with Coca-Cola and soccer. Go figure!
And of course all of this involved a lot of hanging out with Mexican friends as well – often over tacos…
The Gang was only here for a few days, but Nathanael stayed to have the pleasure of having two of his wisdom teeth removed. Oh joy! But you’ll be glad to hear he healed quickly, and we were able to enjoy some good times together.
Although, admittedly, not as much time as we had hoped for. There have been an unusual amount of challenges and complications in the midst of all of this – you know those times when everything goes wrong at once, or everything breaks down at the same time? Well – stuff like that. So that meant less time to enjoy Nathanael’s visit.
But God has been good, and a lot was accomplished in spite of it all.
Did I miss anybody? Probably. We even got to see our coworker Rod in there somewhere – an event that is rarer than you may imagine!
Nathanael is actually on the plane to Calgary as I write. And I have a music practice to get to! So – hopefully – I’ll talk to you later.
I’m not going to take the time to tell you about all of our whirlwind adventures in Canada. But let’s just say that it was an extremely busy, but also very good time!
We had the opportunity to serve in 6 churches in Alberta, get some paperwork and other errands taken care of, attend a conference, and spend some time with family and friends.
Of course if you get our newsletter, you already know about the most notable news from our visit – an engagement! In case you missed it, here’s the note right from our letter.
No doubt there will be more news to come on that topic! But I can tell you that we’re looking forward to a wedding in the spring. 🙂
Our trip home to Mexico was somewhat eventful, due to a cancelled flight. We ended up travelling for almost 24 hours to get from Calgary back to Ixtapaluca, unexpectedly visiting San Francisco along the way, but God was good and we arrived – even with all our luggage, which boarded more airplanes than we did!
We appreciate many of you who prayed for our trip.
And now, after being gone for a few weeks, we’re leaping back into life here. There’s lots to get done over the next little while. But Christmas is coming! So we’re hoping to get a bit of a break over the holidays if the Lord allows.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow! It was ten years ago today that we have the privilege of spending some time in the great outdoors of Canada with Shari’s parents and some cousins. That was a great time! And here’s proof. We’ll even include the illustrious dog Sniper in the picture.
(And by the way – I love this picture from 20 years ago too!)
For a while we had the privilege of serving at a local senior’s shelter. Here’s a quick video with some people you may recognize, leading music, ten years ago today…
I know, I often post about birthdays in the May edition of “retro”. But, of course, there is a reason.
So this year I’m just going all out. Here are some pictures from 2015 of the cakes – and piñatas!
Hannah had absolute chocolate overkill in her cake, and a giant “Hershey Kiss” for a piñata.
Nathanael had an “under the sea” theme for his cake, and a shark for a piñata.
