Pictures at long last!

Alright, I have finally had the time to sit down and publish my post *pats self on back*. So, without taking up more of your time with an introduction, I will get to writing! Fasten your seatbeltes and prepare to be amazed!

AT THE SNOW!!!

This was the greatest of fun. After having spent two weeks travelling through Mexico, Arizona and California, we had finally arrived in the sunny state of Oregon! Well, maybe it wasn't sunny, but it was cold... very cold... in fact it snowed several times! Still, our snow-starved selves would not be satfisfied without an all out "trip to the snow", complete with hot chocolate, cold feet and snow-ball fights!

So, we got together with a homeschooling group and went! We rented the whole hill for the day and it was like having one huge party. I loved the fact that we didn't have to worry about straying away too far or any of the younger kids meeting with weirdos, we just relaxed and had fun!

(Go Mom and Dad!!!)(This is them sliding down the hill. Much to our disappointement, they didn't even fall off at the end! lol)

(This is Amanda, one of my good friends, who went with us. The motor home that she is getting into was actually ours. One of our friends in Sacramento let us use it for our trip to Oregon. I had never travelled in one before and I will tell you that it was heaven. It was so nice to be able to get up and walk around, and maybe even sleep! What a blessing, don't you think? We have decided that the only good way to go to the snow is in a motor home!)

(This is what I did after having played in the snow, eaten lunch and gotten totally soaked. I am kind of a whimp and heart and I really didn't want to go back out into the cold. Besides, I liked watching everyone else!)
(It snowed right before we left making it the perfect day!)

OTHER VISITS TO VARIOUS PLACES

(no comment!)(Noelle prepares a cake for Evie's birthday. She did a great job, I might add)

(We got to visit our home church and participate in the worship and service. It was especially nice to be able to see all of our friends again. It had been a long time!

During the service our family shared about what we had been doing Mexico. I say our family because all of us got up individually and shared. The boys shared about some experiences that they had had and Evie and my Mom shared a song for the kids. After them I got up and shared a passage from 1Timothy, tying it in with what I had seen God doing in the youth group.

After the service we all gathered in the fellowship hall for a potluck, Mexican -- err, well, American-Mexican -- style, and we got to eat the cake. Yumm!)

(I don't think that this needs explaining!)

(Caleb -- brother

Graham -- little version of Caleb

Carolina -- little sister of Graham, aka: sweetheart)

BREAKDOWN!!

Well, I suppose that you can't really have a true roadtrip without a mishap of some sort. This was that mishap!

We were on our way back down to Mexico and had just left Riverside, CA where we had stayed with my Grammy when it happened... oh, well I guess I should tell you what happened, huh.

This is our trailer tire. Now, there is something that you should know about this tire and this trailer. It is old. This is significant for more than one reason. Because it is old it is a little run down, but more than that the parts are also very hard to find. Having said as much it will not surprise you to find out that it took us no less than 9 hours to replace the disintegrated wheel bearing and get back on the road. I guess that we were blessed in serveral ways, even in this problem:

#1: It wasn't hot (big bonus).

#2: We had left ridiculously early in order to arrive on time, so we weren't as late a we could have been.

#3: We broke down right next to an exit, so we didn't have to call a tow truck.

#4: The town we broke down in had several part stores and shops.

#5: We had the money to fix the problem (that's a REALLY big bonus).

So, even though waiting in the car for 9+ hours wasn't fun (and especially not for my Dad who was doing all of the hard work) we were much better off than we could have been!

IN TUCSON ARIZONA

(Don't you love Jessee's throw. I don't know how he managed to win while throwing like that, but he did way better than I did. I hurt so bad the next day!)

(Caleb and Hunter)
(This is the house that we stayed at for three days before we crossed the border into Mexico. My Dad is busily packing so that we could get out of the house at 3am the next morning.)

CROSSING INTO MEXICO

(the border into Meixco. This is where you take care of all of your paperwork and get your visas.)(HaHaHa, This is how you move in Mexico. If you'll notice, this truck is also pulling the car behind it.)

(Venus right next to the Moon. Supposedly this only happens once in a lifetime. I thought that it was pretty spectacular, but I bet that it would be even cooler up close.)
(Unpacking and unpacking and unpacking)
(I finally got a new *coughs* wall. This time it's a tarp! You might think that I am weird to think of that as cool, but if you had seen my wall before then you would realize how nice this new one is. The old on was made of cloth and it collected dust really bad.)

(Here is the family that stayed in the house while we were gone. Their blog is Babymakers if you want to go over and read about how their trip went)

In closing, I would like to give the glory where it is due!

PRAYERS & PRAISES!!!

• God provided the finances for us to be able to make it all the way to Oregon.
• God provided a guitar for our pastor
• God has used this trip to draw our family closer together.
• Praise to God for His mercy and the grace He gave us in our travels.
• Praise God that we were not lacking of anything throughout the entire time we were in the States.
• Praise God for all of the people that He has used to bless us. I love seeing how God moves in peoples hearts!
• Praise God that He provided the money to put a new roof on our van (the old one was rusted through).
• God allowed me to meet with serveral new friends and a great many old friends (I love you guys!!).
• God provided an air hockey table and a pool table for the youth center that we are building behind our house.
• Prayer that God would continue to work in the youth in our village.
• Prayer toward the mission teams we are planning on receiving this June. As the time gets closer things can get kind of hectic.
• Prayer toward the outreaches that we are going to be doing over spring break (semana santa).
• Prayer that God would give me direction as I decide what to do in this next year.

Blessings to you all! Have a wonderful day and a blessed week!