9 days with our home church youth group!

For the week leading up to Easter, we hosted our youth group from our home church in Canada - Kleefeld EMC.

There were 9 youth and 5 leaders and we looked forward to it a lot as we know all of the leaders and knew it would be a great week together! The leaders include those that mentor us (our pastor) and that we have mentored (our previous youth) and that we currently mentor (Paulina, from our church here in Gdl but who is studying at Steinbach Bible College in Canada and attending our home church there, and who Dallas will be performing the wedding ceremony for in July!). It's neat to see the way different generations and groups of people can work together.

Our house was the central command station for all things food and debrief related ;) Our house is small but thankfully, youth don't care about cramming! 

We are so thankful also for those that helped us in planning and running the week, including those in our cell groups, we couldn't have done it without them! They helped drive the youth around, inviting their friends and people they're reaching out to to the different outreach event, and hosting with us. We are excited when we see the local believers working together.

The day they arrived, we did a bit of orientation and then spent some time in prayer for the upcoming week. That evening we put on a youth event, where we and our cell groups invited contacts to come out for a Cultural Event. Youth events here often mean anyone is welcome, and we had from little kids up until parents of the youth.

We did a bit of a talent show, music, played hockey, and had pizza together. Our prayer is that those that were invited will have come away with a positive view of Christians and that this can prompt conversations with those that invited them.

 

The next day was Palm Sunday and we took the group out to Los Chorros de Tala, which is a natural park with a waterfall, a creek, and a swimming pool. Some from our cell group went as well and we had a service there at the park and then spent the day together. 

For Monday we planned a Kid's Club here in our gated community and had a few of our kid's school friends come out, plus some from here in our community. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures as I was in charge and it went by quickly :) We also had some down time that afternoon and then spent some time in prayer looking over the city of Guadalajara from 2 high places. 

Tuesday they headed to downtown Guadalajara for our traditional Picture Scavenger Hunt that we do with teams that come! They split into groups and were given a list of things to find and to take pictures of. This included touring the Catholic Cathedral, visiting some historical buildings, and touring a typical market. 

Later in the evening we had one of Paulina's friends come and share about the traditional Catholic pilgrimage that is happening right now, that he took part of. This is a path that people walk for two days in order to spend time in prayer to the Virgin of Talpa, the town they walk to. 

After the first number of days in the city and exposure to urban life and ministry, we took the group to the Orphanage Ranchito Con Eperanza (Little Ranch with Hope), where they spent the next 4 days. I know this was a big highlight for many of them, as they were able to do several types of ministry. Some worked on the farm feeding cows and harvesting honey, some worked in pouring a cement floor, some helped with peeling and cutting tons of fruits and veggies, and some read and did activities with the kids. This is the Orphanage that Dallas and I and our cell groups volunteer at regularly and where our little girl is from.

 The orphanage is in a small town an hour out of the city and as the only Christian influence there, they periodically put on Kids Clubs and invite the town kids. One afternoon we did this with them and they had 30 kids come out in addition to the 23 they have at the orphanage. 

 And, one of the days while they were at the orphanage, Dallas and I skipped out and attended a wedding! We did pre-marital counseling with a young couple last summer and now they were getting married. Their parents are good friends of ours from our kid's school, as their younger son is in Carter's grade, so we had a table full of friends from school there to hang out with!

This is Karla, a mom friend who was one of the first I ever met here in Gdl almost 7 years ago! How time flies.

So, that was our week!! There are many stories to tell and I know that each person on the team would have different perspectives and stories. For us, we see the ministry opportunities and ways the team helped us with our ministry and reaching out to people. We see the ways people worked together and advanced God's kingdom.

It was also a tiring week for Dallas and I as along with the planning and running of the week, we had our 4 kids with us plus had Brady visit the hospital twice while they were here (he has a knee effusion, which we are still working on solving). But, we are thankful for the week and to God for working despite our weakness' and for giving us joy. Our prayer is that the week will be something the youth will look back on and remember the ways they were impacted and have this change them even in small ways, and that makes it all worth it!

Canada Part 2: Dallas, Tara, Ministry, Studying

The largest portion of what we do while we're in Canada is connect with our supporters as much as possible. This includes extended family, friends, and churches. We reported in churches on Sunday mornings, attended some mid-week church events, and met one-on-one with people throughout the week.

It's a chance for us to promote missions and promote Guadalajara, and also a chance to be mutually encouraged in our walks with God. We couldn't do what we do here without knowing we have the prayer support behind us. Perhaps we could. We have God with us no matter what. But we are in this together and being upheld in prayer and having people interested in our ministry and lives here gives so much strength as well.

Besides reporting and sharing, we had some great time with family and friends to just relax, be rejuvenated, and laugh together! We are so thankful for "our people". Sometimes I miss having "our people" so close by - those people we've known our whole lives or for more than 10 years at least that just know you. But we're working on that here ;)

We also had a lot of meetings that were ministry related and a lot of business to take care - banking, renewing paperwork...those kinds of things.

So, some pictures.

One weekend Dallas and I attended our EMC Conference's Ministerial Retreat. This was a great opportunity to connect with different pastors and ministerial in our Conference, from around Canada. It was also great to see so many people we knew and many that had come to Guadalajara on Prayer teams over the years were there as well.

Dallas had a chance to play in a curling tournament while we were there...a little R&R.

Since our boys were already being babysat while we were with the Ministerial, Dallas and I took advantage of this and headed to a cabin in the Whiteshell for a couple of nights longer. We rarely ever get away for night without our kids. I should really say never. So that was wonderful and we need those times as couples also.

Some pictures with friends. You know, I didn't realize how few pictures I took!! Our minds were quite full during our time in Canada and I just wasn't taking out my camera really at all. So if any of you have pictures that you took with us, please send them to me!!! This is all I have! So bad. I should have taken some everyday.

This is Dallas and his best friend since high school.

And these are friends of ours from College days and even earlier...her family and my family have known each other for eons, but we got to know each other more so in College days. And they are arriving here in Guadalajara in a couple of days to visit us!!!

And the boys with their life-long friends/second-cousins. They grew up together, moved to Texas and Mexico together, so now when we're in Canada they love to see each other again. They pick up right where they left off.

Studying - let's not forget that!

Dallas was in class and doing studies while we were there. He had to be there for part of a class all of November and then again in January, which was the reason for the timing of our trip. He started his Counseling Practicum, which he is now continuing here in Gdl this semester.

And, we did homeschooling with the boys. They missed 8 weeks of school! The school is so amazing to us and the teachers had prepped a lot of their work ahead of time for us to take. We did it each day and every Friday I sent pictures of all their work for the week so that they wouldn't get behind. We are so thankful for the school working with us in this way.

We even did projects and recorded video of the boys giving their "presentations" to the class.

Their cousins encouraged them along here and there ;)

30 Days of Writing: HAPPY (our Anniversary and camp)

The blog has been down and I haven't been able to post recently, but here I am! Just wanted to share 2 things as of late....

We celebrated our 15th Anniversary!!!

This past week we took a few days in the middle of the week and headed a few hours to the beach to celebrate our 15th Anniversary! 

So many others are also celebrating anniversaries this summer, but with much bigger numbers, making 15 sound like just a bit. However at the same time, I look around me at the marriages that are falling apart and the people we are working with who struggle to make it through the next month together and am so thankful that we have God at our centre. It might sound nice and sweet but it's the truth - without that commitment to God and to each other, the motivation to forgive each other and decide to love would not be there. 

We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I am so thankful for Dallas and our marriage. I'm also thankful that we like to have fun together and that as a family we really enjoy being together!

This is only the second time we've gone to the beach as just our family - we usually wait until we have visitors from Canada come or if Mexican friends invite us to go with them - and so we had a bit of trouble when it came to the hotel room. 

It seems that five people in one room is just not acceptable, at least if it's a hotel where they care about these things. 

We originally were not going to stay at this hotel (which is our family favorite as it has a water slide and an underwater cave) but when Brady decided he would rather go to this particular hotel than have a birthday party later this month in order to be able to spend a little more here...well, we were on board ;) 

So we read all the fine print and saw we could pay a tad extra to have 5 people in the room, however when we got there we were informed that this didn't apply to the smallest room at the hotel. We were supposed to pay the difference for a larger room plus pay for an extra person - would have been an additional $500 or so!!! I don't think so!! We showed them the fine print on our reservation and while they insisted that it was a mistake on their website, they had to honor it! phew.

So we had a wonderful 3 days and celebrating our Anniversary with the boys was so great!

I know you can see the loooooove for pictures all 4 of my guys have through these pictures...

Side note: We have been to this same hotel in December/January, when it is FULL of Americans and Canadians. Now that it is summer it was mostly Mexicans there as it's holiday time here. Well, the environment is so different! One major thing we noticed is that there are tons of people in the pool and in the ocean when it's Mexicans there.....it would seem that Americans/Canadians tend to not get in the water and are rather laying on the chairs all around the pool and in front of the ocean. ok ok I know there are exceptions ;) but it was a markable difference. 

The boys also went to CAMP

We had heard of a Christian camp close by here so this year all 3 boys went for the first time! They were able to all go the same week which was so great for them, plus Carter invited 2 friends and Logan had 1 friend join him. They loved camp and are eager to go back next year. 

We went to visit the camp a month before as we didn't want to be inviting others or recommending it without seeing that it was safe and a good place. It is run by a group of Bible Churches and is well run. They also have a Bible school there at the camp and the counselors are Bible school students that stay for the summer.

So we were happy to have found the camp and happy that our boys enjoyed their time there. This also meant 5 days of interrupted time for Dallas and I, which gave us a lot of time to talk and plan for ministry, for our family, and to spend some time together. 

30 Days of Writing:
DREAM, SENSES, LIGHT, INSPIRING, WHAT-SPEAKS-TO-YOU, HAPPY, FLY, MUSIC, TASTY, SUPPORT, SPECIAL, PLACE, BREAK, TOMORROW, DESTINATION, BRAND, EVENT, NO, LAUGH, FEED, MIND-BLOWING, FABULOUS, COMPARE, EXCLUSIVE, FUZZY, FRIEND, BATTLE, SIGN, GRATITUDE, SMILE
*#an_snapaword

Dallas and I alone for a whole week

8 whole days together
No kids
First time in 13 years!

Dallas and I have gone away for long weekends since our kids have been born but have never left them for a week, so it did take me awhile to get used to the idea, especially being away from Grandparents where you don't ask and just leave ;) We originally had the plan to go to Cancun for our 10th anniversary...well that came and went...3 years ago, but my thing was where to leave the kids for that long.

Eventually we decided enough was enough, this was a good thing and it was time to do something like this together! As soon as we started mentioning it to friends we had several families offer to take the kids, enough so that I had to not feel bad about saying no to certain ones. We asked the boys though who they would like to stay with (we gave them options) and made sure they were people we trusted with our lives :) Families that know the boys well and love 'em.

They did so, so good!! Our friends described Carter as the sweetest, older brother who made sure the other 2 cleaned up, obeyed, and were taken care of. Logan as the sweet one but who didn't always want to listen to Carter. And Brady as the cheeseball and the cuddler when he was tired.

All descriptions that reminded me of this picture taken 5 years ago.....even then Carter and Logan were the same! Brady we didn't know as well yet...but Carter was the one watching out for the train, careful to hold Brady nicely, and Logan was busy stuffing rocks in his mouth during this photo shoot.

Anyways, we were proud of them and they had a great time, between two families houses and events while we were away. One family from our cell group with two teens and one family with kids in the same grades as Carter and Logan in school.

The rooms were in these tower things

Ok, our holiday! We flew to Cancun and then drove 40 minutes south to stay the week in Playa del Carmen. There were tons of people from South America and from Europe at the place we stayed, but we had heard that Playa del Carmen was known for this.

People watching is fun and therefore, some general observations:
- Accents are fun to listen to and to guess at where the people are from
- Europeans have some interesting fashion sense
- Latin people greet each other as they pass all the time, saying hello to you as you pass in the dining room or wherever, where as Europeans/Americans/Canadians ignore each other. This is normal in Mexico but I didn't expect it so much at a resort.
- The few Canadians and Americans that we saw were the ones that were...drunk and making scenes. And taking tequila shots at 10 am.
- Salsas are spicier in the Cancun area than in Guadalajara, they use more Habanero peppers we are told.
- It is not always hot and sunny at the beach.

We had such a relaxing time! It took a couple days for me to totally relax but I think it's normal to need to unwind from being busy.

I've been doing the study "Breathe" (about taking and creating time for Sabbath) the past month or so, and this was an opportune time to reflect on what that means, practice it, and learn more about it.

It was nice to do what we wanted, hang out together, talk, eat without being interrupted by kids, do fun activities together, and just run around and hang out. We did talk to the boys several times but they were happy and so we were happy knowing they were well taken care of.

The place we stayed at was in the jungle a little more so, it had it's own Cenotes (a natural sinkhole in the ground where the limestone bedrock collapsed, exposing underground water).

There are tons of Cenotes around Cancun and they have crystal clear water. Most don't have a lot of fish though so if you're snorkeling you look at the bedrock and the formations, as some are in caves or partially in caves.

Believe it or not, this picture is the only sun we saw in the whole week! The first day was hot....

...and then it rained. And was cloudy. And rained. All day, except for a few hours a day more or less and sometimes for half a day. So, we walked everywhere with our umbrella and went out and about anyways! We tried to time activities around the periods of no rain or just got wet anyway. We still got plenty of scrapes and cuts and bruises which goes to show we didn't let the rain stop us completely ;)

My goal in the above pic was to get in the obligatory beach/toes/sand/drink picture. All in one and get it over with.

Dallas' expression when Tara asks for yet another picture....

One of our favorite things we did was go to Xel-ha, a natural inlet in the ocean with snorkeling, ziplines into the water, rope swings and obstacles, lazy river tubing, a little water cave, etc.

The lazy river started by taking you under the Mangrove trees

This sign was quite realistic....

A draw to this area of Mexico is that the ocean water is so clear and blue and there are tons of tropical fish. We saw some here in the inlet and were planning to go out further into the ocean but the rains prevented that. Either way, we saw some interesting fish.

The other thing to see in the area are the Mayan ruins. We drove a little further of course so we could see one of the biggest ones, and a place that allows you to climb them ;)

This is the biggest one, hard to get a picture of the size. And you don't realize how tall it actually is until you climb it and see over all the trees.

At the top

Climbing down....not for children or the week-kneed!

Anyway, there's much more I could tell....

We watched some shows in the evening at the hotel, most were about Mayan customs and dances and spiritualism, which we watched a little of. And we did watch a Disney show :) without our kids...but Tarzan and Jane were doing aerobics on rope swings so there's our defense.

We ate too much.

We argued a little.

We got along a lot.

So, if you are thinking about taking a trip, long or short, with your hubby or wife.....go for it! If it's something you can do and have the time for, it's worthwhile. The place to me is not the most important. Yes, it's beautiful there, but for me the fact of enjoying it as a couple as what makes it worthwhile. I think it'll be a "once in a 10 yr type of thing", as in save up for a long, long time, but in the meantime we'll still enjoy hanging out.