I Survived

So it had been awhile since I had gone out to the villages where we normally do our different ministries, right? Well, I had the chance to go out to one that I used to teach in and I was pretty excited about that. There were some others who also wanted to go so we took my car and we led three vans full of people out with us. I let someone else drive though. Everything went well apart from getting a little turned around because the area has changed so much, but we arrived at the church just fine. We sang some songs with the children, listened to a Bible story, served them soup and crackers, cleaned up, and played a little while with them. Then we loaded up to leave. So we went down the rough hill out of one village and into another and the driver is looking around and talking. Well, if you know me you might know that I have always feared being stranded on the side of the road for some reason or another. Actually, probably only my parents know this. When I was a little girl I would watch the gas gauge in my parent's car and worry about whether or not it was time to stop for gas. And now as an adult I'm always asking my husband, "Did you hear that noise?" anytime I hear a new noise that my truck may be making. So, back to the village. The driver is looking around and talking and I'm mentally picking out the less damaging spots in the dirt road that he should drive over because I'm thinking of the welfare of my truck. I notice that he is drifting toward a small cliff and just as the warning words were leaving my mouth we fell right into the ditch. Oh my goodness! One of the people in the very back, I have three seats, climbed over everyone in his path and jumped out of the truck. Others slowly made their way out while I stayed strapped into my seatbelt trying to figure out if I should stay inside, jump out through my door, or climb over to the driver's side and get out that way. I didn't like the driver's side option which is actually what everyone else chose. My concern was that it was going to tip that way and crush everyone in its path. Finally, the people from the three vans arrived to help. I took the wheel (after throwing out the driver's coffee because I didn't want spilled coffee in there on top of everything else), but someone else said they had off-roading experience so I let them climb in and here's what happened.

Well, we were blessed to be able to take a vacation last month. We decided to go to the San Diego Zoo since Aaron loves to see animals. We sit down to our computer and he names off animals for us to bring up on the screen. He gets quite excited about it. So we spent a week in a house in Cardiff by the sea, CA. The house overlooks the ocean. We were able to see dolphins jumping in the water right from the house. It was awesome to wake up to the ocean view and to sit down to a meal and look out the window right at the ocean. And to top it off the owners loaned us the house for the week. We took lots of pictures of the view and of the animals, but the best one was of Aaron. I guess he figured, "when on vacation, vacation from everything!".

We were also able to take him to a playplace. I really wish we had a couple of those here in Ensenada. It's hard to find a place where he can be free to play without us worrying about him getting hurt. It's also a place where he can do things on his own. We don't have to help him climb things because they're made for his age group.

So we got to relax, do some shopping, eat lots of things that we don't eat at home, and just spend time together as a family.

Our Little Drummer Boy

Noche Mexicana

September 16 is Mexican Independence Day. Our church celebrated by obtaining a permit to close off the side street where the church is located and setting up a stage, food booths, an eating area, and a seating area. I made about 70 cupcakes that all sold before the night was over. I really enjoyed the festivities. I even ate a small cricket, which for me is amazing because I'm not adventurous in that way. It was actually quite tasty though I don't care to try them again. Unless, I had to do it to be on the Amazing Race. Anyway, there was lots of music, there was a sermon, an altar call, a Best Dressed contest, and food.