So much to say… Spring Break 2010

Where do I start?

We got home at 7pm Saturday evening.

I’ve just been trying to shower my kids with my attention & hear all about their week here with Grandma & others.

We had our bathtub replaced while we were gone.  Along with some old copper pipes that were leaking.  And the wall in my girls closet that was damaged from the bathtub leaking.

This resulted in new flooring in the bathroom, new shelving in the girl’s closet & I am sure quite a lot of dry wall dust.

We didn’t see the dirt of it all, Mom, Lana, & Leah had the house all cleaned & the mess all put away before we got home! 

WOW!  We are blessed!!

When it comes to the trip Zach and I took… I don’t know where to start!  We were extremely busy, lots of work, lots of traveling in vans, lots of people, NOT a lot of down time.

I feel like I still need to process the trip in so many ways.  I have never been on a mission trip.  I saw so many things that were new & different to me.

Our group organizer/leader, Denny, sent an e-mail this morning with many of his own random thoughts from the trip… I am going to use his thoughts to organize mine… here we go…

Do you remember the game of duck/duck/goose at the Prescott church?

Our group spent the first weekend in Prescott, AZ.  We visited the church congregation there that is the same as ours.  Only our congregation has over 1000 people in it and theirs has about 30.

Wasn’t it neat to see our youth spend the time to be good examples to the Prescott youth?

The Prescott church we visited has 12 kids in it, all ages 10 & under.  Our kids had so much fun playing with them.  6 of those kids came over to the reservation with us.

The endless games of cards…in the vans.

We had 3 of these beauties, with a trailer behind one for all the luggage, we spent A LOT of hours in there this past week.  The kids (and a few of the adults!) played countless games of Euchre along the way.

Kick ball in Prescott.  I don’t think I have ever seen a ball kicked as far as Rodney could kick one.  Of course…Rodney is bionic.

I didn’t get in on the kickball game, didn’t have my camera around then either… hoping someone else did and I can add some pictures of that! 

Zach LOVED Rodney!  He worked on the jobsite with him most of the time and really was impressed by his work ethic.

I was so blessed by the example of the men on my son’s life this week.  Both of my sons.  They worked hard and made me so proud of them.

 

Hiking at the Dells in Prescott.  (Rodney, please find a different path next time….)

I didn’t lug my big camera to the top of this hike.  Others had small cameras up there that I hope to get some pictures from.  It was really amazing at the top!  There were 2 paths, the “hard way” and the “easy way”.  The “hard way” was a tad steep.  Most of us parents were glad we didn’t see where our children were climbing. 

Riding in the vans

Many, many miles and  hours.

Zach practicing for track by running from Walmart to the hotel.

Uhg. Uhg. Uhg.

This was our first night at the first hotel.  I was so embarrassed. Mad. Frustrated. Embarrassed!!!!

We were in Prescott.  We stopped at Walmart to get some cake for Hope, who was turning 16 that day.  Zach kept saying he was going to run back to the hotel, which he said was right across the street.

He did.

Alone.

No cell phone.

Hotel was NOT across street.

We get to the hotel and no Zach.

A van went out to look for him.

Found him.

No pictures.

Urhg.

The WONDERFUL breakfasts at the Holiday Inn!

Meeting Jerry and his family from Kansas.

Jerry was a visiting minister to Prescott.  He had no idea he was going to meet 36 people from Indiana

Burritos for lunch at church…are you kidding me? (thanks Norma)

These people fed us like royalty!!  I LOVED the fresh guacamole!!

Riding more in the vans.

Denny’s GPS trying to find a McDonalds.

Round and round we go… :)

The wonderful new friends we made between Prescott and Bluffton.  These will last us a lifetime.

The creepy halls of the Gallup Inn.

I stay alone in hotels.  I travel alone.  This place creeped me out the first night!  Thanks to Jim & Jenny for trading me rooms!!  And I am so glad I didn’t hear that fight in the hallway outside my door that last night!!  That was a miracle!!!  I would have been so freaked out!

$20 breakfasts. 

Don’t expect change from your kids when you hand them a $20!!  You should have seen Zach’s bill that last morning at Dennys!!!  All you can eat pancakes & a shake & I don’t know what else but I didn’t see change from that one!!

Riding some more in the vans.

The cute little Navajo children.

The way we were treated as royalty by the Prescott church.  The food was unbelievable.

Our ladies and young ladies, tending to the cute little Navajo children and showing them the love of Jesus and God.

We were not there to see this…but the jubilation on Jim and Brian’s face when they located the needle in the haystack.

We want you to run a water line from here to there.  But we don’t know where “here” is anymore because someone removed the marker… so you will have to dig until you find it again.  GOD WORKS MIRACLES AND THE WATER LINE CONNECTION IS FOUND!!

Snow on spring break.  Yes…I said snow.

We saw snow more than once on this trip!  Falling and on the ground.  High elevations bring weather that is not what we would have thought possible for that far south!

Disney song trivia in the vans.

Not in the van I was in! :)  Sorry I missed that! (Or maybe not!)

Tom N and Wayne having a very relaxing DAY to return a rental car (where did you guys REALLY go that day???)

Mark’s face when I offered his expertise to reroof the house.  I think he went cross-eyed.

The look on Pam’s face when she went into the cat house.

The debate was… which is worse?  having a house full of cats?  or a house full of sheep!?! 

The cats smelled worse to me!!

The neat site of Jenny and Joy talking about Jesus as the kids colored and ate their snack.

Ben Fr getting nasty with a crowbar and ripping nails from the roof, like nobody’s business.

Riding in the vans playing mafia.

I missed that one too!  Kids were very good at entertaining themselves in the many many van rides we had each day.

The sopapillas at El Sombreros…these things were whoppers.  I think Tom and Josiah each at an entire one.  I think they deserve a medal of honor for this.

I can’t wait to get someone’s pictures of these!!  They were quite something and I left my camera in the van that night!  Zach only ate 1/2 of his.

Brooke and Jessica ordering a PORK CHOP at El Sombreros.   What were you girls thinking????

The guitar singing on Wednesday night.

How hard the students worked.

More Dutch Blitz to unwind in the evenings.

Sardines, crushed crackers, and silly string…ouch.

The tricks the kids played on each other in their rooms.

The Pizza Party.  When Kyle left the serving table…I think he had 7 pieces of pizza on his plate on the first trip….where does it all go?

Dan Cargill’s tool trailer!!  Wow…what would we have done without Dan’s leadership and his tools.

Cute little Navajo boys with ponytails.

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“What’s her name?”

“uh… HE said HIS name is Matthew”

“oh”

More riding in the vans.

Our time of sharing on Thursday night.

A pyramid that almost crushed Hannah, Jenae and Brooke.

Shelly and Pam’s tshirts.  Please ask them to wear these sometime.

Gee… seems the ONLY picture I have of Shelly & I in these shirts are blurry… oh there’s a story there… mostly just Shelly leading me astray! :)

Our young men who have a propensity to scrape their faces on bottom of pools.  What do you call that game again?

“What did you do to your face Ben (or Seth or Jason)?”

“Oh, I got in a fight with a prairie dog”

NOT!

Purdue got beat.

The group hug our young ladies gave to Stan and Dan to say goodbye.

Getting up REALLY early to make our Saturday flight.  Denny…what were you thinking?

Shane growing some whiskers.

“Man…that’s legit”.

Never guess who said that last quote enough to make it a common phrase!!

Zach & I at Sedona…

Pam