We started out week #2 in Mexico with a Saturday morning hike with a group of about twenty five friends. It was the perfect day—sunny, warm, and with gorgeous skies!
This is the mountain we climbed.
The view from the top!
the parents.
These guys always have struggled sticking to anything normal. They prefer “the path less traveled”. Better known as NO PATH, just rolling down the side of the mountain.
No big deal.
Sometimes we almost prefer if they would keep their hair raising stories to themselves. Its a miracle they have made it to ages 20 and 17, in one piece! =)
Most of the crew.
We love this girl!
Here was our complete schedule, and the promo used for online advertising, for our time in Mexico. We had an additional concert that came up at the last minute that wasn’t listed here. Thirteen concerts in fourteen days definitely kept us hopping! But it was time so well spent.
Sibling cooperation! In Mexico, we almost always performed on a stage made from a trailer, inside a gym or barn. This way, it was more of a community event, and people would come from a larger variety of churches/backgrounds, since the concert wasn’t held in a church.
Fun times with Bella!
Liz with more friends, after an evening concert.
We love the fresh fruit in Mexico. It is like NONE OTHER!
A delicious lunch prepared for us at one of the churches we sang at.
The boys worked SO HARD to teach Bella how to make fishy lips. I wish I could show y’all some of the videos-they looked so ridiculous and she was so concentrated as she tried so hard!
Allison reconnecting with a friend she met last year.
Be expecting to hear about big things coming from these six, soon. Our band may be shrinking, but the remaining talent is pretty great and we think our babies will go far. =)
And yet more incredible food. Disco meat (chicken + pork this time), fresh tortillas, and the famous creamed salad of lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, and avocado dressing.
Concert time!
Bella got to join in on Mom’s morning Bible time with the littles! Looks like everyone was enjoying it, including her!
Smiles!
We sang at a Spanish church Sunday morning and afterwards the church prepared a lunch at the park. Above, the men, cooking Disco meat.
Bella was the queen of sleeping positions. She seemed to always be spilling out of the bunk!
Mornings consisted of study time for our four youngest that are still in school…
Bible time, in the trailer….
….study time for Josh, who is wrapping up the last two months of his Communications degree. He is excited for graduation in May!
Media/marketing time for Denver, our new director of that department…
Bible time in the sun…
…and can’t forget the FaceTimes! Or smile times. Or whatever you want to call it!
Denver worked so hard to win Bella’s heart. =) At first she wasn’t very impressed with him, but by the second half of week two she started to warm up. His phone was a helpful attraction. =)
We had two days off during the two weeks we were in Mexico. One was during the first week, the second was this day, during week two, above. We drove part of the day and then spent a few hours in the late afternoon, spread out in the party room of one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Thiessens La Sierra. If you ever go to Mexico…(smile)…their pizza is the BEST.
Another gorgeous sunset!
Laundry time again! This church had showers, wifi, laundry facilities, and several guest rooms. #perfect
At many of our concerts, Allison loved meeting up with “her girls” who had attended her retreats last fall. At this particular concert, she got to see eight of them!
Morning breakfast + family devotions in the church kitchen.
Liz and Bella, enjoying a sunny, windy afternoon in Mexico!
Mitchell, on duty for oiling + fixing locks and bay doors.
Last year, Geneva taught some of us how to play “Hands + Feet”. Since then, it has become a favorite of our younger ones, and they have taught a number of their friends how to play as well.
One morning, before we hit the road, we had some “spread out” time in the gym we had sung in the night before, so mom + the younger ones got in a few games with Peter + Geneva. Fun times!
We got to experience one of the Mexico dust storms that we have heard so much about. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Dust EVERYWHERE.
Bella loved Allison’s glasses!
A typical, chaotic morning in the bus…full, noisy, and messy.
Back in the USA! We had a lengthy four-hour border crossing. Suffice to say that after two years of complications, we will be trying the El Paso border next year. We have dozens and dozens of various border crossings “under our belts” by now, and the long and short of it is still that you just never know how it will go, even if you’ve dotted every I and crossed every T!
Anyways…thankfully we were much more “above board” this year than last year (read that story at the end of this post, here!) and other than a ridiculous amount of hassle over certain inconsequential food items, we managed to squeak through without anything negative going on our record. =)
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In closing,
as we mentioned before, we really cannot properly thank everyone who made this tour possible. We mentioned before the people of Mexico who welcomed our family and loved on us so well. But now we want to take a minute to thank all of the prayer warriors who were covering our family in prayer. Eternity only will tell the results of your prayers for us. There is no way to adequately share all the stories of protection, the stories of divine appointments, each of the testimonies of lives transformed by the Gospel…ALL that God did.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
To proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion;
To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
THAT HE MIGHT BE GLORIFIED.”
Isaiah 61:1-3
Thank you so much for sharing! It's so fun to see the pictures! Little Bella is so adorable! 😉 Praises to our Lord for what He is doing for and through your family! May His rich blessings be upon your way as you seek to shine His light to the lost! Thank you for sharing the passage from Isaiah — God is so, so wonderful!! Praise to His glorious name!!
Your sister in Christ,
~Martha Joy
963297 211572Thank you for your amazing post! It has long been very insightful. I hope that youll continue sharing your wisdom with us. 483203