The opportunity arose to snap a few more photos on the way to work this morning, so please enjoy:
***So i started this post earlier this week and am just now posting it, we have been super busy. Today Taylor has off from school today, yeah! Aaron comes home, double yeah! And I don't work again until Wednesday night...and it is Halloween! Aaron comes in at about 5, my parents left this morning, so I am hoping to get the house super clean before we pick him up. And it is raining here!:) So here is the post, I will put pictures up of kids in costumes soon.***
Well we miss out Pappi but we are having an okay time here. My parents were gracious enough to come and help me out this week. I have a shower I am throwing for a friend on Sunday, Tay has a short week, it is my week for snack at Homebuilder's (Women's Small Group), all on top of regular things like Costco, work, and volunteer time in class. Oh and it is Halloween, one of my most favorite holidays. In Sacramento we always had a party, we have not had one here yet, but I hope to rebirth that tradition here eventually. Well here are a few pictures from the kids and I this week. It is not letting me add captions to the pictures. The first one is Tommy and I at the barn when we picked out out pumpkins. The second picture is the kids and I at the barn, it was sports day that day at school so Tay wore Aaron's old football jersey. The last picture is me dressed up for work, I was a cat one day and Ariel the other. It was fun to dress up! Hope you are all well!
Well, I've been saying that I'd like to get some pictures of Guatemala up, so here you go.
In Guatemala you see women walking with baskets on their heads
Hopefully I'll get to a few more pictures shortly.
Sunday morning, Early Sunday morning I headed to SLO airport for a leisurely stroll across the continent and into Central America. Nothing big. Here was the Plan: 6:40-7:30 SLO to LAX. 9-1 LAX to Miami. 3-4 Miami to Guatemala. Perfect. Except for the fog ... in SLO. 2 hour delay getting into LAX means I landed 1 hour after my connecting flight to Miami left. No big deal. Oh, the next flight out gets me to Miami 4 hours after my connecting flight from Miami lands in Guatemala. How about a different airline, perhaps something through Texas to shorten the length. Oh, nothing.
So this is me, haning out in the Starbucks at LAX by our gate waiting for our flight to Miami, right after I saw Jim Belushi. This is the beginning stages of haggard and a long long night. I'm now scheduled to get into Miami at 8pm, and I'm not going to make it to Guatemala tonight. So, making the best with what I have I call up Marriott, ask for the closest Marriott to the Miami International Airport (.5 miles away ... nice) and book a room. Should be at the hotel maybe 9pm local time.
Now remember I had a 2 hour delay at SLO, so now I'm on the plane to Miami (a 4 hour flight in and of itself) and we sit on the tarmac for oh, a hour and a half while they replace a light in the cockpit. So now I have a 4 hour flight to Miami and I get into the airport closer to say ... 10. Then the airline "lost" my co-workers luggage, only it wasn't lost it was sent ahead to Guatemala. Something we discovered after waiting forever, pleading to the turnstyle gods to produce her bag from behind the magic door and then waiting for 30 minutes in the luggage SOL department.
Coming onto 11:30, ok, Luggage in Guatemala, but we have a hotel a half mile away. Only after 5 phone calls 2 missed shuttles, one shuttle that had to turn around and a taxi cab later we blow by the Marriott on the outskirts of Miami Airport (the one .5 miles away) and drive 25 minutes into Miami Beach. Definitley a nice hotel, but at this point I'm looking for the back of my eyeballs. I get to bed around 2am, wake up at 4 in a dizzing panic thinking the clock is wrong and it's actually 8am and we're about to miss our ride to the airport, crack my toe on a chair ill place pushed at the desk, finally figure out that it actually IS 4am, dark outside and I head back to bed.
I'm supposed to be training a new group of agents Monday morning and instead I find myself being whirrled back to Miami airport and instead of a traffic jam we make it there in 1/2 the time, breeze through security and sitting at the gate 2 hours before my plane boards.
This is me now haggard in my hotel in Guatemala, half a day behind on everything.
Dad (holding Kung Fu Panda): Taylor, Where did you get this?
Taylor (taking Kung Fu Panda from Daddy): I got it from that Kung Fu Panda thing
The other day we indulged ourselves in one of our favorite past-times, a sunset walk along the beach. The tide was especially low this evening which made conditions perfect for hunting sand dollars. Not just seashells, but sand dollars. A few months ago Courtney said she would share the significance of the Sand dollar to us, so here it is. When looking for direction from God concerning moving here and the right thing to do, we found ourselves on the shores of Pismo beach and there in the sand was unbroken sand dollar. A rare find for a family without much beach experience and accompanying this treasure was the peace of God and a still small voice assuring God's providence.
Since that time, we have from time to time stumbled across unbroken sand dollars (occasionally one or two and sometimes numerous). Each time it takes us back to that place of God's leading, reminding us, truly why we are where we are.
The other day happened to be a day of numerous finds (18 to be exact, a personal family record). While Courtney and I were finding them in abundance, Taylor was determined to find one ON HER OWN, without Dad or Mom pointing one out. As our time neared an end and the pile of sand dollars mounted so did Taylor's frustration at not finding one by herself and my daddy heart was broken for my little girl. Looking at my two hands filled with sand dollars and without Taylor seeing I tossed one a few yards in front of us.
Gently I called Taylor over to me to discuss where she might find one. Unbeknown to her I'd positioned myself almost on top of the tossed sand dollar, careful to give it no attention. I pointed off into the distance as a place we might some and her face brightened as she looked down and proudly lifted a whole sand dollar, one she found on her own, all by herself. We celebrated her achievement and she began searching with a new vigor. It wasn't but a minute or two later that her efforts were rewarded by finding her very own sand dollar (without any parental assistance).
It was at this moment that God showed me how His hand in our lives, so determined to do things on our own yet, unknowingly gently led by Him. As our father He leads us, at times without our knowledge or understanding into His good graces. Then setting us free to live in His grace and in the lessons of His goodness.
