Impromptu Everything

Aaaaaaaa! I don't know what to write. I don't know what to include or what to leave out. Well then, I will start with this. Apparently several people I don't know read my blog. I'll be honest, this intimidates me. All of the sudden my fingers are shaking and I think a little more of what I write, maybe even a little too much. Oh shoot. So to all of my unknown fans out there, thank you for investing (and I HOPE not wasting) your precious time reading my musings, and thanks a lot, now I'm nervous. Ahaha.

The word that is plastered in bold black letters with a white background in my mind is WOW. I am humbled, in awe, overwhelmed, thankful, blessed, just....yeah. All of that and more. I'll pick up where I left off with my last post. As you can see from the picture this last team was more than rough and tumble. But don't let the image fool you, they were all mush inside too. You've probably picked it up by now but if you haven't I'll remind you that things don't usually go as planned in Latin America, or in the rest of the world, or in life for that matter. But jumble up some Latin American untimeliness, unpredictable weather, generators that don't work, weed whackers that temporarily go bad, a mad backhoe driver, uneven foundation pillars, and you'll find that your plans have changed just a tad. Regardless of all that mess, God's plan prevails over anything and everything we think we should do and I praise him for that. His plans are so much better anyway. My point is the men worked hard and got a lot of good work done. Even Don Quijote helped out! I was asked by a really good looking project manager (ahem, mi esposo) to go beyond sandwich making for the team and to help out with designing and laying a tile mosaic on the shower floors. Laying the tile was tedious but designing it was really fun. I can't take credit for the design of the floor in this picture because a team member named Pete designed it but this is what we worked on. I'll leave my design to your imagination, my hint being that there are definitely a few swirls. My girls Jess and Emily came back for a couple of days so that added to the greatness of the week. One thing I appreciate from all of the guys on the team is that they were faithful in prayer, service and obedience to the Lord throughout the whole trip. They were a great encouragement to Jason and to me.

This may come as a shock to some of you but we were in the States this past weekend. Crazy, right? Oh but it was a total blast! Our friends James and Patricia Goodard saw to it that we come to Wilmington, NC on Thursday to enjoy a whirlwind of activities with their family, past team members that have come, the men's team, and even future teams that haven't quite made it down here yet. Among some of the many things we did, Patricia took me to a pottery place where you can choose a piece of unfinished pottery, paint it however you fancy to, and leave it for the store owners to glaze and bake. It's one of my new favorite things to do, except here I will probably have to make my own pottery out of my own clay and build a bonfire for baking. Durrr. Saturday several of the team members and their families went boating and beach bumming and we roasted in the sun while eating caramel popcorn and watching David Fuller (ATC's Director) get dominated by some waves on a jet ski. Sunday we spent most of the day hanging out with everybody again and celebrated what the Lord has been doing with the project and in our hearts with a grand finale BBQ. Every detail of the trip was a deep blessing to us and we are very grateful for the love and support that was so sweetly given us throughout these past two weeks. I have so much more I would like to share but it's late I am thoroughly bushed from the frenzy of activities that have been going on and as far as we are concerned, they are just beginning. More on what's coming up later. I simply ask that you join us in praising God for his goodness and thanking him for his mighty works. Be blessed and be encouraged!