A Trip to Guadalupe

We have been so busy with studying and with mission teams and just general "stuff" with our family that we haven't been on one of our "outings" in quite a while.  In our first 2 years here, our friends David and Marisa took us on excursions all over Extremadura.  We really enjoyed the fellowship, it helped us get to know our providence better, AND it allowed me to enjoy GREEN!!!  Most of Extremadura is pretty brown and dry most of the time.  Growing up in upstate NY, I literally crave the luscious green foliage (not that we actually get that type of green, but some green is better than no green!)... Wes is this way with the ocean, having grown up in FL. :)  Are any of you like that?

Lunch!

The boys throwing an American football.  We were loving all the wide open spaces!

Anyway, this month, we finally made the time to get away and explore once more... with David and Marisa, of course. :)  We drove 2 hours to Guadalupe, which is in the mountains, and it is well known for the monastery there, and of course, the virgin of Guadalupe.  We stopped just outside to have a picnic lunch together.

Little Juan!... actually, not so little. :)  LOVE his smiles!  and look at those eyes!!

Noah... sweet girl who has just as much energy as my boys!

Jonathan

It was gorgeous up there.  I know there are a ton of pics here, but at least you get to see a little part of the quiet, not-so-touristy parts of Spain. :)

I guess you can't really see b/c of the guard rail, but behind the guard rail is water!... actually, we were sitting on the wall of the dam.  (haha... I avoided writing 'dam wall'... and then I realized why...)

Jonathan being Jonathan... ever the adventurous one!

Nathan and Carolina. Sibling love. :)  I LOVE Carolina's face here.

So, a little side note here... Wes has this very strange idea that he is getting old.   I keep telling him that I'M not old, and we're the same age, so it's not possible that he's old!  He doesn't get it. :)   One thing Wes really misses from the States is playing sports and getting out with the guys.  He does play basketball here, but got injured (maybe this is why he thinks he's old??!?!... doesn't make sense to me) so he hasn't played in a while.  We've been brainstorming about other types of sports he can do around here.  When we drove up into these mountains, I asked him if he would enjoy rock climbing.  There were some amazing rock faces... I couldn't get pics of them, though, b/c of the way the sun was hitting at the time.  Anyway, Wes just laughed at me when I said it... and then changed my mind REALLY quickly.  The thought of the father of my 4 children hanging on a rope at such a height... that made ME sudden feel old!!!!! Not. A. Good. Idea.

This is the monastery at Guadalupe.  We paid to get in and take a tour.  It was extremely interesting. There is a ton of history here!  Many people from around the area make trips here to pay homage to the virgin.  At the end of our tour, we had the chance to go see "the virgin."  I asked Marisa about it, b/c I wanted to go see this very cultural ritual, but I wasn't sure if I would offend people by being there.  There is a LOT of emphasis placed on virgins, saints, and of course Mary, here.  Marisa told me that they would stand in line, waiting to kiss the virgin, and she thought it was fine if I went up.  So, we walked the long stairs up with the rest of the mob, and it was eerie to me when we got up there.  We stood in this empty chamber, in a long line, waiting our turn to "see" the "virgin."  It was an atmosphere of worship... quiet, reverence.  It was so sad to me... this type of reverence should only be reserved for the one true God.  Not a woman who was a sinner and died... and is still dead.  We watched people walk up and kiss a picture of the virgin that the priest was holding.  We only watched for a few minutes, and then we headed back down stairs... with a heavy heart.

 Once we got down to the bottom (David and Marisa did not go up, b/c they do not hold to the Catholic rituals, even though they were raised Catholic and their families are Catholic.)  Marisa asked me what I thought about it, and I was able to share from my heart.  Both of our families do similar things (like not celebrating these traditionally Catholic rituals and not sending our children to "religion" class in school, etc.) but we do them for very different reasons.  Marisa and I were able to chat and share our hearts for quite a long time about the convictions behind our actions.  This was not a new conversation for us, but definitely more in-depth than ever before.

This was inside the monastery.  It was beautiful!

The courtyard inside.  This was the only place they allowed you to take pictures.  It was prohibited all through the rest of the monastery.

It was a very special day... to be able to spend extended time with our friends again, as well as have the chance to share about something that is SO much a part of who we are.  Our love, faith and trust in the Lord has shaped us.  It changes who we are b/c of our love for Him... and His GRACE toward us.  I was excited to be able hear Marisa's heart; and then in turn, to share so many different aspects of my walk/relationship with the Lord, AND the why's behind them... things that I hold so dear to my heart... shared with a friend that I hold so dear to my heart... this equals a good day! :)

Our Girlie is 4!!

This is just so hard to believe.  Carolina is FOUR! :)  (Well, I'm still playing catch up.  She turned four on Sept. 18th.  I'm so behind on my blogging!)

She is such a precious gift.  She is appropriately named Carolina JOY, because she just brings so much joy wherever she goes.  I cannot imagine our little home without this precious, sweet, belly-laughing little girl snuggling, dancing, singing and spreading her love all over this house.  She is definitely a gift!

It's hard to believe that she has lived in Spain longer than she lived in the States.  While each of our boys miss the States... family, friends, food, etc... Carolina has no remembrance of it.  In a way, it's quite strange to think about!  As she plays by herself around the house, talking to her imaginary friends, she always speaks Spanish.  My mom says that Carolina has an accent when she speaks English... mainly because Spanish can be a very sing-songy language.  They are very expressive, with lots of emotion and ups and downs in their language.  I guess Carolina also does this with her English. :)  I'm sure this will get corrected over time... especially as we go spend some months in the States; but for now, I think it's adorable. :)  What a gift this little girlie has, growing up speaking two languages!

She is in her second year of "infantil" here in Spain.  They basically do 3 years of kindergarten, beginning at age 3.   Yes, a bit early for my liking; but it's been a blessing for Carolina's language. :)  She brought these cup-cakes in for her class... gluten free, of course. :)  No one here really bakes... they cook, but they don't really bake much, so my cup-cakes (a very BASIC thing in the States!) become quite an exotic treat for them.  They always love the colored frosting... another thing that's not big here. :)

Daddy and the birthday girl!

yup, gotta lick the frosting!!

Carolina loves to sing and dance... so she got her very first Wii game for her birthday.  yes, of course you guessed it: Just Dance... but, we got the kid version for her.  Very fun... LOVE watching that girl get into her music! :) She also got her very first Barbie.  Big day for this little girl! haha...

And, of course, our princess cake.  My goodness, I had to improvise with this cake!... I had to use a tiny little Barbie, b/c the "dress" wasn't quite long enough for a regular Barbie. Ha!  But, it doesn't really matter.  Carolina's face when she saw it told me that it was just perfect in the eyes of a 4 year old girl... and that's what's most important, right? :)

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet little Carolina Joy! :)

During the craziness...

Right after Jonathan had to have emergency surgery, we had one incident after another happen.  I think we were in the ER 5 times in as many days... AFTER surgery.  It was crazy.  One of those visits was for Carolina.  She was playing in the pool with her brothers, who were of course, being BOYS.  They had some nerf water guns that we call "squirties" and Weston hit Carolina with one, completely by accident.  The whole thing is covered in styrofoam,  but the one little spot that is hard plastic, hit Carolina on the forehead.  She came in with blood everywhere... you know how blood is, combined with water.  It looks bad.  Well, neither Wes nor Weston do well with blood, so I had to get them both out of the room while I looked at her.  Weston was SOOO upset at himself for hurting her, and combine that with the blood, and he wasn't doing too great.

We ALL piled in the car and took her to the "Urgent Care."  I thought she needed stitches, but I wasn't sure.  Once we got in there, the dr looked at it briefly and said it wasn't deep enough to need stitches.  But, it wasn't really how deep it was that concerned me.  It was the fact that that the opening itself was wide.  I knew it was going to scar.  They insisted that it wouldn't and that she would be fine.

I probably should have insisted a little more, but after going through things with Jonathan only 2 days prior, I wasn't sure if I was up for more trauma.  (They don't give any anesthesia here for stitches!)  This is how they sent her home.

And, of course, we do have a scar now.

Our Adventures in Greece- Part 2

The Adventure continues!!.... :) From AGM, we spent a few days hanging out with the Steven's family!  We rented two apartments, one on top of the other, so we could cook our meals and so that we adults could hang out after the kids went to bed! :)  With our crew especially, food can be SO expensive on vacations and with Carolina's intolerances/allergies, it's always easier to have a kitchen to make our own food. 

The first thing that Jen and I did was to walk to the grocery store to get some basics.  We were SO thrilled to find little treats here and there!...(Jen more than me... I don't think they can get anything in Serbia! Poor things. :) ) The picture above is Jen just after she discovered grape juice!!!!!  I think we bought them out, between the two of us.

Here is Kyleigh with her vegetarian meal... love it! :)

 We did get a recommendation of a restaurant nearby, so we decided to try it out... and WOW is about all we could say!  It was amazing!  The gyros were unforgettable... I think the guys couldn't stop talking about them.  They were chuck full of a ton of meat, so of course they were a big hit with the guys... and cheap. hehe... you can't be that. :) 

For ME... I think this salad changed my life. HA! :)  Seriously.  No one in my family likes raw tomatoes.  I buy a ton of them because I cook with them, but we never ever eat them raw.  When we ordered this salad... a Greek salad... we expected lettuce or greens as the base.  But, no.  It was ALL tomatoes.  Well, you know how, when you are traveling, you just sometimes crave something healthy?  That was me, on this particular day, so I decided I would try the tomatoes.  I mean, I was in Greece... I HAD to try the Greek salad.  Oh. my. goodness.  The tomatoes were scrumptious!  Now, I'm enjoying tomatoes in my salad for the first time in my life!  Crazy, isn't it? ... although, our tomatoes aren't as yummy as these were, but still... I think this salad opened up my taste for tomatoes! :)

The Steven's Family!

Our first full day on "vacation" in Greece, we all decided to head to the Acropolis.  We left first thing in the morning, knowing that it would get hot and busy.  Our family itself required two taxis wherever we went... so, Carolina got her fill of taxis during these two days!  The Acropolis was amazing... hot, but amazing.

Carolina fits right in with the Steven's girls! :)  She really, really enjoyed playing with them! Seriously, doesn't she looke like she belongs in this family? :)

 The kids were such troopers... especially Nathan.  This type of stuff is never easy for him, walking and climbing stairs like that.  But they all did so great.  After our trip to the top, so the adults could take in all the sights, we decided the kids deserved a fun treat.

 YUM!  Frozen lemonade!  It was the perfect treat on a hot, hot day.

Ok, the treat was for moms, too. :)

 After our little treat, the kids were ready to conquer Mars Hill. :) ... actually, half of them stayed at the bottom while the rest of us hiked up.

This is Jonathan on top of Mars Hill... he's always ready to conquer SOMETHING!... or maybe 'anything' is a better word. :)

This is the view of the Acropolis from Mars Hill

 After we played tourists for a little while,  our friends who live in Athens took us to a little restaurant nearby.  It was SO fun to have all our families together!!... in the same place at the same time, laughing, eating, and spilling water, and looking for cold milk.... all together! :)  Precious times.

Even though there were so many more things we adults wanted to see and do in Athens, we also realized that this was vacation for the kids, too.  So, we opted for the beach our last day (we only had 2 days there), knowing they would enjoy it so much more than touring historical sites.  It was a tough decision, but we know it was the right choice!  The kids had a blast, and it was so fun to see them all playing together.  These are two of the families that we met at the beginning of our process of going overseas.  We all walked together through the whole process and all the different transitions that go along with it.  We all were going through the same transitions and difficulties.  Somehow, that has knitted our hearts together, and God has given us the gift of this "family" away from family.

Jonathan

Weston

Carolina

Nathan

The end result of a hard day's work! :)

 We got a recommendation from the lady that we rented the apartments from, and we decided to go to a private beach.  We ended up paying to get on the beach, but it was so worth it!  The beach was gorgeous, and we had umbrellas and chairs ... lots of coolers, lots of food... and lots of friends.

On the way home!