Memphis Trip Update #1

Well hello there!!

We are enjoying our time & every bite here on our trip to Memphis.   Here is a brief overview with some photos from our trip so far:

Al fin!! (Finally!!)

It's before 7am at the Bogota airport & we were a little excited :)

Our ride from Bogota to the USA....thanks to the folks at Delta who came to work that morning.

And thanks to customs & security who didn't question our 50 bags of coffee we brought into the country!

God Bless the USA.  Amen.

We spent the first Sunday with family on Mother's Day & Brett's birthday together.

Family :)

Avery enjoying the crawfish for lunch

Crawfish boil

We started of our Monday right....breakfast at Waffle House.  I enjoyed the all star special.  Delicious.

This is classic.

Fun way to start out the week!

We had dinner with our friends the Ottingers & Burlesons.  This is Isabella & Brook with Kaki.  Kaki & Isabella have known each other since they were 2.  Many memories with these sweet friends!

And Kimberly made my special request....strawberry pretzel salad.  Best food ever.

Tona, Kimberly & I

The next night we went downtown Memphis with our dear friend Larry.  What a beautiful sunset over the mighty Mississippi.

Larry came over to hang out with us & we sure miss our weekly hang out nights with him.

Our first week here, we also went to church,  had haircuts & dentist appointments, had a lunch date with my parents, met with pastors from our church, visited with old neighbors, & of course a highlight, the girls & I saw the students at my sister's school.  What a joy that brings us.  

Many more updates to come.

Friday Favorites

I am going back to last Saturday night for this first favorite.  We attended the quincenera of Cielo.  This is a big event here in the life of a 15 year old.  Instead of a sweet sixteen celebration, in Latin American culture, girls typically have a huge party to celebrate the transition of being a child to womanhood at 15.  We were honored to be a part of this celebration with Cielo & witness this cultural even first hand.

The invitation said it begins at 7pm.  We arrived at 8pm & this is the view of the room. We were the first ones there!  Latin American culture is to be late, especially to a big event like this.

It is a very formal event.  These guys were similar to a color guard in the USA.

You've heard me say before how much these girls made an impression on me 6 years ago.  I cried when I told them goodbye then, thinking I may not ever see them again this side of heaven.  And there we were...celebrating her 15th birthday with her.  I had a few tears when she walked into the party.

This is the girls father in the photo with us.

Erika & Isabella

I love watching Isabella talk to a peer, even if it is just small talk....in Spanish!

Me & my girls :)

That is Avery & Brook dancing.  I honestly don't know if I have ever heard music that loud before.  It was 100% Latino music, and sounded like one really long song to me.  I normally do enjoy dancing some, but I just watched this night.  The style of Latino dancing is very different from what you would see at a wedding reception in the USA.

The girls were tired & got a little bored throughout the night.  Cielo made her grand appearance around 9:30pm, dinner was served at 10pm, dancing began around 11pm, cake was served a little after midnight.  The party did not end until 3am!!!  We had left our apartment at 6pm, so it took us 2 hours to get there (this was at the furthest southern point of the city).  We did leave the party around 12:45am and made it home around 2am.  We struggled to stay awake at church Sunday morning!

Oh, and a mariachi band came.

Cielo's formal photo

Cielo with her sisters, Erika & Sol

This is the beginning stages of my packing for Memphis.  I had 3 bags almost completely full of school books (to sell) & souvenirs, with no clothes yet!

This is happening today.  Look how sweet this is...Brook knows all my favorite things.  I love that she included Huey Lewis Music!!

Sometimes, the girls are with me to carry groceries.  This is them sharing the load literally, with each carrying a strap of the bag.

Brook even had a "skip to her step".  Clara went with us to buy some groceries because our housekeeper volunteered to make us traditional soup, which we had yesterday.

And my favorite sight to see, one that we have all been waiting for, is this countdown to show 0 days until we leave for Memphis!!  I had set this countdown to the time our flight leaves Bogota, which is now hours away.  Speaking of leaving for Bogota, we received a call at 4am this morning saying our transportation was here.  Pray they show up again tomorrow morning at 4am to take us to the airport!

#toomanybagstofitinataxi

Peru Highlights

Today I will highlight my Peru trip last week.  I wrote about the retreat & Thrive ministry here.
I arrived Sunday evening & was exhausted.  I was in bed by 8pm, but it felt great to get a good nights rest. It had been a long time since I had traveled without anyone else & I had not had a night away from the girls in over a year, so it felt a little strange honestly.

Avianca is our airline of choice in South America.  

Peruvian Soles

The hotel was nice, but was old school with the room key.  This was fine for the first night when I roomed alone, but when I had a roommate (whose native language is Spanish), it was honestly a pain to just have one key.

This plate of chocolates was brought to my door the first night.

Monday morning, I walked down to the water & visited a park & a shopping center.

Selfie in front of the South Pacific Ocean

We stayed in an area called Miraflores.

Those are surfers you see in the water.

The waves were huge, so this water is not for swimming, but there are tons of surfers.  Can you see them??

Yours truly at the entrance to the Parque de Amor (Park of Love).

Beautiful flowers are everywhere on this continent!

The centerpiece of the park

At the mall, I found a decent yogurt shop!  They have pretty exotic flavors, so I stuck with good 'ol fashioned chocolate, but it was the best I have tasted here.

The director of Thrive greeted us each morning.

We then had worship time in English :).

Followed by a speaker, who spoke on joy. 

Then we had small group time, which was so good everyday.  This was my group, which also includes 3 volunteers from the states.

Joy was so sweet & I loved spending time with this lady.

Every afternoon we had self-care options.  While I was getting a pedicure, I had a piece of Dove chocolate, & above was my message! 

After my color consulation & make-over

We received a welcome gift the first day.

Each morning, we had goodies on our table for us. The first day was colored pencils, notebook for note taking & a thermos.

Morning 2 was a variety of items.

Morning 3 was a bag of chocolate chips, which everyone was so excited about!!  

One night activity was a game called "Taste of Home".  It was like a white elephant game where you pick a gift, & can keep it or steal from someone else.  It was so funny to see peoples reactions to foods that we would not think twice of in the USA.

As I was waiting on my return flight to Bogota at the Lima airport, I spotted Paddington.  Paddington Bear is originally from Peru & he went to London.

I have always been a fan of Paddington & have many in a collection back in Memphis.  Isabella's baby nursery was a Paddington theme!

I have become an aisle seat kind of girl on airplanes, but had a window seat this time.  And I am so thankful because I was in awe of the beautiful sights.

Thank you Lord for this reminder of your beauty.