Friday Favorites ~ Team Retreat Edition

Today's Friday Favorites are a re-cap of our team retreat we had this week in Villa de Leyva.  Isabella is still there now on a high school retreat with her school and Avery is on a bus back to Bogota.

We stayed at small "hotel" on dirt roads about 20 minutes outside of the small town of Villa de Leyva. It is a hard city to get to (like most in Colombia) because of the poor roads and transportation system.  Avery and Brook arrived on Sunday and Isabella and I arrived on Tuesday at lunchtime.

This is where we stayed.

Our room was in the building to the right.

Becky Harrell had been in Memphis the week before and brought me this candy bar, which was a pleasant surprise!

   Avery brought his gear and hung up a zip line. 

  Wednesday, we went into the town of Villa de Leyva.  Below is a photo of the beautiful square. 

 We went out to lunch with our team.

  And we took some photos for Christmas cards.  Here are a few outtakes.

Brook had a theme going this day!

 

  This is a photo from where we stayed 7 years ago on our first visit to Colombia. Avery actually stayed here last night.

 We rode back to the hotel in trucks.  Here are the girls with one of our new interns riding in the back of the truck.  

 A unique chair at the hotel with its "legs!"

I hope you have a great weekend and I will resume blogging in 2 weeks.

What's Up Wednesday ~ September Edition

I won't be able to post tomorrow, so I am posting What's Up Wednesday a day early :)

What we're eating this week......

We are on a team retreat for a few days this week, and Isabella has a high school retreat. so I have no meal plans as of yet for the week. We will be about 20 minutes from this town.

What I'm reminiscing about.........

I have said this many times before (including last month), but I do think back on our family vacation last November quite a bit, and have especially been thinking about the fun we had at Sea World.

 What I'm loving.......

Spending time with friends here the next 7 weeks

What we've been up to.........

We have been selling many items here and it has become a part-time job to sort things sold, arrange pick up and deliveries, and keeping track of pesos to dollars.  My brain works mostly in pesos these days! This is a sampling of what we use here....

What I'm dreading.........

Packing up the apartment and saying goodbyes here

What I'm working on............

We are still working on obtaining Colombian visas here.  Hopefully we can re-apply next week to get visas just in time to move shorty thereafter, but we need them to stay in the country and to withdraw Isabella from school. And yes, this is the same thing I was working on last month!!

What I'm excited about...........

Brook and I have an exciting trip next week, but it will be hard particularly on Isabella.

What I'm watching/reading............

Sadly, Hulu doesn't work anymore here in Colombia and I can't stream from the networks, so I am watching You tube clips and occasional shows on our Colombian channels.  

What I'm listening to.............

Sounds of elevators, guards speaking Spanish, sirens and car horns from my apartment

What I'm wearing................

Remember the weather never changes here, so still wearing plaid shirts, leggings, jeans, boots and scarves. 

What I'm doing this weekend.............

I will be packing for a trip and making sure Avery and Isabella have what they need.  

What I'm looking forward to next month...........

Isabella has fall break, so we hope to enjoy her break from school and spend some time with people when it is a lighter week here. Also, we will celebrate Brook's birthday!

What else is new...........

The reality of leaving Colombia is beginning to set in and the unknowns of life back in the USA is making me trust God once again with our future.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Monday, September 26, 2016

.....less than 3 months until Christmas!

Speaking of holidays, this past weekend was Amor y Amistad day in Colombia, which is like their Valentine's Day.  This is translated into "Love and Friendship" so friendship is equally celebrated.  Brook's sweet friend here made her this sign and gave her a brownie.  She invited Brook for ice cream at the mall Friday night #icecreamfordinner

Brook had a flower delivered to her at school on Friday. (and sorry this picture is sideways!)

Thursday night, Laura flew in from Bucaramanga to stay with us while she was visiting Edwin. Friday morning, Brook and I took her to Pan's Pin for breakfast.  Then we went to the mall to grocery shop and she helped me pick out a birthday gift for Edwin.

She brought us some Obleas and a jar of figs.  Colombians are very thoughtful to always bring a gift when they come to someones home.

We had a birthday celebration for Avery and Edwin Saturday night. It is always fun to decorate for a party!

Edwin is a Star Wars fan, so we had Star Wars confetti.

And we had Star Wars masks and made swords out of balloons. Ross and Angela joined us for the celebration fun.

Brook and Isabella.....these masks were much funnier than I thought they would be!

Playing games with the balloons

These 3 always have fun playing games.

Ross and Angela taught us a new game too.

Love these people

Later in the night, I found this mask on Elvis' face in our guest bathroom!

Sunday after church, we went out for some pizza at a place we had never tried.  We were the only ones in the restaurant and we were there from 12:15-1:00.  Then we went to Starbucks and these are our names according to the Colombians!

Our team is on a retreat this week outside of Villa de Leyva.  They dropped Isabella and I off at our apartment for Isabella to go to school Monday and a little bit Tuesday.  We will join them on Tuesday afternoon, so today will be different for me with Avery and Brook gone and Isabella in school. 

Happy Monday!

Friday Favorites

Another week gone by as we approach the last week of this month.  Crazy.  Here we go....

Monday was Avery's 44th birthday & the girls made him cards.  

Avery laughing at Brook's card

Here is a close up of it!

And Isabella's was just as creative with lots of funny statements about turning 44.  They are both so creative with their cards!

Tuesday mornings, Avery stays home with Brook to allow me to go to bible study.  I wish I had known this group when I arrived (although some of them came after me), but I am thankful for this group of ladies I do bible study with each week.  They are sweet, genuine ladies who care and truly understand this foreign life we live here.  I don't have a photo from this week, but I am thankful I can cry with these ladies and ask for prayer requests all whle discussing the bible!

Gringo living in Colombia....That is Brook on the sidewalk in front of our apartment.  I sent her downstairs to buy a drink for us from Pan's Pin (remember our restaurant downstairs?). Of course she was the only one in a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. Everyone else has on jackets and scarves! #wecomefromtheSouth

I indulged in a drink, M&M's and found the original Rocky on tv!!!!

This is movie is 40 years old and an all-time favorite.  I was nervous to watch it again, because some older movies are just not as good (or clean) as you remember them to be.  Rocky was just as great this week as it was 40 years ago.  Crazy how much I like this movie when you couldn't pay me to watch a boxing match on tv.  I love watching the beginning of Rocky and Adrian's relationship.

This brought back all kind of memories of me writing Sylvester Stallone as a child and having a stuffed animal turtle in a grey jogging suit that I named Rocky.  I hope he is in my parents attic somewhere, but I haven't seen it in years.  Also, one day, I want to go to Philadelphia to walk up these stairs.  This is on my bucket list.

This looks like Pepperoni Pizza, but it is Pepperoni Pizza Chicken! I like trying new recipes, and I had some pepperoni imported from the states to use in this recipe.  It was good, but a little saucy, but that was easy to manage with a slotted server.

This weekend we are hosting Edwin's girlfriend, Laura, from Bucaramanga at our apartment.  She arrived last night and brought us a jar of figs and Obleas.  Edwin will stay with us tonight and tomorrow night.  Edwin had a birthday Wednesday, so we are celebrating birthdays Saturday night.

Have a great weekend!