a weekend trip to MEXICO!

Our family just took a very looooong road trip.  It was very long, but very very good, too!

Instead of a weeklong spring break, our training center has a long weekend break (aka "Easter break").  Nathan and I thought--what better time to go and visit Jenna??  

Jenna (Nathan's sis) has served at an orphanage (Casa Vida y Esperanze--aka CVE)  in Mexico for the past 9 or so years.  She is an amazing woman--for the past few years, she has had the privilege of being a mom to 5 sweet children.  So basically, this would make them our kids' cousins!  We had to visit.

And God's timing is so amazing--it just so happened that Jenna got engaged last week to a guy from our hometown in IN...and he planned a visit for the exact time that we would be there.  It was so great to get to know our future brother-in-law, too!

So...here are a LOT of pictures from our vaca.  Maybe too many pictures...but it is so difficult for me to choose :)  

We left after our classes last Wednesday, around 1:30 or so.  Here is the top of our google directions--doesn't it look daunting??  A 20 hour drive was not something I was looking forward to!

The kids were pumped and ready for a very long van ride (poor kids, they didn't realize how long 20 hours really is!)

When we were on the road for about 20 minutes, Nathan asked me if I had remembered our passports?  YIKES.  This was my face:   

We turned around and got them.  Phew.  I was praising the Lord for His goodness to us in reminding Nathan about the passports just 20 minutes into our drive, rather than 20 hours into it!  Thank you, Lord!

Our kids slept amazingly well in the van that night.  And I didn't have any trouble staying awake to drive my shift--I was able to drive that night from 10pm to 4am easy!  Thanks to Nathan for thinking to get a Ted Dekker audio book for me to listen to.  I was so into the book that I really didn't even want to stop driving at 4am!  

And even though the kiddos did great in the van, they were VERY ready to get out for breakfast on Thursday morning.

We arrived in Nogales, AZ at around 9 or so on Thursday morning.  The drive had gone sooo much better than I had anticipated.  Again--praise the Lord!

Jenna and her fiance, Adam, picked us up in Nogales to drive us across the border.  We drove down to Jenna's home just in time for lunch.  It was so awesome to introduce our kids to their cousins in Mexico, whom they have never met!  Thankfully, Jenna's kids speak English really well, so the kids could communicate with each other.  They instantly bonded.

That evening, we ate supper in the cafeteria-type building.  It was great to catch up with Jenna and get acquainted with Adam!

Our kids love their Aunt Jenna!

Here is the bedroom that our family stayed in.  Our kids' bodies were still in a different time zone on Friday morning, so they woke up pretty early.  I had to entertain them quietly in the bedroom (Curious George worked well!) while Jenna's kids were all still sleeping.

Our kids watched in fascination and horror as Perla killed a huge cockroach :)

Morning snuggles :)

Fe really wanted to do my hair--she did a great job!  We were all getting ready to take some family pictures, since the cousins were all together for the very first time.

Perla and Mili, snuggling with their new daddy :)

I think the pictures turned out really well of the kids!  It isn't easy getting nine kids to all smile...

But notice Belinda (in the gray shirt)?  She was bribing the kids with fruit snacks :)  That's how they were all smiling!

After the photo session, we took a trip into town.  We visited the town square, and this Mexican "church"...which housed a statue of a saint whom many people in this town worship.  So sad :(

While we were in town that day, it downpoured.  We tried to wait out the rain (we had been planning to have a hot dog picnic)...here are Fe and Layla staying out of the rain.  It was really neat to see their friendship grow in the few days that we were in Mexico.  Fe really loved taking care of Layla!  So so sweet :)

We ended up having to get our hot dogs to go.  I'm not usually a fan of hot dogs, but these were really good!  The bread was so much better than our hot dog buns in America...and they put all kinds of stuff including beans and tomatoes on them.  

As you can see, Daisy really enjoyed the absence of carseat laws in Mexico :)

Nathan's aunt and uncle happen to live at the same place as Jenna, so they had all of us over for supper one night.  They were amazing hosts!  They have 5 kids of their own, plus our crew...it was a crowded backyard.  So much fun!!

One of the biggest highlights of the week for Kaine was playing soccer.  He was in heaven :)  (Pretty sure Nathan was enjoying it, too!)

Jenna is super creative and "made" a kiddie pool one day.  By "made" a pool, I mean she put a tarp over the fire pit and filled it with water!  The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever--good idea, sis!

 At one point, Daisy took off running because someone told her, "the sheep are coming!!"

Daisy LOVED watching these sheep through the fence!  Pretty cool...at CVE they actually raise these sheep for the meat.  I have never heard of that before!

Fe and Layla again...drying off in the sun :)

The two brothers-in-law hanging out together :)

It was no surprise to me that Nathan was a hit with these kids!

On Saturday night, Adam and Jenna took Nathan and I and our 4 kiddos out on the town.  We went to a taco place for supper...which was amazing, by the way.

Our kids thought it was awesome that they all got cans of pop for supper. That is one fun thing about Mexico...a good excuse for drinking pop because we couldn't drink the water!

Haha...I love this picture of Adam and Jenna!  Halle the photobomber :)

Everything was catching up with Nathan...I found him like this after he kissed Halle goodnight.  We were pretty tired.

More kid bonding time...

Sweet Mili, before church on Sunday...

Leo knows how to lasso, so he tried to teach Nathan and Kaine.  How cute is that that Leo knows how to lasso??

Me and Fe :)

After church that afternoon, we had one last hurrah.  We went into town again for ice cream with all the kids. 

(notice the teenage boys swimming in this fountain!  I thought that was really funny).

We said our final good-byes... :(

And then, about 4:00 or so, Jenna and Adam drove our family back up to the States.  We arrived in Nogales around 6 or so, and then said our goodbyes.  We decided to start our drive then, so we ate a quick supper and took off through the desert.  I drove again from about 9:30 pm until 3:30 am, and then Nathan took over.  And I CRASHED. (not literally!)  I fell asleep right away and I slept so soundly.  My body was tired.  (this picture from McDonalds on Monday morning is proof!!)

We drove all day on Monday and stopped midafternoon at a hotel in Oklahoma.  It was soooo much fun and so needed for all of us to take a break.  We swam in the pool, went out to eat, and took the kids bowling.  And then...all six of us got ELEVEN HOURS of sleep that night!  Thank you, Lord.

And that is the end of my very long Mexico blogpost!  If you read the whole thing, I am impressed :)

Jenna, thank you so much for such a great few days!  We had a blast getting to know our sweet nieces and nephew.  And Adam...we are so glad you are in the family!  We will be so excited to come back for the wedding!