Fall Road Trip 2017 Post 2 of 3

In my first post about our trip to South Carolina to visit our partner churches I mentioned that we had arrived in Mount Pleasant at our host home on Saturday evening the 16th of September.   We were greeted with a warm welcome from the Mason family and the Bond family.  That evening we enjoyed a hamburger cookout and then tried to get a good nights rest to be ready for the day ahead.

On Sunday morning we attended worship at First Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant.  They have two services- a contemporary and a traditional.  We were able to share in both services.  It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to catch up again in person.  They made us feel right at home.

FBC Mount Pleasant, SC

One of the first persons we saw after arriving was Liz.  She is the missions director at FBC and the one who coordinates all of our mission teams.  My boys just love her.  Everyone does.

They were also eager to see Mrs. Laura.  She is the children's director at FBC.  She is a former missionary kid and just blessed us greatly when she came down to Guatemala earlier this year.  While in Guatemala she had given Cruz and Ben new names that they still get tickled about.  She calls them Benny Taco and Cruzy Woozy Pants.  We enjoyed getting to meet the rest of her family.  Her husband Matt is one of the pastors at FBC.

After church we got to spend the whole afternoon with Jennifer.   She has been down to work with us in Guatemala several times.  She was on the first team we worked from her church.  We have loved her ever since.  She became our official tour guide and took us all over the Mount Pleasant/ Charleston area showing us around.  She knows so much about the history of the area and did a great job of giving us a grand tour.  We began with lunch at Sullivan's on Sullivan Island.  I enjoyed a wonderful shrimp and grits dish.

After a driving tour we parked and did a walking tour of downtown Charleston.  It is so beautiful there.  I could have spent hours walking up and down the streets looking at the gorgeous homes.  

The boys exploring Battery Park

my little guys at the Battery in Charleston

our family in downtown Charleston

I was eager for the evening activity to arrive.  We were having a reunion dinner for all of our former team members from both FBC and LifePark.  I just could not wait to see everyone again!

arriving at FBC for the Guatemala reunion dinner

This photo is one of my favorites from the whole trip.  There is a lot of love in this group.  Not only for Guatemala and it's people but also for our family.  These people have become like extended family to us and we love each and every one of them.  It was a great night of eating, sharing, fellowship, reminiscing, and laughs.  It was one of the highlights of our trip.

On Monday we had lunch at Urban Cookhouse with the staff from FBC.

That afternoon we toured Patriots Point.  It is a Naval and Maritime Museum and home of the USS Yorktown.

Our visit there began with a tour of the Vietnam Experience exhibit.  It was my favorite of all.

We then toured the USS Yorktown, USS Laffey, and the Clamagore submarine.  The boys had the best time exploring and looking around.  It was a great outing and we all learned a lot.  If you get a chance to go I highly recommend it.

That evening we were back at the Masons home.  Another couple was also staying there for a few days so it made for an extra fun visit.  Anne has been down more times than I can count to work with us in Guatemala.  She is one of my biggest encouragers.  We were thrilled to get to meet her husband while there and extra thrilled that they were with us in the same host home.  They moved from the Charleston area but drove in to see us.  We love her and now we can say we love Mr. Bill too.

Anne and the boys in the Masons backyard.  They loved going out every morning and evening to check on the tide.  It was one of their daily highlights.

Trina (our hostess), Anne, and me before going out to dinner on Monday night

On Monday night the Masons treated us to a delicious seafood meal at Seewee Restaurant in Awendaw.  

We began Tuesday morning with a visit to see Mr. Charlie Price.  He is one of our mission team troopers.  We always enjoyed it when he came down.  He is passionate about sharing Jesus and loves people so well.  He is battling another round of cancer is not doing well.  We were thankful for some time to visit with him and his wife while on the trip.  Join us in lifting him up in prayer.  He is an inspiration to all that know him.

Saying "see you later" to the Bonds on Tuesday before they drove back to North Carolina.

the boys with Bill and Anne

We enjoyed lunch with the staff at LifePark on Tuesday.  In addition to eating we had a time of sharing and updating them on the work in Guatemala.

That afternoon we visited the South Carolina Aquarium.  We had a busy week-long schedule of meals and meetings so we tried to squeeze in as much fun for the boys as we could in between.  They had to sit still and be quiet a lot while we talked and shared that week so it gave them an incentive to behave. 

There were several hands-on things for them to do there.  They loved it.

They especially loved getting to pet a few sharks and stingrays.

Ben had no fear.

On Tuesday night we were back at LifePark for a meal and share time with the church's missions council.  We enjoyed another opportunity to update them on the work and spend some time in prayer.

On Wednesday we had lunch at Sesame with Liz and Hillary.  They are the missions directors at the two partner churches.  Sesame is a wonderful burger restaurant.  I ordered a mixture of sliders.  I tried the Charleston and the Memphis.  The Charleston burger has pimento and cheese on it (it was delicious!) and the Memphis burger has peanut butter and banana on it.  It is not as bad as it sounds.  Both were great and fun to try.

The Church at LifePark in Mount Pleasant, SC 

We spent all of Wednesday afternoon at LifePark doing a recording session for some upcoming promotional videos they plan to do.

They also recorded the boys answering some questions and telling a few jokes.  They were naturals.

We had a little time to kill between the recordings and Wednesday night service so we made a stop by Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream & Sandwich Cafe.  We tried a few of their fun flavors of ice cream.  My favorite was the sea salt caramel.

ice cream with my boys

We were back at FBC for their Wednesday night service.  We enjoyed supper and then getting to share in one of their adult classes.

We still had several more days to go on this amazing trip.  I will stop here and pick back up in my next post. 

March Moments

Today I am catching up on our random daily life photos.  This post will cover a little bit of everything over the past few weeks.

We do not do a whole lot to celebrate St. Patrick's Day outside of wearing green and having a fun breakfast.   Some years I have hung streamers and balloons but did not this year.  I actually attempted to but realized that I was out of green balloons and did not feel like going to the store just to buy some.  I assumed my family would not think much of it and was quite surprised when Cruz came running into the kitchen that morning and asked "Mama, isn't it a holiday?  Why didn't you decorate?  Where are the streamers and balloons?"  Oh my goodness!  I have created a monster.

our family

St. Patrick's Day 2017

I made green pancakes and sprinkled some Lucky Charms cereal around their plates.

St. Patrick's Day

We had the Lubecks over for supper one night and then joined them for supper another night at their house.  We always enjoy our times of fellowship with them.

A circus came to town and we could not wait to go see it.  I am not sure who gets more excited, me or the boys.  We do love the circus!

The boys playing checkers one morning before breakfast and school.  

The rest of these photos were taken earlier this week while in Guatemala City.  We spent a few days there doing medical check-ups for our upcoming Stateside Assignment.  Our mission board requires complete physicals and routine exams to be done at the end of each term.  We have to have medical clearance before we can return to start our next term.  We began that process this week.  We had some long, tiring days filled with one appointment after the other.  It is not that easy shuffling two young ones around from clinic to clinic but thankfully they did really well.  We are glad to have the bulk of things behind us.  Other than a few follow-up lab exams I think we are done for now.  Whew!

It has been a while since the boys have had to visit their pediatrician clinic.  It was good to go back and see the staff again.  We have always loved this clinic and the care we have received there. 

Cruz looks thrilled to be doing a little schoolwork doesn't he.  Here we are sitting out in the hallway of an office building waiting on one of the clinics to open.  He did not have to do much school work while there but we did cover language and reading.  Is it just me or does he look about ten years old in this picture?

Many of the clinics we visited were in high-rise buildings.  The boys were fascinated with looking out the windows and seeing the city.  The doctor in this particular office got very tickled when Ben shouted out "I see a Dunkin Donuts sign!"  My boys love donuts.

More looking out over Guatemala City.  This time they were watching a crane work at a construction site down below.  I think they would still be there watching if we had not made them leave.  Thankfully this became a fun way for them to pass a lot of waiting time.

We had studied fish last week in Science and I promised the boys a visit to an aquarium while in Guatemala City.  The Nais restaurant chain here has an aquarium themed restaurant at one of the local malls.  It has been a long time since we have been there and I knew the boys would love it.  We went for a late breakfast in between appointments one day and then let the boys take some time to see the fish.  The restaurant is built with the aquarium in the center and the tables just circle all around it.  Almost every seat in the restaurant has a nice view of the fish.  There are also several smaller aquariums all throughout the restaurant.  It is just a cool place to eat and visit.  I hope it is not several years before we get to go back.

our family at the Nais aquarium

Ben looking at some of the fish.

You can see how the tables just wrap around.  The ceiling reminded us of the bones on the inside of a whale. I'm not sure if that is the idea they were going for but it sure felt like it. 

You can climb inside this lookout and feel like you are inside the aquarium.  They really loved this!

me and the boys watching the fish swim by from inside the lookout

That's a shark passing by in front of us.  You can imagine how that made them squeal with excitement.

the shark again

oh how fun!

breakfast at Nais

The lobby has a goldfish aquarium you can walk on.  It made me nervous but the boys thought it was cool. 

There is a Lego store in the same mall.  The boys are currently obsessed with all things Lego.  They loved looking at all the options and we started a little wish list for when we get to the States.  Legos are not cheap there but they are definitely A LOT less expensive than they are here.  Oh my!  I just gasped at some of the prices. 

They loved this Buzz Lightyear made out of Legos that was on display in the store window.  To infinity and beyond!  They repeated that phrase the rest of the day. 

playing at the mall food court playland

silly boys

they both got haircuts

We renewed Ben's Guatemalan passport.

Here he is just a few days old with his first Guatemalan passport.  Is my baby really about to turn five?  Where has the time gone?

his first passport photo

We enjoyed getting to eat lunch at a new TGI Friday's that is now across the street from the pediatrician clinic building.  Of all the places to eat in Guatemala City Friday's has always been my most favorite. 

I took this photo of the bathroom doors at this Friday's location.  It took me a second to decide which one to enter but when I figured it out I had to laugh.  How true is that?

Tomorrow is April 1 and that means it's now only three more months until Stateside begins.  Thirteen more weeks to go.  Getting this medical work behind us just makes me all the more excited about it.