The Girls Are Here!

I have neglected to post the last couple of days - I apologize.

Last weekend we survived yet another trip to Majalca (the same place we took the Jr. Highers). We went with the Tylers and the Meissners, and although the trip killed the Tyler's car, I think overall it was a pretty fun day.

This weekend, we have company. My sister-in-law Melissa is here and she brought her friend Laura. They arrived last night and today we conquered the city.

We went to El Pasito, on a seemingly endless search for cowboy boots for Melissa.

We went downtown and had a treat of Elotes before we went to the governor's palace


and to the square in front of the Cathedral.

We ate lunch at the Deportiva and watched people race their babies... yes, those are infants crawling.

After a walk with the dog, we ate dinner at home and soon we are going to sit down and watch the Three Amigos (my request: these three have been quoting it all day, and I am feeling left out).

We have another full day planned for tomorrow that may or may not include climbing at least one mountain.

Some thoughts. . .

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about "home". Where is it? How can I get to it? When can I get to it? etc. . . Today I had a realization: I don't know where home is right now.

Sometimes, I think it is back in Michigan, in my parents house where I have spent 22 or so years of my life.
Sometimes, I think it is in Lincoln, in the dark, cozy, little basement where Jay and I spent our first few months of marriage.
Sometimes, (and this one is more rare) I think it is here, in Chihuahua, in this brightly colored home with it's weird noises and unreliable electricity.
Sometimes, I think it is at camp.
Sometimes, I think it is in Norfolk.
Sometimes, I think it is Up North.
Sometimes, I think it is at Disney.
Sometimes, . . . well you get the point.

But God has revealed something to me. I have lived in three different "homes" in the (almost) year since I have been married, and God has given me peace in each one.
He is teaching me that "home" is where I am serving Him. "Home" is any place that I have had peace that comes from Him. I am blessed to have so many places that I consider "home", and God is teaching me how to serve Him and have peace in Him wherever I am.

Ok.

Side Note: Last night we had a random storm come through Chihuahua in the middle of the night. Whenever it rains, our electricity tends to turn off and then on again several times. It was doing this in the middle of the night, when all of a sudden, there was a huge crack of thunder and a flash of lightning at the exact same moment, as the lightning struck very near our house.

"What was that?!?" I asked as adrenaline coursed through my veins.
"It sounded like a shotgun," Jay mumbled, half asleep. "Or a cannon. . . yeah, it sounded more like a cannon."

Yes, Jay, most likely it was a cannon.

Pictures of the Week.

Here are a couple of pictures that sum up the highlights of the past week.

First, here is the GIGANTIC pepper I found at the grocery store. In this picture I am holding it so that one side is touching my nose.

Friday night we went out to eat with the MacDonalds (including their girls Leanne and Katie, and new grandson Gideon), and the Steinbachers (John, his daughter Julia and the new grandbaby, Naddie).
Here is a picture of the grandpas.

Here is a shot, minus the grandparents and one baby.

That's all for now...

Jr. High Camping Trip

This past weekend Jay and I were chaperons on a the Jr. High Camping Trip for Binimea. Saturday morning we, along with 2 other teachers, loaded up 12 students (9 boys, 3 girls) for an overnight camping trip in Majalca, a park that is about 20 miles from Chihuahua.

The campsites are all situated along a riverbed, and the riverbed, if it hasn't been raining, acts as the road.

Saturday we set up camp and the kids played football, went on hikes, and ate a lot of food. Unfortunately, that afternoon it started raining, and it kept raining into the evening. That caused the river to rise.

After we had roasted some hot-dogs and it was dark, we heard a truck coming down the riverbed. It made it about 200ft. past our campsite and then we heard a "clunk" and the truck stopped moving. The driver had gotten his truck balanced on a boulder. We helped him get it off in the morning.

Most of the kids had spent the day in the river, and when the temps dropped at night, they all froze throughout the night.

The next morning Jay and I made eggs for all the kids and we held a devotional time. Then it was back to the hikes and the football.

The river rose through the night, but Sunday was bright and sunny and by the time we left, it had dropped enough for us to try and get our cars out.

We did run into some trouble when we came across a half sunk Jeep Liberty. We tried to help pull them out and almost got stuck ourselves.

Soon we were past the block and on our way home.

We made it safely. We were all exhausted in school today, but we all had some good stories to tell.

Caborachi - Part 4 - Food Deliveries and Cerro Grande

On Tuesday of our trip we traveled with the Finches to a neighboring valley to drop off food. Apparently it is a bad food year in their area. The rains came late, and the corn that was planted early all died. The Finches happen to have a generous donor who donated $8,000 to buy food for the Tarahumara. When we arrived the Finches' kitchen was full of rice, beans, oil, tuna, and sardines. By the time we left, it was all almost gone.

The house pictured here was the house of the governor or chief of the tribe. He and the other men gathered to meet us and they would distribute the food.


The day was freezing (it barely got above the forties) and it was raining.

The women and children were very shy. It took us being there almost a half an hour for them to emerge from the house. That pot held some sort of corn concoction.We did end up getting to go inside the house. I didn't get a picture, but to sum it up, it held a wood stove in the center and two planks with blankets on top of them that I think served as beds. Other than some saved bags and cans in the corner. . . that was it.

That afternoon, in the rain and fog, Jay and I climbed Cerro Grande, the tallest mountain in the valley.

This is a picture of us about half-way up. You can see Caborachi in the distance.

This is a picture from the very top. . . we couldn't see a thing the fog was so thick.

Also, at one point we sort of lost the trail. . . stuck in the bushes, we thought it was an appropriate picture moment.

The next day we went to Rancheria, another nearby valley to deliver more food. They weren't expecting us, so we ended up leaving the food with the school teacher at the one-room school house. Then we set off down the valley to tell the people there that there was food waiting for them.

There was a trail part of the way and we forged the trail the rest of the way.

The valley was beautiful, and a lot more rustic than we had seen up to that point.

After we recovered from that hike, Jay and I took off on the bike to try and find a cave from his childhood that he remembered camping at.
It took much longer than we thought, but eventually we found it. Inside there was an old grain mill and a goat pen.

Much later, after dark, we ended up hot-tubbing with the Finches. Yes - Hot-Tubbing. They got one this past year, and we had a great time with them, just talking and enjoying the evening.

We caught the bus at Agua Azul the next morning. We went with another bus line than the one that we travelled (most of the way) there on. With the help of Dramamine, I had a wonderful trip back to Chihuahua.

We got back to our little house and our very excited Prince around 2:30 in the afternoon, and thus ended our Caborachi adventure.

End Note: Between Jay and I we took about 300 pictures in 5 days. This is just a warning. When we see you all at Christmas, be prepared to look at albums and relive the trip once again!

Caborachi - Part 3 - Sinforosa

On Monday of our stay in Caborachi with the Finches we went to Sinforosa, which is a park on the edge of the Copper Canyon. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

They have a lookout that puts you out and over the canyon, and also they have some waterfalls that are 2-3km down the side of the canyon. You can hike down to it or, if you have a really good 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can drive down.

We opted to walk.

The waterfalls were like a playground, and we used them to their fullest: jumping around, climbing etc. . . Above the waterfalls there is a suspension bridge that fell on the good side of shady. It did have a few boards missing, but mostly, it seemed sturdy.

Here are some pictures with us and the Finches down near the waterfalls.
The hike back up was rough. The elevation there is over 8,000ft, and we got out of breath pretty easily. We also hadn't eaten lunch yet by the time we took the climb and it was near 3pm.

Here is a pic of the "road" that we were hiking on.
We ate lunch at Los Adobes, a really nice restaurant in Guachochi. I had trout for the first time and the whole meal was delicious.

Caborachi - Part 2 - The Old Stomping Grounds

Well, after that horrible bus ride, I was ready to live it up for a few days.
We woke up Sunday morning and it was Jay's birthday, therefore, it was his day to decide what he wanted to do. We began by drinking tea out on the rocks by the Finches; just watching the village come to life.

Than we went and explored Jay's old house. It is bright blue now and used for the church building. Jay showed me his tree fort and his old bedroom.

Then he showed me more large rock formations that they (the Taylor, Finch and probably the Corley kids) used as forts and protection for all of the tag and chase games they used to play.

After that we hiked up a creek bed that used to be Jay's and Crystal's "secret" place. It had been raining there, so there were lots of waterfalls and pools.

On the way back to the Finches for lunch, we first hiked further up the mountain towards "Popsicle Tree", and then down and around the pottery making "factory"

This is a kiln that they once used to fire the pots.
After lunch, we tackled "Big Rock". In spite of the fact that we were still getting used to the elevation we made it up pretty quickly (and then had to sit for a while to catch our breath).

This picture is us on top of "Big Rock" with our loyal companion this whole week, the Finch's dog, C.B. He was sort of pulling me backwards, which is why I am making that face.

After that was church (they hold it at 3pm), and after the service Jay and I were asked to help lead games for the kiddos. This was an adventure since neither Jay nor I speak Tarahumara, and most of the kids barely spoke Spanish.
Lauren made Jay homemade pizza for his birthday, and we crashed pretty early that night because we were exhausted after all that hiking.

More of the story to come later!