Finally Feeling a Little Like Home

Well, we made it!

After years of preparation of the heart, months of preparation of the family, and weeks of preparation of the details.... We are actually here. In Mexico. In another country, 1000 miles away from our family, and 15 miles away from civilization,

This week has been crazy (needless to say!).

We left Roseburg at 7:30am on Monday July 12th- Landcruiser packed full- and headed South. We drover for 12 hours and landed for the night just south of Fresno in a town called Kingsburg. It was SOOOOO hot through California!! Ryan was wanting to get the best gas mileage we could, so the windows were down and the AC was off :-/

We went swimming in the pool at our hotel, grabbed dinner, and slept! Ahhh! :)

We hit the road again at about 10:00am on Tuesday. We drove to Spring Valley California, just outside of San Diego and had an awesome visit and delicious dinner with Ryan's Uncle and Aunt and Cousins whom we haven't seen in like 5 years. (Thanks Prince Fam for opening your home to us!!). We stayed the night there, and hit the road again Wednesday morning around 9:30.

We got to the Tecate International Border Crossing around 11:00, and rolled right through. Got the green light :) Didn't even have to stop!! Praise God!! I mean, we had ALOT of stuff packed on ol' Red, and they could have stopped us and gone through it all, or decided to tax us for it, but- nada! Amazing.

The instant you cross the gate from Tecate, CA, into Tecate BC, MX-- it is a different world. It is indescribable..... you will just have to come see for yourself ;-D

The road from Tecate to San Antonio De Las Minas (the small town where the Ranch is) is 61 miles, and takes 2 hours :) ...... They are doing a huge road improvement project right now, so it is even worse than it ever was before.... sections of the old road have been taken out to be recycled and used in the new road :), and so there are portions of VERY rough dirt road. However, it will be VERY nice when it is finished.... probably sometime in the year 2045 ;)

We arrived home at about 1:30 pm on Wednesday, July 14th.

It was just surreal. It felt very different from all of the times that I have been here before. The kids were so tired of the car (and we might have been too ;), and it was very very hot, and we were dirty, and the work had begun :)

We unpacked the truck, and fell asleep!

And the rest is history! We have been unpacking our things, and trying to make it home.... while also trying to get the ranch prepared to receive a team next week.

We went 3 days with no food other than what we brought-- which was minimal (beans, rice, and some canned stuff) before we got a chance to run into Ensenada (which- thanks to the last "road improvement project", is now only 15 or 20 mins away) and get some groceries and supplies. Then we just continued to get set up. We didn't know that it was Sunday until some time Sunday afternoon :), so we missed church. So we hiked up the mountain to The Crosses. It is an amazing view from up there.... you can see the whole valley! I took some pics, and I will post a couple of slides on the page if I can :-/..........so for now, most of our belongings have a place and all of the rooms and the Cocina (kitchen) are ready for the RCF team!

Yesterday we went back to the States (which took ALL day-- a 3-4 hour drive) to load up at Costco. We got plenty of food for our family, and TONS of food for the team :)

Now I feel very prepared to begin our job.

There is so much to tell, and I just can't think of everything to say!

Hopefully that has brought everyone up to date.

Keep checking in-- now that we have a steady internet connection, and most of our things are set up and caught up, I will be able to post more often.

"He raises the poor from the dust and lift the beggar out of the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory,' for the pillars of the Earth are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them.'" I Sam. 2:8