More photos over Birthday weekend

 A famous statue in Managua

 Having fun with the camera!

Glenn you did a great job!

We finally found someone to take a picture of us right after the "surprise"!
Happy Birthday - Ellen!

~J

Happy Birthday ~ Glenn!

 Glenn turned 55 yesterday.  He received many birthday wishes via Facebook.  Many friends reminded him that he was older and now can start receiving  Senior Citizen discounts!  At 55, bring them on.

We spent the day with Ellen and Luke...

• Swimming in the pool
• Picnic lunch
• Movie "Knight and Day"
• Look out over the city
• PorterHouse Restaurant
• Waiting out a down pour

Can't get better than this!  Happy Birthday, Glenn!

~J

Surprising Ellen on Her Birthday

Glenn and I flew down from Guatemala to Nicaragua on Saturday morning, took a taxi to Ellen's house and found no one was home.  We left our business card on the door and headed back to NCA to see if they were there.  As we pulled into the school parking lot we noticed Ellen and Luke were walking into the teacher's workroom.  Bingo!!  We quickly paid the taxi driver and knocked on the door.

Surprise!!!  Ellen turned 28 on Saturday.  Ellen and Luke were heading into the room to make a call to us in Guatemala on the 'internet' phone. Ellen's response was, "Well, mom, I thought briefly that you might show up!"

Ellen celebrated her birthday at a Skate Park with her friends!

So, with Glenn and I spending 3 days with Ellen and Luke, we're spending the weekend celebrating 

Ellen's 28th birthday on July 24

and

Glenn's 55th birthday on July 26 (today)!

~J

Rio Hondo {part 3 Final}

 This sweet gal wrote a "thank you" note to John for his week's participation in the Rio Hondo Mission project.

She was blessed by the ministry of NBC and the 60+ folks that had a VBS camp program earlier in the week.

precious hugs

The final evening there was a program with special music, skits, and special translated testimonies.  I would say there were about 500 Guatemalan folks that packed into the yard and heard the Gospel message.  Many of the kids came up and wanted their photo taken.  Others gave us hugs and thanked us for coming.

 New friends!

Thank you Northwest for your ministry with the Rio Hondo Mission project.  For 11 straight years, volunteers have come down to help with VBS, painting, construction and other projects.  Many lives have been changed because of NBC.  

Thank you!
~J

Rio Hondo {part 2}

 While a group of folks were working on the library project, there was a large group of folks that volunteered to paint 2 class rooms. 

Glenn helped with the library project, and then helped paint too.  He was also helpful in transportation between the clinic, church and school.

 and finally, another crew helped rake new gravel onto a washed out road.

Many roads and bridges have been washed out by recent storms such as Tropical Storm Agatha back in May, and such is the case with this road near the school.  About 10 boys, men and girls grabbed shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to help even out the road and fill in the pot-holes {And you thought pot-holes were only in Chicago?}.  As they were working on the project, families who had homes and gardens near the road, came out and helped in the process.  What a neat picture of unity between the folks from NBC and the local Guatemalans in Rio Hondo.

More tomorrow

~J

Rio Hondo {part 1}

Michelle W. working on the "Library Project"

Last week Glenn and I joined the 60+ folks from Northwest Bible Church in their Rio Hondo Ministry.  We drove 3 hours northeast of Guatemala City to a much more tropical area of the country.

On Friday we helped several ladies unpack several large suitcases of donated NEW Spanish books for the library.  We came across "Is your Mama a Llama?", "Winnie the Pooh", many Dr. Seuss books, all, of course, in Spanish.

More tomorrow with an additional report....

~J

Then there were 3 {great Grandsons}

Congratulations to my parents!   
Great Grandparents
for the 3rd time.

Over the weekend, Sarah (Brian's wife ~ Rick and Bev's son) gave birth to their 3rd son.

{photos courtesy of S Marr}
Congrads!

~J

USO

 Bonnie at the USO office in Terminal D

You never know who you will run into. 

Several weeks ago, while walking to Gate 17 in Terminal D, I suddenly remembered that my friend, Bonnie P. volunteers at the USO.  It happened to be a Thursday, the day she spends 1/2 of the morning and all of the afternoon encouraging our troops that stop in.  What a blessing!

~J

Tuk Tuk

 Tuk Tuk transportation is very common in the smaller towns and villages here in Guatemala.

They are all decorated uniquely.  Notice the "bull" on this Tuk Tuk.

~J

World Cup Fever

As we drove into Pana the other day, the Final 4 match between Spain and Germany was playing.  All the little bars, restaurants and cafes were lined with folks watching the game.

Things I've learned about Futbol (Soccer)

• Life kind of stops here when soccer is being played. 
• Everyone talks about the world cup.
• Soccer games start on time (when not many other things do).
• The stores are decorated, much like Christmas promoting the World Cup.
• All stores, include McDonald's, Burger king and Sears broadcast the games live.
• Strangely enough, the national chicken restaurant, Pollo Campero, does NOT have TV screens in their restaurants (at least in the 3 I've been in).
• Folks here take Soccer seriously, just like Dallas Cowboy fans (when they're winning).

X-treme Cables

Glenn finally talked himself into going Zip-lining.  Lets see, he has been to the Nature Reserve Park countless times as others had the opportunity to zip-line, but today was Glenn's Day. I'm so proud of him.*

Johnny and Maria were in the same boat.  They've taken teams, family members, visitors and friends to go zip lining and have never done it themselves.  Maria got the courage up, Glenn joined in and Johnny couldn't refuse!

Trekking up the mountain trail ~ about a 20 minute walk through natural forest dotted with ferns, wild plants and monkeys.

Tarzan, my man!

The obstacle course was challenging after doing 8 legs of zip lining.

The certificate!  Way to go Glenn.
*I zip lined last year and will never do it again.  Been there - done that!

~J

Panera Bread, Soup/Salad and Webinar

What does Panera Bread, Wi-fi connection and Webinar all have in common?

Watching a funeral being broadcast in Illinois and us watching it in Texas.

Technology has come a long way.

This gave us the opportunity to view a funeral even though we couldn't be there in person.