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The slideshow above was put together by my friend Tiffany with the photos she took on our day trip to Mexico. Click the photo below to see all the photos I took.

A couple weeks ago I went to San Diego for a World Vision conference and on Thursday of that week we headed into Mexico to see one of the WV Area Development Projects (ADP). Mike and I have been sponsors for 15 years now and have never had the chance to see the work ourselves. When World Vision comes into a community the community has to agree to be a part of the work because WV wants to give a “hand up” not a “hand out”. Their goal is to attack the root causes of poverty on all sides to make life better for the entire community.

It was wildly rainy and we were told that Tijuana was experiencing some of it’s worst weather in 26 years. The rain was crazy and at times it was going sideways from the wind. The area that we went to didn’t have paved roads and while we were visiting the road we came in on was flooded out. Getting back to the border was half the adventure of the day and we got to see a lot more of the country.

The people that we met were wonderful. It’s absolutely amazing how many community volunteers this ADP has because the people care about the success of all the families. The women made us a WONDERFUL meal and after we all ate they showed us around the community center.

In the community center they hold classes on pinata making, marshemallow popcicle making, other arts, baking and jello molding. They have a computer center where they teach skills to adults and children. They have a place to teach women beauty shop skills -- hair cutting, braiding, highlighting and nails. A great thing about this is that once the women are trained, they can work from home and take care of their children rather than having to go off to a factory all day. They have music classes and soccer teams. The moms even have a soccer team

On the same land they have a day care, cafeteria for the middle schoolers to come for lunch and a clinic. It was so cool to see that because it was clean and stocked. Doctors come in twice a week. It was mentioned that a special thing about this clinic was that it had a door that closed for the women to have their babies in privacy rather than out in the open. Oh how we take these things for granted in America -- being able to have a baby in a safe, clean and private environment.

I have been trying to put into words all the stuff going through my mind about this special day. One moment keeps coming back to me from that day. Many of the women spoke to us at the end through the translator to tell us thank you and what kinds of things they do in the community. One woman said, “Thank you for helping me take care of my children.” And then I started to cry. All I could think was that these women love their kids JUST as much as I love Nadia, but they don’t have ACCESS to all the stuff I do. They have the same hopes and dreams for their children as I do for Nadia. They just don’t have access.

So when people ask me why I am so passionate about sponsorship through World Vision -- that is why! For just $35 a month you or your family can make a difference to an entire community and especially to your sponsored child and their family. One person can make a difference, I have seen it with my own eyes. And what a blessing to see it with my own eyes after all these years of talking about it.

Do you want to sponsor a child? Just let me know and I will share the picture folders I have with you. Not local? I have a scanner and email Thanks for reading.

To our family, friends and blog readers we only know through the net – We hope that this new year and new decade are filled with love, laughter and the joy of the Lord.

Nadia actually cooperated for a family photo on New Year’s Eve!

And a sneak peek of Jen and Chris’ wedding on New Year’s Day. What a wonderful way to start our year

I had to drive to San Antonio for a Child Ambassador meeting, so Mike and Nadia joined me since it was a weekend. The meeting went well and I enjoyed meeting the Child Ambassadors from Austin and San Antonio. Here we are at the end of the meeting.

That night Mike, Nadia and I decided eat at the #1 rated restaurant in SA on Trip Advisor. Trip Advisor usually steers me right (remember Prossers BBQ from our beach trip? Yum!), but this time I was not so sure. But we did have fun and the atmosphere of the place was really cool. We ate outside and had a great time watching Nadia have fun. The first photo is her looking through her “binoculars”

Attempted a family photo, gave up and headed back to the hotel.

On Sunday before we left for home we met up with a family in our China travel group for pizza at Goomba’s. It was great and I will put in a plug for their garlic bread. It’s actually a little pizza. YUM!

It was fun to see the girls together and catch up with Mya and Duane. Mya’s mom also came, which was fun because she traveled to China with us too

Nadia, Louanne, Karlee, Mya

Click the photo above to see all the photos.

Here is the second post about our June trip to Colorado to see our good friends Randy and Jessica. When we decided to go visit Grandma Johns we thought we would see if they would mind if we “popped in” two days later. They were game for a last minute visit and we had a blast. The first night we just hung out and caught up on everything. Then on Saturday we headed to some mountain that was supposed to have sheep or goats or something for your viewing pleasure, but they weren’t game to come out for us. Nadia was just happy she found a cool new rock. The view itself was beautiful and I got in my hiking quota for the year (I will be honest, it wasn’t really hiking, but I still count it).

After that we headed back towards Denver and made a stop at ‘Lookout Mountain’ where William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody is buried. The views were amazing, but you can see below what Nadia liked the best. See the Colorado Scenery album for those photos.

That night we had an awesome meal made by Randy and Jessica. YUM! Abby and Nadia had some fun while the meat was grilling.

On Sunday we went to church with our hosts and then to Ted’s for buffalo burgers. In the evening just the adults went out to eat while Randy’s parents kept an eye on the three kids (sadly that photo was completely blurry), and we also baked another flavor of cupcakes which is a tradition when Jessica and I visit each other.

And it was our second Father’s Day as a family and Nadia just wanted to show off her rocks in the photo.