I’ve been wondering what words I could put down to express all that went on this summer and I’m kind of having problems sorting it all out and bringing home all the good memories and some of the not so good memories as those we try to learn from and move on. This year was especially difficult due to the security issues and swine flu concerns, and frankly I’m a little burned out on the whole issue, especially when you see the work that was done by those that came down. Rather than get into all of that I’ll tell you of one word that kept popping us into my widdle head that pretty much sums up what the Lord was talking to me about—”Perception”, Read the rest of this entry »
Sergio, Bill, Carl, Ken Small, Reg, and Dennis
I’ve got about few thoughts in my brain in regards to our summer, but first I’d like to share our week with Bakerview Gospel Chapel who came all the way from Canada! This was our first opportunity to host a group from Canada and we had a very memorable time with them. The plan was to build the 12′x24′ addition to the structure that the group from Illinois did last summer. Antonia and her husband Tony worked hard to get everything ready to go and they were very excited to have some more room. Before the addition there were 6 people living in the 12′x20′ section and they did everything they could do to make it home, and oh yea,,,imagine what it was like with no electricity or water Read the rest of this entry »
Thinking, thinking, thinking...
Do you ever go to start something to fulfill a need, but then the need becomes much bigger due to unplanned circumstances, then you have no idea where to start??? Or did I just loose you? We have been involved with Casa Esperanza for many years now and over this summer some big changes came about that are going to make things a bit challenging for the next few months. We had started the boys bathrooms and I guess you could say that they feel victim to the Media-hype over the drug cartel and Swine Flu (that has no reported cases in Ensenada and only one case in all of Baja CA) and we have not been able to finish it up. Then I received and email Read the rest of this entry »
OK,,,Where is ths one going and what do Hot Dogs have to do with Autism? A couple years ago I was driving down the street, and as usual I’m always looking for a good place to take friends and groups to eat at (tough job, but someone has to do it!). I would always pass this hot dog stand that always had people standing there eating and the guy making the hot dogs had on this big Hot Dog Hat. So one early evening Deb and I headed out to get something to eat with no clear direction and then thought entered my head—”the guy with the hot dog hat!” So we headed over there and had these very good hot dogs. After a couple visits we stopped Read the rest of this entry »
For many of you, you know your time in Mexico by the weekly schedule that you keep, but for some, the Interns, their summer is much different. We have been blessed with a great team of interns over the years and we like to more refer to them as our extended family of “Our Kids”. This year was no exception as one young man came to pour out his mind and body to help us build homes for those in need, but I think he soon found that he would also pour out his heart in many ways. Alex Trulove came to us from Littlerock Arkansas and although Alex had been here before with his group we just could not picture who he was as he was lost in a large group of people. Non the less we trusted those that knew him and felt God’s direction in accepting his Application to be an intern. Read the rest of this entry »
Well,,,the last time I posted something on the Plymouth we had run into some problems that involved PISTONS—we could not find any!! As I continued the search along with the guys at Kenyon Machine shop in San Diego we all pretty much came to one conclusion–start over with a block that gives me more options. Yes, I wanted to stick with the stock block, but we needed pistons, and to get the type we needed we have to get custom forged and would have cost Big $$$.$$, like around $600.00-$800.00. Greg at Kenyon suggested that we go all the way and go with a 440 build and I was thinking of just moving up one size to a Read the rest of this entry »
Ashley,,,one tuff Chick. That's like 55 lbs. of Cement!
This week I’ve been very impressed with the hard work that has been done by the women! It’s just been a real Blessing to see all that they have gotten done and how they have had such a good time doing it. This Monday our intern Ashley came out with the concrete team and I’ve never seen a girl work so hard at it. She toted the buckets of water into the mixer, handled the 1/2 bags of cement, shoveled sand and gravel and even wore the face shield! Needless to say though that she was an absolute mess when she got done but I think for her that it was part of the fun. I’d take Ashley on any concrete job and it’s going to be hard to see her go as we’re going to miss her hard work. Last week Ashely also worked with most of the week as we tackled a huge roofing project and she was the ONLY girl on the project! I know she gain a new love for cutting out lath for odd roofing lines but when all said and done, the gable ends got stucco’d. Read the rest of this entry »
Dennis, Alex, Ashley, and Ana Christina and The 3 Godfathers DVD
One of my routine things to do on a Saturday morning is to get up, grab a cup of Coffee and sit down and watch westerns on AMC. I love this time I have as it takes me back to a time when my Dad would do this, except it usually involved a huge baloney sandwich. I’ve seen them all from Red River to Open Range and I love them all. During the summer however it’s a bit different as sometimes this time goes towards saying goodbye to our visiting groups, leaving for an activity, or maybe a short nap, but this morning we decided to make it a bit fun.
With the interns I like to test their Movie Savvy by asking them about old classic movies and to see which ones they have and have not seen, and I’m always shocked to hear of how many old classics they have not seen—-I guess I’m an Old Classic kind of guy. So this morning I let them know that I’d be fixing breakfast and that we’d all sit down to watch Read the rest of this entry »
