The Amazon

Kurt left today on a mission trip to Brazil, more specifically the Amazon. It's a medical mission trip but he and some others will be doing manual labor (not exactly sure what). They return next Sunday...which seems very far away! Please pray for him and his team as they are far from home doing God's work. Pray for the hearts of the people there in the Amazon, for the mission team's health and safety and for a safe return home to their families. Braden has already said he misses his Dad....and the countdown begins! 1 down and 7 more days to go :)

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

Next stop: Pals

The next town we planned to stop in was Pals. This town was more spread out but like the other town it's "old town" was still in great shape. There are shops, cafes etc but unlike Tossa del Mar people actually live there too. So we had a walk around, we (Kurt) decided we didn't need to use our map so it took us longer than planned :) It was nice though....

Someone lives here, flowers were on the entire wall!

shops

I bought some hand made bracelets at this shop...

Costa Brava

Back to our vacation - it seems it was ages ago! One day we rented a car and drove up the Mediterranean coast (Coasta Brava), it was so georgeous! I think this was our favorite day. The first town we stopped in was Tossa Del Mar. It was small and oh so pretty....it still had it's "old town" in tact so we headed that way (photos below). It was market day and everyone was milling about....I bought a skirt for myself but could have done much more damage if allowed the time :)

conversations....

As we left the YMCA:
Braden: Mom, Truitt was eating grass again today on the playground
Mom: Truitt, were you eating grass?
Truitt: Yes, I was just hungry
Mom: Don't eat grass....it's not food
Braden: Mom, you should feed him more breakfast.

Random information I got this morning:
Truitt: Mom, Daddy didn't crash the car, he just hit the curb.

Last Day

The girls left early this morning....we'll miss them. They made us a thank you card with the note inside and there is a drawing of all of us at the table, holding hands. Each of us is a heart and it has our names on it...I included a photo of it :) Also a few more photos from our time with them.

SBC Chinese Program

This is Annie and Celia, they have been staying with us for the last week and a half. They'll be here until next Wednesday. They are very sweet girls and surprisingly don't seem to mind a house full of noisy boys!

Monteserrat

We visited the Monastery of Monteserrat, Benedictine monks currently live here. It was destroyed and rebuilt in 1844. We did the big hike....pretty hot and a LONG way up but we made it! Besides what would a vacation be without a good hike?!

It is very hard to see but right in the top center you can just barely see the cross - that's where we hiked.

This is the chapel, as with many European chapels/cathedrals, is very ornate and in my opinion grossly over the top inside.

This was a small chapel on the side of the mountain, this was on our way up to the top. It was very peaceful inside.
The inside :)

We're making our way back down....this was our view of the monastery.

Barcelona

Here are a few photos from our time in Barcelona. We were there when they qualified for the world cup final...it was fun to watch the game in the plaza, no photos though I left my camera at the hotel :(

tapas...

Flowers (these were VERY tiny, which explains the cost of 1 euro) at the market on La Rambla

Guy on La Rambla, they had some really good 'dress ups' - not sure what you call the people who dress up and stand there for money??

Church in the gothic quarter

La Segrada Familia. There are 8 towers built and they have 8 more. It was real loud inside with all the stone work being done....lots more to do on this church, who knows how long it will take.

Home Sweet Home

We're back from our trip. We had a great time, it was nice to leave and nice to return home to see the boys. Here are a few photos from our trip....we stayed our first night in the UK with my cousin, such a beautiful old house.

The Old Mill, built long ago (early 1800's?)

I thought the ceiling was cool in the hallway, old beams....I just love it!

The guest room, like a little B&B, so cozy.

My cousin Jon and his wife Nic. This was actually taken a few days before the wedding.

Rain Walk

Rain walks are something the boys love....walking around the block in the rain, with umbrellas or without! We went for a "rain walk" yesterday (minus the rain) - we went out during the brief break in the rain. Braden rode his bike and Truitt had fun splashing around.

The boys went to Oma and Granddads in the afternoon and they'll be with them for 9 days. The house was strangly quiet last night with one kid, I forgot just how easy 1 child can be! Blake will be here with his Nana for a few days and then with The Beards. Wow - 9 days without kids! We are so thankful for this time away, I'm looking forward to leaving but I know that I'll also be looking forward to coming home too!