there and back again

Brent & Janelle and boys were here this week! It was a very good week... I'll post some pictures that summarize the week pretty well here, and we might have a longer blog post later, or then again we might not. And, at the end of the post, I'll describe to you what transpired on our way back to Ixtlan from dropping them off at the airport... which makes our coming week very exciting and BUSY!

Welcoming Brooks to Mexico! Ivory was much more excited than he was.

We went to the market in Zamora...

... and one day we went up to the lot to see the chickens...

... and see Brent and Grant in Grant's woodshop - their "happy place", as they dubbed it for the week, working on... our kitchen cabinets!!!

Cooling off one afternoon

The wagon got lots of good use this week. Grey filled it and took it apart and put it back together again and gave rides, and they just in general had a good time.

We went out to eat on Sunday afternoon at the Kuri. 

We read lots of books...

... and one day we took a walk to the park.

Grey and Brooks loved all the little cars on the plaza.

We went out to the Plaza on Monday night...

... and took a better group picture this morning before they left. 

Our week was very relaxing... mostly just staying around Ixtlan and working on stuff there. We are so thankful for this family and all they do for us. They've talked through many decisions, changes, ideas, struggles, and just general growth with us... and we're honored they're still willing to be our friends. :)

So we dropped them off at the airport this morning, and Grant's phone rang not long afterwards. It was our immigration lawyer in Mexico City, who finally has the paperwork completed for our residency visas. We have to have this in order for Grant to run a legal business, so we've been in the process of applying for it for a very long time. She told us it was all finally ready and could we come tomorrow?! After lots of quick thinking and planning and things falling into place, it ended up that we're leaving at midnight from Zamora on a bus to Mexico City tonight, in order to be at the lawyer's office at 9 tomorrow morning. From there, we'll take a bus to Taxco, where I studied for a summer during college. We've been wanting to spend a few days there when the opportunity arose, and this worked out really well. And then we're heading a little further to the coast to Barra Vieja/Acapulco, where we'll spend the weekend with the little church there. And then we'll switch transportation modes and fly back to Guadalajara on Tuesday to meet up with my sister, who is flying in to visit Ixtlan again and to help us pack up to get ready to go home for the summer. 

We will need your prayers this week! Pray that God will protect us as we travel and that we could have a tremendous amount of patience, grace, and energy with Ivory. Pray that our visa paperwork signing will go well. Pray that we would bless the believers in Barra Vieja and that all of us could grow from our weekend together.