Baseball, Monte Alban, and My Family!

I must apologize in advance for the length of this post. I had so many great pictures that I had a hard time picking which ones to put on! Though as always, I am very grateful for your support and the time you take to read my blog!

So, we've had quite a few adventures recently: going to a local minor league baseball game, linking in to Secret Church on Good Friday, going to a hilariously fun youth group meeting where we played games (IN SPANISH!), and bouncing around Oaxaca with my family who came to visit me!!

Me and Jackson at the Guerrerros ballgame!

Yes, the players arrive on a bus... that drives over the outfield... Only here!

They also had the fully armed military!

Look at this adorable cutie! His name's Luke. :)

Beautiful Oaxacan sunset!

Natasha and I at the game's end.

Ready for Secret Church!!

Our Secret Church group!

Not yesterday, but last Saturday, we Hands On people were invited to a get-together for the jovenes or youth group. It ranges in age from 16 to 25. Our leader, Manuel, is 27 though! During this party, we played games, ate, and generally laughed our tails off at each other. Mainly because of silly games, most of which were not quite clear to those of us non-native Spanish speakers. The games included: keep the balloon in the air by blowing on it, never have I ever involving chairs and occasionally sitting on top of one another, eating weird things as quickly as possible, and racing around the room with bananas in our mouths. I might add that the banana game involved partners with each holding a banana end in their mouth. Very difficult.

Haylee starting the Eat the Sugar, the Lime, and the Drink the Water as Fast as Possible Game. She was working hard and almost won! Quite difficult. Limes are SOUR here!

Jennifer had some sugar issues...

Haylee working hard.

Not too long after the jovenes meeting, we headed to the airport… to pick up my family!! I was super excited! After going to church with us on Sunday, we headed to the market in Tlacolula. Say that one then times fast! Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of my family in the market, even though Mom got some beautiful hand-dyed rugs! The rugs are one of the things Oaxaca is famous for, Tlacolula in particular. They were beautiful.

Then on Monday, we headed to Monte Alban. Monte Alban is one of the oldest cities in Middle America. It was in existence when Christ was walking the earth! How awesome is that? Monte Alban also has a beautiful museum that showcases carvings and smaller artifacts.

High-tech tickets with their holograms!

Some of the beautiful carvings that have lasted all these years!

Love the layout here.

Pottery and tiny artifacts.

Look at this view!

A cistern for water that had to be filled by hand. Wouldn't want to be on that job!

These were used as graves. 

Underground tombs are not for the claustrophobic.

Our Hands On team. 

Mom coming out of the tombs reminded me of the Resurrection Story. How glorious must it have been to see our Risen Savior as He rose again and defeated death!

Mission: Climb the steps. Outcome: Slightly embarrassing, but we made it.

As I looked over this ancient civilization's ruins, I asked myself a cheesy, but important question. What am I leaving that will be see by people who have never even heard my name? Will people two thousand years from now see the works God wrought in the world through me or will my works die with me?

Ellen, Jennifer, me, and Natasha!

My family! :)

Practicing the YMCA?

This stone structure in the middle of this field was for human sacrifices. We decided to recreate one and picked Jennifer for the great honor. Not that she really had that much of a choice...

Then we all got together to...

Die. We died together.
As a lady passed by, she looked over at us and said, "Oh, look. Young, pretty girls. I'm sure the gods will be quite happy." Glad to know other folks get our weird humor!

Then my jokester father decided to do a handstand. Of course, we stood by for support.

Such neat craftsmanship.

See those steps? Yeah, we climbed them. I however was somewhat shame-faced after my 53 year-old father sprinted up them and beat me to the top...

STEEEEEEP stairs.

View from the top. So pretty!

Tiny little passageways through the stone structures.

Our full Hands On team! I get to work with some awesome people!

Tuesday was the children’s home and the zocalo. Mom and Dad had brought gifts for all the kids to play with. Unfortunately, most of them were home for Easter. But, they enjoyed getting to know the few kids that were there. We were quite popular once the boys found out we had cars! The boys got cars, and the girls got squishy light-up animal things. And everyone got Chap-stick. It was quite a commotion when they figured out that all the Chap-sticks were scented. Hershey’s was definitely the most popular by far.

The adorable children's home boys playing with their cars. It was car wash time. 

Dinner at the zocalo!

Real men carry market baskets on their head. Dad's got it down.

Thursday, we went to the beautiful botanical gardens. The tour was in English, which really excited Dad the botanist. It was long (almost two and a half hours), but there were some gorgeous and some weird-looking plants.

Us, plus Jennifer went to the Botanical Gardens, or the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, in Spanish.

Spiky trees that the natives were said to hug to get more powerful? Check.

Weird looking cacti? Check.

Yellow stuff? Flowers. Yep. Lots and lots of flowers.

More cacti? Check.

The silver-ish plants were my favorite. They're a type of agave, or what America calls a century plant. They were quite pretty.

So they have soap trees in Oaxaca. SOAP TREES. How amazing is our Creator? He is so imaginative that He created PLANTS that make SOAP.

"The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, the skies proclaim the works of His hands." Ps. 19:1

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Rom. 1:20

Dragonfruit trees growing on the wall.

The memorial to the indigenous peoples that's made of cypress wood.

Like I said, odd cacti....

Look at these gorgeous plumeria/frangipani blossoms! They look like Hawaii, and they smell AMAZING!

The beautiful Santo Domingo Church

So big!

Lunch was four cheese soup with poblano chiles and tortilla strips! So amazing.

Then came the Mexican adventure of fitting five people in four seats. Our taxi driver found us quite funny.

Because Dad is such a plant finder, I took him and Andrew to visit the Tree of Tule, the giant old tree, I talked about in an earlier post. However, since it wasn't my phone used for pictures, I don't have one of us in front of the tree right now! But the boys seemed to greatly enjoy visiting Tule.

Then came the day to leave. Saturday, at 4:45 in the morning, we were headed to the airport to drop off my beloved family. Can't wait to see them when I get back in May!

Our last night together before they went home. Check out that sunset!

Again, I apologize for the length of this post! My next one will be much shorter with not nearly as many pictures! But thank you anyway for reading and listening to my adventures in Mexico as we share our lives and good news with the people here!