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Date: March 12 – 19, 2012
So this is just going to be a lot of photos but I couldn’t help but share a ton of them. Here we go…
For CMU’s Spring Break Lucas lead a group of 51 students and staff to Puerto Rico. Getting us all to the island was a feat in and of itself.
We made our way by bus from San Juan to Comerio
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A few shots around town…
The Methodist church in town was our home away from home…
After settling in we were whisked around the town by city officials…
Once we knew our way around, it was time to get to work. This house was directly across from the church (I was standing in the church when I took this picture). We just happened to meet the residents and put ourselves to work.
Our main project was replacing the floor in one area of the house.
Besides working on the house our group did lots of projects for the city. Each morning they would take a group out to work here and there. One morning I tagged along and we headed off to paint the sides of the road.
But during a quick stop we ran into a fiesty “local”…
This is the church we stayed in and on Sunday they had Lucas preach!
Thankfully we had Stephanie to translate for him…
One night we were they we went to a worship service of the Methodist and Catholic churches.
It was pretty much a night of testimonies and worship…aka: a latin concert! It was awesome!
We also went to the hometown baseball game…
And, of course, what’s Puerto Rico without a day at the beach?!?!
I had to make my signature sandcastle…
Our final day in PR was spent in San Juan before catching our plane back to Missouri…
The only proof that Lucas and I were there…
What a great trip with some amazing students!
-Shannon
Over a month ago Lucas and I traveled down to Springfield for our second weekend without the Os. Our first weekend away happened back in February and we were ready for another weekend to ourselves. We came down to Springfield so Lucas could attend the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church so we didn’t exactly have the entire weekend to ourselves. We checked in out hotel on Friday evening and I was pretty impressed with it. I went so far as to say it was one of the nicest hotel rooms I’d ever been in. Lucas then proceeded to make fun of me for saying that for the entirety of our trip. :) But seriously it was pretty nice and new and shiny. And I was impressed because it is the first LEED certified hotel in Missouri! So here are some snaps of our home away from home…
Oh one more thing, the bed could be adjusted to firm or soft!
I don’t know why but after this point I took no more pictures during our weekend away. :( But later on Friday night we went over to the Butrick’s house to have dinner and finally meet their little guy! We had a great evening together!
On Saturday I thought Lucas was going to be busy with Annual Conference stuff all day so I invited my mom to come up for the day so we could spend the day shopping. I haven’t been shopping with just my mom since long before Owen was born so it was really nice to spend the day with her. However, it turns out Lucas had extra time and I ended up missing time with him. At the end of the day I felt bad for not seeing him more but I was glad to have time with my mom.
Sunday morning we went to church at Schweitzer (where we used to work) and then headed out to lunch with our friends the Roberts. We had never met their daughter so it was great to see them as parents! After a quick lunch we both headed off to Annual Conference where Lucas presented on campus ministry at CMU. He did a great job! Right after his presentation I whisked him away to the airport where he was catching a plane to meet up with the high school group he was going to chaperone on a east coast trip.
I dropped him off and headed over to my friend Jennifer’s house to visit with her. The last time I saw her we were both pregnant and I had never met their son face to face. (It turns out this was the weekend of meeting people’s children!) After a nice visit with her I hopped in the car and drove back to KC to be with Owen. When I arrived in KC at Lucas’ parent’s house they said to call him. I thought that was odd since he was supposed to be in Philly by that point. It turns out his plane was cancelled and he was staying the night in Springfield! I have to say this is one of the very few times when I wish we would’ve had cell phones. Actually Lucas had a little go phone but since I didn’t have a phone we had no way of contacting each other. Ugh! So Sunday night was spent apart with him in Springfield and myself in KC. Monday morning Owen and I headed back to Boonville and Lucas finally made it to Philly later that day.
It was an eventful end to our weekend away and I hope that next time we have some time together we can actually spend it that way…together. :)
-Shannon
Ok I’ve saved the best for last! To me the Magic Kingdom is Disney World. I just love it! During our trip I went there 3 different times and each time explored different parts. During our first day at DW we spent the daytime at Epcot but in the evening we went to the Magic Kingdom. Lucas stayed at the hotel with Owen since it was past O’s bedtime. The rest of us made our way to the Magic Kingdom by taking the ferry boat…
It was fun to be there in the evening with the sun setting and all the lights coming on.
The castle at night…
Along the way to finding a fireworks watching spot my sister and I picked up some Mickey ears. I loved my sparkle ears!
Let the fireworks begin! The show would say “When you wish upon a star…” and then a single flare would go off like this…
But they quickly moved on to the big stuff!
And the grand finale! I was pretty sure they were blowing up Disney World!
The night we were there the park had extended hours so we rode a bunch of rides after the fireworks and didn’t have to wait in any lines! It was a great night at the Magic Kingdom.
Since Lucas and Owen missed out on the evening in the park we spent another day there. First a picture of the King family…
And then a classic shot with the Endicott family.
I love this picture! It is probably my favorite shot of the entire trip. :)
Even thought Owen won’t remember it we had to go on some classic children’s rides…the tea cups…
…Dumbo!
My mom and I also went back to the Magic Kingdom with Owen one morning and rode a ton of other kid friendly rides. We had a blast at the Magic Kingdom! As a final farewell we watched the fireworks from across the lake on evening. I actually they were more impressive at a distance rather than being right underneath of them…
What a great trip to Disney World!
-Shannon
The last time I was at Disney World (10+ year ago) Animal Kingdom had recently opened and there wasn’t much to it. This time it had so much more and we had lots of fun exploring. We got there early and headed straight to the Safari…
Owen & Grandpa…
Lots of animals to see…
Owen enjoyed it and I think he even spotted a few of the animals…
Afterwards we headed to a petting zoo where he pet exotic animals like goats. :)
We enjoyed riding the train back to the petting zoo and Grandpa even bought Owen a little Simba lion of his own.
Did you know Mt. Everest is in the middle of Florida? Well it is…in the form of Expedition Everest the roller coaster!
We had lots of fun spending the day at the Animal Kingdom!
-Shannon
You may remember that for Christmas my family gifted us with a trip to Disney World. We traveled to Florida with my parents, sister, Aunt and Uncle to stay for a week. I took pictures but not as many as you might think. :) I’ve decided to break up our trip to Disney World by posting park by park starting with Epcot and you can’t think of Epcot without picturing this…
My mom, Aunt, Owen & Lucas…
They were have the flower and garden show at Epcot and my mom even found a Disney gnome!
My mom, sister, Aunt, Dad and Uncle.
More parks to come!
-Shannon
After almost a week away from Missouri we loaded up the church bus to head back home. But how do you get from El Paso, TX to Fayette, MO? Why you go through Santa Fe, NM of course! Ok actually it isn’t technically on the way home but we went here anyway to enjoy a fun day.
The day before we left El Paso our other LPI alum, Gaby, enjoyed the day with her mom who made the 6+ hour bus ride to El Paso from her hometown in Delicias, Mexico! The next morning we dropped her mama off with family on our way out of El Paso. Gaby and her mom…
After a few more hours of driving we arrived in Santa Fe and had the day to enjoy. Lucas and I headed out to enjoy the town together. I had been to Santa Fe two times before but Lucas had never visited. We wandered around town and enjoyed catching up with each other.
Later that evening the entire group went out for dinner. It was our final meal together on our trip. A quick pic with Megan…
Me and the girls…Kelli, Gaby and Esther…
There were my roomies for the night…we were the “old” ladies. Michelle and Natalie are grad students.
And of course Jacob and Daniel had to get in on the picture taking fun.
After enjoying a final evening devotional together we were up bright and early to make the long road home. Lucas and I drove 20+ hours straight to get us home to Fayette.
Our final sunset of the trip. This was taken somewhere in the middle of Kansas. We finally made it home after 3:00am and even though the last day of driving is something I never want to do again, the entire trip was wonderful and I would do that again in a heartbeat!
-Shannon
While we were in El Paso we had several mountaintop experience…both literally and figuratively. Our first experience happened one evening when we decided to go to an overview of the city. We bought dinner and headed up to the lookout. We arrived around sunset and stayed until it was dark.
This is looking out to El Paso…
I enjoyed the view with our two Mexican chicas, Esther & Gaby…
And our entire group…
I was blown away by how big Juarez was. We thought El Paso was pretty big but Juarez was much bigger. In the picture below only 1/4 would be El Paso and the rest is Juarez! It just went on forever! While we were up on this mountain we saw a many praying with his hands raised in the air. He was praying over Juarez and for the violence to stop. Lucas and Esther talked with him for awhile and found out that he was a pastor and his church was in the middle of doing a 40 day fast and prayer for Juarez. It was pretty amazing to see his passion for the city.
It was pretty surreal to stand up on the mountain and look out on what appeared to be one city. And right through the middle of it is a line. On one side you are born American and on the other side you are born Mexican. A man made line separates people and gives privileges to some and not to others. I can’t really convey what I felt up there but on one hand I felt sad, angered and confused. On the other hand I saw God’s hope and love…
Our second mountaintop experience happened when we actually hiked a mountain! We had seen this mountain with a cross on top when we went to the desert border to talk with people. A few days later we came back to hike the mountain. I was too busy huffing and puffing on the way up so I didn’t take any pictures. But once we all made it up we enjoyed the view…
While we were at the top we sang some worship songs and had a good time together. It was our last evening in El Paso and we had all seen and experienced a lot. We hiked back down…
…and then spent the evening talking about the ways we had seen God during our time at LPI and in El Paso. It was a very special time for the group and was definitely another mountaintop experience. I know I’m not the best at writing exactly how I felt but I remember how I felt and the ways my life has been changed because of this wonderful trip with amazing students!
-Shannon
Our days in El Paso were spent at this lovely place…
The Lydia Patterson Institute. We even had our own Lydia on the trip and she was pretty happy to share her name with the school.
We had lots of work experiences throughout the week but one morning we were able to help the school by planning Chapel and putting it on for the students. Two of our CMU students, and alum of LPI, spoke to the LPI students. It was very moving to hear their testimonies and how far God has brought them since first entering LPI.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to lead worship along with a guy from the McMurry group. We threw it all together the morning of but the worship time was great nonetheless.
After the Chapel service we headed back to work and I had the opportunity to serve in a way that I love…I organized! I wish I would’ve taken a “before” shot but here is our “after” shot.
And like I said before we were working alongside some students from McMurry University as well.
Token group shot…
Besides doing our work jobs we also got creative with ways we could help. One of our students on the trip is actually an assistant volleyball coach at CMU so one day she headed down to help out with LPI’s volleyball practice. The students were really receptive to her and she had a great time serving!
Another way we “served” was by attending the last girls soccer game of the year! We made signs, painted faces and cheered our hearts out for the LPI girls!
Jacob & Daniel were very serious about their cheering…
Random shot: During the middle of the game the sprinklers came on! Crazy!
The evening was made more special by the fact that these 4 lovely ladies were there. Esther (top, center) is a student at CMU and one of her younger sisters, Enid (left), was on the team! Her other two sisters, Josie (bottom) and Eunice (right), came up from Juarez for the evening and we were able to go to the game together! It was so wonderful to get to meet part of Esther’s family and even more wonderful to see them all together!
I wish I would’ve taken more pictures of the work our group did around LPI but we know that so many tasks were accomplished during our time there. Oh and when we weren’t working we were resting in our house just 2 doors down from the school.
It looks small from the front but it just kept going further and further back. We all slept comfortably here and had great time of worship and sharing throughout the week.
Coming up next…our time around El Paso and finally we head home!
-Shannon
Our first day at the school walked out to the courtyard and found a huge tent! Since we were joined by another college group from McMurray University in Abilene, TX, LPI put us all to work taking it down. First we braced for the center to come down…
Then we pulled out all the poles…
We were led by Leonardo, who owns the tent…
Our students were hard at work…
And one of our guys proved he was the strongest man alive by pulling the stakes out of the ground!
After it was down there was a lot of cleaning to do…
But by the end of the day we were done. The girls were glad to be finished!
And here is the view from the courtyard looking towards Mexico. Those mountains are in Mexico…
This was one big project that we did but over the course of the next few days we did many other projects big and small. The first day working took some getting used to but by the end of the week we knew how to split off into groups and get stuff done. I’ll share more soon…
-Shannon
