My Dad Loves Me

He replanted my flower beds, which were looking miserable... now I have pretty flowers again!

Kid-sitting

Bill and I have been hanging out a lot with kids lately :) and enjoying them! Here are the two most frequent culprits... aren't they kissable?

Coast After Rain

Catalina Island

Viewed from San Vicente Lighthouse on the Peninsula.
It rained here in So.Cal. this weekend - first time in a LONG while. It felt so clean afterwards and the air was clear and crisp. We drove out to the coast soon after the rain had passed and had a great view of Catalina - we forget it's out there most of the time!

Hanz and Andrea
We took our friends from Colombia with us on the drive along the coast.

Whale Watching

We were out on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on Saturday and got to see a herd of whales passing by. OK - so we didn't actually SEE the whales, but we did see them spouting out water as they came up for air. It was quite impressive - much closer to the coastline than normal, everyone at the whale watching visitor center was quite excited about it.

Lillie Belle

Here's the newest member of our family. Born yesterday: Lillie Belle (with her mum, my sis')

Wildlife Lesson

Lesson: Even though you may live in a huge city very far from the great outdoors, close your door at night to prevent wildlife entering.
We usually leave our back screen door ajar so that Spotsie can come and go. Last night she came in around 10:30pm as I was getting ready to go to bed and I noticed her peering behind my desk which is located right by the back door. I took a look, expecting to see a cricket, moth or spider (her normal prey) and screamed at seeing two baby possums! I jumped on a chair and proceeded to tell Bill and Spot how to get them out of our place.
(FYI... this is now the second time we've had possums hanging out in our place, maybe we've learned the screen door lesson!?)

Grape Juice Making

Last weekend we decided to make grape juice using the abundance of grapes from my parents' vine.

Step 1: Clean and remove from stems

Step 2: "Mash" with potato masher then simmer for 10 minutes

Step 3: Strain to remove seeds and skin overnight

Step 4: Enjoy 100% pure, nothing added, grapejuice

Roommate Reunion #2

End of Summer "Vacation" Fun

Misha and Bill - jumping the waves at Bolsa Chica Beach.

Les, Debbie & Sydney - relaxing at BCBeach.

The Nolan clan - visiting the Yarralls from Pennsylvania.

Playing with the Go Kart & my dad.

Sydney & Lydia - sweet girlies.

Colombian Friends

Here are pictures of some of the friends we got to see while we visited Bogota. I've not included everyone... but just a sampling of folks we miss!

Sergio & Olga with their sons. They are missionaries to their own country - working in a very, very poor part of the city.

Amanda, her mom and kids. We stayed with them the first week there.

Some of our old youth group. Above: Arnold and Leidy. Below: David, Juan, Luis.

We stayed with the Vanegas family the last week in Bogota. He is also in full-time ministry (his family too!), "pastoring" our old church, Bible teaching and evangelism.
Sandra & Paola. Two of the young women I used to disciple. They are doing well... both have graduated from uni. and have jobs.

Medellin

A year ago Bill's father moved to the city of Medellin. It is a 45 minute flight from Bogotá (the capital) and is probably the second city in the country. The drive from Bogota to Medellin is safe to do now, but we didn't have the time (8-9 hours each way) to do it.

The main purpose of our visit was to spend time with Dad and Liliana. Here's Bill with his dad reliving some childhood memories in their old "backyard". They used to live in the first floor apartment you can see in the background.

We got to do a little site seeing while there. Including a drive to a village called "Santa Fe de Antioquia". There is an historic bridge there that we used to walk over the Cauca river.

Typical countryside shot:
This picture was taken at a tourist spot that is called "Pueblo Paisa". It has a typical little village square with church. What we liked most about this place was the view. It is located atop a hill in the middle of the city, so you can get a good idea of what Medellin looks like.

Bogota

On our last day in Colombia our friends, Gilberto and Sandra, took us to the old district of Bogota, to the city's birthplace. It has so much character and beauty - the buildings and streets take you into the past, yet the people scurrying around going to school, university and work remind you that you're in the 21st century!

This is the church steeple in the little square where Bogota "was born".

Street going down the hill towards the main plaza and main cathedral of Bogotá.

The Plaza de Bolivar (main plaza). Government buildings ahead, cathedral behind us.

From Bogota to Medellin

Monday, July 30th:This is me standing in front of the hospital where I was treated several years ago. I had a check up MRI done here this morning (7/30)

Across the street there is a mall, built in an old Spanish style - we had a cup of coffee there.

We had a nice time catching up with the Dubberly family over lunch.

Tuesday, July 31

The men Bill used to meet with to study most Saturday nights during the first few years here in Colombia are either married with families now or living in other parts of the world. We got together with three of the families for the afternoon.

Thursday, August 2

This is the view of the city of Medellin from Bill & Liliana's apartment window. Medellin is in a valley - surrounded by mountains on all sides. Very beautiful.

Bogota

Camilo & Brisa (two of our hosts)

We're Here!

We've been in Bogota for 24 hours. Everyone is looking after us quite well and our schedule is looking very full. Will try and take a few pictures in the next days and post them for all to see. Today we ran a couple of medical errands with my health insurance in preparation for my check ups (MRI etc.) next week. It was great to see the city and realize how much we miss living here. Tonight we are off to visit the Bible Institute, tomorrow we'll visit with friends... Bill's speaking about 14 times at least while we are here.

Packing ...

We're packing today... tomorrow we fly down to:
We'll be gone for three weeks... but we do have a couple of cat-sitters lined up!

Last Friday we had one last visit to the beach with our Colombian friends from Talbot... here's Bill and Julian boogie boarding!

The Spectators

Meanwhile, Sonja, Misha and I watched the boys racing around the track....

... but that got a little boring, so we played a couple of games of air hockey.



Afterwards we went out for a treat (see NZ ice cream post) ...
... but some of us needed a frappuccino too!

He tells me this was his very first Starbucks that he didn't have to share!?

Jon's Birthday Present

We took Jon to a go kart racetrack for his birthday (late gift... it was a couple of weeks ago!)
He and Bill raced each other (with a few other strangers)... overall Jon had the best lap times, but Bill managed to sneak ahead of him in time for the finish line!