November 15, 2009
We woke up at seven o’clock this morning and enjoyed our coffee together outside. We are really enjoying this weather here in Mission. After we finished our coffee we went inside and took showers. Around 11:30 we went over to Rocky & Sheri’s to drop off their vacuum cleaner and asked them if they would like to ride with us over to the flea market that the girls went to yesterday. They said sure and with that we were off. The flea market is located in Donna, Texas. It’s neat in the since most of the vendors cater toward snowbirds / winter Texans. We looked around for awhile but really we were only there to buy some vinyl lettering for our truck. The lettering we got was our name for each door and the truck’s name. We’re not sure where that will go yet. However, we still got it. After that we decided that it was time to leave the flea market. We headed back home and dropped Rocky & Sheri off at their home. We then went back to McAllen so I could find a Radio Shack. While I went into Radio Shack Gina went into Marshalls. Neither one of us bought anything so it was off to Wal-mart next door. We went into the store and without going into detail we left there and headed toward another one. I had been debating whether or not to fill up with diesel since the prices seem to keep rising. I saw an HEB and their diesel was only 2.55 and they had a high flow pump. I decided what the heck just fill it up. It only took 182 gallons. From there we stopped at another Radio Shack and they had the antenna mount that I was looking for. We finally stopped at Wal-mart in Mission and picked up a few items. We mainly did a lot of looking around. We made it back home and ate dinner around seven o'clock. We chatted for a few minutes with Ashley our daughter and then called it a night since we both would be getting up early in the morning.
Monday
November 16, 2009
We both woke up at six o’clock when the alarm went off this morning. We had a big day planned. Rocky & Sheri were picking us up at nine o’clock for a tour of the work their minstry Hero Makers is doing in Mexico. We made it through the border crossing without being stopped. Then we were off to the Refugio orphanage. Their ministry does so much for these children but for the most part they build houses for orphanages. They have a standard floor plan which houses twelve children along with a separate room for the host family who oversee the twelve children. They have one house at this orphanage that is almost finished and should be finished by the first part of next year. Even though these orphanages are controlled by the city they get no funding from them. They place the children and then expect the orphanages to find a way to support themselves. There are fourteen orphanages in Reynosa which is a big city across the border. Here are a few pictures of this orphanage.
One room in a house they're building
Kitchen area in the same house
Bathroom
Playground
Living room in the Girls house
From there we headed to Rio Bravo orphanage. This is the best orphanage in Mexico. Ray Hansen is the man behind the success here. They have a building here that can house 90 people. This building is used by volunteers when they come down to do mission work. This is also the building that Rocky uses to house people that come down to do work with Hero Makers. Ray has a very interesting story about what all he has gone through. God has blessed his ministry. In addition to building this orphanage he also started a private school for the children that live at this orphanage. He has been able to expand this school so other Mexican children can attend. This has provided additional funding for the orphanage. Here are a few pictures of this orphanage.
Entrance to Rio Bravo Ministries
One classroom in the school
Gina just loved these girls
Especially this one
The girls making dinner
One of the girls showing Gina her bed
This is the House being built by Hero Makers Ministries
One of the older homes
This house has the kitchen & both a room for girls and one for boys
Playground
The Pig Pen
The girls room
The boys making dinner
By this time it was two o’clock and all of us were hungry. Rocky & Sheri took us to one of the finer restaurants here in Reynosa. We had both chicken and beef fajitas for four and they were delicious.
Rocky & Sheri at lunch
Once we left there it was time to head back home. However, we had to cross the border first. Rocky let the three of us off so we could walk across. Rocky has a sentry card which allows him and his truck quick non-stop access into the United States. Without the card it would have taken over an hour to drive back across the border. The only down side is that only Rocky can be in the truck when it crosses the border. To let you know how fast he crossed the border. He was waiting on us and we didn’t even have to wait in line to show our passports. After Rocky & Sheri dropped us off at home we decided to just chill out at home. Gina got on Facebood while I took a short nap in my recliner. While I was napping she also baked a homemade cheesecake. However, it will not be ready until tomorrow. After I woke up from my nap we watched TV until around ten o’clock when we called it a day and went to bed.
Tuesday
November 17, 2009
We slept with our windows open last night and we were awakened by rain this morning. I got up and closed all the windows to keep water from coming inside. Since I was awake, I got the coffee brewing and decided to get back in bed. When I heard the coffee finish I got back up and fixed both of us a cup while we enjoyed it in bed watching the morning news. This was going to be a lazy and dreary day due to the rain and the fact that we had no plan for the day. We did finally get up and by the time I took Angel and Zoey outside it was eleven o’clock. I took a rump roast out of the freezer yesterday so Gina could cook it today. She first browned it then took the drippings and made a roux to make a gravy. Once all of that was done she placed it into the crock pot and then let it cook all day. We had leftover pizza for breakfast / lunch. After which I made some more phone calls to a few other solar stores trying to get price quotes for our solar upgrade. We then just sat outside relaxing the afternoon away. At four o’clock we walked up to the club house for happy hour to chat with everyone. After we walked back home at five o'clock we watched the news and enjoyed dinner together. I checked my email and I finally got an email back from one company with a quote. I’m still waiting on two others. After dinner Gina got on Facebook and while I read a few blogs to catch up with what everyone has been doing. We then watched a movie together before heading off to bed.
Wednesday
November 18, 2009
We slept again with the windows open and enjoyed a cool morning together outside drinking coffee. Gina went inside around eleven o’clock to take a shower and get dressed for the ladies luncheon at twelve o’clock. She took the roast and gravy for her dish. However, I did manage to sneek small slice of meat and ate it for lunch.
A lot of food for just ladies
The ladies socializing
Pat, Dale & Gina
While Gina was gone I hooked up our wireless router with our air card. After that I did some test on using the external antenna to the air card. Without the antenna I was getting speeds of 0.68 Mbps and with the antenna it jumped up to 1.7 Mbps. It definitely made a big difference. I mounted the antenna up on the roof luggage rack and ran the cable through the slide out.
Gina made it back around two o’clock and we talked about flying Thomas over here for Thanksgiving. He called saying that he could come. I tried to find a flight on Wednesday but could not find one that he could get to after he got off from school. I then asked Nicole, our daughter for a little help and she found a flight leaving Thanksgiving morning which gets him into McAllen, Texas at 2:30. He’ll be with us until Sunday morning when he'll fly back to Palm Springs, California. We are so excited that he'll be spending Thanksgiving with us. By the time we got all of that taken care of it was four o’clock and time for happy hour at Mike & Pat's. We really enjoy and look forward to happy hour each day. We have such a hard life but I keep telling myself someone has to do it and it might as well be me. Anyway we walked back home at five o’clock and just chilled out for the night. We watched Mercy and Law and Order before heading off to bed.
We are really enjoying ourselves down here in South Texas. The weather has been absolutely beautiful and being around our friends makes it even more special.
Thursday
November 19, 2009
We slept again with our windows open last night. However, we woke up with our home feeling very muggy inside. I closed all the windows and turned the AC on to dry the air out a little and hopefully get the mugginess out. Since Gina was still in bed I started writing this entry and while I was uploading pictures I ran out of storage space on Picasa. I purchased more space. However, that additional storage space didn’t immediately show up so I couldn’t finish uploading my pictures. I was getting frustrated so I just decided I would finish and post this entry tomorrow. Once Gina woke up I fixed her a cup of coffee and we both went outside to enjoy our coffee together while trying to decide what we would do today. We didn’t have anything really to do other than Gina wanted to go out in town. However, around ten o’clock we rode our bikes over to Rocky & Sheri’s to say goodbye before they left for East Texas to spend Thanksgiving with Sheri's family. They were not there so we then rode over to the club house so Gina could look at some books in the library. Around 11:30 I was getting hungry and I wanted to go home to eat. She said, "ok" let's go get some lunch. I put some hot dogs on the grill while she heated up some chili. While I was grilling, Rocky stopped by to let us know they would be leaving in about 20 minutes. Gina and I hurried up with our lunch and then rode our bikes back over to Rocky & Sheri’s. Gina and I wanted to tell them goodbye but more importantly we wanted to pray for and with them before they got on the road today. After we prayed it was some quick hugs and a see you down the road.
Gina & Sheri
Rocky & Sheri just before they left
We rode back home so I could wait on the mini split AC unit being delivered today for Mark & Dale. While I waited I ran a coax cable from our satellite dish down to Mike & Pat’s since he’s having a problem with his dish. He has a guy coming out tomorrow to look at and this is just a temporary fix. Gina decided that she wanted to cook a stew so she did that while I was helping Mike. The truck arrived at 2:30 with the AC unit. As soon as the truck left I got a phone call from Tom who owns a company thesolar.biz. We spoke for over an hour about the solar system I want to install in the truck. He was very informative and I learned a lot in that hour or I could say that I’m more confused. He recommended to me that I should consider some other items before I make final decision. I told him goodbye and then it was off to happy hour at the clubhouse. Another great happy hour. However, as everyone left Gina continued on with her conversation to Kathy until 5:30. We then walked back home so Gina could continue cooking her stew by adding fresh potatoes and carrots while I jumped online to do some research on everything I learned early today from Tom. Gina jumped on to Facebook while she waited for the potatoes and carrots to cook before she added green beans and corn. Finally around eight o’clock the stew was done. We ate dinner while watching “Fringe”. The stew was delicious as I knew it would be. Gina is a wonderful cook. After we ate we just sat back in our recliners to let our food digest.
Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.
