Back in the Saddle...

...as it were, after a Mexican vacation.  This was, for us, the dream of a life-time that we've been planning since last year.  With a big boost from St. Paul's as a gift for the 25th anniversary of my ordination, and with a lot of scrimping and cutting corners all year, we were able to take the entire family to Mexico for a week and stay at the Palace in Barcelo Maya.  Mostly it was a week for sitting on the beach, swimming with the fish (and turtle - we only saw one this year), or lounging at pool-side.  Like the last time we were there, you're really only relaxed after a couple days.  But then that "ah" feeling sinks in and you begin attending to the present gifts that the Lord is showering on you.  Like the day we had a tropical thunderstorm.  Wow.  What beauty and force!  Like seeing tiger fish and blue-colored fish stare at you in your googles like you are a very stranger critter (which I suppose we are)!  Like enjoying the variety of foods and drink that this beautiful old earth has to offer (avoiding the franken-foods as best we could, for the ones that come from the earth or from the animals of the earth with minimal amount of processing) - including that bit of Octopus you see David holding below.  That was in his soup!  And yes, he ate it.

We were blessed that Cindi's Aunt Sandy could join us, so we were nine in all:  Lauren, Dean, and baby; David and Meaghan; Bekah; Cindi and I;  and Aunt Sandy.  Lots of precious memories to treasure away.  I don't think we'll ever get another trip like that, and it sort of just "topped" our family vacations - almost certainly the very last we'll all be able to take together now that the oldest four children have fully entered the work force.