The Mayer Family

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Here’s one of them. Every now and then, someone decides to park their car “for a minute” on the street outside our apartment where the bus passes. Which turns into 10 or 20 or 30 minutes. And then when the bus comes through and can’t pass, it causes many, many angrily honking cars to line up behind. How embarrassing. Glad it wasn’t me.

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Around Easter time, we each received a card and a little money from my sister…all except Evan. Ellie's card had $5 in it, so he was quite distressed about not getting his. Time went on, and he didn’t forget. He kept wondering if it would ever come. Finally he starting begging us to give him the money…”it just isn’t fair”. One day after we’d heard enough, Kevin told him to talk to Jesus about it. So he stopped right there and prayed. As he did, I must admit that I wasn’t feeling much faith. Enough time had passed that I was sure it was lost for good.

Just a couple of days later I opened the mailbox and there was the letter! I couldn’t believe it! I thanked God for being so good to our trusting Evan. And I was reminded to ask more and believe.

As you can see, the card went all the way to the Caribbean Island of Grenada before traveling to Granada, Spain.

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It’s hard to believe our little girl is 5! Here’s how we celebrated…

…by Skype with some family members

…with a party at our house
Ellie with her friends Evelyn and Elisa

This morning before school…being 5 didn’t change the sometimes grumpy attitude

…with cupcakes at school
Singing their hearts out…especially brother. (Evan’s class joined us.)

Evelyn and Ellie

Some of Evan’s classmates

…with a trip to her favorite restaurant…McDonalds of course.

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We were all happy to see my parents after more than two years apart. It was their first visit here, so we gave them the grand tour of our city and introduced them to some of our friends. We also traveled outside the city a bit. Evan and Ellie were happy to be with Grandpa and Grandma again.

Enjoying tea and schawarmas

Evan and Kevin with our good friend Hadi

The street we live on with the entrance to our building being just behind Wendy’s head

Mom hanging out laundry

Dad & Mom enjoyed visiting Evan & Ellie’s school and meeting their teachers and some of their friends.
Ellie with her friend Evelyn

Evan with his friend Paco

Ellie’s classroom

Evan’s classroom

Here we are visiting the Alhambra, the Moorish palace and fortress complex in Granada.

My Dad, who has been a carpenter and builder his entire life, commented about the architecture, “I always thought I was a pretty good craftsman, but now I’m not so sure”.

A delicious meal at Pablo & Judi’s…rice and beans with Lizano sauce, chicken, fried platanos and salad with avocado and cilantro is hard to beat! Thanks Judi!

One morning we had breakfast at our friend’s café/hostel, where we stayed when we first arrived in Spain.
Our friend Margarita’s mother Matilde showing us all the different plants growing in her patio garden at the hostel where she also lives.

Ellie with her friend Elisa

Some special days for Evan and Ellie included activities like going to a favorite park, Carmen de los Martires…

…an open-air bus tour of the city…

…and a visit to their favorite place in the city, The Science Park. Here they are, ready to go.

Sunday, May 3 was Dia de la Cruz (Day of the Cross). After a worship time and food on the grill with our friends Pablo & Judi, we headed out to see the festivities.

Pablo & Judi

Decorated crosses are set up all over the city

Some children decorate their own crosses and display them along the streets, hoping for a small “donation” from admirers. We met Evan’s friend and classmate Paco transporting his cross to set up.

Babies, little girls, young women and even old women dress up in their gypsy dresses for the day to parade around the city. Ellie joined in on the fun this year.

Ellie with her new play glasses from Grandma. She informed us “now I’m just like Judi!”

Little girls in our neighborhood

Horses and riders parade through the streets

The guys all joined Kevin, Miguel and Luis in watching some Granada fútbol.
Evan and Miguel

Luis and Miguel

Pablo and Dad with matching heads:)

Continue reading "Grandpa & Grandma visit!" »

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