Highlights

Hoooray! We just got home from a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long trip, during which we made countless memories that we will treasure forever. (That's writer talk for, "I'm going to spare you all the long, intricate details.") Instead of giving a blow-by-blow (which I kinda sorta already did in the last two posts), I thought I'd just take a few minutes and share some of the more, um, interesting highlights of our trip. SO - here goes:

• We spent 50 mights away from home. Exactly. Precisely. And, because of the kindness, patience, and generosity of friends and family (who opened their homes, guest rooms, sofa beds, campers, and fridges to us) only 8 of them were spent in hotels. Four hotel rooms were in Mexico. They ranged from what you'd consider a really poor 1 star American hotel to something much less than that. (There were bugs almost the size of a deck of cards, lizards who serenaded us as we slept, and one sleep-walking incident in which one of my children had the door almost open before I managed to convince her to get back into bed.) 
• We put 10,660 miles on our Jeep Liberty between June 9th and July 29th. We were in 16 different American states. (I don't know how many Mexican states we were in. Forgot to keep track of that.) Most of the time, it was just the five of us in the Jeep. At one point, though, there were 8 of us crammed in, along with all of our bags and purchases. We can put a LOT of stuff (and people, apparently) in that little space.
• I highly recommend being church tourists, like we were, when you're on vacation or away from home. We were gone for 7 Sundays, and attended 5 different churches during that time. It was great. I know a lot of people moan and worry over the state of the church in America. And, trust me, I get it! There are problems, to be sure. There are many churches (whole denominations of them, perhaps), who have walked away from the true purpose of gather together. But, there are also amazing, faithful, wonderful, joyful, honest, sincere, open, welcoming, Bible-reading, Jesus-loving, gospel-sharing congregations in every corner of the country. It was so good to get to worship with so many different people in so many different ways and places.
• Borders are always interesting and a bit unnerving. We think it's particularly important to teach our children how to fill out paperwork and complete border requirements. (It's a good skill for them to learn, and helps save us time.)  On this trip, Sarah (who is 8) filled out her own Visa form, complete with signature... with a heart at the end. :) Other border incidents of note - we may have inadvertently and completely accidentally sorta kinda bribed a border agent, and once got followed by a border patrol truck and instructed to turn around when we misunderstood a hand signal and drove off without having completed the required inspection. Oops. You live, you learn.
• The view out of our windows was awesome. We saw mountains, grassland, farms, ocean views, rolling hills, expansive skies, huge cities, little towns, remote villages, and so much more. Mexico is beautiful. The United States is beautiful. Life is beautiful if you're paying attention. 
• It's good to be careul what you wish for. During Day Two through Mexico we always end up skirting the coast for about half the day. I've always wished we could stop and play a little, since I dearly love the ocean, and the beaches were almost completely empty. This time, I got my wish. (Unfortunately.) One of our traveling companions kept hearing an unpleasant sound during big bumps (of which there are MANY on Mexican roads). He stopped once to try to get it fixed. The mechanic said it was the spring in the shock (forgive my automotive ignorance), but didn't have the parts necessary to fix it. Several hours down the road, it finally broke, causing us to have to pull off, find another mechanic, and have the spring welded back together. Can't say I would have wished that on anyone, but we did have fun for about an hour and a half on the beach while we waited. The fact that it broke 2 blocks from a mechanic and 3 blocks from the beach was pretty awesome, all things considered. 
• If you're planning on moving to Guatemala, don't bring a Toyota truck. I don't know why, but they are the single most popular vehicle here. The smaller ones, usually from the early-to-mid '90s are EVERYWHERE! (Like, one out of every three vehicles). Turns out, they're also the ones most likely to be pulled over by military and police checkpoints and at borders. Unfortunately, one of the members of our caravans, who were just moving to Guatemala for the first time, had a really nice Toyota truck, and they were hassled, stopped, inspected, and bothered WAY more often than we were. I'm not gonna lie - it feels good to not be such total newbies anymore. 
• Goodbyes don't get any easier the second time you leave the country. As much fun as it was to see everyone, in some ways it was also harder than before. Our bonds were deepened, but the pain of our separation was too. I wonder if that will ever change. 

There was more. Of course, there was so much more. But, since there wasn't room for you to join us for the ride, I hope you at least enjoyed the highlights. Next time we'd love to have you come along, though I'm thinking we might need a bit bigger vehicle. :)