Ten Cousins--and Five to Mexico

Saturday three of my nephews arrived to spend the weekend here on their way to a mission project in Mexico. I managed to remember to snap a photo of them Sunday night before they and our two oldest boys left in the wee hours of Monday morning.

                      Ezra was a very courteous help to Carrie while she was doing dishes Sunday.

                              She kept him highly entertained with various conversation topics.

We found out that Samuel (M)'s birthday was to be Monday, so we managed to find a couple things around the house to wrap for him for birthday gifts, including this yard-long Snickers. (The only stipulation was that he had to share with the other boys on the trip to Mexico! :) :)

The girls had made homemade peanut butter ice cream for Samuel's birthday.

And we ladies had boiled eggs and peeled them for the boys' Monday breakfast, as well as packed other edible items into a tote. Ezra sat down and helped Carrie make sandwiches for Monday's lunch which would happen on their way through New Mexico and Arizona. 

I told the five boys my story of my harrowing experience traveling through Mexico 29 years ago on my way with missionaries to Honduras. My traveling companion and I watched an obvious set-up along the road as we were waiting to follow the missionaries to try to find another hotel for the night. We noticed that the same truck that had parked behind us at another hotel that had been too expensive, was now following us, and had pulled off the road near us. We watched at least six or eight men jump out of the truck, and two swing under it like the truck was having a problem. The others stood there watching us ladies in the car and the missionaries in the truck.

 We knew better. It was a setup that was even obvious to a greenhorn like me. I was fighting with the VW's gearshift which had been giving us trouble, and winding up my window while my fellow traveler shouted out the window to her parents, the missionaries, "Watch those men!" Then she wound her window up, too, and I took off as fast as I could in front of the missionaries in the truck, so that they would be between us and the men who were trying to stop us ladies for no good reason.  

We ended up swerving into the first hotel we found along that pitch-dark road, nearly rolling the VW as I did, I turned in so fast. I didn't stop until I was directly under the lights of the entry way with lots of people standing around. Only then did I stop, finding myself extremely shaky. The missionary family in the truck pulled in behind us, and we watched that other truck stop in a hidden spot behind a big sign. 

This hotel was expensive, too, but we stayed that night anyway. 

We warned the boys to be alert at all times, never to leave one boy alone in the truck at any time. We pray for God's protection, but we can't withhold our boys when they feel they are to go help a missionary with a construction project.

As you can see, I had a bit of a time getting a good picture! In this one above, after the boys had been silly on the first picture, I told them to "look pious," so Ezra is doing so (while Carrie is photo bombing!)

                                                        Now who is photo bombing?

 

Now I finally got a good picture. 

May the Lord bless these boys as they work for a week with an independent missionary in Mexico.