Time To Come Home!

Well, let me catch you up on the last couple of days before we head out (no internet access for a couple of days)...

Thursday was a day for tying things together. There were a few tasks that needed to be finished and several smaller projects that we did. With the painting project completed on Wednesday, I was given the task to lead the "gravel sidewalk" crew. This didn't take very long so we quickly moved to cleaning up the yard behind "Maintenance Dave's" house. Amy finished up painting the trees with the kids for the first part of the morning and then moved over to helping with the lawn. Justin was pretty much done by lunch so he got the afternoon off. Lauren continued with tree painting. Now, when I say we cleaned up the yard behind Dave's house I mean we tilled up the entire thing (which I did) and then picked out rock, cement and tile from under the ground. We had a TON of tile and cement. I don't know what the people who lived there before were thinking but it was just weird to have all of that stuff buried like that. Anyway, by the end of the day we had that all done and found out today that they actually planted grass seed there today.

After that HOT project was done I was dripping in sweat (like just about everyone else) so we all headed straight for the ocean and walked right in...clothes and all. It felt sooooooo good. After that it was time to do the dance of joy after completing our work.

After dinner we headed into Ponce for what we thought was a jazz festival. We thought this because last Thursday there was a jazz band down there and they said that they played there every Thursday but we found out last night that it wasn't every Thursday just the first Thursday of the month. So, that was pretty disappointing but we just walked around town did some souvenir shopping, got some "King's Cream" and came home.

Today was our last day and our day off. We headed into Ponce at 7:30AM to catch the ferry over to Coffin Island. It was a beautiful island with a great beach and many fish to see while snorkling. We walked up to the lighthouse on the highest point of the island and had a great view of the island. After swimming, hiking and swimming some more we came back, had dinner and went to the mall. Now we are getting ready to come home. Amy is packing, Lauren and Justin are playing golf and I am here writing this for you.

Tomorrow we are heading out early to go into old San Juan to see on of the old forts there and walk around the shops. After that it is on to the airport and home.

Thanks for following our adventure. It has truly been a blessing for our family to experience this together. The kids did a great job working (actually better than I thought they would) and I believe we are all better for taking this trip. The Lord did some great things in us, through us and despite us on this trip. We met some great people here and I would come back in a heartbeat to help this camp and the people of Puerto Rico.

Thanks to all of you for your financial and prayer support throughout our journey. We are truly blessed to have family and friends like you who support us in this way. I do believe that the Lord used us for his purpose on this trip and that we were all meant to be here at this time and at this place. We love you all!

To God Be The Glory,
Mike (for the fam)