The next morning we met in the parking lot for muffins and then headed back to the property management office to get our keys. We were finally in our house! It was gorgeous and huge. I was surprised that it actually did fit 12 people easily. You just couldn't beat the view from our balcony.
We got to spend Monday having a free day. The youth kids went to the beach while we took our girls out for lunch. We walked down to Belmont and ate a couple of slices at Luigi's. I had heard that the slices there were big, but I was amazed at how BIG they really were.
That night the youth group headed to the beach for worship and their session. I kept the girls at the house because Juliette had already fallen asleep. After that Jesea and I led a breakout session with the girls. It was awesome to learn more about them and to see how God was already starting to work with them.
Tuesday was our first day of mission work. We drove about 45 minutes north to Oceanside. There was a mission there called Bread of Life Ministries.
We spent the morning bagging rice and beans and then bagging groceries for needy area families.
At about lunchtime our girls got a little antsy, so we took them off to lunch and a movie. By the time our movie ended the youth kids were done for the day. We met up with them at a shopping strip on the Oceanside bay. Jeremy's mom and step-dad had us over for dinner that night. We tried kosher chicken and apple sausages. They were quite delicious. Anthony, the girls, and I headed back to Mission Beach early so that we could pick up the last of the youth girls, she flew in late. Once everyone else got back we had our sessions for the night. Jeremy and Anthony were a little exhausted by the time we were done, and both ran around being as silly as two adult men can be.
On Wednesday we decided to give everyone a little break from our kiddos. Tickets for Sea World were on sale online, so we got a few and headed over for the day.
After Sea World we met up with the group and headed out to dinner, Luigi's again! It was a fun dinner for everyone. We soon headed back to the house and decided to do all of our sessions in the house, instead of on the beach. So this time I got to be a part of worship. We started with a game, or three, of Ninja and then led into some worship.
We spent Thursday strictly serving at Bread of Life. This was the perfect day for us to be there. After odd jobs around the mission they received a truckload of produce. The produce comes in on huge pallets and is boxed. We had to put everything into individual sized bags before the community members came to get it. After the food was bagged they started sending everyone through the line. The youth kids helped pass out the food, and I hung off to the side with our kids.
While we were there, Lorelei lost her very first tooth!
The tooth fairy was very generous.
Thursday night was our last night of sessions. Our breakout session went really well that night, but I won't share details here!
Friday was a free day at the beach before we headed back to Phoenix. We played for a while, while the boys rented surf boards. After the beach we cleaned up and had a leader lunch at a place across the street from our house.
Then it was a 20 or so minute nap and we cleaned the house and hit the road. When we were just outside of San Diego Anthony wasn't feeling very well, so I took over driving. Then we hit Yuma for dinner and Jeremy wasn't feeling great. I ended up driving all the way home, and Anthony drove the van half way. I've never done that before!
It was an amazing trip. We got to lead the youth, do some awesome mission work, and even sneak in a family day. We ended up pretty crispy, but it was a trip I will never forget.
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