Our trip to Puerto Escondido

Our staff retreat this year was at the coastal town of Puerto Escondido. In order to get there, we had to drive over a vast mountain range. Words cannot describe how beautiful of a drive it was. Nor can words describe how sick we all got! We were all warned that it was a difficult road, and we sure found that out. We first drove to Oaxaca City and then drove up the mountains about halfway to some cabins to spend the night. The cabins were, literally, on the side of a mountain. If we took just 6 steps from our cabin door, we would have tumbled down the mountain. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but a little nervewracking for this mom. I love how God uses these types of experiences to break me free from my fears, especially my fear of heights. When we first moved to Tlaxiaco from Oaxaca City, I told Dan that I wasn't ever coming off this mountain because of scary the drive was. But, now, the drive to Oaxaca and back is no longer fear producing, and I enjoy watching the way the road weaves itself around the mountains.

Here is a view of one of the cabins on the mountainside (notice we are higher than the clouds):



We drove 3 hours the next day to Puerto Escondido (we were certainly glad to be done with the twisty, windy, drive through the rest of the mountains). What a joy to see this view when we checked into our villas:

Um... can anyone say paradise?

I guess I should say that I have never been to the Pacific Ocean before nor have I stayed at anything like this before, so this was amazing to me!


Here's a picture of our villa (on the right)


The kids had a blast, swimming and playing in the ocean and the pool at our villas. We had meetings each day from 9:30-2pm and after that, we spent our time playing. One day, a large percentage of our group went on a fishing trip. Dan took Sam and Zach with him, and they caught a huge sailfish:


On their fishing trip, they were also able to see some large sea turtles. It was such a great experience for the boys. Lizzy and I stayed home and had a girl party with her friends - we painted nails, ate popcorn and watched a princess movie.

The whole week was such a wonderful time of fellowship and relaxation. We all had a blast!

On Saturday, June 28th, we heard the news that Dan's Dad, John, was not going to live much longer. How heartwrenching it was for us to be so far away from him when we found out. We quickly found plane tickets for all 5 of us, and prayed that we would make it to see John before he passed away. Thankfully, God not only answered our prayer, He answered it abundantly! We were able to spend a week with John before he died, and we praise God for that precious time. God is so good to us!! Although we suffer through the pain of losing John, we are so grateful to God that John knew Jesus as his Savior - we can say with confidence that we will see John again someday.


With such a unexpected trip back to the States, I couldn't get over how surreal it felt. We were unprepared to be back so quickly, and so it felt so weird to be participating in some of normal things that Minnesotans do in the summer, like watching the children playing in the lake. A week before, we had just gone to the one and only lake around Tlaxiaco, and it had been such a treat to see a lake, and now, we were surrounded by Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. Besides the surreality and the sadness that surrounded our trip, we were blessed to spend some time with our families and friends. The kids, who are ever so much more resilient than us, enjoyed their impromptu vacation. Here are some pictures of our trip:



Mexico City airport - we arrived at 2:30am, ticket counter opened at 4:30.
We were trying to have the kids sleep during our wait, but it didn't quite happen.


The Farr Family












4th of July parade in Ely, Minnesota



Our drive back to Mexico - still smiling after 33 hours in the car (little did they
know that they had 20 more hours to go!)