Panama 2

The first rental place we stayed in while in Panama had an amazing view of the city. We were on the top floor and on the roof right above us, there was a pool. A Garcia splashing fight may have chased away the other pool-goers. 

We watched the sunset behind the skyscrapers as we listened to traffic and the sounds of a local soccer game below us. 

We got a private tour of Panama City where the guide focused much of the tour on the Catholic churches.

As per our family tradition, we lit a candle for Abuela Maria

More roof-top fun once Max flew in. Elijah had his bulky earphones on in the pool. I asked him why and he said it was a "vibe." Then Max splashed him which turned into revenge wrestling.

Chocolate statues at a chocolate store. The worker at the store would teach the kids who came in from the street mini English lessons. After they said something in English, she would give them a little chocolate sample.

This was a fun dinner. The restaurant played a lot of good music, perfect for serenading Elijah. Some day, Elijah will enjoy embarrassing his teenagers. Maybe he will forgive us then.

Church on Sunday was amazing. Iris was disgruntled that we insisted we would stay for the second hour. She cried, nervous about being in a class alone in Spanish. But she survived and even thrived during second hour. She said a girl sitting in front of her took a not-so-clandestine picture of her and sent it to someone. She supposed the cation was something like, "Look at this Gringa!" 

I walked Sybil to primary and waited briefly until an adult arrived, but she ushered me out asap. She said someone asked her what her last name was. The person responded, "That's a Latino last name. Your parents must be from here." "No," Sybil said, "but I am."

The boys on the other had, had a great time in second hour because Elijah acted as Max's translator. He told Max to raise his hand when the teacher was talking about the importance of friends. 

Little did Max know, the teacher had just asked, "Who wants to be doing drugs in 10 years?"

Good thing Max doesn't trust Elijah.

We got some excellent empanadas and corn drinks at this restaurant. In fact, On our drive back to Panama City, David insisted on planning our drive so that we would be able to stop here again. 

Big mistake.

The second time we got some pretty nasty food poisoning.

Our car trip that day was quite long. The kids mainly slept. We also counted the countries Elijah has visited. The total was: 8 in the Americas, 2 in Africa, 10 in Europe. We wanted to go quickly to Costa Rica just to add one to the count, but we didn't have the correct documentation for the rental car. We then debated about whether Puerto Rico would count as a new country when he goes there on his mission. We did not come to a unanimous decision.

Boquete

This was Iris' favorite restaurant of the trip. There was a river running through it and many lounge chairs and swings. The food was excellent also.

 

A view from a morning run a few weeks ago. This world is so beautiful. 

Today was fast Sunday--a really exceptional fast Sunday. I thought about Matthew 7: 

"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" 

Even though God gives us fish, sometimes I think we look at the fish and think they are stones. I had a patient this week who was lamenting the state of her body, "I used to be so beautiful, but look at what has happened to me," she said. I responded, "Your body is beautiful. Think about all of the wonderful things it can do." Our bodies can heal themselves and taste cinnamon rolls and watch the sunrise as we run up a hill. We can smell and love and think and communicate. Those are huge fish God has given us. 

And I'm pretty lucky to have this guy in my life. I like to kiss him in front of the kids. 

Mainly because they become squeamish, but also because I like to kiss him.

Here he is at our date in one of the fanciest restaurants in Vegas. I think it was about 14 courses.

And here we are spelunking with the kids:

Elijah and David, of course, were competing to see who could climb to the top of this rock wall. Meanwhile, Sybil snuck off, found an easier access route and made it to the top while neither of the macho men could.

One more Sybil story. Every time we go to a store, she wants me to buy something for her. Her miserly mother usually breaks her heart. But this time, she said, "I brought my own money mom." Perplexed, I gave her a questioning look. Then she patted her padded crotch. It was a thick, cash jock-strap.

Claire traveled to Waco for a crew competition:

She won 2 awards. I asked her what they were for and she said, "rowing."

Claire and her bestie, Hannah. Hannah and her family have been Claire's Natchitoches family which has been so awesome for her. My favorite is that they kind tricked her into going to an aquarium with them. 

Claire is scared of fish.

She said they watched her at the aquarium more than they watched the fish.

They seem like my kind of people.

We already notified the school that she won't be returning next year. She's having some reservations about the decision since she has had such a good experience there. 

We were so fortunate to be able to to to the dedication of the Red Cliffs temple dedication in St George.

We sat in the celestial room and as the choir sang "The Spirit of God." I looked up into the brilliant chandelier with hundreds, if not thousands of crystals, feeling the spectacular significance of the Hosanna shout.

With Jim and Kathy

I tried to get some good pics of this kid, but wasn't too successful.

He bore his testimony today hat when he opened his mission call, 

he knew Puerto Rico was where he was supposed to serve.

My sisters are my favorite

 

Panama #1

Posting pictures from vacation can be the worst--so many pictures to sort through, especially when life keeps passing us by. In Louisiana, Claire has become an avid reader of the blog and has expressed disappointment at my delinquency. I was going to write while the family was watching Shadowlands tonight, but David started up with his favorite screen-addiction diatribe just as I was pulling out my computer for a blog update, so now, after 10:30pm on a Sunday night, I'm the only one up and I'm surrounded by the glow of my screen while writing a blog because I promised Claire that I would post today and because I am so thankful to David that he saved me from a life of screen addiction. 

We landed in Panama and ate at my favorite place for the whole trip. We realized that Panama's main cuisine usually includes mariscos which delighted the adults, but not so much the kids.

Panama temple

We picked up Max and got more seafood-yay! And steak for the fainter of hearts.

The Panama Canal was quite impressive: more than 100 years old and used technology from DaVinci.

We watched the gates slowly open and the water began to level out between the two chambers. Afterward, we saw a 3D movie about the canal. Sybil sat in a different part of the theater and waved to us. Elijah sat in a different part of the theater and pretended he didn't know us. I predict that some day he will revel in and maybe even cringe at how much his teenagers are embarrassed of him.

Panama Temple during the day so Max could see it

This is where celebration occurred when USA turned over the canal to Panama: 

The Biomuseo