Friday, February 25th, 2011

Today we literally spent all day on a bus from Caldera, Chile to Santiago and then across the border to Mendoza, Argentina...and eventually back to Córdoba, although we didn't arrive until Saturday! But amidst the ridiculously long time on the bus, we had a pretty amazing view of the Andes!!

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Today we ran around Caldera (literally) and tried to see some last spots and last familiar faces before heading back to Argentina. As we left the house only hours before our bus would leave, we caught a glimpse of this sunset and were stunned by God's beautiful creation.

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Today we arrived in Caldera and Joy was reunited with her host family! Shortly after settling and dropping our things at the house, we all went to Bahia Inglesa, a beautiful nearby beach. In August 2008 when Joy arrived to Caldera, Bahia Inglesa was the first place that she went with the family :-) It's amazing how much each of the three kids (Gigi, Patricio y Mario) have grown!

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Today we made a couple monumental stops in Copiapó. The first was at Cerra de la Cruz, which was one of Steph's favorite spots in the Po back in 2008. Due to a host of inexplicable occurrences, Joy had never climbed the towering hill with the cross on top. But today all that changed. After the exhausting trek up the sandy hill, the view over Copiapó and the incredible Atacama Desert made it all worth it. Steph was pretty stoked (and Joy, too, naturally), so this picture seemed fitting :-)

Other stops today included the main plaza and the school where Steph taught back in the day!!

Monday, February 21st, 2011

Today we arrived in Copiapó and Steph was reunited with her host family for the first time since December 2008! We relaxed after our long journey, ate and drank our favorite Chilean things, and Steph got to play a game of Monopoly with her host sister, Montserrsat, before she left later that night for Santiago!

Sunday, February 20th, 2011

Today we got to Santiago and before hopping on another bus, we went over to a nearby shopping mall and enjoyed some sweet reminders of home that we hadn't had since August! One of these was Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)...yum!

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Today we set out on our journey for Chile! But before leaving we got to see our friend, Javier, who came to the bus station to send us off on our adventure!

Monday, February 14th, 2010

Today Joy and Steph spent most of the day apart doing various things in different parts of the city, but they both randomly happened to read a bit from this book that they're reading together, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ. Also, they both separately happened to decide to start reading the book of Genesis from the Bible. Not sure if those things are coincidental...seems more like some awesome God stuff going on.

Wednesday, February 9th, 2010

Today marked the final day of our OM team retreat at the gorgeous monastery outside of Córdoba. This picture was taken right before the final talk given to us by Don Hamman, an OM veteran from the US who is in the area for a couple weeks. Eva (left) is our sole Argentinian house mate and Keila (right) is our teammate, Ezequiel's, girlfriend who was just visiting us from out of town. We love you, ladies!

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

Today we celebrated Joy's birthday!! Steph wins "the best sun cat birthday planner" award for the awesome job. The day consisted of a picnic and water fight in the park, playing BASKETBALL (been so long, Joy loved it), eating cake at home with friends, and finished with bowling! This pic was taken at the park and it really sums up the day...awesome.