Update on Casa de Barrios....

...since it's been so long, I thought I would post a short update on all things happening in Casa de Barrios the past two years...watch out, lots of pictures and most of them are from my long lost iphone.

Here goes nothing:

Emily started the 2nd Grade.  And started an sassy attitude at the same time.

Steve played and coached a lot of baseball, which meant lots of time spent at the ballpark.

Lots of dress up and play time.  And goodness gracious, so glad the "wah-wah", or pacifier for those not in the Barrios clan, is gone!!!!

Lots of weddings...

And a few new babies...

Ran our first 1/2 marathon.

Second trip to Puerto Rico.

We are officially potty trained!  YAY!!! No more diapers!



That almost wraps up our last 2 years.  You'll see some of these things in more detail in future posts and a few other posts from the past couple years I didn't include (like some partying!!).

Hope you didn't get too bored with all the pictures!

Puerto Rico...Day 1...

(Steve relaxing on the flight)

From the time we left Nashville, I could feel God's presence. He SO took care of us as we travelled! We had teens who had never been on a plane, one had never been more than 300 miles away from home. And no one had any issues as we travelled. No luggage lost, no sickness, we didn't get lost going to the hotel after we landed.

It was absolutely amazing!

Once we got checked in, it was pretty much dinner time, so we went to an authentic Puerto Rican restuarant. (which is actually harder than you would think).

(our authentic Puerto Rican restuarant) (a few of the group enjoying dinner)

We pretty much took up the entire place!

(Our girls amazing us)

Okay, so we're getting to the part that gave us all chill bumps!

Our servers wer AMAZING!!!

They helped us learn about the native food and how it was prepared.

(Steve's dinner - Monfongo)

(My dinner - can't remember the Puerto Rican name, but it was roasted pork & fried plantain)

Of course we still had on our matching shirts, so they asked why we were in Puerto Rico. And of course we were all willing to share our reason - isn't that why we were there in the first place? To spread the Word of God?

This prompted one of the servers to sit down beside Mike, our incredible Youth Minister, and talk to him about witnessing to a friend. You see, our server is a Christian who is trying to help a friend get to know the Lord on a more personal level. And he wanted some advice of how to handle this. So, Mike talked with him pretty much the entire dinner.

As we were getting up to pay the tab, the server came up to Mike and said instead of any tips, he would rather us pray with him. RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RESTUARANT!!!

And of course with out any hesitation, we all surrounded him, held hands, and prayed sweet words over him and asked for encourangement for him and to open his friend's heart to what the Holy Spirit was trying to show him.

(a couple of the servers)

It was proof that God had called us to Puerto Rico to serve His people and to share His love.

My God is an AWESOME GOD!!!