We see through a glass darkly

Sarahs visit was a lot of fun. We were kept busy the whole time with all kinds of shenanagens. Fun was had by all.

I just got back from our 10 day trip to Mexico to build a house. It was a good trip. I didn't get sunburned, but I did get bruised quite a bit. I didn't get a tan line on my legs, I got a bruise and scratch line.

It was a lot of work for just 9 people, but we got her done. We also found 2 dogs (Radish and Sheba) that we wanted to smuggle into the states, but they fled at the last minute when we explained to them that they weren't allowed to roam the streets and eat rancid food out of gutters in Oregon. It wasn't meant to be.

I've been to Mexico 9 times now and this was the first time that I got heat stroke or sickness. It was none too good. I felt like singing to the porcelin throne all day, but we just had an outhouse so I talked my stomach out of it. When you go out to eat where we were, it is only safe to drink bottled drinks and all they have is soda, so I had a lot of naranja soda. I can't believe how much sugar you have to eat in Mexico. The good news is that it is all real sugar. The bad news is that I immediatly became dependent on it and my hands would shake uncontrollably by 10:30 am if I didn't stop for a juice and some fruit snacks. I never want another soda for the rest of my life.

This year was the first time that we built a second storey house and that went pretty well. The woman that be built the house for has 6 children so I'm sure they appreciate the space. The oldest was 13 and was a great helper. He didn't understand a thing that my dad was telling him to do but he'd just stare at him, with his head slightly tilted and his hammer over his shoulder. Some how he figured it out because Dad would stop talked and he'd swing right to work. We all kind of shared tools sets so at the end of the week when we were packing up, I gave him a set of tools in a shoe box and he looked like it was Christmas. It was awesome.