Dave had back surgery several months before our trip.
His girls tried to make the travel more bearable :)

Adam's "precious." He guarded his

guitar as if it was his firstborn child.

A traditional Paraguayan dance by Alyssa's students

Taken for Karl, my soccer extroardinaire husband in Buenos Ayres, Argentina

Broken down in Paraguay (notice Adam and I in the background having a worship team practice ?!?)

Well, I haven't figured out how to upload more than five pictures at a time, so I'll work on that because I have quite a few to share with you. This is the first two days, and I'm going to try to go in chronological order. The trip to Paraguay was long, but not as long as Ethiopia will be. Mom and I met up with the team in Chicago and we took a night flight to Argentina. The good news was it wasn't a full flight, so I got to stretch out over two seats and attempt to sleep. We arrived the next morning and decided to kill our all-day layover by going on a tour of the city. It was cool and fun and we arrived back at the airport ready to go. After this, we dealt with several frusterating and unexplainable delays, so we ended up getting into Asuncion, Paraguay around midnight. Can I just tell you how wonderful it was to see my sister on the other side of that door? Amazing!!! I love her so much. Talk about a pretty terrific woman....

So, we slept at the guest house that night and did our tourist thing the following morning. I got more than I usually get (I'm not usually a big spender...well, maybe that is unless you ask my husband (j/k)) because I had a lot of thank yous for all the people that made this trip possible! Then, running late as usual, we ate a fast Paraguayan lunch and took off for Villarica. On the way there, our van broke down and Adam and I made the most of it and had a worship practice at the garage where the van was getting fixed :) We arrived just in time to go to Alyssa's school's presentation. They had worked so hard (2nd, 3rd, and 7th graders) practicing their English (that's what Alyssa teaches at the school), doing traditional and modern dances, songs, and a skit. Then, their parents had all brought food for us to enjoy. It was a wonderful evening. That night, the team was spread out staying with Paraguayan families, except Mom and I got to stay with Alyssa. Then, the next morning, we met at the Villarica church...and that's the next entry...