Puerto Rico!

On Friday, September 2nd my husband left for Santo Domingo to preach a three day conference and on the following Monday he traveled to Puerto Rico to preach another conference.  That same day I flew to Puerto Rico and met him there.  He had already been picked up by some friends of ours and then waited in the area until I landed.  We then went to eat dinner for some long awaited Puertorican food!!!  From there our friends Jose Miguel & Elsita Rivera took us to our hotel.  My husband made reservations at a resort on the beach.  It was soooo beautiful!  Long story short, we received a gift card and got a great discount on the hotel and so that made it possible to spend a few nights there until the conference started on Wednesday. 

Elsita and I at the Puertorican Restaurant.

Elsita was one of our teens when my husband was pastor in Puerto Rico.  It's a blessing to know she is still very much involved in church with her husband.  They love the Lord!

The four of us "pigged out"! :)

Pictured are typical foods such as tostones (fried plantains), fish, mofongo with garlic chicken on top(fried smashed plantains with garlic), white rice and beans.

In the courtyard of the resort.

View from our window.

In the courtyard

The beach at the resort.

My wonderful & handsome husband! :)

Leaving the resort.

Revival Conference

Pastor Luis Martinez

My husband preaching.

My husband, myself and Pastor & Mrs. Luis Martinez and family.

My husband, myself and Elsita & Jose Miguel Rivera

 Miss Lula Vergara with my husband and I.

Miss Lula was my husband's secretary in Puerto Rico, Florida and Longview, TX. 

A total of 13 1/2 years. 

She was and always will be a blessing in our lifes!  We love you Miss Lula!

RAIN!!!!!

We were sooo excited to see rain since Texas doesn't believe in it! Lol!

My husband had the opportunity to preach in a Bible College.

He also had the opportunity to visit some of his family while in Puerto Rico.

I want to say a special thank you to Jose Miguel and Elsita for letting us stay in their home!  It is such a beautiful and peaceful place to stay.  It's up in the mountains and the scenery is such an eyeopener to the beauty that God has created!  Thank you both for your hospitality! 

We had a great time while in PR! We accomplished many things! Time with each other, seeing friends and family, enjoying Puertorican food, enjoying the beautiful scenery, hearing my husband preach and.....shopping! :) 

I thought I'd share a little of the ocean with you!  :)

Gabriella's Baby Shower

Because our schedules wouldn't permit we had to wait to have a baby shower for Gabriella.  With their deputation schedule, Elyssa's work schedule and our schedule we were finally able to have it last Saturday.  We had a good time and she received alot of things that she was still lacking. 
Thank you ladies for coming!

Waiting to start

Great-grandma Ortiz opening in prayer.

Elyssa & Gabriella

Games

I gave the devotion for the shower.

Opening gifts

Saying good-bye!

One of the hardest things in the ministry is saying good-bye to good young people that love the Lord and are leaving because God has called them somewhere to serve or are going to go to Bible College.
Sunday night, August 21st was a very tearful night!  It was the last service for three of our young ladies in our church.  Ruth Rios has left for Lancaster, CA.  She will be attending West Coast Baptist College to study Bible.  Brenda Ruiz left for Lexington, KY  to attend  Commonwealth Baptist College.  And Cinthya Vargas Salazar has left with her husband to Mexico to serve in her husbands' home church.  Cinthya attended and graduated from Fires of Evangelism Bible Institute in Elgin, IL.
What a great feeling it is to know that my husband and I have had a small part in their lives! 
I love you girls and will miss you dearly!  I am so excited for you as you live the next phase of your lives.  I'll be praying for you and if you ever need anything, I'm only a phone call away!  :)

Ruth & I

(We normally don't match our clothes.  We are in the same singing group.) :)

Brenda and I

Cinthya and I

Ortiz Family Reunion

Wow! Things have been so busy!!!!  (When aren't they! LOL!)
It all started when my husband left on Monday the 15th for Monterrey, Mexico to preach a Revival Conference and wasn't returning until Friday the 19th.  Whenever he goes out of town my schedule gets very full for some reason.  I had my normal church duties, home duties and needed to get ready for a full house.  Moms, you know how it is when we are having company.  We have to clean the house real good! Maybe change the furniture around, hang up some new decorations and on and on.  Well, there I go!  I cleaned all the blinds, washed curtains, cleaned the carpet, hung some new decorations, cleaned my garden, Andres cut the grass, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, mopped, prepared a menu with all the requested meals my boys wanted, prepared a packed schedule of things we wanted to do with the kids and then made a daring trip to Walmart to do groceries for all these people!  :)  I must say it was a very tiring but profitable week!  One night I stayed up till 5:00 a.m. so I could get things finished and got up at 8:00 a.m. to begin the next day.  I didn't mind though!  I was just too excited to have all our family home. 
Jared, Elyssa and Gabriella came over Friday just in time to go with Andres and I to pick up my husband from the airport.  Of course when he saw her he forgot about the rest of us that came to get him!  That's ok, I would have done the same thing!  We then went to lunch and relaxed the rest of the evening.  Saturday we all went soul winning and then straight to the airport to get Danny and David. 
Needless to say we had such a great time during their visit!  I know it was so short (4 days) but we made it very memorable!  Yes it's hard when our children are living so far away and time together is so short and limited but there's nothing like having peace in your heart when you know they are where God wants them and in the center of His will!

On our way to the airport.

Welcome Home uncle Danny & uncle David!

Gabriella with uncle Danny.

Gabriella with uncle David.

Relaxing and waiting to eat dinner! :)

Preparing a song to sing in church Sunday.

Sunday morning waiting to go to Sunday School!

Jared and Elyssa singing during their missionary presentation.

Jared giving his missions presentation.

On Monday we went to Sears Portrait Studio and had family pictures taken.  We were there 4 hours!!!  We all had to work around Gabriella's eating and sleeping schedule but we didn't mind!  :) 

Here are just a few of the pictures we took.  Hope you enjoy! 

Before we knew it Wednesday morning arrived when we all had to say good-bye until the next time.  We had such a great time!  We laughed, reminised, shared happenings and last but not least enjoyed the baby of the family... no not Andres but Gabriella!  I'm so thankful we were able to have this time

together before starting another busy school year! 

Getting ready to leave for the airport and Andres' first day of his Senior year!

Getting ready to go through security at the airport.

Until next time!  Lord willing they will be home again at Christmas time! :)