Got GPS?

The girls and I are currently in San Jose for a championship speech tournament. This is a picture of us after they'd finished their second rounds -- Catie is not really taller than me yet, but she's sure coming close. She must have been on tiptoes for this shot. It's been an exciting year for them in speech and I'm so proud of how hard they've worked and how much they've accomplished. Sounds pretty braggy compared to my usual confessions--but it's hard not to let a little of that slip in occasionally.

Okay, time for the confessions. Since my last post was dedicated entirely to my husband's driving, this one will deal with mine. Actually, it will deal with my lack of direction that becomes painfully apparent when I'm traveling. I kind of get lost really easily. We don't even want to think where I might have ended up driving in Mexico!

Scott, being the wonderful husband he is, lets me take his car when I travel without him so I can take advantage of his Global Positioning System (GPS). All I can say is PRAISE THE LORD FOR GPS!! It's not foolproof, because this fool still manages to get lost at least one time each trip, even with Roz (that's what the girls named the nice GPS voice yesterday) politely warning me, "Prepare to turn left in 600 feet". I get a little mixed up at times about what 600 feet actually looks like and end up on a wrong road. Even so, Roz is very patient with me and quickly adjusts to our new location and tells me how to get back where I want to be. Tonight, even though I was thoroughly lost on the San Jose freeway system in the dark, it was comforting to know Roz was looking out for me and working her best to get me turned around and headed in the right direction again. Yes, PRAISE THE LORD FOR GPS!!!

I was lobbying for a pearl necklace for Mother's Day. I've changed my mind. I want the necklace, but I need GPS.

My Husband's Legendary Driving

Before I dive in to my subject at hand, let me take care of a few items...

1. Sorry to those of you who need updated links -- that will come soon, I promise. Just remember that "soon" is a relative term.

2. Every one's healthy here & the transmission is working again. It turned out it was a problem with the car's computer...scary thought...

Now back to my chosen subject...my husband's legendary driving. There are so many things I could write about our Mexico trip, but this is the one that caught my fancy for today.

Upon his return from the Mexico mission trip last year, rumor quietly circulated, and I quote, that "Scott drives like a Mexican." Actually it was loudly proclaimed to the whole church at the Sunday Evening Mexico report, and not by just one person. Knowing him to be a generally good driver here in the states, I wasn't entirely sure what folks were implying. It didn't appear to be a compliment and I wasn't sure who should feel more insulted, my husband or Mexican drivers.

Now that I have gone to Mexico and experienced his driving first hand, I have a little better idea what to think. Just like a resident of a place drives with greater assurance and inside knowledge than a visitor, my husband drove with a bold confidence in his own abilities that was not always shared by his passengers. His reputation was further enhanced by the fact he drove the "vaca van" -- a van belonging to one of the churches that possessed a charm all its own. It has one really funky seat near the back that faces to the rear of the car instead of forward. It is not as firmly latched to the floor of the car as we are accustomed to so it lurches back or forward or sideways depending upon where the rest of the van is headed. It is somewhat like riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. All in all, it was a ton of fun if you were not thinking too seriously about whether or not that life insurance policy actually got paid on time. The vaca van also boasts a stool that most of the time stays in one place, but has been known to go sliding at a quick stop. The interior is rather primitive and became more so this past trip when Paul Bartholow tried to adjust the ventilation. Combine this unique vehicle with a driver supremely confident in his own skills and a passenger load of high schoolers egging him on and it is easy to understand how he earned and maintained his reputation.

He and I worked in separate villages so I did not ride in the vaca van often. I did ride home with him twice though after the taco stand and the Chinese restaurant. I willingly chose the fun, lurching seat and would actually like one for my own car -- as soon as I make sure that life insurance really did get paid!

And in case you're wondering, especially those of you who experienced his "incredible linguistic acumen" in Ecuador, although he drives like a Mexican, he still speaks like a gringo.

I'm back...sort of...

Hey I'm back from Mexico -- I was glad I said there would be no further posts until AFTER April 16. I'm wishing I'd set the date back a little further, but technically, ANY date AFTER April 16 would qualify.

Mexico was awesome and deserving of several posts. However, I am presently wading through thousands of pictures to create a 5 - 10 minute slide show for this coming Sunday. I brought my laptop with me and tried to make it easy for folks to load their memory sticks onto my hard drive so I'd have lots of good photos and a good representation to work with. The picture to the left is one Sherry Reed took and I really liked it--it will make the slide show cut! There are still several more memory sticks out there that didn't make it onto my laptop, but I could not look through any more before Sunday! I think this is a good time to apply one of my husband's favorite philosophical phrases, "What it is, is what it is."

So, definitely more Mexico to follow. Just a peek into my world for today -- Scott & Johnny both got sick AFTER we returned from Mexico. Poor Johnny went to a Christian concert in San Francisco the same day we returned. We got a call from a desperate young man who began throwing up soon after arriving at The Filmore Theater. Scott & I did the good parent thing and drove down to bring him home. Our transmission broke on the way out of SF and we drove the rest of way home wasting a ton of gas and never going faster than 50. Scott got sick the next day...fortunately AFTER the Sunday School class he was teaching. Johnny stayed home Monday & Tuesday but he is definitely on the mend. He was feeling good enough this afternoon to be really ornery. His antics included posting a video he took with his new camera on his blog. It was of his sister singing, unaware that a stalker had the camera aimed at her. I know at least one person saw it before he was forced to delete it. I would do the same thing to him if I knew how, but since I don't, we had to lay down some new guidelines about what you can & cannot post.

For all of those who prayed for Mexico, and for the Utah Mission trip my girlies went on (you can read about it on Catie's blog) I would like to say "Thank You"! It was exciting to see God work in so many ways and I felt privileged to be a part of it.