Sunset on the beach and pretty flowers

Well, I wanted to blog about my weekend experience at the "Extraordinary Women" retreat and share a couple of pictures but I'm not figuring out how to download the pictures from my son's camera.  So... I thought I would blog a little more about Mexico and come back to Ewomen soon.

Do these people realize how fortunate they are to have open restaurants like this??  I can't imagine living in a town that is full of them, especially the ones ON the beach!  Our table of 11 good friends had three countries represented:  Canada, United States, and Mexico.

A few building/flower combinations that I just love...

My favorite!

Random... but I love the pelicans

Dad told us that he made this cool sand sculpture while he was waiting on us (we kept stopping to take pictures along the beach).  I tried to get him to pose with it, but he wouldn't.  He cracks me up!

Sunset on the beach.  My most favorite part of the whole trip.  I so wanted my lovely there with me.  I missed him so much on this trip, but never more than I did at sunset.  It. was. beautiful.

The sun going down.

I thought it interesting how the sky was a brilliant gold where the sun went down, but on the other side of the cove the mountains were showing bits of purples and pinks.  It was gorgeous!

Look at this blue streak in the sky.  Isn't it amazing?!  I just kept looking at it and praising God for all His wonder!

I love this beautiful hue.  It was a stunning sight!

The next morning, I awoke to this.

We had lunch at LaTerraza.

Then went for a walk.

And now for a splash of color

We couldn't tell if this flower was wilting or that's the way it's supposed to be.  It showed no signs of a dying plant, it was strange.  It was velvety soft to the touch.

I've been showing all the beauty of Mexico so I thought I would show a picture of reality.  Just like I was saying in my last post... beauty was all around, but so was dirt.

But it was colorful for sure.

This is one building of "The Coco's" where I tried to rent a room the week of Christmas break 2010 but all five buildings were sold out-- crazy!!  Maybe I should shoot for 2011.

Speaking of crazy... what in the world kind of flower is this??  Such an oddity.

I am grateful for eyes that can see such beauty and for a soul to realize that this beauty can only come from my loving Father above!

Another morning walk and lessons learned

The next morning, we woke up before 7:00 am.  Does Dad not realize this is our vacation?!  But it's a good thing we got up so early because 4 hours later after we finally finished our walk, we were sweating!

This is an all-inclusive resort called "The Coco's".  They have five very colorful buildings.  I checked into renting a room over Christmas break for the kids and ALL five buildings were completely booked for that time!

We walked up the mountain to the cross that you saw in a picture from my last post.  It was closed for remodeling, but we were able to get this close.  The Catholics will stop at each station.  I'm assuming they are praying to or for the saint at that station.  If you know, please enlighten me.  I forgot to ask our Mexican amigo.

The sun is rising...

The beach and the mountains

We walked on around the mountain and went to another little village.  It was so much smaller and dirtier.  But we did find some beautiful flowers while we were there.

I love this color combination

Beautiful yellow!

I loved how simple, yet how beautiful this was.  I stopped in front of a wall of a courtyard to get this picture,

When I stood up, a lady was waving at me.  I told Jodi "Uh oh, we're busted... hurry, let's get out of here!"  We kept walking and she started hollering at us.  He he!  She wanted us to come inside her courtyard and take pictures.  She spoke no English but we figured out that's what she wanted.  She had the biggest grin on her face.  Her little pepper plant...

Against her house

This is a fountain that she turned on for us.  The water trickled down into the pool

The lady's daughter was following us all over and smiling so big.  We asked if we could take her picture.  By the time we were leaving her courtyard, five other kids were out there following us around.

Lovely pink!  Cora, I need to learn how to texturize photos like you do.  I think this one would be so pretty with texture.

This "hut" is actually a garage.  I thought the greenery and flowers were beautiful.

A close up of the pretty pink flowers

By this time, Dad and Daryl had gotten tired of our often picture stops so they left us to walk back on our own.  We took a different route going back home.  We walked along the beach.

Ah yes, more pelicans.  He he!

Flying low...

Walking through the mountains and along the beach this morning woke me up to God's beautiful creation all around me.  I was in constant amazement at the beauty in every turn.  Yet... as you look around at the people that live there, the things they live in, the cars they drive that look like they will break down any minute, the kids that look like orphans in raggedy clothes and covered in dirt from their head to their toes..  you feel like you are in two different countries at one time.  I'll be honest.  My first few days there, I was looking at the filth and saw filth.  I couldn't believe people lived in so much dirt!  I'm grateful that God softened my heart while I was there and woke me up to the real beauty that was all around so I could see how precious ALL of His creation is!!  Look at that sweet little Mexican girl.  Did she get to pick when and where she would be born and live?  Did she pick a tiny house with many people on a dirt road?  No, God put her there.  He put her and me and you where He needs us to fulfill the plan and purpose He has on our life and the lives of those around us.  When I finally came to this conclusion, I realized how grateful I am to serve a God that has something grand in store for me, something grand in store for that precious little Mexican girl.  That precious little Mexican girl that probably doesn't even have a clue how dirty her clothes are because she is looking past the outside appearance and bashing this world with a beautiful smile.  Shame on me for not being able to look past the dirt.