A Visit to La Granja

Last week on Wednesday, my friend Maria José and her sister-in-law, Mari Mar, and I went to visit a friend (Maria Jesus) in San Ildelfonso.












We visited the old Real Fábrica de Cristales (glass factory) which provided most of the glass pieces for the royal palaces.






After lunch we went up to La Granja to see the Royal Palace and walked through the grounds. What a beautiful oasis. Before the construction of the palace, it was the traditional hunting ground for the kings of Castile. The palace was built in the 18th century for Philip V and the gardens were modelled in the style of Versailles.




There are dozens of fountains, which unfortunately were not operating the day we were there. I would love to go back and see them in action.

Teaching the Young How to Fly

It's the time of year when the storks are teaching their young how to fly. And when I saw how many young they have and how big they get, I understood why their nests are so large (several hundred pounds). I took this picture as we were wandering around Alcalá on the 4th. We weren't sure if this was a parent giving lessons or one of their young trying his wings.

I wonder if we know how to teach our children to fly. I'm not much of a risk taker (I can just hear some of you saying, "Then what are you doing in Spain?"). My husband was even less likely to take risks. But if we're honest, we'll admit that life is one big risk. There are no guarantees and as my children often heard me say, "Life isn't fair."

The Christian life is not really very different, but we do have the security of knowing that our roots run deep in the Father's love and He'll always be there to help us pick up the pieces and move on as He encourages us to take yet one more risk. I hope I gave my children roots and wings.

July Update

4th of July in Alcalá

I spent the day with American friends doing some sightseeing and taking photos in a beautiful little town near Madrid, the birthplace of Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

Here I am with Don Quixote and his faithful pal, Sancho.

New Email Address

We have made the decision to discontinue our worldventurespain.org website. WorldVenture will soon be offering several options on their site to post photos, blogs, calendars, etc. This means that my proseman@worldventurespain.org email address will be gone as well. I’m not sure how soon Jon plans to “pull the plug” but it will probably be within the next month.

This month’s quote:

“Todas las naciones que hiciste vendrán y adorarán delante de ti, Señor, y glorificarán tu nombre, porque tú eres grande y hacedor de maravillas; ¡solo tú eres Dios!”

“All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.”

--Psalm 86:9-10

Praises:

1. English tutoring is going well. Continue to pray that this will be something God uses to bring this family to Himself.
2. Maria José and I meet once a week to practice my Spanish. We take a long walk early in the morning before it gets too hot. It’s a great time of language learning and becoming better friends.
3. We are making good progress on our printed course for EET. We are hoping to send it to the printer by the end of the month.

Prayer Requests:

1. I need to make plane reservations soon for my time in the States this fall. Pray that all the details will come together.
2. I should be finished packing in the next week. Pray that there will be enough people to help with the move so it will not be a burden to anyone.
3. I return to language school on Fridays beginning this week. Pray for a good time of learning and for opportunities to share God’s love.
4. I have heard nothing regarding my residence card. Pray that there are no complications and I receive word soon.