DAY four

Day 4

Today was a day of meeting the San Felipites.  We met at the 'breakfast diner', a church-built building that is located on the outskirts of town. It's a meeting place for locals to come out and have breakfast. Lots of kids, teens and some adults come out to for food and for some learning about the love of Jesus. In a culture built on religion, the local church is building an outreach of teaching that it's not about doing, or about Mother Mary, but a relationship with Jesus Christ and that He is accessible to them!  This community shows God's love by going out and reaching into the lives of the townsfolk by meeting the people where they're at. 

                                 

Today we went out to talk and pray for people. We ask about meeting their needs by offering to fix things in their homes or pray for healing - physical, mental and emotional. We saw people in various kinds of living conditions but all in extreme poverty by our standards, yet they are proud of what they have and care for it.  We were able to pray for a family with a 23 year old paralytic, her mother and family, a man who accepted Christ, a mother and her young girl, her other two young teens, a family with a new 3 week old son, and a young 7 year old girl on her bike following us.  

What a privilege to speak life into the lives of these people!  Gods people!  They are so open to hear about Jesus.  We are constantly reminded of what is important in our lives.  Relationships and our walk with our Father in Heaven!  May God bless you all in your encounters.

                                  

Third Day

Packing for this adventure turned out to be a little tricky. Actually not the packing of the suitcases as much as the creative arrangements we had to make to fit them in the van. We were able to fit all of our own stuff into our luggage as well as a few big suitcases for the kids and people here in Mexico. We were quite pleased with how we fit in all the things we wanted to bring. Packing the van was another matter of course. I didn't want to put on the rooftop carrier because the van we were renting had none, and I wanted to make sure it'd fit!  So as it turned out, I did need to be creative in the van packing. Our bags were just that much too big to fit in the back as I'd hoped. happy to say, thought that the van we rented has deep storage containers and a couple additional storage areas.

The kids had lots of fun making the trip down to San Felipe. Before we left they didn't seem to uptight or nervous and I was wondering how they'd do on the plane, but there was really very little butterfly activity.  

When we arrived in LA, we had to change clothes at the airport to feel more comfortable! Needles to say it was a little warmer than 'sleeting in Seattle'. In El Centro, our second night's stop, it was nice and hot. we had snacks and a small dinner. The kids wanted to go into the outdoor pool, but it was still quite cool (temperature), and so we played 'dutch blitz' instead. 

Day 3 morning we packed up and I picked up the last Starbuck I'd have for  while. Dave and Beth showed up at about 10am, and we zipped down into Calexico (just north of the border) to pick up some groceries for the week. After that, and exchanging some cash for pesos, we zipped through the Mexicali border (and all the detours from roadwork in Mexicali) and drove through lots of new scenery for us.  We literally zipped through the border.  No stopping of answering any questions.  Lots of others were getting the red light but our van and Dave and Beth's car just got waved on through!  Praise the Lord!

San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico!!

Day 2
It all started with #3 commenting this morning on the hotel orange juice: "looks like we're drinking highlighter ink..."
We had a hoot getting to the plane and talking to people like Bob and Butch from Index, WA. Now that I know it exists, it sounds like a place I'd like to visit. Sorry Butch for bringing up LEGOland. (** insert longer story here**). Well then there was Holly from JetBlue Airways that helped us along and a sweet woman and her brother from Guatamala that gave us directions at a viewpoint along the i5.
After driving through San Diego and stomachs started growling, I thought that InandOut burger would be a great American treat. Of course once the navigator saw the place there was a quick alteration to the plans and we were back onto hwy 8 to El Centro (EC)

FRMs (Flatulent Release Moment)s were called frequently as we drove South, and windows were up and down all the way from LA to EC. Needles to say that FRM quickly turned into Flatulent Release Mode!
Day 2 was exciting and boring at the same time. Apparently 2hr driving stints are too long, even after last summers 8hr treks to Terrace. Wow guys...  Chill out.
We should also note that the hot tub here was fairly cool and the outdoor pool even cooler! Apparently from May to August there's absolutely no need for indoor heated when the temp outside is 120F...
Thinking about meeting Dave and Beth tomorrow morning and then heading to San Felipe together!!
de

Quick Note: we're one day behind making these posts. We ARE in San Felipe and will post again a little later... when we can get this wireless again.  

Day 1 "send me on my way" - Rusted Root

Day 1
Victoria- missed the boat.
Vancouver- said good bye to my folks and watched the clouds roll in.
Seattle- beautiful weather at the border crossing followed by clouds then a wee bit o' rain then clouds very low dark clouds, sleeting rain and snow. Then almost blue skies again.
So far its looking kinda like the journey of life eh?

We talked to some folks at the hotel about the weather, checked out the extreme forecast for southern California and thought about life again.

How would YOU look at it? what is it you actually look at? Is it your problem or situation or your future?  You are also creating your own destiny by how you look at these times in your life.
I like to spend some time just putting the problem to rest. You know - drop it and let it go. No reason to hold on to it! I really dont want it. really.

So here's to moving ahead into the unknown, uncomfortable or the crazy.
Yeah.

I'm beginning to understand the crazy.



I might just go live there.
Duane

I'm baaaaaaack... everybody shout hooray!!!!

HOORAY!!!! Okay now that that is done here's a silly video that i made with my some of my siblings,(its at the bottom.)... HOPEFULLY it works. If it doesn't, PLEASE comment and let me know. Thanks! 

Anyhoo, :) I am here to update you on what's happening.

We are going to MEXICO!!! On a missions trip! And if you read my mom's latest blog, you will know that already but you get to hear it from me too and of course thats always fun... right? If you were thinking 'no', (which i'm sure you weren't) then don't answer that. We are leaving  on the 13th of March, and coming back on the 4th of April. We're spending 2 weeks in Mexico, and 1 week in California! 3 days in Disneyland!!! And that's after Mexico so we're all kind of wondering what that's going to feel like... anyways, FUNNY STORY BREAK!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! 

Once upon a time i was writing a card to my mom for her 43rd birthday which was on February 22nd, (if you didn't say happy birthday then be sure to do that!), and i wrote happy birthday and all that kind of stuff, and then i write, 'God bless you many, many, many,.... ect, more years!' Except for i wrote waaaaaaaaaaaay more 'many's'. And after writing it that many times, it is such a weird word!!! You should try it sometime. Keep writing a word until you think you're spelling it wrong or it just looks incredibly weird. The End. 

Wasn't that a great story?!?! Of course it was you don't have to answer i already know! Now that funny story time is over, we shall move on to more updating time with the JENC! (Jamesa Ensing's news channel) 

Jamesa: "Here we are with 7 and 3/4 year old Evan Luc Ensing! Hello there Evan! What do you think about going to Mexico?" 

Evan: "Um, kind of fun." 

Jamesa: "Great! And how do you feel about going to Disneyland for 3 days?" 

Evan: "I think it will be fun, again." 

Jamesa: "Okay, and do you love me?" 

Evan: "Yes." 

Jamesa: "Good just checking. So do you think it will be hot in Mexico?" 

Evan: "Sometimes, a little bit." 

Jamesa: "Awesome. And how do you feel about driving for 4 hours and on a plane for 2 1/2 hours?" 

Evan: "Kind of boring." 

Jamesa: "Al-righty, thats a wrap for Evan! Thank you Evan, anything you want to say?"

Evan: "Um, not really, no."

Jamesa: "Okay! See you next time on JENC!! Now we have yet another sibling, 10 year old Dominique Renee Ensing! Hello Dominique!" 

Dominique: "Hola! I'm getting ready for Mexico!!!" 

Jamesa: "That's awesome, and how do you feel about going to Mexico?" 

Dominique: "Really, really, really, really, excited!!!" 

Jamesa: "Great, and how do you feel about going to Disneyland for 3 days?"

Dominique: "Again, really, really, really, really, really, exited!!!" 

Jamesa: "Um, okay then... And do you love me?"

Dominique: "Yah, a lot."
Jamesa: "Okay good, just checking. Do you think it will be hot in Mexico?"

Dominique: "Uh, kind of. I hope it will be hot."

Jamesa: "Cool, and last question, how do you feel about driving for 4 hours and in a plane for 2 1/2 hours?"
Dominique: "I'm excited about the plane, but really not driving, we've done it a LOT for a long time." 

Jamesa: "Yes, that is true. Well that's a wrap Dominique! Thank you for being on JENC and i hope you'll come back. Anything you want to say?"

Dominique: "Um, I want to say, I am really, really, really, really, really, excited!!"

Jamesa: "Okay i think we've figured that out. See you next time folks!!" 

Just so you know, that was the real Dominique and Evan Ensing answering those questions. I did not make them up. I hope you believe me and if you don't you can ask them. 

Now its time to break for a recipe! 

Here is a recipe for your kids and you. It gives you energy for when your feeling tuckered out. (Not that your kids ever will. :D) 

Strawberry French Toast

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Butter

2 large eggs

1/2 cup strawberry milk

4 texas bread slices

1. Place the oven rack in the centre position. Turn the oven on to 450 F. Grease the pan with cooking spray or butter. Set aside. Melt the butter in the sauce pan on medium. 

2. Break the eggs into a large bowl. Add the milk and butter. Beat with the whisk until the mixture is bubbly on top.

3. Dip both sides of each bread slice into egg mixture. Arrange the bread slices in the pan to cover the bottom. Bake for about 15 mins until golden. Remove the pan, turn the oven off. Serves 2. 

Bright idea: Instead of strawberry milk, try your favorite flavored milk! (for a special treat, at Christmas, use Egg Nog.) 

I'm sure you might be able to do a different type of bread but i just followed the recipe. Anyways, now we have one last paragraph.

Goodbye!!!!!!!!! Okay so this isn't really a paragraph, but good enough. :) 

Here's the video, again, please comment if it doesn't work. But i think it will. 

Bye bye!!! 
jAmesA eNsiNg

A Family Adventure

It’s February and I am realizing that the first half of this school year is already behind us!  Yikes!  I find the question “are we doing enough” (school wise) keeps rolling through my head.  I don’t like that.  I ask other homeschoolers and hear the same response.  “Oh yeah”, they say, “I ask myself that question all the time!”  Thankfully when I sat down with each of the kids individually, we looked at their subjects and ALL the PLO’s (Prescribed Learning Outcomes) laid out by the government and saw that we did indeed check off a lot of boxes!  Phew! 

Like wow mum that’s so great that your writing whatever this is!!! So hooray and stuff like that and also yahoo so you know yah. I love you!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 teehee toodles!!
LOVE JAMESA

Oh, thanks Jamesa…  This, our oldest daughter, has been the faithful blog writer thus far…

Anyway…I wanted to write to share with you what the next few weeks will entail.  When we felt it was clear to homeschool this year we also were hopeful that we would be able to pursue another dream.  We have talked over the past few years about going on some kind of missions trip as a family and the Lord has provided an opportunity!  I have learned something about trust and surrender in this process.  I had a plan in my head.  We would go in February for a month.  We started to talk with different organizations in November and quickly realized that this was not as simple as we thought it might be.  It wasn’t until I laid it down, surrendering my plans that the door opened up for us!  A friend wisely reminded me that this is sometimes how the Lord works.  He waits for us to fully give it to Him and then He hands it back to us as a gift.  J  This trip does feel like a gift.  We have hooked up with a couple that spent 8 years living in San Filipe, Mexico (a small fishing village) building a church there.  They too have 4 children that spent those 8 years with them.  Now with their children grown and out of the house Dave and Beth travel back to San Filipe twice a year to spend 2 weeks with the people they lived with and served.   When we spoke to Dave and Beth about our hopes, they fully embraced us and welcomed us to join them!  So here we are, just 3 weeks away from going.  We will spend the last 2 weeks of March in San Filipe with Dave and Beth as well as a team from England.  Dave and Beth have encouraged us not to have huge expectation of ourselves, but to see this as a scouting trip to see what the Lord has in store for us, and if more of these kinds of trips are in our future.  We pray as a family to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  That is the only expectation we have, and we are trusting that God will lead!

As we prepare to go we are asking for your prayers.  This is so very new to us.  The travelling outside the country is new, flying is new, the language is new, the people, scenery, lifestyle…it’s all new.   We are excited and nervous at the same time.  We are asking for specific prayer for the following:  safety – driving from San Diego into Mexico; health; opportunities to share the love of Jesus; space and time to connect with the people; time to reflect on God’s call on us as a family; boldness; and that we would honour God with our actions and words.  Oh yeah…and a super natural download of speaking Spanish would be GREAT!!! We would love it if you feel especially led, to let us know that you will commit to praying daily for us during the 2 weeks that we will spend in Mexico. (Mar 15-28)  Thank you!!

We are excited!  As much as we are not expecting anything in particular, we do have a few things we are hoping to do…Liam has asked his Soccer coach for soccer balls and jerseys and he has agreed to send some along with us.  We don’t know how or if we will have the opportunity to hand these out but are praying for God to create the space for that.  Jamesa and Dominique are working on some worship dances and we are bringing fabrics along to dance with and hopefully teach the kids some simple dances to songs about Jesus. (in Spanish!! J)  We also are taking down a Spanish puppet play that was created by a few people at our church that we hope to have the opportunity to share at a breakfast that the church puts on for the community each Saturday.   I hope to take as much crafting supplies down as I can and just be available to set up tables and love on the kids as they come by to do crafts.   We will see what the Lord does.  It’s so hard not to make plans isn’t it?  To just rest in Him and trust that He has a plan.  His hands and feet…that is what I keep reminding myself…just be His hands and feet. 

So that is where we are at these days…thank you for reading and for your thoughts and prayers over the next weeks.  We look forward to sharing stories with you when we return!  We’re stopping into Disneyland too on the way back.  I’m not sure what we’ll feel like, heading away from the village, but we’d love to be able to be ourselves there too, sharing the love right alongside Mickey and Goofy.

Till then,

Dios le bendice (God bless you!)

Duane, Trish

Jamesa, Liam, Dominique, and Evan

Hooooola!!

Hey there everyone! 

Wow no one has posted since Christmas?? Ack!! Well i'm posting now so don't worry! I guess it's just been busy around here. So i'll update you on what's happening! I suppose that's what this is for... but anyhoo;

After Christmas, was New Years Eve, and New Years Day, (they kind of go together like that you know?), and we had um, i think 5 families over? And 1 1/2 families slept over. So it was a full house! But we had tons of fun. After New Years, my grandparents moved to Vancouver, we helped pack. Then Liam had a lego thing in Vancouver so we visited my grandparents while we were there. And then it was my birthday!! And i wasn't planning on having my birthday party until February because we were really busy in January. BUT... 

Duh duh duh.....

My parents planned a surprise party for me!! And boy was it a surprise... Let me tell you about, and if you don't want to hear it, just skip this whole part until the green line at the bottom. :) One day i was innocently reading comics downstairs, (and that day was Jan 21, the day before my birthday), when suddenly, my mom calls me,

 "JAMESA!!!" and i answer, 

"YES?" and she says, 

"Go make you bed! The sheets are done drying!" and i say 

"OK!" but i don't do it until 7 mins later when Liam decides to tell me to do it again, and then i do do it, but i was mad at Liam for telling me. So i very quietly stomp to my room and kick the door open gently, (but i was wondering why it was closed because i had left it open when i was last in it.), and then there's a bright flash! And 4 girls standing in my room yelling, 

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!" Which of course freaked me out so i screamed and jumped backwards out of the room, and then i realized it was 4 of my closest friends and they're all laughing at me, so i decide it wouldn't be very fun of me to not laugh so i do and it turns into a huge laughing fit from all of us. Turns out they caught it on video... :P But anyways, then i said, 

"Well what now?" and they said, 

"We're sleeping over!" and i said, 

"You are?!?!?!" and they said, 

"Yup!" and i was so happy! So we had dinner, (which consisted of lasagne, garlic bread, and veggies. but i was kind of bummed because my dad said that the second lasagne was for a lady at our church that had just had a baby, but it was really for us, so they lied to me! Not hooray.)

But anyways, after dinner, they blindfolded me, and stuck me in the middle seat of the van squished between two girls, to make sure i didn't peek. (which of course i wouldn't.) And then they drove down to the bowling ally, but didn't know where we were going, and whenever i asked a question, they didn't answer or told the wrong answer. So when we got there, they got me out of the van, and then took me inside and made me guess where we were, I got it on the first guess. :D So we went bowling. 

When we got back home, we had desert, and watched 'Phantom of the Opera'. It was so much fun, we stayed up until 1:20am. :) In the morning we had breakfast and two of my friends went home to go to church, and two of my friends came to my church. When we got home, we had lunch and went to the breakwater. Which was soooo much fun, because it was really windy, so the waves were crashing up on the side of the breakwater, and we all got soaked. Then my other set of grandparents that didn't move to Vancouver came over, and so did my cousin who lives in Vernon but was here for a few weeks on a job. He's getting married on the 29th of January! So excited!! :) But anyhow, then everyone left and we had dinner and went to bed. Well actually my grandparents and cousin stayed for dinner. But then they left too and we all went to bed. That was my birthday weekend!! 

Anyone who didn't want to read about my birthday can read now!

_________________________________________________________________________

So after my birthday, well, my birthday was only 4 days ago. But we are going to Missions Fest this weekend! While we're there we'll visit my grandparents again. 

That's what's happening with the Ensings!

"And that's a wrap! Good job Jamesa." 

"Why thanks! See you next time i write a blog post?"

"You bet!" 

"Um, i think we're still rolling..." 

"Oh, I SAID THAT'S A WRAP BILL! CUT THE CAMERA!"

"Oh sorry boss. I thought you said, 'I dropped the bat'." 

"Why would i say that?"

"Well i don't know i was a little confused." 

"Just cut the camera Bill."

"Right." 

jAmesA eNsiNg