A Perfect Cinnabon

Francisco is a young (23) friend from our church in Lourdes, and he is faithful to help at all of the campaigns, especially when it comes to helping Stephen roll up the inflatable.  He has also been great to ride with us and guide us to the right location when we're on a campaign in El Salvador.  

Each night during the March campaign he (and several others) would help roll up the inflatable at the end of the night and Stephen would encourage them to make "a cinnabon perfecta" (a perfect cinnabon), in other words to roll the inflatable up straight and tight.  After 2-3 nights of this, Francisco came to me and asked, "why does Stephen say to make a perfect cinnabon when we roll up the inflatable?"  Kind of cracked me up that Stephen was trying to provide him a word picture of the process, when, in reality, Francisco had no idea what he was talking about.  Have you ever tried to explain a cinnamon roll to someone who has never seen one?  Since there is a Cinnabon store in the MultiPlaza mall  in San Salvador, I think Stephen thought that the kids would understand; but Francisco had never been there.  

Yesterday, they took all of us gringos to one of the bigger malls here in Managua and we found a Cinnabon kiosk.  Here are the pictures we took to show Francisco:

We bought a Cinnabon classic and gave it to him before the campaign last night. He thought it was quite tasty and now completely understands what Stephen means when he says to roll up the inflatable "como un cinnabon perfecta."

Anniversary Trip in the Works

Our 40th anniversary is coming up at the end of May.  We have been talking for the last year about what to do to celebrate. 

I started suggesting a cruise before we celebrated 30 years, 35 years and again this year. Unfortunately, while a cruise is on my bucket list, it's definitely not on Stephen's list.

We've spent the last several months looking at options--all over the world.  What about going to Europe?  What about staying in Central America?  What about Colorado?  What about Hawaii?  What about _____________?  

We made so many trial itineraries with flight info, hotels and cost estimates; however, none of them felt quite right to us.  About three weeks ago, we finally made up our mind.  

Drum roll--we're going to the San Francisco area.  Our decision was based on the fact that we don't get to see our children/grandchildren enough, so if we're going to fly somewhere, we want to be close enough to see and spend time with them.  Stephen and I will spend the first three days downtown San Francisco

 after which our kids/grandkids will join us at a vacation home on Stinson Beach. 

We'll end our trip with a few days at Daniel/Shannon's home in Sunnyvale.  Sounds perfect to us!