Going out with the gang

Going out as a family is quite a challenge. 

Recently we were all invited to the "quincinera" (15th birthday party) for Michelle, the daughter of our house manager, Brenda Salazar.  The trick is, they live about an hour away from San Pedro, so it took a lot of planning to move four guys, two workers, and four wheelchairs, along with myself, to the village of El Rodeo for the celebration.





First, you hire a pick-up truck to haul the wheel chairs.  Then, one by one, you load all our guys into my van.

Then you somehow manage to load all the chairs into it, including two very heavy power chairs.

When everyone is loaded up, you start the hour drive, "shortened" to an hour and a half when the sign for the turn into El Rodeo has been removed and you miss the cut-off!  Then, the loading process is reversed to get everyone out of the vehicle and back into their chairs. (Of course, you'll do this all over again to go home--minus the detour for the missed turn.)

It seems like a lot of hassle to go to a party, but the smile on Fidel's face makes it well worth it! Someday maybe we'll have a wheelchair van, but for now, we are grateful God gave us a minivan and friends with pick-up trucks.

After all, Michelle is part of the family!