Last month James and I got on a plane to Spain.

Upon our arrival in Valencia we met up with one of my best friends who I hadn’t seen in a year since she’d moved to England.

Then we rode to my favorite place in my favorite town in all of Spain — Alfa y Omega in Denia.

There we joined a small group from the church I had grown up in (Tolar Baptist) who had already been serving at a kids camp there the previous week. Eight of the eleven people in the team are related to me in some form or fashion, so it was a pretty tightly knit group of folks.

That following week we ran a camp for the local children to come learn English, play sports, make crafts, sing songs and learn about Jesus. Funny story, almost none of the photos in this post are of the kids because the whole time I was with them I was teaching words and motions to songs . . . in a gym . . . slightly sweating . . . and pictures just never happened. The following photos are mostly taken in the evenings after the kids went home and we went out exploring the Spanish countryside and soaking up the hospitality of Pastor Jorge and his wife, Encarnita. They are some of my absolute most favorite people in the world.

This is my Meaggie! We lived together in college and she was the maid of honor in mine and James’ wedding. I was ridiculously giddy to see her and experience Denia with her!

Jorge is the pastor at Iglesia Bautista, the church Tolar Baptist partners with in putting on the kids camp at Alfa y Omega. His love for Jesus and his then inevitable love for every single person around him is evident to each person he comes in contact with. He loves his church and his town well. Fun fact, he was also awarded the key to the city of Fort Worth as well, so basically he leaves a really good impression every place he ever goes. Ever. I adore him and his wife, Encarnita.

This is my giggly Aunt Diana and Uncle Dwain.

These lovebirds are my parents. I love taking photos of my parents all sweet-like together.

Ah! My favorite boys (minus Jasper, Jacob and Jack — see my instagram feed for relationship explanations) — my dad, husband and little (weirdo) brother Jayce.

You guys, this is Cameron. He was the Spanish-English interpreter for the Bible stories at the camp! He started out as a camper himself two summers before and it’s been such a joy to see him grow from the boy who pretended not to be able to speak English ALL WEEK (even though he’s perfectly fluent) so that he didn’t have to help out (haha, but really) into the kid who gave up a week of his summer just TO help us share Bible stories with younger campers. I’m so proud of this guy.

One of the things I was most excited for this summer was to introduce James to Pastor Jorge and Denia. I had been twice before but this was James’ first time to go!

This is the Denia tradition of trying to get the bulls to run into the Mediterranean. I had seen it before but never where a bull actually jumped into the ocean — so fun!

Don’t worry, the bull didn’t actually “get” anyone except for the poor fellow below but thankfully he did not appear to be injured — he jumped into the sea himself and swam off because one personal interaction with the bull was enough for him.

The last night we were there was the big parade in downtown so we did it up big with paella, festivities and churros.

So that was Spain.

Well, everything except for all the dozens of sweet Spanish children and parts where I look like I’ve been jumping, dancing and singing in two languages in a gym for three hours at a time. But you get the picture.

I’m so thankful for each and every time I get the opportunity to serve the Lord alongside my dear friend in Denia. So, so thankful.