OHIO FRIENDS VISITING IN ARIZONA

We had some surprise company this past week here in Mesa, Arizona.

Gary with Jane and Bill

Our Ohio friends, Bill and Jane stopped by when they were coming east to our location in AZ on their way to join friends for a birthday dine-out.  It was great to see them since they are not in our part of AZ this winter. Great friends/great visit!!
This past Tuesday, February 20th, another Ohio couple, Don and Bonnie,  who are vacationing in AZ stopped by.

It was great to see them in our environment here! We took them to tour Sunshine Acres Christian Children Home just a few blocks from our resort.

Front office where the tour begins!

I did not get hardly any pictures of anything other than
the houses. This was an out door grilling and eating area
which is relatively new.  We are hoping to go to their BBQ fund
raiser this coming Saturday. So maybe we can get more
pictures then.

There are seven homes in the complex that houses ten children in each, two to a bedroom. They are each responsible for keeping their part of their bedroom neat and clean everyday, especially because of the touring. They have house parents who live in a separate apartment in the home. Sometimes these parents have children of their own also. All get along together well and the children are responsible for cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. The children are shown so much love and this is what they share in the video where they tell their stories.

The granddaughter of the original founders from 1954 does the decorating of these homes. They have volunteer carpenters who make the headboards and other decorations for the children's rooms.  She does an awesome job and she finds many pieces of furniture to use in the homes from the donations made to the Thrift Store in the complex.

There are so many upgrades and additional things added to the complex that we enjoy each tour that we take there!!  So many kind and generous people who make this all possible. The children can be there from age 5 through college.  They come from such tragic situations!!  They also raise and care for many animals here, showing and selling some at the fair. When they sell, the money is theirs. Some of the older children also have jobs in town and they play in sports in the public schools.

Don, Bonnie and Gary

Kitchen in home, where the children usually settle to
do homework before dinner. 

This is one of our favorite places to visit at least once each time we are out here in Arizona!!
After our tour, we went on out east of Mesa to Tortilla Flats for lunch and the ambience.

Don and Bonnie during a long wait for our food!!

We are discussing all of the dollar bills on the walls!!

 After that Gary drove the washboard road on farther east toward Roosevelt Lake to see Vista Canyon and much of the mountain terrain.  We did not go all the way to Roosevelt Lake though. The road is much too rough and many, many switch-backs.

Don't know this person though!

 And Beyond - - -

Hope you enjoyed these few pictures. We could have taken more, but we were too busy making sure that Gary was staying on the road!!  No guard rails on this road and no backtop!!