so best to avoid putting clothes on the clothesline that is right next to barbed wire.
We gave testimonies of how the trip went in church on Thursday night.
One of my girls, M, I can never get her to stop talking/laughing, and she is always talking to whoever is around, even if they are a stranger. But she almost would not stand up in front and tell us about the trip, even when it was just our team practicing before service. :)
One of my favorite parts of our trip to Loreto was the bilingual worshiping. Some songs we sang in Spanish, some in English, some both at the same time.
new experiences this week?
going to the pools. It was beautiful. Palm trees and mountains surrounding all these grill pit/picnic table combinations, and the pools were painted perfect pool blue (not that light color, a deep, bright, thick blue.) It was too cold for me to want to swim, but still fun to hang out. No wonder there is usually no water in the river. We drove along it to get to the pools, and there are pipes in it, siphoning off water. It even looked like someone was digging a well in a sand bar right next to the river.
I am really enjoying going grocery shopping! Strawberry season must be coming, because they were a dollar a container (and I think that was cheaper than last week.) The girls somehow found a creamy fat free/sugar free yogurt. They weren't even looking for it, they just grabbed it accidentally. Usually the fat free yogurt is for drinking and expensive, and the ones I've seen before aren't sugar free! But this was a good price. It was the only one in the cooler. Definitely a nice encouragement from God.
I get to help out with a Quinceanera (15th birthday party) this Friday. That'll be an experience!
I must have re-injured my ankle in the last couple days, because today it was hurting :/ I think I sprained it like 4 weeks ago. I'm so ready to stop babying it, I just can't yet.
Rich left yesterday to go back to the corporate world. We'll miss having him around to take us fishing, or off roading, or going to the globos, and his manliness rubbing off on us. He really united the kids here...
.
.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
"who will guard the door while I am sleeping..."
or...
"we'll be sleeping on the beach, keeping oceans within reach"
either title is completely appropriate for a week of camping in Mexico!
We just got back from 7, or maybe it was 8, I lost count! of days camping....
I slept on the beach 2 of the nights.
Once because I chose to, the other time b/c we were at a youth conference, and they decided to shock the kids out of their comfort zones by waking them up in the middle of the night, grabbing only their sleeping bags and pillows to walk in the dark to follow clues to what would end up being the beach.
that was fun!
over all, a very eventful week.
and now I realize just how thankful I am for hand soap (hand sanitizer just can't replace it!), toilet paper (NOT paper towels. ick.) warm water, running water, changes of warm clothes (only took one sweatshirt for the whole trip! Oops!)...etc.
We spent the first couple nights at a beach (near Mulege) 10 hours south of where we live. Our group was helping put on the youth conference, so we wanted some time to become more unified, as well as to be able to tell the dudes at the military checkpoints that we were on vacation. Apparently they are suspicious of missionaries/church groups.
Even while we were at the beach camping out we ate gourmet food b/c Tani is that good. She made pasta salad. That was COLD. Who would have thought that using ice to cool down noodles can make pasta salad without a fridge????
The last half of the week we drove 2 more hours (to Loreto) to camp out in the back "yard" of a church that was hosting the youth event. *If yard means gravel. But they had running water!!! and real toilets.*
There and back we went through 8 military checkpoints and 2 border crossings. I think the outside of the bus got sprayed for insects, but I could be wrong. We only had to get off of the bus ONCE!! What a blessing, and we never had to present our papers, even though we had worked so hard right before the trip to make sure we had the appropriate things in order.
I feel like I saw 8000% less green/grass/plants while we were there. But it was also uncomfortably hot by 10 in the morning (all the way in Loreto, not in Mulege where we were camping for real.) and we drove through a gigantic uninhabited desert to get down there. I'll have to post some sweet pictures later.
We met a lot of great people, and now my girls are talking about visiting Loreto again, or even moving there!
Baja California Sur is BEAUTIFUL. It's much hotter than up here, but it was SUPER windy some of the days we were there. The sea was beautiful because we were on the Sea of Cortez side, and it had these shallow bits that seemed tropical and perfect. (On Pascua *easter* morning we a friend and I saw a gigantic dust cloud envelope a semi. It was strange how when you were in the dust, you could see the cloudiness of it, but when you were safe behind some glass you could see the fine gray dust EVERYWHERE. The night before, I got up twice in the middle of the night thinking some boys were playing tricks on us by shaking our tent violently and realized it was just the wind and that no one was awake!!!)
I had looked forward to snorkeling while I was there, but the water was so cold and pretty choppy, and I had a cold, so I was too chicken to get in it! You can make those chicken noises now. Louder!! Louder!!!! :)
I really enjoyed staying up all morning to see a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez. God's creation amazes me.
I had a lot of opportunities to translate (Sp-Eng mostly) for the other house "aunt" that we took, as well as for the bus driver, and a couple other people. I really enjoyed it. I think I'm discovering more and more how much I enjoy facilitating conversations, or facilitating understanding.
I feel like the girls grew and matured a lot! I just hope that being back home doesn't set them in old habits.
I really enjoyed seeing the girls interact with so many Mexican young people, and forming new relationships with adult leaders.
One of the nights we did a evangelistic/Christians can have fun too! program out on the boardwalk...I was on the dance team (yay!) and we danced to a Kirk Franklin (Gospel/R&B) song called Revolution, and also to another similar one called Shackles by Mary Mary.
I was ABSOLUTELY in love with their modern and beautiful grocery store. There was probably more than one in Loreto, since it's a big city, but I only visited one.
We saw a lot of European and English speaking tourists. It's a place cruise ships stop to dock. During an afternoon of free time, Julia and I were separated from our large group of young people 'cause we went to the rest room, for a moment, and these two dudes, young back packing types, casually (but seriously) invited us to travel farther down the Baja with them. Julia commented that people that travel for a time, or who are consistently living outside of their comfort zone are so welcoming and hospitable. I thought about my own travel experience and realized how right she was. People are just looking for others to invite on the journey they are already taking.
We asked each other if they stay that welcoming/hospitable/chill once they return "home"...
We decided that some might, but others might not.
or really that we have NO CLUE.
(I was super hospitable/friendly when I was traveling in CR by myself, not so much when I got home, but just asking me is not a good scientific test.)
There was enough wind our last night in Loreto, that I thought some guys were trying to play a prank on us. I thought people were outside our tent shaking it, but it was just the wind!
We had a very safe trip there and back, and I'm excited to see what my girls think of "missions" now.
A couple more days of Spring break till it's back to the grindstone.
I'm sure there is much more that I can say that I just can't think of right now. If you have specific questions, shoot them at me!
<3
Jen
(oh and Steve is permanently back from radiation!! Everything tastes salty, since his taste buds have been messed up. He needs prayer for his facial skin to go back to normal, as well as better use of his jaw.)
"we'll be sleeping on the beach, keeping oceans within reach"
either title is completely appropriate for a week of camping in Mexico!
We just got back from 7, or maybe it was 8, I lost count! of days camping....
I slept on the beach 2 of the nights.
Once because I chose to, the other time b/c we were at a youth conference, and they decided to shock the kids out of their comfort zones by waking them up in the middle of the night, grabbing only their sleeping bags and pillows to walk in the dark to follow clues to what would end up being the beach.
that was fun!
over all, a very eventful week.
and now I realize just how thankful I am for hand soap (hand sanitizer just can't replace it!), toilet paper (NOT paper towels. ick.) warm water, running water, changes of warm clothes (only took one sweatshirt for the whole trip! Oops!)...etc.
We spent the first couple nights at a beach (near Mulege) 10 hours south of where we live. Our group was helping put on the youth conference, so we wanted some time to become more unified, as well as to be able to tell the dudes at the military checkpoints that we were on vacation. Apparently they are suspicious of missionaries/church groups.
Even while we were at the beach camping out we ate gourmet food b/c Tani is that good. She made pasta salad. That was COLD. Who would have thought that using ice to cool down noodles can make pasta salad without a fridge????
The last half of the week we drove 2 more hours (to Loreto) to camp out in the back "yard" of a church that was hosting the youth event. *If yard means gravel. But they had running water!!! and real toilets.*
There and back we went through 8 military checkpoints and 2 border crossings. I think the outside of the bus got sprayed for insects, but I could be wrong. We only had to get off of the bus ONCE!! What a blessing, and we never had to present our papers, even though we had worked so hard right before the trip to make sure we had the appropriate things in order.
I feel like I saw 8000% less green/grass/plants while we were there. But it was also uncomfortably hot by 10 in the morning (all the way in Loreto, not in Mulege where we were camping for real.) and we drove through a gigantic uninhabited desert to get down there. I'll have to post some sweet pictures later.
We met a lot of great people, and now my girls are talking about visiting Loreto again, or even moving there!
Baja California Sur is BEAUTIFUL. It's much hotter than up here, but it was SUPER windy some of the days we were there. The sea was beautiful because we were on the Sea of Cortez side, and it had these shallow bits that seemed tropical and perfect. (On Pascua *easter* morning we a friend and I saw a gigantic dust cloud envelope a semi. It was strange how when you were in the dust, you could see the cloudiness of it, but when you were safe behind some glass you could see the fine gray dust EVERYWHERE. The night before, I got up twice in the middle of the night thinking some boys were playing tricks on us by shaking our tent violently and realized it was just the wind and that no one was awake!!!)
I had looked forward to snorkeling while I was there, but the water was so cold and pretty choppy, and I had a cold, so I was too chicken to get in it! You can make those chicken noises now. Louder!! Louder!!!! :)
I really enjoyed staying up all morning to see a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez. God's creation amazes me.
I had a lot of opportunities to translate (Sp-Eng mostly) for the other house "aunt" that we took, as well as for the bus driver, and a couple other people. I really enjoyed it. I think I'm discovering more and more how much I enjoy facilitating conversations, or facilitating understanding.
I feel like the girls grew and matured a lot! I just hope that being back home doesn't set them in old habits.
I really enjoyed seeing the girls interact with so many Mexican young people, and forming new relationships with adult leaders.
One of the nights we did a evangelistic/Christians can have fun too! program out on the boardwalk...I was on the dance team (yay!) and we danced to a Kirk Franklin (Gospel/R&B) song called Revolution, and also to another similar one called Shackles by Mary Mary.
I was ABSOLUTELY in love with their modern and beautiful grocery store. There was probably more than one in Loreto, since it's a big city, but I only visited one.
We saw a lot of European and English speaking tourists. It's a place cruise ships stop to dock. During an afternoon of free time, Julia and I were separated from our large group of young people 'cause we went to the rest room, for a moment, and these two dudes, young back packing types, casually (but seriously) invited us to travel farther down the Baja with them. Julia commented that people that travel for a time, or who are consistently living outside of their comfort zone are so welcoming and hospitable. I thought about my own travel experience and realized how right she was. People are just looking for others to invite on the journey they are already taking.
We asked each other if they stay that welcoming/hospitable/chill once they return "home"...
We decided that some might, but others might not.
or really that we have NO CLUE.
(I was super hospitable/friendly when I was traveling in CR by myself, not so much when I got home, but just asking me is not a good scientific test.)
There was enough wind our last night in Loreto, that I thought some guys were trying to play a prank on us. I thought people were outside our tent shaking it, but it was just the wind!
We had a very safe trip there and back, and I'm excited to see what my girls think of "missions" now.
A couple more days of Spring break till it's back to the grindstone.
I'm sure there is much more that I can say that I just can't think of right now. If you have specific questions, shoot them at me!
<3
Jen
(oh and Steve is permanently back from radiation!! Everything tastes salty, since his taste buds have been messed up. He needs prayer for his facial skin to go back to normal, as well as better use of his jaw.)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I am writing you to catch you up on places I've been...
What a week!
My girls left to go to Tijuana on Tuesday and spent all week with Steve and Johanne (since they are stuck up there doing his radiation therapy- which he only has one more week of, yay!) All the kids that live with us got to go a few days each in different shifts, but it was nice to have the break right before.....
LORETO!
We leave tomorrow morning at 6 am
for a 12 hour drive South,
in a school bus
with approx. 25 adolescents!
(we will get back on Easter.)
It's going to be an adventure.
We are doing a couple days of team building, then will be going and helping put on a youth conference.
I'm really pumped, but not sure how good we are going to smell by the end of the week...
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
The first two night we are spending at the beach (where there are no showers), and then the rest we are sleeping on the floor of a church.
One of the guys commented that your ticket on the bus is showing your stick of deodorant ;)
so while my girls were gone, I...
went to a potluck.
went to a house build. (I hadn't seen one here before.)
watched movies in my bed.
read outside. (I suppose I could have done that with them here.)
cooked things I knew they wouldn't eat!
played mafia for my belated birthday.
went to a beach where there is a 40 foot hole in the rock where seals live.
did laundry. (booooring, I know, but necessary)
burnt the table while ironing.
went to bed without doing the dishes. (Y said, "we can't even leave you alone for a couple days, look what happens! haha.)
our internet/phone service has been slower/stinkier than usual, so sorry for lack of emails/calls.
I might try to catch up after I pack for our trip!
<3
(oh, we got a driver and a bus and things!)
My girls left to go to Tijuana on Tuesday and spent all week with Steve and Johanne (since they are stuck up there doing his radiation therapy- which he only has one more week of, yay!) All the kids that live with us got to go a few days each in different shifts, but it was nice to have the break right before.....
LORETO!
We leave tomorrow morning at 6 am
for a 12 hour drive South,
in a school bus
with approx. 25 adolescents!
(we will get back on Easter.)
It's going to be an adventure.
We are doing a couple days of team building, then will be going and helping put on a youth conference.
I'm really pumped, but not sure how good we are going to smell by the end of the week...
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
The first two night we are spending at the beach (where there are no showers), and then the rest we are sleeping on the floor of a church.
One of the guys commented that your ticket on the bus is showing your stick of deodorant ;)
so while my girls were gone, I...
went to a potluck.
went to a house build. (I hadn't seen one here before.)
watched movies in my bed.
read outside. (I suppose I could have done that with them here.)
cooked things I knew they wouldn't eat!
played mafia for my belated birthday.
went to a beach where there is a 40 foot hole in the rock where seals live.
did laundry. (booooring, I know, but necessary)
burnt the table while ironing.
went to bed without doing the dishes. (Y said, "we can't even leave you alone for a couple days, look what happens! haha.)
our internet/phone service has been slower/stinkier than usual, so sorry for lack of emails/calls.
I might try to catch up after I pack for our trip!
<3
(oh, we got a driver and a bus and things!)
Monday, March 10, 2008
"Obsessions with self-preservation..."
...Faded when I threw my fear away"- OtR
Have you ever had to put on your brakes while only going 10 mph to prevent hitting a chicken while it’s owner watches it cross the road? actually, have you ever even SEEN a chicken cross a road? I have. And I thought the “why did the chicken cross the road?” was only a joke….
I now know what it feels like to be in the minority at school meetings and not “speak the language”. It’s total chaos when all the parents are talking at once in Spanish! It makes you more nervous to volunteer to be involved, when you aren’t exactly sure about what you’re committing to. I went to one the other week and it made me really appreciate that our parents that didn’t speak English still came to the meetings and tried to be involved at the school where I used to teach.
Overheard the other day... “Luis, you left your shorts in the silverware drawer.” Then we resumed the conversation it interrupted because it seemed completely normal. That’s how life is with kids.
Another funny thing that happened with Luis…
I wasn’t watching where I was walking and I gashed the top of my head.
Julia and I were taking care of the bleeding, cleaning it out and things (it was dripping onto my forehead) when Luis came home from school. Apparently while playing at recess he had scratched his wrist, no blood no scab, just that white skin that happens.
He comes over to us, oblivious that I’m bleeding, shows us his “wound” and says, “Julia, Jennifer look what happened to me at school today.” In that moment he realizes I’m bleeding and all of sudden his eyes got wide and without even stopping he says, “what happened to YOU?” It was hilarious. He had totally moved from self-centered to concerned in the same breath.
Oaxaca cheese and Oaxaca salsa is very popular around here. I think I like both. Oaxaca cheese is like string cheese, but it tastes less fake/processed, and more natural. Oaxaca salsa is very spicy, but it has this great nutty tone. I’m working on being a person that enjoys spicy food.
I’ve also discovered how much I enjoy brown sugar on oatmeal! Yummy!
We leave next Sunday for our Youth Trip. My girls still don’t have permission from the gov’t to go… ☹ But we are praying really hard that it’s granted. Please pray with us. EDIT: 11:00 AM. I just got the call that they have permission!!!!!! Their paperwork was sent to another city, so this is a big blessing!!!!!
Mexico hasn’t had it’s time change yet! So now ya’ll are even one more hour ahead of us. We don’t change till April or something.
I ended up translating part of a church service on Thursday. Normally I’m very cold during church, but the responsibility to faithfully repeat what the pastor is saying made me pretty warm.
I ended up taking off my scarf and my hoodie.
(I just sat behind the family that didn’t speak English, a local Mexican pastor, and tried to be just loud enough for them to understand. Luckily, Hannah was sitting behind me, and I could tag her for any words I didn’t know. I ended up asking her to take over partway through because my mouth was tired from talking so fast!)
Rich had the good will to take me to the Salt Flats on Saturday. But then we got his car stuck :/ oops! We were only like 25 feet from hard ground. (Mom and Dad, we drove near where we walked to the beach when your feet were getting stuck in the mud.) While we waited for people to come rescue us we sat in the car enjoying the view and Simon and Garfunkel. I have sweet pictures of me “walking on water” now. It was totally worth it.
Living down here, I realize how much I love off-roading and adventuring.
It’s getting warm out, finally! Yay! (and my ankle is almost all the way better.)
Apparently, a few posts ago, this link didn't work, so here it is again!
Photos from Mexico, Feb 2008
And here are some photos I put up today...
(walking on water, sand dunes, birthdays...)
Photos from Mexico, Feb/March 2008
Have you ever had to put on your brakes while only going 10 mph to prevent hitting a chicken while it’s owner watches it cross the road? actually, have you ever even SEEN a chicken cross a road? I have. And I thought the “why did the chicken cross the road?” was only a joke….
I now know what it feels like to be in the minority at school meetings and not “speak the language”. It’s total chaos when all the parents are talking at once in Spanish! It makes you more nervous to volunteer to be involved, when you aren’t exactly sure about what you’re committing to. I went to one the other week and it made me really appreciate that our parents that didn’t speak English still came to the meetings and tried to be involved at the school where I used to teach.
Overheard the other day... “Luis, you left your shorts in the silverware drawer.” Then we resumed the conversation it interrupted because it seemed completely normal. That’s how life is with kids.
Another funny thing that happened with Luis…
I wasn’t watching where I was walking and I gashed the top of my head.
Julia and I were taking care of the bleeding, cleaning it out and things (it was dripping onto my forehead) when Luis came home from school. Apparently while playing at recess he had scratched his wrist, no blood no scab, just that white skin that happens.
He comes over to us, oblivious that I’m bleeding, shows us his “wound” and says, “Julia, Jennifer look what happened to me at school today.” In that moment he realizes I’m bleeding and all of sudden his eyes got wide and without even stopping he says, “what happened to YOU?” It was hilarious. He had totally moved from self-centered to concerned in the same breath.
Oaxaca cheese and Oaxaca salsa is very popular around here. I think I like both. Oaxaca cheese is like string cheese, but it tastes less fake/processed, and more natural. Oaxaca salsa is very spicy, but it has this great nutty tone. I’m working on being a person that enjoys spicy food.
I’ve also discovered how much I enjoy brown sugar on oatmeal! Yummy!
We leave next Sunday for our Youth Trip. My girls still don’t have permission from the gov’t to go… ☹ But we are praying really hard that it’s granted. Please pray with us. EDIT: 11:00 AM. I just got the call that they have permission!!!!!! Their paperwork was sent to another city, so this is a big blessing!!!!!
Mexico hasn’t had it’s time change yet! So now ya’ll are even one more hour ahead of us. We don’t change till April or something.
I ended up translating part of a church service on Thursday. Normally I’m very cold during church, but the responsibility to faithfully repeat what the pastor is saying made me pretty warm.
I ended up taking off my scarf and my hoodie.
(I just sat behind the family that didn’t speak English, a local Mexican pastor, and tried to be just loud enough for them to understand. Luckily, Hannah was sitting behind me, and I could tag her for any words I didn’t know. I ended up asking her to take over partway through because my mouth was tired from talking so fast!)
Rich had the good will to take me to the Salt Flats on Saturday. But then we got his car stuck :/ oops! We were only like 25 feet from hard ground. (Mom and Dad, we drove near where we walked to the beach when your feet were getting stuck in the mud.) While we waited for people to come rescue us we sat in the car enjoying the view and Simon and Garfunkel. I have sweet pictures of me “walking on water” now. It was totally worth it.
Living down here, I realize how much I love off-roading and adventuring.
It’s getting warm out, finally! Yay! (and my ankle is almost all the way better.)
Apparently, a few posts ago, this link didn't work, so here it is again!
Photos from Mexico, Feb 2008
And here are some photos I put up today...
(walking on water, sand dunes, birthdays...)
Photos from Mexico, Feb/March 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Escape from Busyness
yeah right.
so I had this misguided thought that if I tried life NOT IN THE USA that somehow I wouldn't get busy like Americans.
hahaha. Busyness is such a fight.
This weekend is a retreat with about 45 women from our area, and a few from Southern California that have friends that work down here. (so really I shouldn't be online, I should be retreating. so I'll make this fast.)
I sprained my ankle on Wednesday night, REALLY BAD.
(I was waiting to post on it though until I figured out what to do.)
I had someone look at it, and they recommended getting an x-ray if the swelling didn't go down, but it has!!! In fact, it's almost back to normal, it just hurts to make certain movements. I think another couple days of rest will do it good. It was really hard to sit with my foot propped up all day. My girls saw me doing a TINY TINY TINY bit of walking, and they said, "oh, are you all better? it doesn't hurt anymore?" and I said, "pretend you didn't see me get up!" I don't wanna get in trouble :)
They are doing some Israeli folk dancing during the retreat, but I think I'll sit it out, and let my ankle heal faster.
I'll try to use tomorrow to catch up on emails and such.
2 weeks until our trip 12 hours south of here!
Here are two videos for you all to enjoy of Mexico.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_gw5oDPgiU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DSLF_RPwU
so I had this misguided thought that if I tried life NOT IN THE USA that somehow I wouldn't get busy like Americans.
hahaha. Busyness is such a fight.
This weekend is a retreat with about 45 women from our area, and a few from Southern California that have friends that work down here. (so really I shouldn't be online, I should be retreating. so I'll make this fast.)
I sprained my ankle on Wednesday night, REALLY BAD.
(I was waiting to post on it though until I figured out what to do.)
I had someone look at it, and they recommended getting an x-ray if the swelling didn't go down, but it has!!! In fact, it's almost back to normal, it just hurts to make certain movements. I think another couple days of rest will do it good. It was really hard to sit with my foot propped up all day. My girls saw me doing a TINY TINY TINY bit of walking, and they said, "oh, are you all better? it doesn't hurt anymore?" and I said, "pretend you didn't see me get up!" I don't wanna get in trouble :)
They are doing some Israeli folk dancing during the retreat, but I think I'll sit it out, and let my ankle heal faster.
I'll try to use tomorrow to catch up on emails and such.
2 weeks until our trip 12 hours south of here!
Here are two videos for you all to enjoy of Mexico.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_gw5oDPgiU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DSLF_RPwU
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