Vacay.

so I'm on a little vacation right now, and so far it's been more than eventful.

the ride up was bliss, took a different route than usual and went through Tecate.

Got spoiled by some grandparents, saw The King and I.

Borrowed Irresistible Revolution by Claiborne from the Grandpa.

Flew from San Diego to Seattle.

Became really confused about the whole sun setting thing.
really confused.
In Mexico it's been setting at 6:30.
as we were flying north, really north, like ridiculously north, I thought, that's funny the sun hasn't set yet, it feels like we've been in the plane forever.
then someone said it's 8:40, we're almost to Seattle.
It still didn't dawn on me yet that the earth tilts, until two other things happened, then it was like big light bulb! oh, it's summer time, and we're in the northern hemisphere, so the sun sets later.
sometimes I feel like because I live in Mexico I should get more sun than, say, cold, rainy, snowy places like Seattle ;)
even though this wasn't what I expected I'm not gonna complain!
Mandy and I have spent a lot of time in the sun the last couple days, that has been such a blessing.

I also got to go into work with her and chill in the flower shop, my idea of a good time :)

Her housemates have 3 chickens, 2 cats, and 1 dog, so not too much different than my home in Mexico.

*** But last night I thought I was going to be stuck in the coop. ***

We were moving the chickens from outside to inside and I stepped inside the coop and the door shut behind me! Luckily there is a release for the latch on the inside, but I didn't notice that until I had a moment of panic.
I love going to church with Mandy, partly because she's one of my spiritual sisters, and partly for the nostalgia of how our friendship started out. After church there was Applebees, which was also dripped of nostalgia.


interlude
__________________________________________
I think incarnate is the buzzword for our generation. I've been reading books related to religious thought/practice and three of the authors have talked a lot about Jesus being incarnate. (lauren winner, claiborne, schmemann)
(and then in church yesterday they talked about Jesus being incarnate as well. Something I haven't really noticed before.)
The only thing is Schmemann wrote his book 40 years ago. The other two are recent writers. It also strikes me b/c he was an Eastern Orthodox priest, Winner is anglican/former Jew, and Claiborne is an ordinary radical (his own label).
that's just got me thinking recently that's all.



ok, done with that
_______________________________________________
Today we slept in. I didn't get out of bed till 9:30, but hadn't gone to bed till 1. I'm hoping all this staying up late and sleeping in, will condition me to be ready for my flight to the midwest tomorrow.
Although, it might be a hard transition once I'm back in Mexico.

We explored Pike Place Market, which is where the first Starbucks is.



Bright colours at the market...


It was a nice day. But I'm tired now.

and I really like having mountains AND sea. so nice.



so I realized that I haven't been tackling classical literature recently, and that I feel silly for thinking I am well read if for now I'm sticking to Memoir and "Religious" Non Fiction. (although in the fall I was reading current/best seller fiction) I haven't avoided it b/c I want to "learn" but I think because I want reading fiction to be relaxing, and I'm not sure how much I can relax when reading classical lit. or maybe it's too many scars from HS english. I mean, I didn't even finish LISTENING to that Jane Austen book that I got on cd in the fall. and that's a pretty lazy way to ingest media. (I'm tired, and this is why I'm blathering on and on and on and on....)but there are seasons in our life, and I did read more literature-y literature in college. sigh. maybe I shouldn't be disappointed in myself. blech.

here's a toast to being more balanced in my reading selections in the future!

They've fed me really well!



(yogurt, chocolate, hamburgers, PBJs, Applebees, Thai)

back to eating!
Happy Memorial day.

call me! or text me!!

I'm in the states today.
You know the cell phone number :)

We just got a new 13 year old.

We received her today. No one knows her whole story yet, but the parts the social worker told us were in front of everyone.
She has an eating disorder, and doesn't like to bathe.

anyways. we'll see how this works out!

photos and link!

Here is a recent-ish bunch of photos.

Recent-ish Photos

and here is our website that they are in the midst of redesigning, not all the links work yet though.

La Paloma

Enjoy!

they say I'm walking on freedom...

My kids were daring each other to drink jalapeno juice straight up, so cute!

Other Bilingual things:
"Do you like that mark?"- (Do you like that brand? "marca" is the Spanish word for brand)

"She's resting, can I tell her you called?" -(one of my really bilingual kids answered the phone yesterday. It was my day off, which is literally "rest, resting" in Spanish. really, I wasn't even home, but I only had the ability to not be home because it was my day off. so what she really meant was that I wasn't around, even though she didn't say it that way)

"I have tos/gripe" - (I have cough, I have flu)

I wasn't at home most of the day yesterday, which was nice (day off), b/c today is also my day off, but the girls keep finding me and talking to me. I guess they love me! Plus random people stop by our house to visit or ask for things. I read in my bathing suit yesterday (at a friends-they have a walled garden), which I feel uncomfortable doing at our house because anybody in the fields around could see me, and because random people stop by (other missionaries, mexican pastors, people that need food) our house ALL of the time, and would definitely be scandalized. and the kids start conversations that focus on skin color, which I find highly problematic and disturbing. "But you're whiter than me, I'm the whitest one, etc." (I know I'm judging since I have the exact opposite conversation all the time "you're tanner than me, I'm the most tan, etc.") It's just not normal to even see a woman in shorts/bathing suit in Mexico unless you're at the beach or in the pool. (Or unless you're watching "family" TV. gross. If I stay in Mexico I don't think I ever want a TV)

The office season finale was the only episode of the office that I saw on TV this year (and with friends). All the rest I watched on the internet, and by myself. It was great to laugh with people. (and discuss it during the commercials)

I finished Evangelical is not Enough yesterday. It was good. I can't wait to type up some of the interesting quotes.

Did I tell you that we took Johanne out to Chinese for mother's day. It was my first Chinese food since November, and so I didn't care what it tasted like!

Books that I hope to start soon:
Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews
Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice by Dosick
Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze by Saroyan
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Letters to my Son by Kent Nerburn
Sophie's World
Reading the Bible Again for the First time
the 2/3 of the Bible that i haven't read recently.

tell me if you want to see me, May 28-June 6th and we'll try to work something out.
<3

crazy! or loca!

so Johanne and Steve left on Thursday to go see their daughter (who is the president of her student body) graduate college.

They took like half the kids, but gave me an extra person to help out.

We decided to make pizza since it's a friday, and borrow a movie. Somehow, half the kids that we know in the neighborhood ended up at our house :) It's been pleasant.

The last two days were rough. I think the kids feel like they need to test their boundaries or make sure they are not abandoned. I have quite a few people willing to help me out in a pinch, so that's nice.

One of the girls that ran off a few weeks ago, ran off again yesterday. I think she thinks that by running she can escape her problems. Here I always run after her, even reminding her that she quits when we exercise as a house while I keep going! She has come back both times, but the reason she is with us is because she ran away from her mom, she ran away from her uncle, etc. She is the one going back to her family in July, but I would like to see a change in her coping. After she was calm I tried to explain to her if she wants to be alone she needs to do it in different ways, but she didn't want to listen to me tell her those things. She told me she doesn't want the psychologist's help either. It's so tough for me when someone doesn't want to accept help.

Movies are a big privilege in our house as we don't have a TV. C- got out of bed 2 hours late after I'd told her to get out of bed twice, so I told her she had to go to bed 2 hours earlier. It's the normal punishment. This morning she accepted it, it wasn't a problem. But tonite, when she found out we were going to watch a movie she was TICKED. So then she told me it was my fault she didn't get out of bed. riiiiiiight.

I need a lot of prayer for my attitude right now, because next Friday I'm leaving for 2 weeks. I love them, but today it feels like a job, like a job I need to escape!

I didn't realize how much more free time I have when Johanne and Steve are here. They take the girls more than I thought.

It smells like summer here. I think it's from living next to big fields of wheat, but I can't be sure.

Some people here don't know the word in the other language. For example, there was a whole English conversation the other day, but every time we wanted to say "scold" we said the Spanish word "reganar." This happens to Spanish speakers or to English speakers. I use the word "reganar" a lot, but honestly, I had to look it up just now to know EXACTLY what it means. I think it's really amusing when we speak in Spanglish. Actually, sometimes people even use the shortest words or shortest phrases in both languages and mix them to be lazy. Kind of a complicated way to be lazy.

The other Spanglish things I like hearing are when people transfer grammatical structures from one language in the other. "What does the table lack?" (really, "what's missing!") that's using Spanish in your English!

(my girls are running to our house now, to beat each other to use the shower. crack me up!)

The other night we had a murder mystery dinner in honor of Julia. I tried to speak with a British accent most of the night, but even accidentally used some Spanish words. It was a real hoot. I also was voted "most dramatic" which I loved. I thought I was playing with a bunch of people that were honest all the time, so I was shocked when I got to the end and found out that people were sneaky, or purposefully mislead people!

GROCERY BILL SCARINESS.
so I go grocery shopping every week. and have been for quite some time, so I have an idea of how much we spend.
This time we went, and it cost $290!!!!!!!!! It is never that much. Luckily I had some of my own money on me, and we paid all but a dollar of it. The cashier told me not to worry about it. I was pretty flabbergasted though. I came home and racked my brain, and the receipt! Unfortunately the receipt only has prices on it, no labels. I intended to mark every purchase that I could figure out what it was, but realized that was unattainable. The very last item said I'd bought 10 @ $8.40 a piece. in total $84. I realized I hadn't bought anything for $84. So then, it was up to us to figure out what the item was. I realized what happened. She had asked me how much flour I had, and I said 10 kilos, and so she typed in 10 bags of 10 kilos each. I didn't get to go back to the grocery, but Angela talked to them with the receipt, and the lady said she realized it right after we had left the store. sigh.


well, I'm getting bug bites while I sleep, so I'm going to go bug out my room and go to bed.


I'll be home from May 28th-June 6th. Do let me know if you'd like to hang out. It might be a little crazy, so I'm thinking about trying to get an idea now so I can manage my time right.

<3

One of my girls has a 14 year old cousin who is pregnant. She heard that the cousin wants to sell the baby. SELL!! I asked how much they cost, and the girls got really upset thinking that I am interested in buying babies. last time I checked, I'm not interested in purchasing babies from the black market.


I think teenagers and adults don't understand each other a lot. Whenever my girls complain/whine I ask them not to talk like that. Then they say, "but I didn't say any bad words!" and I say "the tone of your voice is bad" but then they look at me confused. so today, I tried to sneak record one of my girls when she was whiney so that she could hear how it sounds, and she didn't whine all morning! It's funny to want two totally opposite things and have them foil each other. (I want them to not whine, but I wanted her to whine so that they might stop whining after I play it back to them.)


We served rice with sugar and cinnamon and milk this morning, which the girls were pumped about! apparently, it's a very mexican thing to serve. UNTIL they opened the pot and realized I didn't make it the way a Mexican woman would make it. (apparently you cook the milk with the rice, and I let them add it to already cooked rice.)


(and apparently, people here didn't know the electric slide. but now they do. Thank you Mr. 8th grade gym class teacher.)

haz llover...

I’m so lucky that my girls are listening to the radio. It has a nice MIX of music. When they put in CDs, they just press the repeat button, and you hear the same cd for 4 hours, or more. Through the Mexican radio I’ve discovered that some of my favorite Christian artists from high school made Spanish records that I never knew anything about! (esp. Guardian! 3 albums!!)

So even though we live in the country, it’s not always quiet. Like last night there was loud dance music being broadcast from the hill, other times it’s someone selling something, with a speaker system attached to the outside of their car. They say their wares aloud. “Oranges, Strawberries, Corn” along with the current price. The propane man comes this way as well.

I bought carrots from a stall at the globos and realized I’d purchased the same carrots you buy at the grocery store, but conveniently peeled and repackaged in the same package.

When we buy white sugar at the grocery store it comes in clear plastic bags that were previously whatever else. I suppose someone saves them and cleans them? It caught me off guard, b/c I’d put the sugar in our cart, but then saw that the label said “chocolate morsels.” “Who put chocolate in our cart??” I’ve also seen labels saying corn starch, carrots, brown sugar, etc.

(Keep in mind I shop for groceries for 20 people a week) Last time we were at the grocery with 3 carts, we’d already paid and were loading the car, near the loading dock where they accept deliveries, and somehow, we ended up with 4 of the employees (stockers) helping us load the car, which was super helpful, since I couldn’t get the back door open! Usually I tip a little 10 year old to put our groceries in the car, but was surprised to see how helpful all these adult men were! I think we may have made friends with the employees there. Sometimes all the girls don’t come with me, and I’ve noticed that the guys say, “tell so and so hi for me!” ☺


One of my girls biked 4 miles, then ran 4 miles today. YAY! One of my other girls asked to go with the group, but she quits at mile 2 of our 3 mile power walk. We told her she couldn't go on the 8 mile, and she pouted about it. I told her she could jog with me this afternoon when I go, but she told me she didn't want to. whatever :)

It hasn't rained here since, February?

como me duele... (elizalde)

that song is currently playing from the loudspeakers on the hill. Someone must be having a party.

but really, I do hurt.

We had a birthday party last night for one of the missionaries daughters, she turned 15 so it was a BIG party.
I chose to wear cute heels, since most people were in their nicest clothes (think formal) and I only brought skirts with me. But dancing in heels and walking around in them wasn't the best idea. Especially the walk TO the party, think dirt road, not flat, lots of pot holes. My girls were advising me to change shoes so that "you won't be sitting on the couch whining about your ankle" haha. I told them "La belleza cuesta" "Beauty Costs" (just to clarify, I didn't hurt myself, it was just the first time wearing heels since I sprained my ankle)

I realize now why moms sometimes don't look their cutest all the time. I had only thought about myself before the party, how much time IIIII would need to curl my hair, how much time IIIIII would need to put on makeup, etc. But maybe an hour before we were supposed to leave, 2 of my daughters are asking me to help them get ready-make up, finishing details on mask, picking out dress, curling hair.... I suppose I need to think of them next time, eh? We were 40 minutes late, but this IS Mexico.

One dance we did was the Virginia Reel... M came up to me and said, "hey, you have to come to the ball room, we're going to learn a Canadian style dance!" (the people throwing the party are Canadian) I quickly corrected her "it's not canadian", showed her where I live with my hand, and then indicated where the Virginia Reel comes from (presumably Virginia?) It was very important that I set the record straight ;)

So I finished “Life of the World” by Schmemann like a month ago, but I’m still struggling through the ideas. I’ve ended up rereading it, and kind of stalling whatever forward motion I had with my “read as many books in my free time” goal. I guess the thing is, I wanna make my lifestyle coincide with the things in the book I agree with, but I’m not sure how to do that without it being a long process. If my life doesn't espouse what I SAY I believe, then I don't really believe it.

Someone donated several big boxes of cakemix to us. They probably have 30 individual boxes in each one, and I thought, wow, this will last a long time. Haha. No.
We use 3 boxes of cake mix every time that we make enough cake for everyone in our family. If we are having a party or have invited people over then it can end up being 6 boxes of cake.
Annnnnnnnd…..this being Mexico, it seems like there are parties all the time.
We’ve been having about one birthday party a week, some of these within our own “family of 18 people that live here”, some of these among the friends of our children, some parties were for Mother's day. It's been NUTS!


Frustration level goes up when I’m tired. and I was tired today. However, my girl who is leaving us, mysteriously forgot how to do perimeter and area today, even though I know she can do advanced problems that involve the use of that knowledge. I think it was her way of getting to sit next to me during school without admitting that she is scared/sad/some emotion, who knows! to leave in July. I whispered in her ear, I know you know how to do these. But then walked her through each problem. As long as I kept in my mind, she just wants to see I love her, it was easier to keep from being frustrated.

well, I have a whole list of things I'd like to tell you about, so I'm gonna try REALLY hard to write again tomorrow...

just so you know...

that last entry's purpose wasn't to complain about M, who will be 19 in 2 months. but to show why she's under our care and not living on her own. We are working on getting her a job as soon as she is done with school, but she has maturity issues that will be tough with any co-workers/boss. and since there isn't a lot of work here, people aren't going to be motivated to hire her, when they can hire 4329084932 other people who will work harder and that don't have to be babied.

plus, as horrible as those couple of days were, I think I want to remember them.

We're going to the pools today. I've been ready to leave for an hour, but we're a big family :)

"Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these"

-Guernica, Brandnew

So, I had intended to blog more this past week, so that it wouldn’t all pile up. But I didn’t. the end.
(and then we didn't have internet/phone a few days this week. so this is what happened. LAST WEEK.)

I’ve been doing an aerobics tape with my girls. I don’t want to make them hate exercise, but I want them to do it since we don’t get out as much as we should. We first tried this a couple months ago, but my 18 year old, M, had a temper tantrum. She is now warming up to it.

More recently, the first time we did it, she participated, BUT BARELY. I decided not to incite her to anger and accept that she was standing, sometimes marching in place by only lifting her feet high enough to pass a piece of card stock under them, sometimes swaying back and forth. She did have her arms crossed in front of her chest the whole 40 minutes with a slight frown on her face.

The second time we did it, she participated a little more, this time taking the effort to say out loud that the moves were too complicated, and that’s why she wasn’t participating. The third time we did it she goofed around the whole time, smiling and laughing and getting out of doing the full moves because she was telling jokes, or doing visual gags. A visual gag might have included her doing the moves in an exaggerated way, so really, she was exercising and didn’t even know it! I overheard her telling the girls she didn’t care about looking like a model, LIKE THEM! Crack me up. (I’ve never said anything about trying to look like a model, just to be absolved from any accusations.) update. Yesterday they asked me if we could excersize 3 times a day. I said no. :)



I am becoming my MOM:
Are you going out like that?
Aren’t you going to put makeup on?
Do those clothes make you look your best?
Your pants are too low.
I bought you this hair mousse so that you could find a husband faster. ;)
---luckily I don’t think any one heard me say that last one.
(upon noticing my girls opening the fridge when there is already food on the table or while I'm cooking)- "What are you looking for? Everything we're eating is already on the TABLE!" You're wasting electricity."

I won the GREAT OATMEAL BATTLE last week!
I have a picky eater, J-15 yrs old, (really that’s how she exhibits control in her life). She over eats, but only her favorite foods (fried eggs, tortillas, cereal, ramen, bananas), and when those aren’t being served, she avoids eating as much as she can. She skips meals because she’s dieting, but then buys a bag of chips and eats that instead. GROSS. (She’s curious what food is healthy for her, but is completely deaf to anything I have to say about Ramen or chips.)
I was really frustrated with her last week, because we bought everyone two bananas, and one of the girls told me she hadn’t had any bananas yet, but that we only had one banana left in our house. J picked up the last banana, and I told her- “M hasn’t had any bananas yet, I know you’ve already had one. What do you think the best thing to do would be?” She didn’t answer, so I said, “She told me she’d like to make a smoothie out of it. Should we save that one for M?” and she shook her head no and ate it without remorse. I can’t tell them what to do their whole life, but I desperately want to!
(by the way, whenever M has extra food, she ALWAYS offers it to J.)
I want J to think of others sooooo bad.

….anyways...great oatmeal battle. I am totally off track.

I served Oatmeal for breakfast. M was already at the table, the others hadn’t made it downstairs yet when M says, “You know J isn’t going to eat this.” I thanked her for informing me. I already knew, but I don’t believe in catering to every whim of children. I told her to think positive, maybe she’ll try it. And M said, “no, she won’t ever eat it. Gross.”
So, I decided to make it my goal that J would eat it ☺
After she got to the table (I make her sit with us and enjoy family time) I was obnoxious. Every minute or so I’d make baby faces and say, “just a little bite, puh-leeeeease.” Or “A little airplane is going to land in your mouth!” or “Look a train!” and make all the noises and facial expressions that accompany these phrases. 20 minutes of this, and I’d broken through! She said, ok, just give me a little bit.
So I served her a spoonful in her bowl. She asked if we had milk, I said we did. She asked if we had brown sugar (duh! It’s on the table!) and she used both things on her oatmeal. She ate it, asked for more (while trying to act like she didn’t really want it), and then told me her grandma used to make it all the time, and that if I always serve it with milk and brown sugar, she’ll eat it from now on.
MUAH-HA-HA. ☺

Two weeks ago, I wasn’t my cheery self. The story of the stomach ache:
or the stomach ache that made me have a headache ;)

M is my worst food hoarder, always sneaking food, or overeating without permission, or saving food from a meal, or telling me, “wow I’m full” but then when I try to take her plate to throw away her food she insists on finishing it…
Anyways, she got a stomach ache and was sure she was going to die.
Unfortunately she got this stomach ache at night and interrupted glorious sleeping time. I woke up hearing her complaining at midnight. I went up stairs and told her to sleep and that her telling us her stomach hurt and that she couldn’t sleep was prohibiting EVERYONE from sleeping. “I said, huh, we all eat the same things, and none of us are sick. I’m not sure why you feel bad?” while thinking, This will teach her! (to not sneak food) Then I heard her at 2, she had went outside to throw up, because she thought she was throwing up blood (she wasn’t, I checked, it was tomatoes- which I DON’T remember us eating that day.) she was crying and smelled gross. This included LOUD yelling, screaming, and uncontrolled sobbing. So she went and took a shower and went back to bed. At 4, she woke me up again. I couldn’t figure out why all I could hear was her talking to herself, saying “my stomach hurts, I can’t sleep, my stomach hurts, I can’t sleep” over and over and over and over. I went upstairs to tell her to stop talking (without my glasses), because nobody can sleep and it’s her fault, and I closed her door really hard, but I didn’t slam it, as much as I wanted to. When I got back downstairs I realized I could still hear her, and that she was on the couch right outside my room. The girls had kicked her out so they could sleep! This didn’t benefit me. I told her that adults don’t act like this, gave her some coping strategies and went back to bed. I told Johanne at 5 what was going on, and we discussed the possibility of taking her to a doctor, but at breakfast she didn’t complain about anything, ate her fair share of the food and life was good!
This isn’t over yet, but I thought it was
The next night we got to bed late, and once again, it happened. At like 2 she woke me up with moaning and grunting. And I said, “Did your stomach hurt during the day? Because you never said anything to me again.” And she said, “yes.” I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t been upset during the day. At 4:30 she started crying again, and she did it quietly, but it still woke me up and made me grouchy.
(for anyone worried about how I treated her, I made sure it didn’t hurt her to walk, she could drink water fine, and she was capable of calming down when I reminded her to. So I knew it wasn’t serious.)
also- this is the same girl who got into a friendly/giggle/slap/sisterly kind of fight- one that everyone knows is just to show love and be silly- and like 2 minutes after the fight is already over and she has moved on to reading or something THEN decides she is offended, stomps out and sits on the porch step, cries and talks about how her arm hurts where the other girl lightly hit her.
Wait, it didn’t hurt when it happened, but now it does? I’m SOOO confused.
Also, when she gets in trouble for something, for example, talking during school, she bawls and bawls and the only consequences were that she had to move seats. She over reacts. But I’ve also told her, that if she were really hurt, we might not know it, and that she needs to stop “crying wolf” as it were.

Life is good. Really. I got to enjoy going out last Friday AND Saturday night. Which usually I feel tied to my girls, so that was an encouragement.

We had a fabulous turkey dinner for lunch and GOOD mashed potatoes. It felt like thanksgiving.

I think I'm losing my youngest girl in July. It's a long story, but she's moving back in with her mom. She was a run away not abused/neglected, and Children's services has assessed that she shouldn't be under care.

I think I might be going to San Diego and back on Sunday. pray for safe travels! and that I actually send some thank you notes that I keep forgetting to send.