...I get lost on the wind of a dream
The air gets clean and the seas get wide
and I can do anything" -Anything by Mae
A lot of things have gone undocumented in the last 2 weeks. I guess I have to be ok with that.
I’ve been meaning to post some of my favorite quotes. Maybe another day.
When you have to put “Enjoy My Day” on your to do list, something might be wrong.
So a couple weeks ago we had a bonfire on the beach. It was the first time I’ve been on the beach late at night down here. I usually try to be in bed. It was lovely though. The next day we went back out there, and the ashes from our fire were still there, a reminder of the activity the day before. It made me realize every object has someone’s memories attached to it, and I began to glance around and try to see what objects would call to mind images, songs, and conversations for others. As a result of the fire I have been motivated to learn the chords on piano (and possibly guitar, ack!) of some of my favorite songs so that I can contribute musically to group activities. We’ll see.
Yesterday we got 15 pounds of Mangos for 5 dollars. That was amazing.
We found a black widow in our house. I, of course, didn’t know it was a black widow, until several people reacted very violently to the idea that I was carrying Mr. Eats-People-For-A-Living around in a plastic container and showing it to people. Innocent mistake!
This week I have seen 4 dead mice and one dead Chicken. We are unaware of the cause of death for the chicken...no blood, no guts, no coconuts… and 2 of the mice (although I suspect rat poison.) I DO know the other two mice were whacked by brooms. I’m not sure if we are imitating the movies, or if the movies are imitating real life. But there certainly is a correlation.
I found clothes that I had lost this week. Except that, I didn’t know any of the things were missing. It might be because we’re drying our laundry on the line to use our money more wisely, and then things float away. (You can imagine the electricity and gas for 25 people’s laundry) I’ve been doing laundry more often than I used to. I think I’m enjoying hanging it on the line, or maybe just the excuse to be alone, or maybe the sunshine. And it dries so stinking fast! But as soon as I have enough for one load, I’m on it. Plus, I love the novelty of having 6 or 7 clotheslines (some short for Mexican women, some tall for whoever).
Last week Joanne and Steve went to Tijuana/Ensenada with some of the kids to do 3 doctors appts. 1 for Steve, 2 for my daughter C— so I had 9 of the kids for 36 hours. Another Joanne came to help me both days, and Jazmin (one of the ladies that cooks/cleans for us) cooked lunch. I was fully prepared to cook a really complicated dinner, but the kids just wanted nachos and cheese. We also made our own popcorn, on the stove! What a learning experience. I learned how to effectively take out the trash, as well as the right way to toss it into the trailer so that none of it leaks out onto your head.
Two days ago, Jacob and I took some of his siblings, my kids, and other kids to the beach. We had a blast, and I finally braved the ocean water b/c there were DOLPHINS hanging out. I didn’t quite make it out to them, but put in a good effort. The kids rode bikes to and from the beach, and I tried to help one of them that was having difficulty, but then it ate my skirt. 4 times. Luckily I had my bathing suit on. I rode it standing up, instead of sitting down on the seat. I’ll post a picture later ☺ (of the dolphins, not of me awkwardly riding a bike). At one point we ran down the beach chasing the dolphins, and Marina was “videotaping” them, but she got so excited in her pursuit that she filmed the ground, camera bobbing as she ran, with her loud shouting narrating what we could see. "Look, it's right there, right there, a dolphin, near the shore, no 4 dolphins, look, they're jumping, right there, do you see it?"
"The pain it won't even cross my mind
There's wonder in everything"
(that water was stinking COLD. I asked if I could have gotten hypothermia. But was told I wouldn't die.)
anyways. that's it for today.
.
.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
School starts in a week! and imagination takes us to London...
I babysat a 2.75 year old the other day that says “oh man” often, and it’s adorably precious. He wouldn’t take a nap, and I called his mom and she said to try a video, so I put in a Francis Shaffer lecture that I had never seen before, but unfortunately there were images that were not baby appropriate, and he didn’t fall asleep either. We tried another movie, Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” (read the book it’s better than the movie) but that didn’t put him to sleep either.
We have 3 new girls. 2 (sisters) came last week, and one came yesterday. It was hard to talk to her b/c her eyes were welled up with tears even though she was smiling. Could you imagine something horrible happening to you, and one indirect consequence is that you’re taken away from the only source of love and comfort you’ve known all your life, your 8 brothers and sisters. They are protecting her by putting her here, but I can’t imagine that she feels that protection.
My girls are upstairs singing and playing the guitar together right now. I’m glad to hear them hanging out like that, it doesn’t happen often.
C—-‘s family that tried to adopt her visited this past week. She was ecstatic the whole time they were here, hanging out and loving it. It was a high high, and then a low low. She cried Friday night, trying to hide herself in a closet so as not to bother everyone, and she might have been embarrassed that she’s crying. My girls just turned up the music and tried to sleep. Then she cried off and on all Saturday. It was tough.
School starts next week, which means getting up a lot earlier, more stress in the morning, etc. It feels like summer break was short, but my two “homeschoolers” have been working on their stuff all summer, so maybe that’s why it felt short.
Our streets were graded last week. It is AMAZING the difference on some of the roads. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture though.
One of the men in our town has a jeep, the old rusty kind without a top, and his kids have a toy jeep. As I was outside the other day, he passed me and I noticed a rope attached to the top of his jeep. This rope also was wrapped around his little boys truck. 3 were in the real thing, and 2 in the toy one. SOOOO cute, albeit a little dangerous.
M might have a job! She sold handcrafts (bracelets, bags, etc.) at the market last Friday with a friend of ours. It sounds like she’ll be doing it every Friday. I think this might be the type of job she could do really well at. When she asked to go, she told me she needed to “learn how to work” and I said, “yes, you do.” But I didn’t act excited for her, b/c the moment an adult is excited about something, it’s uncool for a teenager. I chose to make it sound like a privilege. “Did you study enough this week, do your chores, is your room clean? Well then I guess it’s ok with me.” Although I would never want to say she can’t go work, I gotta make her work for it. Har har.
I’ve been waiting for the perfect hot day to swim, jump in the ocean, etc. all summer long. Well, it’s starting to get cool again, and I didn’t do much swimming b/c it was always windy. Now I’ve found out that it’s windy all summer long here. Opps!
We have this problem in our laundry room, that if someone wants to put their things in the dryer, but it already has clothes in it, they dump them out and put the clothes wherever there is room. Well, we’ve started to use clotheslines instead to save money on electricity and gas, and I thought this might also mean less mess in the laundry room. Not so much. I asked C---- to wash her clothes, even though there were some clothes on the 5 clotheslines we have. The next morning I notice all her clothes are on the line, but J---‘s clothes aren’t. I went into the laundry room, and here are his clothes piled on the machine. Apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with using the 2 empty lines, and had decided to take his off the line even though they weren’t dry yet. ☺ what a bad habit!
L--- , 9 yrs old, was left in charge of stirring a rather large pot of pea soup the other night. He was standing on a chair of course, since he’s short. I walked into the kitchen and here he is talking in a funny accent about how we are in London b/c they have a lot of pea soup in London. He has the best imagination ever.
Having the therapist here that specialized in trama of children was FABULOUS. I learned so much that I didn’t know. If only she could have stayed doing therapy with them. But we’ll just be the best parents we can.
Steve Y has heart bypass surgery on the 18th.
Teenagers are so funny. I noticed the other night, that one of them was doing things so other people would notice them, but in such a way that it looked like they weren’t trying to be noticed. Does that make sense? Being seen while acting like they don’t want to be seen.
Well, I put up more photos, adding some to an old album, and making a new one! Enjoy.
Mexico 8
Mexico 9
We have 3 new girls. 2 (sisters) came last week, and one came yesterday. It was hard to talk to her b/c her eyes were welled up with tears even though she was smiling. Could you imagine something horrible happening to you, and one indirect consequence is that you’re taken away from the only source of love and comfort you’ve known all your life, your 8 brothers and sisters. They are protecting her by putting her here, but I can’t imagine that she feels that protection.
My girls are upstairs singing and playing the guitar together right now. I’m glad to hear them hanging out like that, it doesn’t happen often.
C—-‘s family that tried to adopt her visited this past week. She was ecstatic the whole time they were here, hanging out and loving it. It was a high high, and then a low low. She cried Friday night, trying to hide herself in a closet so as not to bother everyone, and she might have been embarrassed that she’s crying. My girls just turned up the music and tried to sleep. Then she cried off and on all Saturday. It was tough.
School starts next week, which means getting up a lot earlier, more stress in the morning, etc. It feels like summer break was short, but my two “homeschoolers” have been working on their stuff all summer, so maybe that’s why it felt short.
Our streets were graded last week. It is AMAZING the difference on some of the roads. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture though.
One of the men in our town has a jeep, the old rusty kind without a top, and his kids have a toy jeep. As I was outside the other day, he passed me and I noticed a rope attached to the top of his jeep. This rope also was wrapped around his little boys truck. 3 were in the real thing, and 2 in the toy one. SOOOO cute, albeit a little dangerous.
M might have a job! She sold handcrafts (bracelets, bags, etc.) at the market last Friday with a friend of ours. It sounds like she’ll be doing it every Friday. I think this might be the type of job she could do really well at. When she asked to go, she told me she needed to “learn how to work” and I said, “yes, you do.” But I didn’t act excited for her, b/c the moment an adult is excited about something, it’s uncool for a teenager. I chose to make it sound like a privilege. “Did you study enough this week, do your chores, is your room clean? Well then I guess it’s ok with me.” Although I would never want to say she can’t go work, I gotta make her work for it. Har har.
I’ve been waiting for the perfect hot day to swim, jump in the ocean, etc. all summer long. Well, it’s starting to get cool again, and I didn’t do much swimming b/c it was always windy. Now I’ve found out that it’s windy all summer long here. Opps!
We have this problem in our laundry room, that if someone wants to put their things in the dryer, but it already has clothes in it, they dump them out and put the clothes wherever there is room. Well, we’ve started to use clotheslines instead to save money on electricity and gas, and I thought this might also mean less mess in the laundry room. Not so much. I asked C---- to wash her clothes, even though there were some clothes on the 5 clotheslines we have. The next morning I notice all her clothes are on the line, but J---‘s clothes aren’t. I went into the laundry room, and here are his clothes piled on the machine. Apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with using the 2 empty lines, and had decided to take his off the line even though they weren’t dry yet. ☺ what a bad habit!
L--- , 9 yrs old, was left in charge of stirring a rather large pot of pea soup the other night. He was standing on a chair of course, since he’s short. I walked into the kitchen and here he is talking in a funny accent about how we are in London b/c they have a lot of pea soup in London. He has the best imagination ever.
Having the therapist here that specialized in trama of children was FABULOUS. I learned so much that I didn’t know. If only she could have stayed doing therapy with them. But we’ll just be the best parents we can.
Steve Y has heart bypass surgery on the 18th.
Teenagers are so funny. I noticed the other night, that one of them was doing things so other people would notice them, but in such a way that it looked like they weren’t trying to be noticed. Does that make sense? Being seen while acting like they don’t want to be seen.
Well, I put up more photos, adding some to an old album, and making a new one! Enjoy.
Mexico 8
Mexico 9
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
“Harness the young and give some comfort to the old…”
I hope the way I live Christianity serves a bigger purpose than this first statement. But sometimes its easy just to get caught up in those two reasons for “religion.”
One of the things I was at last week, instead of my home was a…
Youth Conference
For 2.5 days my kids participated in the type of youth programming I had my whole life. I remember all the weeks of vacation bible school with college kids doing puppets, music, silly games, or even when I was older going away to summer camp, weekend camps, attending a youth group that always planned interesting social activities. Even our elementary school had theatre/music/science groups visit. I can’t feel sad for my kids though, I’m sure they have a lot of things I would have liked during my childhood, like, oh, the beach. At least they appreciate how special it was, I always wanted to be more entertained as I got older.
1.My girls call me “tia.” This was perfect for the first sermon. The speaker talked about obedience and your attitude…he used “TIA” as his acronym. Totally, Immediately, Happily. He was a great speaker, and whenever he made a pouty face, or any other example of how teenagers react it looked just like one of mine. It was hilarious.
2. On the second day of the youth conference, some local government officials came to check it out. We sang the Mexican nat’l anthem, and did patriotic things (I need to relearn those lyrics!) This bothered me. I almost felt like the dignitaries were there to make sure we Christians are “safe, not a threat.” Our churches today prescribe to nationalism, and while we shouldn’t be at odds with our govts and authorities, we shouldn’t be seeking their approval either. I want to say a lot more about this, but I’d just be ranting.
3. There were a LOT of kids at the conference. But it was one of those few times that our kids have had to compare what they have to what the people outside of their community have, and unfortunately the majority seemed like middle-upper class kids. (based on hair style, clothes --skinny designer jeans!, cell phones.) The kids we brought don’t have as much as the others, and they looked a little out of place. I suppose it’s a normal teenage thing to realize other people “seem cooler” than you, but one of our girls cried because of it. She had worn an outfit that her mom had made her wear. I wanted to tell her it didn’t matter, but that wouldn’t have made her feel better.
4. I got talked to about a slit in my skirt. That shocked me. Maybe they thought I was a rebellious teenager and didn’t see that my bracelet said “lider.” Really, I had forgotten I was wearing it, and was sitting half Indian style. Opps!
5. I went to a workshop that talked about worship, which was interesting b/c wednesday before the conference I was talking to Ang about the difference between corporate experiences of God and private time (in public) with God.
--I believe that a church comes together to corporately worship God, to do it together, but there is a vein of thought that you come to church so that everyone can have their own individual experience with God all together. i.e. Participation means doing your own thing. Read your bible, pray, dance, sing, stand, sit, kneel, while everyone else does whatever is the best for them as well. Some might say this is following the Holy Spirit’s prompting or listening to God, and really, I haven’t done enough research to say anything about it one way or another. Obedience has a place in worship as well, and sometimes that means doing something the worship leader suggests even if you don’t want to. I’m sure there is a place for both. Gah. I don’t think I can succinctly explain all that is going through my head, b/c I have good/bad arguments for both sides.
It probably boils down to whatever the biblical mission of being a group of believers (church) is, but I do wonder if private (in public) worship has come out of a specific worldview, (humanism –man is the measure of things, or maybe a different worldview). Or even out of the way we reformed the church back in the day putting such an emphasis on a personal relationship with God. Or maybe it comes from our Western mindset?
6. So the kids weren’t supposed to be using their cell phones or iPods at the camp. And I asked one of our students to put her iPod away several times, really nicely, and she wouldn’t obey. Instead of starting a fight with her I told God I just wanted another adult who didn’t know her to take it away.
Well, She ended up putting it away, and I was less worried, but then this younger guy who was helping put on the event said “who has an iPod they can loan me?” and she offered hers! He kept it for 2 days AND she felt good about herself in the process. That’s how we roll.
7. I tried to hang out with my girls at the youth conference, but they didn’t seem to want to talk to me, sit next to me, etc. Then I realized how I would have DIED if my parents had been involved in my youth group, and vaguely remember Mom and Dad asking us (my brother and I) how we would feel it they got involved. Teenagers.
8. Plus they might not want to have sat next to me since I sported earplugs most of the conference. I did hide my ears with my hair though. I figure, if I felt my hearing was important enough when I was going out a lot, then it’s still important at church. Plus it drowned out that noise that distracts during sermons- people shuffling papers, scooting chairs, whispering, etc.
9. I don’t know that I wake up my children like all the other parents out there. The pastor gave a sermon illustration and showed how God probably whispered to Samuel in the middle of the night, and didn’t use a “booming it’s obvious I’m God” voice. He said this b/c parents apparently speak quietly to their children when waking them up. I don’t! I come up the stairs singing, jumping, shouting. I jump on their beds, tickle their feet, and do my fake opera singer voice. Maybe I should rethink my strategy?
In C------ news:
C----- always says “Comprar Pesos?” In case you don’t know, a peso is a unit of money here in Mexico. So it means “Buy Money?” What she’s really saying is “Can we go shopping?” It’s precious. I tell her in response. “I wanna buy pesos!!! Let’s buy pesos!” or I change it to “Comprar Besos” which is “Buy Kisses?” and point to my cheek so she can kiss it. She rolls her eyes, sighs, swats at me and says “ay chamaca.” It’s like saying “oh my goodness” but chamaca might be a negative noun representing “young people that do wrong things”. The way she says it, it’s loving and cute! Especially noting that I’m10 11 years OLDER than her.
We’re working on making her sentences better, so eventually she’ll stop saying that. I’ve started carrying gum with me so that instead of her saying “chile” she’ll have a good reason to pronounce the second c and say “chicle”. I always say “No tengo chile.” (I don’t have chile.) Hehe. She met some girls at the youth conference that knew sign language, so that was special.
Another C------- thing. Somehow, she always finds me when I’m on the phone with my mom. ALWAYS.
In other news:
One of the cows next door keeps escaping and coming into our yard and then mooing a lot. I got a picture of him next to my house today then chased him off the property. I was playing piano when I noticed his head go past the window. I jumped up, opened my front door, and there he was.
We’ve also had a random horse in our yard several different mornings. It’s usually wearing a bridle/lead? Not sure of the terminology. I haven’t really seen it around except for in our yard, and there is a law here that if you don’t take care of your animals and they go on someone else’s property they can have them. I woke M---- up to see it, b/c she had asked me to buy her a horse the day before, and she yelled at me to let her sleep. That’s how much she really wants a horse.
We prepared to let a family spend a week with us. A dad, 3 kids and a baby. They walked the whole way here b/c of marital problems and he’d heard we take care of kids Mon-Fri and let the parents have them on the weekends (not true.) He was the best food dicer I have seen in my whole life. And he was a blessing for the day he was here, playing guitar with the kids, cooking for us voluntarily, etc. But he decided to go to relatives in Ensenada the next day. I was amazed at how Steve and Joanne were so willing to open their home up, move kids into their brother and sisters bedrooms to open up a room for him and his children, etc.
A song I’ve been stuck on:
Trumpet Child
One of the things I was at last week, instead of my home was a…
Youth Conference
For 2.5 days my kids participated in the type of youth programming I had my whole life. I remember all the weeks of vacation bible school with college kids doing puppets, music, silly games, or even when I was older going away to summer camp, weekend camps, attending a youth group that always planned interesting social activities. Even our elementary school had theatre/music/science groups visit. I can’t feel sad for my kids though, I’m sure they have a lot of things I would have liked during my childhood, like, oh, the beach. At least they appreciate how special it was, I always wanted to be more entertained as I got older.
1.My girls call me “tia.” This was perfect for the first sermon. The speaker talked about obedience and your attitude…he used “TIA” as his acronym. Totally, Immediately, Happily. He was a great speaker, and whenever he made a pouty face, or any other example of how teenagers react it looked just like one of mine. It was hilarious.
2. On the second day of the youth conference, some local government officials came to check it out. We sang the Mexican nat’l anthem, and did patriotic things (I need to relearn those lyrics!) This bothered me. I almost felt like the dignitaries were there to make sure we Christians are “safe, not a threat.” Our churches today prescribe to nationalism, and while we shouldn’t be at odds with our govts and authorities, we shouldn’t be seeking their approval either. I want to say a lot more about this, but I’d just be ranting.
3. There were a LOT of kids at the conference. But it was one of those few times that our kids have had to compare what they have to what the people outside of their community have, and unfortunately the majority seemed like middle-upper class kids. (based on hair style, clothes --skinny designer jeans!, cell phones.) The kids we brought don’t have as much as the others, and they looked a little out of place. I suppose it’s a normal teenage thing to realize other people “seem cooler” than you, but one of our girls cried because of it. She had worn an outfit that her mom had made her wear. I wanted to tell her it didn’t matter, but that wouldn’t have made her feel better.
4. I got talked to about a slit in my skirt. That shocked me. Maybe they thought I was a rebellious teenager and didn’t see that my bracelet said “lider.” Really, I had forgotten I was wearing it, and was sitting half Indian style. Opps!
5. I went to a workshop that talked about worship, which was interesting b/c wednesday before the conference I was talking to Ang about the difference between corporate experiences of God and private time (in public) with God.
--I believe that a church comes together to corporately worship God, to do it together, but there is a vein of thought that you come to church so that everyone can have their own individual experience with God all together. i.e. Participation means doing your own thing. Read your bible, pray, dance, sing, stand, sit, kneel, while everyone else does whatever is the best for them as well. Some might say this is following the Holy Spirit’s prompting or listening to God, and really, I haven’t done enough research to say anything about it one way or another. Obedience has a place in worship as well, and sometimes that means doing something the worship leader suggests even if you don’t want to. I’m sure there is a place for both. Gah. I don’t think I can succinctly explain all that is going through my head, b/c I have good/bad arguments for both sides.
It probably boils down to whatever the biblical mission of being a group of believers (church) is, but I do wonder if private (in public) worship has come out of a specific worldview, (humanism –man is the measure of things, or maybe a different worldview). Or even out of the way we reformed the church back in the day putting such an emphasis on a personal relationship with God. Or maybe it comes from our Western mindset?
6. So the kids weren’t supposed to be using their cell phones or iPods at the camp. And I asked one of our students to put her iPod away several times, really nicely, and she wouldn’t obey. Instead of starting a fight with her I told God I just wanted another adult who didn’t know her to take it away.
Well, She ended up putting it away, and I was less worried, but then this younger guy who was helping put on the event said “who has an iPod they can loan me?” and she offered hers! He kept it for 2 days AND she felt good about herself in the process. That’s how we roll.
7. I tried to hang out with my girls at the youth conference, but they didn’t seem to want to talk to me, sit next to me, etc. Then I realized how I would have DIED if my parents had been involved in my youth group, and vaguely remember Mom and Dad asking us (my brother and I) how we would feel it they got involved. Teenagers.
8. Plus they might not want to have sat next to me since I sported earplugs most of the conference. I did hide my ears with my hair though. I figure, if I felt my hearing was important enough when I was going out a lot, then it’s still important at church. Plus it drowned out that noise that distracts during sermons- people shuffling papers, scooting chairs, whispering, etc.
9. I don’t know that I wake up my children like all the other parents out there. The pastor gave a sermon illustration and showed how God probably whispered to Samuel in the middle of the night, and didn’t use a “booming it’s obvious I’m God” voice. He said this b/c parents apparently speak quietly to their children when waking them up. I don’t! I come up the stairs singing, jumping, shouting. I jump on their beds, tickle their feet, and do my fake opera singer voice. Maybe I should rethink my strategy?
In C------ news:
C----- always says “Comprar Pesos?” In case you don’t know, a peso is a unit of money here in Mexico. So it means “Buy Money?” What she’s really saying is “Can we go shopping?” It’s precious. I tell her in response. “I wanna buy pesos!!! Let’s buy pesos!” or I change it to “Comprar Besos” which is “Buy Kisses?” and point to my cheek so she can kiss it. She rolls her eyes, sighs, swats at me and says “ay chamaca.” It’s like saying “oh my goodness” but chamaca might be a negative noun representing “young people that do wrong things”. The way she says it, it’s loving and cute! Especially noting that I’m
We’re working on making her sentences better, so eventually she’ll stop saying that. I’ve started carrying gum with me so that instead of her saying “chile” she’ll have a good reason to pronounce the second c and say “chicle”. I always say “No tengo chile.” (I don’t have chile.) Hehe. She met some girls at the youth conference that knew sign language, so that was special.
Another C------- thing. Somehow, she always finds me when I’m on the phone with my mom. ALWAYS.
In other news:
One of the cows next door keeps escaping and coming into our yard and then mooing a lot. I got a picture of him next to my house today then chased him off the property. I was playing piano when I noticed his head go past the window. I jumped up, opened my front door, and there he was.
We’ve also had a random horse in our yard several different mornings. It’s usually wearing a bridle/lead? Not sure of the terminology. I haven’t really seen it around except for in our yard, and there is a law here that if you don’t take care of your animals and they go on someone else’s property they can have them. I woke M---- up to see it, b/c she had asked me to buy her a horse the day before, and she yelled at me to let her sleep. That’s how much she really wants a horse.
We prepared to let a family spend a week with us. A dad, 3 kids and a baby. They walked the whole way here b/c of marital problems and he’d heard we take care of kids Mon-Fri and let the parents have them on the weekends (not true.) He was the best food dicer I have seen in my whole life. And he was a blessing for the day he was here, playing guitar with the kids, cooking for us voluntarily, etc. But he decided to go to relatives in Ensenada the next day. I was amazed at how Steve and Joanne were so willing to open their home up, move kids into their brother and sisters bedrooms to open up a room for him and his children, etc.
A song I’ve been stuck on:
Trumpet Child
Sunday, August 3, 2008
it's happened- my life, you know.
Sometimes, I feel like my life hasn’t happened if I haven’t written it down.
Maybe I’ve been bloging for so long, that I’m incapable of going without it. I know it’s bad marketing to give people more than they can easily and enjoyably read, but if you really love me, or you have nothing to do, here’s the book from the last ten days of my life.
The other night one of my daughters and I went out on the trampoline to lay under the moon and stars and listen to music. Since we couldn’t find the moon it wasn’t magical enough to stay out there. Plus people wanted to jump. A half hour later, guess what appeared!!! the moon ☺ It came out beautifully orange and shiney.
I was so exhausted and grouchy the other day, that I tried jogging. It was great. That’s gonna become a habit again.
So. I haven’t been around the last few days. Went to
San Diego
San Diego on Wednesday to drop a friend off up there, and ended up spending 19 hours away from home. I had anticipated getting good yogurt, but there was strawberry and peach. The same fat free kinds we have in MEXICO. Apparently, most Wal-Marts in California don’t have grocery selections. I keep forgetting that. I had a mini temper tantrum before I realized we could go to another grocery store. Next door was a discount grocery store, and I got one of my favorite cheeses for 99 cents!!! (instead of 5 dollars.)
While at the store in SD my friend needed help picking out bike tires to buy. She stopped the salesman to ask for help, but he said “I don’t speak English.” So she said, “I speak Spanish.” While he helped her, I was floored that we were in a big store, that had hired someone that didn’t speak English. I was jealous that it wasn’t like that back home, and I (falsely***) said “Nobody speaks Spanish in my town except the immigrants.” Let me interpret that for you…What I meant was that I would love to speak Spanish in my hometown with an employee that directly works with customers. It would encourage people to either study a language, or help them realize that globalization really affects their community.
***There are children who have grown up in my community that speak Spanish and are not immigrants, there are people that have studied Spanish as a second language that live in my community as well. Dur.
On the way to San Diego we learned that gallino (rooster) is slang for man/boyfriend, and two of us quickly lied about what jobs our “gallinos” have, since the solider at the military checkpoint asked us about them. Unfortunately Ang didn’t, and she got asked out. But she bowed out of it gracefully.
Danielle made a good point about not being scared of Mexican military men (as some people are) She said, “He’s a young boy looking for a girlfriend that just happens to have a machine gun.”
There is a big campaign here to not waste water. At the military checkpoint, there was a dirty van, that someone had written “Yes, I take care of the water!” in the dust on their window. It was humorous b/c they used the slogan from the campaign.
Driving around SD we saw some skater boys.
“His pants came down!”
“What is he doing? He’s taking off his pants right there!”
Then we discovered he had shorts on underneath them! Shoo.
Overheard in the store: an old man talked to an employee that was cleaning…
Him-“You look tired.”
Her-“Thanks” (she was proud that she was doing her job well and smiled.)
Him- “I didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
On the way back home we drove down the coast. My first drive to VG was down the coast. I remember seeing only a few lights in the distance and wondering why it was so dark between us and the lights. I assumed it was farmland/uninhabited. On our drive Wednesday, I realized that beautiful dark patch before Ensenada is the sea, not land. I would have been much more nervous my first drive with all the curves and the tiny guardrail had I known that.
We have a psychologist who specializes in child abuse that will be visiting with us this week, giving us some workshops, and also getting to know our children. I hope it’s profitable. I think it really could be. She probably has some great advice.
ok. more tomorrow that I have already written, but just not edited.
Maybe I’ve been bloging for so long, that I’m incapable of going without it. I know it’s bad marketing to give people more than they can easily and enjoyably read, but if you really love me, or you have nothing to do, here’s the book from the last ten days of my life.
The other night one of my daughters and I went out on the trampoline to lay under the moon and stars and listen to music. Since we couldn’t find the moon it wasn’t magical enough to stay out there. Plus people wanted to jump. A half hour later, guess what appeared!!! the moon ☺ It came out beautifully orange and shiney.
I was so exhausted and grouchy the other day, that I tried jogging. It was great. That’s gonna become a habit again.
So. I haven’t been around the last few days. Went to
San Diego
San Diego on Wednesday to drop a friend off up there, and ended up spending 19 hours away from home. I had anticipated getting good yogurt, but there was strawberry and peach. The same fat free kinds we have in MEXICO. Apparently, most Wal-Marts in California don’t have grocery selections. I keep forgetting that. I had a mini temper tantrum before I realized we could go to another grocery store. Next door was a discount grocery store, and I got one of my favorite cheeses for 99 cents!!! (instead of 5 dollars.)
While at the store in SD my friend needed help picking out bike tires to buy. She stopped the salesman to ask for help, but he said “I don’t speak English.” So she said, “I speak Spanish.” While he helped her, I was floored that we were in a big store, that had hired someone that didn’t speak English. I was jealous that it wasn’t like that back home, and I (falsely***) said “Nobody speaks Spanish in my town except the immigrants.” Let me interpret that for you…What I meant was that I would love to speak Spanish in my hometown with an employee that directly works with customers. It would encourage people to either study a language, or help them realize that globalization really affects their community.
***There are children who have grown up in my community that speak Spanish and are not immigrants, there are people that have studied Spanish as a second language that live in my community as well. Dur.
On the way to San Diego we learned that gallino (rooster) is slang for man/boyfriend, and two of us quickly lied about what jobs our “gallinos” have, since the solider at the military checkpoint asked us about them. Unfortunately Ang didn’t, and she got asked out. But she bowed out of it gracefully.
Danielle made a good point about not being scared of Mexican military men (as some people are) She said, “He’s a young boy looking for a girlfriend that just happens to have a machine gun.”
There is a big campaign here to not waste water. At the military checkpoint, there was a dirty van, that someone had written “Yes, I take care of the water!” in the dust on their window. It was humorous b/c they used the slogan from the campaign.
Driving around SD we saw some skater boys.
“His pants came down!”
“What is he doing? He’s taking off his pants right there!”
Then we discovered he had shorts on underneath them! Shoo.
Overheard in the store: an old man talked to an employee that was cleaning…
Him-“You look tired.”
Her-“Thanks” (she was proud that she was doing her job well and smiled.)
Him- “I didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
On the way back home we drove down the coast. My first drive to VG was down the coast. I remember seeing only a few lights in the distance and wondering why it was so dark between us and the lights. I assumed it was farmland/uninhabited. On our drive Wednesday, I realized that beautiful dark patch before Ensenada is the sea, not land. I would have been much more nervous my first drive with all the curves and the tiny guardrail had I known that.
We have a psychologist who specializes in child abuse that will be visiting with us this week, giving us some workshops, and also getting to know our children. I hope it’s profitable. I think it really could be. She probably has some great advice.
ok. more tomorrow that I have already written, but just not edited.
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