“If living is giving...

... I’m ready, I’m willing” -"I'm willing" by Ben Lee

So I’ve started preparing myself for the possibility of medical translating, I have at least 200 terms that I’d like to learn this week, and then a 62 page Anatomy and Physiology glossary that has terms in Spanish/English as well as little explanations of the words (because I don’t know some of these ENGLISH words…duodenum, cecum etc.) If I can teach myself then I could get certified without taking classes. But I’m going to have to make some free time sacrifices. (I’d rather not translate medically, but it seems like the biggest need, and it’ll be much easier for me to understand medicine than the legal system.)

“it feels like we’ve already waited too long…”

I have 2nd Chronicles left to read and I’ll have finished the whole Bible. I didn’t think I’d finish till December, but this is perfect timing, because this week is the holiday where Jews celebrate finishing their yearly cycle of reading the Torah.

(my girls are singing The Macarena in the next room, that’s so 10 years ago ☺ )

Someone gave Johanne Dolce and Gabana’s “the one” and it smells SOO good. I have another favorite scent to add to my list of Armani Mania and CK Euphoria.

So the other day we played soccer in the street (normal) we also put pretty big rocks out to mark the goals (normal) We forgot to clean up the rocks and they were still there the next day. Surprise! Unfortunately an irate neighbor talked to one of the children about it, but they also talked to the child about all the tires “we” leave in the middle of the road (which we don’t, they get rolled down the hill by people walking)

Permission slips?? Nah. While I was playing soccer with a few of the kids that didn’t have school we saw a swarm of uniformed children going from their school to the beach, It was my 7th graders school, and I had no idea they were going to the beach. Apparently it was gym day.

When they are interested in checking if pants or a skirt will fit, many Mexicans will just put their forearm inside the waistband. My daughters don’t realize this method doesn’t always work. Last night C—took one of my skirts to wear to J—‘s party and I told her that it wouldn’t fit, but it fit her forearm, so she tried to put it on. DISASTER.

I’m sure other mothers get used to this gradually, but I can’t get it through my head to get ready BEFORE my children. I plan on spending a normal amount of time getting pretty, but it’s impossible b/c instead of only worrying about myself I am dispensing advice and helping find that elusive skirt that everyone knows is clean but can’t find, and watching my girls try on different outfits, and being asked to help with hair and nails but then I realize it’s too late and start saying things like, I don’t care, you do what you think looks best, I’m sure that’ll be just find, ask your sister to help you with that, etc.

There is this cactus looking fruit here that we like to eat, that I used to eat in Chile also. My houseparents would always say “be careful, don’t get the prickly parts in your fingers” except that I couldn’t see any prickly parts and was genuinely confused or thought they were joking. Now I’ve learned my lesson. I put a bunch in a bag grocery shopping (and here they say the same thing about the NON-EXISTENT prickly parts) so I touched the top and bottom, but not the sides which is where it looks like they cut the cactus spikes off. I was wrong. The tops and bottoms are where the invisible little spikes are. Ouch.

So this guy said “Hello” to me in the grocery store b/c he wanted to cut (he had 3 things, I had 234857 things) Except I wasn’t expecting him to speak English, since he looked Mexican and we are IN Mexico. So I just stood there racking my brain what “hello” meant in Spanish and why it had any relevance in the grocery line…thread?? Ice??…no clue. We ended up having a nice little conversation that I’m sure confused the cashier. It confuses me just trying to remember it b/c we were making the decision about who would go first in English and the Cashier had no idea whose products were whose, nor who he should be ringing up since he didn’t speak English. It was a scene out of a comedy. At the end of it all, C—my child who always claims EVERYONE as her friend (people we pass on the road, people in advertisements, people in movies) said to me “Did you like meeting my friend?” Instead of arguing with her, or asking when she met him, or how she knows him I just gave up and said. “Yes, he was nice.”

Today one of my children had a worksheet to help him know when to use b or v, since many Spanish speakers mix them up when spelling. At the top of his paper for the instructions, he had written “5 beces cada palabra” which should have said “5 veces cada palabra” How ironic that he didn’t copy the instructions right!!!

It was SUPER hot here 2 weeks ago, too hot to go outside, so hot I wore shorts in a public place!...bad idea!! Then last week, it got crazy cold. But this week has been pleasant. Maybe 70s? I still can jog outside in shorts and a tank. In the mornings it’s cold and foggy, so it’s hard to get out of a bed with a cozy down comforter. I took two of the dogs jogging with me, but I run slow. Luckily they stopped and marked their territory a lot and barked at a few horses.

The new girl is doing well. The first few days she didn’t show any emotion. She cried several times this weekend, but she’s becoming much more outgoing, which is good b/c I had to keep inviting her to eat and hang out and stuff, and I’m not used to holding their hands like that. You can’t be passive in this house. We’re all elbows! Also, her favorite foods are lasagna, pizza, hamburger, etc. foods we don't have very often. I'm not sure she's "Mexican" :)

One of the women I know, who I don’t think is a Christian is going through some hard stuff right now, partially b/c she’s friends with us Christians. Pray for her if you think about it. I don’t to write too many details.

Today we had a bunch of food/candy/stuff donated. It was like Christmas, except more exciting!!!!

Kids always come home talking about a birthday party where they had Cake and Jello. When we make a party, one of the main questions is which kind of jello should we have??? Jello takes ice creams place in special occasions. It took me a while to notice.

I’ll be home in 2 weeks. When do you wanna get together?? Let me know, PLEASE!
I will have my U.S. cell phone. I`m sure you have the current number.

P.S. This is a sweet song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQi-gR_txdk It could be a love song if you take out the last line about Jesus. This is one of the guys we saw in concert.