M, my 19 year old, trash picked for me!! (oh, but let me clarify) I’ve never had a problem taking furniture that people leave at the edge of the curb, but the other day a child (A--, 12?) was throwing out stuff from her room. She had plastic bags of photographs, notes, papers, books, who knows what. Apparently M, looked through what she threw out and rescued the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer, proudly giving it to me, saying “I bet you’d like to read this one.”
It was such a genuine thoughtful gift. She said “I got it just for you” I asked, wow, where’d you get the money to buy this? And where? And she said sheepishly, “A— was throwing stuff out, and I knew you’d want this.” Then she showed off the cool stuff she got for herself!
I think/know there is a boy out there that likes M. But I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I think she likes him, but isn’t very trust worthy (of him) or confident (or herself). It could be nothing. But it was my first time encouraging one of my girls to try something a little scary. I told her she can just be his friend. He came by the house on Friday the 13th, but she wouldn’t let him come in, and she wouldn’t go out there, but just sent messengers to him. Maybe this is how Mexican courtship goes?
Valentine’s day was perfect. I had pancakes with friends (éclair! Chocolate! Strawberries!) and we watched movies and talked ALL day long. I was there for almost 12 hours. While I was there, one of the teenage boys I live with was making his “rose” deliveries. I was touched to be one of the recipients. Not quite sure how I earned it, since I’m always telling him to take out the trash, or fill up the water, or clean up the rancid watermelon or to clean up a poo diaper that a dog had drug out of the trash and onto the floor. But I was honored none the less.
*He had stabbed a hole in the top of a watermelon, and it was bubbling and fizzing out of that hole ready to rupture like a flat, oblong volcano. And it smelled bad. He said the best thing would be to throw it out, but we said we wanted to see what the inside looked like, so he carried it to the sink, started to cut it in half when it EXPLODED all over him, his pants and the floor, but not US, fortunately. Can’t decide if the mess was his fault for doing the deed, or us, for suggesting to him to do it….
.
.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Restaurant? American Dancing?
New Experiences!
Last weekend we had a birthday party for one of our girls. She turned 15, which is a big deal here, but we didn’t throw her a quinceanera. She’ll get a big birthday party when she turns 16. We did however take the WHOLE family out to eat. We do that like once a year, and maybe order pizza twice a year, because if we don’t make our own food, it’s expensive! Two of our little girls (M and E, 10 and 9) have only been with us about 9 months, so to my knowledge, they hadn’t been to a sit down restaurant before. We went to a buffet, and the one little girl had taken too much food, and as the waiter was clearing plates, she said “I’m saving that to take home.” I told her she couldn’t do that, and she was like “but it’s mine.” I also had to tell her, that if she was still eating something, she shouldn’t let the waiter take it off the table. She was eating some dessert, and set down her fork to drink, when the waiter absentmindedly picked up her plate to throw it in the trash. I was like, “are you still eating” and she said, “yeah” and I told her, “you have to tell him not to take your plate, that you still want it” and she gave me this look like, but he’s an adult, and I shouldn’t tell him to NOT DO SOMETHING!
I never imagined I would have to teach a child how to go out to eat, but I suppose that is part of education. I showed off my advanced mothering skills by finishing the food on her plate. ;)
Then we danced like crazy people, the chicken dance. (not my favorite, but nice to do with little kids, and really, I’ll take any dancing!) Except the two little ones, M & E, were just looking at us trying to figure out what we were doing. I think they might not have heard/seen that before. As soon as they got comfortable with the “swing your partner” part of it, we switched to the hokey-pokey. Granted, they don’t know a lot of English yet (even though Gabe was teaching E, “eyes, ears, mouth and nose” with the WRONG body parts. And E seems to have that down!) So they tried to do the hokey-pokey, all the while I was grabbing E’s elbows, and legs, hands, and waists to facilitate movement. They were so confused. Haha. And our dance moves were always one step behind everyone else, except for the spinning around in place! We were good at that.
E-- especially is in that stage when she hugs you before asking for something....oh wait. I don't think some kids grow out of that ;)
Last weekend we had a birthday party for one of our girls. She turned 15, which is a big deal here, but we didn’t throw her a quinceanera. She’ll get a big birthday party when she turns 16. We did however take the WHOLE family out to eat. We do that like once a year, and maybe order pizza twice a year, because if we don’t make our own food, it’s expensive! Two of our little girls (M and E, 10 and 9) have only been with us about 9 months, so to my knowledge, they hadn’t been to a sit down restaurant before. We went to a buffet, and the one little girl had taken too much food, and as the waiter was clearing plates, she said “I’m saving that to take home.” I told her she couldn’t do that, and she was like “but it’s mine.” I also had to tell her, that if she was still eating something, she shouldn’t let the waiter take it off the table. She was eating some dessert, and set down her fork to drink, when the waiter absentmindedly picked up her plate to throw it in the trash. I was like, “are you still eating” and she said, “yeah” and I told her, “you have to tell him not to take your plate, that you still want it” and she gave me this look like, but he’s an adult, and I shouldn’t tell him to NOT DO SOMETHING!
I never imagined I would have to teach a child how to go out to eat, but I suppose that is part of education. I showed off my advanced mothering skills by finishing the food on her plate. ;)
Then we danced like crazy people, the chicken dance. (not my favorite, but nice to do with little kids, and really, I’ll take any dancing!) Except the two little ones, M & E, were just looking at us trying to figure out what we were doing. I think they might not have heard/seen that before. As soon as they got comfortable with the “swing your partner” part of it, we switched to the hokey-pokey. Granted, they don’t know a lot of English yet (even though Gabe was teaching E, “eyes, ears, mouth and nose” with the WRONG body parts. And E seems to have that down!) So they tried to do the hokey-pokey, all the while I was grabbing E’s elbows, and legs, hands, and waists to facilitate movement. They were so confused. Haha. And our dance moves were always one step behind everyone else, except for the spinning around in place! We were good at that.
E-- especially is in that stage when she hugs you before asking for something....oh wait. I don't think some kids grow out of that ;)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
in chaos there lies opportunity...
Mud/Weather:
I’m writing! I know it’s been two weeks, I just haven’t had the “ganas” (desire). (and i've been trying to spend more time with people, and playing piano) Read it a little bit at a time if you want. It’s a lot.
1. Steve’s surgery went fine, he’s recuperating and I hope to give more good news in the future.
2. My friend’s husband has 3 tumors interconnected with brain tissue. Please pray for them, It sounds like they are going to do 5 weeks of radiation. Their names are David and Elizabeth. They are both under 30.
3. Perfect quote about my Mexican house “in chaos there lies opportunity”. It was on one of those dove chocolate things. My house is all chaos almost all the time, while I was home in the states I felt so lonely without having noise and chaos and interruption all the time. Then I came back here, and it was hard to adjust to the loudness and crazyness again.
4. It’s gotten cold here, REALLY STINKING COLD. So cold, I took a “bath” this morning, and decided there wasn’t enough warm water to make it worth my while, as my house isn’t heated. It’s probably in the low 60s at the hottest part of the day, and only in the sun. (low 40s in the middle of the night) But on the upside, there is less BO ☺
One of my kids got a cold, and her sister said that it’s b/c she doesn’t cover her head with her blanket when she sleeps at night. I love little kid logic. We’ve had strange weather, when it was extremely windy here, it was also crazy windy at my mom and dad’s house. And we live HOW MANY THOUSAND miles apart?
The last couple weeks it’s actually been raining!
5. When it rains that means I stop wearing my shoes. Most of our yard is clay/sand. The sand is less slippery to walk on. It's not about getting your shoes dirty, it's about falling on your butt, the mud slurping up your shoes like quicksand, you have to bend over and use your fingers to rescue your shoes. So I don rain boots (or easily rinsed off flip flops) until it dries up again. I even wore them out grocery shopping, and my girls didn’t tell me that I looked bad! When it rains, I get scared of driving. I got one car stuck TWICE. Once was when I’d decided going up a particular road was a bad idea, and I got stuck (quite poetically) while turning around to avoid a similar fate. I enjoy biking in this town, but on Friday I took the wrong road, and had to backtrack a quarter mile to get home without getting mud all up my backside….
6. Marina DID get mud all up her backside. It was pretty funny. She had biked to English and came back splatter painted with dried chunks up to her shoulders. I told her (being helpful) but it was asking for trouble as she tried to back into me and get ME ALL MUDDY!
7. I do try to thank God for seasonal weather. The rain makes everything inconvenient. It takes longer to get places, there is more laundry, sometimes the rain messes up our water/septic, but it turns our valley such a beautiful GREEN. (in the places there IS vegetation)
8. Mud at night. We have two houses, and there is mud between the two. When it’s dark you have to use your brain power to remember which parts of the yard haven’t dried up yet, and walk carefully. I was overconfident the other night and almost ended up on my butt!
9. One of my girls, J—absolutely avoids the sun, to stay at “güera” (whitey) but I noticed her spending a few minutes every morning sitting in the sun. I thought it was strange, and then I realized, she’s cold and she’s trying to get warm! So I’ve sat with her a few times and realize how much I enjoy it too.
Watched: Fireproof, while a cheesy movie, it had good points. Like sometimes when you don't feel like loving someone, you still have to show them love in your actions, and those actions can change your attitude/heart. Your actions really betray your real priorities.
Read: Posers, Fakers, and Wannabees by Brennen Manning, quotes to come.
Currently Avoiding: Theology of the body and Divine Conspiracy, apparently I'm on a short-er book kick.
I’m writing! I know it’s been two weeks, I just haven’t had the “ganas” (desire). (and i've been trying to spend more time with people, and playing piano) Read it a little bit at a time if you want. It’s a lot.
1. Steve’s surgery went fine, he’s recuperating and I hope to give more good news in the future.
2. My friend’s husband has 3 tumors interconnected with brain tissue. Please pray for them, It sounds like they are going to do 5 weeks of radiation. Their names are David and Elizabeth. They are both under 30.
3. Perfect quote about my Mexican house “in chaos there lies opportunity”. It was on one of those dove chocolate things. My house is all chaos almost all the time, while I was home in the states I felt so lonely without having noise and chaos and interruption all the time. Then I came back here, and it was hard to adjust to the loudness and crazyness again.
4. It’s gotten cold here, REALLY STINKING COLD. So cold, I took a “bath” this morning, and decided there wasn’t enough warm water to make it worth my while, as my house isn’t heated. It’s probably in the low 60s at the hottest part of the day, and only in the sun. (low 40s in the middle of the night) But on the upside, there is less BO ☺
One of my kids got a cold, and her sister said that it’s b/c she doesn’t cover her head with her blanket when she sleeps at night. I love little kid logic. We’ve had strange weather, when it was extremely windy here, it was also crazy windy at my mom and dad’s house. And we live HOW MANY THOUSAND miles apart?
The last couple weeks it’s actually been raining!
5. When it rains that means I stop wearing my shoes. Most of our yard is clay/sand. The sand is less slippery to walk on. It's not about getting your shoes dirty, it's about falling on your butt, the mud slurping up your shoes like quicksand, you have to bend over and use your fingers to rescue your shoes. So I don rain boots (or easily rinsed off flip flops) until it dries up again. I even wore them out grocery shopping, and my girls didn’t tell me that I looked bad! When it rains, I get scared of driving. I got one car stuck TWICE. Once was when I’d decided going up a particular road was a bad idea, and I got stuck (quite poetically) while turning around to avoid a similar fate. I enjoy biking in this town, but on Friday I took the wrong road, and had to backtrack a quarter mile to get home without getting mud all up my backside….
6. Marina DID get mud all up her backside. It was pretty funny. She had biked to English and came back splatter painted with dried chunks up to her shoulders. I told her (being helpful) but it was asking for trouble as she tried to back into me and get ME ALL MUDDY!
7. I do try to thank God for seasonal weather. The rain makes everything inconvenient. It takes longer to get places, there is more laundry, sometimes the rain messes up our water/septic, but it turns our valley such a beautiful GREEN. (in the places there IS vegetation)
8. Mud at night. We have two houses, and there is mud between the two. When it’s dark you have to use your brain power to remember which parts of the yard haven’t dried up yet, and walk carefully. I was overconfident the other night and almost ended up on my butt!
9. One of my girls, J—absolutely avoids the sun, to stay at “güera” (whitey) but I noticed her spending a few minutes every morning sitting in the sun. I thought it was strange, and then I realized, she’s cold and she’s trying to get warm! So I’ve sat with her a few times and realize how much I enjoy it too.
Watched: Fireproof, while a cheesy movie, it had good points. Like sometimes when you don't feel like loving someone, you still have to show them love in your actions, and those actions can change your attitude/heart. Your actions really betray your real priorities.
Read: Posers, Fakers, and Wannabees by Brennen Manning, quotes to come.
Currently Avoiding: Theology of the body and Divine Conspiracy, apparently I'm on a short-er book kick.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
carmel-y wafer cookies!
Tomorrow (Wednesday) Pastor Steve (not the dad at my house, but another in our organization) will be having a PSA. Whatever it stands for, it will determine whether he has prostate cancer surgery on Friday. Please be in prayer for him and his wife Kathy while they go through his second major health problem this year (this is the same Steve that had heart surgery).
I’ve had several little blessings recently. I was telling my friend Danielle about how I wanted stroopwaffles so bad, and how I almost buy the fake Mexican thing “Obleas”* that seem to be the same, and she said, “Do you want some, I have some in my room?” and there was a whole package of real European (Holandish? Sweedish?) stroopwaffles. (I thought of you Brigitta!)
Also, right when I was leaving to go grocery shopping last week, two people that visit us about once a month came over. They come from California, not sure where, and usually they come in the afternoon, but they came at 8:15 in the MORNING!! With 30 dozen eggs (that we’ve almost ate all of), 3 coolers of meat/frozen foods (I can cook hot dogs!), and all kinds of other things… I spent about half of what I normally do at the grocery! I had told my girls we were leaving at 8:15 sharp, and they enjoyed asking me repeatedly why we hadn’t left yet, wasn’t I ready? ;) while we were putting the food into the freezer.
Last week the night air smelled like rain, or ions, however you want to think of it. It didn’t rain, it just smelled like rain. I adore the smell of rain. Rain is a pleasure we don’t have here, except maybe a dozen times a year, usually all in Dec/Jan. All the benefit without the mess. It has gotten chilly here. It was hot when I first came 3 weeks ago…but I do have to say that I still wear long shorts and long sleeves. I am always reminded that I live in a desert when I covet after a neighbors grass. “wow, they have grass, that is sooo cool! They must not let their kids/animals play on it!”
My friend Hannah has been graciously bringing me chocolate, watching my kids in the afternoons, AND letting me beat her in Canasta. ☺
Playing scrabble in Spanish is hard, but being bilingual gives me more reasons to whine… “these letters would be AMAZING if we were playing in Spanish/English, but I can’t think of any good English/Spanish words to make.” I’ve decided to only play Spanish scrabble when I’m in a very academic mood.
*”Oblea” just means wafer in Spanish, but I can only think of the word Oblation and therefore religious ceremony/Communion. Their name incapacitates me from thinking of them as just a fun food item. I like how words can have so many nuances of meaning.
ok, back to thinking about putting my clean clothes away, when I might make time to finish reading a book this week, and whether keeping an early bed time makes me nicer the next day or not. (I did finish 21 Ballons,a delightful childrens book, the short story of The Curious Case of Benjamen Button, and Yancy's The Jesus I never knew..I'm working on The Divine Conspiracy)
oh! and today I found Herbal Essences 2x1, and at a cheaper price than in the states....usually it's more expensive, and I've never seen any "deals". We don't have coupons. They don't exist, and even when I tried to redeem some on the outside of tortilla packages, (buy 4 get one free) the store said, "No, we don't do that."
I’ve had several little blessings recently. I was telling my friend Danielle about how I wanted stroopwaffles so bad, and how I almost buy the fake Mexican thing “Obleas”* that seem to be the same, and she said, “Do you want some, I have some in my room?” and there was a whole package of real European (Holandish? Sweedish?) stroopwaffles. (I thought of you Brigitta!)
Also, right when I was leaving to go grocery shopping last week, two people that visit us about once a month came over. They come from California, not sure where, and usually they come in the afternoon, but they came at 8:15 in the MORNING!! With 30 dozen eggs (that we’ve almost ate all of), 3 coolers of meat/frozen foods (I can cook hot dogs!), and all kinds of other things… I spent about half of what I normally do at the grocery! I had told my girls we were leaving at 8:15 sharp, and they enjoyed asking me repeatedly why we hadn’t left yet, wasn’t I ready? ;) while we were putting the food into the freezer.
Last week the night air smelled like rain, or ions, however you want to think of it. It didn’t rain, it just smelled like rain. I adore the smell of rain. Rain is a pleasure we don’t have here, except maybe a dozen times a year, usually all in Dec/Jan. All the benefit without the mess. It has gotten chilly here. It was hot when I first came 3 weeks ago…but I do have to say that I still wear long shorts and long sleeves. I am always reminded that I live in a desert when I covet after a neighbors grass. “wow, they have grass, that is sooo cool! They must not let their kids/animals play on it!”
My friend Hannah has been graciously bringing me chocolate, watching my kids in the afternoons, AND letting me beat her in Canasta. ☺
Playing scrabble in Spanish is hard, but being bilingual gives me more reasons to whine… “these letters would be AMAZING if we were playing in Spanish/English, but I can’t think of any good English/Spanish words to make.” I’ve decided to only play Spanish scrabble when I’m in a very academic mood.
*”Oblea” just means wafer in Spanish, but I can only think of the word Oblation and therefore religious ceremony/Communion. Their name incapacitates me from thinking of them as just a fun food item. I like how words can have so many nuances of meaning.
ok, back to thinking about putting my clean clothes away, when I might make time to finish reading a book this week, and whether keeping an early bed time makes me nicer the next day or not. (I did finish 21 Ballons,a delightful childrens book, the short story of The Curious Case of Benjamen Button, and Yancy's The Jesus I never knew..I'm working on The Divine Conspiracy)
oh! and today I found Herbal Essences 2x1, and at a cheaper price than in the states....usually it's more expensive, and I've never seen any "deals". We don't have coupons. They don't exist, and even when I tried to redeem some on the outside of tortilla packages, (buy 4 get one free) the store said, "No, we don't do that."
Monday, February 2, 2009
um.
Kids can really make you think sometimes...
Funny things:
Have you ever had a tumbleweed inside your house?
L--, grade 5- Look Jen, look at this cactus he's trying to poke me with!
(holds up tumbleweed that is almost as tall as him, 4 feet? and is as wide as him)
Me- um. why is THAT inside the house?
Grocery Shopping
(after unloading the car)
M--, 19 yrs old- Did you accidentally buy a box of fish?
Me- um. no. Why do you ask?
M--,- that box has a picture of a fish on it, it has fish inside it, right?
actually it had apples inside it, but it was labeled "Trout", the next week I brought home a box labeled "Lemons", that had apples inside it.
reuse, but maybe not recycle?
Going out with friends
M--, 19 yrs old-So when you go out with friends in the states, do you go out to tacos?
Me- um. no. not exactly. well, we don't have taco stands where I live.
M--, 19 yrs old-But you have tacos right?
Me- yeah, but they aren't the same, it's like...
(interrupts)M--, like diet tacos?
Me- sure, like diet tacos.
more with M...
M-- has not had a meal unless she has said two key phrases... "no pica nada" meaning "it's not spicey" and "ya me llene" meaning "I'm already full" except that she continues eating after she says that, or even asks for seconds. I tried to ask her if it is just something everyone says, and that if she doesn't really mean it when she says it, maybe it really means "this food is great!". Unfortunately, she just looked at me confused.
after C--, 16, had a nightmare and slept on the couch
M-- You slept on the couch last night.
C-- while sitting on couch, with blankets and pillow No I didn't!
M-- You cried during the night, Jennifer woke you up, You came and slept on the couch.
C-- I did?!?
M-- You can't watch movies anymore. No more movies, because you have nightmares.
C-- no, no, the movie didn't make me cry, I was scared.
M-- The movie had monsters in it. The movie made you cry.
C-- oh. yeah. I won't watch that movie anymore, but I will watch the other movies.
(Is the Chronicles of Narnia THAT scary? and maybe I'm out of a "mom" job)
I've decided to always have my door locked. always. I had this weekend off, and I was in my room part of it, with my door locked. Everytime C-- came in or out of the house, she jiggled my handle. I don't think she realized that I was in my room. She only knocked a few times, and those were times she didn't jiggle my door handle. I think I counted that she tried to open my door 12-15 times. I wonder why she wants in?
Cultural differences
We have two sisters M and E, 10 and 9 respectively, who come from a poorer background, also Spanish is their second language...
Me-what's for dinner?
M- "flesh of hen" (notice she didn't just say "chicken"- Thanks Tani for pointing this out to me when it happened)
Me- Why haven't you gotten in the tub to take a bath yet?
E- well, M said you didn't ask her.
Me- She doesn't need to take a bath, you need to take a bath.
look of fear and surprise
E- I have to take one WITHOUT her??
V, 11- Jennifer, they don't take baths alone. They have never taken baths alone.
Me- If she doesn't want to take a bath, she can sit on the toilet and keep you company while you take your bath.
Funny things:
Have you ever had a tumbleweed inside your house?
L--, grade 5- Look Jen, look at this cactus he's trying to poke me with!
(holds up tumbleweed that is almost as tall as him, 4 feet? and is as wide as him)
Me- um. why is THAT inside the house?
Grocery Shopping
(after unloading the car)
M--, 19 yrs old- Did you accidentally buy a box of fish?
Me- um. no. Why do you ask?
M--,- that box has a picture of a fish on it, it has fish inside it, right?
actually it had apples inside it, but it was labeled "Trout", the next week I brought home a box labeled "Lemons", that had apples inside it.
reuse, but maybe not recycle?
Going out with friends
M--, 19 yrs old-So when you go out with friends in the states, do you go out to tacos?
Me- um. no. not exactly. well, we don't have taco stands where I live.
M--, 19 yrs old-But you have tacos right?
Me- yeah, but they aren't the same, it's like...
(interrupts)M--, like diet tacos?
Me- sure, like diet tacos.
more with M...
M-- has not had a meal unless she has said two key phrases... "no pica nada" meaning "it's not spicey" and "ya me llene" meaning "I'm already full" except that she continues eating after she says that, or even asks for seconds. I tried to ask her if it is just something everyone says, and that if she doesn't really mean it when she says it, maybe it really means "this food is great!". Unfortunately, she just looked at me confused.
after C--, 16, had a nightmare and slept on the couch
M-- You slept on the couch last night.
C-- while sitting on couch, with blankets and pillow No I didn't!
M-- You cried during the night, Jennifer woke you up, You came and slept on the couch.
C-- I did?!?
M-- You can't watch movies anymore. No more movies, because you have nightmares.
C-- no, no, the movie didn't make me cry, I was scared.
M-- The movie had monsters in it. The movie made you cry.
C-- oh. yeah. I won't watch that movie anymore, but I will watch the other movies.
(Is the Chronicles of Narnia THAT scary? and maybe I'm out of a "mom" job)
I've decided to always have my door locked. always. I had this weekend off, and I was in my room part of it, with my door locked. Everytime C-- came in or out of the house, she jiggled my handle. I don't think she realized that I was in my room. She only knocked a few times, and those were times she didn't jiggle my door handle. I think I counted that she tried to open my door 12-15 times. I wonder why she wants in?
Cultural differences
We have two sisters M and E, 10 and 9 respectively, who come from a poorer background, also Spanish is their second language...
Me-what's for dinner?
M- "flesh of hen" (notice she didn't just say "chicken"- Thanks Tani for pointing this out to me when it happened)
Me- Why haven't you gotten in the tub to take a bath yet?
E- well, M said you didn't ask her.
Me- She doesn't need to take a bath, you need to take a bath.
look of fear and surprise
E- I have to take one WITHOUT her??
V, 11- Jennifer, they don't take baths alone. They have never taken baths alone.
Me- If she doesn't want to take a bath, she can sit on the toilet and keep you company while you take your bath.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
"Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me...
give me strength to be only me" -OtR/Dido
So I’ve been in Mexico one week! It hardly feels like I ever left, just like it feels when I go back to Ohio. I jumped in with both feet. I had Sunday off, but hung out with the family anyways since I hadn’t seen them in a while. The kids asked me what I got them for Christmas knowing that they already received my gifts. ;) Unfortunately, I wrapped them so long ago I forget what I gave them! Although one girl is using the purse I got her for school.
The kids really enjoy having me back, even if I already have made oatmeal for them!
While the Midwest has a cold wave, we are having a heat wave. Thursday night it was 70 degrees after the sun had already went down. My family went to the beach on Friday and Saturday. I’m really enjoying the weather! (although my house NEVER warms up. If I’m not in the sun, I have long sleeves on.)
My trip back here was a little frustrating, as I sat on the runway for an hour and a half while they de-iced our plane. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to de-ice a plane, its just that the de-iceing employees (or their equipment) weren’t all out there yet. Better to be safe than sorry, so I’m very happy they took the time to de-ice the plane, but I realized that maybe I’m not as secure and confident a traveler as I thought myself to be. I got stressed out, knew I was going to miss my connecting flight, and wasn’t nice when I asked the stewardess for the phone number to figure stuff out. In the end, they took care of it before I could even phone them. All my stress and worry was ridiculous, because I was getting picked up from the airport by friends of mine, who LIVE IN MEXICO, and therefore are used to schedules changing, people being late, flexible, calm people. Sometimes when we are embarrassed by our emotions we hold it all in (missing people) and then it comes out where it’s not supposed too (being mad at the stewardess).
Before I left Ohio, my siblings and I did go sledding, I might put the videos up on youtube. I think we were out there enough time for my brother to say “it’s not gonna work” and we tried the big hill a couple times. He ran, pushing me down the hill…that worked, but not exactly sledding, even with his efforts I only went 50 feet. So we switched spots, except we went to a part that is usually landscaped so it was bumpy with the root balls of the plants that reappear in the spring. We didn’t remember that it was landscaped until I went down the snow covered speed bump hill of death. It had much more snow on it than the “official” sledding hill, and steeper- the speed made up for the bumpiness. We went down three or four more times, and then after a grand total of 10 minutes sledding we retreated to the car. Matt had come without gloves on, I had snow down my pants, and Carrie had only come b/c she loves me.
C—was singing a lot today. She sang all of “Happy Birthday” in ENGLISH, and also said “Thank You” in English to me. She has grown up mostly hearing impaired, and I have a hard time understanding her Spanish. She must have acquired a lot more English than I think in her time of being cared for by English speakers. I already knew she said “wa” (what) when she is confused. I know that Louise has started working with her on English one day a week, but this is like, woah!
Well, I’m gonna leave you with some quotes, and a promise (perpetually unfulfilled!) to write less, but more often. I read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott on the second flight (instead of talking to people that looked like they had just came back from Costa Rica and Café Britt) and she’s all “short assignments!”
From God was in this place, and I, i did not know by Rabbi Kushner (the ellipse are me making the passages shorter)
“The story is customarily offered as a “miracle” that God performed to get Moses’ attention…The “burning bush” was not a miracle. It was a test. God wanted to find out whether or not Moses could pay attention to something for more than a few minutes. When Moses did, God spoke. The trick is to pay enough attention to what is going on around you long enough to behold the miracle without falling asleep. There is another world, right here within this one, whenever we pay attention.”
“Real love means that self-fulfillment comes from forgetting yourself and serving another. Love persuades us to regard ourselves as nothing. To set another’s self as more important than our own is mysteriously gratifying. We give our selves away. For this reason, Dov Baer’s idea that we must make our selves as nothing and the experience of loving are identical….We are so fully present, unbounded, and un-self-aware that we are not even aware we are present.” (This is totally echoed in Theology of the Body- Christopher West said something LIKE…we were made to give of ourselves and feel most complete when giving…but I need to read the real book now)
“Religious rituals are a funny sequence of things we do to help us remember that we have forgotten why we have been created, and gently provide us with the instruments of return. They are ancient techniques for sending us back to everyday life with a childlike sense of wonder.”
From Dave Matthews
If you give, you begin to live.
You begin, you get the world.
From Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Quoting her father- “This is the great tragedy of California for a life oriented to leisure is in the end a life oriented to death- the greatest leisure of all.”
Quoting her friend, Tom “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people do.”
Books finished: Bird by Bird, Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency-HILARIOUS.
Books I'd like to read in the new year: The Bible in SPANISH, Architecture of Happiness by de Botton, Status Anxiety by de Botton, Contemplative Prayer by merton, How to read a film, Green Mansions, Wanderings, Man in White, Rules of Engagement by Prince, Outline of an Anglican Life, Rosshalde, The Alchemist, Orthodoxy, Cost of Discipleship, something by Umberto Eco, Ender's Game, Lillith by MacDonald, Following Jesus, Surprised by Hope, Four Loves, anything I haven't read by C.S. Lewis, The End of Poverty by Sach, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, Honest to God by Robinson, something by Sayers, something by Willard, something by Wendell Berry, and maybe The Jesus I never Knew
I gotta get my book borrowing on.
So I’ve been in Mexico one week! It hardly feels like I ever left, just like it feels when I go back to Ohio. I jumped in with both feet. I had Sunday off, but hung out with the family anyways since I hadn’t seen them in a while. The kids asked me what I got them for Christmas knowing that they already received my gifts. ;) Unfortunately, I wrapped them so long ago I forget what I gave them! Although one girl is using the purse I got her for school.
The kids really enjoy having me back, even if I already have made oatmeal for them!
While the Midwest has a cold wave, we are having a heat wave. Thursday night it was 70 degrees after the sun had already went down. My family went to the beach on Friday and Saturday. I’m really enjoying the weather! (although my house NEVER warms up. If I’m not in the sun, I have long sleeves on.)
My trip back here was a little frustrating, as I sat on the runway for an hour and a half while they de-iced our plane. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to de-ice a plane, its just that the de-iceing employees (or their equipment) weren’t all out there yet. Better to be safe than sorry, so I’m very happy they took the time to de-ice the plane, but I realized that maybe I’m not as secure and confident a traveler as I thought myself to be. I got stressed out, knew I was going to miss my connecting flight, and wasn’t nice when I asked the stewardess for the phone number to figure stuff out. In the end, they took care of it before I could even phone them. All my stress and worry was ridiculous, because I was getting picked up from the airport by friends of mine, who LIVE IN MEXICO, and therefore are used to schedules changing, people being late, flexible, calm people. Sometimes when we are embarrassed by our emotions we hold it all in (missing people) and then it comes out where it’s not supposed too (being mad at the stewardess).
Before I left Ohio, my siblings and I did go sledding, I might put the videos up on youtube. I think we were out there enough time for my brother to say “it’s not gonna work” and we tried the big hill a couple times. He ran, pushing me down the hill…that worked, but not exactly sledding, even with his efforts I only went 50 feet. So we switched spots, except we went to a part that is usually landscaped so it was bumpy with the root balls of the plants that reappear in the spring. We didn’t remember that it was landscaped until I went down the snow covered speed bump hill of death. It had much more snow on it than the “official” sledding hill, and steeper- the speed made up for the bumpiness. We went down three or four more times, and then after a grand total of 10 minutes sledding we retreated to the car. Matt had come without gloves on, I had snow down my pants, and Carrie had only come b/c she loves me.
C—was singing a lot today. She sang all of “Happy Birthday” in ENGLISH, and also said “Thank You” in English to me. She has grown up mostly hearing impaired, and I have a hard time understanding her Spanish. She must have acquired a lot more English than I think in her time of being cared for by English speakers. I already knew she said “wa” (what) when she is confused. I know that Louise has started working with her on English one day a week, but this is like, woah!
Well, I’m gonna leave you with some quotes, and a promise (perpetually unfulfilled!) to write less, but more often. I read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott on the second flight (instead of talking to people that looked like they had just came back from Costa Rica and Café Britt) and she’s all “short assignments!”
From God was in this place, and I, i did not know by Rabbi Kushner (the ellipse are me making the passages shorter)
“The story is customarily offered as a “miracle” that God performed to get Moses’ attention…The “burning bush” was not a miracle. It was a test. God wanted to find out whether or not Moses could pay attention to something for more than a few minutes. When Moses did, God spoke. The trick is to pay enough attention to what is going on around you long enough to behold the miracle without falling asleep. There is another world, right here within this one, whenever we pay attention.”
“Real love means that self-fulfillment comes from forgetting yourself and serving another. Love persuades us to regard ourselves as nothing. To set another’s self as more important than our own is mysteriously gratifying. We give our selves away. For this reason, Dov Baer’s idea that we must make our selves as nothing and the experience of loving are identical….We are so fully present, unbounded, and un-self-aware that we are not even aware we are present.” (This is totally echoed in Theology of the Body- Christopher West said something LIKE…we were made to give of ourselves and feel most complete when giving…but I need to read the real book now)
“Religious rituals are a funny sequence of things we do to help us remember that we have forgotten why we have been created, and gently provide us with the instruments of return. They are ancient techniques for sending us back to everyday life with a childlike sense of wonder.”
From Dave Matthews
If you give, you begin to live.
You begin, you get the world.
From Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Quoting her father- “This is the great tragedy of California for a life oriented to leisure is in the end a life oriented to death- the greatest leisure of all.”
Quoting her friend, Tom “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people do.”
Books finished: Bird by Bird, Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency-HILARIOUS.
Books I'd like to read in the new year: The Bible in SPANISH, Architecture of Happiness by de Botton, Status Anxiety by de Botton, Contemplative Prayer by merton, How to read a film, Green Mansions, Wanderings, Man in White, Rules of Engagement by Prince, Outline of an Anglican Life, Rosshalde, The Alchemist, Orthodoxy, Cost of Discipleship, something by Umberto Eco, Ender's Game, Lillith by MacDonald, Following Jesus, Surprised by Hope, Four Loves, anything I haven't read by C.S. Lewis, The End of Poverty by Sach, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, Honest to God by Robinson, something by Sayers, something by Willard, something by Wendell Berry, and maybe The Jesus I never Knew
I gotta get my book borrowing on.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I'm packing...
...to leave for Mexico on SATURDAY at 5:30 AM.
(so this is a quick commercial break.)
It was my intention to only take one suitcase back down this time, as I'd left *half* of my stuff in Mexico.
Except I forget which half.
and I'd intentionally brought things back to Ohio that I knew I didn't need anymore.
But now I forget which things I'm supposed to leave here at home.
so my possessions are now singing at me...
"should I stay or should I go now???"
hehe.
quite the dilemma.
I've had a cold for 3 weeks now, so I resorted to another doctor's appt and got a shot! I like shots.
I think the salty sea air is going to help things out a lot, and the non forced air heated houses.
I've been getting rid of things. I found a list of "to read" from 2000, and on that was Ender's Game So I've wanted to read it for 9 years yet haven't :)
I got rid of 3 more boxes of stuff. Threw out a drawing of my 4th grade classroom that I'd made to figure out how many kids were in my class (to buy Valentine's or something) I've always been a visual person I suppose.
I threw out old phone lists from before I ever had a cell phone. so many colours of ink, numbers crossed out and rewritten, red, blue sparkly, pink, orange, even lip liner. Documentation of how many times friends had moved in excited strokes.
One of the lovely things about early winter is all the green underbrush. It seems strange to me that the trees would be leafless and barren, and yet there is the promise of new life crowning their bases. The roots hibernate in the protection of the shrubbery, twisted together, imitating families of dormice.
Granted, it isn't early winter anymore, and now everything is brown. or white, where the snow fell :)
I think large schools of fish, tornados, and snow flurries on the highway move the same. They scurry, twist, swirl, and are generally unpredictable.
(I think my brother and sister and I are going to sled tomorrow morning, but just for like 15 minutes, since I'm sick.)
We played Apples to Apples and all the cards I earned described the character from Legally Blond perfectly, (except for foreign) clueless, funny, popular, briliant, sexy and responsible.
I beat everyone with 340 points in Wizard, my first time playing the game EVER. my work here is done....
coming? quotes, and some highlights from Theology of the Body.
(so this is a quick commercial break.)
It was my intention to only take one suitcase back down this time, as I'd left *half* of my stuff in Mexico.
Except I forget which half.
and I'd intentionally brought things back to Ohio that I knew I didn't need anymore.
But now I forget which things I'm supposed to leave here at home.
so my possessions are now singing at me...
"should I stay or should I go now???"
hehe.
quite the dilemma.
I've had a cold for 3 weeks now, so I resorted to another doctor's appt and got a shot! I like shots.
I think the salty sea air is going to help things out a lot, and the non forced air heated houses.
I've been getting rid of things. I found a list of "to read" from 2000, and on that was Ender's Game So I've wanted to read it for 9 years yet haven't :)
I got rid of 3 more boxes of stuff. Threw out a drawing of my 4th grade classroom that I'd made to figure out how many kids were in my class (to buy Valentine's or something) I've always been a visual person I suppose.
I threw out old phone lists from before I ever had a cell phone. so many colours of ink, numbers crossed out and rewritten, red, blue sparkly, pink, orange, even lip liner. Documentation of how many times friends had moved in excited strokes.
One of the lovely things about early winter is all the green underbrush. It seems strange to me that the trees would be leafless and barren, and yet there is the promise of new life crowning their bases. The roots hibernate in the protection of the shrubbery, twisted together, imitating families of dormice.
Granted, it isn't early winter anymore, and now everything is brown. or white, where the snow fell :)
I think large schools of fish, tornados, and snow flurries on the highway move the same. They scurry, twist, swirl, and are generally unpredictable.
(I think my brother and sister and I are going to sled tomorrow morning, but just for like 15 minutes, since I'm sick.)
We played Apples to Apples and all the cards I earned described the character from Legally Blond perfectly, (except for foreign) clueless, funny, popular, briliant, sexy and responsible.
I beat everyone with 340 points in Wizard, my first time playing the game EVER. my work here is done....
coming? quotes, and some highlights from Theology of the Body.
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