Windy Season

So, we have a windy season here in Mexico.  Needless to say, it is not our favorite time.  The wind comes and goes and yes it can be nice to help your clothes dry faster on the line, but if it hasn’t rained recently having dry clothes caked in dust is not worth it.  Also, you have to make sure you don’t just leave light things just lying around or not properly staked into the ground or else things like this will happen….

Whoopsies.

Learning to Let Go...

I am such a control freak! I try and think/hope that it's not really true, but it's times like these that I realize I REALLY am.

I get so weird about stuff that usually I would personally rather spend days or even weeks on a project doing it little by little by myself (so that I could make sure that everything was exactly how I'd imagined), rather than asking for help or allowing someone to help me.

But I know that this is not at all how God intended the body of Christ to be. He wants us to work together, to learn from each other, to grow in our patience, to ask for help and to offer help. He wants us to work together.

I knew that. And I also knew that painting the classrooms at La Gloria was something I wanted to do for the kids. But I also knew just how much more it would mean to them if they were able to be a part of it. And honestly, how much are they really going to care if there's a little green here and there on the white ceiling or if the brush strokes on the base boards are not perfectly parallel to the floor. They probably won't even notice. And look at their faces! They had a BLAST and kept asking for more and more jobs. Even after about 6 hours of painting they did not want to stop!

I personally learned SO much about patience, what really matters and what really doesn't, how much kids are capable of doing, when it is ok to say no to them, how helpful it can be to have kids to a base coat and then quickly go over it with a second coat, etc., etc., etc.

It ended up being SO much fun, not just for the kids, but for me too! I'm so glad that God moved my heart to accept help. It was totally worth it.

So much I did in so little time….

 

Last weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to go up to the states for my best friend’s bridal shower.  I only was able to go for 3 days, but I packed so much good stuff into that time!  :]  I just barely made it to the shower, then rushed off to spend some family time at my dad’s house, got to see my Uncle Christ and Aunt Lilibeth and their beautiful new baby boy, Joshua.  The next morning I went to church with my mom and got to meet all her new friends she’s been making, I’m so happy to see that she’s found a church that she loves where she feels at home :]  After church, we headed home to fuel up with tuna sandwiches with Norm and then mom and I headed off to do the usual states shopping.  That night I got together with Lauren and Jessica Shea, my two best friends from home, we ate and jacuzzied and then I had my very last sleepover with Lauren! (That’s the ONLY reason I’m a little bit sad she’s getting married, haha).  The next morning was President’s Day and I rushed home to have a delicious French toast breakfast with my mom and sister.  Then I packed up my car, headed up for lunch with Dad, and shot over to the mall afterward to go bridesmaid shoe shopping with Lauren.  Once I had my shoes in hand it was off to San Diego to visit my “long lost” “Mexican” friends, Hannah Koppers and Jessica Simmons (and actually Heber ended up being there too).  Spent the night at Hannah’s and took off the next morning by 8:30am to be back for outreach that night at La Gloria. 

So, as you can see, going home isn’t always a “relaxing vacation,” but I would NEVER miss an opportunity :]  It’s totally worth it.

Single on Valentine's Day?

So was I, but it wasn’t so bad.  I woke up kind of emotional yesterday morning and threw myself a little pity party.  Little did I know God had greater love in mind for me.

Victor asked me to lead him to a family in Graciano Sanchez that we’re hoping to build a house for this spring.  Ten people (three adults and seven kids) live in this little garage door house that’s probably 10x15 feet with a little side porch (only covered by two walls) area where some of the kids sleep.  They really need a decent house.  Anyways, I ended up staying and playing with the girls for a little bit.  They are all SO incredibly precious.  I reminded them it was Valentine’s Day and told them how much I loved them and they kept telling me how much they love me too. 

Then that night at La Gloria, the kids and I talked about Mark 12:30-31, how we are supposed to love God first and for most, but then we are also commanded to love our neighbor.  So I had each of the kids make a special Valentine’s card for each of the adults at church so that they would feel special, just like we feel special when we get cards from our friends at school.  They all turned out so sweet!  But unfortunately it was a lot of work, so I was really busy and forgot to be taking pictures of how they all turned out.

All in all, it was a wonderful Valentine’s day where I said I love you many times and also heard I love you many times.  I am so blessed.

La Estetica Cristina

These are my friends Luz, Kenia, and Belinda.  I’ve know these girls for just over 2 years now.  Ever since I first met them, they’ve had a consistent case of lice that is the worst I’ve ever seen or imagined (practically every girl is forced to shave her head at this point).  Down here, getting lice is quite common though.  In fact, I had my first encounter with lice just a few weeks ago.  It was not as painful or irritating as I thought it would be and I got rid of it pretty quickly, but I had relatively few in my hair.  I began to empathize with them after I had my own taste of it.  This is why, two weekends ago I decided to go down to their house and see what I could help them do.

I wanted to make it kind of fun though, so I brought some magazines and told them it was the Estetica Cristina.......yes, that is their pet turkey behind Belinda in the picture below.

After a few HOURS they got a little bored though, so we moved inside to watch a movie.

Three heads of hair, an entire box and a half of lice treatment, and 4 ½ hours later, we rushed off to pick up another girl from the church and headed to the Mission Church in Vicente Guerrero for the Tambourine conference.  It was quite a long day, but definitely worth it to know they might be itching a little less these days (granted, I did not get them all….that’s practically impossible considering how many there were). 

Care for a little education on lice (piojos en español)?  (courtesy of http://www.emedicinehealth.com/lice/article_em.htm):

The head louse is a grey-white animal about 2 mm-3 mm in length (about the size of a sesame seed). The life span of the female louse is about one month. During this time, she will produce between seven to 10 eggs ("nits") per day and attach them firmly to the hair shaft region close to the scalp or body. These nits, which resemble dandruff, are attached with a gluelike, water-insoluble substance that makes them difficult to remove. After six to 10 days, the nits hatch as nymphs and become adults in 10 days.

Globos-ing

If I ever move back to the states, one thing I'm going to miss the most is definitely the Globos.  It's basically like a giant garage sale/swapmeet.  There are some stands that have new stuff, but we usually bypass those pretty quickly.

We're generally more interested in the treasures to be found and the laughs to be had in the random, junk stands.

 What even is this metal can thing?  Melissa votes that it's a grasshopper catcher.  I'm more inclined to think you cook something in it.  But that's the beauty of it, we'll just never know for sure.

 Ok, ok, but it's not all weird stuff.  We got Melissa a sweet new skirt for church.  :-P

Pool cues?  Really?  Haha.

Refreshing snacks to keep you shopping.

And truckloads of cheap, fresh fruit....mmmmMMMMmmmm.

I even found a little treasure in the parking lot.

But all in all, you can find some pretty sweet stuff.

I got all this stuff this week for UNDER $20 (I think it was 220 pesos)!

Juan Vasquez's Senior Home

This is Judy, my boss :]  Ever since she arrived her, she's had a real heart for the old folks over at Juan Vasquez's place.  She had this wonderful idea this Friday to make them a delicious spaghetti lunch.

So she asked me if I would like to join them and help her make some delicious biscuits.  Judy is a master cook.  I love learning from her, every chance I get.

The little old abuelitos were so precious!  There were two tiny little ladies that just latched on to Judy with the sweetest smiles on their faces.  And another lady who kept saying "Muchos, muchos thank yous! Muy rico!"