Nov. 24, 2008 - We're Back!
Well I've been blogging for over a year now, but my last post was 4 months ago!! Life has been crazy as usual and I guess somewhere along the way I decided (subconsciously) that blogging wasn't a high priority. But I really miss it! I miss the community of bloggers I felt like such a part of before. I miss the advice, the friendship and learning so much from all of the rest of you. So I'm back. I may not be a daily blogger, but I will do my best to do it more often. I love looking back over what I've written in the past and remembering those many precious moments that slip by too quickly and are so easily forgotten when not recorded. I have been wanting to get back to blogging for some time now, but I also want to completely redo the look of my blog so I was working on that in the background for a while. However, it looks like it could be some time before I ever get that completed so I decided to get back to writing in the meantime. You may notice some changes going on with the appearance and layout of my blog over the next while. Any tips / suggestions / help would be much appreciated as I am lacking in talent in this area! I have this beautiful image in my head of how I'd like things to be, but little to no idea as to how to go about getting them that way (especially when I can't just pay someone else to do it for me!).
So, as I said, life has been crazy. We've been through a number of changes in the past few months. I've been to Canada and back to Mexico 2 times (driving both ways each time) and in various parts of the US a number of times as well. We're in Mexico now with no plans to leave for a while (although our plans are constantly changing!). It is good to be here! And not just because it's much warmer and there is no snow like back home ;). It is just nice to have that "settled" feeling returning. The traveling has been getting to me a bit these last few trips. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing - dragging these poor little boys all over North America - back and forth all of the time, hundreds of hours in cars, away from home, saying good-bye to people constantly, etc. I start to doubt myself and worry how this is effecting them. But other times I think that these boys have such an amazing life! They get to experience soooo many things that so many people never experience in their entire lives. They have friends all over the world and meet hundreds of new people each year. Their cultural perspectives and worldviews are far broader than what mine were at their ages! They have learned to communicate and even form relationships with people they don't share a language with. There are so many advantages to this crazy life we live, yet I still have those little nagging doubts. I suppose every parent suffers from them. We all question whether or not we are doing the right thing - raising our children the "right" way. And I suppose those little doubts can be a good thing as they keep us in check; keep us questioning and searching and (hopefully!) bring us to the point where we are confident that our choices are the right ones for our family. But maybe sometimes they are there to let us know we need to make some changes. We just have to use our God-granted wisdom and listen for that still, small voice, that always speaks when we need to hear. We need to trust that God will guide us in the direction we need to go, then walk boldly and confidently down that path!
But it's so nice to be back here! Mexico has truly become my home and there are so many things I love about this country.
This past month we hosted 2 trips of mostly retired adults who came down to build houses for 3 families here. They also built a women's center which the women in one of the communities we work in will be using mainly as a co-op for groceries and other necessities. It was really nice to see these people down here using their retirement time and money and working so very hard to help others in need. They all agreed that the experience was a major eye-opener for them as well. We have so many high-school aged student groups we host each year, but it's really neat to see a variety of people working together to make a difference in the lives of the people here. One gentleman celebrated his 79th birthday while he was here! He was out at the worksite every day doing his part to help build a house for a family in need. I was humbled by what an amazing heart he had! So many people that age have bought into the lies that their ability to make a difference has expired. There is so much need out there and it only takes a little effort to make some serious changes in the world. I found that these two groups of older adults had so much to offer. Once they realized how important they could be to people living in less fortunate conditions, they started brainstorming new ways they could help. They were constantly coming up with new ideas and suggestions. Their excitement was contagious. They went home with their minds full of things they can do to make a difference. Even before they left here many of them had made phone calls and sent emails to people back home to share their ideas, rally support for certain issues and more. It was all very exciting! It was fun to be a part of all of that excitement. Now that the boys are getting a little older, I'm able to be more involved in the hosting of the groups. As well, C's sister moved back to Canada this month leaving a big gap! She did a lot of work here and won't be easily replaced. She had been living in the house we rent here (we stay in our trailer in the yard) so now I have the responsibility of caring for this rather large house (mucho cleaning!). We do have a family that will be moving here in January to take on some of the responsibilities she had - as well as pick up some slack in other areas of our organization down here. Our new "School of Leadership" students will be arriving in January as well. Last year was our first year having students live and learn here with us and it was an amazing experience. This year we hope to improve on it and look forward to having the 6 students living here. We will be hosting another Christmas humanitarian trip again. Last year was such an incredible experience. I'll never forget it. This year we will have about 3 times as many people on the trip - all families from Canada who have decided that instead of spending their money on gifts for each other, they would use their Christmas money to come down here and build a home for a family in need and give it to them for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it! We will also have friends coming (another family that works for our organization back in Canada). They will be here for nearly 3 weeks. I can't wait to see them again! They have been good friends with us since we first met them back in Bible School.
Oh, and more excitement - my "baby" brother and his wife moved down here 2 weeks ago to start working with us as well. My brother will be replacing the man we had been using as our foreman on the worksites as he is moving back to Canada next week. So there have been quite a lot of changes going on. Change is something we are accustomed to, and so far the changes have only improved things here.
These past couple of weeks I have added to my busyness by planting a tiny vegetable garden here in our yard. I have never successfully grown anything from seed. I have had plants that I have managed to keep alive, but have never been successful with planting things myself. This time is going to be different! I'm certain of it. Every day I get out there and stare at that sandy dirt to see if there is any sign of green showing through yet. Today I was rewarded with 2 teeny, tiny little sprouts starting to stick up from my rows of peas. I'm looking forward to much more green in the near future.
The boys have been keeping themselves busy with a number of things. They haven't been spending as much time outside this week as usual as it has been cloudy. When the sun is behind a cloud, the ocean chill gets right into your bones, and today the sun didn't come out once. I hung my laundry out early in the morning and when it started getting dark out (shortly after 4pm!) I went to get it only to find it all barely any drier than when I first hung it. Just last week it was hot enough that I could have 2 loads of laundry dried by 10am! So instead of their usual games of tag, baseball, soccer, tree climbing, bike riding and all of the other activities that usually keep them busy outside, I have been trying to entertain them indoors. This has turned out to be very time consuming. I had become accustomed to having a fair amount of time to do all of my indoor jobs while they were outside. Now I'm trying to mop the ever-dusty floors while the boys are trying to walk on them. I'm cleaning up the living room, only to turn around and see the dining room being destroyed. I have given up on the dream of having a spotless house (okay, so I never actually believed that I could do that anyway) and am now just concentrating on putting out "fires" most of the day! Today one of the neighbor girls was over for the afternoon so I decided we should try out this recipe I discovered earlier this week with the kids. The process of making it was much like many of my experiences baking with children. There was egg on the floor, peanut butter and jelly smeared on kids' faces, clothes and the table, there was sugar spilled on the chairs, milk powder on the counter and water on the kitchen floor. I have no idea how something seemingly so simple can turn into a disaster so quickly, but we managed to complete it and it was soooo good! I really wish I had taken a picture of it right when it came out of the oven. Prior to today, I had never actually made bread pudding. In fact, I had never even tasted it until a couple of years ago. I don't think it's as common of a dish in Canada as it is in the US. But this PB and J Bread Crust Pudding was awesome! So easy to make too! I highly recommend it as a rainy (or snowy) day baking project for kids (if you don't mind the mess!). We had a lot of fun though and the boys gobbled it down after dinner (we sent half of it over to our little helper's house).
School has been okay. Yes, just okay. Caleb (6 yrs) hasn't been enjoying school lately and I'm still not sure what to do about it. When it's time to begin, he gets upset and tries to run away. I hate that he doesn't like it right now and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and what we can change to make it a more enjoyable experience. Most days once we get into it, he ends up having a good time (although some days it's a battle throughout), but his initial attitude toward school now is so negative. He just doesn't want to do it. He'd rather be out doing something more fun. I try to make school as much fun as possible, but I find it difficult when I'm following a curriculum and dealing with limited resources here. Is anyone else going through this? I'm just not sure what to do. There are things he really loves about school (art and science especially), but he would be so happy to just be rid of his math, language arts and history all together. Of course this isn't an option. So I'm searching for a solution.
I haven't been initiating "classes" with Christian (4 yrs) at all. I discovered if I just leave him, he will, at some point, head over to his desk, pull out his math book or language arts book, and start working on them on his own. He really enjoys school and has learned so much more this way than he ever did when I tried to take time out to sit down and "teach" him. He calls me when he needs help, but otherwise seems to really enjoy "studying" on his own. Of course we read together all the time too and now that he's doing so well at reading, he will often read by himself. I find it amazing how different Caleb and Christian's learning styles are. What works for one child will not work for the other. How do you moms with 2-6 times as many children as me manage to do this?!
Anyway, I did not mean to write this much! My fingers got carried away. ;) I look forward to hearing from you and am back to reading so many great blogs again! I will end this with a few recent pictures - just gotta show off my boys. ;) They're growing up so quickly!
Until next time,
Tee
