31.1.12

Last week Selma and I saw a girl with purple hair walking down our street;
she gasped with delight.
she hasn't asked me for purple hair yet, but today her paper dolls were colored like this:

30.1.12


We got invited to a birthday party this weekend.
birthday parties are hard.
particulary at this early stage of understanding culture and forming relationships.
birthday parties are hard
but they have so much potential for good too.
so we take a deep breath,
and we go to them.

The way this one played out was not too far from the usual:
1. we showed up half an hour late - - too early;  we mingled awkwardly with the three other people there.
2. I tried starting up a conversation on my right.  it fizzled out.
3. I tried a couple more times (it was like begging a stranger to be your best friend - weird and sad); I just couldn't make it happen
4. we got some food to look busy
5. I saw a family from the kid's school walk in on the left (I didn't know them very well, but I was going to get to know them now dangit!)  I called them over to sit next to us - - they sat five chairs away, and we yelled over the music for a good two minutes before that conversation died out.
6. Joshua and I got more food;
AND THEN . . . then it happened: Leticia walked in with her husband and her boy . . . and we spent the next two hours wrapped up in the most fantastic conversation - we talked about the book that the psychologist had recommended to her after the parenting workshop we went to the day before at the kids' school; we talked about the way that God has shaped Joshua and my passion for the church in a special way over the past several years; we talked about what love is and how it plays out in relationships . . . Leti had never read 1 Corinthians 13 before.
("read it! read it! read it!"  I begged her "it's so good!")

I told Joshua I was almost done like five times.
I finally pulled myself away,
and we left.

birthday parties are awesome.

27.1.12

Our camera man fell sick last night;  rumor has it that he ate a street stand hamburger for lunch yesterday and has been throwing up ever since (but I haven't actually confirmed this rumor since he's been in bed for the past 24 hours. . . so maybe there was no hamburger involved)
I am disappointed for a couple of extremely selfish reasons:

1. There will be no filming today - Joshua told me that when they were out in the neighborhood filming yesterday, they borrowed a dolly off of the orange juice lady, and Joshua pushed Troy past the newsstand to get a drive-by filming of the headlines.  I was wanting to go out with them today and get some pictures of them doing similar filming shenanigans.  oh well.

2. Joshua and I were hoping to recruit Troy and his wife to join the Mexico City team;  I think that it's going to be harder to do that now that his stomach has been ravaged by some Mexican bug. blast!

The good news is that I hear from Joshua (who got a sneak peek of the footage) that the video is going to be awesome.

p.s. Troy, if you are reading this, ignore the above two points and know that we're sad that you are sick for purely unselfish reasons  . . . get well soon!

26.1.12

I read this lovely post earlier this week;
In her post, Tina raises the question: "how do you use your creativity to help others?"

I thought her question was particularly appropriate to us this week since we have Troy - camera man extraordinaire - visiting us here in Mexico city to do nothing less than . . . use his creativity to help us;

He's been traveling around the city with his video camera in his arms, capturing both the beauty and the needs of the city.  Once he's done filming, he's going to take the 2 million hours worth of video, and edit it down into a three minute jewel  . . . We're going to show it to every person we meet - - so that they can be captivated by the same city that has captivated us.

(I have a feeling it's going to go viral on facebook)

see the guy in the orange shirt holding the larger-than-what-normal-humans-own  video camera? 
that's Troy . . . working his magic

23.1.12

hello! How was your weekend?  We had a couple of last minute cancels on Saturday, which left our day completely open.  We are all sniffling and snorting around here (It's disgusting, really), so I was thankful for a day to be quiet at home.

I took the kids to school today, and then went to pick Malachai up an hour later after a call from the school office.  It's possible that Malachai really is too sick to be at school.  It's also possible that the substitute teacher couldn't handle the sound if him sniffling and snorting, and sent him home because of that.  However it is, I'll enjoy my day with my boy.

We picked up a tamale from the tamale shop that's on the way home:
it cost 10 pesos
I only had 6 pesos
(and a 100 peso bill)
the tamale guy told me to just give him the 6 pesos, and to pay him the 4 another day.

That pleased me very much - - I suspect that it means that our neighborhood is getting to know us, and there is some sort of trust settling in (are any of my Mexican friends reading this?  what do you think?)

19.1.12


I'm still smiling about the Smith family reunion that we attended last weekend after the conference;
Joshua's Grandma - Velma Smith - was like the homecoming queen, surrounded by her 9 children and most of their own kids and grand kids (look at her! isn't she glowing?)
  
Here are some things that I realized that I like about the Smith family:
*oh baby! they sing and dance!
* Joshua's Grandma says "get over here and give me some sugar!" every time she wants a kiss from one of her grandkids
*they make sure their guests eat well
*there is an actual Smith family member who is an Elvis impersonator - true story

{sigh}
(as if I hadn't already been convinced that I married well!)

17.1.12



We got back into Mexico last night.
We had to wait an hour in the airport because one of our suitcases didn't show.
No big deal.
I told the kids about the Airport Olympics - - (a clever invention of our genius Texas family), and we did long jumps and relay races with a pack of gum. 

We did eventually make it home, though.
It's good to be home.

4.1.12

 
We've had the best sort of Christmas break:  we've visited museums, stopped at nearly every park that we've walked by, listened to  about a bazillion chapters from Story of the World on CD, watched the Tin-tin movie, eaten a gigantic boxful of cinnamon donuts, and put no limit on the number of chapters we read from our out-loud family book (we're reading Hans Brinker  . . . because it just seemed right to read it during these holiday months!)

Yes, I am very, very sad that it is all over. 

We head out tomorrow, though, to the Reach Global Latin America missionary conference;
and that eases the pain.  I think that missionaries are super cool . . . and I'm bound to meet a few new, really awesome ones at the conference. 

If you think about it, could you pray for me this week?  That I would learn more about God and his love for the world through the sessions I attend and the conversations I have?  
thank you, thank you!  (I love that I can ask you to pray . . . and that I am absolutely certain that some of you will; I am a blessed woman!)