Our building owner is changing out all of the apartment's rusty, paper thin windows for some shiny, modern, fancy ones. I hear that the new windows will keep out the noise and dust, and be much easier to clean, but I can't help but feel a little bit like they are ripping out the beautiful old soul of the building;  sigh.
 
plus. someone told me that the new windows don't have windowsills . . . where will I put stuff?

Welcome, September!
and so we enter the month in which you can find a mexican flag on any given corner of the city. Why?  because Mexico it pretty excited about its freedom from Spain's tyrannical rule.   (that's a gross over simplification.  I suggest that you go ask your favorite Mexican friend to explain the significance of September 16th. You don't have a Mexican friend?  go find one!)

Last week we were sitting around the table with Sam - - giving her an intro to the city, and we asked the kids what Spanish word they thought Sam should know.

Josu threw his fist in the air and shouted LIBERTAD!

Aaaah my boy is becoming Mexican.

We noticed seeds dropping off of our nasturtium  last month; we picked them up and held on to them for a couple of weeks until we finally got around to planting them.  I didn't know if it was really that easy - popping freshly picked seeds into dirt.  It worked (this time, at least) 

My mama has four girls, three daughters-in-law, lots and lots of grandkids, and a whole slew of friends across the world.

and my mama still finds time to email me;  I'm so thankful:

We are thinking about you today with company and school. Last night Papi and I watched the movie "The Way" about the father who walked the via de Santiago after his son died on the road . . . we liked the movie a lot and I'm still thinking about it today, thinking about worship, how we're created to be worshippers. . . thinking about how everybody has a story to tell and how sometimes we can know people but not really know their story, kind of like passing in the night with a polite hello.  Anyway, just a few thoughts for a Monday. Hope you're delighting in God's goodness today.

We welcomed Sam to Mexico City (and our team!) last week;  she is here to help churches think about how they can use English classes to love and serve the city, to partner with a safe house that cares for hurting girls, and to be all around pretty awesome.  

To say that we are excited about her arrival is a serious understatement.

(and I'm not just saying that because she keeps washing my dishes and providing delightful conversation while she chops any vegetables I pass her way during dinner prep)

See? I said she was awesome . . . and she's just getting going!

Have you read The Gardener by Sarah Stewart?  Sheesh, I love this book.  It's about Lydia Grace, country girl who loves to garden with her Grandma. When her papa can't get work and no one is asking her mama to make dresses, is sent to the city to live with her grumpy uncle. When Lydia Grace finds a secret spot (the building's abandoned rooftop) she devises a plan to make her uncle smile, and fills the rooftop with a beautiful garden.

(sorry for the spoiler;  I could't help myself)

It's lovely:  the sort of book that makes me want to abandon all my responsibilities for the week, fill my windowsills with seedlings, and scour the streets for empty paint cans and buckets to fill my rooftop with a garden like Lydia Grace's.

So, I won't do all that, but we are scheming with our downstairs neighbor about planting some plants - -  maybe some flowers, maybe some herbs - - up on our rooftop to bring a little more beauty and life to this crazy city.  

here we go! 

hola!

hey hey! Are you visiting today from A Cup of Jo? Welcome!  I wish you could all come over for a bowl of beans and rice so that I could tell you everything I know about my city;  after lunch I would take you to our favorite coffee shop down the street, and then we would visit at least three different parks, and on the way home I would show you the best place in our neighborhood to buy avocados.

Since you can't all come over (sigh), please enjoy peeking into our neighborhood through my blog!

p.s. the problem with cleaning dry black beans is that a black bean looks so much like a little rock, and a little rock look so much like a black bean. I'll get better at this; I know I will!