A Little More Normalcy

So as you can tell from this week's post title, things have settled down, well sort of...

First things first, I just want to thank everyone who left comments and/or emails giving us encouragement. It really meant a lot and did lift us up. How amazing amidst whatever is going on in your life, to know that friends and family are praying for you. THANK YOU!

For this week's entertaining installment....

We found we have access to a dryer so that means our battle with our lil' pests has been swung to our side. We still have lice in the house, but they are very few and far between, we have their days numbered and they know it! Kezia has been so patient with our nightly combing sessions, she just sits and chatters on about whatever happened that day. She doesn't even holler when I pull out a big chunk of hair. Oops! Praise God for the patience and endurance of my girl!

Joel's hernia, we found out wasn't a large intestinal one, so thankfully it isn't as serious as we thought. My friend Laurie was such a huge help in going to the clinic with me and we discovered that riding the micros isn't actually as scary as we once thought. I even know which line to take around the second ring. So not like I'm thankful for hernias that teach you how to ride the bus in Santa Cruz, but it's good to be able to learn something in every situation.

Laurie was gracious enough to email her sister-in-law for more medical advice, and then we'll take Joel in the next few days to a Dr. that has access to a decent hospital for surgery. It's a day surgery, and so he won't even have to stay for the night. That will be much easier on him, as well as his mother!

We took Joel and Kezia with us when we went to visit two children's homes/orphanages in the city this past week. It was really touching to see the facilities, meet the staff and see these little children. Some were as young as three, others as old as 21 that were in the homes. We were impressed that one of the places has the children living in a house with "siblings" and "parents". Just trying to give these kids a chance at a stable life despite their past. The kids were excited to see us and especially Joel and Kezia. I think our kids were a bit overwhelmed at all these little children greeting them in Spanish. But after a while, they became a bit more outgoing and even asked if we could come back. It's definitely a place where we would be welcome to bring our kids to come and play with the kids. That would be a good experience for them all.

Asha has popped out more teeth, two more this week to be exact. She is coming down with a cold, but that hasn't really stopped her. Her passion in life right now revolves around Wilbur the cat. She loves that crazy animal and cries when she can't go outside to see him. I have to admit, I'm not even a cat liker, but Wilbur, he's not too bad. He isn't needy, isn't aloof, he justs lays around, doesn't mind being lugged around, is actually quite pleasant, and is very tolerate of rough little hands. Asha will make a bee-line out the screen door, climb up on the little table beside him and just pet him. It makes even me thankful for the cat that gives her, and Joel and Kezia, so much joy. In fact, everyone is so thankful that are kids are here for Wilbur because he just loves kids. He's kind of an answer to prayer because Joel was asking when we were in Fresno if we could get a cat and I told him not likely, but here we are in Bolivia, with a cat, the MCC cat, but still, we have a cat.

Carl was feeling a bit out of his element because he hasn't had much to do in the last few months. I think he gets bored easy and likes to keep busy. While we were still in Canada, there were projects and paperwork to take care of. I kind of liked the unemployed Carl who hung around the house doing project after project. But I knew he'd need something more. It's been a bit trying sitting around waiting for our job to start, but yet we understand that we should take the time alotted to us to adjust and figure things out first. So Carl needed something to occupy his hands, so we went to the market and found the only tienda with strawberries (the road to where the fruitillas come from is blocked still) and bought a kilo. Then we bought some sugar, then some jello and.....

Carl made freezer jam. And then because he couldn't find a spot in the fridge for the dulce de leche, he had to move the corn flour. Hmmmmm....he thought, I could make corn muffins. And that's exactly what he did. I kind of like the bored-because-my-job-hasn't-started-Carl. We've been eating really well! Though in the last two days, we did read our job description, met with our country rep, and were presented with the 75 keys that are for us to organize and keep. Things are slowly coming together for our position. There are parts of it that I can't wait to do, others that I will only be glad to leave for Carl, and parts that I wonder how in the world will we do them?

Last night I went with some of the MCC ladies to an English speaking bible study. I thought there would be maybe a dozen or two ladies, but when we showed up, there were over 40! It was quite the sight and sound. At first it was a bit overwhelming because it was so loud, but after mingling a bit, and sampling some of the great snacks, I felt better. I almost teared up when I saw one of the snacks was a type of square that my mom makes. I ate three of those because they tasted like home. We did some singing and then broke up into 4 groups for the study on one of Beth Moore's books. I enjoyed the discussion and hearing from where everyone was from. Most of the ladies were from some type of mission organization, some had been in Bolivia for a few weeks, others years, some even decades. Quite the mix in the group. And I met up with another person I knew from my high school days! Talk about a small world. I'm looking forward to going because until my Spanish improves to fully understand church, this bible study will be a place where I can be spiritually fed.

Tonight we attended our second potluck here with some of the other MCC workers. It worked out pretty well once some of us started to take initiative and figure out the menu. We ate pretty well, even "pumpkin" pie (which I can't remember the spanish word for the particular squash, but it's actually better than pumpkin). The gears started going when people were giving ideas on how this weekly event could work and how the hosts could do this or that. Slowly we are sinking into our new shoes.

And the most exciting thing that happened today is that I started with my Spanish tutor. Her name is Delicia and she just returned from MCC's IVEP program in Canada. In fact, she lived in the same town as my parents and parents' in law are, AND she even met my parents' in law. Such comfort in something in common! So Delicia and I spent two hours going over Spanish vocabulary, verbs, and she spoke in Spanish so that I would get used to how the language sounds. I'm excited about gaining more confidence with my Spanish and realize we are in a perfect place to learn. So I don't want to waste time and opportunity being ashamed of my lack of ability. Just a few days ago, Nati was explaining to me that she was going on holidays, that we would change our house cleaning day, and clarify our laundry day. And I got it! She then said thank you for being so patient and understanding. Oh my! I wish I could have had the words to explain to her how grateful I am for her patience and understanding with me and that I have appreciated her so much already. So all I could say was, Tu Tambien!

It's been a pretty good week I must say. And it's not over yet! Tomorrow we'll wander around and figure out more things with our job, I'll take a little jaunt over to the Spanish school down the way with Laurie, and then Carl and I will go back on Friday. We really need to make some decisions about school this next week, so you can pray for us that we will have wisdom to do what's best for the kids. We'll be still combing out lice for a few more days, and who knows, we may be at the Dr. again and scheduling surgery for Joel. We are constantly scrounging for change for the micros, and we are praying for the blockades to lift so people can get gas for cooking. Ah, there's never a dull moment in our family!