Mexico City "Summer"

Yes, by now you know that we live in Mexico. Mexico City to be exact. Not the beach. We don't live in tropical weather year round even though a lot of people think it's warm all the time here. Don't get me wrong, we get our fair share of sunshine and a nice warm breeze. We have hammock chairs in our back yard surrounded by flower beds to relax in During the Winter months...while you are standing in 3 feet of snow and  your car won't start. What you don't know is that while you are enjoying your summer sun and you are realizing that those perfectly warm days are why you live in Minnesota, we are here. . . sitting in our house. . . for the 82nd day in a row cold because it won't. stop. raining. 

The saying in the States goes something like this: 

April showers bring May flowers 

Right? Well here in Mexico City we enjoy a little song that goes: 

March showers bring hail, 

and daily rain and all of the trees turn green, 

the moss overtakes our patio bricks 

and you can't go anywhere until September 

because it's so wet that you can't get a bus or a taxi

There is so much rain that you miss the 

April, May, June, July AND August flowers

because you are running to your destination under 

your umbrella and don't have time to look around.

It has rained so so much this year that I actually bought rain boots for the first time in my life. It's raining as I type this but we did just have a 3 day stretch without rain (miracles still happen) and I got all of my clothes washed and out on the line until they were dry! Yesterday I was walking with my head held high because I HAD gotten my laundry caught up and for once I didn't have to 'finish drying' a load or two on all of the furniture in my home. I hung it on the line, without worry of rain and it dried. HA! Take that mother nature. So, on my way home I realized that this weather won't last long and I'd better ask the laundromat on the corner how much she would charge me to only dry my clothes. I'd run them on an extra spin cycle at home to ensure they weren't soaking wet and then bring them to her to dry in her machines. She said it would be 30 pesos/3 kilos of wet clothes. That is 10 pesos per 1 kilo. That's not too steep. So now I have a back up plan; instead of turning on my oven to warm the house so the underwear hanging from my fridge handle and shirt on every kitchen chair will dry out quicker, I will just take my clothes to the nice lady on the corner with the amazing smelling softeners. And she'll fold them all and put them neatly in a bag and tie it. And I can walk home in the rain, with my rain boots on, holding an umbrella and wearing a smile...knowing that September is JUST around the corner. And I'll be able to thaw my toes and dry my clothes. ha! That rhymed.  

I Swept the Floor of an Orphanage

I might cry as I type this post. My heart is conflicted for the hope that might be ahead or the crush of the waiting and waiting that more likely will come first. 

I walked down the steep streets turning one block this way and one block that way until finally I came to the street where the orphanage is. The street is on a hill and looking straight out I see the other side of the valley with its bright colored concrete houses tightly sitting shoulder to shoulder climbing the hill. The smog in the distance reminds me that I'm in the usually noisy city. But the street I'm slowly walking down is quiet.
                                                          As if no one knows it's there.
It was just after a hard rain. There were no moving cars. No people talking or shouting (which is rare for Mexico, there is always someone who is selling something). I came up to the door and I saw the sign. My heart swells a little bit wondering if my forever child could be in there right now.

I had never volunteered there before but I had been in the hogar (home) twice before this day. I had an hour to spare and thought this would be a great time for an over due baby fix. I rang the buzzer. The woman who answered the door didn't speak English so I had to practice my Spanish. Which is just fine, I need the practice. I said, "I have and hour free, can I help with anything?" "Oh come on in, you can help clean the dining room." UUhhh... "Ok, whatever I can do." Secretly wanting huff and puff like a little kid who didn't get their way. I wanted to cuddle babies! I smoothly stated, "Sure, I can help in the kitchen or with the kids, whatever you need." HINT HINT. She said there were only a few BABIES in the hogar at this time! YES!... THAT! I sighed and smiled and she said, "you can help in the dining room and when you're done there you can go up and see the babies." Deal. I went into the kitchen, met the cook, then offered my services. She handed me a bucket of extremely soapy water and some sponges and I went to assess the damages that had been made from breakfast. Dried eggs on the floor, cheerios stuck to everything, sticky tables and crumb filled chairs. 

I scrubbed with love, I wiped the chairs down with prayers, I swept the floor thankful.

Because if there were dried eggs on the chairs and table; that meant the children are fed.

My child is fed.
Because if there are cheerios and crumbs on the floor and chairs strewn about that means there was fun.

My child has fun.
and if there is dirt on the floor it's because their shoes drug in the outside dirt, it means they have shoes.

My child has shoes.

So I was thankful. I was so happy to serve, to clean. So glad to be in a place that cares for children, feeds children and clothes children.  

After I was done I quickly made my way upstairs to the nursery. I new there was a newborn baby boy but he wasn't seen. Through the window in the door I saw toddlers. I waved. I raised my eye brows and made silly faces. Then I knocked... 

Could one of these little ones be destined for me? For us? 

As I knocked the toddlers were smirking and coming towards the door with the caregiver. I sat right down with a little girl who I had met at the Children's Day fiesta. Her mom works at the hogar. With me sat a set of twin girls. And by sat I mean one of them ran and moved and danced. She is a silly little bugger. And her sister was a bit more cautious but equally silly. And next to me in a bouncy seat was a little dark haired fat faced little baby girl, about 5 months they say. A-dor-a-ble. I didn't pick her up until a little later but she was worth the wait. A little squish, a wiggler. Very sweet. 

It was a great first day. Who knows if any of them are adoptable. All I know is that I got to cuddle with some beautiful babies who's mommy's circumstances didn't allow them to be with their children. So I did my best to show them love.

 

  

We're ba-aack!

If you know us, or follow us on facebook then you know that in September we came back to Mexico. The same day as the year before. September 18th. We landed here in D.F. with no jobs, no housing and no real promise of what was next. But we felt like it was the right thing to come back.

Our plan was to first find a place to live that was close to Sally's school. We got an email the afternoon that we flew in that said, our apartment from before would be available the next day. That the woman was moving out and we could move in the next day if we wanted. Problem was, we didn't have the same income as last time. So I asked the land lady if we could pay a bit less. SHE SAID YES! Confirmation numero uno.

Next thing was to pay for Sally's school. YIKES.

Then we started getting the word out that I was officially starting up my Photography business here in Mexico to pay the bills while the Mexican Government found a paying position for Doug. So we got our website set up. If you click on that link you'll notice that we set it up in Spanish. We thought that our clientele would be mostly Spanish speaking. We soon found out that this was not the case. I started putting specials on Facebook sites and at church I handed out cards. And WOW! the support I got, but mostly with ExPats from the US and other countries. Word of mouth spread and I have been pretty booked this past 6 months. It's been amazing. Getting JUST enough to pay for rent each month has been a blessing. AND I'm enjoying the international portfolio I'm collecting. I have photographed people from Taiwan, Canada, Germany, USA, Ireland, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Spain, Columbia, Puerto Rico and Ecuador. They are all so different and so beautiful. So cool right?! Business is great, but because of all this work; lifting the heavy camera and repetitive motions with editing my arm has been aching a lot. So I've tried resting it and begging Doug for some massages of the shoulder and arm. It is better now that I'm aware of how long I sit at the computer doing 'extra curricular' activities that don't include editing.

Doug has had a few leads before we came back and had a big meeting the day after we got here. The meeting was with the 9 juvenile judges here in D.F. It went well but we are still waiting for funding from that project that they want to start so badly. So, after many pushed back meetings and maybes he finally in October started his own non profit advocating for juveniles in the prison system here. The non profit has started and many are interested in supporting him/us in this journey. At this time donations are not yet tax deductible but you still donate and can read more information by clicking on the link here:
International Justice Consulting OR follow him on Facebook. He gives great information on how you can help shine a light on excessive pre-trial detention in Mexico. We gratefully have received donations to be able to keep up our rent and keep Doug working but we still need more. If you haven't yet read his research or read about his new independent projects please visit those sites and educate yourself on his passions and his calling to give these kids a better life outside of prison.

Sally is doing well in school. Her Spanish is evolving, which is good. We still don't speak Spanish in the house. Sally's homework load is out of control this year. Crazy! It's like 3 different notebooks at least 3x a week. She has a hard time when she's so tired. She has been sick a lot since Christmas. With a cough and runny nose. But we kind of all have this strange allergy thing with the pollution. :/
She has been on and off again been asking about a sibling. She touches my belly, whines about it, talks about it, sings about it. But we just don't have the funds to do fertility right now, and I don't know if I want to ever do that again. However, we have talked about adoption but we need an income to be able to adopt here.

So speaking of adoption...

We had a meeting in March with a woman who is the director of an orphanage here in D.F. She is an American who lives here and does an excellent job with this orphanage. We first contacted her about adoption when we came in September 2012. At that time we got some paperwork back from her and some info about hague convention rules between the US and other countries. But nothing happened during that first 10 months here. But at this meeting (now in 2014) she went through their private adoption process with us in person and told us how we could potentially go about adopting a child or siblings from the children who's cases she was currently working with. There are 11. We were shocked to hear her tell us that we not only were already on the 'list' to adopt but that she had put us on it so long ago that now we are SECOND. Second! Say WHA?! She asked if that was ok and of course we said yes. But what will that mean for us now? Well, we had to get residency visas, which we just got the other day. They were $250 dollars per person. That was not in the budget (insert slight freak out here) but just like before the Lord provided just enough 'extra cash' and now we have them. Next she has to have a child or children ready and registered as adoptable. So now is the waiting period. We are praying this is the will of God for our family. We are praying that we honor God in the child/ren He chooses for us. We are praying for Amy as she goes through these legal issues to get these children ready for adoption, We are praying for the heart of the child/ren to be healed, prepared and upheld in this time of waiting for parents who will love them forever. Once the child is available for adoption we get to start spending time in the orphanage with a group of kids playing and getting to know them. It will be children who have parent chosen for them already and our potential child/ren. Each week they will take away a child from the playgroup and eventually it will be our family with just our child. They in that time will have gotten to know us, played with sally and had some connections with us. Then the child can ask to go somewhere fun with us if they want. Then at some point after the child has spent the night here and no longer wants to live in the orphanage we get to foster to adopt during the process (this is a new law and will be so helpful in the transition period). We are excited to share this news with you in hopes that you will stand with us in prayer. We are thrilled that we are on a 'list' but now we have to pray for the right child to become available in the time that we are here. Will you stand with us?

Thank you for following and reading and I'll try and keep everyone updated.

Amanda

Tourism and Transit

Holy cow you guys! I never finished my blogs about Italy! I think where we left off was we were in Rome at the Vatican and we were shocked at the amount of tourists.

Well to sum it all up we had a great last day in Rome, it was hot, it was crowded and we definitely hadn't seen it all. The city in it's entirety would have taken a few weeks to view. We loved getting to walk through the old buildings and touch ancient walls. I think on the last day we walked around the Coliseum and enjoyed the view from the tour bus. Our next stop was Florence.

We boarded a train in the morning and it took us through the countryside as the tracks carried us through fields of sunflowers and vineyards, into tunnels through the hillsides and over bridges will old Tuscan houses perched on the bluffs overlooking the rivers. I never knew how many shades of yellow there were until we reached Tuscany. The farm looking houses in each field were covered with red clay shingles, each one in their particular hue of golden. The sunflowers following the sun as it baked their tall slender cypress trees lining the long driveways to their entryways to their stucco homes. The vineyards were packed in their land, sometimes right up to the houses. The hillsides green and inviting. We were going pretty fast but the impact on our excitement was great! I for one didn't realize that Florence was in the middle of Tuscany. It used to be the capital for only a few short years but little did I know how much we would love this place.

We interrupt this blog for a special news report. Click here to read about a bolder that rolled through an unsuspecting vineyard!

The train pulled into the station in Florence, more in the city and surrounded by small older few story brick buildings and a couple churches. There were quite a few small cafes and restaurants. Motor bikes and pedal bikes were parked outside the station in their respective places. The air was hot. There were a few couples that we saw looking at their iPhones and such to point them in the direction of our next hotel. Living social had set up the entire itinerary and it wasn't just us on this adventure. I think there were 20 of us, unknowingly following each other to each activity and living arrangement. The hotel was across the street from the station. We later found out that a young married couple had taken a taxi with their luggage, around the block. It was like $25. When they got out, still looking at the terminal they realize that he could have told them they didn't need him. :/ This hotel was humid and older. We dropped off our things and went for a walk through the town. It was late afternoon and by the time we got up the hill to a small pond in a park the sun was low in the sky shining it's golden rays on the ducks playing in the middle of the water. We walked through a neighborhood and came to beautiful old buildings with carvings and statues, a Russian orthadox church with spires colorfully stretching to the now purple sky. We found a plaza with a giant gate. On our walk back around the town toward our hotel we found a small alleyway with couples walking and soft lights coming from the corners of the limestone buildings illuminating the brick street. I could see at the end of the block a different colored building. And it was SO tall, stopping the street from going any further it was just there. The closer we got the more we realized how massive it was. Now I hadn't read anything about Florence. I didn't know that this is the place of the David statue, or that it had this ginormous church called the Duomo. Read more about it here. This building is go.r.geous. After finding a cafe at the base of this towering church we walked just a short distance to our hotel and rest for the day that followed.
The next day we took the tour bus around the town learning of it's art heritage. There was one family that owned most of the art in the city. They clearly were extremely wealthy but they used that wealth to secure and protect a lot of art that otherwise would have been destroyed. From the top deck of the double-decker bus we climbed higher and higher until we overlooked the beautiful city and the massive church that we had seen lit up in the night time. It towered over all the other buildings. We then took the bus back down through the town and then up the other side to a hillside town called Fisole. The cypress trees decorated the hillside growing tall and slender to the blue sky. The large houses with all of their stature made you want to move in and never leave this view of the valley, the Duomo in the distance, the golden colors of the houses and apartment building below. We reached the top and got out of the bus. We continued to walk up the narrow streets to discover the charm of this old mid evil city. There was a small fenced in hillside of olive trees. Bluish sage colored smooth leaves quietly blowing in the breeze. No one around, so quite we reached a private drive higher up the hill and decided to stop there, stand on the gray stone wall and take in the view. This was a moment to remember. Olive branches at my feet. Tuscany beauty in the distance. Really didn't realize how much I would fall in love with this charming city that demanded you to relax and breathe in it's history and romance.

After the ride back down from Fisole we took a tour of the Duomo. We climbed the steps of the dome skeleton until we reached the top. On our way up we entered the dome before the last climb to the observation deck. The frescos on the ceiling of the dome were almost within reach. Some places chipping and falling. Still beautiful, telling the story of angels and demons. The view from that dome was just as breath taking as above from Fisole. The river in the distance, the breeze cooling us from the hot congested hike up the inside of the dome. I even got to use my nursing skills as a 60 something year old woman was overheating and clammy. In the cramped small halls of the inside of the dome we did our best to keep her from passing out. Scary for her, fulfilling for me as I haven't been working as a nurse and I felt helpful.

In the morning we walked early to one of the many museums in Florence to visit the David. The detail. The emotion you feel. It is so tall and so well made. Click here for info on the David The toes on one of the foot is all dented up from some idiot who decided to beat on it before it was protected... some people. The line wasn't long and we were in and out in 30 minutes but it was worth it. So beautiful. Now this is something you never forget seeing.

The last day we found out that Pisa was super close and the train ride was really cheap. So we got on a train and after 45 minutes found ourselves standing in the evening sun as it shone on the bright white facade of the leaning bell tower. Unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing. We took the cliche photo of us trying to hold it up, Doug of course wanted to be on the opposite side pretending that him in his mighty strength was actually pushing it over with just a finger. And after 6 photos of this beautiful place... my camera busted. That's right. 1 day before traveling to Venice, my pro-camera jams. Leaving me with only my little point and shoot to capture it's beauty.

Florence. You are in my heart forever.

Tourists

We are a funny breed of people. Tourists. With our camera on our necks and our ball caps of our home teams. Our maps in hand guiding our every step to see as many things as we can and walk where millions of people before us have walked. And I mean millions. In Rome, more specifically the Vatican city, there is an average of 3 million people per day that come to visit. That's a lot of tourists. We have been surrounded by Asian tour groups, European and families from Iowa.The vendors are from Bangladesh, India and Africa. There is a rainbow of culture here. But a lot of racism too, I'll write about that in a later post.

The second day in Rome after sleeping a mere 3 hours before the breakfast buffet we had tickets for the hop on hop off tour bus. Thanks to living social discounted trips!!

DISCLAIMER: Aside from what you may believe about Doug and I taking this trip to Italy. WE ARE POOR! We don't want to appear rich or loose with our money. We are taking this trip purely because we are celebrating 10 years of an amazing and difficult and rewarding marriage. We are spending time with each other that we haven't had in years and we are going to enjoy every minute of it. If it means spending $8 on a stupid picture at the Trevi fountain so be it. We deserve it and you do too. Debt is hard, but it shouldn't keep you from living and experiencing AMAZING things.

Okay, back to the double decker, red party tour bus. Just kidding. It wasn't a party bus, but the side of it did look like a party with it's squiggly yellow lettering and the bright red headphones they handed us to listen to the tour of the city made. They made me feel all bright and sunny. Although one of the Asian tours had neon green earphones, that would have made me equally happy. :) Man, I am having a rough time getting to the point today.

The bus drove us through ancient Rome revisiting the sights that we had photographed the night before in the dark. We drove past "The wedding cake" which is a huge museum all white WHITE marble that is atop a hill looking down the crooked street to the coliseum. This building and the 2 behind it were designed by Michealangelo and are stunning. We passed the coliseum and numerous round-a-bouts where the center was a fountain. The churches are old and beautiful. One looking as if it could topple. The first stop we got off at was a church, couldn't tell you the name though. Haha, I'm terrible. We went in and at the entrance there was a security guard that made me put on a paper shawl to cover my shoulders. It was again a hot day so I had on a tank top and I had to be covered. Some girls had to wear one on their waist to cover their legs. Out of respect for the church and for God we had to be covered or possibly be refused entry. At this church over 1,000 years ago it is said that there was a miracle and snow fell from the sky on August 5th. So we are just shy of 3 days away from this holiday that that celebrate by dropping millions of white flower pedals from the sky. Bummer. After walking through the church we made our way back on the bus and took it to the coliseum stop. It still looked as amazing as in the night however now was full of people. People everywhere! I'm happy I got pictures in the night when it was a ghost town. We walked through the ruins of what used to be the rich part of Rome and was now just ruins with some amazing churches that still stood the test of time. The houses and other small structures were now just blue prints of red brick in the ground. You can't help but wonder what it looked like in the day. Small brick houses covered in white concrete and as you'd come out of your front door in the morning you see the coliseum and tall pillared buildings all white and grand with size. Amazing. We didn't go through the coliseum, but we only had 2 days to sight-see and we didn't want to spend it in line. We hopped back on the bus and took the tour through the Vatican and then back around to "The Wedding Cake" and climbed the steps from the courtyard up to the roof of the building. We looked down and there was Rome. The ruins, the coliseum, the churches, Vatican hill. You could see the mountains dark and out of focus in the far distance and in the shade of the white marble we cooled down and just took in the city. The tour bus took us back through the city passed the chariot track where Ben Hir was filmed. A long oval track that is set alongside a hill in a ditch. There used to be stands surrounding it that held 4 x as many people as the coliseum. Tall trees line the park, their lower branches trimmed so there is just a tuft of branches with green at the top. They remind me of African safari trees only tall and skinny and they are all over the city.

We ended our tour with Gelato after getting off the bus at the station. As we sat at this outdoor mobile Gelato shop I couldn't help but wonder if the owners are secretly mafia... you have to worry about these things in Italy you know.

When in Rome

As we sit eating our cold peach mango Gelato after a long day of sight seeing I am given a moment to be reminded of all of the amazing things we have experienced in the last 24 hours. And also realized I had forgotten to tell you! Come enjoy a small slice of Italy with me.

ROME.

We arrived to Rome soaring out over bluish green waters off the west coast of Italy. The sea sparkled along the bronze sandy shore. To the right we angled back towards shore and to the runway just barely inland, Rome staring at us just to our right and the water now to our left. It was 12pm for Italy but for MN still only 5am. Our bodies were stiff and tired. We wanted to sleep during the flight but the sights of the Swiss Alps towering so close out of my airplane window through the clouds below all snowy and jagged kept my eyes fixed in awe. I think I did drift off for 5 minutes or so towards the end of the two hour flight from Amsterdam. We landed at Leodardo Da Vinci airport and took our one carry on suitcase (insert proud pat on my back for packing so light between the two of us in one bag!) down the moving walkways to a train platform that would take us into the city for €8 per person ($12 US dollars). The blue and white train was short with only 2 or three cars. You could move between them with the push of a button on the wall through a sliding door. The door in our cabin wasn't functioning so the people just pulled it open. I don't know If it was the broken door, the head rest of Doug's seat falling out on him as he sat or the scratched graffiti in my window but something tells me this wasn't the newest train in Italy. It was a smooth 20 minute ride into the center of Rome from the airport, crossing through open fields of tall dry grass bowing in the breeze. The train rocked my heavy head right to sleep just 2 minutes before we got to our station for the hotel. Doug awoke me and I was so disoriented! I mustered up enough energy to drag myself off of the train and then buy tickets for us to ride the public transportation. We stood in the HOT sun awaiting our bus. It was so strong. The bus took us to our street where our hotel was. doug had said "I think the first hotel we are staying at is a little sketchy" but he was way off. It was a new hotel with beautiful rooms, a restaurant, a pool and a few adorable bars and lounges. We checked into our room by 3:00 pm and we were just going to take a 'little' nap (after being awake for 36 hrs). As soon as our heads hit the pillows we were out! We woke up almost five ours later OOPS! In the words of Doug, when got to Rome we only had three days so we were going to "push through the tired" and stay awake once we got there and see as much as we could that first day! Haha. So much for that.

We did however wake up refreshed and by 9pm we were ready to go. We found a river walk with markets and restaurants adorned with couches and candle light. With the Tiber river raging on the other side of the white picket fence we sat down to our first taste of Italian food. There was music playing blending with the chatter of the people walking the river walk. We had penne pasta and brick oven thin crust pizza with no cheese. It was delicious! We made our way up the gray stone steps after dinner out of the river walk and to the stone purple lit walking bridge above. It was night and looking down back to the market we just walked through you could see the white lights lining the white tents of vendors and restaurants along the river. The streets were small square cobble stones much like Coyoacán. 

We followed our map holding it up like typical tourist as we walked through dim lit cobblestone narrow Alleyways. We passed groups of hipsters and small cafés. Waited to cross streets as mini cars and motor bikes passed. It was quiet and relaxing. So quiet actually. I remember saying to Doug, "For such a large city it is so quiet and you can still see the stars." Our cobblestone path lead us to the pantheon a large round tundra type building, once a church covered in white stone with pillars and white adornments ow showed its red brick skeleton. We rounded to the front where a column of white marble pillars stood facing a plaza with a fountain at the center and restaurants and candle lit tables lined the other four sides of the square. It was here that I felt like I was finally in Rome. 

Our late evening stroll continued down the back alleys of the Pantheon and to the fountain Di Trevi. This place was full of people, even at 11 at night. We were quickly approached by a young man from Bangladesh who was eager to help take a picture of us in front of the fountain with my camera. I politely declined but he finally convinced me to give it to him and he ran away with... just kidding. He didn't run. But he did scam me into having him take our picture with his Polaroid and $8 US dollars later he ran away before the picture developed... I wish I had just stolen his camera and ran. Crappy lit dark picture. Oh well, live and let learn right? The fountain was built as a facade to a building, the architect thought he'd make it something large and memorable. So to the arch with a merman statue he added fountains and more fountains. And it is memorable! For centuries people have thrown pennies into the blue pool for luck of a safe return back to the fountain someday. We however looked at our bank account, the fact that we are currently homeless and without work and a Bangladesh man just took $8 from us for a picture, realized we should keep our penny. Lol. 

We took another journey from the fountain to the coliseum. We turned a corner and woop there it is! So big! The tallest structure in Ancient Rome, so beautiful at night, the yellow lights adding contrast through the arches against the black night sky. We sat on a stone wall bahind a giant tree and talked as a few people passed, it was really quiet by this time. It was a half passed midnight when we decide we'd better head back to the bus station, only to find out that the bus line back to our hotel closed at midnight. Ruh ruh! But thanks to our 5 hour nap we had all the energy in the world. So at 1 am we made our way back to our hotel. 2 miles and 1 and a half hours later we got back to our hotel. 

I watched the sun come up over the city at 5:45 and We finally got to sleep by 6am and got to the breakfast buffet before it closed. I'd say it was a successful day. After all the day in MN was just ending as we get another sunny day in Rome.

End of the Beginning

Can you believe that our time is already up in Mexico City? WOW! I haven't blogged since Sally's birthday party (I must have been tired after that party!) That is sad. I know. Especially for those of you who follow our adventures around the world and live and breathe for my blog! Well, that may be a stretch. haha. Well I do miss writing and would beg that you please accept my apology and

hold on for one last ride.

Orientation August 2012 we arrived to hear rules and security precautions to living in the city and how to travel. Stay on main roads, don't travel at night, be careful about using your debit card in a cash machine that is hard to get your card in and out of (as someone may have rigged it to take your withdrawl) and all sorts of other warnings. So my preconceived notions were that we were going to be foreigners living in a hostile and dangerous land. Before we actually found a house and school I worried that something bad would happen to us. However, I knew that we were meant to go there and that we would be protected. This was going to be an exciting new adventure and we were excited about what this historical city had in store for us; Doug as a human rights researcher, for me as a nurse and mother and for our family as a whole. We quickly found out first and foremost that God had gone before us to pave the way for blessings ie: housing, friends, school, church and markets and of course a near by wal-mart. We knew that God had his hand in every part of our new Mexican life within the first 2 weeks. Our apartment was found the first day, perfect for us. The school... 2 blocks away from the apartment. The parents in the school became treasured friends very quickly. Everything just fell into place. After 2 months there we had tried 3 different churches, 2 Baptist churches and 1 mega 'non denominational' church. I found friends through a women's group at the English speaking Baptist church and really felt like I was in my childhood church in some ways even though I didn't grow up Baptist. I am grateful for the friendships that I have made in Whitney, Rachel and Christine. The Thursday morning women's bible study from our church allowed me to fellowship with women on a deeper level and gave me the opportunity to use some of my worship experience to lead the women in song for a couple of the sessions.

Some of my favorite memories that are written on my heart forever are the memories I made with my class of girls at the Casa Hogar. They have such a big piece of my heart. I will miss the laugh of Lupita, her naughty ways always making me fall deeper in love with her everyday. She had her cuddly days and distant, crabby days. He mother never came to visit and this made her have more cuddly days with me. I wanted to adopt her the more the nuns shared with me about her home life. But Doug reminded me often that she HAS a mother. Even if that mother couldn't support her or see her, she was still her mother. Then at one of my last visits at the hogar I walked through the huge peach colored door and walked into the courtyard and saw my Lupita, laughing and smiling as if not a care in the world. Hugging her tightly to her chest on a tattered old couch by the office was her grandmother. The same face as Lupita just a lot older. Such a special bond between them. It was like she had hope, had love and didn't need me. I don't know how often this grandmother showed up, but I hope that it's more often now that I've seen how much she connects with her.

Lupita, Fernanda, Natalia

Girls waiting in line for bread in my little makeshift classroom

I will miss the silly antics of my sweet Fernanda. Silky black hair cut into a bob, eyes black and bashful. This girl can make me laugh! She loved to cuddle and is VERY independent. Her art projects were always the last to be finished and she loved to say 'one, two, three!" The numerous hours I pushed her on the swings beat out the others as it was her favorite thing to do even though she had to wait until after snack and lesson. Her favorite thing though even more than the swings was to wash her hands. This girl was always first to the sink and had to do the soap by herself.

I will miss the goofiness of Natalia her also independent attitude was a tough one at times but I could get her to laugh so hard! She loves when I dance and also when I give her horsey rides on my back. Lucky for me (insert sarcasm) they ALL love getting piggy back rides (with horse sounds running through the courtyard as the other girls chase us). So once the line had been gone through twice I would be DEAD tired! I would close my eyes and say I needed to rest and they would all collectively scream and scare me awake. This was one of their favorite things.

Along with the three girls above I had over the course of my 9 months at the hogar, 14 students. All but my main 5 little ones regularly attended preschool during the days but quite often they were very sick with cold, coughs and chicken pox. So those days I had all of them and it was a mad house. I ran out of cookies and milk a lot faster, I gave out way more hugs and loves, the crayons disappeared faster, the glitter was spilled and I went home with a hoarse voice and a head ache but it was all worth it.

One of my last days there I had a conversation with a 12 year old girl who felt comfortable enough after all of our time together there to tell me that she was starting her first period. The conversation ranged from her discomfort in her tummy to how she is now a woman. It was a proud moment for me knowing that I got through that talk with a girl who isn't even my daughter but that she felt comfortable enough to share it with me. I'm not entirely sure if it was appropriate or not (Doug says 'no') but the conversation transitioned into how now that she is a woman she needs to honor her body and treat her body as a holy temple and that she needs to save herself for the husband God is perfecting for her. She was so receptive and precious. Maybe it just freaked Doug out because it was weird for him, but for us it was such a moment! I pray that God will use that conversation for good and that Favie will know that she is perfect and beautiful and that her body is the temple of the holy spirit and I hope that she will be one less pregnant teen in Mexico city knowing that. I know that's not a conversation the nuns would be having with her!

We took some memorable trips since the last time I blogged to. All of the cautions that they gave us on that first day of orientation made us more careful but we never had any issues while traveling the country. We felt safe all of the time traveling or walking home from the store at night. We spent Thanksgiving eating fajitas on a booze cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California (west coast) with my in-laws taking pictures of the sunset through the arch at the end of the peninsula. We spent Christmas with my parents in Puebla (to the East) exploring the Largest base pyramid in the world. We traveled via an Executive coach bus to Michoacán (to the West) for New Years. One of my favorite things was our trip to the Avacado Groves such a peaceful experience.

In May right before we packed up our house we took a trip to the southern shores of Oaxaca to Xipolite. A small town, quiet street with restaurants that spilled out into the street. It was a slow moving hippie town. We flew to the closest airport and took a taxi to the town. Such a contrast from our busy city. Our hotel was an open air old wood shack with 30 some rooms right on the ocean. I mean right on the ocean. It was so loud the first night at high tide I thought we would get splashed and was dreaming that the waves were coming in our balcony door. There was a fitted sheet and a top sheet. No comforter as it was such a warm damp climate. No air conditioning, just a ceiling fan. And it was bring your own towels and soap. $30/night! :) It was perfect. We lived in our suits and bare feet for 4 days. The weather was perfect, we arrived as a hurricane was leaving! Everyday was better than the one before. It made it really hard to leave. We took a minivan up through the twisty roads of the mountains to the city of Oaxaca. It was really curvy and scary at times when there wasn't a guard rail and you're looking down and you're above the clouds. It's not a great feeling. But it was absolutely beautiful. The higher altitude we drove the cooler and cleaner the air was. We stopped for a stretch break (during the 6 hour drive) in a small mountain town. People were wearing winter scarves and long sleeves. It seemed as if they stared at the strange looking white people in our shorts and t-shirts as we crossed the street to buy some hot cocoa! Me and Sally were so excited to have hot cocoa in the summer. We descended to a valley where the city was. It was a lot like Puebla only every street going our for blocks and blocks was nice, no trash, no crappy houses just historic buildings made into apartments or some kind of retail place or coffee shop. The main cathedral in the center of town was modest and the tall dark wooden doors and their all white etched glass windows with pictures angels were welcoming. Unlike the markets in D.F. here in Oaxaca the markets were

 just filled with embroidered clothing. We all got something to wear and maybe just maybe we'll all wear it at the same time for a photo and I can post it. We had good food and a nice relaxing time for just a day and then got on another bus to take us 5 hours to Mexico City to our home. It was a great way to end our time in Mexico...

But see.. that's the thing... it's not really the end. We want to stay in this beautiful country. Doug is done with his juvenile research but would like to continue the research a lot deeper. His interest for this country and it's laws is just getting bigger and he wants to make a difference. That will mean more time! Sally's school is also something that we cherish there and believe that it is the best for our daughter to do another year in the school perfecting her adorable Spanish. :) So we will hopefully be returning in the Fall for another year of adventure.

PRAYERS:
*That Doug will find a sponsor or Foundation that will sponsor his research and support him
  financially as a researcher
*I can quickly get my business up and running as a photographer in Mexico City.
*Language studies for me. I will continue teaching a photography course at a Christian Arts school  
  which is helping a ton for my Spanish practice but I need to get better!