Camp Time

Wow. We're in July. Actually, we're nearing the end. I should probably post about the vacation Bible school held at our church last week. But, I'm going to show you what we're doing this week instead. Yesterday, we started camp here at home. It's my way of spending time with the kids and getting back into routines and good habits this summer. The kids wake up happy and ready to go, exercising and eating meals from the 4 food groups and implementing routines while receiving motivation from a star chart and family activities. Yesterday, they decorated and made their own canteens from OJ bottles.They called the camp "Camp Animal Power" and named their cabin "The galloping horses." Here's a picture of them exercising this morning. We started with some warm-up exercises, then walked/ran around the park trail 3 times, which is 0.6 miles. (Joseph did 8 loops!). Rebekah and Jonathan worked on a sand castle afterwards while Joseph tossed around the basketball with Dave and me. He also tried his hand at photography . . ..

All in all, we had a very nice morning. We plan on eating what Joseph picked for lunch today - chocolate/peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread, red fruit yogurt, and mangoes - yup, bread, protein, dairy, and fruit - all 4 food groups.
Later on we'll try s'mores a la Mexico - marshmallows are different here.
Well, I'm off to the showers. We've got more planned today :-)

New places

Last Sunday Dave was invited to speak at a church in the state of Campeche. The city is called Calkiní and sits just across the Yucatan/Campeche border, about an hour drive from here. It reminded me of our days itinerating, visiting churches in the States for services on Sundays and Wednesdays, mainly, to share our desire to minister in Mexico and our need for prayer and financial support. It is always a blessing for me to go new places and meet new people. I had the opportunity to talk with the pastor's wife Tili at length which was a welcome change to the activity that sometimes overtakes our time with people. They seem to be very forward thinking and have worked hard to overcome some of the legalism that permeates the church culture in this area. Between services, one of Dave's students took us to eat at a restaurant in the city. Interestingly, it had a pool which apparently you could swim in before or after eating. We, of course, didn't come prepared to enjoy that aspect of the location :-P

But I did get some cute pictures of the kids while we were there.
The kids are always ready to have a good time. So, instead, they played tag on other side of the pool, and they got friendly with the waiters and played with them using the walkie-talkies that were at the waiter station. Before we left, Jonathan returned to the counter to find his "friend" in order to say goodbye!

In the evening after the night service we went to an outdoor taco place and had "tacos al pastor" which is Dave's favorite meal here. It is a seasoned pork with onion, cilantro and small pieces of pineapple on what most Americans would call a soft taco - either flour or corn, take your pick. (The hard curved Taco Bell tacos just don't exist here!) After the kids finished, they ran to the nearby park - you know the kind with metal equipment, with railings missing at the top of the slides, etc. - to enjoy a few minutes of playtime before the drive home.

Since coming to Mexico, I think I have loosened up as a parent. I know I will always feel protective, but I have felt the need to "allow" my kids to be in less than safe environments and more than an arm's length away. Raising kids teaches you so much. Every day is a learning experience and I have SO far to go. I'm very thankful for me 3 blessings.

The Little Things

The other day I was in a well known grocery store that sells a whole lot more that groceries here in Mérida. Have you ever heard it said that the tendency in this type of store is to buy more than you come in to buy? Has that ever happened to you? Well, I have learned that when you live in a foreign country and you see something new or something that is sold in the States but not here, it is a good idea to buy it (evaluating the need/cost, etc., of course). Why? Because tomorrow or next week or the day you have planned to make it a part of your dinner, it won't be there!


Ok, so I'm walking through the store and what do I see but Dr. Pepper. I know, you're saying, "Dr. Pepper? What's so big about that?" - Here's the thing. I've NEVER seen Dr. Pepper here! They don't seem to know what Root Beer is either, but I haven't been so lucky as to find that one. Anyway, I just had to buy some cans. That led me to thinking about snacky foods and movies, so we enjoyed a movie night as a family with popcorn and Dr. Pepper - great family memories :-)
You can tell that the kids thought it was pretty special, too! You can almost hear them from their looks in the picture "It isn't every day that Mommy gets us our own can of pop!"

I remember stuff my Mom did when I was a kid, too - like buying the "sugary" cereal when she had a coupon and getting the big, crisp shiny apples and large juicy oranges to put in my Easter basket on Sunday morning. Thanks, Mom, for the memories and the example to do "just a little extra" when you could.

Vacation Days vs. Sick Days

Here in Mexico, the kids get a nice long vacation for the Easter holiday. And, yes, it is because of Easter, not Spring ;-) So, starting back on the 15th of this month, the Ides of March, all the way until today - our kids have had off of school. The first week involved a lot of church activities like I wrote about in the Easter blog, but this second week has been a little disappointing, to say the least.
On Monday, we kind of played "catch-up" with laundry and cleaning and such. Tuesday, we reserved for going to a water park here in town, but it was (now don't laugh) a little chilly for a day of water activities. So, we changed out plans and went to a museum and then had a picnic in the park. It was an enjoyable day even though the kids were pretty sad about not being able to swim. Dave and I especially enjoyed the cool breezes and sunshine after our picnic while the kids played on the playground equipment at the park.

After this relaxing family day, things pretty much when downhill. It started with me on Wednesday . . . I will spare you the details. Basically, I was in bed in pain or in the bathroom. The days following did not keep me in bed, but I was definitely at less than 100%, without much of a clue as to what was causing my cramping and trips to the bathroom.
Then Dave got hit on Thursday, but with something completely different.
Our poor kiddos, vacation practically ruined due to their parents' ailments. We rented some movies, we let them play in our pool one day, and we let them play on the computer. They made a fort with their beds. Rebekah worked on a project for school. We spent a morning at a mall where the kids jumped on an indoor blow-up slide/plaything and we shopped for shoes and socks. We finished with lunch in the food court where I had noodle soup. They also played in our backyard of plants and concrete. But even that ended up a little stressful for me with them discovering what little mud we have and combining it with water from the tap outside - well, you know, boys will be boys, - this mom just wasn't in the mood to have to deal with the clean-up necessary. Today the kids are inside again, playing with each other and listening to Dan and Louie (thank you AG World Missions!). The kids have actually done a lot to pitch in with stuff around the house, too - helping prepare meals and working together to make sure the table is set and cleared. I'm really proud of them for taking the bad with the good :-)

Well, it turns out I may be dealing with a pesky little critter called an amoeba. Not fun. But I now have some medicine to deal with is. And Dave has a serious sinus infection for which we are trying to discover the correct antibiotic.

I'm thankful for our God who sees our needs and situation. Yes, I would love to experience His healing RIGHT NOW. But, I realize that God can also use circumstances to teach us something about Him or about ourselves. I guess I'm still learning.

Bowling Date

Dave and I have started a tradition with our kids to take each one out weekly to have some one-on-one time with them. We do a rotation where he and I switch off every week and the kids each take a turn so that in 6 weeks time, each child has had a special day out with each parent. We don't typically spend very much money but we do make sure to choose something done "together." This past week it was my turn to go with Jonathan and he wanted to go bowling! I have bowled before, of course, but it's a whole new set of words in Spanish and it was a little out of my comfort zone - but, we went and had a super time! It was fun for him to see his score on the computer overhead. I did beat him - but barely!

I really enjoy the personal time with the kids - away from interruptions and things that distract. Afterwards, we had some ice cream sitting at a bench together. While eating, two men walked by and Jonathan said to me, "there go the bad guys" and from there we had fun with a make-believe story of where they came from and what they were going to do. In the end, we were going to share Jesus with them so that they wouldn't kill people anymore . . .. It's fun to see how our kids' minds work - they are so amazing. Who knows where our next adventure will take us . . .

Happy Day of Love and Friendship

The title is a rough translation from the Spanish. People here aren't big on the Day of a Saint named Valentino. It was fun to see the people on the sides of the streets today selling heart balloons and all different kinds of flowers. Dave brought home a rose for both Rebekah and me and got special keychains for the boys today. Me? Well, my mom was always big on leaving little notes on special days and my dad has a habit of finding lucious chocolate covered strawberries, so I decided to go that route (by the way, thanks Mom for the call today!). When the kids came down for breakfast they each had a few gold chocolate coins and a little homemade card from Mom and Dad with a coupon inside (so, tell me, is it coo-pon or cue-pon??? comments are welcome . . .). Rebekah and I get to have a girl's outing of shopping, Jonathan and I played baseball in the front yard, and Joseph got to get out his Bubble Blower (a birthday gift) and make giant bubbles - aren't they cool?

Yes. It's beautiful, sunny, and it hit 90 degrees today. I should have turned on the sprinkler :-)

I know the "gifts" weren't anything big, but I know the kids appreciate my time as a playmate as well as a mom and teacher. I need to do it more often. After saying that, I think I'll go hang out with my hubby - after all, it is Valentine's Day!