Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Life Interrupted


A great picture of Matt, our visiting missionary, and the kids during our Saturday kid's club. It can get crazy at times. And as I've shared one way or another, I am un-learning how to not have a sterile, predictable day or a life for that matter. Case in point, last Saturday one of the girls mentioned that they wanted to spend the night with their siblings. So I planned on having a few but 7 showed up. This was Matt and Molly's last night and they wanted to be present for as they termed it "the last supper". So we had a sleepover and the next day I decided to bring the kid's to church with me and Veronica. Well, preparation was chaotic, there was shouting and laughing and water everywhere as they each tried to get a shower in before church! Then some of the girls showed up in their p.j.'s before we set off. I asked them why on earth were they in their p.j.'s? They said because their clothes were wet and dirty. So off we went, p.j.'s and all. The p.j.'s were actually quite cute with their dangling earrings. I took them to the market with me and we had ice cream afterwards. Typical Sunday morning! But it was unexpected, life always is at some point. It reminded me of something that I read in one of Amy Carmichael's books regarding how God will not allow you to be a 'private' Christian. You are intended to be a superhighway:
"It is the way of the Psalm that shows us a cross-section of the life of the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Highways are open roads. Roads are not made for admiration, but for traffic. "God breaks up the private life of His saints and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No one can stand that unless he is identified with God," said Oswald Chambers...."
And so when others say that we are not called to be a doormat for others, well, take it up with Him........

Coffee and Cookie Time


After a little time of hesitation, with fear and trembling I invited the mothers of the children that I teach to our home for an introduction that is somewhat late considering that I started the class last year. I say with 'fear and trembling' because I am not one to just be spontaneous. I need to know from Will when he wants to be 'spontaneous' ahead of time, so that I can be ready. I go over the scenarios in my head until they feel comfortable then I do it. Crazy, I know, yet there have to be others like me out there, right?? Anyway, twelve moms showed up and 20 small children with them. Thank you Lord, that Molly was with me. I would have drowned in a sea of chaos. I introduced myself, our mission, our desire to help strengthen their children's faith. The mothers seemed to be very open and some were just smiling and were very encouraging to me. I explained that I also wanted to have an after-school program for the little kids to give them a headstart with learning to read and write. What great timing....right in the middle of my explanation one of the mom's interrupted the meeting saying that they needed to leave shortly because they all needed to attend a government mandated class that teaches these mothers to read and write their own names! I couldn't believe it. So, next week I will begin by the grace of God. Before the mother's left we served them cookies (luckily I overbake) and what we consider very weak coffee with LOTS of sugar. They thought it was yummy. Then we continued our class with the kids, haphazardly.....Stepping outside of my comfort zone is always a challenge for me. I hate the fact that I have to ruminate over ever detail in my head before I do anything. It's the curse of living my life up in my head. I'm learning to live in the present and out of my heart. Takes time.....

Monday, April 5, 2010

Sabado de Gloria





























Took the kids to the local park in San Lucas for a picnic and swim! Two car loads later, we made it. Had a hard time finding a grill to use, Will had to coax a group of Mayan ladies to let him grill our hotdogs and he would leave the briquets (they wanted to know all about them). It was a crazy time of noise and people and more noise and people. It seemed like all of Central America was at this park. All the parks here were the same way. This is how they spend their Saturday before Easter morning. The kids had a blast and we survived. All adults needed a siesta afterwards.....

Good Friday in Antigua














































Got up early (whew...6 a.m. we were out the door) and headed to our first Easter celebration in Antigua! Here's a pic of our missionary friends, Matt and Molly and our Guatemalan kids and our first family (Veronica, Michelle and Rudi). We were amazed at the artwork of the alfombras (carpets of colored sawdust) and the amount of time and effort to construct each one. It truly is a labor of love. The main procession was HUGE! The platform was like one enormous flat casket. The men's faces wore the pain they must have experienced carrying it around the streets of Antigua. The first parade was about 3 hours long. We spent our time watching the floats, the children collected the little adornments that were within the alfombras (so did Will!) He actually collected some of the flowers left behind. For the family and kids this was their first time in their own old capital. They hardly ever get out of the rural area they live in. They couldn't sleep the night before because they thought they would sleep in and we would leave them :(.....We had a wonderful time, despite the heat and crowds....












































































































































































































































































































































































Thursday, April 1, 2010

HE IS RISEN!!

What an incredible gift!....Pictures for the first time since I've begun this blog! And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks Molly :) This is a picture of our table center piece. The flowers are from the local market, the risen Christ made from a carpenter that really got into it and made him a little larger than I needed, but hey, it works! And the tomb is my attempt at paper-mache. Worked out really well, it's amazing what you can do with modge podge and a little chicken-wire and leftover stationary. Last night we watched "The Passion" again. And it still is a picture that leaves you overwhelmed and silent at the end. All for the love of each one of us, that's our Jesus. He is why we are here, He is the reason I continue on this journey of transformation...I expect it, I long for it.

Our other picture is an attempt to capture our new method (new for us)of teaching the history of our faith to the children. It's the montessori method. It's called "Godly play". Instead of traditional teaching of just transferring information from my head to their heads with lots of motion to 'keep them interested', you leave space for God to speak. By simply using our little props we share the story but leave space for the children to wonder, to listen, to be present. You don't have to fill every moment with speech. And it teaches the children to just sit and listen, meditate. Alot of times it's more about entertaining the kids, and eventually you have to be more entertaining then the last time. And even the 'craft time' is really time for them to express what they feel the Holy Spirit is saying to them through the story. I don't need to create the 'craft', they simply are offered the medium in which to express themselves. Hard at times because this requires them to be self-directed. But getting 'out of control' is a good thing. God can speak to them directly. I receive alot of joy just using my own imagination (and some input from others ideas) to create the individual props for each story. Our Resurrection story had all the disciples, Jesus, Mary and her friends, the Roman soldier, Judas and his money bag, the bread and wine, the crosses, the thieves...all made from old-fashioned clothespins. And let me tell you trying to dress all of them was a challenge! But I love it, absolutely love it. To see the children sit practically in silence as we place all the figures during the story is priceless to me. They just watch with intensity and then at the end we ask what is called "wondering question", open ended not asking them the questions expecting them to answer like a parrot whose been trained to know what to say. I'm already onto my next set of props.
This is our first Easter here and we look forward to celebrating with our friends and neighbors. Tomorrow we are off to Antigua to witness one or more of their processions through the streets. We hope to find parking! Then on Saturday we are taking our children to the neighborhood waterfront for a picnic and fun. For some it will be there first time there and it's just 7 miles away. I'm grateful for this time of remembrance for all the joy and grace that has been given, not only to us, but to the world!