Thursday

Today Micah asked me why he was born a boy and not a lion. Each evening he gets in lion mode and prowls around growling.

Still No School

The boys are trying to catch another horse to ride. Then they rode down the mountain side to a well and watered the cattle.







Supposedly the boys will go back to school on May 18th, but I'm not holding my breath. Actually it makes life so much easier for all the other learning that is going on. On Tuesday, all four of us spent the whole day in Rancho Bonito. There is a "Work and Learn" group from Chihuahua here for the week helping build cisterns. It was wonderful to be able to spend the whole day with the 4 families and group and not have to worry about getting homework done or getting to bed by a certain time. Isaiah really got into helping build the cistern. Micah had fun playing with all the other kids there. I helped one women gather and prepare local materials (crush and sift rock for dirt, collect, crush and sift donkey manure) to build a stove. (see earlier post.) The base for the stove was too small, so we collected rock and mud (mixed with donkey manure and water to make adobe) and expanded the base. It was SO much work! I've helped build stoves before, but never helped this much with the collection and preparation of the materials. Now I have a much deeper appreciation for the stoves! I didn't take any pictures as my hands were covered with mud and manure all day.
And Martin. He glowed with contentment.

Going Camping

For Isaiah's 7th birthday, Merideth and Kiara gave him some coupons. One of them was a coupon to go camping. Isaiah has been thinking about this for awhile (!!!!) and cashed in his coupon Saturday night. To read more about their time, check out Merideth's blog (on the right ) "Weekend Camp out" (sorry I can't seem to post the like right here, right now.

Mother's Day

Micah fell asleep on the kitchen floor with mama cat Canela and her kittens.




Mother's Day started Sunday morning at 1am and lasted till midnight on Sunday. They call Sunday morning (1am ) "noche libre" - the night is free time when young people get together, go to houses and wish their mother's a happy mother's day by playing some traditional songs on their car stereos. One group walked around town accompanied by a live band. We could hear music during the night (very common here), but fortunately our friends waited until 6:30am to blast the music outside our bedroom window. Lots of confetti on the head, roses, and gifts. The bouquette of flowers they gave me was incredible! I did have to work a bit on Sunday, but was still able to hang out with friends, laugh, and eat some delicious food. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY - and THANKS MOM for all you do.

Rancho Bonito - Stove Building

On Friday I had the priveledge of accompanying Bernadina and Saturnino to Rancho Bonito to watch them teach a group of women how to build the wood-saving stoves we promote. They (Bernadina and Saturnino) were AWESOME! They both have lots of experience building and using these stoves. (It's MCC's mold.) They not only showed the women HOW to build the stove, they talked about WHY they do things as they do. And the importance of DOING while learning, so the learning sticks. Another wonderful and fulfilling day. We'll do this again next week in Teticic where a group of 15 people want to build stoves. I learned a lot and really enjoyed being "out".

Thursday in Chiaucingo - Part 2

After we ate pizza and tacos, Filomena said, "What will I do with the rest of this yeast? Can we make donuts? Do they call for yeast?" I had the More-With-Less cookbook along, and there is a good donut recipe in it. But I had never made donuts before.....well, no school tomorrow, Martin was still in Tlapa (gone all day getting supplies and a truck fixed), so we had time. The boys were having a great time with their friends. It seemed like the thing to do, so we did! The recipe made more than 100. They fried them outside. The sun set. The donuts were so good that Rosa and Julie decided to fill a bucket and sell the donuts in town. They made $73 pesos and came back with just a few only an hour later.

Again, it was wonderful to spend so much time together and be a part of the family.

Thursday in Chiaucingo - Part 1

On Thursday the boys and I went to Chiaucingo. They played with their friends, and I played with mine :) We made pizza, tacos dorados and pineapple drink together and had a wonderful time. They are so creative. I appreciate the way they welcome us into their home and their lives. We stayed ALL day!





Norma made a pineapple drink using the pieces that we didn't use for the pizza.

Prayers from Pastor Megan in Chicago

our pastor megan sent these poems the other day. i want to remember them. thank you, megan.

"a prayer for returning to God after enduring a difficult time"

god, I need to know that you are with me, that you hear my cry. i long to feel your presence not just this day, but every day. when i am weak and in pain, i need to know you are beside me. that in itself is often comfort enough.

i do not pretend to know your ways, to know why this world you have created can be so beautiful, so magnificent, and yet so harsh, so ugly, and so full of hate.

the lot you have bestowed upon me is a heavy one. i am angry. i want to know why: why the innocent must suffer, why life is so full of grief.

there are times when i want to have nothing to do with you. when to think of you bring nothing but confusion and ambivalence.

and there are times, like this time, when i seek to return to you, when i feel the emptiness that comes when i am far from you.

watch over me and my loved ones. forgive me for all that i have not been. help me to appreciate all that i have and to realized all that i have to offer.

help me to find my way back to you so that i may never feel alone. amen.


and now something else, because it just occurred to me that you'd enjoy it. i used this as the call to worship this past sunday when i was leading worship:

Poems can’t be translated; they can at best be approximated in a different language.
In a poem the language counts as much as the message.
God is the poet.
If we want to know what God says in a tomato, we must look at a tomato,
feel it, smell it, bite into it, have the juice and seeds squirt all over us when it pops.
We must savor it and learn this tomato poem “by heart.”
But what God must say can’t be exhausted in tomato language.
So, God gives us lemons and speaks in Lemonese.
Living by the Word means learning God’s language, one by one, a lifetime long.
--Brother David Steindl-Rast (senior member of a Benedictine community in the finger lakes region of NY, Mount Saviour Monastery), Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer

Still No School

When schools closed in April, there was talk that they would reopen May 6th. On May 5th we heard over the town loudspeaker that the date was changed to April 11th. We'll see tomorrow if that is true or not :)
Meanwhile, we keep doing all kinds of out of school stuff. We getting ready for summer vacation I guess. Here are some pictures from our time in Chiaucingo on Thursday.

No School

So the boys has been out of school since April 28th, due to the swine flu. (Oh, just to clarify, Isaiah and Micah are well. Schools across the country closed down to prevent the spread of the swine flu.) We've done all kinds of things. Some afternoons our friends Alondra and Andrea come over. Micah spent one night and one day at their house. Our tree has mangos and the kids love to have a mango with lime and chile on a stick treat.

May2, 2008

Did I write this last year?
from the 365 Ways to Peace calendar:

"The Old Testament word for peace (shalom) includes healing, reconciliation, and well-being. Peace is more than the absence of war; it includes the restoration of right relationship."
-"Commentary" on Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective

Swine Flu

Thanks everyone who as written and expressed concern for us and the people with whom we live and work. As far as I know, everyone here is okay. The nearest confirmed case is 2 hours from here in Chilapa. School closed last Tuesday and will be closed until May 6th, as far as we know right now. Schools throughout the country are closed. A number of people in town are wearing surgical masks. Events are being postponed and cancelled.

Work is still moving forward. We are sad that the Bluffton University group that was scheduled to come next week had to cancel their trip, but we understand.

We're doing fine. Juggling work and kids who are unexpectedly out of school. Helps us get ready for summer schedule :)

If you want to read more, check out our co-worker Kiara's blog. She is living IN Mexico City right now. There is a link to her blog on the right hand side of this page.

Mistake. O sea, Chance to Learn.

So I made what felt like to me, a big mistake this week. I've written about Aqulina before. She and her husband Placido live in Chiaucingo and are major promoters there. Aquilina helps us with all kinds of things, organizing meetings, contact person for projects, I could go on and on. Placido makes the toilets for the dry latrines and is also very helpful with the projects. So recently Aquilina helped get 100 bags of cement from the municipal president for 36 dry latrines in Chiaucingo. She continues to help out all the time, even though she already has her dry latrine. She has mentioned a number of times recently how much work it is, looking for funds, organizing groups, distributing material, helping with the construction, answering questions etc.

Well another group of people in Chiaucingo would like to build 40 cisterns. Aquilina helped them fill out and turn in the forms to us awhile ago. Last week I had a meeting with the group, and I told Aquilina that she didn't have to come, I could work with the group and the group could elect a committee and, well, we'd see what happened. (Aquilina already has a cistern.) I thought I was giving her a way out. I thought I was helping take some responsibilities off her plate. I thought it would be a good opportunity for other people to take on more responsibility and share the load.

But after the meeting, Aquilina pulled me aside and told me how much I had hurt her, that she felt like an old dishrag tossed aside and forgotten. (While I had the cistern meeting, Aquilina was at a garden meeting nearby. She was listening with one ear to the cistern meeting and one ear to the garden meeting. Both meetings were at the local clinic.)

I felt horrible. Later I was able to celebrate the fact that our relationship is such that she was able to tell me that I had hurt her. She said that she should have been at the meeting. Last year's committee should have been there to "hand off" the responsibilities to the new committee. She said she wants to keep helping out. Yes, it's a lot of work, but she wants to do it.
So we talked and talked. And cried and cried. And hugged.

Later at the office I talked with my coworker Manuel and together we came up with the idea to invite Aquilina to work with the group in a different capacity - as a "bridge" between the group and MCC. Manuel talked with Aquilina. She said she would think about it. Then I talked with her, and she said yes. Together we made an agenda for the next meeting and we co-facilitated the meeting. A new committee was elected. So now the committee from the community, Aquilina, and me - all 5 of us are working to find funds for the cisterns. And so the learning continues.

Around Home

Some pictures from around home.

TOO HOT! It gets really hot (around 100f) in the afternoon these days. The mornings and evenings are still pleasant.



I found these bags under the bed during the week. When I asked Micah about them he said he had packed up his clothes because he's moving to Chuchi and Malena's house for a few days. "Well" he said, "I'll be here for 5 days and then I'll go live with them for 1 day. It's just hard for me to be with Isaiah."


I took this picture the same day Micah decided to move out.



Hang in there!

Kittens

Awhile ago I wrote that our cat Canela had kittens. They are in an out of the house (shocking, I know) and, yes, adorable! We're having lots of fun with them (mostly the boys :)
Isaiah and I both took videos of them recently. Will post them on facebook.

Huge Disappointment

We are so sad that the Bluffton University group that was planning to come visit us next week had to cancel their trip. We TOTALLY understand and agree with their decision to cancel, with the swine flu situation as it is. We were very excited and looking forward to being with them.

I took this picture when I went to Rancho Bonito last week. I was arranging homestays in the community for the group. The plan was to stay with families and help them build some cisterns. It's an absolutely beautiful place. The variety of pig markings caught my eye.

To The River Again

On Saturday we went to the Ixcamilpa River again. This time with Chuchi, Malena, Rosa, Guerro and a whole bunch of cousins. Despite the first news of swine flu, we piled into the back of Chuchi and Malena's truck and headed out. It's so awesome how much fun everyone can have in just a bit of water. And how delicious food tastes afterwards. We bought some really sweet locally grown watermelon. And on the way home, stopped to pick ciruelas (small, native plums). Ahhhh......