This is our home

Finally!  It has been a long time since I've been able to upload pics, let alone post them, but here we are.  We are finally home and we welcome you to it!  Now I would like to think that it is looking much better these days than these pics, but still.

Moving in!

It's the little details that make a house home.

The living room is looking emptier these days as all these boxes have been scattered
and distributed throughout the house.  Like a white canvas it
waits for the inspiration that will dress it to welcome our visitors.

This little staircase announces the steps that climb it every moment of the day.
There is such beauty in the creaking of the wood that celebrates the life
that is being made here.  I love that!

This is operations central.  Our dining room and kitchen are small but oh-so-efficient!  

The dining room portion.

The first space that got organized...

looking from the dining room into the living room, where I can see to the
front door and welcome the happy faces that visit us.

Laundry room and back door... when our feet are muddy, we come through the back door,
straight to the wash our clothes go!

These are about a month old, but hopefully I'll be able to update you again soon!

Almost a month (Picture Overload)

It is almost a month since I last wrote, and it seems to happen that way so often.  Before I know it life happens and a whole month goes by.  This time, between sickness and computer failures, well... you know how it goes.  There are deep thoughts in my heart that I don´t even have the time to post here, but they are recorded in my journal, for sure.   Daddy is away and we´re sick.  As it goes when you´re alone, we have broken things, we haven´t slept well.  Tempers fly, repentance ensues, and forgiveness follows.

When the house is quiet and everyone is asleep I am even more aware of his absence.  Temptation creeps in to resent, to be mad, to be sorry for myself... he is there, where we were all supposed to have been!  It is so not fair!, but then I remember that this life, after all, is not about me.  It is ALL about HIM.  His kingdom, His work, His love, His life.  Ben is away but we are both doing kingdom work, we are both being loved in the same perfect way and we both have life abundant because of a day like yesterday and, better yet, because of a day like tomorrow.  Today we wait... we wait like they did.  Except a couple thousand years ago they may not have really known what they were waiting for.  WE DO!  And if in light of that I couldn´t possible sit and feel sorry for myself.  I won´t deny it has been hard.  It may not get easier tonight and the days following... or it may.  But I have so much more to be thankful for!

So this is what is going on with us:

This face continues to be the most adorable baby face around here!

My chunk of white meat and gummy smiles!   She loves to be entertained, and smiles at anyone that will talk to her.

 Laying down is not her favorite thing, and is fighting gravity and her own body to try and stay up.  It is the cutest thing!

Chubby hands that attach themselves these days to anything that comes their way.  My favorite:  when she reaches for my face, or when those little fingers purposely curl around mine!

 Needless to say how much she is loved around here.

Our four year old has proudly (and finally) been willing to learned how to make her bed!

 And her brother thinks posing with your bed is the thing to do!

We find ways to be distracted... let me present to you "our swing"

 wind could not deter the adventurous spirit!

 I just love their going ons!

 We color on boxes...

 and we watch for Spring

and while we´re sick and daddy is away:

We play with our dinner:

 We make corporate efforts to make comforting foods, one mixes the dry stuff

 another mixes the topping

 and some of us are just plain cute

 Dinner art

 Comfort foods:  Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake!

This is long, this is very long.

There are days in motherhood, like today, when I really feel like throwing in the towel.  Don't worry, I won't (at least not yet).  But seriously, I'll give you a glimpse:  I wasn't feeling too well to begin with when I woke up,

::  at 11:30 a.m. and after about three meltdowns in the previous 15 minutes, I decide Benny should really go for a nap.  I wish I could just lay next to him...

::  Adriana needs juice, her cup drips, she cries.  I wipe the sippy cup, give it back.  It drips again, she cries again, I take it again, open it, wipe the rim, give it back.  It drips again, she is in full meltdown, her cup always drips, I take it again... but "what if it drips again!"  She cries more, I wrap a washcloth around it and give it back.  But, "What if it never stops dripping?"  I am terribly tempted to answer back with the same drama, but restrain.  Did I mention I wasn't feeling well?

::  Then we ate lunch, took a trip to the store, and on the way home decided to do cereal for dinner.  The baby cries, I take her to the bed and nurse her, she doesn't fall asleep so I go back down for my dinner, left over black bean soup.  Still not feeling better. 

::  Adriana spills her bowl of cereal, her new flip flops are now sticky... another melt down.  I wash them in the sink, show her.  But, "Now they're wet!"  I dry them thoroughly with a towel, give them back, refill the bowl.

::  Elena teases Adriana about taking one of her Cocoa Puffs.  Adriana moves her bowl out of Elena's reach.  Second bowl of cereal on the floor.  Quick!  Save the flip flops!  We clean, make corresponding apologies.  Everybody is happy.

::  Benny DUMPS his bowl of cereal... he just wanted to clean like Adriana did with Mama.  I should have just cooked dinner!  This drama is more exhausting than cooking dinner!  We clean and, oh relief, it will be bedtime soon.  I am not feeling well, remember?

::  Big kids are in bed, Giselle starts crying.  She doesn't want to nurse, she doesn't want anything.  I walk.  I rock.  She cries.  Benny calls, girls are playing, I settle them, Giselle screams.  Girls get up, I go in to settle them, Giselle screams, Benny is awake.  Benny is sleeping, Giselle is screaming, Adriana needs to use the bathroom.

::  Three hours later, I sit here.  There is a deafening silence and peaceful slumber has overtaken my rambunctious bunch.  I feel numb.  My nose is stuffy, I didn't want to get sick again.  I never did finish doing the laundry.  But...  but when I am getting ready for the pity party I remember all that I have been learning about Gratitude.  Rewind a few hours, and there, intertwined with the messy, the tiring, and the ugly, was beauty.  And if I dwell too much in how difficult it was, I'll miss it.  I will miss the fullness of life:
::  Benny asked me to "seep" with him during nap and wrapped his little arms around my neck.
::  Elena and Adriana were thrilled to find a sink their size in the store's bathroom and they looked so precious washing and drying their hands proudly without needing my help.

::  Benny jumped on every puddle from the store to the car, and as I saw the joy in his little face I made sure he didn't miss any!

::  Elena very maturely recognized the mistakes she made today and confessed them before we had any chance to approach her about them.

::  Ben recorded some of their games by letting them tell their own story and made them a movie.

::  They were so thrilled to see and wear their flip flops today, they made us wear ours, "It will be fun Mom/Dad!  Like a flip flop family!"

::  Adriana made herself be brave enough to wear her flip flops again after the sticky incident (she REALLY doesn't like sticky!).

::  Giselle shows her excitement with her whole body!  Her arms flail in excitement and she looks almost spastic with joy the minute any of us talks to her and shows her toys.

::  Ben helped the children pick up their bedroom before going to bed (and what a beautiful job they did!), and put them all to bed before leaving for his basketball game.

This day was full of hard, not-fun-at-all moments, but there was so much more to it, so much to grow, so much to learn.  So no, I am not going to throw in the towel!  I am going to revel in the fullness and the beauty of today, and trust me, I am not trying to convince myself here.  Truly, my heart is glad for this day.  Besides, I don't think I could find the towel anyway (unfinished laundry, remember?).

Not Forgotten

This little cyber world of mine has not been forgotten... just a little delayed.  So much in the mind, so much to do and fulfill has left me with no time to pour out thoughts here.  When I'm done wiping runny noses I hope to be back with some fresh inspiration and stories to tell.  In the meantime, I leave you with what I'm thinking about these days: 

I am thinking of Him.  The One that came like a lamb to rescue me...

Discovery

Well, I can´t take the credit for it.  It is not my discovery, but it is a fun one anyway.  On Wednesday night, we put the older kids to bed and as they drifted into peaceful slumber, we slipped on our shoes, bundled baby up and took a little excursion to a stranger´s house.  She is the friend of a friend, and though I know very little about her story, I know that we share more than just the one friend in common.  She married an "American" and left her homeland behind.  This we share with the friend that brought us together as well, so we met in her house.  We don't share a country of origin, but we share the same language.  Four of us gathered in her little living room and made acquaintances while we waited.  Two from Mexico, two from Guatemala.  We sat in her beautiful living room reflection of her life, a marriage of two cultures.  

About 20 minutes into our wait someone said:  "here he is", and on cue the four of us grabbed coats and shoes and stepped out into the cold of the night to greet our new friend of sorts:  Don Margarito.

Don Margarito has a box truck that he drives around the state.  He carries his truck full of Central American and Mexican products and delivers around the farms where such nationals work.  He caters mostly to working men, so most of his product is canned and some trinket snacks of the school recess type.  But more than the material content of his truck, his deliveries are of the emotional kind.  Who would have thought that so much of home could be felt in a conglomerate of boxes inside a truck?  Because there, in the midst of those boxes of cans, bags of chips, jars of salsa, and all that stuff, for a little bit of time I was a child in the little store around the corner of my parent´s house, and I was a girl in the little kitchen of the janitor of our school buying snacks at recess, and I was walking the central market as my mom bought the produce for the week...

After our brief encounter, I walked away with the most expensive chips I have ever desired to buy, a bag of "tostadas", two avocados, and a bag of coffee bread.  Just a little taste of home.  

 

 

And just as I have done too many times to count at my parents house, Thursday afternoon, right around 3:00 I sat down with a cup of coffee and traveled back in time...  all thanks to a friend, her friend and Don Margarito.

Child´s play

I am so happy that we are becoming weaned of the TV and more play is happening all around the house:

 

Maple Syrup

Until I came to this area, I had never tried maple syrup.  I used to believe that maple syrup was that thick, dark stuff sold in the "log cabin" bottle and I never really liked it.  Like peanut butter, maple syrup is one of the things that became a part of my life only 8 years ago.  My pancakes were enjoyed with honey, my lunch sandwiches were made with re-fried black beans.  So I absolutely fell in love with the "real thing" once I tried it, and I am so sold!  Never have my pancakes seen honey again!

So you will understand my excitement when I realized that I actually know people who own a sugar bush (ahem, is that what you call it?) and that I could get to see how this is done.  By the way, I have to say one of my favorite things of my school days was doing field trips... do you know how thrilled I am that I get to choose and be a part of my children's field trips?  Granted, so far I am usually the most excited:  "Girls, guess what?  We will go see how maple syrup is made?"

Adriana:  "What?  Maple syrup?  What's that?"

Me:  "The stuff we put in our pancakes!"

Adriana: "Ohhh"

Elena:  "Will there be wasps or bees?"

Me:  "No, maple syrup comes from trees!"

Elena:  "Are we going to be there a long time?"

Me:  "Well, I don't know, but they also have a barn with baby lambs."

Both:  "I want to hold a baby lamb!  Can we touch them?  Can we feed them?"

Yeah, so I hope I plan a few trips in there with stuff they enjoy, such as the baby lambs more often!  At any rate, here a few pics:

It begins here... in these beautiful woods.

They gather the sap from the tree as the weather warms up and the trees start "waking up" for the Spring.

As the sap flows from the roots to the branches to awaken the tree, it gets collected in these buckets.

It boils at insane temperatures!

And voilá!

Need I say more?

Moments

These are the moments that make up our days and are writing our story:

Sweet little babe

 Nap time!

 Making some chocolate and sugar goodies.

 Does it get any better than this?

 or this?

 watching and learning.