Two years of Love

 

Miguel and I were blessed with a little weekend getaway to San Carlos this year. This was our view from the patio of the place we rented.

I was also blessed by my sweet hubby driving all the way there and back.

I just got to relax and enjoy the ride! :)

Friday evening we took a little walk to explore the beach. There were rocky parts and sandy parts. I liked that...a little bit of both! Here we are standing on the rocks. Our house was up on the bank over a little cliff.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day at the beach and walked down it to the area in the photo above. You might be able to see a cave in the center of the photo. Anyways...the sea was very calm and we swam/walked out to where that cave was and there were lots of rocks with sea urchins and green plants. The rocks dropped off in front of the cave and there were lots of yellow and black fish. We even saw a few blue fish. It was an exciting discovery!

In the late afternoon we drove out to the "lookout." Here are a few views!

It's the first time we've been to San Carlos over a weekend and there were definitely more people. There was a fruit stand by the lookout so we got a big glass. It had coconut, pineapple, mango, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumber. Then we added lime juice, chili powder and chamoy! A Mexican dream!

The lady we rented from lent us her grill and we had some steak tacos Saturday evening.

Sunday we traveled back home.

So thankful for such a nice little trip!

    Have any of you heard of Sara Hagerty’s new book, Adore? I am enjoying it. The message of the book is to use our “middle minutes” (little times in the day) to adore God. The second half of the book has chapters that guide you in adoring God, focusing on His different characteristics. 

    Right now I am in the chapter of Adoring God as “My Strength.” I don’t always do well at really taking the time to let the verses sink in. At first glance, my verse today was so familiar and yet as I pondered it, it came to life in new ways! Maybe the thoughts that came to me can inspire you as they inspired me!

“The Lord is my Strength and Song, and is become my Salvation.” Psalm 118:14

Adoration:

Lord, You are my Strength! Through You, we do what we feel is impossible, what would be impossible without Your Strength. 

And as we see what You do in Your strength, what You do in us, we are amazed. You become our Song. You become our Joy. And "the joy of the Lord is our Strength.”

And so as You give us Joy, your Strength is multiplied in us. And as we cycle through strength and song, through joy that becomes strength and strength that gives joy, we are saved. We are saved from fear, hopelessness, complacency, and besetting sins. 

I adore You for being my Strength and Song and for becoming my Salvation!

Welcome to September

Well, it's been a month since Expo and I hardly have any photos.

But it's been nice to have some more down time after a busy summer. 

According to the Federal government, Sonora is in yellow now of the green-yellow-orange-red stoplight method they've been using to categorize states according to the number of COVID cases. So it appears we may be headed in the direction of normality. At this point, I still wear a mask at work in the kitchen, we still have to wear masks in stores, and the border is still closed to non-essential travel with the next date of review being September 20th. Hopefully, this time they'll say it can open up!

Since I sprained my ankle about 4 weeks ago, I haven't been able to play sports, so I've been taking more time to write which has been nice. Also, a couple months ago I started learning German on the app DuoLingo. (Can't remember if I mentioned it before.) I really enjoy languages, so it has been a fun challenge. I've been at it for 78 days to be exact and haven't missed a day.

Any of you out there speak German?! Because I might need people to practice with. 

Ich heisse Laura. Mein Mann heisst Miguel. Wir haben keine Katze, sondern einen Hund. Er heisst Balto. Ich komme aus Mexico. Ich habe zwei Schwestern und vier Brüder. Sie kommen aus Illinois. Ich schreibe und kuche gerne. Was magst du?

So you might wonder, why learn German? What would I use it for? Well, for me it's mostly just for fun...and maybe a stepping stone to learning more languages in the future.

Had some fun on Saturday trying to stack all of our 1 peso coins! It was quite a feat.

Miguel was much more talented at it! ;)

Sunday we had our first in-person church service since March. So excited to go!

They had it on the patio behind Carnisimo.

Also I had a few errands to run in town this morning and felt a nudge to go see if I could find Mani near his house. I was so excited to see his sister outside and after parking got to chat with them both for a bit. He is doing his school online and is in 5th grade now. It's hard for me to believe. Anyways...if you think of it, say some prayers for him. Sometimes it surprises me how these kids still have a hold on my heart! 

Tomorrow will be mine and Miguel's 2nd anniversary! This weekend we plan to head to San Carlos for a couple days. So I'm looking forward to that and maybe I'll have more photos for the next post.

Expo Esperanza 2020

So Expo was a little different this year, with just CVE participants.

 However, I did heat banana bread and make coffee to serve in the mornings!

Wetting the arena in preparation for the horse performance. This year, there were only two animal categories, horses and dogs.

Riding in style

That kid! Up and at it again! #waytogotadi

These three are watching the dog competition.

Go, go, go!

The winner!

This cool suspension table was on display. 

I helped with some of the sewing projects, so I was excited to see what the kids got!

I also had the opportunity to judge the cookies, and bread and tortilla categories. (Thanks to Carissa for the photos.)

Miguel judged agronomy. Here he is presenting the championship ribbons.

After a successful Expo weekend, the summer staff headed home. We miss them! 

Miguel started working part time at CVE on Monday. 

Miguel's cousin, Gonzalo, came from Colorado for the Expo and stayed the following week. We enjoyed having him over for a "carne asada" on Friday night!

Then on Saturday morning I played soccer and sprained my ankle.

This picture looks a little worse because I had been wearing a sock with a design on it and it imprinted on to my leg which was a little swollen. Anyways...I couldn't walk on it for a couple days and then started walking wearing an ankle brace. Now a week later it's kind of at that dangerous stage where it doesn't hurt all that much and I can easily forget and do something I shouldn't (like start running). So no sports for a few months and we'll see how it's feeling!

Miguel helped with some classes in the shop with the kids last week. They built two corn hole game sets and a Kubb game set. (Look it up.) So on Thursday morning I played a little corn hole. If you look closely at the picture you can see that one red bag got knocked in, but another is hanging, caught by the red one on top. Too bad for the red team! They almost got two more points!

    Do you ever feel like you are learning the same spiritual lessons over and over again? I once thought about how God teaches us and thought, you know, sometimes the lessons are so simple and yet we struggle. I imagined God giving a lesson on the ABC's. And there we are, "A...B...umm...Let's see that was...A...umm, ok...C, no B...C..." you get the point. This is the poem that resulted from that idea.

As I pray my ABC’s

Could I ever tell Thee, Father,

What I really desire to pray?

Such a jumble of thoughts and praises,

My weak lips are trying to say.

But I know that Thou art mighty

As I pray my ABC’s

Thou canst form them into phrases

Of a prayer that pleases Thee. 

CVE 5K Color Run 2020

We had our first ever color run here at CVE!

Marissa was my training-buddy for the three times I practiced before the race! We ran together most of the way. She was also my buddy along with Lucy at Joy Camp.

Coming across the finish line!

Miguel and I 

The girls pyramid

And the aftermath

The summer staff pyramid!

It was a lot of fun. The fastest runners made it in 22 minutes plus seconds. I made it in 32 minutes and afterwards we had fun as you can see above. Then we ate watermelon and energy bites (peanut butter, chocolate, oat bites) and headed home!

Tomorrow is the first day of Expo Esperanza 2020 which is looking a little different this year due to COVID-19 restrictions! Hopefully some pictures coming soon...

As I looked back at some of my previous posts, I saw that a year ago before Expo we were just getting our paperwork finalized to send in the I-130 form (the first step in Miguel's US residency process). So a little update... the beginning of the year the USCIS approved the application and passed it on to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center asked for more documents which we sent in and they have confirmed that they have all the documents needed. At the moment, we are just waiting for an interview to be scheduled in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. With COVID-19 preventing travel, we realize that those interviews could be somewhat behind schedule, so we're just waiting to hear. Thanks for your prayers!

From Stars to Snowflakes

I thank Thee for the stars above

And all the universe.

The mountains great, the sunsets gold,

Thy wonders we rehearse.

I thank Thee, Lord, for details, too,

For snowflakes, each unique,

For fingerprints, and fingernails.

To understand, we seek.

How can a God know how to make 

A mountain or a star

And also separate our thoughts

From what our intents are?

Watermelon Contest and Joy Camp

The weekend of July 4th, I organized a watermelon carving competition. Below are the entries.

3rd place

2nd place

1st place

The watermelons I purchased for the contest.

More goodies from our garden.

I have the opportunity to sew with some kids for their expo projects which is always fun. 

The Expo will be CVE only this year because of COVID-19. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I've been enjoying my second year as a buddy at our annual Joy Camp! There are two groups, older girls and younger kids. 

Joy Camp is a fun, relationship-focused, brain-training camp. We focus on building joy. The definition of joy is, "Someone is glad to be with me!" Which becomes extremely powerful when we feel that someone is still glad to be with us even when we experience the negative emotions of shame, anger, disgust, sadness, hopelessness and fear. Think about it? How many of the issues in this world are caused because we don't know how to recover from those emotions, how to respond to them, or how to act appropriately in the midst of them. And most importantly when we experience joy (someone glad to be with us) in those emotions, it becomes real to us that Jesus is glad to be with us in those emotions!

A few key aspects...the three rules are 1. Stick together, 2. No Hurts, and 3. Have Fun. There is structure (rules and a posted schedule) and flexibility (kids can use their words to ask for what they need and compromises are allowed). There is a big focus on appreciation and gratitude. There are activities to get kids excited and hyper and then activities to help them calm down. (A much needed exercise for most.) There are activities that train their brains to synchronize with the people around them, to give and receive care, to negotiate their needs, and to identify when there relational circuits are switched off. A lot of time is spent talking about the way our brains work and our emotions. 

Perhaps you can already tell, but these are the things I am passionate about! The concepts I have learned about the brain and relationships have changed my world in wonderful ways and I long to pass that on to other people!

With Selah in the younger group

With Lucy and Marissa in the older group

Thanks as always for your love and support!

A couple poems that relate to joy...

Love of my Life

Love of my life, watch over me.

Hold me and mold me more like Thee.

Teach me forgiveness, mercy, too.

And strengthen me Jesus, yea, all the way through

Joy of my life, sing in my heart,

Praises and blessings for who Thou art.

Lift my voice higher each day I live.

Thou givest me more than I ever can give.

Hope of my life, I come to Thee,

Asking that Thou my anchor be.

Tempest and waves may threaten sore,

Yet expectant and clinging I’ll watch for the shore.

I Rejoice

Oh, I rejoice and praise Thee, Father

Mighty Ruler; King of kings

The burden presses; I feel weary,

Yet my heart thanksgiving sings.

Though I know not what the morrow 

Holds nor know the way ahead,

I know my Father knows each sorrow;

He will lead as He has led.

At every Milestone we grieve and heal again...

Today, 10 years ago, my father passed away. He was 41 years old.

He had battled a Glioblastoma brain tumor for 18 months. I am forever thankful that our whole family was together by his side as He went to be with Jesus. 

I am thankful for a loving father who was present in my life for 15 years, something that so many have never experienced.

I am thankful for my mom who gave us a wonderful example of trusting in and clinging to God even through the hardest times in life.

I am thankful that by God's grace and with our mother's love, all my siblings continue to pursue Jesus and healing.

This year, my dad's first grandson will be born. (Congrats Mitch and Emily!)

At every milestone we ask ourselves what Dad would say if he were here, or what it would be like...at every milestone we grieve a little more and heal a little more...

I share a poem with you today that I wrote just before my mom remarried five years ago.

The Now that Slips Away

A quaint, white house and big red barn,

It seems like yesterday

That climbing up the cherry tree

I watched my sister play.

The sun and rain, our flooded creek,

Waking from dreams at dawn,

The days of carefree, childish play

That now have gone.

Adobe brick and stucco walls

Saguaros towering tall

The mountains rising from the brush

Across the border wall.

The two, sweet years in Mexico

Seemed then a lifetime long

But looking back, a puff of smoke,

An era, gone.

Have five years truly passed me by

Since Father’s face I’ve seen?

It once was “now” that is the past

When I was but a teen.

When folding laundry late one night,

I asked myself how soon

I’d know the reality of death.

Late day of June.

Now driving north to see a friend.

Now coming home again.

Now packing up for a new place.

Now unpacking therein.

In one “now” I am planning it.

The next, the curtain’s drawn.

I find each “now” hardly arrives

Before it’s gone.

A thousand years in Jesus’ sight

Are but a stroke of time

Upon eternity’s great clock

Whose hands e’er upward climb.

A nighttime watch, with sleepy eyes,

Each blink, a year has past

So soon the quiet, waiting ends

With day at last. 

We look forward to that eternal day when the tears will be wiped from our eyes and we will be together with Jesus forever!