Rainy January

So for the first 2 weeks or so, January was unusually warm and sunny. I remember stopping to think in unbelief, "It's the middle of winter!" However for the last week it has been raining and raining...nice, long, gentle rains! And it has been chilly...and windy!

The Sonoran desert has two rainy seasons, one in July and August when we get torrential rains in the afternoons a few times a week (hopefully) and then in December and January when we get sprinkles or like this year long gentle rains. I just learned this year from the kitchen ladies that the winter rains are called, "Equipatas."  I looked it up online and it means "little packages." Fun fact: Saguaro cactuses only grow in the Sonoran desert and there is evidence that these winter rains are crucial to their survival!

Alicia turned 18 the beginning of January and I was excited to take her to my house for an afternoon, now that she is allowed to leave campus (DIF COVID restrictions for residents). She is a fellow puzzle lover and helped me make this giant sandwich puzzle.

We've been experiencing some plumbing issues. Water was leaking out of the wall in our bathroom and on the other side of the wall in the kitchen. Thankfully, a nice elderly plumber was able to come and fix the leak and just today he patched up these holes you can see in this picture! We were extra thankful for our 2nd shower, since this one was out of commission for a couple weeks.

I've been enjoying cooking as always. In this video I'm explaining to my grandparents what I'm making: "Quekas," a corn dough empanada with beans inside!

Miguel's mom sent us a cheese wheel with some Christmas travelers and Miguel and I are enjoying it very much! If I understand correctly, this cheese is made with a roll of fresh cheese dipped in chili sauce and dried/aged. It's crumbly and has a stronger taste than the "queso fresco."

Here we enjoyed it with some beans and omelet!

After one of the rains last week, I spied this pretty fog up in the hills.

Saturday, the guys had a bachelor party for Scott Kieser. (Congrats to him and Arika Nuest on their engagement!) And Zoë invited me over for supper and the evening. I got to eat a Thai version of chicken and dumplings soup that included ginger, curry, and turmeric. Yum! And I got to try this homemade Taro ice-cream with boba pearls. Double Yum! 

Then we played several games and concluded with a scrabble rematch. 

Zoë even found our scores from November, so we could compare! (And we used the other side of the sheet!) In November she won, 304 to 216!

Saturday, she one again, but by only 34! I was pleased!

I'll leave you with a few lines of a song I'm attempting to write

"As our fingers form

As our laughter lights

As our pattering feet 

Burst into flight

As the questions come

As the answers fade

As the overwhelm 

of our life invades

He never looks away

He is here to stay

His compassion reigns

Justice will be laid..."

Thanks for your attention, love, and support!

 

Year's End...Year's Beginning

We had a lovely Christmas with the traditional Christmas Eve party at CVE. Lots of games, laughter, delicious pozole, presents, skits, and singing.

Below is a picture of all the ingredients ready for pozole toppings, lettuce, radishes, limes...

The week after Christmas, Marce and I made tamales with the older girls. Neither of us has a lot of experience with making tamales, but they turned out delicious and I gained a bit more confidence that I could do it again! Besides it was a lot of fun!

I've been enjoying the occasionally video chat with Carson, got to see him smile, and just wish I could squeeze those cheeks!

The hobbies I've been dedicating time to recently have been sewing and painting. Sewing because I decided to make some T-shirt quilts, and then decided to use the scraps for napkins, and then decided to use the scraps from that to make dog toys. Balto likes the colorful rope I made for him!

The motivation for pulling my watercolors out was the three clipboards I bought and put on my kitchen wall for decoration. I had three "posters" with Christmas themed words/Bible verses, but after the Christmas season, I decided I wanted to put some fruit up. (Marce's suggestion!)

Here's the result!

Yesterday was January 6th, Día de los Reyes Magos (Day of the Wisemen). The Mexican tradition is to eat a "Rosca de los Reyes." It's this bread (above) that is decorated with dried fruit and has plastic babies hidden in it. The hidden babies are to symbolize baby Jesus being hidden from King Herod.

Whoever gets a baby in their slice has to host a tamale party on February 2nd!

It's a fun tradition. At least now I know how to make tamales!

On a final note, COVID has finally infiltrated CVE after nearly a year of affecting our lives. Although we had a blast at our Christmas Eve party, many soon came down with sore throats and coughs...it's unclear if all of it is COVID or there's a cold and COVID going around, but several people have lost their taste and smell and there's been one positive COVID test, so we know it's here.

Miguel and I both had colds, me right after Christmas (when we thought it was just a cold) and Miguel over New Year's. Thankfully, no one has had severe symptoms and hopefully, we'll all be back to feeling healthy soon!

Please pray for the car washing and detailing business that Miguel is starting! He does a great job and Lord willing, I'm hoping it can flourish and bless us and those he cleans the cars for. After several months of job uncertainty on his part, it's nice to be pursuing something.

Thanks for the prayers and support!

Thanksgiving Trip to Illinois

I feel really blessed that I got to travel to Illinois for Thanksgiving and to meet my new baby nephew, born on November 9th! I left on November 24th and arrived back to Mexico on December 9th.

Headed to Peoria! 

It was interesting to see everyone wearing masks in the airport. At one point, I looked around and thought, "Wow. A year ago, we couldn't have imagined this."

My brother Tim was exposed to COVID at school and he and my mom got tested for COVID the day I arrived, so I went to stay with Emily and Mitch instead. Which was actually great because I got to meet my nephew Carson right away!

I captured this silhouette of Emily comforting Carson. I title it "Motherhood." :)

The day after I arrived, Kyla, her husband, Josh, and her little boy, Percy, came to visit Emily and Carson. They were visiting from Texas and I was so excited to see Kyla after so many years!

Just a random picture of little Carson from Wednesday night!

 

On Thanksgiving, most of my siblings went to Forrest/Fairbury area for Thanksgiving with my grandparents. I was thankful to visit Forrest church Thanksgiving morning and see lots of familiar faces and chat with a few people. Thanksgiving night I was back at Mitch and Emily's when we got the news that Tim had tested positive for COVID and my Mom wasn't feeling well.

 

My first thought was, "No, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen. My trip is going to be ruined."

I was worried because I had spent the day with my brother Justin who still lives with my mom and thought I might get sick as well. 

But it actually was nice to just hang out at Mitch and Emily's for the weekend. I went and got a COVID test on Saturday, hoping to get a negative test and go visit some friends in Forrest the next week. 

Saturday night, we had planned to have a family night at my mom's but since she and Tim had COVID that was cancelled. However, Mom had bought us an Escape room experience, so some of the family went to east Peoria for that. 

Here we are. 

L-R: Philip, Mitch, me, Megan, Drew Wiegand (Megan's boyfriend), Anni, and Matt

We had so much fun! It was a great challenge for working together and we managed to use just 3 clues and finish with 9 minutes to spare.

I was also glad to be able to help Emily with Carson over the weekend and even got to get up with him a few times in the night!

Tummy time after his bath!

Another big plus staying at Mitch and Emily's all weekend was lots of good talks with Philip who lives in their basement. Here we are making cookies.

Monday morning I left for Forrest and went to my mom's parents. They took me on a drive out to the cemetery to put a grave blanket on my dad's grave, and we drove past the houses I lived in when I lived in Forrest. The one above is where I lived until I was four years old. I still have quite a few memories from living there. 

On Monday afternoon, I got to spend time with my mentor and friend, Bonnie Dotterer and Monday night I stayed with my dad's parents. Tuesday morning I got to visit my good friend, Kara Zehr, and chat with Wayne Anliker through the window at Fairview Haven, before heading to my mom's parents for the afternoon and night. 

On Wednesday morning, I headed back towards Emily and Mitch's and stopped in Washington to visit Miss Megan. We made Turkey Alfredo with leftover thanksgiving Turkey and I had a great time seeing her apartment. 

On Thursday I enjoyed a nice visit with Amber Miller, the HarvestCall Missionary Care director. Then I drove over to Pekin and visited my cousin, Sarah, and her two kids. Her youngest was born 2 weeks after my last visit to Illinois and she was already a year and a half old!

Justin was tested for COVID and didn't get it, so Friday I went to pick him up at mom's and we hung out together. First, he and Tim showed me Tim's treehouse.

Friday night I went to stay with Matt and Anni where they live south of Hanna City and met their very smart dog, Chewy (not sure if that's how it's spelled). We had a great time discussing languages and language learning and I enjoyed checking out all the trick boxes that Anni has made.

Tim was done with his quarantine by Saturday since he never had symptoms, so we went on a date to Barnes and Noble. Seriously, it was the most fun, just looking at all the books. (Although we did feel a little suffocated by our masks after an hour or so!)

I bought him this book. I think he's going to have great fun with it.

His lunch of choice was chicken strips from DQ, so that's what we got before heading over to Emily's and seeing another old friend who had stopped to visit, Chloe Huber Schmidgall and her husband, Jared!

Timi has passed me up in height, so I am now officially the shortest of my siblings. 

Saturday night I stayed at Matt and Anni's again, and went to Peoria for church on Sunday. I enjoyed going to the Spanish service and seeing Daniella and Belinda Knobloch, and Joan Schick. After church, I headed over to visit Bill and Joan for a bit and then in the evening, our whole family got together since my mom was out of quarantine as well!

Timi and I enjoyed drawing some blueprints as usual.

And we took family pictures.

Carson was napping and Miguel isn't in the picture, but they really turned out nice.

It was such a blessing to sit around the table with my family for the first time in a year and a half. The last time I visited was for Matt and Anni's wedding, so it was so nice to get to be with them and just get to know them better. I am continually grateful for God's care of my family and thankful to see my siblings continuing to pursue their relationship with Jesus. I'm amazed to see their growth and wonder where the years have gone. Over the years, it's been great to slowly transition into an adult relationship with my siblings. When I imagine the future with more nieces and nephews (and my own kids :)), it seems crazy. I'm just so thankful I got this chance to be with them and experience this season of life with them for two weeks.

So I spent Monday and Tuesday morning with my mom and although it was a shorter time than I had planned or hoped, it was sweet.

My trip home Tuesday afternoon was long, but smooth. I had booked a flight from 8 AM to early afternoon, but as they consolidated flights, I ended up with a noon to 9:30 PM flight with two layovers in Chicago and Denver. Here's a photo of the clouds as I flew into Chicago.

Tuesday evening I was blessed to stay with Duane and Ann Wulf at their home in Tucson and spent Wednesday morning shopping in Tucson and driving back down to Magdalena. It was such an uneventful trip in a good way.

So thankful to arrive home and see my hubby again! I posted a few photos on my fridge of little Carson. I left him some copies too so that as he grows older he'll have proof that I visited him. They grow so fast in these first years!

I had a good transition back to work on Thursday and was thankful to get the negative results of my second COVID test taken Tuesday morning right before my flight.

Friday evening was CVE's dress-up and Christmas movie night. Miguel and I went as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

So I still need to be a careful in the next couple weeks because of traveling to the states, wearing a mask when I'm indoors with others, washing hands, etc. but I'm thankful that so far I'm healthy and that it appears that the virus didn't travel any further in my family. Not even Justin or Gary got it.

Sunday afternoon, we had a farewell gathering to say goodbye to Limon and Kristi Leman as they move back to Colorado. We're going to miss them! 

Carissa snapped this picture for Miguel and I at the gathering.

It's good to be home, decorating and planning for Christmas!

Praise God for a wonderful trip. I honestly can't believe it went so well and I was able to connect with so many people and stay healthy.

Please pray for Christmas break here at CVE. Some of the kids haven't left campus since March and there won't be school for three weeks. Pray for patience and creativity for the houseparents and children and pray for me that I can know how to be supportive. And also, that I can keep my heart focused on what Christmas is really all about...the birth of our Savior and King!

Chili and Pie Night 2020

So as I mentioned in my last post, Miguel's family headed home on October 23rd, but I can't resist posting these pictures from our last dinner together. 

My beautiful sister-in-law's

My brother-in-law and nephew

The whole family. (Kevin is almost covered up.)

After a movie, we took them to the bus station. Their bus was scheduled to leave at midnight, but didn't come until 2 AM! (Which seems to be the normal delay.) Some of us fell asleep before then. :)

The next day was the annual chili and pie night. Here's a few photos of my pie making.

I ended up winning 2nd place which is the best I've done in my seven years of participation!

 I won 3rd place with a pumpkin pecan pie one year, so pecan mix pies seem to be a good option. This one was caramel, apple, pecan pie, the same recipe as last year. But last year I put whipped cream on top while it was still warm and it all melted, so the appearance wasn't too great.

Miguel did great with his chili entry and won first place! Yeah!

November 2nd, Cafe Sed celebrated it's tenth birthday! Ten years of encouraging community development, relationships, reading, and coffee drinking! Thanks to Katie and Denver and so many others for all their investment in such a great place.

So I've been looking at the calendar and hope to be in Forrest the weekend of November 29th. Hope to see some of you then!

Can't remember if I've shared this poem before...

What no Man can Say

Words cannot dictate

The things in my heart.

Songs cannot chorus

The power Thou art.

Poetry can’t satisfy

What hearts long to tell.

Tears cannot lessen

The presence I feel.

Language can’t write

The half of Thy love.

Inventions can’t reach

Thy home up above.

But the Spirit interprets

And bears up away

To the throne of the Father

What no man can say.