50 Days

I am officially counting down. I have 50 days until I go back to Peru.  This both excites and terrifies me!!  I am so excited about being able to return to a country that I fell in love with. To a people group that I (literally) dream about at night. To the most important work I will ever do in my life - God's work.  I am terrified because I am the group leader this time and I don't know my elbow from a hole in the ground about booking flights, leading in a foreign country, etc., etc., etc.

I could write about the people I will be working with for pages and pages.  Instead, I'll try to sum up with a few words and some pictures.  (my apologies to friends who have seen these pics and heard these stories for a year. Buck up - here they come again)

All credit for this pic goes to my friend, Ben.  It is one of my faves. No words can express the immensity and beauty of these mountains. The little white dust ball on the right is a 15 passenger van. Yeah...

Horrible pic of me, but these are only four of the 750+ orphans that stole my heart on the first day.  I pray that I will have the opportunity to return here and serve.

(Ben's pic again) This person is considered Quechua (keh'- choo-wah), which is a direct descendant of the Inca. They live in the high Andes, many speak both Spanish and Quechua, and live a very simple life compared to a typical American. I am in love with this people group. It has to be God-driven, because I never knew they existed before last summer. I look forward to many years of building relationships with them and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

50 Days!!

Joys of the Job

I teach at an elementary school.  Now I know that there are teachers out there getting in trouble for blogging about their job - but I'm going to take a risk and share some insights.

Codes: We have all kinds of codes in elementary school... and you better learn them all, just in case you need to follow through on one.  For instance, there are codes for tornadoes and for fires, for intruders and for power outages.  But the important ones, the REALLY IMPORTANT ONES are color coded.  Code Brown  - kid goes to clinic for new clothes and the lucky teacher needs an air freshener.  Code Yellow - kid goes to clinic for new clothes and the lucky teacher needs a mop and a wet floor sign.  Code White - kid goes to clinic for new clothes and the lucky teacher needs....

Yep, it's called PUKE-UP.  Bahahahahaa!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk about a product hitting the nail on the head!  I saw this in our cafeteria this week. I guess it works as well as the hamster-cage chips we used to use.  I am slightly concerned, though, over the really BOLD warning that it may irritate eyes. If I ever had to be that close to the need for "vomit control", I would have to call a code white for myself.  Just sayin'.

Odors: Elementary schools = strong odors.  It's simple math. And my room is one of the stinkiest. It has no windows.  NONE. It's the MUSIC room, so I can't even open the door for ventilation because we're too noisy. When any of the odors I'm going to talk about happen, they fill my room entirely and there is no escape! Sometimes it's hard to even open my mouth to sing because I'm afraid the odors will become some kind of mutant TASTE. SO!There are the obvious ones (caused by the brown, yellow, and white codes), but there are some other ones, too.  Fifth graders in May after recess. This is where we introduce the word "deodorant".  Second graders any time after recess.  This is where we introduce the idea of occasionally washing our shoes. Kindergarteners after lunch on taco day.  This is where we start talking about self-control and that everybody "toots".  And there are some that may surprise you... like the smell of black magic markers. Or dry erase markers. Or overhead markers. Did I mention my room (sans windows) is next to the cafeteria?  There's the smell of tater tots (good) and of cabbage (not good). Pizza (tolerable) and fish sticks (bring on the puke-up).  This week, though, I had a surprising run-in with an odor in my small enclosed space. After my kindergarten Valentine's program, I moved all of the stage decorations to my room. It took me two days to realize what was giving me splitting headaches and sinus congestion.

FORTY latex balloons. You could smell them as soon as you opened the door.  It was horrible.  And amazingly enough, my headache went away as soon as I distributed them to other teachers.  Hmm... who knew?

What are the joys of your job?

Finding a New Normal

It's been over a month since I wrote anything here... and I hope to never have another month like that ever ever again. I have almost posted something over and over again, but it never worked out. It was like being in my own version of Goldilocks - some thoughts were TOO serious, some were TOO sad, and anything that was funny... well that seemed inappropriate somehow. As if having humor in the midst of grief was forbidden.  Stupid, I know, but that was how I felt.  But I HAVE to get back to it... I have too many random thoughts wandering around in my brain as it is.  I need to let some of them out to run amok. (Did you know that the word "amok" is Malaysian and means "a murderous frenzy"?? Scary thing - some of my thoughts qualify) SO!  Today I will be discussing the events of the past month and how I am now finding a "new normal" in life.

Family: My uncle had a stroke and passed away.  This took place over a two week period, and I was in Tennessee/SWVA for most of it. My aunt had to be placed in full time nursing home care. My mom and I had to take over all POA responsibilities for her. My new normal for family consists of recurrent dreams where my uncles and grandmother die again (and again), waking up to realize that they are still gone, wishing I didn't have to sleep, endless phone calls to {fill in the blank with insurance/bank/government/healthcare providers} who continually tell me there are 100 more hoops to jump through, and guilt trips over not doing enough for the two guys who truly ARE the center of my existence. 

Around the House: I got home on Sunday.  On Tuesday, our neighborhood dog, Harley, was hit by a car and killed. My new normal around the house means getting used to pulling in my driveway without worrying about where she is, JC skateboarding without his constant companion, and an empty silence in the night where I usually heard barking at strangers... or deer... or blowing leaves.  She liked to bark. :)

ShrimpSlayer: To add insult to injury, I accidentally tipped over JC's tank of SeaMonkeys that Santa brought him.  Down the sink.... Yes, I know they are just brine shrimp. Yes, I know you can buy more at the TRU. (thanks grammy & g-daddy for making that trip!) But it was the proverbial camel's straw.  I had to just lay my head down and cry. In my defense, they were really cool.  And lots were big. And after an episode where (as JC says) they were "stuck together"... one had an egg sac and I was waiting for babies. And then I knocked them into the garbage disposal. My new normal on this one - my son was unaffected, -ron and I have started a new tank, and my co-workers have an all new way to give me a hard time. If you're reading this - thanks MBW, AH, and CF for cracking me up.

Enough with the mostly serious stuff.  I have my eye on something that I REALLY need to comment on... but I have to take a picture so y'all will believe it.  That's coming soon!

If you actually were dedicated and made it this far - leave a comment... it'll give me a giggle.

Mo