Splurges

This week has been a week of splurges...not with money, but with our time. Because most of our friends have time off of work this week because of the holidays, we have been doing as much as we can with them, wanting the relationships God has gifted us with to grow deeper. I also had a food splurge today... From time to time, our local grocery store will get in products they usually don't have. A couple months ago, I saw blueberry frosted Poptarts, my very favorite from when I was a kid. I can't tell you when the last time I ate pop tarts was (probably when my mom sent them to me in a care package when I lived in Cochabamba), but I felt like today was a splurge day, so I had one. I have to admit, seeing those little colored sprinkles on top of the frosting actually made me smile. Oh, the little joys of life!

Wednesday was a splurge day with our friends Randy and Dani. We have been wanting to try the quadratracks (4-wheelers) that are for rent in Mallasa, our neighboring community. The four of us convinced the owner that we didn't need a guide and we knew the area quite well enough to feel comfortable on our own. He let us off with his beautiful, red 4-wheelers to zip about the countryside on an amazing, warm afternoon. We started up the cobblestone roads, weaving back and forth on the twisty trail, receiving smiles and waves from the people we passed by in the small towns we rode through. Countless times I thought how blessed we were to live in a country of such majestic beauty and how good God is to sustain us and provide for us in this home away from home.

And today, I am splurging by spending these few hours that Scotty is in Spanish class to check friends' blogs. Internet has become a splurge for us, something we can't take for granted anymore, now that we are living outside of the city and don't have access nearby. It is a joy to hear from people back home and catch up on your lives. We hope you all have a happy new year!

New Traditions

A tradition my family has had since I can remember is eating cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning to start out the festivities. This is one tradition I am happy to bring into my new family with Scotty, although we don't have the ease of popping open a can of rolls, but have to make them from scratch. This challenges my growing appreciation of cooking and I was happy to work on these beauties Christmas Eve, looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas together in Bolivia.

Most of the other activities we had planned this season were new traditions for us. One of our favorites is celebrating the holidays how Bolivians celebrate. This means staying up late on Christmas Eve, counting down until midnight (which is when they celebrate Christ's birth) and then enjoying picana, a meaty soup that is eaten at this time. Then you sit around with the family until all hours of the morning, or until you can't keep your eyes open anymore, which was about 2 for us and our friends James and Julie.

We were invited by close friends on our church-planting team, the Castellons, to spend Christmas Eve with them and get a taste of a traditional Bolivian celebration. We are thankful to have families like this that desire for us to become a part of their family and experience what they do.Christmas day was a great joy for us. We woke up semi-early to share breakfast and gifts together before friends started rolling in about 1pm.

Scotty is sporting his new Bolivian soccer jersey he received from me.

We had an eclectic southern/traditional dinner which included the old favorites like stuffing and sweet potato casserole, but included new foods like grilled sausage, baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread- yum!! Our friend Randy brought his guitar and we sang Christmas carols and praises to our Savior, whose birth we were so happy to rejoice in together. If you know us at all, you know Settlers of Catan is a must when we get together with friends, and even though we were twice as many for this 6-player game, we got a round going that lasted till the evening. Some scattered off, but the die-hards stuck around for silly youth group style games and a movie, wrapping up the day around 2am.


What an amazing way to start new traditions, ones we hope will last for years to come as we make life in a different country!

Nueva Entrada

I'm on a friends computer since we are still without internet and somehow all my command prompts have switched over into Spanish- new vocabulary lesson! It really stinks to not have internet in the house- we are realizing how much we depended on it to communicate with everyone back home, but we are also finding that there is a lot to do without it! These past couple of weeks have been quite busy setting up our new home and continuing with the daily obligations we have. We love our new home more every day and have had many opportunities already to invite people over and share life together. The Christmas season has been lots of fun and I've had several cookie baking parties with various girl friends of mine, enjoying the season together. Tonight, Scotty and I have been invited to our good friends house, the Castellons, to celebrate their big night with a traditional Bolivian Christmas soup eaten at midnight. The festivities usually last till 4 or 5 in the morning, but since Scotty and I want to have a little time to ourselves in the morning to celebrate together before a big group comes over at noon, we will probably not stay the whole time. Tomorrow will be our Christmas cookout, utilizing the barbeque grill we have downstairs, complete with pumpkin pie from scratch (that should be a challenge for me) and Christmas carols led by our guitar-strumming friend, Randy. We're excited about having the celebration in our home and making memories not only for us, but for those who have chosen to spend this day with us. More than anything, our desire is to rejoice in the life we have through Jesus Christ alone, who is the only One who can fill our hearts with true joy.

Keep praying that internet will reach us out in the country- it will inevitably come, we just don't know how long it will take. We miss being more frequent on the blog and hope to insert some pictures for you in the near future. All our friends are close to our hearts and in our prayers- we hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

Pictures speak a thousand words...

...but I think I should explain this one just a little bit. I had a craving for brownies one night after dinner so I whipped up a batch and threw them into our oven (which is on the fritz) right before we started a movie. A friend came for a short visit when the burning smell reached our noses...a little too late. I tried to salvage my goodies, but the chunk I cut out tasted nothing short of a salty cocoa rock. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Step One: Fluff branches

Scotty and I bought our first Christmas tree this year in the market- it's taller than him! We waited until we moved to the new place to put it up with hopes that we'd bring some Christmas spirit to the place. It really brings life to the apartment and the cats have taken to climbing through the thick branches, and hiding near the base when I come at them with the spray bottle for discipline. We had lots of fun putting it together:

We're in!

Since we live in the “country” now, I’ve had the thrilling opportunity to drive into town on my own to pick up groceries, since there is now no grocery store or market nearby that we can walk to. I’m starting to enjoy the feel of a large truck, rumbling down the dusty paths out of the neighborhood and cruising down the windy roads that sit at the feet of the mountains. As I was heading toward the store today, I found myself really loving that there is no speed limit and then looked down at my speedometer out of habit, and realized afresh that it doesn’t work! I guess it’s a good thing there is no speed limit…

Our move went very smoothly, a huge answer to prayer from our gracious Lord. The day we originally planned to move, Monday, the apartment was still being prepared for our arrival. It rained hard that day and we saw the hand of God in causing us to wait for the next day. Tuesday was sunny and warm the entire day- a rarity here during the rainy season. Wednesday poured, all day. God is so good to us. Friends began to show up around 9 and we began the long trek up and down three flights of stairs to remove all our belongings. Amazingly, we got everything out by noon, loaded into 4 vehicles and one large, moving truck, and headed for our new home. Then we immediately removed everything again and hauled it up another three flights of stairs, enjoying impressive feats of strength and ingenuity by our hired movers who were in charge of getting our heavy furniture up to the house. It was all finished up rather efficiently and we talked one family into letting us take them out for a yummy chicken lunch as thanks. The others had prior engagements, but reminded us again that they were there for us whenever we needed it. Again, God has given us such great friends here that have more than once acted on their claims to help in any way.

So, I am sitting in our new office/TV room, enjoying the view of the lunar-like landscape of “The Valley of the Moon”- a natural tourist attraction that we are about a block from. The mountains rise up red and green all around us, creating beautiful backdrops from all windows. We’ve lost sight of our beloved, snow-capped mountains, but they’ve been replaced by a more rugged beauty of the craggy hills. One massive benefit to being 1000ft. lower than we were in Sopocachi (and having tons of windows) is that our house stays nice and warm during the day. I can actually exist in my house without socks! We’ve already taken advantage of living a mile or so from the international Christian school, Highlands, by walking over there yesterday so Scotty could give a talk to the 5th grade class, taught by one of our good friends, Julie. He also has plans to be a frequent chapel speaker, hoping to impact the lives of the upper class Bolivians and various internationals that attend this school.

Settling in to a new place takes time and tons of work to get all your stuff situated, as well as to buy what is lacking. It’s had its fair share of emotional toil as well, knowing that we are finally in the place where God has called us where we will start a new church, but trying to figure out how to walk ministry out practically, day by day, and exactly how we fit into the plan. We love this new home, but feel a tiny bit isolated, since we are outside of the city. As we all do, we will take it a day at a time, trusting God to reveal Himself to us as we seek opportunities to be involved in the lives of people around us. We’ve put up our 7ft. Christmas tree, so we’re officially ready to be hosts and hope to have many in our house to celebrate the birth of the One who came to give us life!