Mom Mamma Mama'

It is a funny thing, time. How it can seem so slow and so fast all in the same moment. As I sit here right now I can hardly comprehend that we have been in Bolivia since June (four months having passed), it seems like we have lived here for years and for days. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around the fact that in 48hrs my husband whom I have not seen in 4 months will be arriving and we will be a family reunited. So much has taken place since we were together and the idea of being together again the 3 of us while exciting and happy is also overwhelming. Sure it will be fantastic to have our family back together, no one would deny that, but these four months apart have been packed full of change, adjustment, growth and transitions and so adding yet another big change is, well, challenging. I say all this because I myself am still processing, and I process best when I write. I am also trying to help Miss. K prepare for yet another big change, and so I feel as though I have been slowly wo

It is funny the things you miss and the things you forget when living abroad. Just like it is funny how we take some things for granted and make assumptions about necessities. I have been in Bolivia for just  over 2 months and I have not received one piece of mail. No letters from home, no junk mail, no bills, it is not because my family and friends don't love me it is because the postal service in Bolivia shut down. There are rumors of it being open again, and when you look at their website it looks like it is all well and good, but here's the thing...no one cares. I asked my sister in law if she knew if the post office was up and running and she had no idea if it was nor that it had not been. I have seen expats ask online, but Bolivians don't seem to know or care because it seems no one really depends upon the postal service. If  you need to pay your bills then you need to go to the pharmacy, or the bank or the office and pay your bill, if you don't pay then you bes

Today did not go as planned. All I wanted to do was find a storage bin for Miss K's toys and get some groceries. I had thought we would walk to a nearby outdoor market called The Ramada, but Miss. K was not in the mood for a 20min walk so I decided to take a Micro (aka bus) seeing as none of the ones who were passing were overly full I decided today would be a good day to brave them alone. I asked a lady which one went to a different market that my brother in law always takes us. She said #4 so we waited where she suggested and took #4 along the way I realized we were on a street where we had been a few times that specialized in plastic stuff. So we got off # 4 and shopped for the bin. Turned out they were a lot more expensive than I expected so we caught another Micro that said the name of the market on the window. Unbeknownst to me the bus was going in the other direction which I figured out pretty quickly, but wrongly assumed that it would just make a circle and get their e

Before moving to Rome, Italy I attended a missionary training program through the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) ReachGlobal. There we were presented with a lot of really valuable training as well as took a lot of time to really get to know ourselves and how we relate to the world, others and God. I wish I could recall all the great information we were given, but alas most has faded with the passing of time. One of the lessons I do recall is that there are 4 stages that everyone experiences when moving cross culturally. We may not all hit each phase at the same time or for the same length of time, but we will all encounter these 4 stages of adjustment; honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance. The past few days I knew that I was in the midst of th frustration phase, but even though I knew it I could not shake it. Everything about our new country was annoying to me. The fact that I had just dealt with my second round of stomach issues (i'll spare you the detai

This week has been rough. I didn't realize how much I was depending on the birthday party planning and shopping to get me through our days here until the party was over. This week the reality of normalcy and life apart from my Love set in. This week was hard. I woke on Monday morning determined to get Kiley and I better focused on God as I knew life had been literally all over the map I sensed the need to regain our center. I reached out to God, to family and friends for help and ideas on how to bring more Christ centered activities into our life here where I can't depend on Play School and Cubbies to help me. It's funny, I grew up going to church and lived in a Christian home with parents who did a great job of raising us with God at the center, I have run Children's Ministry programs and I love God but for some reason I was just feeling like I couldn't engage Miss. K in her personal walk with Jesus. I guess it just goes to show the importance of the Body of C

There has been a lot of discussion in my group of friends about the need for space. Space for self, space for family, space for God, space for X,Y, and Z. I know we are not alone in our struggle for space. And I was reminded today of a great visual lesson that I saw at a Young Life Leader training ages ago, maybe you have seen this annalogy before but I think today it bears repeating. The presenter had a large glass container and filled the containers with large stones until they reached the lip of the jar and asked us if it was full. Of course we nodded along. But she then pulled out a bag of smaller pebbles and poured them into the space surrounding the rocks. amazingly they fit.  Once again we were asked if the jar was full. Not wanting to be tricked again we hesitantly said, yeah it's full. But, then out came a bag of sand which was added to the glass container. Okay, now there was clearly no more room in the jar for anything else, or so we thought until she poured a pitcher

I feel it only right to give you an update on the War on Ants. Thanks to so many great responses I seem to be winning the war at the moment. Based upon your suggestions I went out and bought some cinnamon. I got sticks and powder, because you were not super specific on how to distribute the cinnamon. I sprinkled my home with cinnamon in the corners, on the counter I put some cinnamon sticks and some powder in a spoon rest, and on top of my fridge I put more. The bathroom and the sink area also got a dose of cinnamon, and at the moment it seems to be doing a pretty decent job of keeping the pesky little buggers at bay!  So, while I see an occasional hold out the situation is on the mend!  Thank you blog readers for all your suggestions and for making my home smell like a coffee shop at Christmas.

I think of myself as pretty non-confrontational. I even attended a Quaker university, but I am in a war with the pesky little tiny miniscule ants that seem to come out of nowhere. They are not like the ants we had in our bathroom in California, they are nothing like the ants that you find on your garden path. These ants are magic. One min you look and your apartment is an ant free peaceful place, next second they are everywhere. These small as a ground of coffee but white not black little buggers. (wait, just a sec they are back) Okay, I am seriously in need of a new plan of attack. I have done everything that I can think of short of set the place on fire. I have smashed them to smithereens, taken out the trash at least once a day, sometimes 2-3 times a day. I keep all my food in Ziplock bags in a drawer or in the fridge. I have wiped the counter with bug repellent, don't worry that did nothing I wiped it down again before food prep. (of which there is really very little), I have

I have had many jobs, and I have worked at home, in the office, at schools, in stores, coffee shops and more. I have recently jumped into a new role as an English as a Second Language Teacher with VIP Kids. I have taught English and I have taught kids before, but teaching with VIP Kids is a whole new ballgame. I will be the first to admit that being an American living in Bolivia and teaching in kids in China to speak English while I am attempting to learn Spanish is humorous.  It is not a life I ever imagined, but I thrive when I am challenged and when I get to try new things. VIP Kid gives me the opportunity to use my new TESOL certificate while transitioning to our new life here in Bolivia. It gives me the freedom to work when I am able, and still be a full time stay at home mom. In case you are interested in VIP Kid here is how it works. Once you are hired (which is a rather long and convoluted process) things are fairly simple.  You open up the half hour time slots you would l

This coming Saturday will mark 4 weeks here in Bolivia. Time has a way of going super fast and super slow at the same time here. It feels like we have been here forever, and yet like it is all brand new. However, I think it is safe to say we are finding a routine that works. I have started teaching with VIP Kids in the mornings and while I had heard tales of it taking a month or more to get bookings, I opened up my time slots on Sunday and by Monday morning I had 12 bookings, and by Tuesday I had 17 bookings within the next 2 weeks!  So, my morning starts bright an early with 1-3 English lessons. Before class I make some coffee, and try to read my morning devotional before I login to teach kiddos in China. My hope is Miss K will sleep through the lessons, but if she is awake the plan is that she will play quietly or watch her tablet until I am done teaching. Once classes are done we hang out here at home, and Miss K has a little breakfast while I do laundry or other chores, sweepin

I wish I could sign on and tell you that Miss. K loved her school. I wish I could say that, because I was so impressed with the school, in fact I wrote an entire blog about how amazing the school is. (that blog got lost in the Blogger App, but if I can get it back I will still publish it because I still feel like it is an excellent school) But the fact is I cannot tell you that Miss. K loved her school. While she walked in bravely the first trial day, day two was filled with fear and trembling. She sobbed with fear all morning long, feeling lost, trapped, abandoned and scared. By the time I got to the gate after hearing her cries she was inconsolable. It took me a good 40 min to get her calmed down. At first I wrote this off as normal separation anxiety made worse because of the language barrier, but after 2 hours of tears back at home before bed I determined that this was indeed a much deeper fear.  A fear that she was indeed being abandoned. The former Child Care Supervisor in me wan

Assuming most of my readers are in America I also assume that most of you probably read that title in English. But, it's not necessarily written in English. It could be in Spanish or Italian. Because we all share a similar alphabet and the same numbers. Right now as I blog in the park my daughter is being introduced to a whole new way of interpreting the world around her. She may see A, B, C or 1, 2, or 3 but they no longer will mean the same as they did at her old school. And that's just the beginning. As an adult picking up a 2nd or 3rd language is challenging and ss a kid it is easier, that's what they say. But no matter when you add a new language you are expanding your understanding of the world and how you interpret it. I know that Miss. K is being challenged, I know it's hard to not be able to say what you want to say and frustrating to not be understood. I get that it's a struggle to not be able to sound sharp witted and intelligent but I also know that

I'll admit I am nervous to drop Miss. K into a new preschool, mid year, new country, new teachers, new kids, new language. I had no intention of even attempting this until Fall maybe not even till February when the new school year starts here. Miss. K however has been asking to go to school since last week and yesterday when we wandered past a play school yard filled with joy filled kids having fun it was almost more than she could handle and she started pleading to go to school. So, I talked to her Tia and asked about her cousins school and the possibility of Miss. K attending the same play school, she thought it would work so we are going to check it out. Miss. K was so excited she had Disney Land sleep as my patents called it. She fell asleep early with the promise of school but then tossed and turned and woke at 4am and yelled, "Mamá I am so EXCITED to go to school!" To which my much less enthusiastic reply was, "great, go to sleep." But she was wide

Honestly I had pretty low expectations for a great birthday this year, seeing as we just arrived a week ago and don't really know anyone but family. However my Bolivian family threw a great celebration for me, San Juan and other family members who are back in town. We had great food and drink and everyone had a fabulous time. That was the night before my birthday. My actual birthday was literally crappy. I woke up to the urge to go to the bathroom and while I made it to the bathroom I sneezed before making it to the pot, and left some evidence of what was to follow in my PJ's. Not fun. As the day went on the shit continued to flow. And while I made it to the toilet most of the time I definitely ruined another pair of PJ's before my mother in law was able to buy me some antidiahrial meds. But the whole day was not a total shit show, between trips to the bathroom my kitchen cart and my couch were moved into our apartment, which was a fantastic birthday gift. The thing is i

In America we take shopping for granted. I don't know if I've ever given it much thought. If I want something I can head head to one of my 3 favorite stores plop Miss. K in a cart or simply order it on Amazon and wait a day for it to arrive. This is not the case in Bolivia. In Bolivia if I say I would like a television stand for example, I will be carted to an entire street full of furniture vendors. This at first seems like a great place to shop, that is until you realize that every single shop on the street carries the exact same products, just with slightly different prices. So after you've been in the 3rd store you know number 4-7 are not going to have what you're looking for. And so does your kid who is over walking and looking at the same piece of furniture again and again. When you have searched all seven stores to no avail but happen upon the exact piece of furniture you were envisioning on day 2 of the hunt it's like finding gold! Which makes it hard to

We have been here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for just 2 days and though not everything is how I expected our transition from one home to the next has been smoother than one would have imagined. I have gone many places and have even lived abroad before, but never have I introduced my child to a new home, let alone life in a country not her own.   I have to say I am very proud of our little family and our ability to go with the flow. The past few months have been all about downsizing and saying goodbyes to everyone and almost everything she has ever known.   Now that I have the time to reflect I can say my kid has handled all of this with more grace and calmness than most adults I know.   Nothing against us adults but we tend to get attached to our things and our way of doing life, where as my kiddo has been able to hold on to her sense of excitement and adventure through it all. I was fearful at times of starting fresh in a new country with a 3-year-old, especially without the help