Mom Mamma Mama'

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...

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 ...

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 wit...