The last four weeks have been so busy that I really haven't had time to sit down and blog. Now almost a month has gone by and there are so many stories and pictures to share that I don't really even know where to start. I've decided that it's best I begin with a brief overview, in hopes of following up with a couple more detailed blogs of the boys' birthdays and our time in Scappoose.
Here's a glimpse of our recent craziness:
-May 26th Seth and Sam turned 8 years old. We celebrated with ice cream and swimming until dark.
-The next day we flew to Portland and spent the next two weeks with friends and family.
-In those two weeks, we had family stay with us three times, I celebrated a birthday, and Ben's brother Levi graduated high school.
-We returned to Monterrey and two days later, our coveted container of goods finally arrived (eight weeks after our moving to Mexico, but who's counting?).
-On that same evening, Ben flew to Mexico City for a speech at a business conference.
-The next day Josh began the day at 7:00 a.m. with throwing up all over his bedding. Seth then ended the day throwing up all over the wall and his bed at 10:30. Ben arrives back home at 11:00 p.m. to a tired and frazzled wife.
-The next night I get the flu, for the second time in less than two weeks.
-And, the next day Sam gets the flu.
-Sunday, which also happened to be Father's Day and our 12th Anniversary, was the next day. Thankfully, we were able to spend the day with some new friends from church and we had a blast. The day then ends with both Seth and Sam having sleep terrors (twice) and Seth an ear infection.
-And that brings us to today, Tuesday, the day where Ben, the only family member that hadn't gotten the flu yet, bites the dust. He spent the day either in the bathroom or barely able to move on the couch.
To say that we're exhausted might be an understatement. It's not just physical exhaustion from illness and lack of sleep, but we're just emotionally and mentally exhausted.
I was pretty down in the dumps this morning, just feeling overwhelmed, lonely, and isolated. After sending a "mayday" text to the moms for extra prayer, the kids and I headed to the park for my Spanish lessons (a change of place so that my tutor wouldn't have to be around the infirmary of our house). We brought the boys' toy bow and arrows and they spent two hours chasing and shooting birds; it almost felt like we were at home hanging out in our backyard. It was nice. Then, because I had a car due to Ben being home, the kids and I headed out to do errands. We journeyed way out of my driving comfort zone and ventured not only to HEB and Pan Gabriel (our GF bread place), but to Costco, in which I had to go through round-a-bouts and onto multiple highways. I may have taken a couple wrong turns and had to back track, but I did it! It felt so amazing to not let fear stop me today. When we arrived back home, I truly was no longer down in the dumps; instead, I felt like a conqueror.
One thing that I'm continually learning with this living in a foreign country thing is that fear is crippling. Living here I really haven't ever felt afraid for our families safety. Instead it's small worries: what if the doctor only speaks English? What if I take a wrong turn and get onto the big freeway? What if a policeman pulls me over for no reason and I can't communicate with him? Or even smaller: how do I dial a local number from our landline? How do I ask the gas attendant to "fill it up?" These small fears compound to leave me often feeling just plain helpless and unwilling to venture anywhere.
However, my best days in Mexico are days like today. Days in which I chose to not curl into a ball like I'd really prefer to, but instead I take the keys to the car, tell myself that I'm a big girl and I can do this, and drive to Costco. Or I try to have a conversation in Spanish with the cashier. Or we venture out of our comfort zone and seek out new people at church to meet. Those fear conquering moments are one of the main reasons we are doing this crazy adventure.
Living in Mexico is hard, but it is good. And if God is working on our character, it is worth it.
I promise there are more posts coming...with pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment