Life Update: Beginning of the School Year

Here we are at the end of October, and I'm just now writing a post about the start of the school year. It's been difficult to find time to blog now that I'm teaching and commuting three times a week. 

Seth and Sam are at American Institute of Monterrey (AIM) again this year. They are in fourth grade and are in separate classrooms for the first time. Sam has an American teacher and Seth a Mexican teacher. They are both really happy and satisfied at school and have done surprisingly well being separated. It's nice for them to each have their own stories at the end of the day and for them to begin to form their individual niche.  However, they certainly have a lot to say to one another by the end of the day! The majority of their school work is on an iPad, which we all find to be quite annoying, but we persevere. They have a considerable amount of homework this school year compared with last year. Currently they are weekly reading two Spanish articles (at fourth grade reading level) and answer questions about them; while this homework is super challenging and time consuming, we are seeing a major improvement in their Spanish skills. This year they get to have violin class three times a week; they love playing and we're grateful that they have the opportunity to learn an instrument during school. As parents, we continue to be super impressed in their work ethic and willingness to have a positive attitude despite being so different from those around them. 

We are also seeing a vast improvement in Seth and Sam's Spanish skills due to their 4x a week soccer practice, as their coach doesn't speak any English. I was initially very nervous to sign them up for soccer, assuming that 4x a week would be just too much to handle; however, I actually needed them to have practice after school in order to give me sufficient time to pick them up on my commuting days. Thankfully, they absolutely love it and it helps them burn a ton of energy off after being in the classroom all day. They take a bus from the school to the soccer field (which happens to be really close to our apartment). Their games are once or twice a week and are at various soccer fields throughout our area. In fact, their soccer game pushed me into driving across the dry river bed for the first time since moving to Monterrey (I avoid all the bridges and exits like the plague). Sam is playing goalie part time and is doing great. Seth plays midfield and still holds back a bit during games, but we are seeing an improvement on his aggressiveness. They are playing with their 2009 generation (they are in class a grade above their age, 2008). It's been nice to have them physically match up better than they do during recess soccer, where they have had a hard time fitting in because they are so much smaller and less skilled than the older boys.

Sam and Seth

Seth and Sam

First soccer game

 Sam playing goalie

Josh and I started our school year the first week of September at Sierra Madre Christian Academy, the school on the campus of Back2Back, a mission organization that we learned about from our friends the Leonards. I am teaching three days a week: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Josh attends school on those three days and often I also bring him out for school on Fridays. Unfortunately, it takes us between 50-60 minutes in the morning to drive to the school due to traffic, and then another 40 minutes to get to Sam and Seth's soccer field at the end of the school day; therefore, Josh and I are spending a considerable amount of time in the car. We use our time to listen to audio books. Josh loves audio books and I often hear him use ridiculous vocabulary for his age and I chalk that up to the all of the books he has listened to.

 Josh is loving being in kindergarten. There are only four kids in his class and actually only 11 kids in the whole school, so it's a nice sized group for Josh. He is learning to read, learning to count and tell time, loves doing art and is quite creative, and is loved by his schoolmates. I cannot even express how thankful we are that Josh is getting to get accustomed to the school scene in a small classroom setting where he can feel comfortable and not overwhelmed. He frequently tells us how much he loves school and it's been so healthy for him to have more of a social life this year with children of his own age. 

I also am loving being involved at SMCA and thank the Lord often for the opportunity. It has provided a community, friendships, and purpose for me. I really enjoy lesson planning, especially the art and craft projects (I am my mother's daughter). We have had some super fun theme weeks like "Moe Williams" week and "Eric Carle" week. We did a super cool "S" is for spider study and all of October has been plant month, so we planted our own garden. The work energizes me and though I'm really tired by the end of the week, I happy to be involved in something bigger than just my little realm at home. (And returning to work in Mexico has an extra bonus for me: my maid now works three days a week for me, so I come home from work to a clean house...life changing.)

Proud Kindergartner 

 First day of School for both of us!

 SMCA first day of school

Field trip to the Mexican History Museum

 Fountain in front of the museum

 Classmates 

 The boys of the school: Josh, Lucas, Joah, Joel, and Elias 

 Our little artist 

My little class

 We try to get the kids outside as much as possible

 Elias, Antonella and Josh after pretending to be bees and pollinate flowers 

 Another art activity; Bev (the other teacher) and I, really love doing group art projects

Experiment on how water travels up the stems of flowers 

The results were awesome!

18 Month Reflections

It's so hard to believe that we have reached 18 months of living here Mexico...18 months! I can distinctly remember when we hit the 6 month mark here; I felt like time had inched by so slowly to get us to that date and that most everything was still so hard. What a different season of life we are in now than we were a year ago!

Life here now feels, well, normal. It still is definitely not easy, but we're very accustomed to that discomfort. We don't expect things to happen on time or to be fixed quickly (or at all). We expect problems and delays. One of our phrases here is, "Nothing works, but everything works out." 

This past week in particular optimized that phrase. It all began Sunday when my car wouldn't start. Of course, the week in front of us happened to be crazy busy and a huge work week for Ben with a big event and his bosses coming into town. A perfect time to be down one car. Surprisingly enough however, instead of freaking out, Ben and I calmly went through our options and figured out plan B. That would be example #1 of the way that we have grown while living here. Trust me, anxiety does nothing to fix the problem. So, plan B looked like Ben taking an uber to work and using the Daimler pool car. This was perfect for me, because his car has bluetooth phone access and so I could actually make phone calls to my family (my phone hasn't been working for phone calls for about a month now...that would be too easy, right?). Anyways, on Tuesday Ben went to gas-up the pool car only to discover that the gas door won't open no matter what he tried; so he drove it to work on fumes and discovered that whoever gave him the keys knew it wouldn't open and didn't tell him. (Mexicans are never forthcoming with information, we have really learned that the hard way.) He had to pry the gas door open and broke it. Tuesday was also the day that Seth and Sam's soccer game was cancelled because it was too cold (50 degrees, I kid you not, was considered too cold to play and it wasn't even raining.) Even though their game was cancelled, I was told that they had practice; however, their coach forgot to tell them this information so the twins failed to get on their bus to the field and stayed at school waiting for me to pick them up. On days that I work I don't get to the school until 3:40, so that meant I was over an hour late picking them up. Add that to the list of frustrations for the week. By Wednesday, thank the Lord, my car was functioning again: FYI if your key faub is out of batteries it could cause your car not to start because of something to do with its security (who knew?). Poor Ben had switched back to his car and now it needed to be gassed up. Leaving work on Wednesday (again on fumes) he couldn't find a gas station that would accept either his American credit card, his work credit card, or his work gas card...too easy, right? So, he scrounged up 130 pesos from his car to get about a gallon of gas until he can make it to a second gas station, that would accept his card, to actually fill up the car. Oh, and it must be mentioned that the only reason he had so little pesos in his wallet is because he doesn't have his pin number for his American debit card because it's in the mail in America at his parents house. Why can't anything be easy?

I seriously don't think that I could make up stories like this, but truly this is Mexico life more often than not. It's crazy, maddening, endearing, refining, exhausting, beautiful, difficult, and vale la pena (worth the pain). 

So, here we are a year and half in (probably at least half way through our tenure here) and we're comfortable with the uncomfortable. 

Driving and traffic are still crazy, in fact this week we have seen three accidents in front of our apartment alone (that doesn't include the other half a dozen accidents we have seen elsewhere). We still pray every day before we get in car for safety, but thankfully we can manage the crazy drivers a little better now. (Sometimes we're even those crazy drivers...I went the wrong way on a one-way today so as to not have to sit in traffic after missing my turn.)

Language acquisition is coming, but still not easy. Ben is pretty darn adept and can hold his own in most situations. The twins have embraced an hour of soccer practice four days a week all in Spanish and say that they understand almost 100 percent of what the coach says (he doesn't speak any English). They also are reading and answering questions to fourth grade level Spanish stories for school...we're pretty impressed. However, they still don't speak it much. I have days where I feel like I'm killing it and days that I feel like I'm totally failing. I'm nowhere near as good as I hoped I would be by this time, but I am also worlds better than I was a year ago. Josh understands a lot, but doesn't really speak any. 

Looking back at last October, it was when we had really caught our stride here, mostly due to our discovery of and involvement with our church. That still continues to be the most constant and encouraging piece in our lives. I cannot imagine being here in Mexico without our iglesia community. Friendships with locals has been difficult, but we have started to form a relationship with an all-Spanish speaking family at church who also has three boys. We're hopeful in that friendship. Sam and Seth don't seem to have any close friends at school or in soccer and at times that really grieves my mother's heart, but I'm trusting that this time as foreigners and outsiders will really shape their character in amazing ways for the future (and at least they always have each other). Josh does well with friendship at school and is loved by all the students. But always, we are missing our closest family friends, the Leonards, who moved back to the States this summer. 

So, in summary, at 18 months, our life here in Monterrey in good. It's packed to the brim often with more than I think we can handle, but in the end, we do handle it because it is what God has asked of us and is equipping us to do. Sometimes we long for "easy" days living in our own country, hearing only English, grocery shopping at wonderful stores, working in our garden at will, and seeing family at a whim. However, we treasure our times here in Mexico and know we will deeply miss it when we return. 

As always, we are just so thankful for this opportunity, uncomfortable, crazy, and lovely. 

Happy Birthday Josh: 5 years old

It's hard to believe that our youngest son is five years old. Josh was so proud to be five. 

This past year has been full of big milestones for Josh. He learned to ride a bike without training wheels, he can swim without floating devices (like really swim well!), and he even lost a tooth. He is also learning how to read and do math. His face is now filled with freckles, it's adorable.

I've mentioned before that it felt like moving to Mexico was hardest on Josh in many ways; however, I think he has finally found his stride here, feels fully comfortable, and is having fewer anxious moments. Starting kindergarten, in a situation where I am teaching, has been wonderful for him. He does so well at school: he is a good friend, he likes to learn, and is pretty obedient (there will always be a stubborn streak in him). He is actually showing himself to be pretty good at art and he is a fast learner. Josh loves riding his bike during recess with his buddy Antonella. 

Josh continues to absolutely love and adore his Daddy and wants to do any and everything with him. He loves to play all sports and is very talented and aggressive. He likes to do puzzles and Legos (but doesn't do them independently, only with a buddy). He likes to be read to, but is not in a hurry to read on his own. Josh would spend 24/7 on technology if we let him, therefore, we rarely let him do any. He is obsessed with building forts. His newest thing he loves to do is play with his stuffed animal Piglet. In fact, I think that Piglet was his comfort object when Ben was traveling on a 10 day trip. Josh brought Piglet everywhere in the car with him, toted him around the house everywhere, and used him to help him be brave (and to be naughty too!). It is very, very sweet. 

Five year old Josh is spunky and loves to laugh. He always keeps us on our toes. He loves to play with Seth and Sam and also loves to bother them. He doesn't love to play independently, but that has gotten better since he's been going to school and is stimulated by friends. His favorite foods are peanut butter toast, humus and veggie straws, pizza, sausage, pop rocks, and ice cream. His favorite shows are Shawn the Sheep, Paw Patrol, and Tom and Jerry. He always picks the brightest colored shirt in his dresser.

 We asked Josh what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said he wanted to go to Jumpster, eat Frida Chilaquiles, and have chocolate cake. He only wanted to do it with his family, because his buddy Jer couldn't come (he moved this summer). On his birthday, he and I baked his cake together and went to the store to pick out the coolest birthday balloon and candles ever (Mexico does fiesta things above and beyond).  

  

 He has the BEST smile

 He's always so proud and happy to be between Seth and Sam 

 The twins bought Josh a Lego set with their own money

 We brought some presents from family with us from America: Legos from the Platos.

 All he's wanted for so long is a watch. He was thrilled.

 Five little monsters and a world cup candle. Oh yeah. 

 It's not only huge, but it opens, plays music and spins. 

Happy 5th birthday sweet baby boy. You are a joy and delight to your family.

Goodbye Leonard Family

Today is Sunday and every Sunday we miss our dear friends, the Leonard family. It has been two months since the Lord brought them back to the States and Mexico just doesn't feel the same without them. 

We don't only miss them on Sundays, but especially on Sundays. Sundays were our days together where we would connect at church and then decide what we'd all do together afterwards. Sometimes it just looked at lunch at a restaurant. Many other days it was a meal at one of our houses and swimming afterwards. Truthfully it didn't matter what we did, it was just the togetherness that mattered.

In a memory book given to the Leonards before they left, I wrote, "You guys were our lifeboat in a sea of culture shock." I believe that's why our friendship was forged so closely so quickly...we just all needed each other. We needed afternoons of chatting in English, telling stories of catastrophes at banks, irritations of foreign schools, and hacks for surviving in a world where we don't quite belong. We needed encouragement from stories of the Lord's provision in each other's lives. We needed to vent and laugh and cry together. 

Not only were Dustin and Katie a lifeline for Ben and I, but their kids were just such fantastic friends for our boys. One time we had Kyler and Jeremiah for a long weekend while their parents went out of town: what a gift for our boys! The twins played a 3 day long game of Risk with Kyler, Josh and Jer ran around like crazy and played and played. We have memories of our kids together having nerf gun wars, playing soccer, making legos, and so much swimming together.

Some of our favorite memories with the Leonards include visiting Bioparque together, the crazy hike to "base camp" behind their house, and when Dustin and Derrick picked us up in Laredo when our car engine died in San Antonio. It was also Dustin who coordinated our epic Via Ferrata climb. We also loved going to jumpster together. I miss getting to share books and pictures with them. They were also the family that I relied on when Ben went out of town for business. It was always nice knowing that I could spend an afternoon at their home in Back2Back! 

We knew when we moved to Mexico that the Lord would provide for us above and beyond, and that is what he did with this friendship. We also knew that our friendships here, unfortunately, would all end with goodbyes. These goodbyes are different from when we said goodbye to friends and family in Oregon: we know that we will return to Oregon and live close to loved ones again. Goodbyes here in Monterrey are more permanent...we probably will never live in the same community again. Our goodbye to the Leonards felt so final. Not, "Goodbye, see you at Christmas!" but, "Goodbye, maybe we'll try to visit you once this year." It was heart wrenching for all of us.

So, here we are in Mexico, minus the Leonards. Seth said the other day, "It doesn't feel like Mexico without the Leonards." I agree Seth, or at least it doesn't feel quite so sweet and homey.
What we wouldn't give for one more slow, lazy Sunday afternoon together.

Group photo together before saying goodbye

Hilarious goofy photo.

 One of our last evenings together, Josh and Jer wanted to borrow Ben's phone so that they could "take a picture together so that they would never forget each other."

These two: such sweet friends to one another


Josh has shed many, many tears over missing Jer

I miss watching them play rescue bots together!

It may sound silly, but before moving here, I prayed for a "bosom friend" (like Anne of Green Gables). The Lord truly provided that for me with Katie. She was wisdom and a listening ear for me.

 Another thing Dustin and Katie provided for us was an introduction to their ministry, Back2Back, which is why I am now teaching at the school on campus. This picture is from a Sunday where they brought some of the Back2Back interns to our house for lunch. 

 The first time we all hung out together, we went to PF Changs and jumpster. So, that's what we decided to do for one of our final times together. 

 So many hours in the pool together!

 This particular day they had a great ball game going, but often times it was "King of the Mountain."

 Sam and Kyler

 Everyone sporting cool pool hair (a Dustin speciality)

 Playing chicken at the Back2Back pool

 A few pictures from our weekend having Kyler and Jer staying at our home.

 Jer and Josh swimming at the consulate pool.

 Meal with friends Max and Oskar as well.

 Playing Enchanted Forest before the game regressed into "Jer and Josh rules"

 Ben reading to the littles

 The three-day risk game

 The game was epic.

One final note: the day we said goodbye to our friends is etched in my memory. We spent a final afternoon at our apartment together, prayed together at the end, and then said our goodbyes. Ben, the kids and I then headed to our terrace to wave at them down on the street. They drove off and there we were, the five of us, so sad. Heavy hearts, grieving together. We sat on the couch and there were tears (most of them mine). We talked about the gift that the Leonard family had been to us and we talked about how much we would miss them. It was a poignant moment of togetherness for our family. This is a gift that Mexico has provided for us: these moments, these tools of learning. Even if it's grieving, we are processing deep things with our children. And even though it's difficult, I can't help but believe that it's good and it will ultimately serve a greater purpose in the life of our children in the future.