Sonidos Serranos

Sonidos Serranos: Sounds of the Sierras...
Reflecting some of my family's interests: God's wonderful creation (especially mountains and hills!), music, and language...

Psalm 121:1-2 (NASB)

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

10 January 2020

One year ago...

So hard to believe one year has gone by... 💔

I miss you, Daddy...

One year ago this evening DJ and I were enjoying a “Mommy-Son Date” at Burger King, about a fifteen minute walk from home, having just left E at the creative writing workshop she was beginning that evening at the bookstore just two blocks west and south of BK; JM had left early that morning to help with counselor training at the camp on the coast, at least an hour and a half away by bus.

And now I don’t recall exactly when I got the call from JM, telling me that he was leaving camp to come home, that my Daddy was not doing well, that my brother and his family were coming over to our house so we could all wait together for any further updates...

So many details are now a blur... I somehow must have managed to move with relative safety in spite of that daze; I don’t remember what I said or did or if I even told anyone about the lump in my chest cavity, where my heart and stomach were supposed to be, when I picked up E. In fact, I don’t even remember picking her up, but I must have...

Even though we’d known his health had been deteriorating for years and even that he was not feeling very well that day, all this still seemed like a very sudden decline...

He had seemed so well, so happy, at Christmas time...



But we had, right after Christmas, decided to get airline tickets to go see him, knowing his health was continuing a gradual downward spiral and realizing that visit might well be “one last time” to share with him here on this broken Earth...

So many hard memories... 💔

But I will be forever thankful for his moments of consciousness that night, especially when E and DJ and I were able to call and talk to him at the hospital while we waited for JM and D&V and the girls to arrive; to hear Pat tell us that, when he heard our voices, he raised his arm to wave in that characteristic fashion of his when we did video calls; and to be able to choke the tears back enough to sing “Solamente en Cristo” to him and find out he was able to hear and even recognize what we were singing.

I will always be thankful for those moments... ❤

As hard as it was to be so far apart that evening and as hard as the year since has been for me personally, I am comforted knowing that I was (and am) where he wanted me to be, serving here where he poured out over four decades of his life...


And Im thankful for Eternal Hope! ❤

09 January 2020

Thirteen Days of Christmas!

December was extra busy not only with the usual academic obligations but also with a few travel opportunities added in this time. So we again extended the Christmas Season by celebrating Twelve (actually make that thirteen this time!) Days of Christmas...

Celebrating twelve days, beginning after Christmas Day and including January 6, a red-letter day on the calendar here in Uruguay, is not only culturally appropriate but also a good idea for us, given the busyness of December with all its end-of-the-academic-year obligations. So maybe this will become our family’s newest tradition...

Here’s what we did to celebrate the mini-season this year...

Dec25
Began reading the Christmas accounts in Harmony of the Gospels
Began our traditional reading of Christmas books as a family
Watched The Snowman and The Snowman and the Snowdog
Outing to Punta Carretas Shopping: We concluded that we preferred the décor at Portones, but we enjoyed the ice-cream!


Dec27
Enjoyed a chocolate “invention” and candy canes before bed



[Also worked most of the day on red tape and then took a late night call to check on college students whose house had been broken into] 😢

Dec28
Enjoyed a highlight and very special outing (gift) for our soccer-loving Celeste family!


#SomosCelestes

Dec29
Potluck lunch with church family at the Acevedos’ in Totoral




Dec30
Edited photos and began work on a video clip of El adiós de Forlán

Dec31
New Year’s Eve

E and DJ baked and decorated a b-day cake for Abu Dosila


Finished the video clip of El adiós de Forlán

Jan01
Baked and decorated (star) cookies – for our family!


Jan02
Outing to Feria de Navidad (a Christmas Fair at the park nearby)

We enjoyed Venezuelan food this year!

“Celeste” Journals for E & DJ for 2020

Jan03
Baked and decorated cookies for cashiers at La Favorita (where we go to exchange currency)

A tradition of my Mom’s that I’ve wanted to keep!
And this year was especially emotional for me...

Jan04
Another outing to Feria de Navidad  since its in the neighborhood!

Jan05
Baked and decorated the rest of the cookies!


Jan06
Día de los Reyes Magos

Spent the day with dear friends, painting and cleaning, sharing cookies, and then “cooking-out” (but neglected to get any photos!) 🙁



Jan07
“On the [thirteenth] day of Christmas…” 😉

Books make the best gifts!


Enjoyed hot chocolate with candy canes with the last of the Christmas star cookies!


Crazy candy cane fun!

Also went to our neighborhood ice-cream shop – on a whim! 😊


“A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!”

07 January 2020

“On the [Thirteenth] Day...”

Celebrating one day later than usual but with books as usual! Trying to keep up with voracious readers – in two languages...

“¡Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos!”

These funny people! So many expressions!





Also... Fun with (expired) candy canes!

(Who are these people?!) 😏

01 January 2020

For the New Year | Para el Año Nuevo

Thoughts for the New Year, thoughts that echo my thoughts as I reflect on the past year, a year so intense that I’m still trying to process all that happened...
“Could we procure a telescope which would enable us to see to the end of the year, should we be wise to use it? I think not. What a mercy that these things are hidden from us! For if we knew our best blessings in advance, they would lose their freshness and sweetness while we impatiently waited for them, and if we knew our trials ahead of time, we would fret and miss the joy of our present blessings. Great mercy has hung up a veil between us and the future; and there let it hang.”
~Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Pensamientos para el Año Nuevo, pensamientos que hacen eco de mis pensamientos al reflexionar sobre el año pasado, un año tan intenso que todavía estoy tratando de procesar todo lo que sucedió...
“[Si] pudiéramos adquirir un telescopio que nos permitiera ver hasta el fin del año, ¿seríamos sabios al usarlo? Creo que no. ¡Qué misericordia que estas cosas nos estén ocultas! Porque si supiéramos nuestras mejores bendiciones de antemano, perderían su frescura y dulzura mientras las esperábamos con impaciencia, y si supiéramos nuestras pruebas con antelación, nos preocuparíamos y perderíamos la alegría de nuestras bendiciones actuales. Gran misericordia ha colgado un velo entre nosotros y el futuro; y allí dejémoslo colgar”.
~Charles Haddon Spurgeon