Almost Spring!

Spring is in the air! Though still vacillating between warmer days and cooler days – and even some cold days – we can see promising signs that spring is on the way!

The buds (from two weeks ago) are opening!

And the bees are getting busy!

A “Sort of” Letter (for DJ)

Inspired by a friend (who also blogs), I posted a “sort of” letter, highlighting DJ’s latest milestones when he was just over a year old. This post will imitate that genre, continuing in the tradition of “journal” for our family (as well as playing the part of an ongoing effort to keep in touch with extended family and friends internationally).

On June 23, I jotted down a few thoughts for DJ:

“YOU!” (at five and a half plus)

As I think of YOU, I especially treasure moments that are practically impossible to capture with a camera:

The gleam in your eye and the wrinkled up nose as you impishly gloat, teasing your sister, with that boyish laugh that sounds like a pirate’s “Aargh!”

[Photo credit: FotoGonza]

The tenderness of your little boy heart that, even in the beginning stages of phonics and reading, impels you to write me love notes.

The intensity with which you process deep thoughts. (Two anecdotes I shared previously illustrate this.)

“Her Love Still Shines”

“Praise the Lord!”

Your love for machinery and tools and the passion with which you study anything that looks like a machine, trying to figure out how it works.

The latest sketch, I was informed, shows a machine that

combines air with gasoline in order to make the motor run.

Your commitment both to recycling and to not wasting anything, whether it’s a scrap of paper or cardboard, a practically spent stub of pencil, or the rest of a bowl of rice that you didn’t finish at supper.

Your snuggly-ness!

Your love of learning! Right now, as I try to emphasize reading and phonics in English, you’re figuring out the basics of Spanish. Just a few days ago, you picked up a cereal box and read “Vitalissimo” – which is, admittedly, Italian, but you read it like Spanish and even put the accent on the right syllable.

The way you still hum absentmindedly, seemingly oblivious to the fact that you’re doing it, when you’re eating something you really like – and even when you’re eating something you’re being made to eat, once you actually start eating it!

The way you manage to communicate (admirably clearly!) in your own made-up “sign language” at school – because (after a year and half attending) you still don’t want to talk while there (in either Spanish or English) even though you love being with your teachers and classmates. [But see the update below!] At the same time, however, you constantly surprise us with the “native” fluency with which you speak Spanish to Abu Julia and the college students on a daily basis.

The quickness with which you memorize in both English and Spanish.

“Hechos 17”

The sweet little laugh you emit, admitting (at least a level of) understanding, when we try to explain deep (or hard to understand or accept) topics, such as why we live with constant change and in two different cultures...

We’re so glad you’re our boy! We love you!

Exciting Updates [August 29]

On the afternoon of August 9, DJ turned a (much prayed for!) corner at school – when he began speaking Spanish with the teachers and classmates who were present when JM picked him up. And then on August 10 (Jona’s birthday!) DJ spoke Spanish all day at school – and has continued to do so every day since then! All that Spanish that’s been accumulating “under the surface” is bubbling out as if from a geyser!

While still working on the basics of English phonetics, he’s applying the pre-reading skills he’s being taught in jardinera (i.e. K-5) and is also now reading (quite fluently!) the Spanish that surrounds him (wall maps, billboards, traffic signs, hymnbooks, etc.) At the same time – and without apparent interference or confusion – he continues to learn the basics of reading English.

[Click the picture for a video clip of DJ reading a beginner book.]

In a “meltdown moment” now and then, here or there, I’m reminded that ample research has proven that achieving bilingual fluency is exhausting mental work! But the demands of daily life also provide numerous opportunities to smile, amused, as we observe DJ learning to juggle his learning in two very different languages.

Recent anecdotes include the following:

“Punto” in Spanish can mean (most commonly) “point” but (more specifically) “period” (i.e. the punctuation mark at the end of declarative sentences). Insisting on his point of view, while talking to his sister, DJ recently said: “And I’m going to do that! Point!”

And in telling JM about what he’d learned at school one afternoon, he said: “We learned that air... Um... How do you say “ocupa espacio” in English?!”

Living life in two languages certainly has its challenges, but we’re enjoying the ride!

[Stay tuned for a post highlighting our E...]

Amy Carmichael

Amy Carmichael (1867 - 1951) fue misionera (de por vida) en India. Entre sus múltiples ministerios estaba el de escritora. Entre todo lo que escribió, se encuentran estas dos perlitas:

“No es la sensación de SU presencia, es el hecho de SU presencia que es nuestra fuerza y permanecer... Y cuando no hay ningún sentimiento, descansamos en SU palabra pura:
    ‘He aquí, yo estoy con vosotros siempre, todos los días, y todo el día’,
y estamos satisfechos”.

“Siempre tu Señor ha estado contigo. Siempre se acercará con entendimiento sumamente celestial de lo que tu corazón más necesite”.

[Photo credit: Heroes of Faith, Public Domain]

“¡Feliz Día del Niño!”

Since right before summer camp, E has been attending “Sunday School” in the mornings at Iglesia Templo Calvario (almost next-door to us). This past Saturday afternoon our family accompanied the TC children’s classes to Parque Rodó in honor of “Children’s Day” (on Sunday).

“VROOM! VROOM!”

DJ experienced Bumper Cars for the first time!

E wasn’t so sure about the Pirate Ship

– simulating life on the high seas!

But she loved “las sombrillas” i.e. the parasols!

Tía Viviana, their teacher in Pando in the afternoons,

also had a special treat for them on Sunday!

“Master Class”

The following video includes clips of JM’s participation in the Master Class with Enrique Graf, sponsored by Fundación José Garramón, in early July.

[Photo credit: Fundación José Garramón]

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Thankful!

Winter 2016

This winter started early... We noticed its effects on the poinsettia trees and the guava tree in our back yard; the poinsettia “blooms” never quite reached their peak (quite unlike what we’ve enjoyed in the past years). And the last of the guavas were quite green when they froze while still on the tree...

But now in mid-August, in spite of the fact that “officially” we still have about a month of winter left, many trees along our Montevideo streets are beginning to bud...

Our favorite sweet gum trees are in that number!

Winter 2016 takes me back to the cold[er] winters I remember experiencing in my childhood and teen years here. Though temperatures don’t usually stay below freezing, they do drop and hover near there. But the typical high humidity – especially on windy days – that we experience, especially on and near Uruguay’s coast, makes Montevideo’s winter cold the kind that can cut right through you...

And this year we experienced several wind storms – with abundant rain and wind gusts reaching near hurricane strength! The first of those storms took down one of the three poinsettia trees in the back yard here. So sad...

And one evening during the last wind storm in late July, as I stood in our upstairs living area, I could feel the wind blowing through cracks around the closed floor-to-ceiling balcony doors – and blowing right past me and into the master bedroom! That night was extremely cold...

But I plan to enjoy the rest of the winter season – while I look forward to the promise of the beauty of spring...

“Bird of Paradise” flowers in the front yard brighten our winter months!

Looking back...

On August 9, 2009, I posted a series of memories and requests here on this blog. So much has happened in the years since that day. And we miss Jonatán more than ever...

Celebrating Jona’s 15th birthday (in 2009)

Looking back seven years later, however, we can see that God graciously answered specific prayers in infinite ways. And HE continues to answer today...

We would love for everyone to know our Loving Shepherd personally. Will you read HIS story? Will you accept HIS invitation to wholeness?

“God’s Story ~ and Yours!”