Cuando tu hijo se pone a sacarle el polvo acumulado al ventilador y se transforma en un proyecto más complejo... 🤔
Y entonces aprende qué son y cómo funcionan los rulemanes... 🤩
Cuando se entera la hermana, se pone a cantar el jingle más conocido en el Estadio Centenario... 😄
(Sospecho que solo los uruguayos más fanáticos de nuestro fútbol entenderán todo esto...) 💙🇺🇾⚽️
At the beginning of this month I posted about getting what I’m calling my “Driver’s Diploma!”
Another member of our family became confident on his set of wheels just this week! 😊
After searching off and on for several years and after selling DJ’s RadioFlyer tricycle at the end of September (the one I’d brought in pieces spread throughout our luggage in 2016) for almost twice the $35 (dollars) I’d paid for it in SC, late last month (and just in time for his b-day!) I finally found him a second-hand bike in very good shape and for the very reasonable price of roughly $20 (dollars) – a combo that, sadly, is not so easy to come by here. Second-hand merchandise tends to be quite expensive here, especially when compared to SC “yard sale” prices.
All that to say, we’ve been very happy with this find! 😊
After four outings to the park, DJ – very happily – took off on his own this past Wednesday!
Thanksgiving Day: One of my favorite holidays! 🤎
In the southern hemisphere, it tends to fall on a regular workday when we have classes to attend and/or teach and a school year to wrap up. All become aspects that help us focus on the essence of the celebration!
In the evening we had to take our now-traditional walk, half a block up and four blocks over, to the little “mom and pop” ice-cream shop that has become an important part of our family’s traditional celebration of Thanksgiving Day.
The purple flowers on the jacarandá tree that we usually photograph on our way weren’t at their peak this year, but we tried for a few snapshots anyway. It was E’s idea to get the flowers with the moon in the background...
Since E’s regular classes had been cancelled for the afternoon, she had accompanied me to school that morning in order to help me teach elementary EFL classes.
This is what can happen when your teen gets ahold of your cellphone while you’re at the wheel: 😄
As I commented (on fb!) to John Mark: Dr. Troutman might just have been right when he tried to assure this desperately sleep-deprived mom that a colicky baby turns into a wonderful teen... 😉
When a student brings you fresh mulberries from her family’s garden (and you already have an array of seasonal fruit from the open market on hand), why not serve fruit salad over ice-cream (from your favorite “mom and pop” shop) – and call it supper? 😄
#CelebratingThanksgivingInSummerWeather
Multiple cultural experiences this week...
The Lord of the Rings by Johan de Meij, performed by Montevideo’s Symphonic Band at the Teatro Solís on Wednesday evening!
The Tempest by William Shakespeare, performed by the Classic Players and shared via livestream by Bob Jones University yesterday evening! (E & DJ found out today that their cousin Marcos was the stunt double for the jester!) 🤡😉
The challenges of the now-infamous pandemic couldn’t keep us from celebrating our favorite man...
This year has been, umm . . . How should we describe it?! “2020!” (Right?!) In all seriousness, this has been a year full of challenges in every realm of life...
We had to get creative regarding how to celebrate DJ’s birthday simply but with at least a few friends this year. (We hadn’t done a party for him the last two years, poor guy...) So we came up with the idea of having a picnic immediately after getting out of school in a nearby local park with a few friends from school. (And on his actual birthday – possibly a first for us!) 😉
So much fun!
Since E was my full-time Party Planning Assistant this time, we had lots of fun with all the details…
DJ also helped with some of the food prep and decoration...
And we made party bags for DJ’s classmates (because taking cupcakes to school – or any food to share, for that matter – isn’t allowed right now).
Moon and Mars, as seen from Montevideo tonight...
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the
earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens...
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
(Psalm 8)
So, now I’m seeing that today was International Son’s Day (at least in English-speaking nations).
And we’re thankful for our DJ.
He’s typically working on studying several topics at once these days...
And drawing maps...
And learning history and geographical names in two languages...
Just because... 😄
So, I see that today is National Daughter’s Day (at least in the northern hemisphere).
And we’re thankful for our E! 💕
Endeavoring to
keep up with overseeing schooling in two languages plus teaching a
college-level course (involving remedial aspects and last-minute online
adaptations) combined with limited internet access have all contributed to my
having limited access to social media over the past four months. So, when
posting my current profile picture almost a month ago, I had no idea that
wearing face masks (or not) might actually imply some sort of political
statement (although I had, of course, heard comments here and there about
health-related pros and cons of wearing them).
In response to a friendly poll on how often I wore a mask, I replied that I do so “(Almost) always!” when in public and in the spirit of Romans, chapter 13, clarifying that masks are required here on public transportation, in supermarkets, and in some school settings, for instance. Conceding, for the sake of the argument, the potential lack of efficiency of masks, I observed that if my wearing a mask makes others feel better (even if that’s all it does), why wouldn’t I wear one when out and about, especially when doing so in my case (living in a relational culture) would be (as all my life really should be) a matter of Christian living?
Without
hesitation, my 14-year-old, reading over my shoulder, commented: “To the masked
I became as masked, if by any means I might win some...”
Yes! That’s exactly the (1 Corinthians, chapter 9) attitude I intend to communicate (even if breathing a greater concentration of my own CO2 is not in my own best interest). Deny my rights and liberties?! Yes... I personally know Somebody who gave up so much more for my ultimate good (Philippians, chapter 2), and His doing so involved death in my place on a cross...
Al SEÑOR esperé pacientemente,
y Él se inclinó a mí
y oyó mi clamor.
Me sacó del hoyo de la destrucción,
del lodo cenagoso;
Asentó mis pies sobre una roca
y afirmó mis pasos.
Puso en mi boca un cántico nuevo,
un canto de alabanza a nuestro Dios;
Muchos verán esto, y temerán,
y confiarán en el SEÑOR.
Cuán bienaventurado es el hombre
que ha puesto en el SEÑOR
su confianza...
