Three Year Plan

Aside from the pure and absolute joy my children give to me, I absolutely cannot stand where I'm at in my life right now. 

I'm ready for changes. And I am on a 3 year plan to get there. 

If God lets me live, and doesn't strike me with some unbearable affliction or tragedy in the meantime, my life will be a whole lot different then. 

A Day In The Life

Today was kind of a rough day. 

Life is evolving yet again. Nothing is constant. Nothing. 

And it was really, really cold. 

Nataliaisms

Almost every day, something interesting happens with Natalia, then I think I should post in this blog. But then life happens, and there never seems to be time. So I will group several of them together now.

We don't wear flip-flops in public.

Natalia says that people in Spain have flip-flops, but only wear them at the beach or pool. Never for fashion, as everyday attire. She said her mother would never let her go out in public wearing flip-flops as part of her outfit!

We don't turn on the Christmas lights.

She says some people decorate their homes with Christmas lights, but it is too expensive to turn them on for long, so typically they are only on for a couple of days.

We don't exchange presents on Christmas Day.

Natalia's family celebrates Three Kings Day, which is January 6. This is the day they exchange their gifts, although they may get to open one on Christmas eve or Christmas day.

I threw it away.

Natalia had her first encounter with a rice crispy treat. She said it was disgusting, and tasted very strange. She wasn't sure what she was eating. After one bite, it landed in the trashcan.

Stay tuned. There's literally something pretty much every day.

Life With Natalia

Natalia recently experienced her first American Thanksgiving. Well, I guess I could say her first Thanksgiving in general, because they do not celebrate a holiday such as this in Spain. 

Her jobs were to make the pumpkin pie and a sweet potato dish. She has very little experience cooking, but was enthusiastic about making both. She likes pumpkin pie and had eaten it before. She likes sweet potatoes too, but had never seen them assembled in this fashion, with a bunch of butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Oh yes, and the little marshmallows on top. 

Most all of our family was together, which can sometimes be a little hectic and overwhelming. I think she enjoyed it, and even asked for a group photo. She seemed to enjoy the meal. Interestingly, it was the first time she had ever seen or tasted a whole, roasted turkey. According to her, people in Spain do not eat this meat. I suppose it makes sense, since turkeys are native to the Americas. She was curious just to see what it looked like and what it tasted like. Her first response was that it tasted like chicken. 

Since we have celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now are leading into Christmas, I see clearly how over-the-top Americans celebrate every holiday. Much more elaborately than other countries. I haven't decided yet if this is a good thing, or not. 

Two Months Is Too Long

Oh my Lord, it's been two months since I had a counseling session with Kate. They had to cancel my October visit. I wish tomorrow's visit was going to be a two hour session, because I feel like there is a lot to catch up on.

Life With Natalia

One of the first nights Natalia was here, she was looking for a snack in the pantry. She pulled out a packet of "peanut butter and cheese crackers" like the ones pictured here. She looked puzzled and said to me "What is this?"   I told her it was cheese peanut butter crackers, to which she replied, several seconds later, "This is not cheese". 

What Natalia learned:   When it comes to food in America, you are not always getting what you think you are getting. "Cheese" might really mean artificially flavored, artificially colored crackers, chock full of preservatives.

What I learned from Natalia:   We eat a lot of shit that is not real food.

I Didn't See This Coming

At the start of the school year, my daughter came home telling me about a new friend she had met. An exchange student from Spain named Natalia. 

As the weeks passed, she began telling me that Natalia's host family was having some personal problems, which eventually grew out of control, and Natalia became displaced. She had to move in with the coordinator of the program while she searched for a new host family.

One weekend the coordinator had to be out of town, and since Natalia was friends with my daughter, we were asked if we could keep her for the weekend. Once I met her, I just fell in love with her. I can't really explain what happened next, but I felt it was laid on my heart that we had to take this girl into our home. 

Now bear in mind my home is not always the most stable place on earth, but everyone in the house agreed we felt it was what we were being called to do. 

As I type this, Natalia has been with us a couple of weeks. She is intelligent, beautiful, and witty. Every day I learn something new from her. In the days, weeks, and months ahead I will share with you the things I learn. Things like bravery, about giving, and how similar yet different our two cultures are.

Stay tuned.