{Durango}

happy monday! it is very sunny and windy in mexico today. i was talking to my family and they told me that the weather in iowa is rainy and cold. i realized today, how much i actually miss rainy weather. the last time we actually had rain here in mexico was in march or april, right after i moved here. crazy how time flies.

since we do activities every saturday with the ninos in different communities our weekends are sunday and monday. sooo... today is my day off and im filling my time with getting some things done that i keep putting off until LATER. {u huh} cleaning my fridge, practicing worship songs on the guitar, learning {spanish folk songs} on my violin (haven't told you all about my new adventures at the nursing home i've been visiting. but that will come soon), going out for a run, cleaning and vacuuming my room, and watching {50 first dates} in between all that. my awesome and amazing seester found me this website that i can watch movies here in mexico for frEEEEE. but the only down side to this is that it takes all day to watch a movie. i wait for it to load a 15 minutes while i do my work and come back to watch 10 minutes of movie. sigh... the things i will do.

since i spend most of my week in this little community of {durango}, i wanted to give you a bigger glimpse into what it looks like.

i love this place. its an odd mixture of tiny brick houses and quick shelters that consist of garage door walls and blue tarps for roofs. we work with about one hundred and fifty families. all with real needs. some more then others but all with one common need. {Jesus}

depending on the time of day you may see no one around or lots of kids in the streets kicking a soccer ball, moms sweeping dirt,or boys pushing strollers with water jugs. its fun to drive in and wave and here the kids call out our names.

on tuesdays through fridays we tutor around thirty plus kids ranging from six to twelve. unless of course mom and dad are both working in the fields and baby brother has to tag along. usually we always have a baby and a few dogs accompanying us during our classes.

i usually work on addition with the kids. we give them a simple {addition by one} math quiz with eight problems on it. if they finish it within ten seconds they get to move on to {addition by two's}. if not we do the same quiz again next week.

i also help the little kids with simple number or letter recognition activities. it's so cute how {into it} they get.

we tutor for about two hours. the first hour we work on creative writing by asking the kids a question like; "if you had a magic wand, what would you do with it?" or we read a short story to them and have them write down the three main parts. a lot of these kids struggle with writing just one sentence. the schools here push kids along before they even get the very basics. the first hour we also try to teach the kids a new math concept. the second hour we help the kids with any home work that they've brought along.

i think one of my favorite parts is keeping the little ones entertained while their older siblings are wroking on homework.

coloring always works!

every other saturday we have play days with the kids here in durango. all of them are invited so anywhere from thirty to sixty kids show up. we bring sports equipment and coloring books and just play. we put on a skit which teaches a bible concept. crafts are always the kids highlight.

here are a few smiles from last saturday.

that's a day in the life of {durango} folks.

as a side note: my bestie {laura miracle greer} came again this weekend. love when she does that. can i just say... i love her heart for mexico and the ninos! and plus she rocks my world with all the little things she brings for me on a regular basis. this weekends toy was {miniature table ping pong} how adorable!

sometimes...

... you have to just take a walk on the beach and write love notes to {him}.

i saw the ocean for the first time last april of 2010 and the {love of God} took on a whole new meaning for me. as i ran into the ocean, i was overwhelmed at the thought of how much {he} loves me. let alone the whole universe.

during summer camp, we always have a beach day with the ninos. it's so neat to see the excitement in their eyes as they stare at the waves, run up and down the shore gathering as many shells as their little hands can hold, or writing their names in the sand.

i started a little tradition after my many trips to the beach. i call them [love notes to Jesus]. when i go to the ocean i try to write messages to Jesus. telling {him} how much i love {him}. its one of the ways i love to love on {him}

instead of learning to worship {him} because {he} is good or sitting quietly to wait on {him}--- i find myself lately demanding answers from {him}. do you ever get in that frantic mode of wanting it NOW? what do you do to just love onto {Jesus}?

what do you get...

...when you give a red {head} some pasos?

well she'll come to mexico and grab her {MofH}...

...and run all over {ensenada} to find some brown and powdered sugar...

...sing lots of songs...

...cry a few tears...

...fry up some {wicked} {awesome} pancakes...

...talk a lot...

...serve and love on a few ninos who have less then your less...

...watch lots and lots of [shows]...

...and above all...try to explain to people why you stand {locked} in each others arms or hug each other for no reason at all or laugh over {nothing} or simply why all the love.

cause...JUST cause.

i lub her!

ps. please please please go check out her blog here. you need this blog in your life. {not gonna lie} you will laugh and cry and ultimately want to stop writing the junk you write for good. {haha} just kidding. but seriously its good stuff. ok im done. night

she's heeereee ---->

i thought this day would never come--- but it's finally here. stay tuned for pure awesome-ness to come. {let the good times roll}

::sunday adventures::

yesterday me and my adventure team {alex and laura} took a little road trip to visit two orphanages that came to {rancho genesis} the last few years. it was such a treat to go see where these precious little babies live and connect with them on a more intimate level.

{lily of the valley} is right in the middle of a city so there's lots of cement walls. it was neat to see how creative the kids are at making up games. i was helping catch flies at one point. <3

always an on going soccer game happening.

this little guy wanted my undivided attention the whole time. if i didn't give it to him he would hit me. he probably had some form of attachment disorder and needs prayer.

i melt whenever i see big brown eyes.

{la promesa} is an orphanage that use to be located in the city of {tijuana}. about three years ago the owner of the building that they were living in decided to sell without telling the orphanage. one day the new owners showed up with the police and literally kicked them out on the streets. through a series of miracles, God provided a old hotel for the orphanage to move into. so beautiful and a very happy place.

the boys enjoyed showing off their back flips into the indoor pool.

the family room was very cozy and inviting.

after a day full of lovely children, lots of laughter, and endless hugs and kisses, we asked ourselves why we don't do this every weekend.

"what did you learn from this?"

this is a simple little statement that my {dad} use to always says after one of the {seven} of us would make a mistake or mess up. he was always would help us out of our messes but he wanted to be sure we always learned something.

i remember one distinct time my sister {grace} spilled a whole glass of milk. maybe it was a whole gallon. but anyways who's counting. [and {grace-ee girl} looooooves milk]. as she looked up from the ground {dad} asked his famous question. and i don't exactly know why but the seven of us started laughing so hard im pretty sure we all split a gut.

today as i was making me some breakfast, [bagel under a layer of creamy, soft, rich, cream cheese] i spilled a whole bag of sugar out of my cupboard. and tonight i spilled m-n-m's. i couldnt help but laugh thinking about what my dad would have said. ahh... good times!

i am getting more and more excited about tutoring in {durango}. four times a week we will be helping two different groups of twenty-five plus ninos with homework, teaching new skills, and playing educational games. today we went into that {community} to scout out a few places we can turn into a school room for the day. we found one temporary spot. the ceiling is made of green leaves and brown branches. the floor is red dirt/dust. and there's no end to how many ninos we can fit into this creative space. {love} livin life here. so simple.

this sweet little girl and her three beautiful sisters kill me with those {BiG bRoWn} eyes... every dog-on time i see them. love the relationships that are growing.

that's all for today folks. sweet dreams!

{morning thoughts}

¹ God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.

² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

^5-8 Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

often times as i fall asleep at night, i have a tendency to always think of problems and worry. when i wake up in the morning i usually feel discouraged. last night after i read this psalms there was no way i could lay awake worrying. so instead, i decided to fall asleep telling [Jesus] how awesome [He] is. i woke up thinking about [Him] and [His] greatness. i was so delighted.

as i looked at my room this morning i started laughing at the lovey mixture of decorations that i have accumulated from my lovely friends and family. it made me giggle and i wanted to share with you...

tutoring and crows

today felt somewhat lazy. we spent the day in the office brainstorming ideas for our upcoming tutoring sessions that we will hold in the little community of {durango}, organizing the tutoring boxes, looking at the month and year ahead of us, our own little {to do} lists, went to {kiss it} for lunch, (very interesting name for an italian restaurant i know) starting the process of building our very own {library on wheels} to take with us to the {durango}, and taking a quiz on what our animal personalities are. i happened to be a {crow}. a CROW?!? really people? me? a CROW? i was literally having a cow. but those tests always make me nervous. where in {tarnashin} do they come up with questions like "when are you most active?" well obviously not when im sleeping so... when im awake??? but then i realize that answers not on the test and i have to go with some lame answer like... [im active whenever a new situation comes around] ...eh that doesnt describe me AT all. *sigh* those quizzes are dumb anyway.

i am now headed out for my nightly run. <3

{awkward} and [awesome] tuesday

[awesome] talking to my brother two nights in a row. {awkward} the heat today that made me glow. ok. drrrrrrenched, in prespiration. [awesome] finding out that there's a street a few blocks up from my house called 'hamburguesa calle'.

[awesome] reaching the half way point on my baby blanket project. {awkward} feeling emotional over lots of {awkward} things. [awesome] watching a random basketball game in the little basketball court next to my house. {awkward} the best part of my day was listening to a free kids cd. out of a wendy's happy meal. [awesome] that Jesus is my sustenance.

[awesome] finding someone left the sprinkler on in the backyard after my run and jumping around crying and laughing praises to Him. {awkward} feeling the need to photograph this for my fan base.