The faces in my day

I have to be the most blessed girl in the world.  To have all these wide eyed, brown skinned, toothy grinned, ninos, love on me four days out of the week.  Really people I realize more and more everyday how blessed I really am.

I don’t always act as if I’m loved by a God that wants to know the deepest, most intimate, parts about me. Who wants an everyday, moment by moment relationship with me.

I choose to walk around defeated and discouraged when in reality I serve THE God who already overcame death and the grave.

A year ago, October thirteenth, I wrote a short entry in my journal that read…

[casting all my cares upon HIM for HE cares for Tiffany Joy Chmelar.]

Proceeding that sentence I listed out all my cares that I wished to throw at HIS feet.  Some things were small like having no winter clothes or eating healthier.  While other things felt big; paying off my two speeding tickets {ya. same cop. same week. same speed. as my brotherinlaw would say in his sing songy voice…  AWk-ward}, relational conflict in my family, or wrestling with the thought of moving to mexico.

As I look over the list I see little check marks and dates scribbled next to each item symbolizing those cares being cared for by not me but the ultimate problem solver.  and each one is like Jesus pleading {your cared for.  your loved.  look.  I did it a year ago.  I want to do it again and again everyday for the rest of your life.  so start casting your new list at me an watch me do what you can’t do.}

This journey, the last two years, has shown me more about the Fathers heart and His extravagant compassion, then I could have ever imagined. A journey that requires me to give more of myself every single day. A journey that took me from living in Iowa, to living in Baja Mexico. A journey of trying to find the funds for a week long mission trip, to a year commitment of serving and loving on orphans, widows and the {least of these}. The journey isn’t over yet. And so I keep learning and loving and hoping that each lesson will go a lil’ deeper.    

So that is what I will do and what I encourage each of you to do. Make a list. BIG things all the way down to the teeny-est most tiny-est thing you can think of. [maybe like… your going or you WENT shampoo-less a week ago. and you really really really want to just jump in the shower right now, and suds up your hair so much so, that the whole bathroom would turn into a bathtub of bubbles. but your too stubborn because you made a pact with yourself to stick with it for at least three weeks. so you feel sad.] <--- ya. I’ll be writing that one down on my list because well… that would be me. {blog post coming SOON}.  Start throwing off those burdens.

Thanks to all of you who show Jesus’ love by caring for me by helping with my fund raising, praying for me on a daily basis, sending me care packages, encouraging me through your words, and walking beside me {to all you who live on this side of the fence with me.}  I <3 you! 

Just two more photos of abuelita and perrito.  They like to show up to class every once in awhile.  I actually love it.  Grandma has a bad case of the {forgetfuls} and repeats herself a lot.  but I love it.  makes my day every time.

 

I’m off to pull some butternut squash out of the oven.  Hello fall.  {even though I’m having a hard time believing it with the incredibly warm temperatures.}  going through withdrawals.

my lounge around day

 

this is the epitome of lounging clothes. half pajamas half not.  <3

when you grow up in a family of nine+ crazies running around…  there’s never a complete, perfect, solitude, moment of silence.  let alone a whole entire day.  in order to {get away}, you would have to hide.  closets, tree fort, walk on the gravel road, cars, grandpas house, sheep shed, were all great spots for a moment of {personal getaway}.  not that you wanted it to be forever.  that would be downright boring.  it was kinda like a game. like {see how long it takes for a sibling to find you} sorta play.  as soon as the escapee was found the {aha’s, caught ya’s} and laughing would ensue.

 

mondays are my days off here in mexico.  I use to really hate them because it meant a whole day of {personal getaway} and that was a hard adjustment for me.  I was seriously lost, didn’t know what to do or think, couldn’t stay focused, felt lazy, and an entourage of other problems. 

 

today I reflected a lot on the quietness and how its ok to have days like this.  it’s a good time on reflection, nap taking, show watching, making little projects, nothingness, catching up on home church teachings, staying in your lounging clothes {all day}, and most of all {not feeling bad about it}.  because this is a season in my life that may only happen once.  its all about personal growth and choices on how I look at this adventure called life.  plus im probably the only one in the world who gets a day off that looks like this.

 

so here’s to mondays!  CHEERS! 

my day in a photo dump

woke up like this...

...and it kinda stuck with me the rest of the day. kinda.

got to tutor these adorable ninos.

this baby showed up with his older brother.

i got to amuse him with crayons and paper.

this is the stare he would give me when i would color an object and say it in my broken spanish.

arbol.

nube.

sol.

poor kid. totally freaked. like who is this lady? isn't he a doll though?

this is the beautiful community called {durango}.

i love this place.

i love driving through, seeing and hearing shouts and waves.

sitting in the homes building and bonding, drinking

weak coffee, and munching on cookies bought specially for me.

watching the learning progress increase with every math quiz.

ahh...

gives me chills.

this is exactly where i'm suppose to be.

after a good lunch of three quesadillas (con todo)- i headed to the ranch to pick up supplies for tomorrows work day.

i couldn't get over the clouds and the super blue sky today. hung out the window the whole drive home.

next saturday we are having a dental clinic and a carnival for some of the community families. a church group from the {estados unidos} is coming down for the weekend. it should be a high ol' time but that calls for some prep work {manana}.

thus... the many random scenic photos.

i got really- really homesick tonight.

thinkin about my favorite forever family in the whole-wide-world.

last years hunt for a christmas tree.

super thankful for my mexico family.

alex and amanda

wanting something fierce to see flat, green, nothingness. (not that iowa's green right now but it's a bunch of other awesome color shades.)

missing this little white house on the hill, with the grandpa house behind the garage, and the two lovlies on the porch.

in a short 62 days i'll be home. that feels sooo good to say. im gonna say it again.

"tiffany chmelar... you'll be HOME!"

good night loves!

big.blue.beaut. and pintrest.play.

this beautiful piece of machinery {as i like to call it} is my lovey kick around car. she's a bus, a tutoring supply van, and you name it... she probably is that too. i wanted to be sure everyBODY meets her because she plays a vital role in our lives here in mexico.

she's very special; don't take her up hills [you might not make it], she only unlocks from the passenger side [talk about weird stares], her windshield wipers are on the blink [i mean the b.b.blink], at times she wont start [secure], and a number of other delightful, no extra charge, problemOs.

i want to be sure you have all the angles you need to really get the full effect of the beaut.

you might not know... [probably not because i never told you] but i have an addiction to {pintrest}. its really bad. its almost become my new {google} (gasps) because of my {pintrest} love... myself and i have come up with a deal. as long as i allow {pintrest} to inspire me to make a change, sew a craft, organize, etc. a few times a month... i can keep my habit. so far i've been quite successful.

tonight's inspiration sewn/fabric thank you cards for my supporters!

because {pintrest} has been such an inspiration... i already have a christmas present made. i used scraps from the leftover fabrics to make my cards tonight. (haha... freakin thrifty too. thats 2 for 1. BOW-chica-WOWwow.)

one of these cards might be coming to a box near you!

rain and other {nonsense}

hello my dear amigos. sorry about the long drawn out time away from this lil corner of the world.wide.web. but i have a problem. big {probs bobs}. when my seester (check her smashinglyamazing blog out) took the trek back across the fence into the [landofthefreeandhomeofthebrave] she took more then her share of things to take. she took my camera charger and left hers. so the story goes like this... over time your camera battery dies. without a live battery your camera worketh not. without a charger there's no way to breath the breath of life {chi as SOMEONE says} back into it. with all that mess i just wrote about... you have-eth not any inspiration. i really believe photography is what inspires me to write so without it im lost!

*here's a photo from earlier days. {yonki} i think thats what they call junkyards.

::::

it looked like it could rain all day. i got so excited my whole out look on what could have been a very long day changed. a bunch of us staff were working at the ranch preparing for our weekend group that's coming. there was lots of work. dirty work. the kinda work that makes you really feel like blah and bleh and meh. today i was perfectly happy being preoccupied with the weather... thinking about all the things i love about rain and why. i have been wanting it to rain for about a week now. here in mexico it only rains in the winter and in the spring. but sometimes the weather teases a lot. making you believe it's going to pelt you with little happy whimsical drops that say {play in me. dance in me. think of all your childhood rain memories.} but then it gets sunny and perfectly beautiful and i get sad. but today was different. i knew {mr. storm} wouldn't let me down.

::::

i always remember from a wee child on... mom letting us {seven} go out and play in the rain. but only in the warm rains, without any [lightening], and only the slightest hint of [thunder]. it was always the "big thing to do" on perfect rain stormy days. if it was a cold rain we would down over sized carhartt coats or dads big flannel jacket and roller blade in the garage or hang out in our tree fort or head to the sheep shed and play with kittens. {all depending on where ever we happened to be living at the time.} rain was always welcomed on hot, muggy, afternoons weeding the garden. it meant you could straighten our your crooked back, dump the last bucket of weeds, and put away your hoes. the next day the weeds would pull like butter. rain also meant the next day the creek would be high and the high ol' times that could be had.

::::

as i thought about all the fond memories that i have when it comes to rain... i started thinking about the families we work with here at {genesis}. what does rain mean to them? rain means dirt floors turn into mud, soggy outdoor fires, leaky rotten or tarped roofs, wet, cold, sickness. far from my fond memories of lazy rainy days. living in mexico brings a different prospective on what i know.

::::

you will be happy to know that mr. storm did in fact follow through with his plans for today. because at the end of the day as i drove home in the big blue missionary van the skies started leaking and i had mixed emotions as i thought and prayed for all the little boys and girls in the world who are in the rain tonight.

{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}?