Over the Horizon

nesting

Well, I finally got a chance to go shopping for the house to get things that I needed to really establish my little nest here. What a fun time that was for me and the girls! And it's been fun getting everything all unpacked and in its place.

Jay and Faith are loaning me a small extra fridge that they used to use when they lived in Mojocuautla (a Cora Indian village up in the mountains). They have also told me they are going to lend me their bed since they brought a new one down with them from Washington. However, that will come later since the kids are using it while they finish setting up their loft bedrooms. In the meantime, the house had an extra bed in it that has a broken support beam. So, I have a stack of rocks supporting the broken area, and although it's not very comfortable it's still a functioning bed until the other one becomes available.

On my shopping trip I was able to purchase dishes, cups, silverware, cooking utensils, a pantry to store food, a bookshelf, a couple of plastic chairs to be used for kitchen/office/living room seating, a shelf to hang in the bathroom, a shower curtain, and a myriad of other small odds and ends necessary for maintaining/decorating a house and a yard. As for the pantry I purchased, it's pretty simply wood finish, and I'm looking forward to decorating it with crayons to give it color, attitude, and texture. Then I want to finish it with a clear varnish to protect it against termites. I'm really looking forward to the homey craft project!

So, here I'm posting some pictures for you!

 

(left) My new kitchen; (right) My bedroom with the extra bed that came in the house.

 

(left) My kitchen sink...it's called a pila and it's used for washing pretty much anything from clothes to dishes. (right) My new dishes set!!

     

(left) My bathroom, small but complete with indoor plumbing and shower!; (right) My fridge-on-loan and my  new pantry cabinet. I plan to decorate it using crayons before varnishing it with a clear varnish!

hanging with the girls

so, this weekend was a total blast!! seriously!! a BLAST!

it kicked off on Thursday when i headed to Vienna to hang with my friend Beth. it has become something of a tradition for her and i to spend a weekend hanging out when i come home on these month-long trips. these weekends usually always involve a great movie, lots of coffee, and LOTS of girl-talk and catching up. sometimes we also get out and hit the town in some fashion or another, whether it be jeans and errands or high fashion and a classy dinner.

this time, we watched Facing the Giants on Thursday night with dessert and a great beverage. then on Friday we headed into downtown DC for the day. it was really easy because she lives right across the street from the metro (which is always fun to ride!). first we headed to the Holocaust Museum. i have never been there and have always wanted to. so first we got our tickets and times for entering the exhibit. then we headed to the American History Museum to pass the time until our appointment for the Holocaust Museum. I haven't been the AHM since high school, so that was totally a blast, and I was really thrilled to see the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner"!!

the Holocaust Museum was amazing! sobering! sad! i am very fascinated with that period of history. perhaps that seems morbid, but it really does fascinate me. we actually didn't quite finish viewing the exhibit before it closed, so i'll have to go back again one day. i'd also like to see some of the other exhibits they have that you have to pay to see. we'll see when that happens. my dad tells me we also have a Holocaust Museum in Richmond, so I'd like to visit that one as well! i believe there is also a Slavery Museum that I think would be interesting as well.

anyway, after the museums, we headed back to Beth's condo and got all fancied up for dinner in midtown! we went to this amazing restaurant that Beth knows in our little black dresses and strappy shoes. we enjoyed wine with dinner and the most flavorful food! i had a heaping bowl of steamed oyseters, and Beth enjoyed a juicy broiled chicken meal. then for dessert i enjoyed the most amazing raspberry cheesecake, and Beth attempted their mountainous banana split! WOWOWOWOWOW!!!

   

 

(top left) My oysters and Beth with her chicken; (top right) Beth with her banana split! (bottom) My raspberry cheesecake (Please forgive the low-quality pictures..they are from my cell phone)

i headed home on Saturday to meet up with my family, my aunt, and my baby cousin Lindsay (who's not such a baby anymore at the age of 19!). we had lunch at Applebees, and then my dad drove Lindsay, Heather (my sister), and I out to Warsaw to see my grandmother's farm. None of us had ever really been there and we hear about it constantly. now that my grandmother has passed away, it's future is up in the air as it is being passed down to my aunt and father and they are having to make decisions about what to do with the property and how to continue managing it.

My family: (back L-R) Aunt Susie, my dad, me, Lindsay, Heather; (front L-R) My step-mom Kathy holding my niece Alison, then her big sister Caroline and my oldest nephew Logan (their big brother).

then we headed back home, and the three of us girls spent the rest of the night watching movies and eating junk food and enjoying a good, ole' fashioned girly slumber party like we haven't enjoyed together since Lindsay was 6! then on Sunday afternoon, i headed to my grandmother's house for more time with my aunt and Lindsay going through more of Bamba's things before i head back to Mexico. it was really neat to look through the things that are being discovered as every draw, chest, and closet is ransacked and cataloged! my grandmother was amazing and had an amazing life, and i'm enjoying learning more about it even though i wish she were here to share it with me in person!

My cousin Lindsay (left) and my sister Heather (right)

so i shall end this newsy post by saying WHAT A FABULOUS WEEKEND WITH SOME OF THE MOST FABULOUS PEOPLE ON THE PLANET!!

unique opportunities

So, this month has been full of unique opportunities.

The first is already on this blog in an earlier post -- that is, the opportunity to deliver flower arrangements for Mother's Day. I really enjoyed that and would work as a floral delivery girl any day of the week!

The second was the chance to do an instruction seminar for my dad and two administrative ladies where my dad works. The seminar lasted about 3 hours and it was on how to effectively use Styles and Formatting in Microsoft Word 2003. At my old job (Technical Editor with Northrop Grumman Mission Systems), I spent most of my time dealing with formatting and automatic styles in the documents I was given to edit. More often than not, people who weren't even on my team would bring me documents that had become corrupted and I'd have them in clean, stylized, and correctly formatted documents within a few hours. So, now that my dad and his team are working on updating the Storm Water Management Handbook for the state of Virgina, they are having to work very closely with these features in Word. And since I have history with them, he asked me to go in and give them the run-down of what the options are and how to use them properly. It was a really cool experience!

Then after the seminar, my dad and I went out to lunch in downtown Richmond, which was really cool. We got some good time to sit and catch up on personal stuff and all that jazz.

The third unique opportunity came on Friday of last week. My friend from church, Maria, who used to be on bell choir with me, called me up and asked me to go speak to her kindergarten class at Fredericksburg Christian School. They are currently studying about community and incorporating it with their geography unit. So, she asked me to come in and briefly talk to her class and one other about where I live (in Cofradia), what it's like, and how it's similar and different from their own communities here in Virginia. The kids were so cute and came up with some really great questions.

A nice perk to that opportunity was that Lizzy (the 5-year old daughter of the family I used to live with) is in Maria's! So, it was cool to see her again. Over the weekend Maria called me to let me know that the kids made me a thank-you card from the class and that she sent it home with Lizzie. So, I stopped by her house and visited some with her family. It was great to see them again! And the thank-you card was totally cute. Check it out!

Lizzie and I with the thank-you card her class made for me

What a unique month and trip home I have had!! It's by far one of the best!

girls' night out

My friend Amy had a birthday on May 12, so last night a bunch of us gals from church took her out. We went bowling down in Spotsylvania, and then we were going to do Karaoke there at the bowling alley (who knew!). But it took so long for them to start the Karaoke that we decided to just leave. Several of the gals had to get home since it was getting late, but Amy, Sarah, and I headed out to Denny's for some late-night coffee, dessert, and girl talk.

What a great time I had with all the ladies! It was fun to hang out with some that I don't know as well and others that I just haven't seen in a long time! That is one of the things I really miss being in Mexico: being able to just have good fellowship with good friends "out on the town". So, I definitely enjoyed every moment of it last night.

Thanks Ladies!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!

"special delivery..."

So, Mother's Day weekend was a total blast!! I'm not even a mother, but I've never had so much fun for Mother's Day before! 

This year, I kicked off the weekend delivering Mother's Day arrangements on Friday and Saturday for a friend who has recently opened her own florist business. The arrangements were beautiful, and it was really special to be the one to deliver flowers to these wonderful women on behalf of their families. Their smiles were priceless!

PS: If you live in the Fredericksburg/Stafford/Spotsylvania area, I highly recommend Beautiful Flowers by Amy! You can check out her site here.

Then on Sunday after church, I headed to my mom's house in Louisa County. There I spent a lovely afternoon with my mom, my two sisters (Heather & Elizabeth), Elizabeth's boyfriend, and my grandmother and her husband. It was such fun! We enjoyed good food, good humor, lots of laughter, presents, and just an all around great family day!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

The prodigal camera returns...

Last year, on August 30 of 2008, my digital camera disappeared during our first night of THE CHALLENGE. It was my own fault for being careless with it. I left it on a window sill where the leaders were standing along with my soda can. I knew it was safe there with all the leaders around, and in the midst of activities for the Valley of Decisions, I forgot it was there. When it started raining, many of the youth, in an attempt to stay dry, jumped up onto the covered sidewalk right there by the window sill where my camera was located (in its bag, I might add). When the evening was over, I left it at the church having completely forgotten about it until I got home. The next morning I went over to the church to see if it was still there, and it was gone. Whoever took it, left my soda can however.

We made announcements asking for the responsible party to return the camera without fear of repercussions. We asked for those youth who might know something about it to please come and speak to us. But it was to no avail. We heard nothing, we saw no returns, and I gave my camera up for lost. I decided to see this as an opportunity. My camera served me well, but there were several things about it that were sub-par for my growing photographic and video needs. So, this was an opportunity to get a new one, right?!

Except while home in October and November 2008, I realized that I could not afford a new camera, not even one that was comparable to what I had lost, let alone a better one! So, I decided to simply live without the camera. Hence the reason for seeing fewer pictures in blogs dealing with every day life experiences here in the wilds of Mexico. Sandy was always very gracious to share her camera and her pictures with me when needed, but for the most part I left the photography up to her when she was around and did without the rest of the time.

However, just a few days ago a miracle occurred!

I don't remember how it came up, but I was talking about my camera, and one of the youth boys overheard the conversation. The next day he came to me and said, "Amber, you know that camera you lost? What did it look like?" I described it to him, and then he said, "Would you like to get it back?" I replied with a fervent "Absolutely!! But if I don't ever get it back, I'll still be alright." I asked him the reason for these questions, and he proceeded to explain that he thought he knew where the camera was, that there was a guy in Santa Fe who had one answering that description, and that if he could get it back he would but he just didn't want to have to rat the guy out. I told him I didn't need to know WHO took the camera. It would just be nice to have it back.

About 30 minutes later, the young lad was at my door handing me my camera! I'm not kidding, it was literally that fast! The memory card had been removed, and it was returned without the bag or batteries (which contained the spare rechargeable batteries), but I had my camera back. And when I put in some new batteries, I was overjoyed to discover IT STILL WORKS!!!!

So, 7 months later my prodigal camera has returned!!!! It needs a new bag, new rechargeable batteries, and a new memory card, but the total purchase prices for those items will be significantly cheaper than buying a whole new camera!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! It once was lost and now is found. Thank you, Lord!!

Yes, He even cares about stolen cameras!!

"Remembering Her"

My trip back to Mexico went very well. Not a single glitch. In fact, as I was waiting for my delayed flight from Richmond to New York (where I would connect to Atlanta), they decided to bump me to a direct flight to Atlanta. I got into Atlanta much earlier, but skipped a connection and had 7 hours of layover to get work done. It was very nice.

I wrote this on the plane from Atlanta to Mexico. It doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how precious my grandma was to me, but it's a start. I hope you enjoy it.

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"Remembering Her"

She died last week. Quietly. Peacefully. Matter-of-factly, just as she did anything in life. She just....went. And I miss her. Of course, I find myself going through the typical routines of thinking through "if only" and "I wish." So many things I should have said or done. So many visits I should have made. So much of her left unlearned. I had her for 30 precious years, and yet if I'd had her for 30,000, they wouldn't have been enough to truly appreciate her for all of her depths and rechness of character and heart.

Yet, while my heart breaks with an ache beyond the powers of human expression, I know this isn't the end, and I'm glad of that. She is not over. Sure, she crossed the finish-line, and she has won her great reward. But she lives on. And I do mean very literally. Yes, I believe in Heave -- a real, literal paradise. And I know that she is there. I'll see her again when I cross my own finish line.

Until then I will remember her, remember her race, and take courage and strength from it. After all, for 30 years we ran together. I learned to run from her: I am her memory on this earth. We all are.

I called her "Bamba". Well, really, my baby cousin Lindsay gave her that title in her 2-year-old attempts to say "Grandma". It always struck me as funny that she couldn't say the "b" in my name, so that it came out "Amer", but there was no problem with "Bamba". However, when your name or any other endearing title rolls off the developing tongue of a 2-year-old, it becomes the most precious title of your life. And so it stuck: Bamba. And when Lindsay was old enough to call her "Grandma" with the rest of us, "Bamba" remained my term of affection and love.

She was the best and most precious grandma. I'm sure most, if not all, would say the same of their own precious grandmas, and I do not diminish those claims or aim to compare. I simply acknowledge that she, like all grandmas, was indeed worthy to be called "grand". She was a jewel, for sure.

Usually, you hear people talk about "going to grandma's". You know: "Over the river and through the woods..." We did that, my sister and I. Quite frequently, in fact. The benefit of living only a couple of hours away. It was really easy for us all to meet half-way for a meal on any given Friday, and then Heather and I would load into Grandma and Grandaddy's station wagon and sing all the way home to their house in Culpeper. Our weekends with them were magical and just as childhood ought to be: playing in the pasture fields behind the house, picking fruits and veggies from the garden, climbing hay bails, riding bikes with the neighbor kids, or imagining the basement into an orphange. You know, little orphan Annie style complete with a gruel pot on the decommissioned fireplace, forced child labor, and elaborate plans for escape. there were shopping trips to Jamesway for some new toy or other, and of course THE CANDY CABINET! One whole cabinet devoted to every goodie and sweet we loved. And relaxing in the evening involved jelly beans eaten from the jelly bean tea pot and coloring in front of Mr. Belvedere or The Golden Girls or some other rerun on one of the six TV channels. After all, cable didn't reach that far into the country. We loved it there, but mostly we loved Grandma.

She wasn't content, however, to just sit and wait around for our parents, and later us, to have time to go visit. She was a go-getter. When she wanted to see us, she got up and went. And not just to our house. She traveled all over the country to spend time with Chris and Lindsay. From New York to Washington state and finally to Minnesota. She went on holidays, summer vacation, or just for the heck of it. She drove, and she flew. Later, she visited us in college, getting to know our friends, roommates, lives. She wasn't going to wait around. She was on a treasure hunt. Every visit. Every moment. Pure treasure. It wasn't always perfect; don'tlet me deceive you. We had our moments. But those things fade over time whereas true treasure endures. She was ours and we hers. We were the gems of her eye. The four of us, her precious grandchildren, were the precious gems that God blessed her with: each of us rare, unique, and costly in our own right. But we were cut froma larger gem: her. And we learned to shine from her.

And now our treasure is laid up where neither moth nor rust nor decay can touch her. She made it. She's safe and secure and free. But she is not lost to us. Treasure begets treasure and in that way carries its legacy through generations. She deposited her treasures in us, each one just right for unveiling her to the world in our special ways. She is still very much alive in each of us. We each carry so many pieces of her. It's part of the fabric of what makes us who we are. When we are all together, I can see her again, sitting there gabbing right along with us. That is her legacy: one family, one great treasure, preserved in our love for one another. It is complete when we are one, whether near or far, scattered or gathered together. She new the secret: you can only own what you release from your grasp, and if you want a bountiful harvest you have to scatter the seed.

She scattered in each one of us, in everyone who knew her. She let it all go, and she harvested a treasure that will never fade. Our treasure went home on February 27, 2009. We had to let her go, but she is not lost to us. She is not gone. We'll continue to discover her in us all the days of our lives, and we'll walk in her example scattering the seed, preparing for the harvest, and preserving the legacy for those yet to come.

I have a grandma. I am her legacy and she my great treasure. Now it's time to pass her one.

Pastor Jason's Euology

This was a most beautiful tribute to my grandmother and were just right for closing the service....

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Lucy took seriously Christ’s commands to love God and love people. She loved company, loved to tell stories and listen to stories. Lucy could also certainly hold her own, no matter who was in the room with her. Before I met Lucy for the first time, I had heard about Lucy from her childhood friend, Ruth. Back in the late 1920’s, Ruth had a horse, and just to make sure Ruth was sharing her horse with others, she was told to give Lucy and another young lady a ride on her horse. The other little girl sat in front. Lucy sat behind her. Ruth was leading the horse by the reigns. Ruth’s version of the story goes as follows: “I led them near a tree. One of the branches was low, so the girls saw they needed to duck to miss it. The first girl ducked. Lucy didn’t. The branch knocked Lucy off of the horse into the mud.” Ruth concludes, “To this day, Lucy thinks I did it on purpose. When you meet her, will you please tell her that it was an accident?” And so I went to meet Lucy with Ruth’s prepared statement of defense. After visiting with Lucy and Sue for a while, I made my segway into the story: “So, do you remember a long time ago when Ruth had a horse that you were riding on . . . .” Lucy cut me off – “She did it on purpose! She knocked me off of that horse on purpose!”

Yes, Lucy could always hold her own. A strong and resilient woman. A compassionate and kind woman. She also wanted to make sure things were going the way they should be going at her church, even when she was 1,200 miles away in Minnesota. She told me about learning that a particular light bulb was out at the church and, because it was in a difficult location, no one had bothered to change it. She wrote a letter to the church to make sure this would be addressed at the next business meeting.

The King James Version of the Bible accurately translates the term “love” as “charity” throughout this chapter. Love or charity is the description of a grace-filled heart, the heart that is not self-absorbed or self-serving, the heart that seeks to serve and the courageous will to carry that service out. Lucy’s life was imbued with this kind of love or charity. Two other passages of Scripture complement one another as the prayer and the rule of Lucy’s life. The prayer can be found in the last two verses of Psalm 139, where we read the following words:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way that is everlasting!"

If we live as Lucy did, praying that God’s Spirit helps us to be self-aware, praying that God searches us through and through, showing us our true hearts and our true thoughts, so that our lives should not be frivolous and shallow, but abiding instead in the depths of God’s own being, then we will embrace the great rule of life found in the small prophetic book of Micah. The book might be small, but Jewish and Christian ethicists alike have agreed that the 8th verse of the 6tj chapter is the Golden Rule of the Hebrew Bible. When Scott asked that this verse be read, I smiled on the other end of the phone, because this one verse encapsulates the life that Lucy lived and the life that God would have all of us live. Imagine yourselves coming face to face with God and finally getting to ask the big question: “So, what is it that you want from us? When all is said and done, what do you want, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of us all?” The prophet Micah answers on the LORD’s behalf:

"O man, O woman, the LORD has shown you what is good, and you want to know what the LORD requires of you? Here it is: Do justice . . . Love merciful kindness . . .Walk through life humbly with your God."

Lucy, the LORD has shown you what is good, most clearly in the tragic suffering death of his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the joyful resurrection of that same life. We give thanks that you have done what is righteous, you have cherished kind and merciful moments, and you have walked and continue to walk humbly with the God of us all.

daddy's euology of my grandma...his mom...part 1

I hope you’ll indulge me for a few minutes of somewhat RANDOM THOUGHTS about Mom.

The past few days, we have found ourselves out of sync with the routines we have established around Mom. Regularly scheduled phone calls left holes in our schedules.

Kathy and I were watching the flood of birds in our big back yard bird feeder, due to the snow.All kinds of colorful birds, up close and personal. When mom was with us, she would sit at the dining room table and have a direct view of the bird feeder. She and Kathy would compare notes on what kinds of birds showed up.

You all know that Mom was an avid sports fan. She loved Duke basketball, but she would root for us Hokies if we weren’t playing Duke. She was looking forward to the ACC tournament next week. She was already talking about the Yankees having a better season this year. She was a super-fan of Derek Jeter, and she was disappointed that A-Rod had gotten caught up in the performance-enhancing drug scandal.

We were flipping channels Sunday night and came across a Lawrence Welk special on public TV. We watched for a while, in Mom’s honor, even though they were doing fund-raising. Mom loved Lawrence Welk, and she could recite the fine details of the various performers’ lives, just as if they were members of our family.

Mom had become a fan of some of the reality TV shows. She watched Survivor and Extreme Home Makeover. Heather went over every Monday night and watched the Bachelor with her, and then we would discuss the show throughout the week as we visited her at the Rehab Center. Of course, she was not here for the season finale Monday night. Mom, they should have had Regis there to ask, “Is this your final answer . . .?” But of course you already know what happened. You’re probably still saying, “He should have kept Jillian!”

Since Dad died in 1991, Mom has been moving forward on her own. She has poured herself into family and friends, many of whom are here today, and you’re the folks who gave so much meaning to her life.

Mom helped many folks in many ways. As she got older and had more trouble WRITING, she talked on the telephone more. She LOVED getting phone calls, letters, cards and photos from you. She would recite the details and the identities to us as a way to keep her mind sharp and test our own memories. The pictures got put around and taped up on her wall.....

daddy's euology ...part 2

...She just wanted to be useful and do as much good as she could. She was not afraid of what comes next. For her, the glass was always half-full, not half-empty...

...Mom tried to NEVER be mean or rude to people – she didn’t understand why anyone would want to be. Growing up in the depression era, she understood that many people had hardships in their lives, some of which might not be obvious. She was always interested in helping those who needed help, and she was ALWAYS interested in the stories of people’s lives. And people could sense this about her, and they were drawn to her, wherever she was.

Most recently, in her stay in the nursing home, we noticed this among the nurses and attendants, who constantly commented about how sweet she was. We noticed it among some of the other patients who got to know her. While there, mom was not reading because she said her right eye, which was giving her trouble, made it too hard to read. She wasn’t even tempted to read the wonderful book I had given her for Christmas that had excited her, because it was too tiring. But one lady patient who sat at her table for meals got to know her and had a daily subscription to the Richmond newspaper. One day we noticed that Mom had a newspaper on her bed table and was no longer asking us what was in the news. I asked her where she got the paper. She told me Mrs. Longan across the hall had been bringing them over after she finished with them. Mom was reading the paper start to finish, even though her eyes hurt. What made the difference? Well, Mrs. Longan was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and she had just lost her husband. Mrs. Longan was interested in reading the paper to keep up with current events and to try to keep her mind sharp. So Mom decided to read the paper daily so she could be up on the things Mrs. Longan wanted to talk about. Silly? Maybe… but also thoughtful and caring....