2020

Thanksgiving is an American holiday, so it's obviously not on the calendar in Mexico. But that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate it this week! Thursday is our cook's day off, so it naturally fell to Randy to put together a menu for our Thanksgiving dinner. He went the traditional route... turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie... and just to spice it up a little -- cornbread muffins laced with jalapeños. A couple from church donated the pies, and the Lion's Club brought us two turkeys. Only the secondary school kids went to class that day, so I asked if we should do activities with the younger ones. Ask and you shall be put in charge! I raided the supply closet and found construction paper, which I cut into strips that the kids could write what they are thankful for on. Of course the word for thankful is completely unpronounceable: "agradecido." I explained to the kids what I wanted them to do, but 1...

What an interesting and busy weekend! On Friday, we took the younger kids down to the Malecon ("seafront") for a festival put on by the cultural center for Americans who either visit or live here during the winter (the flier sent home from school called them "snow birds"). The festival was entirely in English, had free food and beer and door prizes, and featured several different types of music and dance. They kept trying to get Randy and me to sign up for things, and we were grateful to not be tourists. Four of our girls danced in the ballet and one of our boys played guitar. All of our dorm moms came to support the kids and cheer them on. We celebrated their accomplishments with cotton candy. In the evening, Randy and I went to the condo of some friends who are in town visiting. It was a nice little getaway and we were grateful to have a dinner without tortillas. I think it will be very important for us in the future to have this time with friends from ou...

The directors of Sonshine Hacienda, Gary and Karen, told Randy and I to take the week to unpack and get settled. A week sounded like a long time to us, but we’ve been extremely grateful for it! On Saturday, the kids helped us unload our trailer and carry everything up to our second-floor apartment. Jesús worked harder than anyone else, so Randy thanked him with a short motorcycle ride up into the trailer. Randy and I went out for brunch and were surprised when the waitress brought Randy two hot dogs when he ordered sausage! We went to the local market run by Wal-Mart, but ended up at the next door grocery store when they didn’t have much by way of fresh produce. In the afternoon we made use of the communal laundry room and started to organize our apartment. We had a delicious soup with the kids and are going to love the fresh tortillas daily! On Sunday, Randy and I went to the English service at church, where Gary is the pastor. The congregation is f...

We woke up Friday morning, feeling confident that our second day at the Border Crossing would meet with instant success. They might wave us straight through, or ask for a small fee, but either way we anticipated having lunch in San Felipe with our kids! Jovi and I walked around the city of El Centro in the morning, and when we returned to the hotel saw Randy shake hands with a man in the parking lot. What could that possibly be about? The night before, while searching for a hotel on my phone, I found several advertised at $17, “for adults only,” so I wasn’t exactly excited about Randy doing any dealings in the parking lot. But when I approached, Randy introduced me as his wife and the older gentleman shook my hand with glee and called me “sister.” He drove off, and Randy told me that the man had grown up in a wonderful children’s home after his dad died and his mom couldn’t afford to take care of him. We have stickers on the side of our car that say “Sonshine Hacienda” so he had...

On Thursday morning, Randy and I had a short two-hour drive to El Centro, where we would return the U-Haul and transfer its contents into a trailer pulled by Gary and Karen, the directors of Sonshine Hacienda. We were so excited to see them! Even though we hadn’t yet crossed the border into Mexico, it felt like we’d arrived. During the morning drive, a semi-truck kicked up a rock and cracked my windshield in two places. So, while Gary and Karen ran errands, Randy and I found a local glass repair shop. They were so nice, quick, and did great work. We took their business card and promised that if we couldn’t get all our needs met in San Felipe we would return to them. We met up with Gary and Karen again and went out to lunch at Sizzler. I was craving something healthy, seeing as we’d been grabbing fast food for the last three days. The Sizzler salad bar was just the ticket. We had an opportunity to talk and reconnect and share all of our excitement over our arrival. Kare...

Before we officially set out on the road on Tuesday, some friends asked if they could pray for us. Five of us circled up and the couple led us in prayer. They prayed for our ministry, that God would encourage us and that we would be an encouragement to the children. And they prayed for our safety in travel. Little did they know that we would see God answer that prayer in just a few short hours. Randy and I are driving separately down to the border of California and Mexico. He is driving a U-Haul full of donations, and pulling our trailer full of belongings. I'm driving our Hummer, which we bought after selling both of our vehicles, since we needed something that can stand up to the roads in Mexico. We set out on the road, me following close behind him, and stopped along the way to have an early dinner with my in-laws, after which I told Rand to go on ahead with the U-Haul. I was going to fill up with gas, and surely I would catch up. I was delayed at the gas station beca...

In 2003 I left my job in Yosemite National Park (Wawona, California) to live with my grandmother in Bella Vista, Arkansas, and become a full-time writer. But instead of heading east, straight to her place, I started out going west. I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean and got sunburned on the beach. I listened to Paul Theroux talk about his latest book, Dark Star Safari , at the Capitola Book Cafe. I bought local honey and oranges at the Santa Cruz farmer's market. I spent an afternoon in Shakespeare's Garden at Golden Gate Park . I saw protests and arrests in Berkeley -- President Bush having just declared war on Iraq. I slept at a fire station in Napa and ate Olallieberry Pie in Pescadero . I didn't have a cell phone at the time, so I called my grandmother from a pay phone along the way. I told her about my latest adventures. "Are you lost?" she asked, thinking I should be halfway to Arkansas by now. Some had the same reaction when Randy and I moved out ...

Randy and I have very different packing styles. We’ve know this since about day 3 of walking the Camino, and yet still we haven’t quite figured out how to mesh our styles. Randy is a hurry up and get it done packer. I’m slow and methodical, making sure everything is in its perfect place. Dusting it before it goes into a box, maybe conjuring up a couple memories, feeling all the feelings that go along with that particular item. The one thing we do have in common is that we are both procrastinators. So even though we’ve known since August that we were moving to Mexico, even though we’ve known since August that we would have to pack up our entire house and put it into a 16-foot trailer, even though we’ve known since August that we would have to itemize every single box in order to satisfy Border Patrol, we still waited until 3 days before we had to be out of our house to start packing. We were busy! We had a party to plan. Work to do. A yard sale to have. Friends to ...

Dia de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) is a tradition celebrated in Mexico. It is believed that at the stroke of midnight on October 31, the gates of heaven are opened and the souls of lost loved ones (children first, and later adults) are allowed to return to earth to celebrate with their families through November 2. Randy and I had a going away/closing the business/embarking on a new adventure party last week, and two of his daughters used the theme of Dia de los Muertos to decorate for us.  Randy wanted to have the party to celebrate all of the people who made his catering business a success, and in turn he was shown how much he is loved. It was an incredible evening. Over 200 people showed up to say goodbye to their favorite caterer, as well as to learn more about our calling to Mexico. The challenge of having a party of any size is that you don’t get enough time to spend with everyone, but I did hear from so many people how much they love Randy (a...