2020

October was a busy month, filled with new adventures! I took on two part-time jobs, starting on the same day! One of those positions came with the title, “Wilmington Yearly Meeting Coordinator”. Coordinator does describe some of what I do – coordinating meetings for the Quakers in Ohio and Tennessee. But “informer” and “encourager” feel like more important roles as I get started. Like most U.S. denominations, the Quakers have experienced a series of splits in the church over our position on gay marriage. Some Friends (as Quakers are affectionately called) believe we must declare a position one way or another. Other Friends believe that each congregation should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to perform a marriage in their church. Regardless of the denomination, regardless of whether they side “for” or “against”, churches have been filled with pain and loss and distrust. And we’ve realized we don’t really know one another. Which is where I come in!  My ...

I took another day off of blogging/donating yesterday. Why this time? I decided to change my Sabbath. Normally Sundays (or Saturdays, depending on your church) are considered the Sabbath, the day of rest, the day you go to church, and the "cheat day" for Lent. But Wednesday is my ONE day off of work each week. It's the one day I don't have to come in to the office (which is just a few steps across the hall from our apartment, but still...). It's the one day I don't have to find crayons or pencils or folders or shoes or snacks for 20 little voices crying "I need, I need, I need..." It's the one day I don't eat beans and corn tortillas. It's my one day to not "have to" do anything. And so it just seems logical that Wednesday would be my one day a week to not "have to" participate in Lent. Christians (I speak for myself here) can get really legalistic about unimportant things. Like the "right way" to ...

Easter ("Pascua") in San Felipe is very different than Easter in Santiago. For two years in a row ( 2014 and 2015 ) I was in Spain for Easter. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the country for an opportunity to be a part of a two-thousand year-old tradition. They read the local papers for schedules of "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) events. They lined the streets to watch nightly processions go by, from Mary weeping to Jesus carrying his cross. They fasted and waited for the doors of Cathedrals to be opened so they could sit at the altar, touch the feet of the Saints, and receive a blessing. They packed the pews, eager to hear the familiar words of Scripture: He is not here. He is risen! Likewise, hundreds of thousands of people flock to San Felipe every year for Easter. Except they don't call it Easter. They call it Spring Break. They line the beaches to watch nightly processions of 4-wheelers racing across the dunes. They wait in line at the 7-el...

I'm not very good at sharing. That may be obvious to you, as my word of the year is "share" and I haven't even managed to write a blog a week. For one, I'm busy and tired. But more so, I think I'm overthinking the whole thing. Like I'm waiting for this Divine inspiration, this deep meaning to life, before I can put words to "paper." It dawned on me, however, that I started this whole blogging thing four years ago to simply share daily life with you. And it felt more meaningful and purposeful then, in the ordinary, than it does now, waiting for the extraordinary. So I'm going to try to go back to the daily and see if I can't be a better sharer. Today I'll share a little story from Randy and my trip to California on Wednesday. Wednesday is our "descansa" -- our rest day each week. Some Wednesdays we don't get off the couch. But that isn't always restful. We live at the children's home, so we still ...

What does a "typical" day at Sonshine Hacienda look like? Even though no day is the same, we do have a pretty tight weekday schedule that we keep to, that looks like this: 6 a.m. - First pickup of the day: cook & 2 morning mamas 6:30 a.m. - Pablo, our maintenance man, arrives for the day 6:40 a.m. - Drive our 2 secondary (junior high) kids to school 7:15 a.m. - Breakfast 7:30 a.m. - Drive home our 2 night mamas 7:50 a.m. - Walk our 11 primary kids (first thru 6th grade) to school 9 a.m. - Drive our 5 kindergarteners (ages 3-5) to school 10:30 a.m. - Snack time for our 3 toddlers 12 p.m. - Pick up our kindergarten kids 12:15 p.m. - Lunch  1 p.m. - Pick up 2 afternoon mamas 2:30 p.m. - Pablo heads home 2:45 p.m. - Drive home the cook & 2 morning mamas; pick up our junior high kids 3 p.m. - Walk to school & bring home our primary kids 4 p.m. - Afternoon snack & homework 5 p....