Random Acts of Emily

Something's Not Quite Right

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 17:43:00 +0000

One thing I love about being in other countries is that there is so much potential for copy-cat businesses and mis-translated signs. It's taken me 15 months to finally get some pictures of the businesses I like the best here as I'm driving by, but I think it's worthwhile to capture them since they make me laugh every time I see them. So enjoy!

It's almost perfect!

I don't think the clothes here are really my style.

Estarbucks and Starbucks are pronounced the same in Spanish, so if you're a Starbucks snob, be careful which location you agree to meet your friends at.

Where you can Drezz for Lezz.

When Life Gives You Limes, Make Orange Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 04:55:00 +0000

When I moved into my house almost a year ago, my very chatty landlord told me that the tree in my back yard was a lime tree. I was more than a little excited about this since as a Coloradan, having fruit growing in my back yard is almost as magical as having a unicorn would be. Also, limes are at the top of my list of what I'd like to have readily available outside my kitchen window because lime tastes good with everything. Seriously, everything. Meat, watermelon, corn, even just a glass of ice water. Plus I'm told it kills bacteria that might be lurking in your food. All that to say, I was pumped about having a lime tree.

In March some blossoms showed up on my tree and I started envisioning all the glasses of limeade I would enjoy while sitting on my back patio. By June there were tons of limes, but they weren't the key limes I had supposed they would be. Oh well, I thought. Bigger limes just mean more lime juice to work with. So I waited for them to get ripe. By July they were still rock hard. Things started to improve in August, and by the middle of September I was sure my limes were ripe enough to start using. So I picked a few and whipped up a pitcher of limeade. I'm not much of a cook (or I guess in this case a bartender) and I couldn't get the proportions of lime, water and sugar quite right. I drank a glass anyway, but didn't really like it so I threw out the rest.

So maybe this variety of lime isn't very good for limeade. Oh well. I kept using the limes for marinades and to make cilantro-lime rice.

In October one of my co-workers, who can be a bit of a know-it-all, was over at my house and told me that my "lime" tree was actually an orange tree. "An orange tree?!" I said. "Then why have there been bright green limes ripening on it for the past 6 months? And why would the owner and former occupant of this house tell me it's a lime tree?"

A few more months went by with me blissfully picking a lime whenever I was cooking something that could be improved with lime juice. And then I think lime season ended and the limes left on my tree started getting yellowish.

Then they started getting a little bit orange-ish brown. But that's just what limes do when they're left on the tree after they've ripened for too long, right?

Wrong.

It turns out my know-it-all co-worker really does know what he's talking about sometimes. In my back yard I now have a tree full of bright orange oranges which spent the better part of a year masquerading as limes. I really don't want to let Mr. Smarty-Pants Co-Worker know he was right, though, so I'm trying not to invite him over to my house until this spring when I've stashed all the oranges and the "limes" have started blossoming again.

If you're from Florida or California or somewhere that citrus trees are common, you probably could have told me a long time ago that my tree was an orange tree. But since I've spent my whole life in a citrus-less state, I'm going to try and not be embarrassed that I've spent the last 4 1/2 months using oranges as limes. I'm just going to take the limes life has given me and make orange juice.

The Misery

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 20:43:00 +0000

There are basically two seasons here in Chihuahua: Unbearable Heat and Miserable Cold. In all fairness, there's also about two weeks of really nice weather in between those two seasons when it's sunny and 75.

You wouldn't think it would get that cold in a place where temperatures from April to October are regularly in the 90s or above. But let me tell you, the cold of November through March makes up for all the sweating you do the rest of the year.

Most days really aren't that bad, I guess. A lot of the time the high during the winter months still gets up to the 60s or 70s. But what will really get you is the colder days, and every night when it drops into the 20s or 30s. Because, you see, houses here are made from cinderblocks, which have an unbelievable ability to absorb all the cold air outside and bring it inside. So no matter how warm it gets outside during the day, your house still stays ridiculously cold.

This would all be pretty bearable if houses here had furnaces. But nope, they don't. And it turns out that when you have no furnace, your house gets pretty cold. I spent a few very cold weeks without heat in my house in Colorado one year. And you know what we did once we had to start wearing coats and mittens all day inside the house to stay warm? We moved in with my grandma, who had a furnace.

I have a space heater, but it's no match for the cold. Plus it kind of drives up my electricity bill, and as a missionary, I tend to not have a lot of extra cash laying around to blow on silly things like heat.

The Misery is here and I don't think it's going to leave for another 4 months or so. So in the meantime, I'm trying to focus on the good of this situation. Here's what I've come up with:

I'm getting tons of opportunities to wear my favorite coat (more than I had even in Colorado).
I'm helping keep tea, hot chocolate and chai producers in business.
I am no longer questioning what I was thinking in filling half my car with sweaters and blankets when I moved down here.
When I press my snooze button for an hour and a half every morning, it's because I'm too cold to get out from under my covers, not because I'm lazy.
I'm conserving water. The thought of undressing and then standing under a stream of only kind-of-warm water (my hot water heater is more of a warmish water heater) to take a shower is kind of unbearable. So unless my own stench is more unbearable than the hypothermia risk associated with taking a shower, I'm going to pass. I know, I know...with hygiene like this, can you believe I'm still single?

Maybe I sound like a drama queen complaining so much about the cold. Or maybe it really is that cold. All I can say is that it makes me so glad that I grew up with a heater or a wood stove. Don't take yours for granted if you have one, people.

Stranger in a Strange Land, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 05:04:00 +0000

Every day in Mexico is a new adventure. Even after all my years of spending time here, things still happen almost every day that catch me off guard. Sometimes they makes me want to pull my hair out, but mostly they just makes me laugh.

Like sometimes this happens:

I know you can't really see too well from the picture what's really going on, but let me explain. Every once in a while, a couple old men just show up outside the store next to my house and play a marimba, some other percussion instruments, and a saxophone. They're really good, and I have been known to get down to their jams every once in a while if the roommate isn't home. But it's just so random. They sit out there, play a few songs, and then drag all their instruments a block further down the street and start up again.

It's a little weird, but I've gotta say, of all the (many) sounds that I hear outside my house, the sound of these guys is probably the best. It's definitely better than the people who drive around selling bread late at night or the car alarms that go off every hour or so.

Independence Day

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was Independence Day here in Mexico (Yep, September 16 - not el Cinco de Mayo), but most of the celebrating happens the night before. Being in Mexico for Independence Day has been on my bucket list for a while, but since I never made it down until this year, I used to force my students to celebrate it in class. But being here was so much better than forcing ethnocentric American teenagers to shout "Viva México!" and eat candy with chile in it.

The first thing I love about Mexican Independence Day is the clothes. There is nothing cuter than little girls dressed up in traditional Mexican dresses and little boys dressed as miniature revolucionarios. Deep down I've always wanted to be a mariachi, so the fact that there's a day in which the average Joe can dress up in a mariachi suit without anyone batting an eye is a pretty sweet deal.

Thing #2 I love about Mexican Independence Day: El Grito. At the same time all across the country on September 15th, the president or governor or mayor (whoever is the highest-ranking person in the city you're in) comes out on a balcony that overlooks the main plaza of the city and shouts out the names of all the revolutionary heroes and "VIVA MEXICO!!!" and everyone in the plaza below shouts back "VIVAAAA!!!" Then a bell is rung, followed by the national anthem being sung and a huge fireworks show. I'm a total sucker for large groups of people coming together out of love for their country (nothing makes me tear up like watching the Olympics), so I've long waited to be part of el Grito. But alas, this year I missed it. Yep, true story.

Although the plan was to go to the Grito, in true Mexican fashion my friends and I were late getting downtown. We left the Independence Day party we were at later than planned, but still with enough time to make it to the Grito, then drove to a park near downtown Chihuahua to watch the fireworks, rather than to the main plaza where the Grito was happening. But as soon as we managed to find a place to sit and we got settled in, everyone decided we should go to the main plaza for the Grito (Duh!). So, still trying to get there on time, we ran something like 16 blocks to the plaza. We missed the Grito and the national anthem, but got there just as the fireworks started. They were amazing, the kind that make your insides shake. And they seemed so close! It was like they were right above my head and if I reached up I could catch one of the sparks in my hand...which sounds cooler than it actually is in real life, I found out, because the fireworks really were that close and giant, random sparks started falling to the ground all around us. It was like a terrifying, beautiful, hilarious game of tag. But getting tagged meant you would probably need medical attention, so I did my best to steer clear. Once the fireworks display/fiery rain storm was over, we fought our way through the crowd to get closer to the main stage where a Norteña band was starting to play.

I mean no disrespect to the people of Mexico when I say this, but there are several genres of Mexican music - between which I can't differentiate - which are just absolutely and completely ridiculous. Norteña is one of them. While I'm pretty sure most Americans can agree that the stereotypical Mexican polka you hear every once in a while is a cacophony, until I came to Mexico, I had no idea how ridiculous these styles of music really were. The bands usually consist of somewhere between 10 and 30 members who all dress in the same awful combination of pointy-toed cowboy boots, skinny jeans, gaudy suit jacket, and tejano cowboy hats, and who choreograph dances to go along with their music. It is a sight to behold! The band on Sunday night was decked out in bright red (by which I mean basically pink) pants. You haven't seen ridiculousness until you've seen a fat man wearing pink skinny jeans, playing a tuba and dancing around a stage, in no way intending to be ironic or humorous. But this video gives you a little taste of what I'm talking about:

Norteña is something I have a love-hate relationship with. On one hand it's annoying and is almost always blasted to the point that I can hear my neighbors listening to it from a block away, usually until the wee-small hours of the morning (Fun note: one of my neighbors is apparently training to become a tuba player in a Norteña band and enjoys practicing in the 3-4 am time frame, apparently after having consumed a large amount of alcohol. Or, maybe he just is actually that bad sober). But on the other hand, Norteña music is part of the soundtrack to life in Northern Mexico and there's just something heartwarming about being in the middle of a crowd of thousands of people who are dancing and singing along to the ridiculousness. At any rate, I genuinely enjoyed the half hour of the concert we stayed for before heading out on Sunday night.

After the celebration downtown, we went to one of my friends' house for dinner, despite the fact that it was close to one by the time we got there. All I can say is, Mexicans are not party poopers. We ended up eating, talking, playing games and singing karaoke until 6 am. My ability to think, speak or understand Spanish stopped cooperating several hours before that, but I had fun anyway.

5 things I love about Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:55:00 +0000

People usually don't get why I love Mexico so much. Mostly it's the amazing people in this country that I love, but there are also just quirks about this place that endear it to you. So here are 5 of my favorite quirks, at least for this week.

1. People watch out for each other. It's monsoon season in Chihuahua, and here rain leads to huge potholes. Like, potholes the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. So neighbors look out for each other by throwing old tires into potholes so they're easier to spot/less likely to cause your axle to break. That's just one example of how people take care of each other here. It's just what you do.

2. Hamburgers are made with ham. At some point in their lives, I'm pretty sure everyone has asked why hamburgers are called hamburgers if they're not made with ham. Mexico answered that question by throwing a slice of ham onto their hamburgers. And let me tell you, it's delish.

3. It's easy to be an entrepreneur. If you want to turn your living room into a business, you do it. No need for a business license. Within a block of my house, I can buy a swimsuit, burritos, tortas, popsicles, school supplies, hamburgers (with ham), tacos, groceries, get my computer repaired, catch a taxi, or get a gift wrapped. And every business is run out of the front room of a different neighbor's house. It's super convenient, plus it's easy to get to know your neighbors.

4. Driving here is so much better than in the U.S. I admit that when I first started driving here, I was more than a little nervous (especially since I was forced to drive gigantic vehicles which I wouldn't even want to drive around an empty parking lot). But once you get used to it, it's great. If I want to get around someone who's going too slow, I make an extra lane. If I don't want to stop at a stop sign, I don't have to. If there isn't a parking spot, I can make my own. It makes driving in the U.S. seem like a total pain.

5. Street performers. Almost every large intersection in cities here offers some sort of entertainment. Sometimes the entertainment comes from fighting with a guy who insists on cleaning your windshield despite you repeatedly telling him not to. But usually it's cooler things like people tossing around flaming batons or break dancing. In contrast, the most entertaining street performance I've seen in Colorado involved a guy attempting to juggle knives and cutting his finger in the process. Still entertaining, but somehow different.

A Decade of Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 19:55:00 +0000

Yesterday I got to thinking and realized that on this exact day ten years ago I was on my first trip to Chihuahua. I had just graduated from high school and had my future all planned out and ready to go. Then I came here and the plan started to get derailed. I only spent a week here, but this city and the kids I worked with captured my heart. Six months later I came back as part of a missionary training program and remember begging God to allow me to live and work here full time.

Fast forward ten years and here I am. Finally. After ten years. Ten years of coming to Chihuahua for short and not-so-short-term missions trips. Ten years of working in dozens of churches and ministries here and falling in love with hundreds of kids, but never feeling like God was allowing me to come back full time. Ten years of still living in Colorado, feeling like I was a thousand miles away from where I belonged. Ten years of waiting.

It's easy to question God's timing. He says the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few, yet he let an eager worker sit on the sidelines for a decade. There have been a lot of times over the past ten years when I've been really frustrated. Times when I've thought it was never going to happen.

As it turns out, God actually knows what he's doing. Now that I'm here, it's amazing to see how he's used the past ten years to prepare me for each individual aspect of what I'm doing. So those 4 years of teaching high school? They're coming in handy as I help lead and teach the youth group at LightShine. Those 4 years of studying Spanish grammar and vocabulary and literature? They make it a lot easier to communicate. The freelance translating I've been doing for the past couple years? It's helping pay the bills. That really scary English teacher I had in college who intimidated me into being a better writer? I can write articles for all of LightShine's sponsors now, knowing in the back of my mind that Professor Whats-his-name would only mildly criticize them. And there's a hundred more ways that I can see how all ten years worth of boredom, frustration and waiting have gotten me ready for this.

There's still some big things in life that I'm waiting for God to do. And sometimes I'm not very patient. Sometimes I have pity parties, wondering when he'll remember that I'm still waiting. But be encouraged, friends. Ten years was a long time to wait to move to Mexico, but God used those ten years to get me ready. So whatever it is that you're waiting on God to do, just remember that his timing is usually pretty different than ours, but that he's working to make all things work together for our good.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart," Psalm 37:4 says. It doesn't say when he'll give them to you, but it does say he will. So hold on to his promise and don't give up.

The Truth About Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:05:00 +0000

People have a lot of misconceptions about this country I live in. I mostly blame Hollywood, the media, and the fact that most people who come here go to resort or border towns, which aren't a very accurate reflection of the rest of the country. So to help debunk some myths and answer some commonly-asked questions (because yes, I've been asked about every single one of these things), here's what I know.

This country is not devoid of toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, etc. However, I'd kind of like my dental hygienist at home to keep believing that I have no access to these items so she will keep giving me a lifetime supply of free toothbrushes.
Americans can buy groceries here. You don't have to make special trips across the border to stock up on palatable food. Sometimes certain items can be hard to find, or cost a little more (like $4 for a can of black olives), but there's so much good stuff to make up for what you can't find/afford that you hardly notice.
Mexicans do not speak Mexican. They speak Spanish.
People don't wear sombreros and ponchos or ride around on burros. Ok, mariachis do wear sombreros, and in rural areas you sometimes see donkeys pulling carts. But in general, people here dress pretty much the same way we do in the U.S.
There aren't shootouts going on between drug traffickers and police on every corner. The violence in Chihuahua has calmed down to almost nothing and I have never once been worried that I would be kidnapped or murdered by a drug cartel, or anyone else for that matter.
The cost of living here is more expensive than you'd think. Housing is a lot cheaper, but just about everything else costs as much or more than it would in the U.S. Furniture and electronics are especially expensive.
Mexican food is not like "Mexican" restaurants in America have led you to believe. Here they don't use ground beef with taco seasoning, there's no such thing as hard-shell tacos, and you don't sprinkle cheese, lettuce, sour cream and olives on your tacos.
Mexicans in Mexico are so different from Mexicans living in America. I have to admit that I didn't have a very positive view of Mexicans before I started coming here, but the truth is that these people are incredibly kind, generous, beautiful and warm.

Honestly, life here isn't really any more dangerous, inexpensive, or inconvenient than life at home. There are some things I've had to live without, like a washing machine and a couch, but overall I'm really blessed that God called me to serve here. Missionaries that work even a few hours from Chihuahua have to live without water and electricity, and here I am with a comfortable house and a Walmart, Home Depot, and Chili's ten minutes away. But I have to be honest, I'm still going to be really excited when I've saved enough money for a washing machine and can wash my clothes more than once every 3 weeks.

So, any other questions you've got about life in Mexico? I'm an open book!

Missed opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 08 May 2013 04:41:00 +0000

"It's always something," I say to my roommate when she asks me why I'm an hour and a half late getting back from LightShine...again. As the keeper of the LightShine van (a.k.a. the only one who has space at my house to park it), I also have the responsibility of driving the other teachers to and from Soledad, the LightShine community where I spend most of my time. And inevitably, there is always something that keeps me from getting home when I think I will. The van needs transmission fluid or someone needs a ride somewhere out of the way, or someone decides we should take on a huge project at LightShine before we leave because they're sure it will only take a few minutes. Yeah, right.

I have to admit, I have been known to have a bad attitude when these extremely-common delays keep me from my own agenda. Yet somehow, they always catch me off guard and I spend the 40-minute drive home trying to still act sweet and missionary-ish, instead of how I really feel: aggravated and annoyed.

It happened again today. As we were pulling away from LightShine, my co-worker asked if we could stop at the home of one of the kids we work with to chat with her mom. "Oh boy, here we go again," I thought. But being the people-pleaser/emotion stuffer that I am, I plastered a smile on my face and drove to the house.

As we stepped inside and started talking, I realized this wasn't just a matter of popping in to say hi. Loli, the mom we were visiting, dove right in, telling us she is several months pregnant but just found out it is a tubal pregnancy, meaning the baby has an almost 0% chance of survival and Loli's life is in danger, too. She also is battling an unrelated illness, and her marriage is falling apart. The teachers who I was with did a phenomenal job of praying for her, encouraging her, challenging her to save her marriage, and pointing her towards God and scripture.

I left feeling so encouraged by my co-workers, their love for the Lord and for Loli, and their words of wisdom. I also left feeling incredibly convicted of the attitude I tend to have when things don't go according to plan (which is all the time in Mexico). What if I had made an excuse for why I needed to get home instead of stopping to listen to and encourage Loli? What if every time I do push my own agenda instead of God's or other people's, I miss out on blessing others, being blessed by them, and drawing them closer to God? So often I feel like I only need to serve during the hours my schedule defines. I only need to sacrifice and be Christ-like until a certain time and then I'm entitled to fulfilling my own wants and needs. How many opportunities I miss to serve, to bless, to encourage, and to pour into others. May God give me the strength to die to myself and fully - not just during my ministry schedule - live for Him.

Home, sweet home

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:50:00 +0000

The thing about Mexico is that everything here takes longer than you think or are told it will...like 2 to 29 times longer. So despite having signed up and paid for internet almost a month ago, I just got my internet installed. Thus the lack of updates. But I promised to show you my house (I think), so here it is:

If you're American, you might look at my house and think it looks like a very cheerful prison, what with all those bars and razor wire.

But if you're Mexican, you would probably think, "Wow! Nobody's going to break into that house." After a while, you get used to all the bars and gates and only think about them when you're struggling to open the locks when you get home after a long day and are tired and about to wet your pants. Not that that happens to me....

Anyway, plants can be a little hard to come by/keep alive in the desert, but our landlord was kind enough to install this astroturf in the front. If I'm really missing home, I walk around on it in bare feet with my eyes closed (to keep from being blinded by the sun's reflection off the "grass").

Our back yard has a lime tree, which I'm pretty excited about. If there's one valuable lesson the people of Mexico have taught me, it's that everything tastes better with lime juice. Meat, watermelon, Coke. Everything. So being able to pluck those bad boys out of my back yard once they're in season makes me a happy girl.

Now on to the inside of the house. Here's the living room:

The dining room:

And the world's smallest kitchen. Ok, not really, but the ginormous fridge takes up like a third of the space, and all those cabinets fill up pretty fast.

Next up, the bathroom. I know, I know. Who cares about a bathroom? Well, I do because it has three important features that a lot of Mexican bathrooms don't have: a toilet seat, a toilet paper holder, and a mirror. Only two of those three came with the house, but I'll let you guess which one we decided to spring for ourselves.

Here's my bedroom, which was kind of hard to get a good shot of:

Last but not least is our guest bedroom/storage space/family room. We like to refer to it as the rumpus room and we have grand plans of having friends hang out here once we figure out what to do with all our ~~junk~~ treasures we couldn't bear to leave at home.

We have a fairly large collection of air mattresses and camping mattresses, so if you ever get an urge to come hang out in the Mexican desert, bring the whole fam! We've got plenty of space and are kind of looking for an excuse to get that room organized.

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Woops. I kind of dropped the ball on posting updates here. Sorry about that! I hope none of you have been too worried about me. I have extremely limited Internet access, so when I get the chance to use it, I tend to click through important-looking e-mails, and write a hurried e-mail to my mama so she doesn’t think I’ve been kidnapped by a cartel or eloped with a hot Mexican.

So, I live in Mexico now! The weirdest thing about that is not that I live in another country or speak another language most of the time. What’s weird is that there is nothing that feels weird about this situation. But I guess when you are where you absolutely know God wants you to be, there’s nothing uncomfortable about it.

I don’t think it’s normal to feel more at home in a foreign country than you do at home. But people here don’t seem to think it’s weird that I do. They all tell me my heart is from here…which is what I’ve said for years anyway. I wish my albino-white skin would get the memo, though, and start looking a little more Mexican.

Anyway, I’ve been here for two weeks now, and for those of you that are interested in what I’ve been doing, here’s a highlight reel:

Ate a whole lot of tacos, gorditas, corn, and other Mexican treats. I already have so many great friends here, and every time we go out to eat together, we usually end up staying at the restaurant and talking until the employees start turning off the lights to politely tell us that they closed an hour ago, but have been nice enough to let us stick around until they’ve finished cleaning up for the night.
Was “welcomed” to Mexico with a serious case of the stomach flu.
Have given and received somewhere around 1000 hugs from LightShine kids. They absolutely make my heart go crazy! It’s kind of a mix of love and heartbreak and compassion and a desire to adopt all of them. You can’t help but fall in love with them, but when you find out about their home lives, it’s all you can do not to take them home and spoil them rotten to make up for all that they have had to live through.
Done a whole lot of random tasks like babysitting, stuffing binders, buying lots of groceries, and maintaining vehicles (pretty sure that last one shouldn’t have been delegated to me).
Looked for and stressed about a house to rent. Everyone told my roommate, Charis, and I that our budget was unrealistic, but we found a place! It’s exactly the price we budgeted for and we didn’t even have to barter for it. Plus, without us even asking, the owner is adding extra security, painting and updating the inside, and adding landscaping to our front “yard”. And, to top it all off, there is a little grocery store about 15 feet away where I can buy Coke and ice cream to my heart’s content.

There have been other random activities sprinkled in there, but since my time on the internet for today is running out, I’ll leave it at that. Stay tuned for pictures of our house once we move in, and updates on what other adventures I’m up to!

The countdown begins

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:23:00 +0000

The thing I've learned about anything related to missions is that being able to fly by the seat of your pants is a pretty important quality to have. Case in point: in 9 days I am moving to a foreign country, but I wasn't actually able to confirm until a few hours ago that that's when I'd be leaving.

Nine days. Nine days left to spend time with friends and family. Nine days for the important stuff I just ordered online to make it to my house (please, oh, please!). Nine more days in a house with central heating (I'm going to thank God for every minute of warmth while I still have it). And nine days to re-register my car, cancel my insurance, buy new insurance, find a way to pack everything I'll need during the next year into my car, clean my house, make lots of trips to Goodwill to donate all the stuff I'm suddenly realizing I don't actually need, do my taxes, and buy socks while I'm still in a country that makes socks big enough for my feet. Pretty sure there are about 53 other things on my to-do list, but I'll spare you.

Having a departure date is suddenly making this whole moving-to-Mexico thing a lot more real, a lot more scary, but also a lot more exciting. For every fear there is something so much bigger and better that God has in store for me.

Yes, I'll miss my family, but I already know there will be at least 4 families there that will take care of me like I'm their own daughter.

Yes, I'm leaving behind good friends, but I know there are great friends waiting for me in Chihuahua, and also a friend from here who gets to go on this adventure with me, which is a huge answer to prayer that, to be honest, I didn't really think God would answer.

Yes, I will have to go months without seeing my nieces (who, for the record, are the cutest little ladies in the entire world!). But I'll get to spend tons of time loving on little Mexican kiddies, who are also pretty cute, and who give me a lot more hugs and kisses than my nieces, who I have to bribe with piggy-back rides in order to get some love.

Yes, I'm leaving behind a steady income and suddenly seem to have huge expenses popping up left and right, which may or may not be causing an ulcer when I let myself focus on them. But God is already providing for me in some unexpected ways and I know he'll keep providing exactly what I need.

Yes, I'm leaving the only state I've ever lived in. But I'm going to a place that's already home. And from what I've been told, I glow when I'm working in Mexico (and what girl doesn't love to be told she glows?). I'm pretty sure I never had that glow when I was teaching here. Unless you consider a scowl a form of glowing. I don't, though.

So if you see me freaking out a little in the next week or so, please remind me to re-read this post so I will remember how many good things are coming. Don't get me wrong; I'm so excited to finally be starting this next adventure. But in the meantime I might go back and forth between crying and jogging in place while making a weird face because I can't contain my excitement.

Nine days!

Ch-ch-changes

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:58:00 +0000

I'm changing things up around here a bit, mainly because I'm changing up my life ~~a bit~~ a lot.

For those of you who know me even a little, you know that Mexico is a big part of my life. For the past 10 years I have spent every summer (except that one when I cheated and went to Baja California instead) and a winter and spring in Chihuahua City, Mexico. The people there are unbelievably kind and have turned Chihuahua into my home away from home.

So I've spent the last 10 years alternating between begging God to let me work there full-time, and begging him to not call me back to doing missions because I've served my time and just want to have a normal life (Don't judge. Missionaries have a fleshly nature, too). It seems like God and I are finally on the same page, though, and I'm headed back to Mexico for the foreseeable future. And let me tell you, I'm excited!

God has this amazing way of making all the random details of our lives come together in ways we couldn't come up with ourselves, and he's certainly done so for me. About 5 years ago, one of my friends in Chihuahua told me he had met some people from Colorado Springs in Chihuahua. They were from a church that I used to attend. I "randomly" attended said church when they were announcing they were starting a church plant in Chihuahua. Every time I attended after that, there just happened to be an update on how things were going in Chihuahua. The church plant moved into a building 3 doors up from where I used to teach English in Chihuahua. While in Chihuahua one summer, I randomly met an American woman who attended the church plant, but worked with a soup kitchen ministry I had worked with for several years. She started sending me e-mail updates about the soup kitchen. Then she started working with the kids sponsorship program the church plant started and I got updates on that. I started attending the church here in Colorado Springs again regularly and signed up to go on a missions trip to Chihuahua with them. I finally got to visit the church plant, fell in love with the ministry, and felt God calling me to work with them. I spent 5 weeks in Chihuahua working with their child sponsorship program during November and December, and now I'm raising support and getting ready to move to Chihuahua long term.

Whew! That was a long explanation. And that was the condensed version! All that goes to say, in a little less than a month, I'm moving to Chihuahua. So I'm re-vamping my blog to be more centered on life in Chihuahua. I deleted all my posts from years past because people who are praying for and supporting me are going to read this and I don't want to scare them off with my bad attempts at being funny, my prideful soliloquies about how awesome I am at going through airport security, or my embarrassing admissions (like the fact that I STILL don't know how to tie my shoes correctly at the age of 27). Once I've lured them in, though, I'll bring it all back.

Thanks for sharing in my excitement to return to my adopted homeland, friends. I can't wait to share the journey with you!