out on the streets (together)

Brett is part of our Christian community.
Brett and Francesca study architecture together.
yesterday,Francesca called Brett to see if he wanted to have lunch after the morning conference given by some Portuguese architect.
Brett called us to see if we wanted to join them both for lunch.
Joshua watched the kids so that I could join Rachel
joining Brett
joining Francesca.
So we had lunch together,
and talked about all things relevant to life - - including:

• methods and mechanisms for making the best coffee (of course we talked about that - - Francesca is Italian)

• racism in Spain, and in Italy, and in the US, and in our own lives.

• chandeliers.

• what it means to care for the physical world without having that care overwhelm our care for people.

• the hideous wallpaper in Francesca's apartment and wallpaper's apparent comeback.

(see? important stuff)
and then, after the post lunch coffee, Brett and Francesca showed us the architecture building on campus,
and we ran into Isabel who comes to our place for movie nights . . . and Raul who we met at Brett's raging housewarming party.

it's good to be together.

The thing about Joshua

"the thing about Joshua," I told a friend today,
"is that as he studies modern society, he is overwhelmed with the intellectual complacency that exists; he believes that as a whole we are failing to ask enough questions as well as failing to think critically when questions are asked of us"
"mmmmm . . . " said the friend.
"and Joshua wants to stir up the waters" I told her.
"maybe I'll bring a friend with me" she said.

so he's at it again - - Joshua has been preparing a talk to present this Friday evening at our community's cultural center. This time it's titled:
Catholic without Catholicism?
reflections of a "separated brother"

please pray for Joshua tomorrow! Pray that he will provoke the right questions, that he will be able to share grace and truth as questions are asked of him, and that God will use Joshua in our community to sharpen and woo the minds that God has created to adore Himself.

32 (almost)

Yesterday we threw a birthday party for Joshua, and our house was filled with all sorts of people from all different parts of our lives. Jaime and Miriam were here, and Brett and Rachel - - all from our Christian community. and there were Brett's roommates, and Isabel and Lucas who often come for pizza and movie night, and Juan Carlos who we know from our local coffee shop, and Andrea and Franchesca - - Brett's fine Italian friends who we met for the first time last Thanksgiving. Even Jose the priest accepted a last minute invitation.
it was one of those lovely events that lasts longer than expected - - the four-o-clock coffee and dessert turned to a six-o-clock snack turned into a nine-o-clock dinner. . . and it was about 11pm by the time the door closed behind our last guest.
and this morning at about 11, I felt very, very sleepy so I laid down for a nap. and slept.
I woke up just enough to hear Joshua bringing the boys home from school
and to wonder what they would eat for lunch. I had fed all the food to yesterday's guests.
I didn't wonder too long, though. I fell back asleep
and woke up again to Rachel taking Selma and Josu out to pick up Malachai from his afternoon school hours.
it was 4:30
and then Joshua came home
with groceries.
my family takes good care of me

good day

today I taught Malachai that rule about never, never licking scissors.
I guess I can check that off of the "what responsible mothers teach their tots" checklist.
nice.

and I helped Rachel make a whole lot of deliciousness for lunch .
to get a look at it go here:
http://www.kayotickitchen.com/
and then look for the roti chicken recipe. (do it!)
the roti chicken was pretty good.
the roti pancakes, however, were amazing. I will, from this day forth, incorporate roti pancakes into my weekly menu. I'm serious.

we also ate out on the porch. this blesses my soul. I love porch dining

p.s. I can't sign into my blogger account in Firefox. I can only access it through Explorer. this is bad news for me since the spell check on Blogger in Explorer does not seem to work. I neeeeed spellcheck. Although . . . it is kind of fun that I can write "deliciousness" without the bother of a red underline, don't you think?

out and about

we have been having some interesting dialogue lately with a priest studying at a seminary here in Pamplona. Yesterday he invited our family out on an excursion - - a favorite Spanish activity which usually involves getting into your car and driving for a while, finding a field, or a castle, or an old pueblo (which exist in abundance around these parts), walking around for a few hours, then finding a local family friendly bar in which to drink a cafe con leche or each some pinchos and to talk for a couple more hours before you head back to your car and drive back home.
The way our excursion fate would have it, we ended up at the ancient city of SOS (the birthplace of Spain's famous king Ferdinand) where we were actually delighted to find ourselves in the middle of this pueblo's yearly fiesta (you know the running of the bulls festival that Pamplona is so well known for? well, that is Pamplona's fiesta; pretty much every city or pueblo here in Spain has their own - - not all as ellaborate or as famous as Pamplona's, but crucial to the pueblos' existence nonetheless)and so we were treated to the locals dressed in Renaissance garb, banners hanging from the terraces, a reenactment of the queen giving birth to sweet baby Ferdinand, and, of course - - the pueblo's beloved (and just a little bit creepy) gigantes parading through the narrow, cobblestone streets, stopping in the larger plazas to dance to the music of the musicians playing ancient, typical instruments;and after all the parading we went (along with most of the other paraders, it seemed) in search of an empty table to sit and sip a hot coffee. we did find a table, and had some more good conversation - - when we weren't dragging Selma and Josu away from the glowing lights of the gambling machines.
and then we got in our car and drove home. excursion complete.

I was woken up by Joshua last night as he tucked the blankets around me and dragged me to his side of the bed. "what's the matter?" I asked. I knew he was dreaming.
he often does funny things while he sleeps . . . and I wake him up and tell him it was all just a dream.
"the chandelier is going to crash down on top of you!" he warned me.
I wasn't surprised that he was having nightmares about that chandelier. I've been secretly afraid of that chandelier since the day we moved in.
I thought about waking him, but instead I just thanked him. it was nice to be rescued.