on raising boys in Spain

two weeks ago I caught Malachai, excited about the upcoming summer barracas (fairgrounds), in a corner, quietly practicing his rolled R - - it evolved quite a bit like this:
"badacas . . . . baracas . . . barracas" (he did it! he rolled his R!) . . . "barrrrrrrracas! "
So now, two weeks later, his rolled R perfected, he is managing to put a rolled R into pretty much any word imaginable - - English or Spanish - - single R or double R, words that have R's and words that don't have R's . . . .

we went up to Pamplona early this morning to watch to watch "those who run with the bulls" run into the bull stadium. When I told Malachai about our plans he asked oh-so-casually - - "will I be running with the bulls too?". it's funny now; it won't be as funny when he asks the same thing ten years from now (and really means it)!

after the bull stadium we paraded along the city streets with the gigantes and cabezudos (pretty much my absolute favorite part of the festival in Pamplona)
here are Joshua and Josu being chased down by one of the kilikis - - look closely and you can see the his sponge ball peeking out behind his back - - being wound up to hit them. These guys are masters at what they do with their sponge balls; they always hit their target - - viciously whacking the taunting preteen boys and gently tapping the toddlers (and getting in some pretty good playful whacks at innocent bystanders too)Josu lucked out and got picked up by this zaldiko and was trained in the fine art of whacking. (poor aunt Rachel!)

the team

we are exhausted and still a bit giddy as we recover from the week we just had with the short term team that came out from Faith Community church who came out for a week to teach English conversation and culture classes in a nearby neighborhood. The time spent with them was so good; they were the sort of short term team that every missionary dreams of - - they were prepared, flexible, excited about Spain and our ministry, loving and warm and humble with their students, and they were encouraging and generous (and much, much more!) to our family. We are so thankful for them and look forward to seeing the fruit of their efforts in our ministry in the future!

One of the team members (and a wonderful friend), Nicole, has stayed with us for an extra ten days; we are thriving on all the wonderful conversations and spirited card games that she provokes! We spent the day downtown with her today . . .

Tonight I told Malachai that we would be eating waffles tomorrow.
Malachai panicked; "oh no!" he cried "but I don't know how to say waffles in Spanish!"

it turns out that in school, Malachai's teacher has been asking the kids what they had for breakfast; oh, the traumas of a four year old!

speaking of trauma, check out this picture that I snagged of the school conserje (i.e. janitor/doorman/guard/the guy all the kids look up to) directing school traffic this week as we waited outside for the buses to come back from a field trip . . . there is a prize here waiting for the first person to identify the little something in his left hand.

My friend Berta has a girl Malachai's age, and is pregnant with a baby boy; the thrifty, resourceful women that we are, we did a clothing exchange this week. Oh my! how I enjoyed pulling item after item out of these second hand bags! Look at these blue maryjanes; aren't they fantastic? I was reminded of the vast differences in baby clothing culture between the US and Spain! (is anyone interested in a pair of white patent leather, lace trimmed booties tied with tremendous satin bows? they are yours for the taking!) look at this wonderful collection of hand knit sweaters (all with matching booties and bonnets, of course!)

and this lovely newborn dress


and I think that I will hold onto the dress, just in case we get invited to the next royal wedding here in Europe! look here to check out more of the oh-so-Spanish loot, and let me know if you know of anyone who is dying to get their hands on a collection of ribbon-shouldered dresses or handknit layettes !

oh dear, I am having blogger issues; my pictures in this post keep disappearing! Sooo, I reposted it again above.

what the sonogram technician told us

the baby looks healthy, and it's a girl!(wonderful!) Rachel took care of Malachai and Josu while Joshua and I took the bus to the hospital. We are, of course, pleased with God's choice for us - - but not as pleased, I think, as the five ladies I regularly run into at the coffee shop who have been hoping desperately for a baby girl for us.

When my (lovely, Spanish) friend Ana picked up my magazine the other day and saw this add in it, she exclaimed what a good looking baby boy it was. Puzzled, I took a closer look (I thought I had seen dainty, feminine flowers embroidered around the neckline) "boy?" I asked. "oh! is it a girl?" asked Ana "since it's ears weren't pierced, I was sure it was a boy!"

Josu in the Garden

I feel the need to garden. Suddenly I have fond memories of Mom's vegetable garden on the side of the house, and of the years that we participated in the inner city gardening co-op in San Antonio; my interest is uniquely peaked as of late when I hear about what Luke and Gabrielle are planting in their spring (or summer, or fall!) garden; I find myself flipping through all the gardening pages that I used to flip past in those magazines . . . It's just much harder to garden in Spain! I am giving it a more thorough go this year, though., and am earnestly hoping to have to tote large bags of tomatoes (and, uh . . . well . . .not much else - - herbs I guess) to all my neighbors, begging them to "please take them off my hands . . . "
A girl can always dream, right?
I realized recently how often we eat out on our porch; the late Spanish dinner hour is very conducive to even summer dining outside - - by the time dinner hour rolls around, the day has cooled, and we actually want to be outside! My late porch garden fascination springs from a commitment to make this summer's porch dinners (and breakfasts and coffees) a bit more aesthetic. I planted climbing flowers (and had visions of then miraculously adding a vibrant splash of color and life to my dreary porch wall) a couple of weeks ago, and they have yet to even poke their little heads out of the ground. Ah well, if they never come up I could always drag the potted tomatoes and rosemary over from the sunny "laundry side" of the porch to the shaded "table side" of the porch to give our dinners more vibrant color and life, right?

on becoming Spanish

We planted a geranium on our porch railing!

that's my boy!

Rachel asked Malachai one recent Sunday afternoon what he had learned in Sunday school.
"in soccer you can only use your feet - - not your hands!" he told her.

(that's right! top-o'-the class!)

apparently I need to make my lesson plans a little more interesting to compete with the after-service soccer games that go on in the Sunday school room with the "big boys"

Rachel complains that she has been telling Malachai that bit of soccer wisdom for months now, and that he credits it to someone else!

beach and bell peppers

up to the beach today (San Sebastian) on our family day off; look! the red peppers - - just like I said!

on becoming Spanish

something I picked up from my neighbor - - roasting red bell peppers; they are then skinned, cleaned, sliced, and fried up with garlic in olive oil.

a very nice Spanish way to serve them is to put them with thinly sliced pork loin and cured sheep's milk cheese on a baguette

Kalamata olives and a dandelion experiment

Sunday was delightful; we had an unexpected lunch guest, and then two more families for an unexpected coffee . . that turned into an unexpected dinner. it's nice that Spaniards don't eat much for dinner - - the fridge was empty but I was able to feed them all with a bunch of tomatoes, some cheese , a few baguettes, and (oh! I'm glad I found this in the back of my cupboard!) a can of olives . I was thankful for this chance to exercise my gifts within the church; its so nice this way!I get a lot of dandelions around here (because of this . . .) and have found with Malachai that if you keep the bright, sunny yellow dandelions in a vase long enough, they turn into the lovely, fluffy, blow-away dandelions!

playing in the backyard

"Hola!"
he stands at windows - - any window - - and yells this at people on the other side

we combined our weekly Saturday frisbee get-together with the Veldts, with a birthday party for Joshua (yes, again!) yesterday afternoon in an attempt to invite unbelievers that we know into the context of the believing community. We are convinced that the power of the gospel is evidenced through the church - - God's "kingdom of priests" . . . his "holy nation", and have been trying to be more purposeful about sharing Christ's gospel through his community
and, well . . . the Veldts showed up!
and we had a lovely time with them, but I am a wee bit discouraged that of the many people we invited, none showed up (most had pretty good reasons . . . but still disappointing!)
ah well, we will keep trying.

Yesterday was Joshua's birthday (oh! I love that man!). We spent the morning in Tafalla - - a town nearby where some friends are church planting. Joshua had been invited to preach. This (above) was my attempt at bagels to take to share with the church in Tafalla. they turned out not-too-bagelish, but were good smeared with cream cheese regardless.

in the afternoon we invited some friends Jaime and Miriam over for some birthday fondue. Fondue is particularly fun with people who have never experienced the fondue revolution before; they were skeptical at first but were won over in no time at all!
Happy birthday Joshua! I am thrilled and pleased to live life with you; your passion for God and life enriches me, our family, our church and our world!

it's official - - Malachai is now required to speak English in the home (unless, of course, there are Spanish guests here too!) . The law came down hard after one too many of the following:

"Mama, I drank-ado (an English verb conjugated with a perfect-tense Spanish ending) all my milk!"

Malachai: "hey! you have a paintbrush in your back bolsillo!
me: "yeah, I do! but how do you you say bolsillo in english?"
Malachai: "uh, I don't know . . ."
me: "yes you do, it's 'pocket', remember?"
Malachai: "oh yeah . . ."

"look! Josu has eyebrows little!" (adjective after the noun - - Spanish fashion)

joy in my today

Joshua has been practicing guitar lately. today I washed dishes to worship songs in Spanish.

a picture Malachai drew of me and "the redheaded baby inside". I look a bit forlorn - - I have been feeling sad and tired lately, but I hope this isn't an accurate depiction of what Malachai has been seeing!

walk, Josu, walk!

My creation, originally uploaded by naomi in spain.

Rachel had her birthday this week! We took advantage of the fact that she had to go to Madrid to renew her passport and made a family event of it all . . . and we spent Thursday through Saturday “celebrating” with her in the capital of Spain. We had a lovely, lovely time together - - Joshua and Malachai wondering how they possibly got such enormous statues on top of such high buildings, and Rachel and I checking out what all the Spanish senoritas were wearing this season in Madrid! We drank a lot of café con leches and people watched, walked all sorts of ostentatious, busy streets as well as tiny curious ones, rented a row boat in Madrid’s Retiro park (maybe a bit like Central park in NY), and just took our time being a family (plus aunt!) together.

I left my camera bag (as well as much of life’s joy - - it was a rough bible study) at Pia’s house on Wednesday before we left. Rachel came through with her little digital camera, although she could only take 10 pictures with it; here is a bit of what we got!

we consider ourselves some of the world's most blessed people to have such a wonderful sister and aunt live with us and share life's joys and struggles with us. Happy birthday; we love you!

good news for all; it's "week of the pig" this week at our friendly local grocers!

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 42:11

I recently came across my friend ironing her son's school smock. taken aback that someone would actually take the time to iron something that is intended to take the splatters of paint and spots of mud that happen at school, I started secretly eying the smocks of all the other children as they headed to school on Monday mornings; and guess what? it's true! I think I'm the only mother who does not iron her child's school smock!
Well, Malachai does not go to school this week, and since I have an entire week to plan for his next Monday. I will iron! . . . just for fun . . .

my little flame of fire



So, being faithful missionary parents, we have been doing our research on Carnaval, and boy, am I glad we did. It turns out that unique to the carnaval celebration in our area is a personage named Miel-Otxin who, according to the tales told in northern Navarra, was an evil man who sneaked about the town stealing stuff. Miel-Otxin is finally caught by the townspeople and justice is served as his is burned at the stake. SOOO evidentaly all week long, Malachai has been hearing this story; each child at the school has been encouraged to write down the bad things in their life that they want to get rid of. these things are placed at the feet of a life sized, straw stuffed Miel-Otxin and burned at the end of the celebration. oh my . . .
Well, we took Malachai home before the burning, and spent a good amount of time talking to him about God gives us a better hope, and that He tells us that the only way to be pure is to repent of our sins and trust Jesus to forgive us. Malachai was a good sport about it all; sweet boy! Malalchai's teacher was taken aback that we didn't want Malachai to participate in this "beautiful symbolism"; I will try to talk with her on Monday and explain some more to her.

we went to our local farmer's market this week - - something I am trying to do more often. I have realized that when I shop at the grocery store, it is a passive shopping experience and that when I go to the market, I have to brace myself for a more aggressive shopping experience - - having to shop around at all the stands, evaluating the price/wait time ratio, asserting your preferences ("one kilo of apples please, and make sure they aren't mushy like the ones you gave me last week . . . "), being pushed by the vendor to make split second decisions on what you want to buy, and how much of it, etc . . .
it's all worth it, of course; I always end up with better produce at a better price - - and I am surrounded by the people of my community (and the guy who sells candy and sweet rolls sings his advertisement! and how could I not be drawn in by that?)