seeing Rachel off

So here we are at the airport - -joining Rachel as she drinks her last cafe con leche. The Pamplona airport was busy when we dropped her off and we had to fight for a table at the (one and only) Pamplona airport food/beverage station; I guess everyone else was trying to get in one last Spanish coffee too (it's just not the same anywhere else!); I think we knocked over a few small children as we raced for it! AND (horror of all horrors!) all the regular coffee cups were dirty so we got coffee in a paper cup!

Seriously, though, (not that having to drink coffee in a paper cup isn't serious) we were oh so sad to see our Rachel go. Her absence will be poignantly noted these next four months that she is gone on home assignment; we will miss having her here - - both as part of our family (who will read to my boys? who will encourage me to try new and exciting recipes?) and as a ministry partner (who will remember to put out the napkins when our dinner guest come over, or how will I possibly find a way to meet up with and encourage the countless women that she usually does?)
the house has seemed a bit empty and lonely these past few days; if you happen to run into her during her stay in the States, remind her how good she had it here and send her back our way!

it's tradition . . .

we wait. we don't open the bag and pull out the newly developed pictures until we can all sit down together and pass them around - - observing carefully and commenting appropriately on every print.

we picked up a processed roll of film today and found moment to all sit down together . . . look here for some of my favorites

cooking in Spain

probably the most important rules in the Spanish kitchen are - - never give a recipe with precise measurements or instructions, and never follow a given recipe exactly. Most recipes I get from Spanish women tend to go a bit like this:
"oh! it's easy! all you have to do is measure 3 cup-fulls of flour
('what size cup?' I ask - - 'oh, you know, just one of the water glasses from your cupboard')
and mix in a few eggs
('how many?' I ask - - 'well, it depends on the size of the egg')
and 8 heaping spoonfuls of sugar, half of an envelope of baking powder, some salt and some lemon rind. beat it all together and stick it in the oven
('what temperature?' I ask - - 'oh, whatever - - a medium-high heat, I guess')" . . . and I don't even bother to ask how long - - I know that I just have to keep an eye on it until it looks "right"

bearing that in mind, here is one of our favorite summertime Spanish recipes (gazpacho!) - - based loosely on a loosely given recipe from a Spanish friend!

4-5 tomatoes - - washed;the riper the better!
1/2 onion
1 small cucumber - - peeled and seeded
1-2 garlic cloves
1 (or less) green bell pepper - - washed and seeded
give it all a good chop (feed the insides of the cucumber to any interested bystanders)

season with:
extra virgin olive oil (oh, maybe 2T)
a lemon or two (or vinegar if you prefer)
salt (1, maybe 2 teaspoons)

lure the interested bystander to blend it all together (I use my Malachai and my oh-so-Spanish blender stick, but certainly, you could use a blender or a food processor) until it is very smooth; I like it best chilled for at least a few hours before we eat it.

so there you have it! let me know if you give it a go - - and what you think (I never would have tried a cold soup recipe before coming to Spain!) AND, of course, what you changed in the recipe to make it your own!

1. my camera got stolen

2. I cried and told everyone about it (it helped me to feel better)

3. these guys heard about it. they (and some more friends and church family) found a way to buy and send me a new one

4. I cried and told everyone about it (when I told the lady at my local camera store she asked me - - "what church are you a part of? I want to be part of that church!")

I love the church. I knew already that they loved me; if this had never happened, I would have known they loved me by the million other ways they have shown it already. this has just been one more, particularly delightful, touching demonstration of this love. I feel it so much I hardly feel like I need to say it (but - - hang it all, I will anyways!) - - thank you !

living legally (and oh so cutely!)

We went this week to the police station to, like good law abiding missionaries, renew our boy's residency cards. look how cute these kiddos are! I pulled out the pictures we had taken for last year's cards and had fun comparing them to this year's ID photos.

on why I knit every once in a while instead of expositing Scripture

If I was to evaluate the "Christian woman culture" that I have seen and lived in my short life, I would say that we are often prone to laziness when it comes to understanding and communicating God's delightful, profound word. Sooo . . . let me make this clear - - I'm all for women exerting themselves to be faithful, diligent students of the Bible (and other relevant non inspired writings). go for it! read more, think harder, reason thoroughly . . .

Soooo . . . today I want to encourage you all to take the time to knit (or cook or sew, or scrapbook, or hot glue pom-poms onto your daughters keds, or whatever lovely crafty thing you like to do), Because I find it impossible to read a science book, or go to an aquarium, or to exposit the first couple of chapters of Genesis and not be overwhelmed with God's delight in beauty and variation, and in the actual process of design in creating. It's fascinating, don't you think, that in the tremendous act of creation, God chooses, not to speak the completed universe into existence all in one shot, but instead to spend six days creating and ordering the earth (days 4, 5&6 of creation filling up what was created on days 1, 2&3 - - look! it's there!) and its inhabitants into the final "very good". Do we not, then, reflect the image of our creator when we ourselves order and create?

A special thanks to you, mom, for living this out for me- -You have been Faithful in your study of the word, complete in your love and care for Christ's church, and always an example to me of a woman who reflects God's love for beauty and creation - - in different cultures, with eight kids, with a pretty much non existent decorating budget!
a good book to read on this topic (recommended to me, of course, by the lovely Darcie Newton)- - Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking
I took these pictures of home - - last time I visited mom

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!