Our Kids from Santa Fe

If you have been reading this blog for ages you may remember me writing about the kids that call me Tia the last time we were in Mexico.   Most likely you have no idea what  “Tia” means or if you do you might wonder why on earth kids that bear no relation to me would call me that.   Long story short.   We adopted these kids as our honorary family 2 years ago…our nieces and nephews.  A couple years ago the two oldest found themselves interned at a local orphanage while we were on staff.  We began a  friendship with them and started sponsoring one of them…and by custom that sponsorship gave us the title of Tia and tio (Auntie and Uncle).    We decided that “Tio and Tia” should be more than just a formal title granted to those who write a check….we would act like a true Auntie and Uncle to these two children in need of a lot of love.   Where we went, they came along.   2 Christmases ago they were unexpectedly  returned home and left the orphanage.  We were worried, saddened and determined to find them again.   Fortunately they weren’t living very far away.   We found them… and the situation in which they were living devastated us.  Our two neices and nephews became 5 as we met their younger siblings and instantly became “Tia and Tio” to them as well.  

 In the next few months before we returned to Canada we made sure that they had an actual house to live in (which God so faithfully provided), we enrolled them in school for the first time (at ages 11 and 13) and made sure they that they  had school uniforms.   Beyond trying to make sure that some basic physical and educational needs were met before we left we assured them that we would always be “Tia” and “Tio”.   I think that meant more to them than any bag of groceries or new house.   They were lonely and drifting down a stream of endless poverty.   They desperately needed to know someone cared.  They needed to know that God cares about the little messy haired, shoeless child shivering in a cardboard shack.    We loved on them….and then left for Canada.   They doubted that we would keep our promise.  

For the last 2 years I have worried about them, prayed for them and longed to wrap my arms around them again.  

It’s so strange to be witnessing poverty all around us but yet it isn’t just some nameless face on television…it’s my kids…and there are  children like them all over the place.

How to fit 11 people in a Ford Expedition...fold down the seats and pack 'em in.

Icecream at the park

{first time on a swing...was laughing, loving it,  and terrified at the same time}

I don’t know how snuggling up with 6 Triqui kids on my couch watching “Happy Feet” can reverse any of these cycles.   I don’t know if any of  it will be enough to stop them from drifting further into a life of desperation but  if all I can do is stubbornly stand in the middle of that swift stream and hold onto them for dear life then that’s what I’ll do.   Maybe years from now,  the memory that someone loved them enough to leave home and come to them during a time when childhood plodded along promising nothing but more broken hearts, cold nights, and hungry days,  will spur them on to reach for life and focus their eyes beyond the dust.  

Why these kids?   Why 6 little brown children 3000 miles from home?   Why us?
I have no idea.    I trust that the Lord knows and brought them into our lives for a purpose.
 A heart transformed by God’s grace is the only thing that can truly satisfy ,whether hungry or well fed.  I can show them the bread of life, along with the bags of groceries that I bring them,  in hopes that once we are gone they will cling to their Father,  who is a perfect father to the fatherless.  

I'm a real boy

"I'm a real boy"...said in the little Pinocchio voice off of Shrek.   

Last weekend we took Silas to a local Estetica shop and got sheered.  He's been begging for a "cool boy" hair cut that he can spike up.   He hasn't had his hair this short since he was a baby...but we really like it!

He has ears and eyes again!

Smile Silas...

or maybe don't. 

Loving life in Baja

I haven't been able to share as much with you about our time in Baja Mexico as I would like to but here is a quick peak.  I'll have lots of stories once I get home and have convenient internet access again. Right now I'm sitting in my favorite internet cafe with my friend Amber sipping chai tea lattes while we both catch up on our internet/ blogs.   We're good multi-taskers that way...we can verbally solve the world's problems and type about the mundane details of our lives at the same time.

We have been at our little rental house in the San Quintin Valley of North Baja, Mexico for a week now and we are loving it here...well other than the flea bites which both Aili and I are suffering from.  Some people react with itchy welts and some people don't.  The sand fleas are unavoidable for the most part....especially if you leave your house.   Poor Aili has 31 bites on just the lower half of her body.  I'm a hygiene and cleaning freak (think slightly OCD)  whenever we're in Mexico but they still found their way into our clothes and house somehow...

anyway...

that's my only whine.  

We love life here.   Nathanael has been busy helping out a couple different friends with some building projects and other random things (today he took Roman with him to do construction work).  I've mostly been hanging out with the kids, visiting with the ministry and our friends next door, and keeping up with the house and laundry. 

 

The kids have put a small dent in their "Icecream for Orphans fund".  One day they bought "despensas" for their friends who we noticed had no food (or drinking water) in their house other than one small bag of pinto beans on a shelf.   They bought a bag of luxury type foods (anything other than beans and tortillas is a luxury for many people).  They also bought them a large water jug that they can get re-filled at a local store with purified water for quite cheap (that is how we get our drinking water too).  Another little project was buying new light bulbs and a locking door knob for the same kids.   Such basic simple things that people go without here.   

We certainly haven't been deprived by our living conditions.   We didn't know what to expect when we arrived.   We had seen a photo of the outside of the little house but really didn't think it would be this cute.   We even had a little Christmas tree set up when we arrived.   Life here is different though.  We are getting re-accustomed to not flushing our toilet paper, not drinking the tap water, and wearing our shoes in the house (actually it's so chilly that often I wear my coat in the house too).  We don't use or have a clothes dryer, bathtub or dishwasher.  Life here is simple...and yet complicated because we still have so much more than many people do.  

We are only here for a month but our desire is to use this little house to bless others, and to be a place of simple hospitality.   A nutritious meal for hungry tummies, a cup of coffee for a friend, and genuine relationships.  Those things were really hard to do with a trailer on the last couple trips down.  This house has been such a blessing to us already.

My clothes dryer.

Our little yard.  

Soaking up each beautiful day.

Back in Baja (and a bit of Disneyland)

On Tuesday we woke up bright and early and instead of packing ourselves back into the car at an ungodly hour we hung around the hotel until the gates opened at California Adventures.   We spent the next 11 hours  walking, riding and playing.  It was a really fun day. 

Roman took his frolicing to a whole new level...even after 11 hours, when the rest of us stumbled our tired feet back to the hotel, Roman was still skipping happily beside us.  Silas was a little overwhelmed at first but soon warmed up to the sensory overload and had a lot of fun.  Over all he has handled the trip really well.  Although we are all very relieved to be able to put down roots for a month after 5 days of hotel hopping.

On Wednesday morning we drove south and crossed over into Mexico.   On our way down we stopped at one of our favorite little stores to buy homemade cheese, tortillas and dried mangoes.

We arrived at our little town and saw our house for the first time on Wednesday late in the afternoon.  Even though we are living in a different place and not at the orphanage it still feels like home.  We are in the same area of the same town and have been doing a lot of visiting.   We went out for tacos with some friends but then crashed by 7pm...all of us sound asleep.  

On Thursday we unpacked our bags, set up our house, and visited our kids in Santa Fe.  If the video works you can see our visit.  Nathanael knocked on the door and when they hollered "who's there?" (in Spanish) he replied "Tio".   They all shrieked and came running out.   We are hoping to have these 6 kids over for the day tomorrow ...the benefit of having a house of our own.   We also spent a couple hours visiting all our friends and the kids at the orphanage that is only a couple blocks away.   It was great to see our old home again and all the people that we've missed.  

Can't wait to spoil these little girls a bit!

As Seen on TV (Pawn Stars) - Baja bound day 3

Today started bright and early once again.  We were on the road before our continental breakfast was served so we did McDonald's oatmeal in the car.  My kids aren't a fan of anything greesey, eggy or sausagey. ...which eliminates most of the breakfast menu.  

We made it to Las Vegas at 8am local time and had gained another hour. The kids have been begging to go see the "Pawn Stars" shop.  They like to watch that show with their Dad in the evenings once in a while.  I suppose it appeals to the junk collector/ treasure hunter in them.  

I wasn't so sure that going to a sceevy area of Las Vegas to a pawn shop was a great idea for a wholesome family outing.   I was outnumbered and complied...slightly grudgingly.  

It turns out that it will probably be a favorite memory of this trip for the kids.  

Today was a good training day for our country bumpkin kids.   Street smart they are not...especially when very sleep deprived and overflowing with a desire to skip, jump and generally frolic like little calves released to pasture.   My full time job in any city has been to keep my boys from wandering unwittingly into the busy streets.  

Waiting for the pawn shop to open.

"Look,  I see Chumly!"

We really weren't dressed to impress today after 3 days of travelling with one suitcase (the rest of the luggage is packed away until Mexico).   In fact Aili was wearing her pajama sweat shirt that morning.  We were looking quite homeschool-a-rific.  It's a good thing we don't really care.   We embrace weird...after all 4 kids that adore each other and love spending time with mom and dad is about as weird as it gets.

Some sort of fridge I think.

Looking at the sword display at the pawn shop. 

At 9:30 am we ate lunch...which may sound strange unless you consider that our bodies are still feeling 2 hours ahead and we had eaten breakfast 4 hours earlier.  It was $1 burgers at Jack n the box all around (except for Cece who doesn't really eat anything at all...total toddler.)

We spent the next few hours driving across the Mojave Dessert and arrived in Anaheim California at about 3pm.

We arrived in plenty of time to take the kids for a splash in the teeny hotel swimming pool.  

It was just what they needed after 3 days in the car!    

We have a nice little suite at La Quinta Inns a block or so away from Disney....and right across the street from the cheese cake factory.  

We had planned to visit a grocery store to find a healthier supper but once we were parked no one wanted to drive to find one.  We've never eaten at the Cheese Cake Factory before.  It was good...but after all the eating out I am so full of sodium I feel like i'm being preserved.  

Mmm.  Fish tacos.  

A beautiful evening in Anaheim California.

Tomorrows destination...California Adventures.  

Fingers crossed that Cece sleeps past 3am!!   Between the 2 hour time switch and all poor nights sleep/ crazy early mornings....I'm feeling a bit travel weary.   I'm hoping we all can wake up refreshed tomorrow!  My kids are just not very bright when they are sleep deprived....like skip into the street  or lean over the edge of a high balcony dangerous dumb (brains shut off and bodies go into overdrive).  

Everyone is looking forward to our family play day tomorrow!

Baja Bound '11 - Day 2 Cedar City

(the ridiculously early morning caught up to him eventually)

Our day began very very early this morning.  Between the one hour time difference and a couple kids who are early risers...we were on the road at about 3am.   No joke. 

Silas crawled in bed with me at 2am..wriggling, and fidgeting until Cece woke up screaming in terror at 3am.    Since no one was sleeping anyhow we all jumped out of bed eager to start the day.

That makes for a really LONG morning...but we made good time and arrived at our destination ,Cedar City Utah, mid afternoon instead of at bedtime.  We were on the road for about 12 hours and ready to get out of this car!....as much fun as it looks...

The 3 oldest are actually all great travelers,  they entertain themselves quite easily, Cece on the other hand isn't a huge fan of a long day in the car seat.  It is a lot to ask of a one year old so she has been quite the trooper over all.    

So far there has been no kid bickering, no Dad tantrums, no vomiting, no explosive toddler diapers,  and no children left at the side of the road...a road trip success.  

Just past Salt Lake City a horrible racket suddenly came from the back of our car.  It sounded like our tires were falling off or something dreadful.  We pulled over next to a Del Taco and upon further investigation discovered that the problem is with the back fan.  We suspect one of Romans little toys fell down between the ledge and the window and is clanging in the fan.  We'll have to get that fixed or he'll cook back in his little boy cave.  

Since we were parked we decided it was lunch time anyway.   The kids had a good play at Del Taco Funland.   The tacos weren't nearly as fun.  To quote Roman "This doesn't really taste like Mexican food".

Our next pit stop was Beaver Utah where we let the kids out to play next the Flying J. 

After being cooped up for several hours it really doesn't take much.  In fact I'm not sure what Roman is showing me, I was too busy snapping the picture to notice.  I'm assuming it's a rectangular rock.   Roman, let's not pick up random objects found in the shrubbery at gas stations.  

Oh look, a giant culvert!  Who needs Disneyland?

An hour or so later we arrived in Cedar City.  We had some time to kill so we found a perfect playground for the kids to run off some energy.

 It really wasn't warm enough for a t-shirt and flip flops but this summer loving boy didn't see any snow.  

Tomorrow we find summer!

{and quite possibly a hair cut for this boy too!}

After egg McMuffins for breakfast,  greasy tacos for lunch and a bunch of salty crackers along the way....we opted for Wendy's salads (Baja salad) for supper.  It was our most expensive meal at $26 but it was really good.  I just couldn't do the 99 cent cheese burgers again.  We still have 3 days of eating cheap/ fast food.  

At the moment  the kids are sleeping,  the hubster is flipping channels and I'm journaling our trip.  I totally realize that most people on this planet don't give a rats hiney what we ate for supper...but it's fun for us to look back on these trips.  For those of you who don't succumb to mind numbing boredom and leave, thanks for joining us on our little family adventure.

Tomorrow our destination is Anaheim California.  It will be a somewhat shorter day which will be nice.  We will have time tomorrow to enjoy the hotel pool, and do some sight seeing. 

I'm very thrilled to be out of winter weather!  Tomorrow's Anaheim forcast is 85 degrees F!  Happy me.  

   

Baja Bound '11 - Day 1

The kids are quiet in their beds (although some are still whispering and making burping noises) so I thought I'd take advantage of the Wi-fi.  We pulled into Butte Montana at about supper time today after 10 hours of driving.   The first leg of the journey went well over all.  The winter driving conditions were good...for winter.  The scenery driving down #15 was beautiful.

 We spent the whole day in the car, with only 3 quick stops for gas and potty breaks.   That must be a new record for us!   Cece did let us know how annoyed she was with the situation at regular intervals.

We went through a lot of crackers, puffed wheat, gummy bears, and cheese sticks. Our survival kit consisted of DVD's, a DSI, and a bunch of little toddler trinkets.    Last night I packed a little cooler bag with breakfast food and some pulled pork wraps to eat for lunch on the road.  Tomorrow and the next day our meals will consist of fast food drive through.  

{yes, this boy got a major hair cut...bye bye shoulder length hair}

After we dumped off our bags at the hotel, we dined at Wendys.  A lovely little old lady saw our dishelved, static haired freak show walk in the door and offered us her coupons.   Two for the price of one cheeseburgers.  With 6 mouths to feed free food is always welcome!

We are staying at the Finlen Hotel in Butte, MN.  It's a really old historic hotel and is pretty cool.  It has a lot of character.    When I booked it a couple weeks ago I was looking for a reasonable priced hotel ($85 for a suite) that had room for a family of six (not as easy as one might think).   The suite is two rooms joined by an open door each with 1 queen bed.  We added a cot and Cece's porta bed and we've got a good set up.   Cece was so exhausted after a day of traveling/ shrieking and not napping that she crashed and didn't make a peep...we'll see how long that lasts.  I expect we'll get an early start tomorrow morning which is ok because we have to make it to Cedar City, Utah by bedtime.

{I'm pretty sure if I push these buttons in just the right order we will be in liquid sugar paradise}

Good night, sleep tight,

....I sure hope the bedbugs don't bite!