O my soul

I am a nimwit.  I miss my family like the dickens today and it is my own fault. "3 months away from Sept. 3rd?  December 3rd.  I should buy a plane ticket for that day, never mind the fact that I will be missing Thanksgiving with my family AGAIN this year....for the sake of 2 school days."  Fortunately, God can even use nimwits to reap good things.  Alright, so now that that's over....

What if I woke up tomorrow with only the things I thanked Him for today?

That is one of those rhetorical questions that I think can be very useful to guide my perspective into a right place.  Yesterday during my last ever Reunion de Jovens Bible Study, Pastor Ruben spoke.  This stuck with me, he talked of a poor man who any time he got a bite to eat or a drink of water he would say:

"¿Y esto me das además de Jesucristo?"

(And this You give to me, beyond/on top of giving me Jesus Christ?)

If I forget to be thankful, truly thankful, I am really forgetting who I am, where I came from, what I've done, and what I deserve.  I think thankfulness is such a theme in the Bible because He knew that pride and thankfulness cannot occupy the same space.

Today the girls and I read Psalm 103 for school.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name"

"who forgives all your iniquity, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies you with good"

"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love"

"He does not deal with us according to our sins"

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;as far as the east is from the west,so far does He remove our transgressions from us.As a father shows compassion to his children,so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."  

"Bless the Lord, O my soul."

I am struck dumb by that.  But, I want to tell you some things I am thankful for that are "past 3 months in Argentina" specific.  If I were to open the list broader than that...well, first of all it would start oozing out of the boundaries of this blog, and second...there has to be SOME way narrow it down a little.  I mean, whoa.

• I get hugged and kissed and told "I love you" every day  (what would it be like to not feel loved?)
• Skype
• The Caceres family
• I am more confident speaking Spanish than ever before
• either I have gotten better or prayers that I would release my grip on pride have been answered...both would be nice
• I have been surrounded by Spanish for 3 months
• I got to try on the home-school shoe :)
• I have my own room, and my own bathroom
• Bethany likes cooking...we get to bake a lot 
• I haven't gotten sick-sick here
• Bible Studies 
• God has given me encouraging people/interactions that refresh my heart and keep me motivated
• Eye opening opportunity to work with the deaf and the translation project
• I have been given the opportunity to learn (I said learn, not master)....
• patience
• patience
• flexibility
• not putting my worth in how intelligent I appear
• not putting my worth in feeling like everyone's favorite person
• not putting my worth in the amount of attention I receive
• the importance of asking questions
• the value of a small look or a smile given to someone who may not be adding to a conversation

So that was inside my head today.  Outside in the real world:

Abi and I made a surprise Thanksgiving breakfast (hooray for early mornings!) complete with name cards and a banner.

 She was SO excited, which was a lot of fun...until her excitement bade her rise and hour earlier than the early-enough-as-it-was plan we had and begin scraping chairs across the floor and clang dishes in the cupboards.  Mom, you know how mornings are for me, you would have been proud of my composure.

Bethany and I made a FEAST of chicken, stuffing, nan, corn casserole and pumpkin pie. [Thankfulness insert:  I think today was the best day Bethany and I have had together :)]  Happy Thanksgiving!  Even if the 75 degrees, warm,breezy, blue-sky weather confuses my system, my full contented tummy recognizes what holiday it is :)  During the prayer we went around the table and each thanked Him for one thing.  Eli shyly dipped her head down, smiled and said one word that made my eyes start to hurt. I'm not saying I cried, but, my lashes got damp.

Hodge Podge

Ok, I'm going to be real here:  I have 7 full days left in Argentina.  This means that the blog posts, should they continue to come are going to be of the "ahhh!  I lived so much and I can't space it out and make it neat an organized!" variety.  That being said.  Ima throw these pictures out and 'splain 'em...and that's about it.

There are five women, including Bethany, who all have birthdays within a week of each other.  This is the third or fourth year that they all decided to celebrate together.  This year it was hosted at the Caceres household.  The party was on Saturday, and so we spent much time friday getting the house ready.  Eli decided "one person shouldn't work alone" so I had the most fun helper ever...who doesn't mind the gross jobs.  She talked to me, made me laugh, told me knock knock jokes (I really need to teach her how to tell those before I go....) and cleaned out the drains.  Couldn't ask for more.

Abi was kinda bummed about having to work, she wanted to play.  So we decided to pretend we were servants doing work for the Mistress.  We spoke in British accents the whole time and when it was finished I pretended that I had saved a scrap of flour and sugar from the cake we made for her party...just enough to make a cake in a mug (which we actually did....raving success)

And here we have a completely unrelated picture.  This past Thursday was the last small group GNC (Bible Study)  Even though this wasn't exactly my age group, it was my favorite of the Bible studies.  I am so thankful for how willing these women were to care about me.  It meant, means, a lot to me.  Not all of them were there for this picture, which is a shame.

Caro :)

Candid 

Lucia y Leti :)

I learned so much from this Bible study, I often came away encouraged, and my eyes were opened to a lot of truth.  I am really grateful.  

The following are pictures from the birthday party :)  By the time this day rolled around to the party I had already been to one and was preparing to go to another at 9:00...of course this all fell on a day when Erin's small talk skills decided to take a hike.  I was struggling with that awkward "just sitting here" and "whoa, that conversation just flopped" paradigm for about the first hour and a half of this party, and then...God gave me some really good conversations.  It is kind of Him to do that.

All in all there were around 40 women packed into the patio!

When you give a Norweigen the camera...this is Andrea and I...and this is the best picture we have together...

Said Norweigen (Kris) and I.  She is the type of person that thrives in a foreign culture.  She isn't afraid of anything.  I wish I was more like that.

The Birthday Girls:  Malen (Bible study co-leader who God used to teach me a lot), Celeste, Bethany, Lucia, Ceci (the other co-leader who made me feel so welcome), Lorena

And this picture, because it is such a happy smile from my friend Lucia.  She has made me feel SO loved.  I know I have only been here a short time, and our conversations really have been few, but I love her too.  She has a special place in my heart that I cannot explain.  On thursday she and I went to a cafe and shared a merienda, and had "the real talk".  Meaningful conversation of the "sharing of the mutual faith of both you and I" variety.  God is the Giver of good gifts, and one of those for me has been this woman.

A day of Ger-many smiles

Yesterday we celebrated the advent of Bethany's existence in the world.  Happy Birthday Bethany!  Fortunately for me Bethany wanted to go to Belgrano (a touristy German town nestled in the Sierras) to celebrate.  Alright, drag me along...if you have to ;)    And now, if you would like, I can drag you along as well :)

After a french toast breakfast we packed up and headed out.  The last 40 minutes of the drive were pretty.  First, there was a lake:

We stopped at this place along the lake because we had car trouble earlier in the drive so we had actually all been in the car for about 2 hours by this point.

here you go, Mom

I most definitely did not mind the chance to get out and stretch my legs.  Even better than that...there were all of these little shops trying to sell smoked sausages and cheese.  In their desperation to win your patronage from the other stores that were selling almost the exact same thing they set up these stands where they would give you samples of anything you wanted to try.  Let me just say, competition tastes good.  Smokey.

And then we continue.  I am sorry I only got one across-the-seats-and-out-the-window picture of the next part of our journey; and not one picture of the winding through the Sierras section.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words I guess I owe you 1,500.  Don't worry, I wont make good on it.  But I will try and describe it a little :)  

The section that you can see in the picture is more or less the plains (Pampas) that lead to the Sierras.  That section reminded me of a combination of the Kentucky foothills and Israel.  I don't mean that I saw Jews walking around drinking sweet tea and saying ya'll.  I DO mean that it was a blend of the rolling lush greenery and arid rockiness that those places bring to mind.  The trees in this section were brushy and had the "I can last as long as I need to without a drink of water.  Water makes you weak"  It was pretty in its own way.

The very last section winding up the Sierras was refreshing.  The air was cool and carried with it the herbal scent of the Eucalyptus trees that were apparently everywhere...I still don't know what they look like, but by golly I do know what they smell like, and its nice.  

And now we're here!  The rest of these pictures are going to be an out of order mash up that I hope gives you some kind of an idea of what this little town felt like.  Ami would do a better job, I've never been good at summarizing, ("No, it takes too long, I sum up") either with words or with pictures.

I liked seeing all of the wood.  Everything in Cordoba is painted cinder block, which is great when it comes to fire prevention and natural air conditioning, but...well..

Our imaginary horses got away from us!

These little cars are SO common here and I FINALLY got a picture of one!  Aren't they adorable?  Souvenir idea for mom...in the imaginary land of Erin is a Millionaire.

We stopped to eat lunch, and the German restaurant Bethany had been looking forward to eating at was closed :(  So we ate here instead.  We found a table underneath a stone covered archway with ivy climbing up it.  I loved it.

We ate at Cafe Rissen.  I swiveled around in my chair and took this picture.

My lomito splitting buddy.  Those sandwiches are HUGE.

German chocolate shop.  Good thing we went here AFTER I was stuffed from lunch.

This is a missionary couple.  In a face-in-the hole promoting Oktoberfest.  There you have it folks.

Salami land!

Translation:  Big Beer Park.   We are in German town.

Kegs.  Everywhere.  There were some cool restaurants where the seating was made out of kegs.

   These two.  It is strange to think that after being such a huge part of my every day, every hour, life here I will be leaving them and "moving on".  They will look back someday and remember who I am from pictures.  I entered their lives in their childhood, which will leave its mark, but they have shaped my adult life, in a way that I will never ever forget.

"You got a gift and you best start usin' it...."

Sunday was my second to last Sunday in Las Bajadas.  First of all, wow.

Tati and I were having an imaginary photoshoot with a fake Barbie camera for the better part of an hour before it occurred to me that inside the house I had a REAL camera that would take REAL pictures and serve as mementos...and blog fodder.  I promise you there are a million people across the centuries who would have made better use of the technology I have readily available at my fingertips as a human being alive in the 21st century.  Seriously, there is some guy who fingerpainted on cave walls up in Heaven banging his head against a cloud "SHE got to have cameras and computers?!  That girl?!"

Anyway, here are some pictures Tati and Eli took :)

And just for good measure here are two I took in the car ride home.  It is the typical "man, that looked way cooler in real life picture"  but since I am usually in Cordoba I don't get to see sunsets...so I tried.

Cue the Magnum P.I Theme music...you turkey!

I realize Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away, but considering the heaviness of the last post, I think that we can make allowances.

I considered just putting up pictures and trying to describe these moments to you, but I think that it is best to let them speak for themselves.  Abi, Eli and I made turkey hand puppets today...the rest is history.  And so, without further ado, from us to you:  Happy Thanksgiving.

Ashes.

Mari's husband just passed away.




He wasn't a believer, and neither is Mari.  We are going to the viewing right now.

25

Abba gave me the gift of Adriana, especially today.  She swooped in like an angel and carried me away in her Volkswagon chariot to Carlos Paz.  She has been such as encouragement to me in so many ways.  

It was misting the whole day, and up at the top of the mountain...hill...thing even more so.  Apparently you can normally see more of the Sierras, but today there was a giant cloud passing through it.  Does wonders for your hair let me tell you.  You'll never like your hair more than when it has passed through a cloud.  It sounds romantic.  It does not look romantic.

View from the top of the chiarlift

These two have been great too.  I wish I had met them earlier.  They have singlehandedly made sure that I have plans for the remaining weekends.  How kind is it of G to invite me to her birthday party?  And the two of them to invite me to go out with them and their friends?  Sharing themselves and their time with someone who stumbles over her words and will not be here long enough to form any lasting relationship.

G, Agus and I

Don't be too hard on the landscape...it has only rained 3 times in 9 months....

It is a strange thing, forming friendships in a second language.  I don't even know where to begin in trying to explain it. 

And there it is, Carlos Paz

I don't think they know how great of a gift they gave me, or how well timed it was.