The Learning Curve

I used to teach 5th grade. The first year that I handed out locks for their lockers, I was in for a shock. I gave every kid a lock and the combination and said, "Go put these on your lockers!" Five minutes later, half the class was crying. Come to find out, they had never opened locks before. By my last year of teaching, I had "Lock Opening 101" down to a science. No tears and 10 minutes in, they all had their locks opened. It wasn't that I didn't know how to teach them how to open a lock, it was that I didn't know I needed to.

Last Friday was Clay's birthday. Wendy, our maid, has become a member of the family. We invited her to stay over for the birthday celebration, which included spending the night since it would be too late and dangerous for her to go home after the party.

Today she told me that on Saturday morning she had a cold shower. Now, had she been home, this would have made sense, because they do not have hot water in their house. But she was not at home, she was at my house and we do have hot water!

"Why?" I asked her and she proceeded to explain (in spanish).

She turned on the hot and it was very, very hot, so she turned it off. Then she turned on the cold and it was very cold, but she figured she could handle very cold better than scalding hot. She then proceeded to take a cold shower.

With a very puzzled look on my face I asked her why she didn't turn on the hot and cold water at the same time. At that moment, this adorable 25 year old Guatemalan young lady looked at me and said, "You can turn on the hot and cold water at the same time?"

After saying yes ten times and I'm sorry twenty times, I took her over to the kitchen sink and showed her how you can adjust the temperature, to which she replied with a big smile on her face, "I'm going to do that the next time!"

It wasn't that I didn't know how to teach her to use both the hot and cold water, it was that I didn't know I needed to. Boy, do I have a lot to learn!

So, you wanna go back to Egypt

I've been sick in bed for 4 straight days. I have not felt good at all. I have not had enough sunshine, conversation, good food or human interaction and today I reached my limit!

(It did cross my mind later that there are people who are in this situation for much longer than 4 days, but that is for another blog)

So I marched downstairs and told Todd, and anyone else who would listen, that I wanted to go home. I want to drive my car, I want to shop at Safeway, I want to eat a salad at Blue Ridge Grill, just to name a few things. Todd's response was, (in a calm, unconcerned tone) "You will be fine once you get out of the house tomorrow. You get the same way when you are sick and cooped up at home in the states." (Ok well that might be true, but that was NOT the sympathy I was looking for.)

So, I headed back upstairs and spent an hour on the Vera Bradley Website for a little "Window Shopping Retail Therapy". That ended with me being frustrated that I couldn't have anything shipped here anyway...

So I grabbed my devotional book and opened it up and I promise you, this is what it said,
"Sometimes my little kingdom totters, my family convulses and my mind staggers to the edge. Then I must be still and know that God is God.....I must avoid running back to Egypt for help.
Egypt looked formidable but her looks were decieving. She had glamour but no strength.
It is not a sin to have an Egypt, it's a sin to rest on Egypt instead of God."
"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in him." Nahum 1:7

...and He knows those who take refuge in him....Boy does He ever!


****in case you are unfamiliar with the story, after years of the Isrealites begging God to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, God finally uses Moses to lead them out of slavery and Egypt. But of course, as they were wandering around in the desert waiting to get to the promise land, they were not happy. The people started complaining that they wanted to go back to Egypt, where they were slaves, but it was familiar. You can find the story in Genesis and Exodus in the Bible.

Avergonzado Means Embarrassed

Paiz is the grocery store where I feel most comfortable. I like their meat, there are items I recognize, and it is well spaced and not crowded. I am happy when I shop there. It is far away and inconvienant, but a treat none the less.

Todd took me there this past Monday. I had not been in 2 weeks and was unsure when we'd be going again. This week and next I am having people for dinner.....so, what do you think I did? That's right!! I shopped my heart out. I did not buy things I did not need, I did not buy a lot of american food, but I did buy quite a lot of ground meat. I can freeze it and it was on sale! I bought chicken, I bought pasta, I bought spagetti sauce, you get the idea.

Well, when I got up to the check out stand it quickly became obvious that we were buying more than most people. The check out person and the bagger were snickering, the people behind us were annoyed.

As we were leaving the store both Todd and I were agitated. On the drive home we discussed how we were embarrassed at how much we bought. The weird thing is, it wasn't an excessive amount for a store in the states. It was to feed more than just our family, and it wasn't out of range for our budget. But we are learning that when you live in a place where many people are poor and hungry even a trip to the grocery store can be uncomfortable.

We eat simplier here, we eat out a lot less, we now eat left overs, our kids complain less about what we are having for dinner. God is teaching us so much, but as was obvious, we still have more to learn. I am not sure what God wanted us to learn on Monday but what I did learn was that we need to go to the store more often so as not to embarrass ourselves!

Don't Judge A Book by Its Cover

1. The creme filled cookies here have about as much creme as an Oreo AFTER I have licked out the creme.

2. Some restaurants here look sketchy, and then you enter in and there are beautiful courtyards with year- round outdoor seating and delicious food.

3. Some TV shows aren't good in spanish either.

4. The doctor's office looks old fashioned and very third world, but the Dr. was professional, well-informed, spoke enough English and charged me the amount of my co-pay at home.

5. Just because something was good the first time you bought it doesn't mean it will be good the next time you buy it.

6. The ruins and landscape around here are beautiful.

7. Clouds can hide a whole volcano.

8. Worship is just as meaningful in Spanish even if you don't know the words.

9. Mamas everywhere love and worry about their babies.

10. The areas of my old home town that I thought were sketchy don't seem so scary to me anymore.

11. For many people, hot water is a luxury. And so are dishwashers and washing machines.

12. Most of the red and white "do not enter" bars that you find at a toll booth, are manual here.

13. I think all mayonnaise and corn oil should come in a bag with a spout on it, like I get it here.

14. Most people in the world eat to stay alive, in the States, many of us eat for pleasure. This fact changes my attitude about left-overs and repeatedly eating the same foods.

15. People here consider themselves Americans! So you don't say, I am n American, you say I am from the United States.

16. You should bargain in the artisan's market, but it is not really about the best price. This is their livelihood.

17. Motor Vehicles... drive it like you stole it (thank you Ricky Bobby).

18. Pedestrians....imagine you are playing Frogger.

19. Subscribing to the blog Antigua Daily Photo is a must.

20. I don't want to go home but I desperately want people to visit.

Don't Flush That!

Most of Guatemala has poor plumbing. Our house has good plumbing, thank God, but we are the exception. In most bathrooms here, you cannot put your toilet paper in the toilet. You have to put it in the trash can. Jamie the very worst missionary talks more about this subject on her blog too.
So recently I was somewhere where I could not flush the toilet paper.  I don't know exactly how to say this, but on the way to the trash can some "stuff" got on my pants. I literally thought, this cannot be happening to me....
I tried to wipe it off, but it was not working...
after using paper towels and soap, I got my pants cleaned off.
Now, I am sure you are wondering, "Why is she telling us this horrid story?


1. So you can laugh at me.


2. So you can thank an american plumber.


3. So you can see that sometimes when we go where God wants us to go and do what God wants us to do, it gets messy. But God didn't promise that it wouldn't be messy, He just promised to be with us.


To be honest, often my Spanish is messier, but I'm working on it. 


1 Corinthians 1:28-31 

"He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Oreos or Chiky Cookies

The other day, Todd and I were walking around Antigua. The streets are uneven cobblestone, everyone speaks spanish, there are all kinds of people, many poor, some well dressed, some who approached me in the streets wanting me to buy their goods. I passed one store with unrefridgerated slabs of meat hanging from the ceiling. There are no street signs, no street lights and cars do not stop for pedestrians. There was nothing I could see that made me think of home.

I told Todd, if I were here to visit I would say, "It is an interesting place to visit, but I don't think I could live here."

But guess what, I do live here.

I've been thinking A LOT the last few days and I have come to this conclusion: If I look at my Guatemalan house, the view, the yard, the people, the steets, the food, etc... I can be very satisfied. If I compare it to where I lived in the states, which I must remind myself was my home for many years, I am not satisfied.

Why do Oreos have to be expensive? Why do women with children have to beg?

And then the questions get bigger. Why would God call me to live here and let my friends stay in Northern Virginia?
Why do more churches not feel called to minister to the poor?
Why are there so few schools here that kids can only go to school 1/2 day with another group going the other half?
Why do they have no textbooks when Loudoun County has 2 sets for every kid?
Why does Coke Lite taste different than Diet Coke?

In one week, the biggest thing I am learning is to keep my eyes on where God has me, not where he HAD me. I'm learning to enjoy the Guatemalan things in front of me and not think about the Northern Va. things behind me.

What is God calling you to be satisfied with? Your current house? Job? Spouse?

My prayer for my own life is Philippians 4:11-13 "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Just as a side note, in Virginia I slept in a queen sized bed, here I have a king.
In Virginia, I had a tiny bathtub, here I have a jacuzzi bath tub.
In Virginia, I wanted to learn to speak Spanish, here I am.
In Virginia, I had a not so great view out my bedroom window, here I see a volcano and landscape that can take my breathe away.
In Virginia, I wanted to have to rely more on Jesus for the day to day, here I can't get out of bed with out Him.