seeds and growth

Me & my tree : )
 

I had a wonderful time last week visiting friends and ESD family in PR last week. There were a lot of emotions as I prepared to return for my first visit as one person put it, "an old married lady." But once I was sitting around a picnic table with my favorite ladies, it felt as if I had never left. We shared laughs and William's Pizza, and then everyone parted ways to get ready for Wednesday night church. With those moments to myself, I wandered across the property, checking on all of the plants and the gardens that I had spent so much time nurturing. Some things had changed. Everything had grown. I had a profound moment as I saw with my eyes what my mind had been trying to tell me; life here had continued to move on without me, but the evidence of my presence and work could still be seen. Even the flamingo decorations had been allowed to stay(!) Then I got to the back field and gasped as my eyes fell on one of the tallest trees. It was one that I had started from a seed. I had doted on it, and planted it with my students when it was big enough. We guarded it from teenagers driving lawnmowers. Our class rabbit, Earl Grey, was buried next to it when he died. It stayed standing through a couple of tropical storms and a small hurricane, and now it was growing and doing fine without me.  So I thanked God for giving me that moment and I took that mindset with me to school the next day as I readied myself to see the kids. I marveled at how they had grown, too. Because I am a novelty now, everyone showed me their new tricks and lessons they had learned. One that I had taught since he was in diapers explained the whole solar system to me and how atmosphere (or the lack of) affects each planet. Others doing long division, and the one that had been my biggest frustration is now reading and paying attention and having converstaions with people. What joy to see those seeds have also been growing. More thoughts a little later..

forgiveness and super glue

So six months into marriage, we're learning a lot about conflict, forgiveness, and super glue. I'm a big fan of the "angels without faces" (willowtree) and have a few of them decorating windowsills and shelves around the house. Peter is really into practicality and as he watched me add little decorative things here and there, he commented that he really appreciated things that served a purpose or could be used for something more than decoration. So I picked up one of the angel figures and stated that they served the purpose of bringing me sanity. He raised an eyebrow, but accepted it. I think. Curiously, a few of them were knocked off of their sills and shelves and broken. Unfortunately they were the ones that had been given as gifts. Just things, right? We're learning.
Then we were in an antique store in New Orleans one afternoon. As we dug through the various items in search of "treasure," Peter came across something really neat. A stein commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus discovering Puerto Rico. Satisfied that he had found something rare and important to his culture and life, we bought it and moved on to other stores. Later on were loading our bags into the car and the bag containing this treasure slipped from my grip. Really. It had to be that bag. More discussion about things and forgiveness. And then we bought super glue. A lot of it. As we begin to put things back together, I think we both smile as we see growth.

The neighborhood dog co-op

 

Delaney has been settling into Mississippi life. For a while recently she would pace and whine and act pretty unsettled, but now she has apparently found a new routine. We have been dog-sitting her friend Rocky quite a bit, and the two of them enjoy being outside. Delaney likes to chase the squirrels and swim in the brackish bay water in the canal behind our house. But lately she and Rocky have been disappearing for a couple hours at a time. One evening Rocky came home wearing a purple Mardi Gras necklace. After chatting with our neighbor, we discovered that the dogs have been visiting her house and playing with her lab and her two small children. We had a good laugh, and now the dogs go back and forth, visiting the neighbor's house and their dog visiting ours, playing in which ever yard has the better toys that day. Too funny. A few times I have seen Daisy, the lab mix that belongs to our neighbor on the other side jump the fence to join them. I think Delaney still misses her jungle, the iguanas, and her dog friends in Luquillo, but she seems to be doing alright with her new group of play buddies. : )

Delaney, Rocky, and Duke

Weekend in New Orleans

A few weekends ago we drove over to New Orleans to visit with our friend Steve (and Rocky). While Rocky and Delaney caught up, Steve took Peter and I out to a Mediterranean restaurant, and then to a jazz lounge where we enjoyed live music until it was past my bedtime. The next day we roamed through a few local farmers' markets where we enjoyed more live music and local foods. My lunch was an alligator po boy sandwich. We ended the day with Les Mis (first a live performance by Steve, as we listened to the sound track and he explained the story and the themes of redemption, etc.) then with the movie, which we thought was excellent. My husband hasn't stopped singing some of those songs since. Thanks for the great weekend, Steve!

 

 

Technical stuff

It isn't that I've forgotten about this blog- I've been checking every couple of days to see if the technical kinks had been worked out, and- surprise! Today everything seems to be working. : ) So it'll be back to blogging- for real this time. While the blog was down, I painted the living room (we have the most relaxed landlady EVER). So here are the before and after pictures of that.

Entry way- before was a mustardy-tan color

Entry way before

 

After!

Back to blogging

Oops! I didn't mean for a whole month to go by. Christmas was good. We made the 12 hour drive to Ft. Lauderdale to see Peter's family. While we were driving, his mom called to see what time we were going to arrive. "I only ask because I brought an octopus from Puerto Rico just for you, and I want to have it ready." While this sweet sentiment may not appeal to everyone, her octopus salad is pretty good. : )
Apparently the format for attaching pictures changed, but it is working again! Here it is-

Written by Peter

 

So the time has come. The holidays are here and my lovely wife has reminded me that my contribution to her blog has been long over due. Last month we had the opportunity to go on a road trip to Nashville, TN. This trip was quite the treat as we were able to visit family, downtown Nashville, and of course Trader Joe's. On our way back home we made a brief detour to Montgomery, AL, which is the home of Maxwell AFB (the location of Commissioned Officer Training school also known as COT). Just a little over ten years ago I graduated from COT and my former pastor in PR, Dennis Kirkland, was able to attend. Fast forward ten years and now Dennis is a student at COT on the verge of graduating. Funny how things work.
There have been a several men who God has placed in my life over the years who have played a significant role in my development as a Christian man. Dennis, who is now a missionary to Guam, (and a Guam Air National Guard chaplain) is one of them. Dennis was the pastor of Grace Bible Church in Ceiba, PR when I was an impressionable teenager and he took a keen interest in both my brother and I. Dennis was a strong example of a Christian man and a wonderful mentor. Although our time in Alabama was quite brief we were able to reminisce over old times and talk about future plans. Most importantly I was able to introduce Jen to an old friend.

Dennis & Lora Kirkland visiting me at COT, July 2002

Jen and I visiting Dennis at COT, November 2012