Family Update

All of the individual families got some great shots, except for the photographer's family. It's ironic that it happens that way, but it's hard to get great shots of us because I'm always behind the camera. This time, however, we were stymied by Kate's raisin box & hunger level. :-)

Mom & Dad are currently living in Leon, Guanajuato, MX. Although dad & mom were missionaries for my whole childhood, we lived right on the Texas border with Mexico. Dad commuted to his teaching job right across the border. This gave us a lot of advantages. We grew up going to US schools, Dad was able to do his work that he was called to, and we were immersed in a Tex-Mex culture that gave us an appreciation for Spanish language, food, culture, friends, church, music, but didn't isolate us from American culture of family, either. Once all of the kids left the "nest," they decided it was time to move to Mexico. Dad has continued his teaching ministry, but instead of teaching at one central school, he travels around training pastor's to form their own schools in house. He also travels around and teaches Bible classes to small groups & individuals. Mom is finishing up her master's degree by getting involved with the Trique population of Indians in Souther & Western Mexico. Her degree is in ethnomusicology & the Trique Project focuses on encouraging musicians to compose original Trique Christian songs to sing for worship. Currently, their hymnal is all (or mostly) songs translated from Spanish. Mom just finished two recording projects for this Project. One CD of entirely new Christian songs & another of translated children's songs & stories.

This is a great picture of my sister Becky, and her husband, Elias. They got married in March of 2007. She graduated in 2006 with a Cross Cultural degree from TFC & he just graduated in May with his degree in Business. Today they flew to Guatemala to live & work in Elias' hometown. He hasn't seen his family in 8 years, so I can only imagine how excited they will be to have him back! And, he's bringing a wife with him. His parents applied for a visa to come for Becky & Elias' wedding, but they were denied, so this is the first time that they will meet Becky. They will both be working for the Ixtatan Foundation, which runs a school & several other humanitarian projects in Elias' hometown of San Mateo Ixtatan. Becky will be teaching English to several grade levels of middle & high school. Elias will be teaching computers & also running the computer lab. This school is the first high school ever in San Mateo & it was only founded a couple of years ago. Students used to have to go to a boarding school in a bigger city. We are so excited for them, but are so sad to see them go!

Well, what can I say??? Most of you readers ALSO read and/or know Jen & Ben personally, so there isn't much to share. I'm so glad that I have some family that live so close to us. Kate often wakes up and asks about Lydia, Lauren, or Auntie Jen, indicating that she thinks we ought to go for a visit or do something fun. Over time, our fun activities with each other have changed. We no longer go to the movies or out to eat or even shop for a fun time. Nowadays, we have to eat lunch at each other's house, go to Chick-fil-A, story time at the library, or swim at Mima & Papa's. Do I miss the old days? yes. But these new days are great, too. Lydia & Kate play especially well together, so I often kidnap Lydia for a fun day with Auntie & cousin. She is a great babysitter when we go shopping. Kate is not a very good shopper by herself, but w/ Lydia to distract her, she's great! Jen is my commadre in arms, my first call for advice, commiseration, or company.



Susie & Patrick are living in Elkins, WV. Patrick was recently ordained in the Christian Missionary & Alliance church. He works as a youth/assistant pastor & Susie is his sidekick. Patrick is the most involved youth minister I believe I've ever come in contact with. Not only do he & Susan invite their kids into their home for game nights & small group, he also makes it a point to go to sporting events & special events, AND spends one on one or small group time with his kids regularly by taking them to lunch or inviting them over. This summer, Susie & Patrick are taking their high school students to Peru for a mission trip. They are also missionary candidates in the CMA, and are hoping to complete their home service in a year or two & be placed somewhere overseas after that!

the photo shoot

One of our goals on this family vacation was to get a good family picture since this may be the last time for a while that we are all together. My sister Becky and her husband are moving to Guatemala in ONE week and probably won't return for a few years. There was much hub bub about this idea. Everyone wanted to get a photo, but just how much planning should go into it was a bit controversial. First, someone suggested white tops & khaki bottoms, but apparently the idea of 13 people dressed exactly the same made some family members want to gag! It was hilarious to arrive at the condo & look through several brochures for activities on the beach -- we saw lots & lots of these white windblown beach pictures. :-) Well, we finally settled on a few acceptable colors and I think the end product doesn't look too matchy matchy (a fear of some) or too random (my fear!). Amazingly, for a group of 13, this photo shoot didn't take too long. Here was the end result!


More photos of individual fams later. I don't own a tripod, so we had to improvise with a lawn chair and my camera case. Incidentally, we were staying at a yacht club, so we were able to see the marina & this view from our condo.


I know, I know. This picture is slightly tilted. That would be thanks to my camera bag (the upper portion of my homemade tripod). :-)

pillowcase dress

Attempted & completed! I cannot tell you how excited I was about this project. I chose this plain blue pillow case to be my guinea pig before I attacked an embroidered pillowcase which was my grandmother's, but I think my first try turned out pretty fetching, if you don't look too closely at the stitching. I used the pattern & directions from this website. Next step: a dress from a pattern. I have everything picked out, but I forgot the interfacing. It is a real bummer that the closest fabric store is 20 mins from my house, and that I have to use the expressway! BTW, if any of you buy fabric online, drop me a note about where.

700 spf anyone?

Gone are the days of the 15 spf. In my youthful hunt for a tan, I would skimp by on the lowest amount of uva/uvb protection that Banana Boat could offer. And, if I could smell like I was in the Hawaian Islands, all the better. My usual m.o. was a little burn meant a lot of tan. What was I thinking???? These days, I slather on 55 spf or 70 spf. Life as a mom is too short to be moaning away the nights wishing that you could sleep totally naked with aloe vera creamed everywhere and NOT stick to the sheets. Not to mention that likelihood of bringing on skin cancer in your later years! It all happened the summer I was pregnant with Kate. Supposedly, pregnant women burn more easily than non-pregnant women. So, I determined that I would not burn. . I pushed the envelope and went for 30 spf. . the next summer, Kate was a little baby, and I had to slather HER up with the high powered baby sunscreen, and it just made sense to share. As we head off to the beach this week, spf 55 will be in my bag. Slather it on, baby. What spf do YOU wear?

adventures in sewing

Every once in awhile I would receive accusatory glances from my idle sewing machine. It had been sitting on my desk for almost two years, and it was beginning to feel lonely. The reasons for its neglect are many and sundry. Too little time, too little knowledge, and no inspiration for an idea I could tackle. I had set a goal for learning about my sewing machine this summer. Do or die, you see. Well, yesterday I actually DID! And boy, it was an adventure.

The first time I threaded the machine, it took me forever! I couldn't get the bobbin thread to come up using the manual dial (which is what you are supposed to do!). Anyway, I got that sorted out and here's are the results of my adventure yesterday!

My learning set up. Easy access to internet help & the tutorials I was using. The idea I used came from Microbes of Unusual Size and some of the modifications of it from my cousin-in-law's blog Nothing, an inapt description of its contents.


The concept is simple. Buy one bath towel, one hand towel. The hand towel is cut smaller down to 16 x 26 in. Then, the cut sides of the hand towel are sewn together to make the hood. This just shows the two towels laid out.


One of the coolest thing about my machine is it has so many special stitches. This was a type of overstitching that apparently is similar to serging. It worked great for sewing up the rough ends of the hand towel!


I loved Jennifer's idea of making it a curved hood. I traced a round object on a piece of paper, then pinned it to the hand towel, cut, and then made that same overstitch. It worked like a champ!


When I started sewing the hood (hand towel) to the bath towel, I hit a major snafu! I think that word came from sewing. Doesn't this just look like a snafu? I think I was attempting to use too small of a zig zag stitch & the fabric just couldn't move through. Unlike Jennifer, I didn't have a lot of trouble getting the thickest part through.

boo - hoo!

I laughed when I turned the bath towel to the inside & saw the result of my stitching. Most of it was pretty straight, but hee hee. I guess I still have to learn a few things. :-) I did pin the hood to the bath towel , but I was trying to pin the hand towel UNDER the bath towel, so I couldn't really see where that pesky hood had gotten to. Anyway, I reflect, it's good that at least in sewing, what it looks like underneath doesn't HAVE to affect what the finished product looks like!


Ta-Da! Pending bathtime, you'll get a shot of this cute towel ON Kate. :-) Thanks a billion, Jennifer!
I think I'm going to take it to a place that embroiders and have Kate's name put on the back. Too bad I don't have Kelley's mom's sewing machine. :-)

katecam

Kate & I sat down in front of the webcam for another recording session. I didn't realize the software I was using to record was only a trial version, so now there are lovely logos right in the middle of the picture, but I think you can still get the idea.

Kate Says Thank You!



Kate Has Happy Feet


Kate Plays