Elvis, Ash y Suzy

six things that surprised me this week

2012-01-27T12:23:00.000-06:00

1. We have run into more Salvadorans that we know that are now living in LA than people from the US. Elvis's college classmates, an old co-worker on mine from the school in San Salvador, a childhood friend of Elvis, etc. I love how much El Salvador is incorporated into our everyday lives.

2. I was surprised yesterday that I wanted to go running. I am not a runner nor do I pretend to be, but it was 83 degrees outside, and I wanted to go JUST BECAUSE I COULD. I haven't been able to run outside by myself in approximately 6.5 years for safety reasons, and it felt good just to be able to walk/run down the street without fear of getting hit by a car/bus, getting mugged, or having black bus smoke blown in your face. Just a little piece of El Sal that I don't miss.

3. Everybody wants to try pupusas. A classmate and her husband took us out to the Salvadoran restaurant last week (and it was yummy!), tonight we are (ok, Elvis is) making pupusas for Gabi and her parents, and we are (ok, Elvis is) teaching a vegetarian cooking group how to make pupusas in February. And we have requests to make them at home for some other friends. I love that everyone wants to eat pupusas.

4. 70% of our neighborhood (the surrounding blocks) speaks English + another language. I am doing an in-depth research project on our neighborhood for my Urban Studies class and was surprised about this. 52% of our neighborhood is Hispanic.

5. We got filet mignon last night for free from the Trader Joe's donations!

6.Some of you know that Suzy has an imaginary friend named Paki, who only speaks Spanish. This week, Elvis was showing her some pictures of people in El Salvador, and he showed her a picture of his dad (who died 5 years ago). When she saw the picture, she said, "Hey there's Paki!" And then she pulled out her "cell phone" to call Paki, and she asked him what Jesus had said. And I said, "Jesus?" And she said, "Yea, Paki with Jesus!"

Whoa.

multi-tasking

2012-01-26T13:39:00.002-06:00

Suzy wanted to "check her email on her laptop" this morning while doing her business.

Let's just say that she is her father's daughter.

Speaking of her handsome father, he had that 3rd interview this morning and felt really good about it! We are hopeful, although we may not hear an answer for a couple of weeks. keep praying!

fashion show

2012-01-24T22:59:00.002-06:00

I bet that by reading this title, you thought it was about Suzy. Nope! As I write this, Elvis is giving me a fashion show of all his dress shirts to see which one says "Hire me!" You see, he took those assessments yesterday for the engineering position, and they called this morning to invite him back for another interview on Thursday!! I am so proud of him I can't hardly stand it! It's hard enough doing an interview in the first place, but when you consider he is doing IQ tests and interviews in his second language after just a month of living here, it makes me so proud. It's also really tough to leave a place where you had earned respect and trust and even status, to have to start all over again. Please pray for him on Thursday morning at 10 am pacific time.
And just in case if you were expecting pictures of Suzy, here are some of her with her new buddy Gabi who lives in front of us. They play outside together everyday and go to playschool together, and Gabi has been spending the past couple of mornings with us while her mom has had the flu. Suzy loves having another little girl around!

movin' on up

2012-01-23T00:31:00.002-06:00

We are now the proud owners of Elena the Elantra! She's not going to win the coolest car of the year award, but she seems to be reliable and well-maintained which is most important to us. And we got her just in time, because Elvis has a job interview tomorrow! He already had a phone interview with this company to be a Quality Engineer, and then had to answer some follow up written questions. They called him back the next day to set up the second interview tomorrow, so we are hopeful since things are progressing so quickly! This particular job is looking for a bilingual engineer, with experience with latino culture. I'd say he has a bit of experience =)

Just wanted to ask for your prayers for this tomorrow (monday)...it's at 11 am pacific time. We just want it to be clear if this is where God wants him to be or not.

thanks!

blessed

2012-01-16T15:43:00.002-06:00

This is our loot just from today's Trader Joe's donations. Plus a salad and two wraps that we already ate for lunch =) We feel so blessed to have a fridge full of gourmet food even when we are both unemployed.

And right now, there are 2 sweet Korean women outside cutting people's hair for free. They come to our apartments once a month just to serve the people here.

Please keep a job and a car in your prayers...we hope to have good news to share about those things soon!

snapshots of life in Pasadena

2012-01-07T22:34:00.003-06:00

Best part of the weekend: Finding authentically delicious pupusas in LA! (we've tried 3 places so far, this was by far the winner!) It was so authentic that there was a sign in the bathroom asking you to not put toilet paper in the toilet. Um, we are actually in the US, not El Salvador.

We checked out the LA farmer's market today, which was by far the fanciest farmers market ever:

Suzy has loved being able to eat lunch outside this week at our apartment and play with her new friend/neighbor, Minh. Elvis loves the grill at our apartment that you see in the background.

Minh cracks Suzy up. Just saying her name cracks her up.

Speaking of the grill, Suzy has a new obsession with grilled okra. Even before she had ever tasted one, just watching them cook on the grill made her crazy. She promptly ate at least 10 whole okra straight from the grill.

Apparently living so close to Hollywood has gone to Suzy's brain. She thinks she's a rock star.
A marimba-playing rock star.

And yes, she may be shooting you a bird.

Suzy with some of her neighborhood friends:

Me on my first night of class!

Rose parade

2012-01-06T17:21:00.003-06:00

The absolutely most necessary activity if you are going to be in Pasadena during the holidays is to go to the Rose Parade. So obviously, that's what we did with my parents on their last day! A few days before the parade, we went to one of the warehouses where a ton of people were working to decorate the floats. The most amazing part of this parade is that every inch of the floats have to be covered with organic material- flowers, seeds, bark, coconut shavings, etc. Can you imagine how many itty bitty sesame seeds it takes to cover just a part of those floats??? Here is a picture of the warehouse where they were painting, cutting flowers, and gluing the flowers and seeds to the floats.

And here are the finished products! Elvis and dad walked down to the parade route at about 5:30 am (we are just a few blocks away) and saved spots for us so we had good seats for the parade. This was Suzy's favorite:

spoiled

2012-01-03T14:32:00.003-06:00

I dropped mom and dad off at the airport last night after a great week together. They helped us put pictures on the wall, search for a few little things that we still needed, did some really fun things aruond Pasadena, and Suzy had a great time playing with them. Her favorite game is "Granddaddy gotcha!" They definitely spoiled us this week, but the title for this post is referring to how God has not only meet all of our needs and surpassed them with provided a cheap, furnished apartment, but he has spoiled us with personal, special surprises since our arrival to Pasadena. For example, like I've mentioned before, Trader Joe's donates to our apartment complex food that is about to expire from their store on Mondays and Thursdays. And they bring delicious food!! We have had steak, stuffed salmon, pork chops, fruits and veggies, specialty breads and desserts, gourmet cheeses and fresh flowers...stuff we love but could never afford being that we are, well, unemployed. Also, Panera Bread donates leftover bread to us on Tuesdays. So we barely have to go to the grocery store!
One little special surprise for Elvis was the one day, Trader Joes donated a big can of fresh, whole bean coffee...definitely a treat perfect for Elvis!

At our apartment, we all have community service jobs each week. Ours is to keep the community laundry room clean and organize the Giveaway room where people can donate their stuff they don't want anymore. The first day we went to organize it, there was a keyboard there that someone had given away! You see, selling my piano in El Salvador was the hardest thing to sell. Suzy and I both cried. I just really wanted Suzy to have a keyboard to learn on and play with but I knew we would not be able to buy one right away. Now this one is definitely not as nice as my full-length electric piano in ES, but it's perfect for her to have a piano toy. Suzy's special treat!

Although we have absolutely everything we needed already for us in our apartment, I really wanted a rocking chair to make Suzy's room feel like home. We looked all over and didn't find anything, so we were thinking about going to IKEA to buy one we had seen on the website. Then we went to one more Goodwill, and found the same rocking chair that we had seen at IKEA! It's even the same color as Suzy's bedspread. I got my special treat too!
So we feel really spoiled and like God has really paid special attention to us, which makes us confident that he will provide a job, a car, and all those other important things!

outdoorsy fun

2012-01-01T15:42:00.004-06:00

It's been 80 degrees this week, which means we've had lots of fun outside with mom and dad! Yesterday we went hiking at Eaton Canyon...remember where they went hiking on the mother's day episode of Modern Family? I'm 99% sure it was there....I'll have to go back and watch it to be sure. It's only about an 8 minute drive from our house! We were going to go on a 1/4 mile nature trail so that Suzy could walk, but that turned into a 2 mile trek up the mountain that led to a beautiful waterfall. It wasn't a hard hike, but just a little stressful because we had to jump from rock to rock to cross over the river numerous times which is scary with a squirmy toddler. But we made it and it was worth it!

We also went to Descanso Gardens, which is also just about a 10 minute drive from our house. A beautiful place to walk, ride the Enchanted Railroad, and check out the camellias in bloom.

Mom and Dad have to leave tomorrow, but before that, we are going to the Rose Bowl Parade! There have been people camping out since this morning so i hope we can see it!

Venice Beach

2011-12-29T15:47:00.002-06:00

Now I see why it's called Venice Beach...

It's hard to believe that those peaceful, residential canals are located just a few blocks from this:

This guy ran and jumped over 10 people. Seriously.
Then, we were offered "medical marijuana". Seriously.

Oh, and we got pupusas!
Then we drove through Malibu and said hello to all the rich and the famous.

"well they say in LA it's a warm holiday"...

2011-12-27T16:58:00.004-06:00

Name that all-time greatest hit Christmas song!
Yesssss Tender Tennessee Christmas by Amy Grant!

We thoroughly enjoyed our warm holiday in LA. We spent Christmas Eve looking for a Christmas tree...

But decided it would be more practical to get a ficus tree that we can keep up all year long and just decorate it for Christmas. Our very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree!
We checked out a big church that is just a couple of blocks from our house, and really enjoyed the message and Suzy enjoyed the music and small Christmas play that they did. They have a Spanish service on Sundays, so we are eager to check that out.
We grilled out steaks for Christmas Eve dinner (and sweet potatoes thanks to the free Trader Joe's drop-off!) and we were all shocked and amazed to see how cheap meat and produce is here!
Then we drove to a neighborhood that goes all out with the Christmas lights before trying to get this wound-up little girl to go to bed.

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning...Suzy's favorite present by far was the "baby Jesus toys"- a nativity set just her size.

It's interesting to think that we have spent the past 4 Christmases in different cities (3 different states and 2 different countries to be exact) which makes it hard to establish traditions. However, just being together is the best tradition I can think of.
Hope yall had a very merry Christmas!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

2011-12-24T10:50:00.000-06:00

no longer keyless!

2011-12-23T15:26:00.007-06:00

It feels good to have a place to call home.

Thanks for all your prayers...the flight went perfectly and we did not have to wait in any lines the entire day- not at the check-in desk, not to board the flight, not in immigration, not even to pick up our bags. Suzy did awesome on the 5.5 hour flight and was sooo excited about being in a plane, she didn't sleep a wink the whole time! Traveling together with Elvis and with a toddler in her own seat is 8 billion times better than traveling alone with a one year old lap baby who is crawling all over your head.

Kelly and Brian picked us up (welcome home sign and all!) and the first order of business was to get some real California fish tacos. YUM. Then we found our new apartment where we opened the door and were speechless with what God had provided for us. A beautiful, spacious, fully furnished apartment (i mean, even toilet paper, sheets on the bed....the only thing we needed was food in the fridge!) The manager told us we should just plan on staying here our whole time in pasadena, and we eagerly agreed! It is incredible and ridiculously cheap for Cali and there our 24 families from around the world staying here too, most of them are students at Fuller as well and everyone has kids for Suzy to play with in the playground with is approximately 5 steps from our front door.

One of my favorite parts is that Trader Joe's donates food to us twice a week! This week we scored lamb steaks, spinach and feta stuffed salmon, ready made fancy salads, muffins, pizza dough, etc etc etc.

Here is our street, lined with palm trees and with a beautiful view of the San Gabriel mountains in the background:
Our house is just a 0.5 mile walk from Kelly and Brian's house! We passed many orange trees on the way there:
And here are some pictures of our house!
The living room:
Dining room/kitchen which is attached to the living room (I love how it is all open which means that Suzy can run around while we cook)
Guest bathroom (with a bathtub! yes!)
Suzy's bunk bed!! She has been too excited to sleep sometimes, but has not tried to get down from the bed thankfully.

Our bedroom...there is another bathroom off of our room and closets, dresser that you can't see:
More living room/back deck:
The view of the playground from our front door!

Suzy's new kitchen set (I bought it from another fuller student when i came in july)

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday with Brian and Kelly, who Suzy is attached to the hip with now!
We ate some yummy sushi, and hit up several grocery stores to see where is the best place to buy stuff. We have found even-cheaper-than-El Salvador produce prices which is amazing. We also got Elvis' social security card, which took approximately 5 minutes to do. Love efficiency. And we both got cell phones, so let me know if you need our numbers or address!

I dropped off Kelly and Brian at the airport on Wednesday night, and they oh so graciously gave us another set of keys- to their car! We get to drive it while they are in NC for a while, which takes the pressure off of buying a car right away. We can walk to pretty much anywhere we need to go, but it's nice for carrying groceries, etc. THank you McPhails!!!!!!!!!

We are so thankful for all that we have right now, including my parents who were able to come visit for Christmas/New year's. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to have to be running around, trying to find furniture during these first few days. We feel so blessed. We are also so thankful that Suzy is adjusting so well. She is captivated by all the new stuff, and loves her new house and new sights. We feel like this is such a perfect fit for us right now. We love the multi-cultural feel of the city and its people, and Elvis feels right at home which is also very important. There are hints of Central America on every corner but many new things as well for both of us and we are loving this new adventure of exploring a new city together!

So, we have a top bunk available...who wants to come visit?? ;-)

keyless.

2011-12-16T11:01:00.002-06:00

I just bought this keychain at church recently so we can have a constant reminder of our Ruta 3:16 community. However, I just realized that as we travel to California in a few days, we will not actually have any keys to put on it.

We will turn in our current house keys on Monday, give over the last set of car keys on Sunday, we've turned in our office keys, and we will get the keys to our new house when we arrive on Monday night. So, for those few hours, we will be without any keys.

And that's a really weird feeling...realizing you don't own any keys anymore.

I mean, keys are small and not valuable in themselves, but they represent something bigger and more valuable. They are a tangible symbol that you own something; they represent stability; they represent not just a house but a home.

Not having keys kinda makes me feel like a floater because it reminds me that we really don't have any possessions anymore, except for the 6 suitcases we are carrying, the orange juicer and winter clothes that i already left at kelly's house, and the old picture albums and such at my parents' house.

And while that's really weird to realize you don't really own anything anymore, it's also extremely freeing. It reminds me that as 1 Peter says, we really are "aliens and strangers" in the world....or as other versions say, "temporary residents and foreigners" or "sojourners and exiles". We're just passing through anyway, on our way to a much better home. I think that's why neither the US or El Salvador or anywhere else will truly feel like "home" if you really think about it.

I also think that this is a great concept to keep in mind as we seek to build relationships with immigrants in the US. We can offer them the comfort of knowing that we hope for a future home where everyone will feel more than welcome and cozy and like they belong. I like that thought a lot and comforts me even when I see an empty keyring.

happy birthday to....

2011-12-14T22:24:00.002-06:00

...this hunk!!

ok ok this one is a bit sweeter, if you're not into the hairy chest, facial hair, borrowed glasses and napoleon dynamite stare.....

ok everybody now, "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..."

it's official! he's a keeper! happy 28th elvis! you finally caught up to me!

next to last weekend

2011-12-12T13:44:00.005-06:00

This weekend was packed full...Elvis was healing from having his wisdom teeth out on Friday afternoon (you couldn't even tell he had them out if i didn't tell you!), we celebrated the wedding of our friends Luis and Rebeca who have been dating for 13? 14 ? years:

Sporting our new glasses!

Can you please check out Marlana's stance as she is preparing to leap into the air, catch the bouquet, and tumble back across the end-zone with a perfect quarterback technique?

After the wedding, we had some gracious friends come over and help us put prices on everything and set everything out for the garage sale the next day: (there were tons of things on the other side of the room too)
I was thinking back to how I came to the country with a trunk full of clothes (who travels with a trunk these days anyway? That thing weighs 20 pounds itself!), a guitar, and another suitcase of clothes and books. That's all. When we started renting our house in Feb 2006, we had a telephone and a hammock. That's it. For our dates the month before our wedding we would go by bus to our new house, buy pupusas next door, and sit in the hammock and eat them and talk before going by bus back to drop me off at my apartment. By the time we were married in march, we had a bed, fridge, sofa, 2 chairs, washing machine, stove. Not much. Now look at all the stuff we accumulated!

I simultaneously feel blessed by God's provision (we didn't have to spend money on hardly anything in our house) but also a strong desire to never accumulate so much stuff, especially stuff we don't even use anymore. Kinda makes me wanna pack up about 5 t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and fly to California with only that. On the other hand, I want to be sure we take lots of Suzy's things so that she feels at home in Pasadena. Yesterday she would see some stuff at the garage sale and say "this is Suzy's!" You can pray with us that she can adjust easily and feel secure in our love for her despite everything else around her changing. If you ask her where we are going she eagerly says "California!" and says she wants to go, but obviously has no concept of what "california" really is.

Last night, we had our Christmas dinner at church. It was lots of fun, and they took advantage of the fact that everyone was together to say goodbye to us as well. They made a sweet video of our time at "Ruta 3:16" and people shared stories about how we had touched their lives. They also prayed over us and took up a love offering for us which is really meaningful because everybody has scarce resources and pitched in to bring stuff to the dinner as well. It's hard to imagine not being in the middle of that community anymore... they aren't just our church family, but our friends and the people we spend our time with and celebrate together and weep together and visit each other in the hospital and cook together and go to the beach together and help each other out with garage sales.

Checklist

2011-12-08T11:42:00.004-06:00

Things checked off the checklist:

House

Flights (after a 2 hour struggle, talking on two different phones at the same time while simultaneously adding more minutes to my phone via internet)

New glasses for Elvis and me (for a grand total of $150…see why we got them here before we left?)

One sold car

One car committed to be sold next week

New license plates for car (don’t worry, that process wasn’t as easy as it sounds)

Donate clothes

Sell big furniture and nursery stuff (still needs to be picked up)

Flights for mom and dad to spend Christmas/New Years in Pasadena (Hello Rose Bowl parade)!

Arrange to cancel internet, etc

Ash and Elvis dentist visits, cleanings, fillings (fillings at $10 a pop…see why we got them here before we left?)

To do:

Find a job

One more wedding this weekend

Garage sale on Sunday

Work until we can grab our Christmas bonuses and run (sometime between Dec. 12-15)!

Christmas dinner at church on Sunday- in charge of desserts

Take Suzy for 2 year check-up

Take Suzy to the dentist for the first time

Elvis’s bday on Dec. 14^th

Elvis’s sister arrives from Mexico on Dec. 13^th

Christmas presents? (Don’t be offended if you don’t get one this year…)

Buy health insurance in the US

Pack everything we own into 6 suitcases

Get Elvis’s wisdom teeth out tomorrow (For $55/tooth, we had to take advantage before we left the country. How’s that for last minute? What? You say the dentist mentioned this 5 years ago? Oh….)

Goodbyes ;-(

Simultaneously cry our eyes out and do a happy dance

Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc……………

So, that’s where we are….how are you?

God just took us to the movies, metaphorically speaking

2011-12-05T20:42:00.002-06:00

So, you remember when I was talking about how God wants to amaze and WOW us with things we can't even begin to imagine, kinda like how we took Suzy to the movie theater for the first time and blew her little mind? Wellll...... God went and dun' it, as we would say in Stokes County. He blew our minds.

We just got an email assuring us that in 2 weeks when we leave for Pasadena, we will have an apartment to live in! Hooray for not being homeless! And not just any apartment....it's fully furnished, ready to walk in and live in. Like, including forks and linens and even a crib and all kinds of crazy stuff I was wondering how in the world we would get. More than we could ever ask or imagine.

Oh, and it just so happens that rent is HALF what every other apartment in Pasadena goes for, including Fuller campus housing. And utilities are included. That's not just going to the movie theater for the first time...that's surround sound and reclining seats with arm rests that raise up so you can snuggle AND a bottom-less can of caramel popcorn mixed with salty popcorn.

It is SO obviously God and no one else because yall, we did not meet the requirements for this apartment, not one bit. You see, it's for missionaries that are coming to Pasadena for furlough and then going right back overseas. You have to work with a recognized missions agency. Required. You have to sign a piece of paper saying you meet those requirements to even apply. Well, we didn't sign it, but rather wrote a note explaining our situation, that we don't work with a missions agencies, we're not on furlough, we see the US as our "overseas mission field", and they said YES. And that's why it is completely God.

He sure kept us hanging, that's for sure. I mean, 2 weeks before we are supposed to leave? Are you kidding me? But God kept confirming time and again that this silence was not a closed door but a time to wait and trust. Just last night, we had a special time of prayer at church for people ready for some kind of breakthrough, a needed answer. I was the first one to go running up for prayer. And a close friend shared some really specific words of encouragement with me last night that we were heading in the right direction. It's nice that God sends along little hints, a cup of cold water to get you to the end of the waiting period. I have a feeling we'll need to be using these lessons learned of patience and faith again one day. Oh boy!

Thanks for your prayers and support and sharing this journey with us...I have to keep reminding myself that now the journey has just begun....we've still got cultural adjustment and job searching and master's degree and all kids of fun stuff ahead of us...whew! But at least we have a bed =)

wise words

2011-12-05T08:17:00.003-06:00

Fear of the future is really a fear that sometime in the future God will fail us. If we deal with that, our fear of the future goes away.

-Wally Cook

just some thoughts

2011-11-30T14:45:00.002-06:00

So, what do you do when your plan A, B, and C fall through?

First of all, you realize how stupid it was to put your faith in your own plan, in a person, in a company, in someone other than God, who has promised to do more than we could ever ask or imagine.

When we decided to move to Pasadena, it was a step of faith, but at the same time we felt very confident in our secret weapon: the fact that Elvis's company has a plant nearby. We imagined he would easily get transferred and so it was a step of faith, but not a huge one because we felt like we could count on that job.

Well, it didn't work out.

We also imagined that housing would not be a problem b/c FUller offers affordable (in comparison to other California prices) housing.

Well, that didn't work out either.

No apartments in our price range. There was one house, right in front of Kelly's house which would be awesome, but it wasn't the cheapest and wasn't exactly what we wanted. However, it was our in-the-bag plan B (or was it C or D by this point?) b/c it has been available for over 6 months. Surely no one would get it right now. Except they did. Plan B out the window.

So...where does this leave us? Three weeks away from our hopeful departure date, and no housing, no job, no flights...but also no job or housing or possessions in El Salvador after mid-December. Not the most comfortable state to be in. But if God confirmed time and again that NOW is the time by helping us get the residency papers so quickly, selling everything so quickly, etc, we have to trust that he still has something else up his sleeve...something better than all of our Plan A's.

He does that just because he loves us and loves to surprise us, just as we took delight in preparing Suzy's birthday surprises. She had never even imagined the possibility of watching a movie on a huge, movie theater screen because she had only seen Elmo on her tiny DVD player. How could her little brain dream of something so much bigger and better? But when we took her for her birthday surprise, she was in complete awe that something so amazing existed and she didn't even know about it. She hasn't stopped talking about it since! See where I'm going with this?

I think this puts us exactly where God wants us....he's helping us learn how to trust in his goodness b/c literally we have no other options left. Every attempt we have made at trying to come up with our own "best plan" has fallen through.

Let me be honest with you...I'm scared to death. I want to make sure Suzy has a roof over her head. I would love to be able to assure those people that ask me "But you have a job right?" that we did in fact have all of our bases covered when they raise their eyebrows at our seeming lack of preparation.

Could you take time right now to pray for us? For an apartment, for a job, etc etc etc. For emotional transitions too. Thanks friends...I am looking forward to sharing some kind of great news soon, and I'm sure it will be bigger and better than anything I could ever imagine!

My lil' ladybug is 2!!

2011-11-28T08:23:00.007-06:00

I can't believe our little punkin princess is two years old! Here's the play-by-play of the weekend:

On the eve of Suzy's birthday, Elvis and i went to another wedding (2 of 3 in one month's time!) of another American teacher who snagged a Salvadoran! love me some intercultural relationships!

After the wedding, we ran home to finish decorating cookies and cupcakes for Suzy's birthday party the next day.
When Suzy woke up, she unwrapped her present (a Dora doll) and ate pumpkin caaaaaaaaaaaaake for breakfast (really it was pumpkin cheesecake bars....i'll have to put up the recipe soon!)

Then we were off to her favorite park for her party! When we go to that park, she always wants to look for grasshoppers and bugs and butterflies, so I thought a bug themed party would be perfect!

Suzy's favorite part was the butterfly cookies...i bet she ate the frosting off of at least 10 cookies and then put them back =) Our friends went wacko over Nutella with fruit....no one even bothered to get a plate....just fought over the jar! so funny!

Suzy with her Abuelita! Elvis's mom made 100 rolls with beans and cheese for the party....yum!

Entertainment was bubbles,

Bug bean-bag toss,

(high-five!)
...and a plastic bug scavenger hunt.

Then it was cupcake time! Judy made the ladybug and bee cupcakes, and they turned out so cute! (even though they were starting to melt!)
Suzy didn't want to wait for all the singing and kept saying "Want some bug muffins! Want some bug muffins!"

She started with the caterpillar's head....Then needed to try the ladybugs (she loved the Raisinette spots):

And she didn't want the bees to feel bad, so she tried one too! Notice the multi-colored mouth:

End result: sugar high!!!!!!!!!!

So we came home and she ate corn on the cob and cauliflower for lunch (also her faves) to balance out all the sugar, and reminisced with Papi about her favorite parts of the party:
We asked our friends not to bring gifts to the party since we will be leaving soon, but our friend Kathy made Suzy this sweet shirt with a picture of her and Kathy's son, Neville....so cute!
And Nana and Grandaddy sent a card since they couldn't be here:After her nap, we took Suzy to the movie theater for the first time to see Happy Feet 2! She's never seen Happy Feet 1, but she loved it none the less. She's been talking non-stop since about how the big rock of ice fell down (kaboom!) and showing everybody how the penguin danced. THen we ordered pizza for dinner (also her fave) and Wan Chen came over with a bday present and so did Elvis's aunt.

It was an extra fun day celebrating an extra fun little girl!

pumpkin caaaaaake

2011-11-25T20:09:00.002-06:00

Suzy was lovin' her pumpkin cake (aka pumpkin pie) leftovers tonight....

my favorite part is around the 25 second mark....

so grateful

2011-11-24T21:32:00.004-06:00

I've realized over the years that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I started realizing it when I would get really sad on my first few Thanksgivings here, to the point that my co-workers in the Preschool had to make an emergency run to search for a pumpkin pie one year to cheer me up. But then we started celebrating Thanksgiving with all of the American teachers at Wally and Judy's house, and I started looking forward to this day again every year. And THEN, 2 years ago after one of these feasts, I apparently ate so much that there was no more room for a sweet little bebe growing in my belly, and she wanted OUT. Pumpkin pie was the last thing i ate before Suzy was born, and it is her FAVORITE. That sealed the deal...Thanksgiving is my fave.

As I mentioned, Judy has been cooking Thanksgiving meals for the gringos for several years now and each year she adds a dessert and new cute handmade decorations. This year, we read the Thanksgiving story and she had made Pilgrim and Indian hats for all of us!

Check out that bird:

A dessert sampler platter (and that pumpkin you see is paper-mache, made by judy!):

A little Thanksgiving romance:

Suzy devoured her punkin' pie!
After lunch, we came home and all took a nap despite the massive house-cleaning-out/sorting that needs to be done to get ready for our move. Then we had dinner (I still can't believe we ate again) at our Taiwanese friends' house. Not a typical Thanksgiving dinner, but a great time sharing with friends.

We are purposefully being thankful this year for our move and what God has in store for us in Cali, even though we're still in that tough stage of trust because even though we are less than 4 weeks away from our move, we still don't have a place to live nor a job nor flights. Or anything else for that matter. But we are giving God thanks for what He is going to do, which is sometimes tough when you want to just whine and ask him why he hasn't come through yet. But he's never let us down, and i don't think he's gonna start now! So we're thankful.

Gettin' ready for Christmas SALE!

2011-11-20T15:59:00.002-06:00

hey yall, my sis-in-law is having an awesome sale at her etsy shop!

Buy Any Scarf or Fingerless Gloves and Receive a FREE Bar of Handmade Soap with your order! Sale good through November 30th.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thegoodolive

Mention my name when you buy something! =)

Missions and CUltures fair 2011

2011-11-19T08:14:00.005-06:00

THursday and Friday I was a judge for our Missions and Cultures Fair at our high school. I was so impressed with these kids...each year they step up the competition! Interestingly enough, the hardest part was actually eating 12 meals each day...we had to judge all the food too! Sounds like a good thing, but we were sooooo full. I brought 5 take out boxes home for Elvis and Suzy yesterday!

weekend update

2011-11-13T13:22:00.003-06:00

This weekend has been really different and fun and a great way to distract ourselves a bit from our upcoming move and from work...my work has been very hectic lately as we are preparing for our upcoming accreditation visit on Tuesday. We have to be re-accredited every 5 years, and it's time. For the past year, I have been in charge of getting all the paperwork together and make sure everything is in order and so I feel like it's ME and my work being accredited! A little pressure, but hopefully everything will go OK.

Anyways, yesterday Elvis and I were able to escape to the beach for the afternoon and evening to celebrate the wedding of one of my good American friends from work. It was fun reminiscing about our own beach wedding and had a great time dancing and eating good food with a great view.

Dinora came back yesterday to watch Suzy for us and we invited her daughter to come too. She's 8 years old and Suzy and Daniela had the best time playing and eating pizza!

Today was also a fun and different Sunday for us because Wanchen invited us back to her house to make dumplings again. Actually, they made them for us and invited us to just sit down and watch a movie with them! It was delish (although I started to have a reaction to some sesame oil in the sauce but i kept it together), and nice to not have to worry about lunch today.

Suzy's favorite part about going to their house is their new little dog, Nio Nio! She lets him nibble and climb all over her. Every night, saying goodnight to Nio Nio is part of the bedtime ritual!

the good olive

2011-11-10T21:14:00.004-06:00

Need some Christmas gifts? My awesome sister-in-law Sara just opened up an Etsy shop with some cute cute scarves and other handmade goodies.

Did you see the birdie garland? love it!!

She's going to be adding even more fun stuff this weekend so be sure to check back often!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thegoodolive

Mid-air.

2011-11-09T08:26:00.005-06:00

So, I'm feeling today kinda like you might if you jumped off a cliff and didn't know exactly where you were gonna land. In mid-air, confident you gotta land somewhere and according to past experiences, they have always been comfy landings. But it always gets you, right there like a fluttering in your belly, when you take the leap.

You see, we've taken the proverbial leap, cut ties from any physical thing that ties us down to El Salvador (jobs, house, furniture, etc) but we're in that really awkward, uncomfortable stage where you'd really like to know where your feet are going to land and you just don't. That point where faith is no longer a pretty rainbow colored, uplifting word cross-stitched into a throw pillow but a real, nitty-gritty experience that is rough around the edges, raw, and a whole lot more difficult than we ever thought it would be.

I mentioned last week that we felt like a big door was going to burst open, answering our prayers for Elvis's job. When we thought it would be a quick answer, we decided to give up a few things for that short period of time until something happened. For Elvis, that was coffee. For me, that was Facebook. Yeah, we still haven't heard anything. No door busting open just yet. So, Elvis is still really sleepy in the mornings, and I'm feeling totally disconnected from the world. Do we have to do this? Do we have to suffer to prove our faith? Definitely not! But it's helping us focus our time and energy and thoughts towards this mysterious landing place God is setting up for us. It's our way of telling God that we're serious when we say that we expect him to really do something that's gonna knock our socks off.

So we're feeling the awkwardness of this stage b/c we haven't heard about a job yet, and because of issues getting an apartment. Yesterday I was so pumped because the housing department had just put up a 2 bedroom apartment in the complex we want. I emailed right away, but apparently they had some mix-up in their system and gave it to someone else. Actually, they haven't been sending me any housing options because of this mix-up. It's been really easy to feel mad at them like maybe they're screwing up our possibility of getting an apartment, but we're trying to think about it as God showing his sovereignty by protecting us from options that are not right for us.

I'm telling you all this so that you can bear with us in the tough spots of faith and therefore rejoice together when we look back and say, "Aha! That's why that happened like that!"

Could you pray this verse with us? It's pretty much what we're holding on to right now.

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. " - 2 Thessalonians 1:11

Notice a theme in these pictures?

2011-11-04T09:10:00.004-06:00

We’re moving to L.A.!!!!!! Well, Pasadena actually, but close enough!

When? Next month!

Why? Hmm…do you want the long answer or the short answer? (Disclaimer…this post is a bit long, but it’s very therapeutic for me to write it all out!)

Basically, Elvis and I have always wanted to work together full-time in some sort of hands-on-helping-people-in-a-practical-way ministry. We just didn’t know where or when or how. Over the past few years, we have felt a burden and compassion for immigrants in the US and so we want to pursue that calling and eventually work full-time serving immigrants, their children, loving them and getting to know them and offering them a friendly face and someone they can trust.

How? We’re still not sure yet. But that is why I started studying my master’s degree in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary last year- to gain training and insight and wisdom and practical ideas about how to go about pursuing this calling. When Elvis encouraged me to go back to school last spring over a cup of white chocolate latte, we knew that I could only take half of the classes online and the other half would be on the Pasadena campus. We had just read my good friend Derek’s book about managing and communicating about finances in marriage (Get Naked)and started making some long-term goals. The idea of moving back to the US, something that neither one of us had ever really wanted to do, popped up and it just seemed right, even though we are comfortable here with two stable jobs, a house, 2 cars, a great nanny, a great church, etc. So basically this is something we have been thinking about for a year and a half since we made the decision to start my master’s degree.

So, why California and not North Carolina? First of all, that’s where Fuller is and I have LOVED my experience there so far. Being there for a week this summer was even more confirmation because I loved my class, the campus, the diversity of students, the fact that Kelly and Brian live there, and just the city…I can’t believe we get to live in such a fun and beautiful place! Second of all, even though we are leaving El Salvador, we want Suzy and Elvis to be in a place where their Hispanic heritage is celebrated. What better place than LA? We can still get pupusas, but no longer will be dealing with the stress and fear of living in the country which was just named the most violent country in the world. Seriously. No, we’re not leaving because of fear, but we are trying to take into account the best options for Suzy as well. And I’m ready to be able to walk outside by myself again.

It’s pretty much the hardest and easiest decision of my life, comparable to when I came down here to El Salvador. The hard part is always the unknown, the uncertain, the almost certain rocky spots; yet the easy part is knowing that although we are hard-headed sheep sometimes, we have a gentle and good Shepherd who is leading us into the unknown terrain. Now that we have a daughter, I feel a lot more responsibility to have everything planned out and all the details ironed out because if it were just the two of us, we would be fine eating Ramen noodles for a month straight and camping out in someone’s backyard. However, Suzy needs milk, diapers, food, a bed, etc, all of which require a steady income, something we don’t have yet. But when I think about it, if I’m concerned about the details for my daughter, how much more is a Perfect heavenly Father concerned about the details for his children? I think I can rest in that assurance.

Plus, it wouldn’t be a step of faith if everything was laid out so obviously, right?

Remember a couple of months ago when I asked you to pray for two specific dates? That was for Elvis’s residency papers. From the time we submitted his first round of paperwork to get his US residency, 4 months later he had his residency in hand! This is unheard of, yall. That paperwork usually takes at least a year or two. Confirmation? I think so. So the good thing is that Elvis will be legal to work and support us while I study full-time and stay at home with Suz.

I also take it as confirmation the fact that last week I sent out an email, a “virtual garage sale” with pictures and prices of all of our furniture, to our close friends. Within 20 hours, we had already sold everything except for my piano, which we sold this week (Suzy and I both cried when they left with it). Confirmation? I think so. Hard? Definitely. Although it’s just material things, some of those “things” have a high emotional price. Like the cabinet that Elvis designed for my birthday. Like the furniture we bought when we got married. Although we are extremely excited about starting new and fresh in a new place, it was scary telling our bosses that we are leaving without having another job waiting for us yet. It was scary telling the owner of the house that we are leaving without having another house waiting for us. It might sound cliché, but we are reminding ourselves that “home” is where our family is, not where our house is.

So, what can you be praying for?

· A job for Elvis. We would like for you to pray with us specifically today and this weekend, as we just have a feeling that a door might unexpectedly burst open real soon.

· An apartment. Fuller offers housing, but nothing has opened up yet. I would feel a lot better knowing that we have somewhere to sleep. Not that we own a bed yet, but at least somewhere where we could put a bed if we had one. Oh, so you could pray for a bed, too. And a table with chairs. Or, we could just have picnics everyday and that would be fine too! Oh, but I would like a rocking chair.

· Smooth transition for Suzy. It will be hard for her to not be with Di-Di during the day, but I’m so excited I get to be with her now during the day. We’re praying that she will continue to learn both languages and make lots of new friends.

· To finish well in El Salvador. That we can run strong to the end in our ministry at church, at work, and with our friends and family.

· Confidence that we made the right decision. We feel confident right now, but I bet one day those doubts will start creeping into our minds.

p.s. Although most of our close friends know the news already, we are going to announce it this weekend at church for everybody else. So please don’t write anything to me on facebook yet about this! Thanks =)

just clownin' around...

2011-11-01T20:57:00.002-06:00

This is my grandma, Memaw...you would think that after 92 years she would run out of Halloween costumes but NOPE! The tradition continues! Can't wait to see what she'll wear next year =)

hiking

2011-10-30T14:32:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Elvis and I took Suzy to an ecological park on the side of the volcano here in town which is chocked full of ripening coffee trees right now. We used to go a lot when we had our dog, Quesito, and he used to go at full-speed up the mountain and we would run after him. Not the same with an almost 2 year old! She took her sweet time, chatting non-stop to every single coffee bean she found, butterfly, piece of dirt, etc. She also wanted to help Minnie Mouse walk which obviously took a while as well. It was hilarious but next time we'll be sure to start earlier! We got to the top just in time for the sunset.

Punkins

2011-10-29T12:38:00.002-06:00

a fall recipe

2011-10-28T08:53:00.003-06:00

We don't have fall here in El Salvador, but last week it was cool enough (at least at night) to make me start craving fall-time foods and drinks and smells. We bought some cute little pumpkins at the grocery store for decoration, and i busted out one of my two precious cans of pumpking that my mom brought last trip. We made cream cheese pumpkin bars, and i had a little bit of pumpkin left over, so we decided to make some carrot and pumpkin soup. According to my brother (the soup expert), the key to the soup is adding lots of ginger, garlic, and any spices that smell like armpit. It just so happens that my hubby is the resident expert at making curries, which uses several spices that smell like armpit. (Maybe i'll have elvis share his recipes for curries one day!) If you don't want to make your own curry, you can buy already-made curry powder. Anyways, we cooked carrot, pumpkin, garlic, ginger, curry, coconut milk powder (or the real thing) in chicken broth, then threw it in the blender and had some yummy soup! It's great with a few drops of lime.

Sorry...I'm not great at giving recipes with exact ingredients and measurements, because that is not how we cook. Plus, the real recipe is this one, another variation of something we had at my brother's house:

Get some flour tortillas, put some creamy white cheese in it (use Brie if you live in a country where it is affordable....we used Monterrey Jack and it was delish), slice up some green apples and put them inside the tortilla as well (they add a delightfully contrasting snap!), and then spoon some of that yummy carrot pumpkin soup into the tortilla, fold 'em up and cook them on the stove in a litle bit of olive oil. YUM! Bam, there you have it...the most ooey-gooey delicious fall quesadillas ever!

OK, I only have one precious can of pumpkin left, plus our table decoration which i plan on using too....i need your best fail-proof pumpkin recipes please!

Musou Band

2011-10-27T08:44:00.007-06:00

Last night our friend WanChen hooked us up with VIP passes to see a Taiwanese all-girl band at the National Theater downtown. The theater was beautiful (we'd never been before) and the music was awesome! Again, it was a fun intercultural experience to see many Salvadoran-Taiwanese families with bilingual children! The girls were definitely working the fact that they were all drop dead gorgeous and wearing mini skirts, but were really impressive on their instruments as well, which were all really old traditional Taiwanese instruments. I had never seen anything like some of those instruments before! They played a wide range of songs, from traditional Taiwanese songs, to the theme from Titanic, to "La Bamba", to "Flight of the Bumblebee" to a traditional Salvadoran song. And they played each song with the most sentimental expressions on their faces, as if they were pondering a rainbow in the distance or smelling freshly washed linens while watching puppies bound through a field of daisies.

I called this song the Taiwanese bluegrass song, featuring the two-stringed violin, which was my favorite instrument:

And here are some snippets of some of the instruments:

Flight of the Bumblebee....

It's working!

2011-10-24T22:34:00.003-06:00

It's kinda scary trying to raise a bilingual child. I mean, being parents for the first time is scary enough without worrying about if you will screw up your kid speaking two different languages to her. I had read that if the same parent always speaks the same language to the child, they will be able to distinguish between the two. But I never knew what would happen since she only hears me speaking in spanish to Elvis. But it's actually working! We didn't even try to teach Suzy baby sign language because i figured she would definitely not start talking until she was 25 if we threw three languages into the mix. Of course she pulls out the spanglish sometimes and reverts to the Suzy unknown language sometimes, but I'm really proud of her and really amazed at how the brain works.
Here she is, reading the same Elmo book, first with Elvis in spanish and then with me in english.

Free at last!

2011-10-23T14:50:00.003-06:00

After being couped up in the house for 2 weeks, we finally were able to get out this weekend! We went to 3 different parks, one being an orange grove. Last night I had a wedding shower, so Elvis took Suzy to a fun park where they spent several hours playing. Suzy has been really interested in kites lately in her books, and we saw one in the sky this week. So when they were selling kites at this park for $1, of course Elvis bought her one! She also made a friend at the park who was the same age she is, and everybody thought they were twins, especially because of the same hair and both were wearing striped sweaters.
For all you foodies out there, this is the Salvadoran version of food trucks where Elvis and Suzy ate last night at the park. They sold all kinds of typical foods...Suzy had a pupusa and also a rigua which is like a fresh corn pancake filled with beans and cheese which are cooked in banana leaves.
The kite got it's debut today at the orange grove:

Here's a little video of Suzy at the orange grove

hallelujah!

2011-10-20T14:27:00.000-06:00

just kidding...

2011-10-19T16:09:00.003-06:00

The sun yesterday was but for a fleeting moment. It's raining again. It sure was nice while it lasted. We were finally able to play outside yesterday and when we went out suzy said, "WOW! Sky! Blue!"

At school the teachers have been working all week to pack up donated food and clothes and send them to various parts of the country. The pastor (who is about 6.5 feet tall) said that in the town he went to yesterday to deliver the stuff, the water in the streets and the houses was above his waist.
I heard on the news today that since all the rivers have flooded (and most major bridges collapsed) people that live near the rivers have found CROCODILES in their homes.

a ray of sunlight?

2011-10-18T14:41:00.002-06:00

It's finally not pouring rain today, just a little misting every now and then. The sun even came out for a few minutes...i hope it's enough to get some diapers dry! I had to break down and just buy Elvis some new socks because all of his are wet/dirty. But hopefully things will start to get back to normal soon. Still no school tomorrow. Teachers are going to help sort and bag up food and clothing that has been donated to the church.

I can't believe that i didn't take my camera, but our Taiwanese neighbors had us over last night to teach us how to make dumplings! They taught us how to make the dough, pass it through the dough stretcher machine (the dad says you have to get the machines made in Italy...the ones made in China are not as good!). Then we cut out the circles, filled them up with soy meat and veggies, folded them up (some prettier than others) and threw them in a bit pot of boiling water. I really liked being part of the cooking process (even though we probably won't go through all the work again) because i got to make sure no sesame oil was going in there! We don't want any more Hitch-like reactions. Plus, the time we had to talk while stuffing those dumplings was priceless, hearing about their lives and beliefs. Oh, and we got to eat like 30 dumplings each which we would have never done in a restaurant! Suzy loves going over to their house. They have a very calming effect on her and she will sit and play with any of the family members for long periods of time even when they can't always communicate in any language. Maybe the Taiwanese cookies they generously give her help too.