Little miracles and other things

¨Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ´God is with us´.¨ - Matt. 1:23

Amen, God is with us. The longer I live this mission life, the more I realize this. There are days when you think you just can´t do it anymore, that there is nothing you can do to make a difference in such chaos and need, and then something happens to remind you no, you are not forsaken, the Lord has come and He lives in each and every heart who have given Him a home and moreover, His mark is on every heart, even those who have yet to know Him. With the Lord so very present how can you ever completely lose hope?

Story of the week is this. One of our dear little crazy boys decided last Tuesday night that he was Superman and wanted to try to fly. So he climbed up on the roof of a building but before he could jump, the roof collapsed beneath him and he fell 20 feet onto a flight of cement stairs and rolled down the stairs. And stood up and walked away with only 5 stitches in his head. Mariya, our great nurse, and Jim, resident dad, took him to the city, 2 hours away, for a x-rays and a CAT scan but he has no skull fracture or any other broken bones. After 5 days of being kept resting, he is back in school and back in action. Incredible. The misioneras say that every child here has 10 guardian angels because little miracles like this happen all the time, and while I don´t know the specifics, clearly the Lord is looking after our children in some way because there is no other explaination. Fernando should not have walked away from a fall like that with nothing more than a cut. But the Lord has been blessing the work here for the last 30 years and so an incident like this just joins the ranks of all the other little miracles that these women have seen. Wow.

In other news, I am working on a new project to gather enough information to arrange the legal paperwork we need but we lack. It is tough but exciting and I am learning a lot. In a lot of ways, it is the proper follow up for all the organizing that I have been doing. I am also being called now when new cases present themselves to base and have been doing the intakes on my own. Scary but really cool that the Lord is helping me with my language skills and that I can finally offer some real services to this base that has already given me so much.

Finally, happy Advent. Last week, to surprise Mariya, I decorated our hallway with some Christmas decor and now it feels a lot more like Christmas, even if it is 80 degrees, haha. This is my favorite time of year, a time for family and a time to remember the humble humanity of Christ and the profound gift that His life, not just His death on the cross, is to all of us. May you all be blessed this Advent season with the feeling of love that comes from having all of your loved ones around you and the gift of the Child Jesus, born to us in a humble barn some 2,000 years ago yet ever so present today.

World´s shortest post

Hi friends. Don´t have it in me to really post today but I wanted to say that all is well here, we had a good time in Tena and got some things arranged for the March mission, went to a bullfight in Quito (crazy but interesting) and made it back in time for the consecration of two new misioneras (incredibly beautiful). I have been sick but am getting better, prayers on that end would be great. While in Quito we did put up more pics, check out the usual link www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com and just click past the old ones to see the newbies.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Advent and I promise more for next time, same time, same place, life on the flip side...

My Heart Will Go On

So last night, in celebration of the quinceñera, our dear little Gaby, Mariya and I did an impromtu lip sync to Celine Dion´s My Heart Will Go On - Theme from Titanic. And yes, it was hilarious. Our Gaby is such a funny character and few things really make her smile but she really likes this song and so we presented in front of the whole base at her 15th birthday celebration. MOL lipsync has nothing on us and all of my Stella sisters would have been proud, it was a great evening.

The lipsync was a perfect ending to a rather random week. This week was filled with surprises and funny things, where to begin. First, my collegue Narcissa finally returned from Quito and we sat down with my list of questions and I showed her the fruits of my organizing labors. I learned that the social worker who had previously been in charge of the kids on base and had been on home leave is not coming back. The good news is we have permission to hire a new social worker to replace her. Our hope is that we will be able to hire someone to take Narcissa´s case load in the city and she will be able to work on base with me. Please pray that the Lord sends us some capable and joyful hands and soon, as well that all the office politics are worked out. Really, until Narcissa, or Nacho as we call her, can work on base with me, the cases here will remain sorely in need of attention and I will not be able to do much else to help as I as of yet do not know all the cases and cannot do home visits on my own. I did however make my first decision as a social worker on base the other night (Nacho is back in Quito for another conference and so they were stuck with me) and it was a really hard one and I think it was the right one. We´ll see!

Also this week, I resumed working with my group of young people, this time to do an artistic presentation on HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, working with this group is a quick path to sainthood but I was thankful for my LifeTeen/SENT training as I wrote the drama that they presented. The cool part of it was that I was able to convince them that we should promote abstinence and monagamy, especially in the context of healthy families. This is cool because down here they heavily promote condom use as a HIV prevention which is bogus. Condoms have been shown to be INEFFECTIVE as a prevention for HIV transmission due to the small size of the virus and even on the condom boxes it says this. Sure, there is more protection than if you didn´t have anything but I feel it is irresponsible even on a non-moral level to tell people to use condoms to prevent HIV, it makes it sound like it is foolproof and it is so not. Not to mention, this group of young people is representing our Catholic organization. I was excited because, even though they hardly practiced the skit I wrote and it could have been done so much better, we still got the message out of abstinence, monagamy and family in the midst of a festival that was presenting very different ideas. Praise God for the small things. I hope despite our limitations the Lord was able to use the skit to get the message to someone.

This next week we are off to Tena to make contacts and arrangements for FUS March medical mission. I am excited about this as it is on the edge of the Amazon and a part of Ecuador I have yet to see (and I get to wear my boots!). Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and also for the safe return and efficient work of my collegue Narcissa as she travels back from Quito today and I hope to spend some time with her in the office tomorrow. Much love to everyone at home, catch you again next week with news from the flip side...

Living Soundtrack

In just about any movie set in a third world country there is always some local music playing that sets the mood of ¨ah yes, foreign country¨ Well, in Ecuador, no matter where you are, there is music playing. As I walk up the road to breakfast - music from a misionera´s room. Walking into town - music from one of the houses. Commuting on the bus everyday - really loud music. Hence, I have a living soundtrack and I love it, especially the ¨mi corazooon, mio mio mio, mi corazoooon¨ song that is ALWAYS on in the bus. Still, no one knows who it is. Jaja.

This blog I will, for the sake of time and sanity, present the highlights of my week:

-Had parasites in my intestines and successfully killed them - thanks doctora.

-I offically have my own set of keys to the social work office on base - I feel cool.

-I organized - thought I´d do something new...just kidding...

-The group of young people finished their presentation on alcohol and drugs and I sent them off to Quito - I again give applause to all high school teachers, I don´t know how you do it.

-I lost my faith in Clorox to make anything clean and white again - apparently bleach is no match for how dirty I get.

-We got a new sibling group of five beautiful children and I love them.

-I have been asked to be the madrina, godmother, of baby Naomi - I am so excited!

-Mariya and I celebrated the completion of two months in Ecuador with banana pancakes and Chilean wine in our newly discovered and cleaned kitchen.

-In honor of mango season, I have now eaten a bushel of mangos...and they are still giving them to us!

-In honor of the feast of Christ the King, we had a procession in Manglaralto and Pdr. Patricio blessed the town.

-The sun has arrived and the whole world is going to the beach - surfs up!

-Our friend and new compañero, Jim, arrives today to join us in working on the base.

In light of that last one, we are off to welcome Jim (or Jeem as he is called here) to our humble house on the hill. I close as always with hopes that all is well with those whom I love back home, love, prayers and a promise to return next week. ¡Jesùs te cuide!

**Mail works! Packages take two weeks, letters 6 weeks. Can´t receive anything over four pounds, I rec. manila envelopes in lieu of boxes. Mail comes from a man on a motorcycle...it´s cool**

**New pics are up, in the process of adding more. Improved access: www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com. Also, Mariya has more photos than I, check out her blog for the full story!**

Gettin´ it together

"Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity."
-- Albert Einstein

So are you ready for this - this past week, I, Maribeth Nolan, keeper of the desk no one sees and bedroom of natural disaster - have been organizing all of our files and social work office in general here on base. I know, hard to imagine but true - I am the source of organization here. Maribeth Nolan, LSW is learning to get it together and it is exciting :)

In other even more exciting news is that we finally have a stateside foundation and website for online donation in support of our base/foundation here - Fundaciòn Ecuatoriana Santa Marìa del Fiat. Our dear friend and future mission compañero, Jim Campbell, has done some excellent work and we cannot be more excited. The base is in desperate need of financial support so that it can continue the wonderful work that has been done for the last 35 years. Check it out: www.missionsantamaria.com

The week has been good, I have learned that it is possible that organization can be my greatest gift to the base (Ecuadorians by nature are not organized folk...at all) and I am putting to good use the many times that Dr. Gilham reminded us that paperwork is important - especially when you can find it. Also, Friday night Mariya and I met with the group of young ladies who live here, ages 14-20, to discuss the beauty of life, faith and what it is to be a woman. They are an amazing group of girls and I look forward to meeting with them regularly. Finally, last night Mariya and I travelled to Salinas, one of the closer cities and Ecuador´s answer to Miami beach for a night and day of relaxation, warm showers and getting to know our little country a little better. We even watched half a movie on the little tv in our hotel room last night...joy in the small things :)

Hopefully a few more pictures to be had soon, until then, I hope that all is well back in the land of my birth and please pray for me this week as I continue to stretch myself in organizing our social work outreach here...si yo puedo! (yes i can do it!) Love from the flipside...

¡Viva la cumpleñera!

¨When we've been here ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise, Than when we've first begun.¨ - John Newton, Amazing Grace

So, it´s my birthday y por eso, all day, as is tradition here, whoever and whenever one of the misioneras sees me, they shout ¨¡viva la cumpleñera!¨ (long live the birthday girl!) I like this tradition...we should do this in the States...it´s so festive! Praise the Lord for another year to serve Him and oh, by the way, thanks mom and dad for letting me be born, ´preciate that one :)

It´s been a week since being back here on base and the life is good. Back on the schedule of traveling to Libertad every day, though this week was a little different as we stayed on base one day to prepare paperwork for our big meeting on Monday with one of the organizations that gives us funding. I have begun to take on more responsibilities at the office which is great, my Spanish still lacks but by the grace of God I have been able to do a few things. I did my first solo intervention with a couple who are getting divorced and their son is therefore acting out. It is by far one of the mildest cases that we work with and we will only meet with them one more time but it was a good place for me to start, in order to use the words that I do have in a lower stress situation. I also started work with a group of young people who are going to Quito in a week to present, on behalf of our foundation, a presentation on alcohol and drug use in the Peninsula de Santa Elena (where we live). This is an interesting task but the kids are great about trying to understand me and I am working hard to keep their attention and focus - high school teachers of the world, ¡aplausa! Jaja.

Overall therefore, life progresses on and I am starting to feel a bit more useful which is great. The misioneras are fantastic and have made my birthday special for me, not to mention all the calls from family and friends, here and in the States, thanks guys. The other thing which is special about this weekend is that tomorrow is the anniversary of the day when our statue of Our Lady of the Mystical Rose wept blood. (Proclaimed an official miracle by the Church, examined by scientists and the whole nine yards...it´s pretty darn cool) The whole weekend is therefore a big celebration and I am happy to share all the excitement with Our Lady :)

An update on the four children that we removed from their home a few weeks ago. Thursday I was able to visit with them, we went to the park and it was beautiful to see how happy and healthy they are. Even the littlest one was belly laughing with me on the swing. And the two older boys were making me ¨coconuts¨ out of sand and serving them to me...a tremendous feat for them psychologically and a really good sign. Once again, as always, the light comes shining through as to why we do what we do here. Four beautiful children, now living a life that is safe, healthy, happy and filled with love. They will receive an education and learn what it is to live in a stable home. And when she can, their gringa amiga will come visit them, love on them and swing on the swings. Praise the Lord.

Thanks to you all who have been keeping in touch, I wouldn´t be able to do any of this without your love, prayers and support. I hope you enjoyed the pics, more to come again soon. Much love as always, please continue to pray for us as we most certainly will do for you.

Las Gringas con Patas Calientes

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. - CS Lewis

Yes, we are officially the gringas with the hot paws, so to speak. What that really means is that we are on the go all the time and since in about two hours I will leave Quito on a bus to return to Olón once more, it is pretty true. We have had a great week here in Quito doing research, gathering things we needed materially and spending time with our wonderful EcuaFamily, the Arroyos. This family has been unbelievably wonderful to us and we have been more than well cared for this week, we have been truly loved and welcomed.

Just yesterday, in celebration of El Dia de Los Difuntos (All Souls), we were invited over to Papito´s parent`s house, now our newly adopted dear abuelitos (grandparents). We had a wonderful meal, complete with the traditional colada morada and guaguas de pan (bread shaped like babies) and then played Rummykub for hours, laughing harder than I have in quite some time. And today, our papito lindo (Mr. Arroyo) and our abuelitos took us out for my first experience of eating cuye (guinea pig...yes, i´m serious, check out the pics) and then to El Mital del Mundo, where the equator runs through Ecuador (yep, that´s how it got it´s name) and you can stand in two places at once - northern and southern hemispheres. What a life we have lead this past week!

The reflection on it all pertains a bit to one of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis (above). That is, for me, all of this profound love and welcome would not make any sense (considering I can hardly have a proper conversation with the family what with my broken Spanish) outside of the love of Christ that is so absolutely present in the people of Ecuador and especially in this family that we just happened upon and have now adopted us as part of their family, en serio. And yet, the faith that I have been given allows me to understand that the Lord put this family in my life to bring His love to me while I am pouring out His love to the children in Olòn. Things like this ¨coincidence¨ are so much cooler when you can see them as purposefully given gifts.

That is my story for now. We return to base tomorrow morning (bus through the night) and resume work as usual on Monday. Despite the wonderful week here, I have dearly missed our little niños and the missioneras and am looking forward to being with them again. I promise another update next Sunday, in the meantime, I have added even more pics so enjoy those, note the phone number change and know that I am thinking of and praying for you all.

New pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AasmjFi0ZNGEo
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Me & the paws of my cuye (guinea pig)

Mariya and I at the center of the world