Wednesdays

We decided at the beginning of the summer that we needed to be intentional in family time.  With a nearly 16 year old boy in the house who would sleep the summer away (and when he was awake plug into some electronic) we knew this would mean getting out of the house as well.  So beginning in June we have done something together as a family almost every Wednesday.  What fun it has been!

We also knew that because God has blessed us with an incredible opportunity for a family vacation (we leave Friday) these Wednesdays had to be low cost.  I have packed picnics almost every week this summer!

We have hiked to waterfalls (where there was no water) in Pellegrina, walked the parks in Aranjuez, toured the area known for Arquitectura Negra, strolled a mall and ate hamburgers out (it was a rainy Wednesday), picnicked by the River Perales and floated down the current, and on the week Alex got to choose we slept late, made pizza in the outdoor oven, and played Settles of Catan.  This Wednesday we are joining friends on a trip to the Rio Tajo.  Even one week, while Scott and Alex were out of town I got to spend my Wednesday with a friend from the states exploring Cuenca.  Next week we will pass our Wednesday in Rome.

What great memories we have made this summer!  Here is a glimpse at the summer so far - I'll add a few more pictures when the summer is officially over.

The Tension

Life has been crazy busy and once again blogging fell below the "must do" line.  The end of the school year brought exams and extra papers to grade, Alex had extra projects and exams, Scott was cramming to finish the language exam, and then as soon as all that was over it was time to end the ministry year.  Spanish schools don't let out until the end of June so the ministry year ends at the end of June as well.  This brought the end of English club and VBS and of course in true Spanish fashion, many despedidas (goodbye celebrations).  The day after VBS ended Scott and Alex left to go north to work with some teammates and a friend from the states arrived for some girl time.  Can't believe that July is now almost over!

Things are different in Spain in regards to summer ministries.  I am so accustomed to things picking up pace in the summer at the churches in the states.  There are camps, and cook outs, and VBS, and play days, and the list goes on and on.  But here, summer brings things to a slow pace.  The temperatures rise incredibly (100+ is not uncommon) and the majority of homes and churches have no or limited air condition.  This means get your errands/work done first thing in the morning and then chill for the rest of the day.

For us, this has meant time to have some one-on-one time with new friends, time to reconnect as a family, and do some planning for fall activities and ministries.  It also means a time for a family vacation.  And this is where the tension begins to be felt and why I have been slow in blogging lately.

We are incredibly blessed to be serving in Spain.  We know we are only here because of generous donors who sacrificially give each month.  We feel that burden of being faithful to each penny that is given and each prayer that is breathed.  We feel the importance of being wise stewards of every moment and every penny.  And we regularly question ourselves to know if we are. 

And yet we also know that if are not careful we can burnout, we can fall apart as a family, or we get physically sick.  We know that we need time together where we are not working and can laugh and cry and talk about things that are not work.  But are we letting down our supporters when we take time out to do this?  How much time is acceptable?  How do we meet the expectations of 125 families who sacrificially give each month and maintain life as needed here in Spain?  Do we share or do we not share our daily life?  Should we talk about only ministry and hide our downtime?    Do we only share successes and not our failures or struggles?

I sure wish there was a magic answer! 

Missing It

When I passed the DELE (Spanish proficiency exam) I entered the next phase of work, my internship.  I am working under a Spanish pastor and his wife to both continue to grow my language, but to also understand the way a Spanish church works in a Spanish culture.  The last thing I want to do is help grow an American church in a Spanish culture and then walk away to watch it die.  But another aspect of this internship phase is called MopUp (MOP is the final training we do with SEND before we leave for the field, meaning Spain for me - it stands for Member Orientation Program).  MopUp is intended to help us review what we learned before we came to the field, what expectations and etc we had that were not accurate, and to help us transition from full time language students to full time ministry. 

One requirement of the MopUp program is to make an Individual Growth Plan (fellow teachers - remember doing those in your first years of teaching?).  As I have been praying over the parts of the plan and beginning to search for the areas in which I need to grow or want to be able to devote more time, writing keeps surfacing. 

Life has been so crazy the last couple of months that I have not been able to do much writing - here on the blog or elsewhere.  And the more I pray over the areas where I want to improve, the more I miss writing.  Maybe no one wants to read what I write, but I enjoy sharing stories and lessons.  Its therapeutic for me; it is fun. 

So, as the school year comes to an end and I am no longer grading what others are writing, I hope to

show up more often here on the blog.  There are so many stories that I want to share.  Everyday here is filled with adventure and you would not believe some of the things I would tell you (for example, last night at a church event I let a 20 something year old guy paint my fingernails bright blue and I agreed to have a braid - with colorful string - put in my hair, only later to have my nails done again later but this time green).

I also have a dream of writing a book.  Maybe nobody cares what I might want to share, but for years I have dreamed of seeing my name on the spine of a book.  Ok, in today's electronic age I might have to settle for on the Amazon screen, but it is a dream.  And the title.... who knows?  My latest idea... The Red Headed Gal and the Camino.  God taught me so much during the four days of walking the camino that I can't wait to have time to share. 

So, welcome back to the blog.  I am looking forward to spending more time with you!

Y por mis amigos aquí en España, va a estar más entradas en español tambíen.

Etapa 2 and 3...Day 2 and 3

Lots of stories to tell, but after 29 km today, only photos.  This weekend will write the stories.


Muchas historias para compartir, pero después 29 lm hoy, solo voy a compartir fotos.  Este fin de semana voy a compartir las historias.

Phase 1 - Etapa 1

I am too tired to write much, but we survived the first day.  We walked 30 km, mostly down.  It took us about 10 hours.  I thought that was a slow pace, but the owner of the hostel said it is average.  We started in snow and finished with shrots and sunburns.  The list of parts of my body that do not hurt is shorter than what hurts, so I'll just skip that part.  Tomorrow we only walk 20 km.

The sites were beautiful.  Here are few pictures from today.  When I get home and can write from a computer and not my phone I will share a lot more pictures.   Off to bed.  Yes, it is only 9:15, but...


Estoy demasiada cansada para escribir mucho, pero sobrevivimos el primer día.  Caminamos 30 km, bajamos la mayoria del tiempo.  Tomó 10 horas.  Pensé lo que estaba despacio, pero el dueño del hostel dice que es normal.  Comenzamos con nieve y terminamos con pantalones cortos y quemaduras del sol.  La lista de partes de mi cuerpo que no duele es más corta que las partes que duelen, entonces no voy a hablar de este.  Manaã vamos a caminar solo 20 km.

Las vistas estaba marvillosa!  Aqui son algunas fotos.  Cuando llegaré a la casa y podré escribir con un ordenador y no mi movil, voy a compartir más fotos.  Ahora, voy a la cama!  Si, es solo 9:15, pero...

We are Off..... Viajamos!

After much planning and prepapration we finally have begun the adventure.  Today involves no walking, just traveling.  Interestingly, we will actually travel by train and bus part of the stretch we will walk tomorrow.  Something in my brain just says that is wrong, but tomorrow we will get up and walk right back where we traveled today.

We left Madrid and took the AVE, the fast speed train in Spain.  Traveling at speeds of up to 303 km/hour, we stopped in Zaragoza.  We are now in Zaragoza waiting on our next train, which is just a normal train.  We will travel another two hours north to Canfrac Estacion.  From there, assuming our train is on time, we will take a bus to Somport.  We only have 10 minutes between the train and the next bus.  If we miss the bus, it will be a taxi.  It is only 7 km to our hostel.  We will enjoy a little bit of walking around the town, dinner, and an early bedtime.  Tomorrow we will be up with the sun to start walking.

The question still to be answered.... am I crazy?

Después mucho planes y preparaciones, por fin hemos comenzado la aventura.  Hoy no vamos a caminar, solo viajamos al norte.  Qué interesante que vamos a pasar en tren y autobus el mismo area que vamos a caminar mañana.  Mi mente dice que no es normal para viajar norte solo para volver caminando.

Tomamos el AVE a Zaragoza.  Es la primera vez que viajo más que 300 km/hora.  Ahora esperamos la proxima tren a Canfrac Estacion.  Si el tren llega a tiempo, tomaremos un autobus a Somport.  Solo tenemos 10 minutes para cogerlo.  Si no podemos, tomamos un taxi.  Solo es 7 km a nuestro hostel.

Este noche vamos a disfrutar un camino pequeños, cenar, y ir a la cama temprano.  Mañana levantaremos con el sol y comenzamos el camino.

La pregunta todavía es....¿soy loco?

Primer Conntinued (en español)

Vosotros que me conocéis demasiado bien os estáis riendo de la imagen de mí intentando caminar 15 millas por día.  Hay otros de vosotros que habéis visto cómo afronté un reto y estáis sacudiendo la cabeza y diciendo “aquí va de nuevo.”  Y, por supuesto, está la gran mayoría de vosotros que creéis que he probablemente he perdido totalmente la cabeza.  En cuanto a mí, estoy en las 3 categorías.

Esta mañana cuando mi cuerpo me recordó lo mucho que habíamos caminado ayer, sólo me sacudió mi cabeza también.  Definitivamente creo que debería haber encarado esto a 30 años en lugar de 49 años. 

La pregunta más frecuentemente desde el blog de ayer fue ¿qué vas a llevar contigo y cómo has estado preparándote?

La respuesta a la pregunta de preparación es que he estado caminando.  Empecé al principio de febrero para caminar distancias más largas.  Empecé con 6 a 8 km y pensé que me estaba muriendo.  Seguí añadiendo kilómetros al sendero.  Ayer caminé 17 km.  También, era consciente de mi ritmo.  Yo soy una caminante lenta, vieja, y con sobrepeso.  Me di cuenta que yo tendría que comenzar antes de que saliera el sol y terminar después de  que se ponga el sol  con este ritmo.  Tuve que aumentar mi ritmo un poco (al menos durante el principio kilómetros). Empecé con un promedio de 3,5 km/hora.  Ayer, caminé con un promedio de 5 km/hora.  No hay una gran diferencia, pero si tenemos en cuenta la diferencia de entre 25 y 30 kilómetros se marca la diferencia en cuando me voy a la cama.  Hasta ahora mi caminata más larga ha sido de 20 km, por lo que los días en el camino todavía será más largo.

He decidido que necesito un descanso cada 7 o 8 kilómetros para descansar y tomar un

aperitivo.  Si no, no voy a disfrutar la parte final del camino. 

En cuanto a lo que voy a llevar conmigo, --- es una respuesta más corta: ¡casi nada!  Aquí están los fundamentos:

·      Saco de dormir

·      chaqueta ligera

·      cepillo de dientes, desodorante y un cepillo para el cabello - probablemente va a ser días sin maquillaje

·      1 cambio de ropa - voy a caminar en una ropa y llevar una segunda.  Cada noche me voy a lavar la ropa que llevaba ese día y llevar el otro mientras se está secando.

·      Poncho de lluvia

·      Tiritas, Tylenol, Protector Solar

·      Toalla de secando rápido

·      Sandalias

·      Comida pequeña - sólo la suficiente por un día - hay un montón de lugares en el camino para comprar para mañana

·      Cámara

·      Guía, ID, dinero y credenciales del Camino

Eso es todo.  Mi objetivo - máximo de 4 a 5 kilos, pero prefiero ---- que sea mucho menos!