Penelope invited me to an event at the French embassy to schmooze and see if we could meet people who would be interested in sponsoring our work. I’m not good at talking to snooty French strangers, but I wanted to be supportive so I went along. Towards the end of the event I was standing alone off to a side and this man approached me and we started chatting. I got his card and gave him my number before heading on home. Honestly though, I didn’t want to call him back because he had been flirting with me and I didn’t want to come across as accepting his advances. What was I going to say, “Hi, I’m that half-your-age girl you met and I have something I want to tell you”? Don’t laugh. Obviously I had absolutely no experience in Follow Up.

Well, Penelope definitely had the faith to call him so we ended up meeting him together at his office. It wasn’t nearly as awkward as I expected it to be, and when the subject of her life-long dream of visiting Cuba, he knew just the person to make it happen… and it did!! Several times now! So I learned the lesson to have the guts to call any and everyone because you never know which one is the Lord’s sheep and what He can do through/ with them.

My husband and I are in Monterrey en route to Mar de Plata, Argentina. He’s helping out with the graphics for some local Activated products that had been backlogged for a few months and I have been able to enjoy this transition time to just focus on my baby. I’m totally spoiled!!

For the first time EVER there’s a camp for my age happening in my country! There is a ton of reading material that is a pre-requisite for attending, so if I haven’t been posting much it’s because I have been READING. And reading and reading some more. The articles are all so great that I want to go back and re-read them, but there’s so much to read if I go too slow I’ll fall behind. It’s such a cool feeling to be overwhelmed by good stuff instead of stress. Thank you Lord!

There are good days ahead! I’m excited about the fact that our new home will be doing creative stuff and that people really want what we’re going to make. I guess since I don’t know anything about anything of what we’ll be doing it feels very new and adventuresome. I like that we’re just regular people acting on our own (and a lot of JM’s) inspiration. Somehow being “official” is so much less appealing.

There was an amazing thunderstorm this afternoon. Huge clouds. I love the sky and the smell of Monterrey –I love the Conectate roof. I get so worked up about the little bad things in life and then some days I only remember the good. It all depends on perspective, huh.

To right the un-rightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To strive when your arms are too weary…

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise

The other day I was talking with someone about the qualities to look for in a mate (or in any kind of a friend, really) and these 3 pieces of literature came up as the ideal. The tough, old, values of doing what’s right until you drop are kind of lost in the world of today, but they’re so worth remembering! They give you no excuse to be mediocre or stunted by self-pity.

I guess to that I can add, Happy belated Mother’s day, mothers! I know many of you who incarnate that strength and resolve to love and do what’s right day in and day out, even under the most difficult of circumstances. Love you guys!

That bowl of chicken got me thinking that for going into all the world it’s handy to have a strong sense of culinary adventure. Gotta try it all! …at least once.

Mexico is not an easy country to leave behind, and I pray my son will some day get to know the nation in which he was born. I hope he will be proud of the fact that he was born in Morelos, the heart of Mexico, and the land of Emiliano Zapata. I’ll tell him about the little town of Jiutepec with its 200 yr. old church, our mariachi friends, the insane amount of fireworks and holidays that are celebrated around here, the food we’ve eaten and the things we’ve seen. But I’ll tell him that what makes Mexico unforgettable is the big-hearted nature of its people. I hope that as the world climate changes the warmth of this country stays the same.

I’d blog all about my motherhood discoveries, but then everyone would know what a newbie I am and they’d laugh at me.

He has all his little fingers and toes, is perfectly angelic when he sleeps and wicked when he cries. I donÂ’t want to get into the gross details of how the delivery went, but I do want to say that I was blessed with a perfect, 100% natural, home delivery. Gabe and Kina (nearby home) were kind enough to allow us to use their facilities, and sweet Ginny coached me all the way through it. Aside from Ginny, I had a team of 2 midwives who helped with the delivery for 50% of their usual fee and they watched over me like angels. They are from the Mexican chapter of the LaLeche League. One was a very motherly type, always speaking faith and wearing a calm smile. The other one, of Indian descent and speaking the local dialect, was more serious and efficient, which also transmitted a spirit of peace.

Labor was about 11 hours from start to finish, and not once did I feel it was too much to bear or that I couldnÂ’’t make it. I was able to walk when I wanted to walk, sit, stand and I had the baby on a birthing stool, which was much more comfortable than lying down. IÂ’m a pretty aranoid person by nature, so it wasnÂ’t easy for me to choose the midwives & home delivery over the “safety” of a hospital. But when I prayed about it the Lord gave me a real peace and assurance that HeÂ’’d take care of everything for me, and boy He sure did. I think my parents were a bit shocked that I chose a home delivery since where they live (Chile) most everyone has hospital deliveries and it just seems the safer more normal thing to do. But Mexico has one of the highest cesarean rates in the world–—40% in public hospitals & 90% in private ones (USA is 26%, I think) so I wanted to be in an environment where I was more in control and less likely to fall prey to my phobias and paranoia. The great thing is that the Lord was more in control than any of us could ever be and He did all things well.

Now I just have to get the little bugger to sleep through the night and IÂ’m on easy street!

…except that I still donÂ’t have a name for him.