Just checking in...!

Happy New Year! I apologize for not having updated sooner. Surprise, surprise, things have been moving at breakneck speed and I don't find myself with much sitting around time.

I didn't write about Thanksgiving and my family's wonderful but quick visit or about the craze that was preparing for Christmas at NPH. And I won't now. HA. I will just say that it was so great having my parents and brother here in November and that it was hilarious/fun trying (and let's be honest, in some ways failing) to get everything together for Christmas. Our awesome dance with the Cuernavaca year of service kids didn't end up coming together, but Edith and I did write a really funny parody song called "El Encargado" (a parody of "El Enamorado" by Los Titanes del Durango", look it up). Sooner or later, we plan to make a music video of it that will take youtube by storm. You just wait.

After much pondering, I have decided that how I feel here at NPH follows a three or four week rollercoaster patter, which I blame for my frequent pure exhaustion.

week 1: Life is amazing. I am with the kids, things are 'tranquilo', we are all enjoying the routine and each other's company.

week 2: Something (or more like 5 things, especially if it's last week) major and really not good happens. When you live in a community of 200 and then about 600 (including the little kids) and then about 800 (including the kids in college), major life events...good and bad...happen all the time! This week we are like !!!WHAT!!! I'm not blaming the kids, nor am I trying to be overly dramatic, but that's just life. A lot of life has been happening around me here.

week 3: We are recovering from the insanity of week 2. The other volunteers and I find ourselves worn out and praying that nothing else crazy will happen.

back to week 1 again: Nothing crazy is happening. Life is wonderful....then BAM!

That said, I am learning to surrender things to God a lot more. Sure, I knew I was just me, soooo much less than a superwoman (that's my roommate Jane, btw), but I am seeing more and more that while I'm not useless, I'm limited. Extremely limited. Problems seem to abound in limitless amounts. The hope I hold onto is that I know the only Unlimited One. And the cool thing is that when I look for what He's doing, I see His mercy in every tough situation.

I'm also learning to appreciate weeks 2 and 3 in this crazy cycle of life and to look around at the others who are going through this with me. What weeks are they experiencing?

Gotta go, just wanted to say that I love it!