I am officially 60 pounds lighter than I was a year ago! I'm grateful for sparkpeople.com, cheaper produce and a lovely walking environment. I appreciate my husband watching Miss Priss one night a week solo until I get home from working out and loving me no matter the size. I appreciate the uplifting people I work with who are always encouraging me.
I want to encourage YOU that you can lose weight if it's your goal. Make small steps and stick with them! If i can do it, i know you can too!
This weekend was one for a lot of reflecting. I thought a lot about deserts. And philosophers. And the combination. Why is it common for wise men to take time to pray and fast and just be by themselves in the desert?
The discipline-control-freak in me wanted to take off for the nearest desert and figure it out. But that led to another question. Why are there so few mothers who are recognized philosophers? Have you ever heard of a mother wandering off in the desert to find herself and being in any way lauded? They are usually considered nuts who abandoned their children for selfish reasons. Maybe that is true.
As a mother I can't run away and figure out the important questions in my brain. I have to figure it out as I'm running. Sometimes, however, motherhood reminds me of a desert. There's the scorching of my selfish desires as I work towards a purer, more altruistic vision; there's the searing heat of soul-searching in order to make sure that what I am doing out of freedom won't result in bondage for my child down the road; the thirst is palpable... thirst for knowledge, thirst for guidance, thirst for the best way to do everything because each small detail can make a big impact. Sometimes desert snakes startle me. Sometimes dust storms blind me. Sometimes I feel like it will be a 40 year journey and I will murmur and complain and never figure out how to mature, like many of the children of Israel. But, every once in a while, I find an oasis and see a leaner, more self-disciplined, reflection of a person with Living-Water-tuned-senses that is slowly shaping.
If motherhood can be like a desert, surely righteous children are as worth it as a Promised Land.
I had a lot of fun learning how to make Guatemalan dishes over Christmas break. The first thing we made was the masa recipe that I posted about yesterday. With that masa, we made corn tortillas and pupusas (a very typical dish here made from the corn masa dough and a filling of meat, cheese or beans. It ends up almost like a corn meal based fried pie.)
If you are interested in seeing the process for making pupusas, go here: http://www.all-about-guatemala.com/pupusa-recipe.html
To see how we made corn tortillas by hand, go here: http://www.all-about-guatemala.com/how-to-make-corn-tortillas.html
These were a really awesome learning experience and one of my favorite parts of being in Guatemala.
If you are interested in learning the process used to make "masa" from scratch (the dough used to make tamales, corn tortillas etc) I just posted step by step instructions with pictures here:
For Family Day our students had to come up with a game that they could offer the other students. 5th grade came up with Ring Toss and here are the designs the students came up with. Our points system. Closer picture of the snake. The hens. And, finally, a shot of one of my students acting the part of the elephant in Saving Lilly.
We will be spending Christmas in Guatemala. It will be the first time for me to be away from family the whole season. However, Guatemalans are serious about taking their Christmas vacation: we have off from Dec. 4 - Jan. 4! They are also serious about using firecrackers as a celebration tool. Since there isn't air-conditioning, it isn't necessary,with windows open we have been jumping a lot and will be until we get used to the bomb-like sounds.
Tomorrow is a celebration called "Quema del Diablo" (burn the devil) that involves people beating devil-shaped pinatas and then throwing the devil doll or pinata into the fire. This is one celebration we never learned about in Spanish culture class.
One of the things I am missing the most of home second to the people, are homemade things. There is something so personalized and special about the effort someone puts into making something specifically for you. Since I can't have the people, and because many of the things that are special because of the people who made them are in storage, I sometimes find myself searching for other visual reminders of those things and people.
Ever the tightwad, however, I haven't made any crazy purchases due to homesickness yet. :)
