Espinosa Footprints: March Or So

Sometimes I look at my little family and think, "They are just the cutest!"

Yesterday I had that thought twice!

One time it happened when I looked out the storm door in our house to see the whole lot of them outside quietly painting pine wood derby cars.

Danny, who wakes up at 4:30 for his new shift, had just gotten home from work, changed his clothes, and rallied the kids outside where they set to the serious task on the front stoop with their paint brushes, mounds of snow still dotting the yard beyond them, I took a mental snap shot.

And a physical one too.

Because these are the moments that add up to life as defined by our current post. Another moment where I stopped to cherish that unique entity that is my cute little family was while we were watching our movie night movie pick. Dominic, desiring to pick a movie that everyone would enjoy, landed upon an old VHS cassette of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The gentle pace of that movie is remarkable- I don't know that many kids today could appreciate the peaceful spirit and subtle witticism of the script. My kids are laughing at Tigger who has gotten himself stuck up at the highest part of a thin pine tree while Roo swings from his tail. Tigger says, "Please s-t-o-p, stop! You're rockin the forest!"... "I was just getting a little sea sick... From seeing too much."

Their eyes brighten and smiles broaden, tickled by the word play.

We took a spontaneous trip to South Florida during the first week of March to get away from the cold.

We were so vitamin D deficient that some of us were turning gray. By the end of our first day in South Florida, we were sunburned and I was so happy- it was so good to see sunshine again. We stayed at Hutchinson Island most of the time, with a quick trip to Miami to see Danny's family and another day at Sea World. We also got to see my parents' new house under construction!

Our return was one disaster after another for me but I survived. We had friends who flew in the day after we did. Danny took them to see the natural history museum and monuments on two separate days. I can't remember the last time we were out there.

I couldn't go- I was stuck in bed with a broken pinkie toe on one foot and a bandaged ankle on the opposite. I rolled it while trying not to throw up from the motion sickness I got during the landing. The sickness eventually got me anyway. My back and neck were sore from having fallen down the stairs trying to avoid stepping on the ankle... And Gigi caught a stomach virus. Did I mention our return trip was a stinker? Since I couldn't be productive, I got to spend extra time praying and reading a new book: The Christian in Complete Armor. That's a chewy one! It was written by a Puritan in the 1600s. The commendations on the cover are quoted from John Newton (who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace) among other church history giants. I had never heard of it!

We are back in the swing of things as far as school goes. Gigi, like Dominic did at her age, makes me want to throw the reading primer out the window and let her fend for herself. It's an agonizing process to teach an indifferent child to read. Agonizing!!!

I will point to a word and Gigi begins, "Wuh...It starts Wuh.... That word starts with Wuh too.... " (pointing at some other word on the opposite page.)

Me: Gigi, what does this word say?

Gigi throws herself backwards onto a couch cushion. I pick her back up and point to the word again.

"UUUUUgh. This word. This word? It saaaaaaays..... it saaaaaaaaaaaaaaays.... it absolutely saaaaaaaays.... it absolutely absolutely saaaaays.... This word saaaaaaaaaaaaaays....Mami, I'm hungry.

Me: Read this word!

Gigi: wwww-iiii-lllll. It says WILL! I know someone named WILL! He went to our old church!" (She proceeds to tell me a story about Will from our old church.)

We have now read the second word of a 40 word story. UUUUUUgh!

(This is a picture of Sir Walter Raleigh-Potato and his wife in prison because he got married without Queen Elizabeth's permission. )

In other news, we have received an onward assignment! In August of this year, we will be moving to La Paz, Bolivia for two years. This should be interesting. Bolivia has the lowest GDP per capita of all the countries in South America with a heavy indigenous population and a goverment that is occassionally hostile to that of the U.S., depending on how the wind blows. They are also experiencing extreme drought that is driving farmers out of work and into the cities, exacerbating the poverty. Still they are a pretty low key culture. I keep hearing the word "noble" to describe the people, which I take to mean that they are dignified. It will be helpful that we all know Spanish. Or at least Miami-Spanish.

I'm kind of excited, and trying not to worry about the altitude, or about language fatigue, or about not knowing what to do with the foodstuffs available in the street markets. There are no beaches and the weather stays between 40-60 degrees year round. The Caribbean islander in me may go into apoplexy (this happens to be our homeschool vocabulary word of the day).