My Dream

I've always said that I should be known as the patron saint of Wal-mart after the countless hours and dollars that I've spent there. I guess I was right after all. Thursday night I dreamt of Wal-mart. I had a dream that it was Joy's birthday and I needed to get her a gift, make her a cake and organize her a party. This is our family's 'birthday season'. In the next six weeks or so we have 5 birthdays in our family. Caleb, Patience, Joe, David and Hope all have birthdays coming up, but Joy's is not until March, so I don't know why I dreamed it was her birthday. But on with the story. I dreamed I was at my Aunt Dee's house and her house happened to be connected to Six Flags and also connected to Wal-mart. I suppose these are things I've been missing without even realizing it. In my dream I went in to Wal-mart to look for things for Joy. I couldn't believe all that was there: party decorations, balloons, toys, gifts, purses, even a cake all in one location!! I was amazed. Dumfounded even. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Not literally, but it was a feeling of sheer wonder at all that could be in one store. I could find anything I needed. It's amusing the things one misses.

Shots Fired

What a morning!! Yesterday our puppy got our under the gate while Joe and I were at language school and went for an adventure. We didn't realize she was gone until we were home for an hour or so and by then some one had likely picked her up and taken her home either to keep as a pet or to sell at the stadium on Sunday. That's a common occurrence here in Coch. Just the other day we saw someone downtown stop a taxi and pick up a whole litter of puppies on the street...most likely to sell. Ours was a very energetic and friendly puppy so she would've gone to anyone. It was a sad night around our house. Joe and I were just commenting yesterday morning what a great puppy she was. So this morning Joe took Faith and Hope to hang up signs with the puppy's picture offering a reward for her return. As they were hanging the first sign on a pole on the corner they heard a car zooming around the corner with tires squealing one block up. Joe said he thought "Come on, dude, this is a neighborhood!!" and he reached out and took the girls' hands to pull them away from the street. Just then three guys rounded the corner where the car came from and were yelling after the driver of car. When the car got right beside Joe and the girls one of the three angry yelling guys pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot towards the car which also happened to be right by MY HUSBAND AND GIRLS!!!! They were right in the line of fire. Joe yelled "RUN!" at Faith and she ran down a side street perpendicular to the incident toward our house. Meanwhile he picked up Hope and started running behind Faith. They ran the couple of blocks home as people were coming out of their houses to see what the excitement was. Even though today is one of the myriad of holidays in Cochabamba and there were lots of fireworks and fiestas last night and this morning I guess the Cochabambinos can tell the difference between real gunfire and the loud fireworks. We don't yet have this skill. Often they use dynamite in the blockades here as a deterrent for people going through. So it's kind of a joke between me and Joe that whenever we heard loud bangs we say, "I hope that's dynamite!" because that would be better than the alternative of gun fire. When Joe and the girls got home and blurted out the story to the rest of us, we prayed and thanked God for keeping them safe. I suppose it hasn't traumatized them too badly as Hope's assessment of the situation is "It was AWESOME!". She's had quite the last few hours, first her puppy ran away, then last night there was a very loud fiesta next door until the wee hours of the morning, and at 3:40 a.m. she fell out of her top bunk. Now you all know that Joe and I are very laid back and don't often get overly concerned with accidents, bumps, and falls. However, Hope has the dubious honor of having the largest goose egg on her forehead that we have ever seen in 40 some-odd years of life and over 18 years of parenting. She also had a scraped face and bloody nose. We seriously considered taking her to whatever equivalent of the ER that they have here, but decided against it after we checked her for coherency and eye dilation and those appeared fine. We put ice on her head and had her sleep in our bed. Today she has a bit of a headache and still a rather large goose egg, but is doing fine. Good enough to run from gunfire in fact.

Post Script to this story: YEAH!!!!! We got our puppy back. Our security guard went looking for her and found her in someone's yard. We gave both the guard and the person who brought her back a reward. Of course they were rewarded by 12 happy faces as well.

Old Wine in New Wineskins

Last Sunday we had a different experience at church. It was our first communion at our new Bolivian home church. First we listened to a sermon (in Spanish of course) by Pastor Pepe and tried to decipher what he was preaching about. The title his sermon was Por Que Vino la Sequia? (Why the Wine of Drought/Suffering). I didn't recognize the word sequia and thought that since it was communion Sunday he was going to speak on the wine of the Lord's Supper, but not surprisingly I was wrong and this wasn't his topic. He bravely spoke of how we are called to serve only the One True God and worshipping or serving other gods including the indigenous gods will lead to suffering and spiritual drought in the country. I thought this was particularly courageous during these days in Bolivia when there is a push to go back and worship ancestors and ancient false gods.

After the sermon it was time to share our first communion in Bolivia. First they passed the bread. It tasted a bit stale or perhaps even a tiny bit mildewed, but it was so great to be taking the Lord's Supper with our brothers and sisters here that it didn't even matter. Next, we were to take the juice....or so we thought. When the 'juice' tray was about 3 or 4 rows in front of us, Joe and I simultaneously caught a scent in the air and discerned it wasn't grape juice. Well, I suppose at one time it had been grape juice, but now it was full blown fermented wine. We began to prepare the kiddos. We told them that this church uses real wine and to just slam it down, try not to cough or spit it out. Jake sat next to me and passed me a cup. I told him next time we take communion to look for the emptiest cup for me. :>) Joe poured some of Hope's into his cup so she wouldn't have to drink so much. (At least this is the story he told me.) When it was time to share the cup together, we all slammed it down like you see cowboys in old westerns slamming whiskey shots. You can guess what the topic of our lunch conversation was. It went something like this: Josh said, "It tasted like cough syrup." Hope said, "I thought it was real blood." and so on. Joe said that it was the first alcohol that has crossed his lips in 25 years. I said at least it killed any bad bacteria that was in the bread. Needless to say I don't think any of us will forget our first communion in a Bolivian church.

Groceries

Here's a pic of our weekly haul from the Saturday market....at least some of it. There's more in the fridge. Note the eggs: they aren't refrigerated. It was a bit strange at first to us, but no one has contracted salmonella yet so I guess we're okay leaving them out. On a normal Saturday we buy about $40 worth of fruits, veggies, eggs and cheese at the Saturday Ferria. Here you see about $60 worth. The cheese is a large part of the cost at about $4 a pound. In the picture are 75 tangerines, 25 apples, 5 pounds of potatoes, 2.2 pounds of carrots, 1/4 bushel of onions, bunches of garlic, 2.2 pounds of kiwi, 4.4 pounds of plums, 2 watermelons, 1/4 bushel of tomatoes, 100 bananas, a couple of large avocados, 2.2 pounds of limes, and 3 flats of eggs (90). In the fridge we have 4 pounds of cheese, 3 quarts of strawberries, a large stem of broccoli, and a bag of lettuce. I also bought a bouquet of freesia and a dozen roses. This amount usually lasts us until about Thursday when we need to go to a smaller everyday market to fill in what we need. It's amazing how much our family can eat. I think we're eating more healthy foods though. At the market there are these little 'wheel barrow kids'. They are mostly (but not all) boys that range in age from about 6 years old to maybe 11 or 12. They follow you around with a wheel barrow and carry your groceries. Then they will even wheel them to your house. We live a few blocks away from the Saturday market. So, imagine a young boy (or girl) carrying all the groceries you see in the picture above plus the things in our fridge in a wheel barrow over cobblestones streets because the street is better than the broken up sidewalk. Since we have more than the usual amount of groceries we pay a bit more than the normal rate. We usually pay 8 bolivianos (a bit more than $1) and buy him a drink. Last week I was not feeling well and Joe went alone and bought the boy a Dr. Pepper. The boy was ecstatic! The cost of a Dr. Pepper is 12 times what a juice that he would normally get costs.

Language School Jitters

Well, it's official. We visited the language school on Monday to arrange for starting our classes. We will begin on August 13....a week from next Monday. Seth, Jake and Caleb will also be going. They will take a 4-6 month course while Joe and I will be in for a minimum of a year. When I say it that way it kinda sounds like a prison sentence, doesn't it? I have lots of good reasons for being excited about language school, yet I find myself dreading it a tad. It's been a long time since I've been a student. So many pregnancies have killed thousands, perhaps even millions, of my formerly useful brain cells.
Now I feel as though my brain is:

one part Jello (or more likely Coca Cola Zero),

(b) a bit of Scripture,

(3) a spotty memory center for recipes, chores, and schedules

(d) my kids' names on a good day and

(5) from time to time there are nagging reminders of things I once knew.

These moments are most clear when trying to help my teens with their math. I once was a math major. Now it all escapes me. I hate ellipses, hyperbolas, distance formulas and everything related to them. (Can you tell what Jake is learning in his math?) Everything escapes me...where I put my money, keys, and sunglasses. The key thing can be maddening here in Bolivia since we must keep our gate padlocked. Therefore, when someone rings the gate bell I must go out and tell them to wait uno momento while I search frantically for my key to let them in. Here’s a scenario that happens to me on a regular basis: I send one of my children to carry out some needed task. They come back and tell me why they couldn't accomplish the goal and I can't even remember what I had told them to do. Many times I also send one of them to do something, then later ask "Where is (fill in the blank with the sent child's name)? I forget that I was the one that sent them on a task!! Often I will call a child and by the time they come to me, I've forgotten why I called them. They say all of our memories are filed neatly in our brains, well evidently I've lost the, the, the....what do you call that? Oh yeah, index. I've lost the keys that unlock the intelligent part of my brain. Sure, on most days I can carry on a conversation with one of my preschoolers, but beyond that I seem to struggle.

I know I wasn't always this way. I remember meditating on complex and deep things. I also believe that I used to be able to communicate multi-syllabically. But of course I can't know for sure since I can't really remember what or when. I also have the attention span of a flea. I flitter from one thing to another. I embark on typing an entry to my blog and remember that I must put in some laundry. (Hey, at least I remembered before we were all out of socks and undies!) Then I begin sorting laundry and decide I must start something for lunch. I go to the kitchen and see dishes that need to be put away, do this, clean the kitchen and then go back to my computer forgetting the lunch and the half sorted laundry. I get distracted more easily than a kindergartener. This is part of growing older I know. I am over 40 now. However, I could definitely use some of those long-gone brain cells as I begin to learn Spanish.

I suppose this could be considered a plea for help. A plea for prayer. Please pray that I will be able to learn what I need to and won't be too overwhelmed in language school. We will be going for 3 hours a day 5 days a week. That's like 15 college credit hours of all Spanish. Plus, there is an additional 3-5 hours a day of homework, work with a tutor and going out into the community to practice my Spanish. My brain feels like mush just thinking of it. So, would you please commit to praying for me as I begin learning Spanish. It is of utmost importance. I must give it my best shot as feeble as I might be. I have been praying for the gift of languages. Actually only the gift of language (singular)...Spanish. I know that God is able to give me this gift and I so desire it. Yet I know that if He withholds it from me it is because He will give me the capability to learn it without His supernatural input. I'm still hoping though. Either way I need His help for this gargantuan task set before me. I can not do it on my own. Thanks for your prayers and even fasting for me on this if you feel led. I would fast as well, but I always forget and eat. :>)

A Day at the Lake and Our Anniversary Date

Laughing by the Lake

Faith and David on the dock

Look at that view!

Skipping Rocks from the Dock

Joe in the kitchen eating Marilyn's delicious cake. We haven't yet acquired a taste for Bolivian cakes. They look beautiful, but as Joe says they taste like a wet sponge pulled out mop water.

The Gang in the Kichen

Cutie Petuties

They have two sets of triple bunks in one bedrooms of the cabin. They also have 2 lofts and 2 other bedrooms so that all 12 of us will have a bed when we go there sometime to spend the night.

Joe, Alan and Kirk

Don't let the picture fool you. Alan did all the grilling. :>)

Canoeing on the Lake

Having Fun

A picture to prove I was there, too.

Seth Relaxing

More Canoeing

Josh and David in the Canoe

David looks like he's having a good time.

Ben and Josh by the Lake

Caleb

Faith

Everyone wants a turn.

Patience Peeking under the Porch Swing

Kirk, Jake, David, Josh, and Ben

Last Saturday was our anniversary. Joe and I have now been married for 23 years. I love him now more than ever. He is the absolute best person I know. He's the most godly man, best friend, caring husband and devoted father I've ever met. I'm so glad to be his wife. Okay, okay enough mushy stuff. Let me tell you a bit about our anniversary. On Saturday our family was invited to the SIM lake house that's a ways outside of the city. We thought this sounded like a fun diversion for our anniversary and so we decided to go. Since we don't have wheels yet (or driver's licenses for that matter) we haven't traveled outside of the city. We thought it would be a few months to a year before we would be able to venture out that far since we also are not yet even close to fluent in Spanish. (We think we're doing well when we get the taxi driver or the people at the market to understand us.) So, we were grateful to the Andrews family for their invitation and their willingness to chauffeur all 12 of the Holman clan out there. I didn't know how much I needed to be out of the city until we were on the way there. As we were driving up the twisting roads toward the lake I began to relax. I didn't realize I had been 'uptight' until I felt this feeling of relaxation coming over me. It was so good to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city. About an hour later we were at the cabin. Just the week before we had been talking about how much we loved the Riverside Baptist Church's campground up near Grand Lake, Colorado. We have such great memories of being there with friends. This lake cabin reminded us of the campground there in the Rockies. We had a wonderful day with Alan and Marilyn and their two sons Kirk and Seth. We just hung out and cooked out and got to know each other better. The kids had a great time canoeing on the lake and playing games. It was so tranquil and peaceful on the lake. So calming. Before we knew it the day was over and it was time to come home.

On the way home we saw a young man who was evidently hit by a bus. He was lying in the road with his head turned at a grotesque angle. A pedestrian being hit by a car or a bus isn't an uncommon occurrence here. There are crosses beside the roads here in town where pedestrians have been killed by cars or buses. It's also not unusual for the bus drivers to be drunk. There is no law against drunk driving in Bolivia and a recent study we heard about said that 80% of Bolivians have a problem with alcohol. We took the accident as an opportunity to warn our children about the dangers of crossing the streets here. Once we were back home in the city, we were grateful that the Andrews stayed at our house to visit for a while more. The older kids played some video games, the little ones ('honeys' as Paish calls them....I love that word...honeys...I'm going to start calling them this, too) ate PBJs and went to bed. The two couples sat and talked and prayed together. It was a special time for Joe and I. We thoroughly enjoyed our anniversary.

But we decided to go on a date to celebrate our anniversary just the two of us on another night. After all why not drag this out? We went to a nice restaurant here in town and talked about our last 23 years together. The high points, the low points and all kinds of things in-between. It was a great date. We didn't want it to end so we walked to the movie theater, but there was nothing we wanted to see. We were too dressed up to go bowling...the only other amusement in town. There are only two bowling alleys in Bolivia. The one here in Coch and one in La Paz. The one in La Paz still has the pins set up by hand!! The one here in Coch is much more 'modern' but the floors won't allow you to slide even with bowling shoes on and they are also warped, so you never know which way the ball might roll. It makes it more of an adventure and even levels the playing field a little which I like since I'm not a good bowler. I'm not a good bowler YET, anyway. We think that when we come back to the states, we might all be pretty good but will have some wacky form since we can't slide here. Next, we thought about going for coffee, but have gotten too old to drink non-decaf coffee that late at night and that's all that's available here. So we just went for a stroll. Evidently it was some sort of a holiday or at least a young person hang out night that we didn't know about. The street was filled with youth drinking and partying, so we just decided to go home. We grabbed a taxi instead of walking since we were a bit more dressed up and also we were slightly concerned about all the drunk youth. We thought we were safe once we were in the taxi. There's something I have to explain at this juncture. There are different types of taxis here in Coch. You might see just some car with a homemade sign stuck in their window saying "TAXI". Then there are other cars with the word "TAXI" actually painted on the side. These are a bit more official. Then there are 'radio taxis'. These are taxi companies that you can call and they will dispatch a taxi to pick you up. These taxis also pick up people on the street. They are a bit more expensive and are considered the safest form of public transportation. One more thing about taxis, whenever a taxi driver sees gringos walking, they honk to see if you want a ride. They think you MUST want a ride if you are a gringo. Everyday when Joe and I go out for a walk, we get lots of honks to see if we'd like a ride. We have a joke that we're going to make a sign that says, "No, we don't want a ride we're just gringos walking!" So anyway back to our anniversary date. We finally got in a radio taxi and thought we were safe. That is until we smelled the alcohol and noticed that the taxi driver was weaving more than the normal weave of muddled traffic. It was then that we realized that our driver was indeed drunk. YIKES. Joe said "It's only a few blocks and we aren't going any faster than 20 mph so we'll just stay in. If he has a wreck, we'll hop out and get another taxi." I agreed with this cavalier idea since I'm a laid back Pooh...a bear with very little brain I might add. We made it home safe and sound and lived to see another day. Of course we have told our children to NEVER do that. If they get in a taxi or a bus with a drunk/drinking driver they are to get out immediately and find another one. We recently attended a seminar about Bolivian culture. We learned that Bolivians aren't generally risk takers. At least not risks that they are not used to. They accept certain risks as normal. Like a few weeks back 4 people were killed in a bus accident where the driver was drunk. People got on the bus, smelled the alcohol, saw the driver's bottle, knew the driver was drunk and stayed on the bus anyway. It was an acceptable risk to them, because they were familiar with the scenario.

Our House and New Puppy

Here is the set of keys they gave us to our house when we moved in. No kidding. There are 18 different keys for different doors. No master keys here. It can prove to be a challenge. As you begin the tour of our house notice how many doors we have. Just on the main floor there are 6 doors leading outside! Then each balcony (3) has a different key, as does the kitchen, the pantry, the bedrooms, the hall closet that holds the hot water heater (really), the outiside depositos (storage rooms), etc., etc. Plus we have 2 keys for the locks of the gates. Of course when we first moved in and had been in the house less than 30 minutes, Patience decided to use the potty by herself (which she has never done before). She locked herself in the bathroom. Of course that room DOESN'T have a key!!! The door knobs here are quite high especially for a two year old. I had to go around to the side of the house and look through a window and talk her through how to turn the lock which she was able to accomplish after only about 15 very long minutes!! The window was barred and not even Josh could fit through. I don't know what we would've done if she didn't open it. It made for an interesting first few moments in our new house. Also on your 'tour' look at all the differing angles of our house. There is not one single rectangular room. They all have odd shapes....triangles, circles, sloping roofs, etc. I know that the builders must have been cursing the architect as they built this house.


For those of you who wanted to see, here's a picture of the tile in my bathroom. Isn't it lovely?


Here's a shot of our dining room looking down from upstairs.


The kiddos watching one of those $1.24 movies. I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but the coffee table is missing it's glass top. It didn't even last 12 hours before it broke. Of course it was one of our teens, not one of the littles that broke it. We've also broken plenty of glasses. Tile floors are very unforgiving.


Joe working on our newsletter at our table. Notice the Old Navy shorts? I picked them up at La Cancha for 10 bolivianos (about $1.24....the same as movies).



Benjamin on the balcony of his room that he shares with Caleb, David and Josh.

We have very little grass...this is the dirt of our front yard. Boy can the kids get dirty here. I no longer judge anyone with dirty kids as mine are dirty a good percentage of the time. A man is coming next month to plant some. He said it's too fria (cold) now.

Here is our front door. Around to the left is the 'maid's quarters'

which is Seth and Jake's bedroom. It's just barely big enough to

fit their bunk bed and Jake's keyboard in.

Jake and Caleb unlocking the gate to go out.

The upstairs 'hang out' area. Down below to the right is our dining room. Notice all the angles. The room at the back left of the pic is circular!

A shot of the living room from above and a bit of the dining room too. It's all one big open space. Notice more angles.

Joe working at the computer in my hallway office. This is directly opposite of the dining room. To his left is another of the doors leading outside.

Me with Starbucks our fierce guard dog. Since we have such good security guards on our street, and not a big yard, we decided to get a small dog. She won't scare off too many burglars, but we're all having fun with her.

Caleb, Ben, David and Josh's room

Our kitchen. I know the yellow is a bit 'much' but we actually painted it this color. You should have seen the bright royal blue it was before. It clashed with the green tile. Someone told me it looks like 'school bus' yellow, but I prefer to think of it as 'sunflower' yellow. Also notice the silver water filter to the left of the sink and the clear plastic container on the counter holding water. We can't drink the water without filtering it. We can't even brush our teeth with it. We keep a plastic container of 'good' water ('the water without bugs' as the kids call it) in each bathroom. Also notice we have no dishwasher. It's quite a chore to wash by hand in that tiny sink all the dishes we use each day. Notice back where the windows are, that's another round room.

Another shot of Joe at the table. Behind the table is another of the doors leading outside.

Faith, Hope, David and Josh in the living room. Notice the door behind them.

Hope with Starbucks

Jake, Caleb, and Ben doing schoolwork

Well I hope this gives you a glimpse of our house here in Cochabamba. We are thankful to have our house and to feel settled here in our new home. We are hoping to begin language school on August 9. We are waiting until after our orientation week which will be August 3-7.

Seth got his results back from the lab yesterday. He has a stomach infection and some amoeba in his system. He started on antibiotics and is beginning to feel better. I was really feeling ill last night. I had a fever, was very queasy and achy-sore like I had the flu. I feel some better today. Still queasy, but the fever and soreness are gone. I hope I don't need to go to the doc. Here everytime us new gringos need to see a doc, they want us to bring in a stool sample. YUCK! So you can pray that I don't have to go to the doc so he can determine which 'amoeba of the week' I have! I'm off now to drink some coca leaf tea. It's the same leaf that some distort to make cocaine. It eases upset stomachs. It's also good for altitude sickness.

Soon I hope to post some pics of around town. The archtecture in Coch is a cross between Spanish colonial and rubble. :>)