73/365

"Ma, me, mi, mo, mu," said my little friend as she read her own handwriting. Then we read the line backwards. Then we read the syllables on cards. Then we mixed them up. I am pretty sure that we got past the point of memorization, and that she really started to put the sound with the symbol. She is learning to read.

Do you remember learning to read? I don't. Of course I know that I wasn't born reading, but it was so long ago...
I can not remember NOT reading.

What started as an evening outreach to minister and teach neighborhood kids with Bible lessons and art projects and computer skills grew when we began to figure out that our kids were coming to us not knowing how to read. Very few of these kids go to school. Several attended classes sporadically for a period of time, but did not finish even 6th grade. A handful are at the neighborhood elementary school but continue to supplement their learning.

Keila and volunteers that she has recruited from the church come daily to sit next to these kids and teach the skills required to pass the test to graduate from primaria, and then from secundaria. We all know that our life changes when we learn how to read. But showing up and sitting together, correcting and encouraging, teaching and motivating, day after day- our hope and prayer is that those things will have eternal value too.

366/366

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

CS Lewis

Farewell 2016.

365/366

In the frantic pace of life, we need to slow down and simply observe natural forces around us and create out of that experience. What makes us truly human may not be how fast we are able to accomplish a task but what we experience fully, carefully, and quietly in the process.
- Makoto Fujimura

Knowing the excitement and anticipation and even the element of anxiety my artist friend experiences on showing her works makes it easy to stop and ask the other artists about their art. One explained the time, the hours, it requires to dye and shape and felt wool pieces that somehow adhere to other fabrics to create unexpected beauty. Another told of his evolution as an artist, the journey from realizing his abstract techniques might actually be on the edge of obsessive compulsive. A young man sat against the wall of the building and recalled the wonder of his finishing his very first painting. We are all made in the image of our Creator, made to create.

364/366

Overheard today-
"My favorite color is rainbow."

Yes, I'm a mom of kids in their late teens and 20's and even 30's.
But my friends, you moms of littles and tots and babes in arm- can I tell you something?
I love your kids.
Really. I do.
I love for them to come over and play with our trains and blocks and crayons. I love to hear them tell me stories of what they love. And I don't mind a bit when they drop goldfish crackers on my floor (and neither does my dog...)

For this displaced Poppy, it's all joy to have your peeps for a morning. I promise. So ask me. Yeah, yeah, I'm busy with this and that but if I'm here, I want to serve you. I remember. I remember how sometimes you get in a pinch, and you have to go to the doctor or you need to get your hair cut. (Never ever take your littles with you to a haircut. Never. Ever. It makes the stylist nervous. And no one wants a nervous stylist. I speak from experience...) Sometimes, maybe, you just want to make your house clean without a trail of un-doing behind you. And sometimes you just have to sit in all quiet and do nothing for a time. That's ok too.

I remember those saints who served me when I was far, far away from family and my husband was far, far away besides. I'm forever indebted to the ladies who sent me their teens and the ones who had me sit on their couch or outside under their tree and reminded me that it was just a season. They were the ones who pointed me to the Word and who taught me to pray and who trusted me as a friend. We all need fellowship. Can I serve you?

And besides, is there nothing more grand than a little falling asleep in your lap?
Your littles bless me.
Thank you for sharing.

363/366

On my list of favorite things about living on the US/Mexico border...
every occassion is a good reason for lotería.

362/366

A rare day of nothing on the calendar, nowhere to be meant a day fully at home, and much neglected tasks suffer no more. Blinds pulled open, dust flying, papers disposed, vacuum fired up. Linens clean, sheets changed, laundry through the cycles.

And yet, partly cloudy skies are an apt description of my own condition this day, forcing myself through chores in the foggy overcast.

This morning I nodded when I read,
It seems natural enough to protect our hearts from grief—to grimly endure or anesthetize with busyness or distraction or exhaustion. But to protect our hearts from grief is to protect our hearts from love. And that’s no way to live.

I had forgotten. I had forgotten that the opposite of joy is not sadness, but fear. I had forgotten (again) that joy and sorrow are twin eggs of the same nest. I had forgotten that love is always worth the pain—always.

I had forgotten that battered hearts are the most beautiful in the end.

- Lanier Invester, "Seeds of Love," The Rabbit Room blog

361/366

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.
- Anne Lamott

360/366

Ever since becoming a Christ-follower, I have believed that the Perfect Storm is when Christmas falls on a Sunday. And no less so this year. 

Early to rise, the day begins- our traditional Christmas breakfast and the every-week-ordinary Sunday routine. Prayer and Sunday School and worship-
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

My favorite hymns. The sweet fellowship of our church family.
A present that didn't know how right it's timing would be. 

The ease of lunch with dear friends. An afternoon movie. Talking to far-away family. And finally, the opening of gifts, just icing on the cake, not the meal itself. 

And to finish, a family picture with the self-timer, missing the ones not in the frame so very much. 

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Oh, fall on your knees and hear the angels' voices
Singing, O, night divine
"O Holy Night"

358/366

on the morning run through the 'hood...
O come, O come Immanuel.

348/366

DPP13- drivedrivedrivedrive all the day long.
Thankful for my four drivers, safety, constant encouragement, the promises we cling to, long hard hugs and silly beautiful grands at the end of the day

347/366

DPP12- "God is asking the unthinkable. To trust him in the dark. To accept his will when we don’t understand. To submit to his sovereignty in the midst of uncertainty. To believe he has a purpose when nothing makes sense. Unthinkable as it is, God keeps asking me to trust him."

 - by Vaneetha Rendall Risner, "If I Only Knew Why," at the Desiring God website

When I woke up for the day, I had plans- plans for where I would be, what I would be doing, who I would be with, even what I would take a photo of. By a few minutes to 9, all of that and all of my family was changed. We are walking by faith, and trusting that our good and faithful God walks with us in this deep sadness.

346/366

DPP 11- We gathered together, young to aging, to sing the wonder of Advent, the hope of Christ who came and who comes again.

345/366

DPP10- Crisp morning, good health, sweet friends, and hardly a care in the world for this litte segment of time; we watched the colors fly up and waited for the rainbow apocalypse to drift our direction. Our post-race breakfast took an extraordinarily long time, and we were all getting frustrated. After waiting and waiting (and waiting), our waitress shared a piece of her story. She was an immigrant from a far away place, mourning the death of her mom, and on this day, very much overwhelmed by the demands of American culture and expectation. We offered her prayers of comfort and hopefully a little bit of grace, yet her words echo in my head and my heart even now.

344/366

DPP9- when the receiver understand what the gift is... the absolute hilarity of the White Elephant exchange.

343/366

DPP8- The longhorn really doesn't represent the fun we had (though it probably more accurately tells of my artistic abilities...)

342/366

DPP7- On this afternoon, the students learn from the teacher's mistakes. Over and over again today, I am reminded of how very impressive is that simple character trait of humility.

341/366

DPP6- "Truth be told, we all have hearts so easily distracted and forgetful... We need constant reminders of who God is and who we are."
- SheReadsTruth, "A Priest Calls People to Worship"

Walking out of the gym, His fingerprints the sky and again I am reminded of our Sovereign and merciful Creator God.

340/366

DPP5- A birthday-celebration-consolation dinner at the end of a very full day.

339/366

DPP 4- Tribute to perhaps the oldest ornament on the tree, the much beloved Jumping Jack, faithfully hanging since 1971 (as documented by the faded script on the back). Jack hung next to my sister's Santa down in the bottom branches of the tree for a good many years, which perhaps explains his missing leg and frayed string. Well done, Jack! 

336/366

DPP 1-  "And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12
The nativity collection numbers near 20 now. It may be the only collection that I have collected for myself- not collected for me by others. Today we lined the shelves and added the newest edition, whimsical peg bodies that make me smile.
#dpp2016