Up close

Anna is eight months old. More details to follow, but here are a few shots from yesterday. You may want to nuzzle into her cute little neck like we do.

Water...

Water everywhere. It's been raining almost without pause since Saturday: inches and inches, buckets at times, fine mist other times, but always water. And it's gray. Here are a few photos to set the mood...

Luckily there is a morning custom of eating and drinking some good stuff about mid-morning. Today Eloina made some delicious baked empanadas filled with cheese, green onions, and hot peppers. Carmen mixed up some creamy hot chocolate made from a bar of raw cocoa.

It was gooood.
And our work at Centro Menno carries on.

Week in review

Nothing very exciting to report on this week - mainly just a few photos of the centers of our life right now.

It started off cold - the kind where you put any and all available layers of clothes on the kiddies for night and day. Anna had her six month vaccines (yes, late) last Friday. Whether from that, or the cold, or the ridiculously loud church services across the street from us every day, she was a bit...anxious. To put it mildly.

Luckily she's cute and learning new things every day. Here she pulls herself up in her bed/playpen to see all the action with Jonathan.

While she doesn't love being on her belly, she spends more time that way and can maneuver herself lots of different ways to get what she wants.

One of the highlights (and there are many) of Jonathan's day is going down to "Chow Mommer" (Centro Menno) in the morning to work. Here he is on Kirsten's computer, right before resetting the ring tone on her phone. Again.

Anna's been eating SO well for the last few weeks. She'll devour some oatmeal/rice cereal for breakfast and valiantly eat whatever we're having for lunch plus pureed veg, and then some fruit in the afternoon. Here I had put two strawberry halves in her sucky-thing (thanks Rachel!) and she sucked that thing right down. And then rubbed her hands vigorously all over her face, eyes, and hair. In fact, she is quite vigorous in all she does - what an interesting little girl!

Two other things have been much in our thoughts this week, one at either end of the life cycle. My great-uncle, Julius Toews, passed away on Sunday-Monday night in Morgenland colony. He was in his 80s and had struggled health-wise for some time. The funeral was on Tuesday, and we were sorry that we couldn't go because of the busy day at Centro Menno. And on the other end, we continue to hope, pray, and celebrate with my brother and sister-in-law as they anticipate their little twinkies!

Happy Birthday, Gaithi!

Jonathan and Anna were recently invited to the birthday party of one of their abuela's (Juana's) nieces, Gaithi Masavi, who turned 4. It was a fun, low-key event with kid's music, visiting, empanadas, chocolate cake, and birthday bags for all the kids. We'd already had a long day in Pailon, so Jonathan was a bit shy and tired (and Anna zonked out in the sling) - watching everything from the safety of dad's arms. But every since his own birthday party in March, everything having to do with birthdays is much talked about, so we're glad we got to go. 

A reluctant birthday girl.

Filling the birthday bags.

Some of our kids' favorite people: Vicki and Juana Masavi and Lizette Flores. Juana's daughter-in-law and granddaughter are at left.

Munching on treats from the birthday bag, while watching the action from a safe distance.

Third-last one

The June issue of Menno Bote is hot off the printing press!

This month's photo feature is again a sampling from colonies visited by Willmar Harder and Kennert Giesbrecht. It includes a photo and invitation to the inaguration, on June 17, of a new Mennonite Brethren Church building in campo 6 of colony Canadiense II.

Other articles include a devotional by J.C. Wenger on doubt as an element of faith; stats and analysis of the corn, sorghum, and soybean harvest; an article detailing the ongoing "El Mutún" conflict regarding iron ore extraction in eastern Bolivia; an MCC photo essay of life in Haiti two years after the earthquake; another photo essay on the special characteristics of traveling with Kennert Giesbrecht of the Mennonitische Post; a short description of the "reality-augmenting" eyeglasses Google recently unveiled (as a work-in-progress); and much, much more. Seriously the best issue ever, folks.

This is also the third-last issue that I'll be working on, as we'll be leaving Bolivia and moving to Mountain Lake, Minnesota in 57 days. Yikes!

Highlights

This is the new best thing for everyone, thanks to Ramont's creativity.

Field trip

This good-looking group - the current MCC Bolivia staff (minus Willmar and Hannah's family) - recently took a field trip to the Pailón area. The goal was to visit some of the connections the Low German Mennonite program of MCC Bolivia has with other organizations in the same field. As it turns out, many of our Bolivian co-workers have never been near a Mennonite colony, to Pailón, or even further east out of Santa Cruz than Cotoca. So in some ways this was an eye-opening experience for all of us.

The first stop was at Guía de Paz, the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for Low German-speaking Mennonites currently being built by local Mennonites. MCC is only one of the nine or so groups helping to create this new institution (read more about it on MCC Bolivia's website).

Jacob Teichroeb of Chihuahua (formerly of Pinondi Colony) gave our group a tour of the building. He is a member of the steering committee for the center. He came onboard while the Center was working to legally register as an institution, and needed Bolivian-born representatives and signatures. Jacob also talked to us about why the center is necessary, and shared some personal anecdotes of how he and his friends misused alcohol in their youth. Several of our co-workers were quite interested in his story and his interpretation of what colony life can be like.

The huge building is coming along nicely. When we were there two weeks ago the tile floors were all laid. When we came back last Saturday for another fund-raiser, the outside of the building had been painted, and several rooms had been almost finished with windows, ceiling panels, and doors. The optimistic plan is to open in September.

Our group then headed to the Villa Nueva community to tour the Mennonite school there. Director Arlie Peters told us about the needs that led to the community and school being built and shared the good news that the school was recently officially licensed by the Bolivian government. The photos here are taken in the languages room, where girls and boys were working on English lessons. We were impressed that most of the teaching is in Spanish, meaning that these kids will be fluent in at least two languages (and possibly English as well).

In the photo below, Elizabeth Masavi teaches a music class. She is a sister to MCC worker Juana Masavi, and an active member in the Bolivian Mennonite Church in Santa Cruz. She has also been an IVEPer in Canada.

On our way home we stopped in Cotoco to eat polla a la brasa with rice, greasy noodles, and french fries (you can never overdo the starch in this place).

We also took a stroll through the market, watched a sloth hanging in a tree, and ate some ice cream in the plaza.

Our kids did really well the whole trip, including the bus ride. For Anna it helped to suck on an apple. For Jonathan, anything with a motor and wheels is a dream come true.



Thanks to Paola Suarez and Kirsten Navis for the photos. You can see more photos and descriptions about MCC Bolivia's work here.

Anna at seven months

Each month that passes we think, ahhh, life is getting better, more interesting, and easier (in a parenting kind of way). This last month was definitely the most fun we've had with Anna. She has become so much more responsive in terms of smiles, giggles, shrieks of indignation, howls of despair, and eyes that seem to not miss anything. She clearly knows what she wants, and we soon know just as clearly. This little girl will not sit still, and usually not even sit; she always wants to stand on your lap and crane around to see what's behind her. We're trying not to project too much onto her at this tender age, but we're pretty sure that she won't be that laid-back, "sanguine" personality type. Which is just as well, since neither Ramont nor I seem to have been either.







Now at seven months Anna:


Has her first tooth: The first one (on the bottom) poked through at exactly seven months (two months ahead of Jonathan). There wasn't too much accompanying drama.

Eats: Still mainly mama-milk. She's rather disdainful of most solid foods, no matter how amazing I think they are and think she should think.

Sleeps: Still somewhat random during the day, though usually .5-1 hour in the morning and in the afternoon. We are so, so very lucky that she still goes down for night at 5.30pm. Lately, though, she has begun to protest loudly each and every time I put her down for a nap or for night, no matter how tired she is. Sometimes it's frustrating (for her more than for me, probably), but sometimes it's a actually a bit amusing, because she is SO tired but still holds fast to the principle of the thing.

Missing: Her six month vaccinations (not sure if they're still not available due to medical workers' strikes).

Favorites: Wrestling with the pillows around her before falling asleep, grabbing me by the jowls and sucking on my face, sitting outside and having the wind blow on her, seeing herself in the mirror, any of Jonathan's entertainment acts, arching her back, and sucking (everything).


Traveling: We haven't traveled as much with Anna as we did when Jonathan was small, but the few road trips we've taken have been really good. She easily falls asleep in the car seat (and wakes up the minute we stop), and if she's well-fed seems content to play with or suck on whatever is close by. On a road trip yesterday, Jonathan reached out to hold her hand when she would get a bit squirrely. And if we're out and about during a nap- or bedtime, I can fold her up (it helps that she's the size of a koala bear) and put her into a sling I'm wearing, and she'll sleep very nicely. This is a huge improvement from when Jonathan was her age.

Anna seems ready to engage the world with full force...even in her sleep. And it just gets better and better.

Happy Bolivian mother's day!

[Stay tuned: Lots more blog posts to come soon, including MCC field trip, Anna at seven months, Guia de Paz fundraiser, Bolivian birthday party, and more].

Earlier

Pulled up to the hitching post and waiting for a diaper change.

Better than Teewee

While I was napping on Saturday afternoon (as well as one can with Anna steadily growling away beside me), Ramont was sawing and hammering away in the shop. Right before faspa he came up with his latest creation - a little cart for Jonathan to pull behind his all-purpose vehicle. Oh my, now we definitely don't need a TV for entertainment. All we do is sit back on the couch and watch.