Ixtapaluca

I realized recently that I don’t like blog posts that look back over the Christmas season after it’s over. Having launched into a new year (and for us, getting past the end of the holiday season on the 6th), it seems so anti-climactic to go backwards again.

And yet, here I am, sharing a few random notes and facts from the past three weeks. I’ll try to keep it short.

• Hannah in Ixtapaluca: Hannah was able to visit us, thanks to a program through our mission that helps pay for a visit home for MKs. What a blessing to enjoy our first Christmas in four years together!
• Shortages: Like most of the world, we’ve been dealing with random shortages here. For example, over the fall it was certain sizes of paper. This week I discovered that my brand of deodorant was completely gone (don’t worry, I haven’t run out yet!). But for us who have our special recipes over the holiday season, our challenge was to find heavy cream, which has oddly been very hard to find at certain times.
• Dedicated mail carrier: Here’s dedication for you. Our mail carrier happened to see us driving down the street, and he had a small package for us. He chased us for several blocks on his motorcycle and flagged us down so that he could make his delivery.
• Two chilly services: We enjoyed two special evening services at our church, by a campfire. One was oddly rainy (add because it’s dry season). But we put up some tarps and warmed ourselves by the fire and ate tamales, and were all right. In the end, both services were great times of reflection and worship.
• New life: Hannah and I were walking to the store when we saw a pregnant lady on the street a few blocks from our house. We didn’t stop and help, because there were already some people there and a police officer was walking over. But when we passed by again, there was no doubt anymore what the problem had been. The lady was still in the street, and we heard the newborn baby crying.
• Games: We were able to get some time off over the holidays, and we enjoyed playing games together. One of these days I should write some reviews for you! But anyway, for new games we’ve been enjoying Space Park, Furnace, and an expansion for Galaxy Trucker – Galaxy Trucker Keep on Trucking.
• Luggage: From the time it was put on the plane to the time it arrived at our house, Hannah’s luggage took almost exactly 6 days to get here. It arrived on Christmas morning. But hearing other people’s stories, we were very thankful that Hannah made it – even though she arrived a day late!
• John: This year we’re very excited to be studying the Gospel of John as a church! For Christmas, Shari gave me a “Journible” of John, which is basically a good quality journal in which you write out the entire Gospel (see Journibles here). So I’ve been enjoying starting the year out in John.
• Tea: If there was a gift theme this Christmas for our family, it was probably tea. Everyone got some tea. Because, after all, everything is better with tea.

Well, I told you it was random!