photo journal of the past month in La Calera

My broccoli plants went to flower.
The day before I cut them to bring inside,
I saw a humming bird
drinking from these delicate blossoms.

I went horseback riding with Annika
and her friend, Justina.
I live in a beautiful place!

Sunday was a cinnamon rolls
kind of day!

TabbyCat thinks she owns my room.
Here she is, lazing about in
my dirty clothes bag.

Today is my birthday!
I received sunshine, as well as
two dozen sunflowers from Julio!

Water

Here at the finca (farm), we don't have public water service.  We exclusively use rainwater and springwater for all of our bathing, dishwashing, toilet-flushing, clotheswashing, and animal-watering needs.  For drinking and cooking purposes, we have large water bottles (think: the water cooler at the office) that we refill in the city weekly.
Thanks to La Niña weather phenomenon, we had way more than enough water in our numerous, enormous, underground cisterns and above-ground tanks.  Our director (and neighbor) told us we were free to take long showers, flush the toilet even if it's just "yellow" (instead of "letting it mellow"), not have to save our shower water for flushing, not have to use water from the rain barrels to wash clothes... in fact, we needed more space in the cisterns to hold all that water!
Last week, he went up to check on a cistern that he had left filling from overflow from another tank.  Somehow the water is disappearing, even though he didn't find any leaks.  Now, instead of our overflowing supply, it looks like we only have less than three months' supply of water!

So now, we need to be very conservative with our shower and dish water; not using as much, and reusing it for flushing purposes.  And, as much as we like sun, we need rain.  We also need to find out if there is a leak, and fix it!

Two and a half years ago, when I first came up to live at the farm, there was a drought.  I'm talking severe dry spell.  All the neighbors were periodically buying truckloads of water to fill their tanks.  It wasn't raining, and the springs weren't flowing.  This went on for a few months.  We had to be good stewards of the little water we had, but even as frugal as we were (only washing clothes in the city, for example, and taking bucket-baths), there was no way we could still have water, because on top of the climatic situation, we discovered that the cistern was cracked.
Yet, we never ran out of water.  I learned to trust God as faithful provider of water.  (Jehovah Jireh H20?)

So now, it's time to conserve and be wise.  But it's also time to trust; not to worry!

soul encasements

My friends, Sara and Stephen, recently had a beautiful baby girl.  She's amazing, and they are enthralled new parents.  When Ingie and I went to visit them, I was amazed at how relaxed this first-time mom and dad are!  We had a really great visit, including delicious chicken and veggie stir-fry with pasta (made by yours truly), Crepes and Waffles limited edition choco-mint ice cream (yum!), and laughter to the point of tears.

Stephen said something that really amazed me.  He commented that his view of sexuality has been transformed now that he's a father.  Sara's words as Zoe quietly nursed, "We had sex and SHE is the result," gave a tangible, breath-filled, example of this miracle, complete with ten tiny, perfect toes.

"Yeah, I mean, it's this thing that we take so lightly, but... it creates soul encasements."

And when we treat sex and sexuality as a matter of little consequence, then we treat the lives that are created as unimportant as well.

My fiancé is preparing to help lead a weekend workshop/conference about sexuality at his church.  There are so many myths and unanswered questions and untouched topics, especially within the Christian church, that we tend toward sexual disorders or, at the very least, not enjoying our sexuality to the full extent that God designed and intended it for!  So, even we who walk in relationship with the creator (and inventor of sex and sexuality) are tricked into looking the other way, trying to ignore something so vital, or understand it via others' theories.  We can't keep ignoring our sexuality, church.  Nor can we let Sex reign as god.  Sexuality and spirituality are intertwined.  It creates soul encasements...

If we're concerned with souls, why are we doing so much damage -- and letting damage be done -- with this twisted sexuality?

engaged!

Here's an exciting announcement:  I'm engaged!!!!!!!

Still no wedding date yet... we really haven't even started trying to figure out the details yet!  Julio, my fiance (!), is still in Venezuela (where his family lives), but will be moving to Bogota next month!  yipee!!!