My new bedroom

I should have done some before pictures, but those of you who had seen my bedroom knew that it was a screaming bright yellow.  Yes, I'm serious.  Screaming.

But now, it's this....

And who deserves all the credit for this oasis of beauty?  John Ferguson - that's right!  He has been working so hard this week to get this room beautiful - and he has done an amazing job!  Thank you so much honey!  You rock!

Come in for a visit...sit down, put your feet up...stay awhile...

I have been wanting to make this introduction for several days - right now I am making the time.  There is a new lady in the blogosphere - Martha is her name - and it is her heart she is sharing.  Or, it is a contribution team of 35 of us that are sharing in Martha's name.  The brainchild of my dear friend Holly and her friend (and now mine) Trish, A Martha's Heart seeks to encourage women in every aspect of their callings as women following hard after Christ Jesus in the midst of the daily duties of life.  The format is based off of Robert Munger's My Heart, Christ's Home,  with different "rooms" addressing specific areas of life.  Holly is "opening" a room a day - since last Wednesday.  Today the Family room was opened with an introduction to one of the contributors and an artical by yours truely.  Holly has gathered 35 of us to share our "hearts" as Marthas, seeking to balance life this side of Heaven while still longing to just sit at Jesus' feet.  We have come together for that purpose - to sit together at Jesus feet and encourage one another, help one another, laugh together, of course cry together, and share some awesome recipes and just plain practical advice in the process.

So come on in.  The invitation is open.  Come as you are...we have...and it's a good place to be.

Look out Gwyneth, there's a new Emma on the block

I don't know how well the news has gotten out, but, there is a new Emma, done by the BBC, which, as much as I hate to say it, puts the previous Emma to shame. (Sorry Gwyneth - you had your time in the limelight.)

Let me go back a month or so.  I was up late one night by myself, searching for a Crossing Jordan to dvr (yes, it's true), and I came across the beginning of a Masterpiece Theater showing of Emma, so I quickly dvr'd it so I could watch it later with Miranda and introduce her to the wonderful world of period movies.

We came back to it a couple of weeks later, and as I watched, I was so delighted - it was so funny and beautiful, bright and sunny and full of wit.  The acting is brilliant and clever and so full of expression.  Eventually all the kids were watching with me as well, so imagine our frustration when the recording ended, but the story had not!  I didn't know it was a multi-night event, so I had not recorded the next part - we were left with Emma and Mr. Churchill at the party at the Cole's trying to detect who had given Jane Fairfax the extravagant gift of the pianoforte - unbelievable!

So what were we to do?  I asked the kids if they wanted to wait until I purchased the DVD myself to finish it, or should I put on the other Emma that I had - the Gwyneth-Emma.  Jason was unsure, but the others said to put the Gwyneth-Emma on so they could at least finish the story.

Suddenly Gwyneth-Emma was dark and dank and not quite as witty.  As much as we loved Ewan McGregor in Star Wars, he was not quite so charming  as Mr. Frank Churchill - and his hair was, quite frankly, a distraction. We watched for about 10 minutes before Jason said, "I'm just going to wait for the other one.  This one isn't that good,"  and he left.  The other kids agreed.  So off Gwyneth-Emma went to the shelf, never to be heard from again.

I did purchase the new version, Emma 2009 as it is affectionately called.  Since that purchase, we have watched it 3 times.  One of those times being today.  My favorite character just slightly more than Emma and Mr. Knightly is Mr. Woodhouse played by Michael Gambon of Professor Dumbledore fame.  But really, the whole cast did such a great job.

In honor of my adoration for this production, I am putting Dead Souls by Gogol aside for now and picking up Emma by Jan Austen.  I have never read it, and I believe it is high time I did.

So all you Jane Austen fans, get a move on.  It can be purchased from Amazon.com, but I picked mine up at Wal-mart for a bit less.  I can't wait to hear what you think.

Just a bit of advertising

My friend, Holly, has been doing blog designs for a bit, and since she is sooo goood at it, I thought I would share her - which is hard for me because I love her dearly. 

So if you are in the market for a wonderful blog design, as I need, check her out here at Crown Laid Down Designs. 

Another fun bit of info, she has from time to time used some of my photos - and I love that. :)

First Skate

Today we ventured on the ice for our first attempt at ice skating.  It was a beautiful day, with even the temperature cooperating - a balmy 42 degrees F - much warmer than I hear our Texas friends and family are feeling today!

A few falls were inevitable, but overall, everyone did great!  Even I made one go around the pond, somewhat (very) shakily, but then gave up because my rental skates were killing my feet!  I do plan on getting out there again, but not before I get my own pair of perfectly fitted skates.

Here are a few images from the day:

Cool blog to check out

My sweet husband, John has shut down the RUF Peru blog and re-opened with his own personal thoughts, musings, etc. blog. It is really good - challenging and thought-provoking. Check it out - it is well worth being on one's Google reader.

Kicking the Darkness

Park Time

One of the things we will miss most from our life in Trujillo will be what has now become known as "Park Time" and it is everyday from around 4:00 in the afternoon until somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00pm when the parents are ready to go in. Everybody knows when park time is, which park is "THE park" and what will happen at "the park". The kids will break into various little groupings, sometimes the same, sometimes they like to change things up. Sometimes the boys will get a game of soccer, or baseball, or football going, depending on the mood of the season. Sometimes the girls will play store, gathering various sundries from the trash pile in the middle. Sometimes bikes are ridden, skates skated, scooters scooted. Sometimes trees are climbed and sometimes sidewalks are walked while the older girls figure out which Jonas brother is the cutest, and the older boys swap strategies for Runescape or Pirates Online.

What are the adults doing during all of this activity?
Sitting. Sitting in sling-back fabric chairs, and plastic lawn chairs discussing everything from recipes, to toe fungus, to which tv series we are currently addicted to, and simply sharing life together.

But what we are really doing - besides solving the problems of the world, or at least of Peru, is making memories. And these afternoons at the park, will be some of the sweetest we carry with us wherever we go.

Progress

On Thursday, I ventured to Plaza Vea for a shopping trip of goodies to get us through the weekend. I took Justin with me to help pick out birthday presents for Anna Ball and her twin brothers, Sam and Isaac, for their party on Saturday. I usually try not to take my purse out with me when I am not with John, since one never knows when another one might be tempted to take one's purse from one's arm forcibly (that was the nicest way I could say it), so I grabbed my credit card (for the purchases) and my carnet (that little card that is necessary for all things from using one's credit card, to picking up one's packages at the post office, to leaving the country, to breathing) and my taxi money, put them in various pockets and headed out.

Justin and I did our shopping, picked out birthday presents and took our full basket to the front to a checkout. As we were unloading our stuff on the little conveyor belt thing, we grabbed a pack of Mentos and began to eat them as soon as they had passed over the little scanner thing. The checkout gal finished, and gave me my total. I reached into my pocket to pull out my dos pieces of plastic only to discover that I had yes, grabbed my credit card, but no, did not grab my carnet. I had grabbed my debit card instead.

I began to get mentally prepared for "the problem."

Me: "Oh no! I accidentally brought the wrong card! My carnet is at home. But look, it's the same name on both cards. See? It's me! And...I know my carnet number."

(I didn't think this would work, because remember my pre-voyage to Santiago experience with immigration in the Lima airport? Carnet numbers can't be systematically pulled up from a computer. It's just not possible...but I thought I would try anyway. I couldn't just give up easily.)

Checkout gal: "You don't have any other identification card?"

Me: "Ummm...no."

Checkout gal: "I'm going to have to call someone."

Me: "Of course."

She calls and some guy comes over. As they are talking back and forth to each other I am really having dejavu from my pre-voyage to Santiago via Buenos Aires. The only things missing are Allen saying, "Don't say anything...just act like nothing is wrong." And Jami rubbing my back saying, "It's gonna be ok, don't worry." Nope, I was not going home with my groceries.

Guy: "You don't have another identification card?"

Me:"I still don't, but," I added feebly, "I do know my number."

Guy: "What is it?"

Me:"What?"

Guy: "What is your identification number?" as he stands at the keyboard, his hand poised for action.

Me: "ummmm...00039...no..69...no...63...um, can I write it down?"

I suddenly couldn't get the numbers straight in my head - I think it was shock -but after my "I know my number, I know my number" I thought, if I didn't tell them now, I might be arrested for attempted fraud.

I managed to get it straight after three attempts, and the guy punched it in, waited a second, then said, "Ok."

Me: "What?"
Guy: "You can go ahead."

As I was processing shock number 2, the gal finished up with my then passable credit card, the guy put my bags in the basket and they both sent me on my merry way with a " gracias, buenas tardes."

I gave them several "muchisimo gracias" in return, and Justin and I left the store, groceries in hand.

In the taxi, I turned to Justin and said, "I can not believe that just happened! They had my number IN THE SYSTEM! WOW! That's progress."

Justin replied, "Well, it's a good thing they let us through, because we had already opened the Mentos."

Hmmmm...that would have been a problem.

So, now I only wonder...could Immigration link up to Plaza Vea's very progressive system? That would be very nice...and very progressive.