feliz navidad - Christmas in SPAIN!

We decided to take a little vacation & break from West Africa and meet some friends in Spain to celebrate Christmas. We absolutely loved Spain. It was very different from where we've been living for the last few months - a little more like America. Plus this was our last trip without a child! We had plans to travel around to a couple of different cities and see different parts of the country.

We flew into Madrid, arriving at 5 am, and had big plans to hit up Starbucks, Burger King, and TGIFriday's on our first day :) We spent the next few days in Madrid, sightseeing and spending time as a Spaniard. Spanish culture was a little different than anything we're used to. They're on a different time schedule. Everything happens much later. And they close businesses during a siesta time, typically 2-4 pm and everyone goes to enjoy an afternoon snack! So we had to adjust our eating schedule appropriately. Also, they don't really do breakfast. Their idea of breakfast is toast.

While in Madrid, we took a day trip via the awesome high speed train to Segovia. This city was incredible. The coolest part was an ancient aqueduct that provided water to the castle. And the castle that we saw was the one that inspired Walt Disney in his design for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland! Both of us have never experienced an ancient city like this before and we just fell in love. Also, to get to the castle we had to walk on Cervantes Street, which for all of you Pensacolian's that just made me laugh. I tried to find a street sign to take a picture, but no such luck.

We ended our time in Madrid by going to a mall... a real live mall! It had mall Chinese food, Taco Bell,  McDonald's, and everything we could have dreamed of. Not to mention it had an indoor ski slope! We really hit the jack pot hanging out at this mall.

After Madrid, we boarded another train to Granada. We decided to take it easy in Granada and enjoy some shopping, Netflix, and treated ourselves to an Arab bath & massage. If you ever get to hit up an Arab bath, it's worth it. Basically there are 7 pools of a warm-hot temperature and 1 freezing cold pool. You hang out in the warmer pools working your way to the cold one. In the middle of it we both got massages. It was a great way to spend a day relaxing.

After Granada, we headed to Sevilla (or in Pensacola we would say Seville). This is where we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and a few days after. We bought groceries at the store to cook Christmas Eve dinner and stayed in that night since most places were closed. Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged gifts with the names we had drawn earlier in the week. Trey got a cool handmade cup & I got some homemade soap & oils. We made plans to head out for a nice Christmas dinner. Some of the girls we were traveling with let me borrow their straightener and I straightened my hair for the first time since we were in Canada! It's the little things that get me excited now :) Also in Sevilla we visited a huge Cathedral. And when I mean huge, it holds some record, like the 3rd largest in the world or something. The coolest part about this Cathedral was they had Christopher Columbus' tomb! (Walking around the church we kept saying, "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.") We were also able to climb the bell tower - 35 flights! (don't tell my doctor!) It was gorgeous up at the top.

Christopher Columbus' tomb

From Sevilla, we took a day trip to the coastal town of Cadiz. We enjoyed walking around in the warmer weather and seeing the sights. It's on the Atlantic coast, but this coastline is prettier than Atlantic coast we've been to in the states. Could have just been the surroundings :) We had the chance to go to the top of a watch tower and see all around the city. This watch tower has a cool camera on the top. One the second floor that have a showing using the camera where you can see the whole city and have things explained. Also, there is a beach surrounded by 2 castles... one was technically used for prisoners & has been refinished while the other is not yet open to the public. I finished the night off with some froyo!

Our last day in Sevilla we made our way out to some Roman ruins. They weren't anything spectacular, but they were free & the first Roman ruins we've ever seen. It looked like there was still an active dig going on as well.

We finally boarded our last train and headed back to Madrid on Trey's 25th birthday! His one request for dinner was more TGIFriday's! I was definitely a-ok with that. We really enjoyed our time in Spain. We would definitely love to go back and visit some different cities. And if you ever get the chance to go, I highly suggest it!

2012: a look back

I cannot believe we are already in 2013! It’s been almost 8 years since I’ve graduated high school. If you asked me 8 years ago what I’d be doing with my life, I would have probably said married with children, but living in Africa would have not been on my radar. This last year has been a roller coaster to say the least. We have lived in 6 different cities, spent time in 8 different countries, Trey ran a marathon, got the surprise of a baby on the way, turned a quarter of a century, spent 6 months in training, and began to learn a new language. When I look back on 2012, I cannot believe all that we did in 1 year.

We started the year headed to Disney World for Trey to run the Disney Marathon. The best memory from that day: I saw Trey at mile 13 and he was doing great. He was still smiling and had energy. He waved and talked to me as he ran by, all with excitement. I saw him again at mile 23 and things were a little different. When he came by I asked him if he needed anything, since I had Gatorade & power bars in my backpack, and all he said was, “Do you have a gun?” Needless to say he completed it!

We then headed to a short vacay in Jamaica. There are so many things I love about Jamaica, but the best part of being there was relaxing by the pool :)

We returned home to spend time with family & friends and say some goodbyes before we headed to Virginia for 2 months.

While we were in Virginia, we spent time in classes & with others who have the same passions we do. It was a challenging time, but also an encouraging time. No doubt about it, the best part about being in Virginia is the friends we made. They have been lifesavers during difficult times, both during training and since we’ve arrived here.

We went back home for a week or so before heading to Vancouver, Canada. Neither of us had ever been to the West Coast or Canada. Vancouver has so much to offer. We continued to have class every day, but were able to put into practice what we were learning. We continued to grow closer to some of those friends from Virginia and make new ones. Being there was good since we were able to still feel like we were in America, but begin to spend time away from home. The best part about Canada was all that the city had to offer. We loved sight-seeing and spending time out & about in the city.

While in Canada, we welcomed a nephew to our family! We met sweet Owen via Skype and cannot wait to get home and actually play with him!

Finally, at the end of June we boarded a plane for Africa. We had a layover in London and decided to get another stamp in our passport :) The UK became our fourth country for the year. I would definitely love to go back and spend more time there!

We then landed in our now home country. Shortly after arriving, I celebrated my 25th birthday! Here we have had incredible times - like finding out we’re having a baby only 2 weeks after landing - and some difficult times - like living in 3 different cities out of suitcases while waiting for our house to be completed. It has been a learning experience. We have learned so much about ourselves, our relationship, and about another culture. We have had incredible support from our family, friends, and churches back in the US. The days that have been the hardest, we know they are praying for us and helping us stay here. We have learned to be completely dependent on the Lord. We know that He has sustained us through all of the good times and bad times.

28 weeks

23 weeks

26 weeks

In October & November, we spent time in Burkina Faso & Ghana for West Africa training. We spent time every day out in the community, meeting the people, learning about their culture, their struggles, and how we could encourage them. We also made some great friends here!

We returned home and moved into our HOME! We were thrilled to move and get settled. We began to make connections in our city, get our house set up, and find our way around town. After about a month in our home we boarded a flight to our final country of the year: Spain! We decided to take a Christmas vacation. Spain is beautiful! We stayed in 3 different cities and make day trips to yet more cities. Not only did we celebrate Christmas here, but we also celebrated Trey’s 25th birthday. We are so thankful to be able to get away for a bit.

We returned home on New Year’s day and began 2013 - another year full of changes.

Fatdi

This is a late, but still much needed post. The Lord has taught me a lot this past year and surprised me as well. I want to share with you one of the most difficult, but faithful times He’s given me. While we were in Burkina Faso we had “topics” to discuss every day with people in the community. One day was about death and how the community handles it. Our translator took us to her sister-in-law, Fatdi, who had recently lost her mom. I found out she was about my age and newly married. Already, there were so many similarities about our situations. 

We got to Fatdi’s place of business and she began to share with us about her experience. She shared how her mom had gotten sick and passed away just in the past few months. She went to the house to take care of the body and do the culturally appropriate things, but her family did not want her there since she is a Christian and they are all Muslim. Her aunts were very distraught and would not do any of the things that were appropriate for her mother. It was very difficult for Fatdi to watch the family disrespect both her and her mother.

She then began to talk about while her mother was sick how she had prayed for healing. She wanted so bad for her to be well. Their relationship was very close, even though the rest of the family had shunned Fatdi since becoming a Christian. She didn’t want to go through life without her mother. At this point, I completely understood everything she was thinking and feeling, yet could not even begin to comprehend being cut of from the rest of my family. I shared with her my story, and how the Lord had shown Himself even in such a difficult situation.

Fatdi then shared her testimony of coming to the Lord. She began to seek and went to a church that wrapped their arms around her and welcomed her. They helped her to understand Truth. Once she let her family know she had become a Christian her father threw her out. She stayed with her aunt and then with her grandmother before she could be on her own. Even though both of them did not agree with her, they wanted to support her. Her mother felt the same way, she continued to follow Islam, but did everything she could for her daughter. She began to sneak Fatdi’s personal items out of the house so Fatdi could have them. Eventually her father found out and said because it was her mother, there was nothing he could do. Later Fatdi decided to marry another Christian. Again, her father did not support her and even said that God would not bless her marriage since she was not following Islam. In the culture, the bride’s family has certain things to provide for the wedding. Her mother was forbidden to give her anything, against her will, of course. Fatdi’s church family reached out and provided everything the bride’s family was supposed to. Fatdi’s family attended her wedding and were shocked at the fact that she had everything she needed for the wedding. They left without even eating because of their astonishment. 

Fatdi shared with us story after story of how the Lord had provided for her. These stories are what has made her faith so strong. Her church family has become like real family to her. With everything that has been great, she still has the burden of being cut off from her blood family. One of the greatest struggles since her mother has passed away is not being able to bear a child. This is so important in her culture. The conversations she has had recently with her father have not been helpful either. He has told her that because she is a Christian she cannot get pregnant, but if she were to return to Islam she would have a child. She told us how she knew this wasn’t true and she was trusting the Lord to provide so that she could be a witness to her family.

During a difficult time in high school, the Lord showed me a passage in 2 Corinithians 1: 3-4 that says, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God." Any time I go through a difficult situation this passage comes to mind. I know that I may not understand why something is happening, but I know He’s faithful to provide an opportunity to be able to comfort someone else. This day, I was about to see His faithfulness. One of the greatest things Fatdi said to me that day was that she was encouraged because she had no idea that people from America go through difficult times. I sat there and thought about how losing my mom was difficult, but I never went through being shunned from my family. Her strong faith encouraged me so much.

Urban Church

While we were in our "urban" African training, we attended church with Trey's translator and then ate lunch with his family. We've been to what we would consider "urban" churches and village churches in our home country. This church, even being in a city, had more of a village feel. It's a church plant in a neighborhood and pretty small. We walk into the compound and see a small office "building" on the right, and in front of us 3 walls with a tin roof for the church building and plastic chairs for seating. We've been to "urban" churches here before, but this was nice since it was a new church. We enjoyed the time there. We had some worship with just our voices, a drum set, & a djembe. During the worship time, the children from the surrounding community came into the compound and had a good 'ole time dancing & singing. They told us later they had been able to form a children's ministry through this. Next, we had a time of testimony where Trey shared his testimony, and others shared about how the Lord is working in their lives. During the testimony time, we also enjoyed a song from a lady in the church - not necessarily on key, but the was definitely joy in her worship. And it ended with 2 songs by the children - maybe one of these days our internet will be decent enough to upload the video :) We then had a short sermon and closed out the service.

After the service, we walked to Trey's translator's house for lunch with him & his family. The food we ate was good - traditional African food. We had seasoned rice, spinach, and meat that's a little too tough to chew. We also had some delicious lime juice & bissap juice (google it, maybe there's an American version). So, you know we all have things that are scary and intimidating when doing something new. I was a little afraid I wouldn't like the food and would have a hard time pretending like I did. I didn't have that problem, however, I did encounter another problem.

Remember how I said that meat was a little too tough to chew?? Well, it's also a little too tough to cut, especially when the only utensil we had was a spoon. I was doing pretty good getting small enough bites and chew long enough to eventually swallow it. And then I had a problem... I got a piece that was a little too big and a little too tough. I had been chewing on this piece for what seemed like forever, tried to swallow, and it didn't go in my favor. I begin to choke on the meat as it's stuck in my throat. Trey is trying to talk to me to help me and then jumps up and gets ready to preform the heimlich maneuver. The wife of the household jumps up to get a bowl to help me and next thing I know, I'm beginning to throw up! Oh, what a nightmare! The bowl came at the perfect time, and I was completely fine. This was one of those moments when I was thankful that I could blame things on my pregnancy and she would understand, since she's had three kids. I was soooo embarrassed and felt absolutely horrible. After that, I tried to not stop complimenting how delicious the food was. They were really nice and understanding. And of course, after it was all over and I was ok, Trey was excited to have a good story to share :) He definitely has a funny version of the experience, sound effects and all. My lesson learned, no more big bites with tough meat.