Keep Your Hands Still. January, 2017.
I teach Maria, age 7, the alphabet. She's not the best at remembering it, nor at concentrating on much of anything save for any canine species (tr. "chucho") that crosses her vision. "Mira, Aarón! Ese chucho allí!" We're set on being a veterinarian, once we get past writing the letter "Q" correctly. Maria is darling, fun-loving, shy around the edges. She's got this thing she does when she doesn't know or doesn't want to answer a question, or when she gets stuck on "L - M - N - Ñ" series. Her eyes float around the room, fidgeting, giggling, tipping to one side in her chair, and she won't stop moving her hands.
We moved on to some basic words this week. "Mamá, Papá, Tienda, Perro" to name a few, but reading the letters and making the sounds was like starting up that old snowblower in negative temperatures. You just get it going, hit the snow, and and shuts down again. So I tried something. "Maria, keep your hands still," I said, placing her hands on her knees. "Keep them right there." (For the record, Maria does not know English.) It took a little getting used to, but hands-still-Maria recognized the letters and sounded out "Pato, Gato, and Parque" with me like a champ...except for that "q" in "parque." VICTORY! Needless to say, I was more than a little excited about my newfound A.D.D. therapy expertise.
AJ is young man who likes to do things. If there's nothing going on, or something he ought to do that he'd rather not, he'll find some little project to busy himself with and it all seems just swell. Some things fall through the cracks, like planning and preparing ahead, reading and reflecting on the Bible or books in general, making "inefficient" trips to visit someone, praying and listening to God, listening to people. All these things get pushed to the "after I get this one thing done" list. All these things also happen to be very important, meaningful, and a big part of personal growth for him.
God taught me a little something this week. I got this gentle voice saying, "AJ, keep your hands still." I think there might be more to see than what my wandering eyes and busy hands allow me to understand in their constant, meaningless, movement.
Thanks for learning with us. And Happy New Year! We miss so many of you and wish you the "greatest" of things this year.
-AJ and Alaina
thewestys.weebly.com
team.guatemala.com
P.S. Things To Pray About Lately.
1. For Alaina's grandma. For strength and peace and joy.
2. For the after-school tutoring/fun-tivity/God-learning program "re-launching" next week, for the right kids to come, for families to buy in to the community collaboration concept, for the salvation and well-being of those kids and families.
3. For the Toros Football Team! They're alive and equally inconsistent again, so for relationships that lead to growth, salvation, and redemption of lives and families. (And that we win the 2017 Mayan Bowl.)
4. For some friends of ours here and there who are battling cancer, and it is HARD.
5. For Sigo Vivo in 2017, for real salvation, for leaving the drugs, for choosing better things and believing that better can exist.
P.S. Things We're Into Lately.
1. Home Improvement: Addition of a laundry-washer-basket fire pit to our roof for a cost of $8. To debut once I finish this email.
2. Event: The fact that my boy Hans got engaged and is gettin' married this year!
3. Steal: Two avocados for $0.70. Easily multiplied. Pairs well with Feli's fresh romaine lettuce.
4. Gig: Alaina's a dental assistant on Thursdays in the clinic these days...likely not a future career, but I mean, there's some teeth (and lack thereof) that need as much help as they can get here.
5. Show: "Stranger Things." One of us fell asleep during the first episode, the other has now finished the season.
6. Chapter: 1 Peter 1. Full of promise of the security we receive in Christ, and how we can take joy and praise fully and give freely out of that security.
7. Podcast: Crimetown. Some nice political/criminal scandal story listening.
8. Streak: The Green Bay Packers' 7 beautiful consecutive wins. To be continued Sunday at 4:40pm ET. Go Pack Go.
We moved on to some basic words this week. "Mamá, Papá, Tienda, Perro" to name a few, but reading the letters and making the sounds was like starting up that old snowblower in negative temperatures. You just get it going, hit the snow, and and shuts down again. So I tried something. "Maria, keep your hands still," I said, placing her hands on her knees. "Keep them right there." (For the record, Maria does not know English.) It took a little getting used to, but hands-still-Maria recognized the letters and sounded out "Pato, Gato, and Parque" with me like a champ...except for that "q" in "parque." VICTORY! Needless to say, I was more than a little excited about my newfound A.D.D. therapy expertise.
AJ is young man who likes to do things. If there's nothing going on, or something he ought to do that he'd rather not, he'll find some little project to busy himself with and it all seems just swell. Some things fall through the cracks, like planning and preparing ahead, reading and reflecting on the Bible or books in general, making "inefficient" trips to visit someone, praying and listening to God, listening to people. All these things get pushed to the "after I get this one thing done" list. All these things also happen to be very important, meaningful, and a big part of personal growth for him.
God taught me a little something this week. I got this gentle voice saying, "AJ, keep your hands still." I think there might be more to see than what my wandering eyes and busy hands allow me to understand in their constant, meaningless, movement.
Thanks for learning with us. And Happy New Year! We miss so many of you and wish you the "greatest" of things this year.
-AJ and Alaina
thewestys.weebly.com
team.guatemala.com
P.S. Things To Pray About Lately.
1. For Alaina's grandma. For strength and peace and joy.
2. For the after-school tutoring/fun-tivity/God-learning program "re-launching" next week, for the right kids to come, for families to buy in to the community collaboration concept, for the salvation and well-being of those kids and families.
3. For the Toros Football Team! They're alive and equally inconsistent again, so for relationships that lead to growth, salvation, and redemption of lives and families. (And that we win the 2017 Mayan Bowl.)
4. For some friends of ours here and there who are battling cancer, and it is HARD.
5. For Sigo Vivo in 2017, for real salvation, for leaving the drugs, for choosing better things and believing that better can exist.
P.S. Things We're Into Lately.
1. Home Improvement: Addition of a laundry-washer-basket fire pit to our roof for a cost of $8. To debut once I finish this email.
2. Event: The fact that my boy Hans got engaged and is gettin' married this year!
3. Steal: Two avocados for $0.70. Easily multiplied. Pairs well with Feli's fresh romaine lettuce.
4. Gig: Alaina's a dental assistant on Thursdays in the clinic these days...likely not a future career, but I mean, there's some teeth (and lack thereof) that need as much help as they can get here.
5. Show: "Stranger Things." One of us fell asleep during the first episode, the other has now finished the season.
6. Chapter: 1 Peter 1. Full of promise of the security we receive in Christ, and how we can take joy and praise fully and give freely out of that security.
7. Podcast: Crimetown. Some nice political/criminal scandal story listening.
8. Streak: The Green Bay Packers' 7 beautiful consecutive wins. To be continued Sunday at 4:40pm ET. Go Pack Go.