more links

And here are some blogs written by other MCC country reps, my peers.

Michael and Melissa work in Guatemala with their two little girls. Michael was an MK in Peru a "few" years ago. Scroll down to see a couple pictures of Terry and Valerie taken during our Rep meetings in Bolivia in March :-)

Jenny and Jake work in Nicaragua with their three kids. We met them in leadership orientation almost two years ago!

Nearly all the MCC country reps in Latin America are new, having started soon after we did. I think there are two "veteran" families (Haiti and Bolivia). So it's been comforting to be able to get together once a year, share stories and recognize our own learning curves in their accounts. Especially those with young children.

For when I don't post for a long time...

A number of people on my team here have blogs. Interestingly, they are nearly North American and female (with the exception of one married male who co-blogs with his wife). Here are links to all the ones I could remember/find at the moment, with a little blurb about each blogger.

The Llama Diaries
Hailing from the Yukon, Anna spent two years working with MCC in a displaced community on the Atlantic Coast; she now lives in Bogotá and she regularly posts thoughtful, in-depth and often poetic pieces about life as an expat in Colombia.

Latin American Learnings
Bekah is a political advocacy junkie, also Canadian, working out of our Bogotá office as our "Connecting Peoples" person. She's also a fellow Lord of the Rings nut although you won't see any hobbits on her blog. (Oh well!)

Xtina's Crossing
Kristina is yet another Canadian blogging from our office - she works with the Mennonite World Conference and is a social media maven. She's also very handy with a crochet hook, so, a woman after my own heart.

From I to We

Larisa also works on the Atlantic Coast; previously, she spent two years with MCC's Seed program in a rural community and is now doing local-level advocacy work on a more regional level. She doesn't post often, but when she does it's definitely worth reading. 

Colombi-Eanes
Giles and Amy live in the sweltering-hot Chocó region on the Pacific Coast, the first North American MCCers placed there. It's an absolutely fascinating place and I love reading their reflections on living and working with the church's social ministry (cacao, HIV/AIDS prevention, and more) projects.
Their most recent post has a photo of me in it - good luck if you can spot me though :-)

Head Pointed Toward the Sun, Feet Moving Forward
Lani is a current Seeder living and working on the Atlantic Coast in a community called Libertad. She posts great stories about

Seed Colombia

All ten young people participating in our 2-year Seed program also post on a shared blog; here you'll find perspectives from 10 different points of view on living and working alongside the Anabaptist social missions here in Colombia. Half our Seeders are male, and half are from the Global South, so here you'll get a very diverse perspective on our lives and work in Colombia.

Enjoy!

Little Yarns

Last night Gabriel walked with me to the neighborhood grocery store, just after the rise of the full moon.* He looked up at the little pin-prick stars above and said "Mom, the stars are little tiny hedgehogs, and the moon is a ball of chocolate for them to eat!"

Did I write here about Chetten Mall? According to the kids, Chetten Mall is on the other side of outer space. You can only get there in a rocket or space shuttle. There is pizza at Chetten Mall but no trees or grass. There are mechanical animals to ride on. Ogwerts do not go to Chetten Mall (duh! They live in the rain forest!).

Valerie has developed a fascination with thinking and talking about death and heaven, talking about it pretty much every day. It was kind of kicked off by the kids seeing a dead pigeon on the street near our house. They were grossed out and fascinated, and not a little worried. They asked lots of questions about what happened to the pigeon, and where it went, etc. etc. Gabriel got over it a few days later but Valerie has been mulling over all these existential questions, I guess it's been about a month now? All kids go through this stage, right?

* Can I just stop to express one of my pet peeves? And that is people who don't understand the phases of the moon. The very first My Little Pony episode describes the moon rising when night begins, and setting at dawn to give ascendancy to the sun. Well, sure, for maybe 3 nights around the full moon, but not at any other time during its cycle! Why don't people realize that the moon rises an hour later every night? Is our society so disconnected from the natural cycles of the earth???

a bunch of pictures

A lot happened in May ~ We celebrated V's 6th birthday (at Sunday School)

 V. started "Transición" (between preschool and 1st grade, so sort of like Kindergarden) at a new school ~ she loves it so much, she says she wants to go there "forever!"

She decided she wanted to start wearing dresses! They do not slow her down in the least!

 I managed some knitting during some long meetings...

 (my own improvised pattern)

 The kids were generally awesome!