Urgent Action

It's been a hectic couple of weeks and blogging, once again, got away from me. We've been fairly preoccupied with a crisis involving one of our partner organizations on the Caribbean Coast (these photos are all from my visit there last November). In  nutshell, a community leader and organizer who has worked for decades to promote non-violent social change is under threat, and another has been imprisoned.

I remember as a young(er) person, staying with my Grandma Beth in NY, and seeing her at her desk late at night writing letters for Amnesty International. As a budding social activist type I remember feeling so impressed and so proud of her. Now I feel grateful - to her and to the many people who take time for this kind of action. It might not seem like it makes much of a difference, but it can - the difference between life and death.

I won't try to explain the whole story here - in fact, there are aspects of the story that cannot at this time be made public because to do so would put people's lives in further danger. I've been spending most of my work time in the past 10 days working with an amazing network of people (who understand much more than I do about the situation and about international advocacy processes) to discern what exactly can and should be said, and to whom, and via what means, under a strong sense of urgency to have it all done three days ago.

So here are some good things to read:

• The MCC Action Alert which has a clear and concise telling of the story (the two young women named at the end are part of our team here).
• The Amnesty International alert
• A personal first-hand account from one of our MCCers, Anna (you should follow her blog, actually - it's awesome on a regular basis!)

It's been incredibly humbling and moving to see the responses beginning to flood in. Like over 1500 signatures collected online already. Ricardo is a dearly beloved and greatly respected in peacebuilding circles around the world. And in Colombia.

Photos

Wow, I have been awol. Despite my best intentions I never seem to find the time to blog. So here are some photos of the kids and other random stuff from the past month 

We got that reindeer headband in a White Elephant gift exchange last Christmas and she wore it to school 3 days in a row last week.

Here she is on her way to her first sleepover away from home without us! It was a school trip to the Farm.

This is G playing outside the school while we wait for V to come back from her overnight.

And this is right after we picked her up! She had so much fun.

G is such a goofball!

Giant ginger root I found at the local grocery store... This is one single root!!!

I walk past this mural on the way to work every day, I think it is so cool. I have a lot of other photos of it on Facebook.

Building a "house" out of eucalyptus branches and playground equipment. Look how long V's hair is!

Food --> Health

Three months ago I changed my diet and my life. (Yes, I'm going to talk about food again...!)

At the meetings we went to in Guatemala in April, I had bronchitis, I was exhausted, I was miserable, and as part of a reflective exercise I said something about how I wanted to change our family's diet because I thought we wouldn't get sick so much. We'd all had intermittent colds from when we moved to Bogota in November, and pretty much constant colds from February on (when the kids started school), culminating in my case of bronchitis. 

In May, I had my blood pressure crisis, was told very sternly to cut out all salt (when I asked how to do that the doctor said "eat fruits, vegetables, and steamed white meat like chicken and fish") and I actually did. I had been wanting to incorporate fruit and veg smoothies into my diet for a long time - and this was the push (well, the shove, really) I needed. And I have not been sick one day in the last three months. 

Well, caveat: I did catch a cold while we were in Albania - precisely when I went off this diet. Even though I loaded up on fresh fruits, I also went back to eating all the no-nos - and boy did that food taste AMAZING - sausage, cheese, pizza, olive bread - and boy did I feel like crap. 

I'm so happy and thankful to have been able to change my diet, my life, my health like this. I'm so happy that Terry is doing the diet (more or less) with me. I figure that around 70% of what I eat is raw fresh fruits and vegetables, and unsalted nuts. The other 30% is unsalted rice, beans, stir-fry, chicken breast, eggs. (If it were all free-range and organic then I think I would probably turn into a unicorn or something mythical and magical like that.) I feel so good that I don't even miss cheese. I know I'd never be able to do it if I didn't have doctor's orders and Terry's support. 

I'd love to make dramatic changes in the kids' eating habits as well. It's such a battleground though. Gabriel will sip at my smoothies sometimes, and Valerie is opening up to more new flavors. Recently Luz was inspired to create a play kitchen for the kids in one corner of our apartment so that she can through play get them to try tasting more vegetables. So I'm hopeful. They have constant coughs and runny noses here and I think a better diet would help with that too.

(fruit stand in Tirana)

Here is my basic smoothie recipe for those who are interested:

- a handful of almonds

- a chunk of fresh ginger root, diced

- something sweet (strawberries, apples, bananas, mango, papaya)

- something tart (plum, kiwi, green apple)

- something crunchy (apple, pear, cucumber)

- something smooth (avocado, banana, papaya - usually 2 of the 3)

- something surprising (winter squash, raw beet, spinach)

- yoghurt or milk

There are endless variations you can do - I've learned that if you add spinach, a dollop of honey is good; if you add cucumber, it adds a lot of water and you can add less yoghurt/milk. Mixing colors results in something muddy-brown and visually unappealing but can still taste amazing. I never, ever skip the ginger because I love it so much - but one time I did use too much and it was very strong! I've learned to always peel the cucumber, and to use only a small slice of beet (too much and it tastes weird). There are so many other things you could add - Anita like watermelon and basil; I've heard pineapple and celery leaves make a nice combination! It comes out different every time and so good. I often have a boiled egg along with the smoothie for protein so I don't get hungry too soon. 

Happy eating!

Reminiscing

So what can I say about our trip to Albania? It was good to go back. It was healing to realize in all our senses that it's still there, we can go back, that it wasn't a forever goodbye. It was healing to have a better goodbye with Shpresa than the first one which was pretty traumatic for both of us. It was wonderful and meaningful to celebrate Gabriel's third and Shpresa's nth birthdays together the day we arrived.

It was HOT.

So hot.

It was strange to go past our old neighborhood, but not down our street, not past our old pallati, the grocery store, the secondhand shop, the bakery. Valerie wasn't sure she wanted to, and it was just so hot.

The best days were doing simple, familiar things - going to Dajti on the cable car, visiting "twisty slide park," going to the pool, walking down "rainbow walk" to the cafe/playground we used to go to almost every weekend, visiting a friend in her home.

It got really, really old staying in a hotel and not having access to a kitchen, even though the woman in charge of the guesthouse loaned us a kerosene burner to use in the room (I didn't). It got old not having a bathtub. I remembered other things too, other reasons why I felt so ready to leave a year ago. Our life as a family was so separate from Terry's work life.

It was amazing to hear the kids slip back into using Shqip, singing songs that we'd learned before, but they were (and still are) singing them much more articulately than ever before. Somehow the words that they couldn't pronounce a year ago had stayed lodged in their heads!

We didn't do everything I wanted to - we didn't see everyone we wanted to see, but we reconnected with the people that meant the most to us, and a lot of the places. It's strange to fall so in love with a country you never imagined visiting, much less living in. The language, the landscape, the people, for no really good reason. I have a feeling we'll be back again.

Vacation photos

This is just a really small selection... I took 350 photos altogether! 

Some highlights: staying in cabins at this farm near Elbasan, with some friends. 

My kids adore their kids.

The kids and I went to Dajti with Shpresa and her son Samueli.

We visited many of our favorite places in the city as well.

 There's a lot more on Facebook! I'll write more about the trip soon too.

Bug's Third Birthday! (updated with links)

Zero...

One...

Two...

THREE!!!

He doesn't look all that different to me know than he did a year ago, but wow - it's been a year of CHANGES for our Little Dude!

Leaving Tirana, the only home he knew and remembered,

Spending some time in the US, where he was born,

And relocating to our new home in Colombia.

My little guy has grown so much!!! He's not a toddler anymore, he's a kid!  He learned to use the potty, he goes to school now, and is speaking volumes in English and Spanish. He makes me laugh every day.

Wow

I am so behind in blogging! Tomorrow we are flying to Albania, an unexpected journey, but I'm so happy. When Terry brought up the possibility of going back this soon, I couldn't even say anything - I just started crying. I hope everything goes well. The kids seem excited, but also want reassurance that we will be coming back home to Colombia. We'll be gone 2 weeks.

Sunday is Gabe's third birthday, and we'll be landing in Tirana around noon. I think it's kind of cool that his first three birthdays will have been in Albania! I hope that he will remember this trip even when he's older.

I'll try to post something while we're there.

More kid pictures

I'm enjoying so much the funny things they say! Since forever Valerie's been pronouncing "each other" rather oddly and I finally figured out that all along she's been saying "you 'chother." And Gabriel says it the same way! Right now they are really starting to talk in Spanish a lot - especially on school days. They sing "arroz con salchicha" (it's supposed to be "arroz con leche") :-)

I might update this as I remember more things...

Dissertation week

This week has been fun for me because I took the whole week to sit around drinking green smoothies and working on my dissertation! I hope to do this about once a month so that there could actually be a chance of finishing someday... Thanks Terry for covering at the office!

Kids update

It's been a while since I've given a good kid update here - not sure how far I'll get today but I'll see what I can get down.

They are growing so fast...

They ask so many questions these days! This has led into protracted ongoing discussions about death, God, marriage, and tear gas (among many other topics). Sometimes it's fun to try to answer their questions and sometimes it's baffling. Sometimes I make up something that's complete nonsense, at least when it seems like they're asking just to ask and not really out of a desire to know.

Valerie in particular is very into story-telling at the moment; she asks us for endless tales of our growing up years (genres include "a time when you got hurt," "a time when you lost something," "a time when it was no fun", etc.) and she also makes up hilarious stories of her own. Sometimes Gabe will just sit and listen to her while she spins a yarn about My Little Ponies and bulldozers (invariably either the pony or the bulldozer dies, then God heals it, and the others come and get it off the clouds).

It's been really fantastic lately watching them learn to play together well. The other day they invented a game of throwing little green balls from a plant down the stairs, and if the ball stopped on a crack in the tiles it was a score, but not if it landed in the middle of the tile. One of the teachers at school told me, "they adore each other." They also fight like banshees, but they really do love each other as well. 

Last week they also both made a big leap in terms of using Spanish. Songs have been the best way by far for them to learn words and phrases. Their babysitter, Luz, sings with them a lot, and they've been learning a lot of songs at school too.

Fooooooooood.....

Right now I'm drinking a delicious smoothie made up of apple, plum, banana, cucumber, avocado, almonds, and fresh ginger root. Oh, and peach yoghurt. Next time I'll make sure to add in some dark leafy greens.

But I don't have a photo of that right now :-)

Instead, I give you Three Roots of Life Tomato Sauce (see previous post):

And a salt-free bean dish I made another day:

I am LOVING my new salt-free diet. I am feeling so, so much better - and at my last check-up, my blood pressure was 110/80! The doctor did a little jig and shook my hand.

Resilience

Last month, we traveled as a family to Guatemala City for a week of meetings with other MCC reps from the Latin American and Caribbean region. Despite being sick most of the time, and despite the kids eating next to nothing, it was a really good time. Aside from regular business, we also had a series of workshops on the theme of resilience.

It was a great theme. We talked about self-care, about work/life balance, about reframing how we think about things to maintain long-term perspective. We talked about the importance of spirituality and strong social support.

I keep thinking how since moving here I feel like I'm in "survival mode" much of the time. One of the things that has taken bottom-level priority has been cooking. We eat out for lunch every day (fixed-menu restaurants for about $3), then the other two meals I'm mostly thinking about what the kids are going to eat, and I eat the leftovers or something. We get take-out rotisserie chicken or order in pizza because it's fast and easy. We've been getting cold after cold, and I've been thinking that if we ate better (which we did to a certain extent when the two pairs of grandparents were here helping out!) we wouldn't get sick so much.
 
Anyway, we got back and I went to the doctor and confirmed that I had bronchitis. Just when I was finishing up my antibiotic treatment and beginning to feel a little better, I developed a crippling headache that didn't quit. Terry was traveling with some visiting project funders, and I was solo parenting and covering for both of us at the office. At the end of the second day, when sleep and Advil did absolutely nothing to touch the headache, I asked a couple team members to watch the kids for me and went to a walk-in clinic where I learned that my blood pressure was 170/120.

So now I'm on a beta blocker and no-sodium diet, and I feel soooooooo much better! It took about 12 hours before the headache abated, and my BP is still around 140/110, but I have my energy and happiness back. I've had to be creative figuring what to eat that has no salt in it. I'm not even supposed to have bread. This morning Terry made me pancakes with no salt and they tasted great! I don't really mind the taste aspect of it, it's the work of preparing food that is a little daunting. But yesterday afternoon I was home with the kids and enjoyed cooking some dishes I used to make before Valerie was born, just without adding salt!

Three Roots of Life Tomato Sauce

- Chop up a large onion and sautee in olive oil with cumin to taste

- as it browns, add chopped up garlic (to taste) and about 1/4 cup grated carrot

- add 3 big chopped up tomatoes

- and diced fresh ginger root and simmer until the tomatoes are soft

- pile on spinach leaves torn into small pieces

- when spinach is wilted, EAT!

I'm gathering a cornucopia of fresh produce into the house. Change is coming.

5 * Cinco * Five!!!

Zero...

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

FIVE!!!!!

Happy birthday, my beautiful girl! You are creative, smart, funny, athletic, and brave. 

Love you so, so much.

peace pearls

Some people in MCC like to call the following "Peace Pearls" (instead of bullet points...) (fwiw)

• These photos don't really do justice to the loveliness of the Catholic retreat center where we spent our week of meetings. 
• Two days before our trip to Guatemala I started to get a sore throat. Two days after coming back I had a diagnosis of bronchitis.
• Gabriel had a fever 4 nights and 3 days while we were there.
• I discovered exactly how little food our kids can get by on when away from home
• Terry is now out of town for 10 days taking some of our funders around to see different food security projects in the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.
• I started to feel better around midnight last night.
• Today I enjoyed a perfect avocado, a perfect cup of coffee, and two hours of sunshine with the kids in the park! Lovely Saturday.