Month: February 2012

I’ve owed Nica pics for oh-so-long, but I had too many to choose from! So, I’m going to post day-by-day to cover it all…hope you enjoy the pics, and bear with me on schedule! 😉 I’m again “commuting” to San Luis Obispo from Santa Barbara, which is quite a bit of driving. And if I’m not driving, I’m either catching up with my little girl or enjoying being “taken care of” by Mom & Dad (aka. Grandma & Grandpa).

So, back to Nica. Day 1 includes all pics taken in the pink monkey shirt & diaper, since that was all we had! Selah was blessed enough to have her first pinata experience with Los Pipitos, the special needs school where Auntie Brookie works and where we’ve visited every time we go down. It’s a special slice of heaven to be around those kids, so Selah was in good company. Then in the afternoon, we headed to the beach for a swim and a sunset turtle release! That was a pretty cool experience, and she LOVED it (except for a minor mishap with stepping on one for a moment, with little flippers flipping, and a brief screaming episode as she was traumatized by *almost* injuring “Dude” – her universal name for turtles subsequent to a brief “Finding Nemo” addiction).

Day 2 included another beach day at Playa Hermosa – the beach where Survivor Nicaragua was filmed – for the surf contest before the Pitaya Festival. Our favorites that day were running on the beach with mommy and swimming with Daddy – she really liked being in the waves, and we especially liked the warm water. Wonder if she’s old enough to remember all these things? Probably not, but a mom can dream, right? 🙂

Here was my take on the days in photos:

Some new progress…getting close!! Yay!!!

This is a picture from Nicaragua.
I love it.

It’s one of those that just transports you to the moment. The smell. The taste. The touch.

And just how blessed I am for God to gift me with being the mama of such a beautiful little miracle like her.

a kitchen update! Just couldn’t wait to post a pic of our new floors and our new cabinet doors! We came home from Nicaragua to new (smelly!) floors, which was such an awesome blessing…and just before we left, we received our new cabinet doors. They are soon to be installed by Grandpa & Jesse – can’t wait to see.

And the best birthday present a girl could imagine came from my parents! A tile backsplash! Another amazing blessing – as if the hard work my Dad has put it isn’t present enough ;). We can’t wait to pick it out (although, we’re waiting until we get the doors installed to get a feel for the whole package!). Thanks, Mom & Dad!

Don’t have the time for a “real” post today as we’re simultaneously returning to life after travel, and Jesse leaves tomorrow for a volleyball recruiting tournament for the weekend!

However, one of my favorite little blurbs from the trip:

We were working on Selah with the Spanish speaking down there. She was surprisingly good at picking up on “hola” around the hotel, and “gracias” at meals to the servers. We started prompting her other places to smile, say hola, wave, etc., and like the good little parrot she is, it stuck. What fun to see her be in a different culture, and how it made me want to add immersion to the ‘to-do’ list! We thought perhaps the few (probably 3 or 4) Dora the Explorer episodes we watched way back when prepped her for the visit. Oh, if we would have only know 😉

On the last day of the trip, hanging out at Playa Hermosa (the “Survivor” beach), a little Nicaraguan girl came up to her. As little girls do, they both kind of stared with shy half-smiles, checking each other out. Selah, unless she’s in a particularly shy mood, is usually fairly social. So, always happy to have another friend, she immediately gave a hand wave and spouted out her greeting, “Hola, Dora”!

Of course, Jesse & I about fell over laughing, which didn’t phase either of them, saving the friendship, thankfully. I suppose the TV show helped her with the Spanish-speaking part…now to work on the cultural sensitivity 😉

Just chilling in the new country for the day – in our jammies & a diaper because our luggage didn’t make it so that’s all we have!

Pancakes for dinner rank right up there with warm chocolate chip cookies and sunshine after a rain, as far as my favorite (random) things go.

It’s probably because it’s nostalgic. One of those little things; those little memories of “mommy-daughter” time. When Dad was out of town, it was applesauce pancakes for dinner. The big “treat”. I looked forward to it when I was 4, 14, 24, and yep, probably this 34th year, it will be one of those things that just hasn’t changed – I still smile just thinking of it.

Thursdays Jesse has class in the evening. So when I get home from work, Selah and I have a mommy-daughter “date” scheduled for us. This Thursday, I asked her what she wanted for dinner, and she didn’t have any better ideas than I did. And so it crossed my mind to carry on our little tradition. As it turns out, she’s a natural! She ate about a half-batch of those things, and loved every bite.

It was one of those special moments that saying “we had pancakes for dinner” doesn’t quite capture the beauty. So I fold it up in the files of my memory, tabbing it for safe keeping and easy reference on a day that just needs a sprinkle of sweet joy and pinch of love.

I read this today and liked it, so thought I’d save it here:

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

—Pablo Casals, Spanish Cellist (quote taken from this blog: http://stephanieklein.com/)

It’s funny, I think maybe we need to tell each other this more sometimes – just to be reminded, and believe it again. I’m thankful I had parents who truly believed that I “have the capacity for anything”.

So when I read quotes like this, or sit and do a morning Bible study, I’m retold the story of my own identity and reminded of that of others. What a gift.

And maybe…just maybe…if I believe this all over again each day…and remind those around me more each day…then my own little marvel will know in her precious heart who she truly is and that she too has “the capacity for anything”.