Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

A few points of economic perspective.

1. Someone tried to sell me their full grown, trained macaw for about $70.
2. My kids regularly snack on fresh tropical fruit. Five mangos picked ripe from the tree cost less than $3 all together.
3. I get my legs professionally waxed once a month at $12 a visit.
4. A complete mani+pedi pampering puts me back no more than $7.
5. When my hubby and I take a trip to the movies and get two tickets, with popcorn and sodas for both of us we spend no more than $20.
6. Dare I mention that we employ full time house-help for about $130 a month?
7. For a taxi ride that takes about 15 minutes (which gets you almost anywhere in town) we pay between $1 to $2.
8. A huge chunk of steak grilled to delicious perfection at a restaurant? $7.
9. We’ve made a few trips to the emergency room for sickness and injury. The cheapest visit cost $1 and the most expensive $20.
10. With our Magic Jack we can make an infinite number of calls to the U.S. for $35 a year. When people call us they get charged what they would when calling Missouri. Skype chats cost only what we pay for high speed internet service.

I wanted to share with you a couple of the perks of missionary life in Bolivia. I needed the reminder.

To be fair I need to add we pay the same as in the States or higher for lots of stuff including but not limited to: vehicles, land, electronics, quality construction materials, and imported foods.

Most of the items on the preceding list register as luxury expenses for most Bolivians. After all, they call this the poorest country in South America. I am so grateful that we can maintain a healthy lifestyle with a number of comforts at relatively low costs.

Why not share with me some of the perks in your life?

Finally, a scene that caught my eye and made me smile on a drive the other day. With no relevance to the rest of the post I call it:

‘Three Men and a Baby in Bolivia’

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

> Thanks for the questions on my last Ask Me Anything post. It will be fun to put together a vlog response.

> Tomorrow my third kid turns 10. Crazy!

> That means I will have only 2 single digits left in the home. Crazy!

> Exploring a new band. Anyone else like “Great Lake Swimmers“? My Canadian friends will be pleased to know that I am enjoying their sound.

> Lately I’ve been feeling like a jack of all trades and master of none.

> Super excited about preaching at church on Sunday. There will be a cowboy with a lasso.

> Alliteration makes me smile.

> Finally a super random macro shot for your viewing pleasure (or disgust). Click on it to see an enlarged version. I call it ‘Try Me and See’

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

>> How funny that I am receiving notes from June and I am still living in May. International existence at its best! My friends on the other side of the planet are like royal tasters. Knowing they have survived the day makes it a tad bit easier to push through in tough moments. Thank you to my forerunners, y’all are brilliant!

>> Conversation I just had with my two preschoolers: “Why didn’t you eat your breakfast, Kaitlynn?” She says, “But I don’t like my bread.” Tyler then says, “I want to make a bread with candy and marshmallows on it.” What more is there to say to that? Ha! These are the kind of deep discussions that just make me happy to be the mama of little people.

>> La Paz. It’s one of the capitals of Bolivia. Yes, we have two. But that is irrelevant right now. Let me start again. La Paz. I am going there! Thursday morning I have an appointment for the interview to get Kaitlynn’s visitor visa with non-immigrant status so she can enter the United States for our up coming trip.

>> The U.S. of A. We are going there! So we have been talking for months, maybe even years, about bringing the whole family up. Well, it is seeming like it is coming together. Never an easy task. I should say, It never has been an easy task in the past. Maybe there will be a day when things’ll go all smooth and easy for us to make and international trip with everyone. A girl can dream can’t she?

>> Back on track with the running. In the last Trail Mix post I lamented letting this part of my routine lapse. Well, I am back at it and feeling much healthier. Yeah! This gives me hope that I will one day get back to reading and writing like I would like.

>> Lot’s of stuff happening in the ministry right now. DaRonn has been busting his tooshie working hard. I am so proud of him!

>> My daughter and I will be making a most likely futile trip to the post office this afternoon. They were on strike. Then they weren’t. They were back at it yesterday. Maybe they will have resolved the issues by today? Please…

>> Big chain stores are non-existent in Bolivia. So when I need to get school supplies I can’t meander down the aisles of an office supply store taking long whiffs of the delectable scents of pencils, paper and post-its. We have little shops called “Librerias”. Yes, the instinct is to translate that “Library”. Yet, those are non-existent as well. Book store is the next guess at a translation for that word. Nah. Not so much. They don’t sell books there either. It’s just school and office supplies… and usually a photocopier for your copying needs. I need to make a run to the “Libreria” to restock our art spot here at the house as well as the kids’ backpacks. This is one form of shopping that I actually do enjoy.

>> Finally for your viewing pleasure a snapshot from the ‘gotcha day’ celebration of the whole Washington family:

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• March was packed to the gills (whatever that means)
• In no specific order other than the order that these events come to mind…
• I attended the birth of the baby girl of dear friends. This deserves it’s own post.
• I assisted a birth mom handing her baby girl over to a family to be adopted.
• My dear husband finished negotiations to purchase the bowling alley and is now the happy owner. Officially. Wow. Probably needs it’s own blog post too.
• Had the least miserable Carnaval ever.
• Stood in linesssssss for hoursssssss to renew my Bolivian id card.
• Became the mother of a teenager.
• Let yet another month slip by without getting back on track with running.
• Celebrated my 26th re-birthday.
• Let yet another month slip by without getting back on track with writing.
• Said our final farewells to a sweet little Dreamer who had been with us for years and is now living in Spain with a mama, a papa and a lovely big sister.
• Welcomed to the House of Dreams the younger brother of a Dreamer who has also been with us for quite some time.
• Learned that a missionary family we know has to leave Bolivia for health reasons. That makes me so sad.
• Welcomed a new missionary family to Bolivia.
• Received some personal mail in our box at the post office. That makes me so happy!
• On our third attempt finally introduced a friend to the Botanical Gardens. She also finds revitalization when communing with creation.
• Preached at church. That was super fun!
• Very grateful for the Magic Jack, Skype, blogs, facebook, emails and whatnot. Although they do make me miss my people tons.
• Not wanting to end on a melancholy note, hm, tapping fingers, thinking… ah, yes, good thing about March, the rainy season lasted all the way to the end of the month whereas usually it is over at the beginning of the month. I like rain.

"Gazing at the Clouds" favorite March snapshot

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• Pomegranate season has begun! For the the next four to six weeks my fingers will be tainted purple. Yum!
• Third week of the 2011 school year started yesterday.
• Due to strikes in the city two days of school were canceled last week.
• The city is also gearing up for the yearly week long festival called ‘Carnaval’.
• After Carnaval comes the birthday of my eldest. We will be parents of a teenager!
• After that momentous occasion our interns will have their baby.
• I’ve got babies and birthdays on the brain since the 27th of this month marks 9 months since we brought Kaitlynn home. Need to journal my thoughts about the significance of that date.
• Do you read the blog we do for the orphanage? Three times a week we have stories going up about The House of Dreams. Here’s the link: http://houseofdreamsorphanage.wordpress.com/
• Last night I taught a group of people how to eat sushi.
• I keep replaying in my mind a sentence that my husband said to me yesterday that made me feel so very loved.

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed up life I lead…

• Some piles and clutter around the house don’t bother me at all.
• My favorite stuff to seeing lying around: Sharpies, Molskines, kids creations, and books.
• Kaitlynn’s first birthday with us was yesterday. She is “fweeeee” years old now. (link to a few fun pics)
• Raimy, my oldest daughter, comes running with my friend and me three mornings a week. Feels good to have arrived at this phase of motherhood.
• We are in the final stages of negotiations for owning our first piece of land ever. We are buying a school with a huge plot of land as a future site for the orphanage. Throughout the day I pause at the wonder of it all.
• Contemplating the acquisition of an electronic reader such as a Nook, a Sony Reader, a Kindle or (in-a-world-of-pink-unicorns-and-fairy-princesses) an iPad.
• I wish they had chosen a different name than iPad.
• Christmas season in Cochabamba means: water balloons in the streets, imported people from the Potosi region, lots of tank-tops and umbrellas, and sweating Santas in a snow free land.
• Any other Bones fans out there? Wow, this last episode “The Doctor in the Photo” gave me chills.
• This morning my 4 year old son tells me that Spiderman is Peter. Then we went on to have an interesting conversation about the ‘real names’ of various heroes. He then asked me what the villain’s ‘real names’ are. This age when they start forming coherent sentences to express opinions and ideas thrills me.

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• We will be celebrating Thanksgiving on our 14th wedding anniversary: Tuesday, November 23rd.
• Yes. I just told you that DaRonn and I will have been married for 14 years come Tuesday. Being married is one of my favorite parts of doing life.
• I have a funny story to tell you some time about an old door man from Potosi. Don’t let me forget.
• My oldest child is 12. She is an inch shorter than I and we share shoes. We gave her a personal set of house keys yesterday. She started jogging with me today. It is also one of my most favorite parts of doing life to be the mama to this lovely young woman.
• Found Snapple in the grocery store!
• The 2010 school year has come to a close. [big sigh of relief] Welcome summer!
• NaNoWriMo is going great. I can see specific ways I have changed/grown as a writer since last year. Very gratifying on all fronts.
• Seeing the snow-based Christmas decorations (snowmen, a bundled up Santa, North Pole things) around town still gets me as I go about in tank tops, tee-shirts and flip-flops.
• Quote #1 I repeat often: Missions is a marathon not a sprint.
• Quote #2 I repeat often: Given a few amenities a man can do without some necessities.
• Quote #3 I repeat often: Rai – Ti – Ga – Ty – Kai … one of you come here!
• I always found it odd that my parents would jumble our names when we were growing up. Now I do it too! #proudparent #canyousayold?
• Hashtags are one of the most fun things about Twitter relations.
• All these YouTube friend requests… I don’t get it.
• Planned my menu for our Thanksgiving dinner. My mouth is watering!

(Click the pics to see them large)

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• The last three posts were nice and meaty. This, my 699th post, will be light and snack like… but still exciting.
• There are many more -umle words that could be put together nicely: tumble, crumble, stumble, grumble, rumble, humble, bumble, fumble, jumble… guess they will just have to wait patiently in my Moleskine for now.
• We paid off our truck. Thank you God!!!
• I have started running before I meet the girls to walk (M, W, F). I like it very much.
• August: no more greasy foods. Same for September, plus cutting waaaaaaay back on the sugar intake.
• ^Black coffee^ is yummy.
• WE HAVE OUR FINAL COURT DATE TO BE RECOGNIZED LEGALLY AS KAITLYNN’S FAMILY!!! Monday, September13 at 10:30 am. Hurray! Party time!!!
• Kids are in the final trimester of the school year. Weird to be hearing about back to school fun from up North while trying to keep the kids motivated to finish strong.
• One final item of news before I go: (in)courage has invited me to be a guest writer! I am so super excited and over the top honored to have a slot in September amongst such a fab line up of ladies.

Curious: what is your favorite part about the current season in your corner of the world?

Now, on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• Growing, sprouting and shooting up right before my very eyes my children spurted all over the place this weekend.
• Raimy sang at church helping to lead worship for the first time. She loved it!
• Raimy also did our family market shopping by herself on Saturday. She also enjoyed that.
• Gabrielle had her birthday party with three friends solidifying the fact that she is whopping nine years old.
• Tyler is saying new grown up things like, “Well alright,” with a pleasant grin when asked to do something and, “Papa, have you seen my cow?” when looking for a lost toy and, “Come on, Kaitlynn, let’s go,” when choosing to include his sister in his current activity. He will be four in a few weeks.
• Kaitlynn needs her bangs trimmed for the third time since we brought her home. I might trim the rest to level it off. Not only is her hair growing fast she is stretching out so much that some of the clothes we used when she first came (3 months ago) no longer fit her.
• And in other non-kid-related news…
• The city is full of smoke from a forest fire up on the hill in Tunari National Park to the North. The fire has been raging since Saturday. The secretary of the Cochabamba governmental office of The Matters of Mother Earth has the task of getting things under control. They are hoping that they will have the man power to do so after the festival of Urkupiña finishes today since all the volunteer firemen are participating in the parades and whatnot. Article in Spanish can be found here: Los Tiempos.
• Sunday a group of Brazilians came to church for the first time. DaRonn asked them how they heard about us. They said that they flagged down a taxi and told the driver, “Take us to church.” The driver brought them to ours. Upon leaving they asked for the exact directions so that they can come again. Angelic taxi driver? Could be.
• Walking is going well. A smattering of friends join me. It is nice. When I get back home I do sit-ups. Call me crazy, but abdominal exercises are enjoyable to me.
• I saved the best for last…
• An online publication has invited me to be a guest writer. I solicited this opportunity a while back. It is thrilling to be accepted!

(Click the pics to see them larger)

Now on with the crunchy, munchy, mixed-up life I lead…

• Let’s see if you can pass the pony-tail quiz.

Pony-tail means: a) my hair just got long enough to pull back, b) this morning I was highly unmotivated to do the do, c) I justify laziness when I am going through some stressful stuff, d) all of the above.

Give yourself a gold star if you chose the letter d).

• Let’s see if you can pass the counter top quiz.

The liquid in the image is: a) soup made of herbs native to the Northern region of Napoli, b) tea, c) incense to make the room smell all pretty, d) a decoration to make the room look pretty.

A gold star for the people who picked the letter b).

• Let’s see if you can pass the quizzy quiz.

Why is Angie in a quizzical mood? a) there is a bunch going on in her life right now and she defaults to over analyzing everything and knows that can lead to some destructive conclusions so she tries bring herself out of that cycle through an attempt at humor in the more public arenas of her life such as the @.

You want a gold star for choosing the letter a). Go ahead, you can have one.