Wednesday the 19th...Day 10

Sometimes all you need is a message from a friend or two to get your day started right.  Today I had a few of those.  Thank you for reading my blog and giving me your thoughts on it and sharing your own experiences in response.  In the last two days, I have had at least four or five people tell me that they are proud of me, or that my journey is inspiring them, or that I'm OK just where I am.  I just responded to a friend tonight the following: "[I]f my journey can inspire others to (a) give back to humanity, (b) search for their own fears and identity, (c) tackle challenges that previously seemed impossible, (d) reconnect with their faith, (e) take time to smell the roses (f) search for inner happiness and peace, or (g) any variation on any of the above, then God is working through me as much as He is working in me."  I hope that God is doing just that.

Anyway, I woke up this morning before my alarm went off (*gasp*).  Actually, I woke up before any of my four alarms went off.  I got an amazing night of sleep last night.  It is the first night that I have slept all the way through the night since I arrived.  I guarantee that it had something to do with getting all that stuff off my chest in yesterday's blog.  I felt renewed when I stood up and stretched.  I was ready for morning coffee!  Ready to take on another day with vigor and enthusiasm!  Ready to continue the "job" of just living and soaking in all the life experience that God decided to give me for the day.

After coffee, Kylie, Michael and I helped Lynette stuff more envelopes...these ones to specific sponsors with pictures of the kid(s) they sponsor.  Pretty neat.  We wrote on the back of each picture the name, birthday, clothes size and shoe size of the child as information for the sponsors.  We also went around helping most of the kids (we have more to finish up tomorrow) fill out updated bio sheets that explains their current age, grade in school, favorite color, favorite food, the thing for which the child is the most thankful, etc.  That was a challenging task.  Many of the kids here do not speak English (not even a little), so trying to ask them to tell me what "other information they want their sponsor to know about them" is more than a little difficult.  At times we had some of the English-speaking kids help us, but they would get bored of helping fairly quickly.  All in all, it was a fun exercise for my Spanish.  I found that even when I couldn't communicate very well, I didn't get as frustrated as I was getting previously.

I sat out in the sun today and read my book, Lead Like Jesus, a little more.  I'm telling you, this is an awesome book!  It's amazing how accurate the descriptions are of so many leaders I've encountered over the years and it provides great insight into how we can be effective leaders, whether at home, in school or at work.  I'm only about 65 pages into it, and I can tell you that I recommend this book regardless of your religious affiliation.  Yes, it provides even greater meaning as a Christian, but I think everyone could really benefit from this book.  I'd like to share with you some of my favorite quotes so far:

"The subtleties of the heart and the veils of justification we place over self-serving motives require brutal honesty to uncover and put right."  Page 32. 

"If your sense of security is based on what others think then you don't have any security at all."  Page 50.

And my favorite so far is kind of a long passage in which the authors borrowed from another book, Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon McDonald:

"[T]here are two types of people in the world: driven people and called people.
Driven people think they own everything.  They own their relationships, they own their possessions, and they own their positions.  In fact, they perceive their identity as the sum of their relationships, possessions, and positions.  As a result, driven people spend most of their time protecting what they own.  We see this in a family when a parent makes sure everyone knows that he is the father (or she is the mother) and demands that everyone else cater to his wishes without questioning his authority.  Driven people think and act as if 'he who dies with the most toys wins.'  And if you mess with any of their toys, you're in trouble.  The possessions of driven become an important expression of who they are and end up possessing them.
Called people, on the other hand, believe everything is on loan.  They believe their relationships are on loan; they know that we have no guarantee we will see those we love tomorrow.  Called people also believe their possessions are on loan and are to be held lightly, to be enjoyed and shared with an open hand.  Finally, called people believe their positions are on loan from God and the people they are attempting to influence.  Rather than protecting what they own, called leaders as as good stewards of what has been loaned to them."  Page 43.

Why do I love these quotes?  Because they embody how my mindset is shifting.  I was the driven one (sadly).  I was worried about what others thought.  And to uncover everything and make this change within myself is requiring some brutal honesty.  Anyway, it's a good read.

Jarilyn came back from her visit to the States today and we told her about Diego and Pepé le Pew.  Fortunately he doesn't really stink.  Well, he DIDN'T stink.  Unfortunately, he does now.  Diego found that skunk again tonight and Jarilyn thinks he must've gotten sprayed at least five times.  Poor Diego.

Gringo night tonight was to be a potluck, so Kylie, Michael and I decided to go in on something.  While waiting for Kylie and Michael so we could go to the store, I decided to squeeze my butt into the kids' swings and just enjoy a little ride for a while.  I'd gotten two or three swings in when little Daniel came running up to me with a huge smile on his face and his arms outstretched, ready for a hug.  OMG.  I LOVE that feeling.  I hugged him tight and twirled him around.  We then got on the swings together (after I gave him a little head-start push or two) and just enjoyed swingin'.  It reminded me of Forrest Gump.  I was 8 years old again...Daniel was Forrest and I was Jenny.  Just two kids hanging out in the silence of each other's company.  How long has it been since you've done that (and I don't mean with someone else)?  Well, you should do it soon.  I guarantee that you will feel like a kid again.  Just close your eyes and swing.  It's moments like those when I can feel inner peace the most: when the world falls away and I have nothing but the sensations of the moment.  The smell of the dusty air, the squeaking sound of the swing's chains as they glide to and fro, the weightlessness of that moment when the swing is high in the air...just before I come back down, the wind caressing my face as I go back and forth, and sun beating on my back.  THAT'S living.  I encourage all of you to do something similar.  If we don't take the time to stop the rat race and enjoy the simple pleasures that life offers -- like smelling a beautiful flower when we walk by or doing "nothing" in a park or doing something that brings back memories of our childhood -- we aren't really living, are we?

So, at Gringo night (Kylie, Michael and I made a salad, by the way), it was a great potluck!  Ebony (who is volunteering at Sarah's clinic, but who leaves Saturday) was there.  Sad to see her go, but looking forward to keeping up on FB.  I was talking to a man named David about his ministry work.  Well, sort of.  Mostly he was asking me about my sudden departure from law and decision to come to DoFo.  In any event, we talked about the Breakfast Club and he said that if Rusty can't get me there, I can hitch a ride with someone else.  That was nice.  However, I got an email from Rusty this evening and he's still game, so we shall see.  I don't know who I'm getting a ride from, but I know I'm getting there!  Pretty excited about that one!  Oh, and I confirmed with Michael that we are going to Ensenada on Saturday for the kids to play soccer.  That will be fun!  I had a good time talking with some of the other volunteers and missionaries down here too.  It's such a great group of people that I can't imagine a bad time dining with them.

Sorry, I have no pictures for today's blog.  I should have plenty tomorrow though.  A new group of about 60 is coming in, so we should have lots to do!  I'm gonna head to bed.  Buenas noches!