Floating Lanterns Over Mexico

While I really wanted Cami to keep blogging about her trip to Mexico, she keeps talking about how hard it is to sit down and write a fun blogpost when she has an AP Lang essay to write.  Or AP calculus homework to slave over.

So I decided to give her a pass this week and write it up myself.  

This will be the final installment of blogposts about her service trip to Mexico to help build houses.  (Click here for part 1 and part  2)

On the final night of her trip--after the houses were finished and presented to their new owners--all of the participating families gathered for a real Mexican fiesta!  They started off the fiesta with some mediocre Mexican food at a seaside restaurant, then headed out for a real treat--the opportunity to live their own Tangled moment (sans the serenade)!   

She said that the effect of the lanterns floating over the Bay of California was absolutely enchanting...

and the perfect capstone to an amazing week!  

Thank you to my Uncle Buddy and his family who welcomed Cami with open arms on their family trip...

and allowed her to have an experience of a lifetime!



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Catching Up

Sometimes I just need a blogpost to recap a whole week at a time.  Here's a glimpse at this past week (since Sunday): 

*After an entire month at home for Christmas break, we brought Spence back to JMU on Sunday afternoon.  It's been surprisingly lonely and quiet around here without him.

*Sunday evening  our YW presidency held a  super  planning meeting for the whole year that went all the way to midnight.  It feels good to have calendared out the year, but it got my week off to a sleep-deprived start!

*Speaking of sleep deprivation, I've been trying to be more consistent with my exercising routine and by golly if that doesn't make me more tired too!  (especially the getting out of bed earlier each morning).

*I am helping the Laurels (the 16-18 year-old young women at church) create a cookbook that they can take off to college and missions with them.  They're submitting some of their easy family favorite recipes and I am formatting them for the book.  On Tuesday we had a photo session where they each brought a dish they'd made and I took photos of the food and the lovely young chefs! (see picture below)

*We've been learning about European geography this week at homeschool and I taught the kids all about the Berlin wall. I told them how I'd been there in 1987 and had seen both sides of it before it was torn down a couple of years later.  I showed them a photo essay about it and was surprised when I found myself very emotional when going through the pictures with them.

*My mom is in town watching my brother's kids while they go on a trip to Spain and Morocco.  It's so weird to know my mom is a mere 35 miles away and I haven't seen her yet.  We hope to remedy that this weekend!

*My 6-year-old niece in California faceplanted it onto the sidewalk while their family was out on a walk.   She knocked six teeth out or loose and dislocated her jaw.  The poor girl had to spend 2 days in the hospital because she couldn't eat or drink anything.  I got a small glimpse of how helpless it feels to be so far away from someone when they need love or support.   She is doing a little better now, although it sounds like she is still in a lot of pain.

*As part of the geography studies, my kids have been having fun creating sentences from country names.  Here's a sampling of their work:

"I am Hungary for Turkey Greece."
"I had to Russia a Czech to my Swiss bank account."
"Italy's boot kicked us in the Netherlands and caused us Spain."

*I taught geography at our homeschool co-op on Thursday and on Sunday I will teach the young women about their divine worth, so I've been studying, studying, studying all week.   Although teaching has never been my strong point, I am happy that I'm growing to enjoy it more and more.

*Oman.  The kids had so much fun with it, now I'll Finnish up by telling you how Iran to scrub the Greece off of my China and now there's Norway I'm going  to do that anymore.   It's way too Chile for that.

Favorite Present

So what was the kids' favorite Christmas present this year?

Here are a few clues:

*it clearly has nothing to do with hair care or grooming

*it  wasn't any more winter clothing that Adam could refuse to wear

*it definitely was not a rake 

(how long do you think it takes leaves to decompose on their own?)

*and it definitely didn't involve any new pets

....

So what was their favorite present?  

A slackline!  

Poised a couple feet off of the ground, the kids make their way from one tree to the next teetering, bouncing....

and laughing the whole way!

I love that it gets them outside more and that it's something they can all enjoy together.
I am very glad that it has the guide line above for them to hold on to, so that they don't end up like Dwight did in this clip....

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Some other favorite presents:

Emma: weaving loom and some new clothes

Ellie:  pioneer doll set and a lap harp

Adam:  microscope and Monopoly

Spencer:  laundry supplies, a new coat, and a few textbooks

Cami:  trip to Mexico and some nail polish

Glen:  tools and a stereo system

Lara:  new macro camera lens (from my brother Nate) and a new kitchen

Building Houses in Mexico (Part 2)

Today my mom blackmailed me. She told me I either had to help clean the kitchen or write her a blog post.  It was almost like she was asking me to steal her blog again. (shh, don't tell her I actually wanted to write another blog post!) So anyway here I am typing away contentedly while my mom and dad slave over the dirty dishes :-)

The first time I stole the blog I told you about the out-of-this-world awesome Christmas dinner we had our first night in Mexico and how I got there. Now the story of my craziest Christmas ever continues with us building houses!

No, you didn't misread that. Cami Goold, the teenage girl who loves nail polish and cupcakes and hates nothing more than yard work was actually building a house. And I LOVED it! For three days I worked next to my Aunt Debra, Uncle Buddy, Hannah, Ethan, Isaac, and 20 other families cementing brick walls and tarring roofs so we could give the best Christmas present ever to 2 families. It was definitely hard work but I cherished every second I spent working beside awesome people and learning awesome skills to build awesome houses.

Here's a glimpse of the work we did:

{First we built the walls from the ground up. There were a lot of cinder blocks and even more cement involved.}

{Hannah, Isaac, and me with a big pile of cement}

{Me and Hannah cementing some more.}

{After the blocks were stacked and glued we poured cement to fill the walls.  Those buckets were HEAVY!}

{We took random breaks from building walls to move piles of dirt.}

{Hannah and I had a good laugh about this guy photobombing our picture}

{Once the boards were in place we went on the roof to help nail them down.}

{After the walls were all built up, supports for the roof were put in and we helped pass up boards.} 

{Working on the roof was new, a bit unnerving, and totally 100% awesome.}

{After the boards were in place we used thick, black tar to glue down shingles. I learned later that the only way to remove tar from your hands is to wash them with gasoline. yay.}

{This is what 20 families building houses in the desert looks like. Awesome.}

{After just 3 days working on them, this is what we left the houses looking like. Another group will come in a few weeks to finish the inside and present them to the families.}

After we finished working on the houses we started, we went to the houses that were started last year by another group to finish them up. 


{Me, Ethan, and Isaac moving a huge pice of dried cement out of the yard.}

Once the 2 houses were fully furnished and shiny clean we got to do my favorite part of the entire trip: present the houses! Since the families receiving the houses don't own cars Buddy and Debra went to pick one of them up from their previous house shack.

{This is the tiny trailer a family of 6 had been borrowing from a friend to live in.}

{This is the house they live in now, thanks to Families Helping Families.}

{the living room.}

This is the family Buddy and Debra drove to their new home. When they were presented the house they were so elated they were literally speechless. Afterwards

{the bathroom}

{The kitchen}

{one of the bedrooms}

{This family had 7 kids! We never saw their previous living situation but all I know is how happy they looked when they got to walk into their new house.}

{This is the family Buddy and Debra picked up and brought to the new houses. When they were presented the house they were so elated they were literally speechless. Later that night we were talking with one of the organizers of the FHF project and he told us what happened after the family walked through their new home. The dad walked up to him with tears in his eyes and just gave him a big hug. This man works as a dish washer at a restaurant for 12 hours a day. He leaves work twice a day to BIKE his son to and from school. For this man and his family we gave up just a few short days of our winter break and in return they were able to finally have a steady roof over their heads, a blessing I take for granted every single day.}

{Me, Hannah, Ethan, Isaac, Uncle Buddy, and Aunt Debra with the end result of our 3 days of building.}

  Building houses in Mexico was hard work but it really didn't feel like work at all. When people ask me how Mexico was I usually can only come up with an unimpressive "it was so awesome!" because I can never find words that adequately describe how great it really was. But when it all comes down to it awesome really does describe just about exactly how I felt about the whole thing. So totally awesome. Another awesome thing is my Aunt and Uncle. I cannot speak highly enough of  Buddy, Debra, Hannah, Ethan, and Isaac and I am so grateful they let me tag along with their family. 

2-Years

Today marks the 2-year anniversary of the day that we found out that Spencer had leukemia.  It's not the kind of happy anniversary that we want to focus on, but it has been on my mind all week and I didn't want to let it pass without taking this opportunity to reflect a little on life since that day.

Little did I know when I woke up on January 10, 2012 how different our lives would be by the end of that day.  How the routines and familiarity with which our lives had been built would suddenly have crumbled to the ground in a heap of a terrifying and unknown future.  Even now, I can whip myself into a dark place pretty quickly when I think too long or too hard on the details of those months he spent in the hospital, especially those first few days.

Mostly though, when I look back at that time I am filled with awe at the countless blessings and tender mercies that were poured out upon our family during that time.  It seemed like we had a million people helping us to bear up the heavy burdens we were facing and we never felt more loved and more cared for in our entire lives, than we did when Spencer was sick.   We experienced a thousand little miracles along the way and I never want to forget that.

While we feel like we can never express thoroughly enough our gratitude to God and for each of you for your loving support and your continued prayers for Spencer and our family, we are so grateful we live in a place where friends care for one another and share bear up one another's burdens.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for lifting us up then, and for your continuing love and support throughout our journey with Leukemia.

“There is terrible suffering in our world today. Tragic things happen to good people. God does not cause them, nor does He always prevent them. He does, however, strengthen us and bless us with His peace…”  

Rex Pinegar

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Looking back:  

One-year-ago today
Two-years- ago tomorrow

Cami's Trip to Mexico (Part 1)

My mom let my big brother steal my room and mess up my bed while he's home from JMU for winter break, so I decided to steal her blog as revenge. I hope you don't mind.

I am going to tell you a story about a 16 year old girl. This girl loved nothing more than Christmas. She loved singing Christmas carols. She loved baking cookies until her hands fell off and her jeans didn't fit. She loved sneaking up the stairs past midnight on Christmas Eve to sit and stare at the glowing tree. But most of all she loved being with her family. She loved watching the movie Elf with her siblings. She loved watching her sister scream delighted thank you's as she unwrapped her presents (so loud Santa definitely heard them from the North Pole.) She loved it all... So what on earth was this girl doing 2,000 miles away from her home and family on Christmas?

It all started a year ago when I was eating lunch in the school cafeteria and my friend told me she was going on a service trip to El Salvador to assist impoverished people. I immediately knew I wanted to do a service trip somewhere, someday.... but it was always a faraway dream that I knew wouldn't happen for years. As junior year rolled around and the thief called AP calculus stole my life from me, my dream faded further into the shadows. I had just about decided to wait until after college to check service trip off my bucket list when my grandpa called with the news that his brother Buddy and family would be traveling to Mexico to build house for families in need over Christmas break AND THEY WERE GOING TO LET ME GO WITH THEM!!! Not much else in the world could have actually made me WANT to leave my house for Christmas. Arrangements were thrown together in a couple short weeks (by my wonderful parents, grandpa, and aunt and uncle). It was quickly decided that I would fly to Utah and stay with my grandparents for 4 days before driving to Mexico with Buddy and his family where we would stay in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) for 5 days.

Before I even knew what was happening, it was just hours before my departure to Utah and I was packing my bags for the trip. That's when the reality of 'missing' Christmas finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I am embarrassed to say I almost ditched the whole thing right then and decided to stay home instead of embarking on my holiday adventure. Don't get me wrong now, I REALLY wanted to go. Like a lot. But I'm a sucker for Christmas and traditions and my family so I almost didn't. I'm pretty sure my mom wanted me to stay home too but being the awesome future teller person that she is, she somehow knew already that it was an experience I needed to have so I let her escort me to the airport and put me on a plane to Utah. 

And so it was that the girl who loved Christmas said goodbye to her family and flew to Utah all alone, just days before her beloved traditions would begin.

The second I stepped off the plane in Utah my fears were put to rest as my Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Aunt, and Uncle immediately set to work making my Christmas as busy and full of excitement. We baked, sang Christmas carols, played in the snow, and baked some more. The days leading up to Christmas were full of family and fun. I almost didn't even miss my family in Virginia...almost.

After I received my fair dosage of sugar and singing, Christmas Eve morning rolled around with my (great) Uncle Buddy, Aunt Debra, and their kids, Hannah, Ethan, and Isaac picking me up for our adventure. They took 2 cars all the way to Mexico just so they would have room for me, they're pretty much the nicest people ever. Overnight in Phoenix and 12 hours in the car later we drove across the border (I was shocked they didn't even ask to see our passports!) Driving into Mexico was breathtaking. I've been to 42 states plus Canada but nothing can compare to the culture shock I felt driving into Mexico for the first time. You can just ask my poor Aunt Debra whom I battered with questions the full 60 miles between the border and our beachside destination, Puerto Penasco. If you've never been to Mexico I'll let you in on a secret--they speak Spanish. And they build doghouse-like shrines to the virgin Mary on the side of the highway, and they don't have grass, and they have really tall cactus trees, and there are about a gazillion and one stray dogs running around the streets. 

Just as I was recovering from the initial shock of being in a truly foreign country for the first time we arrived at the first event of our service trip: Christmas dinner for the locals.

A local restaurant, Don Julio's, donated the main course for the dinner and all of the families brought side dishes.  We ate at the restaurant later in the trip and it was delicious!)

I was shocked first by the amount of people that were there to help-- more than 20 families left the comfort of their homes for Christmas just to help give comfort to another family.

My favorite part of the dinner was the toys. A toy factory in Utah donated hundreds of wooden cars and trains which we handed out to all the little kids after they filled their plates.

Little kids just have a way of working their way into people's hearts. Watching their faces light up as they received a good meal and a toy was priceless, I was maybe tempted a few times to take a few kids home with me.

I have this theory that nothing brings people together like good food. This dinner was perfect evidence of that. Half of us spoke English while the other half spoke Spanish but as these families lined up to get their food, everyone was just happy. Apart from confirming my belief in food, it made me realize how often I take good food for granted. Every night my mom prepares an amazing, fresh meal and I can't even imagine the chaos that would be my house if we ever missed dinner. These people don't have the luxury of food at all, let alone food as good as my mom's! Seeing all the faces brighten as they filled their bellies made me realize why I so badly desired to go on a service trip-- to try my very best to share the blessings I take for granted (like good food and a house) with people who don't have them. That dinner and the people we met there gave a purpose to the long days of building walls and tarring roofs that would follow...but details on that later.

Stay tuned for Part 2:  Building Houses

The Nightmare Ride Home

I am so excited for Cami to sit down and tell me all about her trip to Mexico, but I can't seem to pin her down.  It's like she's so excited to be home that she just can't stop sleeping or something.   

I've told her that tomorrow is the day that she sits down with us and tells us all about her trip.  Until then, I thought I'd capture the details of her ride home.  You know, so we can laugh about it someday.....

maybe.  

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The Whole Story

It all started out on early Thursday morning when my dad dropped her off at the Salt Lake City airport.  She was there nice and early for her 8:30am flight, which the Southwest website said was set to depart on time.  After two weeks away from home, she was quite excited to be on her way.  

Shortly after arriving to the gate, she learned that her flight was to be delayed because of bad weather in Chicago, the city of her stopover.   At that point, Glen got on the phone with Southwest and asked them if they could put her on another flight through another city.  Southwest emphatically insisted that she was better off staying on her scheduled flight and that everything in Chicago was going to be fine very soon.  

HA!

20/20 hindsight being what it is, we are kicking ourselves now for not preventing the whole fiasco that was her ride home right here.  Had we done more research on the actual weather issues in Chicago, we certainly would have been much more insistent about switching her.  As it was, Glen was busy at work and I was at the church in the middle of a project, so we naively agreed to let her stay on her flights.  

It all went downhill quickly from there....very downhill!

A couple hours past her scheduled departure time, she sent us a text that she was finally taking off.   Her connecting flight was delayed as well, so it didn't appear that there was going to be any issues. We were mistakenly relieved at this point and thought that everything was hunky dory as can be and that Cami would be home in a few short hours....a little later than we expected, but still soon. 

The next contact I had from her was a couple hours later when she called in a somewhat alarmed state from the tarmac in MILWAUKEE!  Apparently Southwest didn't really check the weather very well in Chicago either and ended up diverting the plane to a whole different state where Cami ended up spending the next couple of hours, part of it circling the Milwaukee airport.  Eventually she made it to Chicago, but by that time she had long missed her connection flight back home.    

Thus began the phone calls and the line waiting part of her trip home.

While Cami was waiting in monstrously long lines trying to talk to people, I was spending hours on the phone with Southwest trying to make arrangements for her to come home.  Hold times with Southwest were literally 45 minutes at minimum and 1-1/2 hours at its worst.  Sometimes we could only get a busy signal.   

First she had a flight out for 9:00pm, which around 11:00pm was canceled.   She immediately got in line again to reschedule, while I called.  Knowing that there was no getting around the fact that my sixteen-year-old daughter was spending the night at the airport, this was about when I started to have a meltdown.  I think I cried every single time I talked to Southwest after that. 

 Eventually they booked her on a flight that left at 7:50am and then escorted her to a room for unaccompanied minors to spend the night.  

I breathed a tad bit easier knowing that she wasn't sleeping out in the open with the rest of Chicago Midway, but apparently it wasn't all that restful of a place.  At least not according to the messages she was sending to her friends. 

After a very long night with very little sleep, she called me again around 6:00am from her departure gate.   Shortly thereafter I refreshed the Southwest website and learned that her flight was once again canceled.

I melted again, then jumped into action.

Cami immediately got back in line behind the hundreds of other Southwest customers trying to get home and I got back on the phone.  By this time  I was so exhausted and worried that the poor woman who eventually answered the phone had to put up with a very emotional mama bear.  I will say that I did not take it well when they told me that the earliest flight out was going to be Monday.

Somehow though she found one spot left on a 12:30pm flight out.  She told me that she needed  supervisor approval to make it official  and to hold on just a minute.  A couple seconds later, she got back on the phone and said that she didn't know why the website let her do it without the supervisor, but somehow it let her give Cami that last slot on the plane.   She told me several times how surprised and pleased she was that she was able to do that without a supervisor.  She called it lucky, I called it divine intervention.

Cami waited another hour or two in the line (about 4 hours total) and got her boarding pass for the 12:30pm flight and got put on standby for an 11:00am flight.     I told her to go with whichever one left first.  Finally around 1:30pm she sent the note that she was finally on board the 12:30 flight and moving away from the gate!  She had a quick stopover in Columbus and by 5:30pm she was at BWI where I was more than happy to drive the extra distance to get her home.

It was nearly 36 hours after her ride home began, but we are absolutely thrilled to have her home again!!!!!!

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EPILOGUE

Come to find out later, according to this article Southwest had canceled over 130 flights over the course of Thursday and Friday and EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT until noon on Friday.  Cami was literally among the first to leave Chicago Midway.

We're still waiting for her luggage (that includes her calculus homework) to arrive to her originally scheduled arrival airport (Dulles).  In the meantime she is one happy camper to be back home.  She slept 14-hours last night and honestly handled the whole nightmarish situation  more maturely than her own mother.

She did shower immediately upon walking in the door, but didn't even bother waiting for a
clean pillowcase or sheets to be put on her bed before she sacked out!

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MORAL OF THE STORY

Never fly through Chicago.


(Someone at Southwest actually gave me this advice and said she would never put a child on a flight that connected through Chicago )

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