Bags and Wings

Last Sabbath I learned about eagles and butterflies. Did you know that eagles when are old they renew their feathers, beak and claws? They fly to the most high mountain and starts the process of loose their old "features" to get new ones. Did you know when we hold a butterfly by their wings and then we let it go, a dust will be at our fingers and that butterfly will never fly like it used to fly before? Eagles are strong birds, when life become hard to them, they renew themselves, butterflies are fragile insects, when life touch it, they never recover themselves! Since we got here, we are living like eagles, renewing ourselves, trying our best. In the beginning of this journey we were like butterflies , weak in so many areas, but after each bump, we had learned, and from butterflies now we are trying to be eagles, strong and fearless eagles! We thank God each day for so many lessons, for His patience and love for us. Next time when life gives you the...

Every time when I go out, I take some pictures about things that I consider interesting. Sometimes I take the pics from inside my car for safety, sometimes I just take the picture, I just concentrate in the image and what the image shows me and I click it! I select these 5 pics and instead of explain why I consider interesting I'll ask and answer about each one! So here comes the FAQ! 1 - Does all the stores in downtown have parking lot? A: no, just for "government" according to the sign showing in the picture! PS: I believe the sign is a lie! They use it just to avoid that someone could park the car in front of their shacks! 2 - Is the car traffic organized? A: no, you need to be very, very careful when you drive. You can find people crossing, motorcycle doing zig zag, also food shacks in the street, almost in the middle of the street! 3 - Can I find eggs in the grocery store? A: yes and no. Sometimes you can find, sometimes you can...

ENJOY THE PICS FROM OUR JOURNEY!

These pictures are from our trip to Caripe - a small town in the mountains. Did you ever heard someone saying that arrive in some place is not so important than enjoy the trip, enjoy the time until you got there? That's so true in this case!!!!!!!!!!! We went to Caripe with high expectations, .... we though the place should be a cute little town, with flowers, gorgeous cottages, nice views, wonderful food,.... anyway,.... you were so disappointed, the place is the opposite about we though. I have no words to describe in a nice way the city Caripe! So, better not to describe! But, in the way to Caripe, we found so many interesting things and views. First were the beautiful mountains, powerful, strong blue green mountains surrounding us all the way to the not so cute Caripe, then the funny and interesting sites,....... one was the street lights turned on in the middle of the day in a country which has no 24/7 electricity!!!!!!!!!!! Then we saw a unique bus, ver...

Hi! Let's talk about Venezuelan things! We had so many adventurers so far, in the beginning the adventurers were challenges, but now we call it adventurers, yes, we passed the challenge season, now we are living the Venezuelan things! Live is better than dream about it! You know, life is full of surprises, sometimes is a tsunami, sometimes is just a cool breeze, but in the end are surprises after all! So, I decide to share with you, my dear reader, the Venezuelan things, the challenges which were transformed in adventurers! In the beginning when we had no Bolivares, we waited and waited, now we ask to a friend! It's strange, I know, how can you have no Bolivares? This is a long story,....maybe one day I can tell you. But believe me, all the foreign people has the same problem, but I should say, the same adventurer!??? Last Monday we had to buy a airplane ticket to Caracas about (270 Bolivares) 30 dollars (ONLY!!!) and we didn't have Bolivares, so we asked i...

Hello! Hola!!! This morning in the way back from school, entering in my neighborhood I looked to the horizon and I saw beautiful dark blue mountains behind a few clouds and a blue sparkling sky..... that vision made me think about my list! A list that I made before moving to Maturin. The list. There are so many kinds of list we do every month, .... the grocery list, the to do list, the appointments list, the kids activity list, anyway, so many lists!!!!!!!!! When we knew about our transfer I created some lists, I did the things to buy , things to ask , things to search and the list with things to ask God. The last one was the most important. I asked for nature, I asked for peace, for safety, for knowledge, for challenges, for wisdom, for patience, for something that reminds me of Tulsa, for happiness too! And after almost 3 months in the land of surprises, I realized that God gave me much more than I asked for in my human list! The mountains in our neighborhood showed ...

People says that images say more than words..... Others say that what our eyes don't see our heart doesn't feel! And I say: " knowledge is freedom"! Well, today I decided to dedicated this post for all the Venezuelan people who "see" and who "doesn't see"! In this unique place , I have a feeling that the new century is not here yet! In the most parts of the world we have options, we have high-tech gadgets helping us, we have the basics above and beyond, we have freedom to choose, and again, we have options! Last week we had our first cooking gas experience. Here is like this: we have to subscribe and wait a month to gas deliver service begins or we stay in line for more than an hour under the sun in the summer time with the noise of cars crossing the road and wave dust all over the sky!!!!!!!!!!! So, the options are not 21st century! But the need is so last centuries!!!!!!!!!!!! What to do? Get a headache in line or wait a month? Well,...

A lot of times people ask us if we are happy here, if we accepted the fact that, we are here, in this complicated country, they ask how the kids are doing, also they ask if we know better how to get things we need, but most of all, they ask if we are happy in Venezuela. In the beginning our answer would say :" not really, but we are ok" , yes the beginning of all things are not easy, remember when you were learning to ride a bike, or drive a car, or when you were learning to read and write? Anyway, the same thing happened with us when we moved, the first weeks were so impossible to stand, so painful, but, we keep looking forward and hoping for better days. But, thanks God, we had faith and deeply we knew things will be better, the first step to take was look, just look! There are so many great things in the garden of life, even when the things you like the most doesn't appear so often, but, look, just look maybe we can find new things or even the old things we ...

Hola friends and family! This week we plunged into the goggles, caps and water world! It was a nice opportunity to learn, get excited and have fun! What an important moment to jump into a new kind of excitement. Oh yeah, life can be super excited if we search for that! Sometimes we are sitting waiting for something incredible happened, but, honestly if we are seated is not excited, it's not fun at all! The swimming started a long time ago in the water of Caribbean ocean. Can you imagine yourself swimming in one of the most beautiful ocean on earth? Everyday!?!? What a great beginning! And since that time we kept the water world in our life, even without the Caribbean! In the way we had cute pool, nice pool, great pool and our last,... pool with bugs remember when I told that we had to swim with bugs and finish the line? So, that's what happened! The kids had a swimming competition last Friday and they finished the line!!!! It was so great! They were excited and nervous and hap...

Main street of our neighborhood, neighborhood gate ; furniture store under the sun and rain!!!!!

Do you want to go shopping with me? I Hope so! First stop at the fruit market, organic fruits and vegetables, it doesn't have a variety but that's ok; I spent 60 bolivares (US$7.14 buying few fruits). After that if you are hungry right next to the market you can find a typical restaurant offering " Almuerzo ejecutivo" that means, Executive lunch for just 20 bolivares (US$2.38)! Next stop at grocery store (Unicasa)! When you arrive at the grocery store you will find a big sign that says " don't forget to pay the parking lot" instead of saying, "Welcome to Unicasa". The parking lot cost you 3 bolivares (0.34cents), you buy your groceries, after that you go to another place to pay the parking lot. In the grocery store the cashier has 2 boys packing what you bought, they put everything in double plastic bags because the bags are not strong enough to hold everything, (I'm counting the days to my reusable bags arrive!!!!), after paying...

Hello dear friends & family, Today I found myself in a new season! The season of gratitude and apologize. Yes, I have nothing to complain about even with so many "whatevers". I realized that I have so much to be grateful for, the season of:  what, no, what, no,... is over! Yes, its over and now a new time will begin, a time for laugh about in the hard moments, a time for say thank you with a smile even if in the way could have some whatever.... this is life, is not perfect, is not problem free, its not just flowers, life has stones and spikes and these make life even more challenger and because of that life turns much more excited and full of stories and great experiences. I read in this morning about the trees. Trees are amazing! In all seasons trees keep growing no matter what, in the dry season they grow slow and the wet season they grow in full speed! Like the trees I want to keep growing in all seasons no matter what. That's my goal, keep moving forward ...