El Tecate

I'm here. I've been here, I mean, for roughly 6 days. 4.5 of those days I have been without me family. It was hard to not jump in the car with them when they took off Sunday afternoon. I've never gone on a vacation with them and then not gone home with them before. I'm growing up.
So, Sunday night I went shopping with the Tia and the Tio and we went to an Oriental buffet (I was gonna say it was Chinese, but I'm not 100%).

*And it was decided that I would stay in their house until the dorm was better prepared and the bunkbeds were made, but I decided on staying in this room until we get back from Oaxaca.*

Anyway, back to my recollecting:
When we got back to the house I took my belongings from the dorm my family had stayed in and brought them into my temp. bedroom. While I was doing so, Uncle Kent brought a family into the room and introduced them as the family we had been praying for whose dad had been kidnapped and they needed a place to stay (hide) for the night. Wowzers. Okay. So I hurriedly finished hauling stuff over, giving the family a few Lo siento's for my coming in and out and leaving them with a final Buenos noches. Then I slept.

I awoke to a shut door. Something I prefer not to have in the morning, but completely appreciate the courtesy and thoughtfulness. I prefer an open door because I am an influenced morning person; if I can hear other people awake, I'll get up and start my day typically, otherwise I'll sleep in until I stop having good dreams--and unlike most, I prefer the former. I slept on my shoulder funny so it was in great pain, my abdomen ached in two different ways, and I was nauseated with a headache--all that to say, I was under attack.

*It's not a coincidence that on my first day without my family and on (what I would call) my first official day in this new adventure with God, that I would feel all kinds of ill--it's a discouraging thing. And discouragement is a perfect tool for a certain Devil to use to get a certain Lynda off track and unfocused on God's task at hand. With the right dose of discouragement everyday, Lynda would give up. Luckily, Aunt Lila recognized the D-word and prayed over me, and by accepting those words, in Jesus name, I was healed. I had others praying for me as well (erm... Jess... Jake), and things were back to 100% by the end of the day.*

Back to my story:
So Aunt Lila prayed over me. I think I just tinkered around the house until we left to run some errands... no wait, maybe that was Tuesday. I don't remember now...
Uh, okay, so Monday is a blur. Tuesday... was it Tuesday...? Yeah, it must've been Tuesday that we went to run errands and do some doctors appointments. Gah. I dunno. So let's skip Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, that was yesterday. Now it was either... Aaah! I know! Okay, so Monday we ran the errands: Doctors, doctors, Target, Albertsons. Tuesday I cleaned out the entire fridge and freezer--bunny trail time!

*So I have this thing--when people say something like "Oh, I need to sweep" or "Golly, the fridge is so dirty" I feel like they're saying that I need to do it for them. I don't know why it is. So then I feel obligated and keep thinking about it until I get it done when they're not around. Strange, huh? If you know why that is or anything, hit me up!*

Okay, so I swept and fridge-cleaned and we ate a yummy Mexican dinner. Oh and we have this routine (I think it's a routine) where Uncle Kent cooks and Aunt Lila and I clean up because Uncle Kent is a REALLY good cook (I'm always impressed... I haven't not-liked anything that he has made up) and Aunt Lila and I don't really care what we do. So yeah.

Wednesday. Wednesday, again, door closed when I woke up, and unlike Monday where I woke up at 6:30 anyway, but just kept napping all morning (mostly cause of the illness), I sleep-in until 8ish, which I do not like at all! And these people(Aunt Lila and Uncle Kent)--I only call them that because I think they are insane for getting up this early--wake up at like 5 o'clock every morning! I wish I could do that, I honestly do; but for some reason I have this really lazy teenage body that LOVES to sleep. Oh to be middle-age! Early to rise, early to bed. I'm not joking, I really can't wait until I can easily get up before 7:30.
SO yeah, Tuesday I cleaned the windows (used the good ole Taylors' (Pat Taylor, that is) method of hosing the windows off from the outside to git-r-done and I swept (lot's of sweeping since Shelbs sheds a lot cause of old age. Oh, and Shelby is definitely a dog, by the way. ;)
In the evening we went to that family's house and got their animals. I got teary-eyed while I was alone with one of the dogs by the truck petting it. It was COVERED in tics--well over a hundred. Kind of small dog, too. Skinny. And I was just thinking how spoiled my pets are at home; safe with Frontline cause my family can afford it. And then I was thinking how spoiled I am; I'm not running for my life with my family because my dad was kidnapped. Why was a born white and not brown? Why was I born comfortable instead of in poverty? Why was I born in a land of opportunities instead of a land that lacks?

So. This morning, door closed :), I woke up after 8. I tried to wash those tic dogs, but to no prevail--they didn't like baths, apparently--shocking. Oh, and I didn't mention the kitty! The family had a kitten that we went and got. Holy Toledo! I just remembered we were delayed a day on getting the kitty, so my days of events are totally off. Que sera, sera. So anyway, the kitty and Cat (Tia Lila y Tio Kent's gata) play and wrestle and fight a lot. Kitty sleeps in the bathroom at night, though, for precaution. I mopped today (and finally realized that my mom was right all along, I DO take forever to do things and go really slow) and it took me like 4+ hours. Yeah! Something crazy! And I only mopped the kitchen and dining room. We had church tonight and I did nursery after worship with Aunt Lila. I got to meet one of the little girls I'll be watching once the school year starts.

So yeah. Oh and one of the days... Tuesday, probably, I did online traffic school for 3 straight hours. Nice!

I've met a lot of people, but don't remember names very well. There are three students here that speak or are learning English that I've met. A majority of the students here are from the state of Oaxaca, so Spanish is there second language, too--Oave is their first. Our chickens are getting eaten by neighborhood dogs, so Aunt Lila is training her prized pooch (a big ole Rottie, Jack), so that soon they will be able to let him off his chain so that he may guard the entire perimeter of the Institute. And my Aunt and Uncle are super easy-going and way funnier than I remember--like tonight we were all whistling "Yellow Submarine". Yep, yep.

This has been quite the day (or 4) in the life of Lynda Sue, if I do say so myself. I'll have to post daily or something so it's not quite as crammed and boring.

I love and miss everyone from good ole Placer County (I think I used the phrase "good ole" 3 times in my blog). And I still love and miss everyone else throughout the U.S. that I've been loving & missing.

Love you mom. :)