Christmas at Santa Fe

Santa Fe is the name of our mall near our home. We go often.  Like at least 3 or 4 times a week. Every year, the malls and parks decorate for Christmas with a theme.  This year, Santa Fe has the strangest theme to me.......mushrooms.

Before I show you the pictures to prove the strangeness, I will give you an idea of our route to the mall.  I am standing in front of the mall waiting on the family to walk down the sidewalk you see.  Avery and the girls are walking on the sidewalk in this picture.

There they are.  We stick out everywhere we go not being Colombian.  

The huge tree outside the mall

With lights on at night

The world of mushrooms with lights...because doesn't everyone think mushrooms when you think of Christmas?

Someone help me understand this.

And then we have your rodent animals in lights.

Daytime photo

And don't forget your squirrels

And lizards

We get to enjoy this mushroom world through January 7th.

This was a section with just lights and decorations.  It was nice.

This is our neighbors house across the street. 

And these are neighbors down the walkway.  These decorations just went up yesterday.  

This is us coming back home after dinner at the mall.  We had a few more things to get done because tomorrow, Tennesee Tuesday becomes a reality!

Weekend in Bogota

We had a good weekend in Bogota.  I am attending a book/bible study with 4 other ladies every other Saturday here.  They are all originally from the US, but have all lived in Bogota for quite a while now.  3 of them are actually married to Colombians, so this is home for them and they are all bi-lingual.  It has been good to form some friendships with Americans outside of MTW.  We are all at different stages of life, but I do have something to look forward to every 2 weeks.  I attended that Saturday then did household chores.

On my way walking to bible study, there was a beautiful blue sky.  In typical Colombian fall/winter weather, by early afternoon, there was a strong rain & even some hail.  Apparently we are in rainy season!

 After church Sunday, 2 Colombian friends came over to play the game Parquese, which is very popular here.  It is similar to the American game, Parcheesi, or Sorry.  They also played a clapping game with the girls and I am always thankful for young people who interact with the girls and want to help them with their Spanish.

Edwin & Brook

Isabella, Maria Fernanda, Brook, & Edwin

Oh, and anyone recognize this?  I barely do anymore, but it is my little bit of USD.  I'm so excited to use these coins this week instead of my pesos!  Thankfully, I have gotten very use to our Colombian money, so it will feel strange, but nice to use USD very soon!

Please pray for our travels tomorrow, Tuesday!  We have a very long day and please pray for a smooth travel to the airport, check in with immigration and security and also for on-time, safe flights.  

Muchas gracias.

Thankfulness

I am thankful this year I will be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family in the states.  Avery will celebrate in Bogota with our MTW team, although Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Colombia :).   Because it is not a holiday here, many people go straight from Halloween decorations to Christmas, since there isn't a fall or pilgrims, etc. theme here. Like in the USA, Christmas decorations are in all the stores, and some people are already decorating their homes with lights and trees.  My plan is to do Christmas decorating upon my return to Bogota.

So in the meantime, I thought I would share a little of our Thanksgiving/fall decorations at our home.

My mom brought me these decorations from the states.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

Randomness

Surely it's been a few weeks since I've had a "Random" blog post, right?

Here is your weekly randomness from Bogota:

This is a picture from my view of where I sit every Wednesday morning while Brook is in her classes at school.  

And right behind me is the kitchen for the students.

This is where they have lunch.  Notice the microwaves outside where they can warm up their food?

There are professional dog walkers here.  It is common to see someone like this walking 5-10 dogs at a time for people who are working outside the home.

The girls have had their share of hailing a taxi in Bogota.

Yesterday we only took 2 taxis.  I think 6 was our record in 1 day.

Random street picture Brook took while we were in the taxi.  We spent close to 3 hours out just to get copies made of documentation that we took to a notary office so that I have official permission to travel with the girls from Avery.

Reminder:  Let Brook Do Make-Up

Doesn't everyone let a 10 year old do their make-up?  You do if it is Brook.  Actually, when she was 9, she started doing my makeup some days.  This week, I found this note in my makeup bag, so rest assured, the next day Brook did my makeup for me.  She does a great job too!

And this is the cutest part of the blog....our new nephew/cousin who is almost 2 weeks old.  This is Avery's youngest sister's first baby, Jackson.

Hope you find joy in all the randomness of your day!

44

44 years old.  44 years of completed life.  I'm starting my 45th year of life.  Oh how I wish to make it better and be a better person.  I'm so thankful for my life, yet can't help to contemplate on so many ways I need to change.  But one thing I've learned, I can't have any change outside the grace of God. I cannot do it in my own strength.  I know I will have successes and failures, so I am always thankful for forgiveness from Jesus and pray that my family and friends will grant me forgiveness where needed as well.  

I spent my 44th birthday in another country for the first time.  I spent in a country where my birthday wasn't on a holiday for the first time.  I was able to get mail, and I did....our gas bill :).  My parents were sweet to leave me a card I was able to open on my birthday.  They also left me a gift, which was a piece of pottery from Colombia.

It is beautiful and Avery gave me another pottery piece of this same pattern.

Last year I celebrated my birthday at the Greens home in SC, then had lunch at my favorite Mexican chain restaurant, Chuys, in Atlanta, and frozen yogurt in Birmingham.  It was a good day as we drove from SC to Memphis.  I remember thinking, wonder how I will spend my next birthday?  I am thankful to say it was a good day.  I received texts, emails and facebook greetings.  And of course I took lots of pictures from my day, so here are the highlights:

I chose to eat at Hard Rock Cafe for a little taste of North America.

From the Elvis section, these pants were on the wall.  I have never seen these or knew they existed.

I got a large jugo de fresa (strawberry juice) in my souvenir HRC glass.

They sang their version of Happy Birthday to me!

They brought me ice cream to share.  Our friend, Maria Fernanda, came with us to lunch.

more Elvis

This is the shopping center where the restaurant was located.  We had not been to this shopping area yet.

Maria treated us to ice cream at Burger King

After an outing to eat lunch (which takes several hours here just through logistics of transportation), I was ready to come home and rest.  Our neighbors and Colombian friends here, the Parras, invited us to their home.  When we arrived, the lights were off and they turned on the lights to say Happy Birthday as a little surprise party for me.  It was so sweet and thoughtful.  

They weren't sure of my age, so they just had a question mark candle :)

My social life/world is very different here, but I am thankful for these Colombian friends who made my day special as they knew I was away from other friends and family.  Thanks for the birthday love and have a good day!