If you aren’t going to use spell check...

So I’m back at it again. Going thru resumes, only this time its for MY replacement. My heart does go out to people looking for work. It is not an easy thing. I just hope and pray that my semi-retirement strategy works out positively so that I will not have to be in that position myself. But now, I am going thru yet another stack of resumes. I am not a person that gets shocked easily, but I have to admit I am sitting here shaking my head at some of the things that people have sent in.

One person decided to include a handwritten note along with their form cover letter and resume. Ok, so on the surface might not be a bad idea...show her penmanship, add a personal touch. Then I READ the note. I feel I need to include excerpts of the note to properly do it justice:

Attn: Humane Resource Dept. I didn’t want to miss this oppotunity to send your company a copy of my resume and cover letter and the add didn’t state when you are closing this position...

So, were you counting errors? OH.MY.GOODNESS.

I have one applicant that included a copy of a special certificate that shows she has passed some sort of course work regarding urine collection. GOOD.TO.KNOW. Again, the thought enters my mind, what kind of law firm does she think we are running here?

Oh wait, here is a cute one...she included a little cartoon graphic of a globe on her cover letter. How, ... colorful??...

 

Back to the stack.

I quit...well kind of, no really I did...

So I want to share more about our fabulous trip to Mexico, but I will have to do that a little later. Suffice it to say that every time we experience time in Mexico, it is life changing, in a host of ways. This year, the time made us evaluate our lives, the stresses, the good, the bad and brought us around to making some decisions. Yesterday, I set the wheels in motion on one of the bigger ones, I told my boss that he needed to hire someone new for my position.

After some discussion we agreed that I will continue to work 8 hours/week doing the office administrative and bookkeeping tasks, but I will no longer do any of the paralegal work, someone else will have that responsibility. It means a cutting my pay to 1/4 of the current level which is a very scarey thought for me. In spite of that, I feel more at ease this morning that this decision has been made.

Let me back up and provide some background. In 1986 I started working at a downtown Seattle law firm. I have worked with and for lawyers ever since. My current position started in September of 1998. I work for an interesting person. He has a big heart in a lot of ways. Yesterday when I told him that I needed more time for my family and for me, he told me that I was more important to him than the job. He said it with tears in his eyes. Some may view that as manipulation, after all I wavered and agreed to continue on a VERY limited part-time basis. I chose to see it as God providing us with the income that our re-vamped budget shows we need to keep us in a position where we can still purchase food!

I work for an interesting person. He requires daily reassurance from me. A simple question can spur an explosive reaction. I was on the receiving end of this last Friday. I had received a phone call from someone who had first sought our representation last fall. Then they disappeared and had now resurfaced, ready to do their project, were we still interested in representing them? Now granted, the person is a little sketchy, and granted we needed more solid information from them before we could do any work, BUT, the only question I posed to him was ‘do you want to do this project for them?’. Judging the level of reaction I received, you would have thought I had asked him if he was ok with me cutting off his right thumb. He stomped around, his face turned red, he yelled at me an entire laundry list of things that he needed to have from them (all of which I was very well aware of and was already including in an engagement letter I was formulating). He ranted about how they were probably a liar and a thief. I calmly sat and watched the tirade, then I quietly stated, ‘all I want to know is do you want to do the work or not? I need to be able to ask you questions without you getting so upset’. An apology ensued, the color drained from his cheeks, and a tense calm replaced the emotional uproar. While this was not the first time this has happened (this happens on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day), it was a turning point for me. A connection in my mind was made that whenever I am in the office, I am tense, on edge with the subconscious expectation of when the mountain will erupt. I am in fever pitch mode every day I sit in my comfy red office chair. I wonder what encounter will flip the switch. The constant stress of that, coupled with a life that affords me no emotional down time, has left my mental health in a precarious state.

I know some are going to wonder why I would give up a well paying, professional position in a time of staggering economic crisis. In a time where jobs are few and hard to find, why would I give up a position that accounts for 40% of our income. I know, it is completely insane on a logical level. On an emotional level, I don’t see any other option at this point. I already tried to explain it to one person last night. I could tell they weren’t getting it. I think I will come up with a standard response...maybe I can tell people I’m pregnant. That might throw them off for a little while until they remember that I had a hysterectomy at age 34!

For now, I need to reassure myself that it is ok for me to take some time for me right now. I need to get healthy again. I need to build some reserves. Who knows, maybe in this time I might discover something else to do for a little income that brings me joy.

Memory Monday

I look at this picture and it is hard for me to believe this was 6 years ago!  We had decided to let our dog Trini have a litter of pups--one for the experience and two for the cash--let's be honest.  Those pups were adorable--all 4 of them--John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Oh, Ringo was a girl with a sexual orientation issue, but it was all good.  We sold the puppies and that paid for a family vacation to the East Coast.  Most of all, I look at this picture of Annika and marvel how much she has changed in 6 years.  Wow! 

here is a picture of her yesterday....still has those freckles!

Top 10 Things I Have Learned While Traveling in the Yucatan

I have learned many things on our travels to Mexico.  It would be impossible to detail them all.  For amusement sake, I will summarize a few highlights:

10. Never flush anything down the toilet that did NOT come out of your body, thus the reason for the garbage can(s) strategically placed next to every toilet.

9. The reason that Mexican bathrooms smell like a dirty litter box?–see #10

8. Hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer.

7. Bottled water, bottled water, bottled water--if the water didn’t come out of a large water bottle, it should never go into your mouth.

6. Never enter a public bathroom without at least a $5 pesos. That person that is hanging around is expecting you to pay them for keeping the bathroom clean and providing you with toilet paper.

5. Mexicans are very helpful. If you ask them a question, they will always give you an answer. The trick is determining if they actually KNEW the answer, or were just being helpful.

4. If you aren’t sure of the food that your host has put in front of you, pray hard and eat it anyway–oh and that small bowl of finely chopped purple/red vegetable?? It is radishes and they are a little spicy and can mask many a different flavor!

3. If you have a hammock packed, there is room for you to sleep in anyone’s home.

2. If you are a coffee connoisseur (aka coffee snob) you must remember that the preferred coffee of Mexico is instant coffee, if you can’t handle it, decline the offer.

and my number one most important thing that I have learned...

1. There is nothing better than entering someone’s home, being greeted with a hug and a kiss and a ‘my house is your house’ greeting. Nothing better.

The Journey continued.

these adorable things were staring at us as we walked down the street

Where did I leave off? That’s right, Carillo Puerto and our time with the Sanchez family. We were able to spend 2 days in Carillo Puerto. Originally, we had not anticipated that much time, but it became apparent that was where we needed to be. The second night we were invited to attend church where Abram is the Pastor. As we rode in the car to the church, Abram asked us if we would sing. Sing?? Now Darin is an excellent singer, Dean and I prefer to remain in the pew when we sing. While you are always able to decline, proper cultural etiquette is if you are asked to do something, you do it. Darin was able to come up with a song, but we couldn’t quite remember ALL the words. We thought we had it covered, after all we had our trustee cell phones with us, Darin could simply call his Mom, who was sure to remember all the verses. He dialed, no luck, where could Mom Carol be?? A second call was placed to Dad Marlo. Oops, we interrupted him as he was teeing up on the 10th green...Marlo’s advice, make something up. Thanks Dad, we hadn’t thought of that.

Dean and Darin thought I needed to show that they had me hauling everything for them...

People were beginning to filter into the small open-air church. We were able to come up with three verses and I quickly wrote them out on a scratch piece of paper. Our pitiful trio was ready to perform. Oh goody, they even had a microphone for us to use...that way everyone was sure to hear us! At one point in the service, everyone turned and looked at us. We guessed correctly that meant it was our turn to perform, or as I like to view it praise God with the clash of cymbals. Luckily (although I don’t think it was luck at all...) Darin had thought of a song with the word hallelujah in it, this is a word that needs no interpretation. The congregation was able to join us in singing the chorus. Later, Shirley told us that we had proven ourselves to be ‘real missionaries’, for she said only a real missionary would have taken that challenge with the grace and humor that we showed. As the week went on, Shirley learned that the three of us take most everything with a little humor! That is to say we had plenty of laughter that week.

On Thursday we traveled to Tahdziu. Tahdziu is a small Mayan pueblo in the middle of nowhere Mexico. We learned that according to the Mexican government, Tahdziu is deemed to be the poorest pueblo in all of Mexico. The people that live there are aware of this statistic and were told that it has added to the apathy of the villagers. As we were traveling to Tahdziu, we had to stop and ask for directions several times. After the first five directional inquiries, we began to laugh that the answer was always given with a rapid underhand arm movement indicating we drive forward. More often than not, we found ourselves at a dead-end. Again, culturally we were reminded that Mexicans will always be helpful. They may have no idea what the answer is, but they will always provide you with something.

We found Tahdziu. Tahdziu has been carved out of the jungle. Most live in simple stick structures with palapa roofs. Some have small cement block homes. Ok, so we found Tahdziu, now we needed to find Dr. Abraham Ake’s medical clinic. Again, we were given several underhand arm directional waives, all pointing in the same direction our car was facing. Some were right, others led to dead ends. Miraculously we found the clinic and were greeted by Dr. Abraham’s father, Pastor Luiz and his wife Sara. Later, Dr. Abraham returned from visiting patients and we were all invited to lunch. As we quickly grabbed our hand sanitizer bottles (this stuff is invaluable!!) we asked Shirley for some direction as to what would be safe to eat. Shirley, (oh Shirley how I immediately loved you so!) looked at us with a sly smile and said, ‘Well you pray really hard and you eat anything that is put in front of you.’. Alrighty then. Darin looked a little panicked, Dean is always up for a culinary adventure so he was stoked, I was somewhere in-between.

Pastor Luiz Ake and his wife Sara

The family led us out behind their more modern block home, which houses the medical clinic, to their original casita. Pastor Luiz and Sara have the kitchen in the casita, such as it is, and they both still sleep there. They told us that they had raised their five children in that casita. Sara served us soup. Whew...sopa is always safe because it has been boiled. We also spied a large bottle of water next to her cooktop, we were good. As we sat and shared sopa de pollo (soup with chicken, carrot, sweet potato and plantain), Pastor Luiz shared with us the story of how Christianity had first come to the pueblo in 1969. I don’t think I can describe how surreal that experience was that day. Little chicks pecking at my feet as we ate and listened to him describe various aspects of the Mayan culture and the revival that had come to Tahdziu. He shared that the first woman to be baptized had been later shot and drug out into the jungle. The realization that happened in OUR lifetime, in the village where we then sat and ate, left me with admiration for this man and his family and the other members of the church in that area. We left Tahdziu late that afternoon and traveled back to Cancun. We stopped for a wonderful dinner at a roadside stand in Chichen Itza and arrived back in downtown Cancun later that night. As we lay in bed that night and talked about all we had seen and experienced in those few days, we were humbled. We also marveled at how comfortable and at peace we had felt during those days of discovery. We dreamed, was it possible that one day we would call Mexico our home? Only time will tell, but I do know that each time Shirley called us ‘real missionaries’, it warmed my heart. Maybe our quest for full time mission work would materialize, just in a different way and in a different time frame than we had once hoped. Maybe...

some more images from that day:

John was going to just pray, but he got a littled carried away and did an entire sermon.

Dr. Abraham Ake's medical clinic/home

The Journey-Part 1

I’m back.

Its hard for me to believe that a mere four days ago I was in Mexico. I think I am currently experiencing the let down that happens after you complete a trip that you have spent months planning.

We arrived (without too much incident) in Cancun on July 5. The we I am referring to includes, Dean and a friend from church, Darin DeYoung. The three of us traveled to Cancun 4 days before the rest of our ‘team’ so that we could spend those first few days traveling to some places outside of Cancun with the idea that perhaps in the future we could have service project teams go to those areas. We were very tired upon our arrival–we had after all never gone to bed, leaving home at 1 am to travel to Seattle and catch a 5:15 am flight. Oh, to top it off on both legs of our flight Dean and I were in seats where the seat backs would NOT recline...yup, that’s right. Oh, but you can be assured that we gave Darin a sufficient amount of crap when on our Phoenix to Cancun flight he had an entire row to himself where he promptly stretched out and slept. Our row, directly ACROSS from his empty row was full.

We passed thru Immigration without any trouble, the next step was Customs. We had two large suitcases filled with gifts and supplies. As soon as our bags went thru the x-ray we immediately drew some unwanted attention. Darin kept his distance and exited quickly, leaving us to haul our bags to the special table where 3 very attentive Customs employees searched and questioned us. It seems that bringing a boxed communion set (a gift to give the Mission) isn’t the best thing to take thru. Finally we were able to convince them that the set was well below the $10,000 goods limit and that we weren’t planning on opening up a store to sell the cases of donated toothpaste we had brought with us.

Outside we were greeted by our new friends John and Shirley Wind. John and Shirley have been missionaries in Honduras and Mexico for many years. We later discovered they were old enough to be our parents, but they put US to shame with their abundant energy. We could not have asked for better hosts/tour guides for those few days. There is something about traveling together that brings about an immediate bond.

That night we killed a couple of cockroaches for good measure, silly me I prefer to NOT shower with those little cucarachas! Then the rain started. Not just rain, but the definition of a torrential downpour. The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and set out for Felipe Carillo Puerto. We drove thru a lot of standing water that day, and the rain kept coming! It was slow driving, but we made it to our destination in one place and without our car stalling after we hit several walls of water!

We were greeted by Abraham and Silvia Sanchez and their children David and Becky. Dean and I first met Abram and Silvia two years ago when they still lived in Cancun and were our host family. Their greeting was warm and we immediately felt at home. That night we were able to attend David’s 8th grade graduation and we sat outside under the stars and shared an amazing meal with their family and several friends who came and went thru-out the night. There is something about a culture where you are greeted by everyone with a hug and a kiss that nourishes my soul.

The Sanchez Family Home

That afternoon, the five of us were blessed to have time with Abram and Silvia where they shared with us their frustrations and discouragement in their current ministry in Carillo Puerto. The blessing for me came in that as we listened and cried and prayed with them, Abram told us that he had prayed 2 nights before for God to encourage him in his ministry. He looked at us and told us that he never dreamed God would answer so quickly by sending us to listen and encourage him. Immediately, I knew that all the hurdles I had encountered the last several months on our journey to get to that very point and place were all worth it. I was reassured that I was EXACTLY where God wanted me that day. Considering that as recent as the week before I had told Dean I didn’t think I could/should go, it was I who was encouraged. I was again reminded that God is good, ALL the time.

Off to Mexico

This past week was completely chaotic.  It was filled with highs and lows.  It was also a week that felt like a month.  Its Sunday, the 4th of July and we are awaiting friends.  An annual tradition (when we are in town)...dinner, fireworks, laughter.  We wouldn't have it any other way.  Then, after we are sure that nothing is left burning, we will make some triple shot lattes, throw the last bag in the car and head to Seattle to catch a dawn flight to Cancun.  This past Monday I wasn't even sure if I would be going, but by Thursday night I knew that God definitely wanted Dean and I both to go, even if I have to return after only the first 6 nights.

I am getting pretty good at packing.  If it wasn't for the 2 large suitcases of donated items that we have to take down, I would have only a small duffel to take.  I am pretty proud of that.  I am also looking forward to  a week where I leave my hairdryer and curling iron behind and enjoy meeting new people and experiencing new places.  Every time we make these types of trips, we always wonder if maybe one day we will be led to move there and work/serve on a full-time basis.  For now, we are looking forward to experiencing the trip with some that have never gone.

It was very hard for me to get to this point this year...very tough.  A lot of obstacles were put in my path.  As I sit here, 5 hours from departure time, I am excited and anxious and stoked to see what will happen this week.

More later.