Happy birthday, Pops!

This entry, and most good and a few bad things about me, are dedicated to my dad. Yesterday he began his 55th year of his loving life. I love you, Dad!

I didn´t look in the mirror today. Here, I barely do, but thankfully I always know that my hair is a mess or if I´m blessed with a pimple because my Ecuadorian friends point them out. This doesn´t surprise me from a culture where the names Fatty and Old Man are as common as Maria and Ricardo. One of our Semillas kids has an extra stub on each hand. His friends call him ¨Seis¨.

La amarguita - así era yo a lo largo de un sabado feo y caluroso. I let butterness gnaw at me. Why? Pancakes.

Three weeks ago my neighbor Ricardo (son of the aforementioned Patricia) turned 16. To celebrate, I offered to make him a pancake breakfast. Scheduling conflicts repeatedly delayed the date. ¨Cristina, why haven´t you made my pancakes yet?¨ ¨Because you weren´t home , because I was bed-ridden, etc.¨ ¨No, becauase you´re lazy and a liar.¨ Ouch. It wasn´t supposed to sting - it was supposed to be a flippant, playful remark from a 16 year old boy who lacks tact to a girl he treats like a sister. It stung because I let it.

So I made his precious pancakes. Without a lick of love, I mixed and cooked the batter, all the while muttering how rude and ungrateful that bratty teenager is, what a jerk, I hope he chokes on his pancakes, grumble, grumble, grumble.

Bitter.

My Rostro sister Marie is a joyful servant. She serves us only when she can do so joyfully. Otherwise, she leaves our work to each individual. She washes my dishes only when it enlivens her. In this, Marie is my mirror, my teacher.

It seems I failed a test. The plate of pancakes I delivered to Ricardo dripped with resentment, and he tasted it enough to pull me aside later to apologize. Thankfully what I atoned for Joyless Service with Compassionate Forgiveness. I also apologized for my short temper and calmly reopened my heart to my little brother, who did, in fact, thank me.

So...turtle blood. You can drink it. It´s sweet, and best when chased with Coke. ¨Try it - it´s good for you. Full of vitamins.¨ I graciously declined, but watched my Semillas kids suck it down. Yum.

Last night I attended a quinceañera (15th birthday party. Big celebration marking a girl´s entrance into womanhood) for Dalia, a girl in the youth group I am also a part of (Nueva Generación) who´ve I really taken a liking too. According to the invitation, festivities would begin at 9:00p. We´ve already learned that Ecua time bumps everything back, so we arrived at 10:00p, a little worried we would miss the presentation. We were the first to arrive.

The presentation finally got rolling around midnight, and we stayed to dance until around 1:30a when we were, appropriately, the first to leave. A bleary-eyed Dalia informed me at Mass this morning that the party kept rolling until 5:00a. Give me a few months to build up Ecua-endurance, and I´ll be right there with them. Dalia choked back tears when she toasted her family in gratitude. What a blessing to be invited to the party and into this family.

Again, thank you for letters! I´m amazed by you folks and all you´re doing, for me and for the world. Responses will come, but slowly, as I have to wait for USA-bound visitors to grace our home. Peace, my friends.

Today´s prayer intentions: for Rosa, Dalia´s sister, who recently found a tumor in her cheek, that she and her family find the peace and strength to deal with the doctor´s news tomorrow; and in thanksgiving for friends, old and new, local and far-and-away.