Culture Shock?

I didn't think we'd have any culture shock with moving to Cactus. Sure, we knew it would be the mission field . . . but I grew up in the Texas Panhandle, so it should be like "coming home." Right?

For the most part, I was right . . . it is like coming home, especially the climate and the wide open, blue sky spaces.

It has been the mission field . . . complete with the multiple stray cats and dogs everywhere, the music blaring at all hours of the day (and night!), the dirt, the bugs, the people walking all over town, the many cultures, the kids playing on mattresses leaned up against house, the horses grazing in the middle of the street, etc. etc.

Kids playing on a mattress propped up against their house.

Horses grazing in the middle of the street.

But oh have we hit the "small town" culture shock!

- There is no hurry to do anything. "We'll have someone call you back" means . . . "Maybe we might have someone call in the next week or so, but likely you'll need to call us back several times before you get any information." 

- Neighbors and non-neighbors alike stop by at any hour of the day. And when they do, it's perfectly acceptable for them to expect you to drop everything and deal "with the moment."

. . . . not to mention there is next-to-nothing in town. Seriously, what is a woman supposed to do when she's craving ice cream at 10pm and doesn't have any in the freezer?!?!?! :-)

Ok, so it's not that bad. Sure there are some adjustments we need to make, but I think we'll be okay. ;-)

Snack Pak 4 Kids

Yesterday evening, we had the privilege of helping to prep food for the Snack Pak 4 Kids program. Dumas Church of the Nazarene volunteers regularly to help with food prep and the pastor, Steve Swanson, delivers the Cactus paks every week.

Dumas Snack Pak 4 Kids was organized in 2013 as a community effort to help provide food for kids on weekends and school holidays who might otherwise go hungry. Dumas Snack Pak 4 Kids is strictly volunteer and relies of donations from the community. The Dumas Snack Pak 4 Kids also services the Cactus Elementary School.

We had a great time helping with this wonderful program. It was great being able to share this time of service with Olivia and Eli. We talked at length about the program both before and after we served. They both have such a tender heart for helping others.

We also got to meet the leader of the Dumas Chamber of Commerce who invited us to stop by any time. You can bet we'll be scheduling a meeting with him soon!

Olivia and Eli were first assigned to trash duty.

Then they got to help unpack boxes of Pop Tarts.

Vito and Pastor Steve Swanson unpacking applesauce.

The Dumas Nazarene volunteers.

Goooooooooal!!!!!!

We finally have internet! There is so much that I need to blog about now that I have reliable connection, and I'm not really sure where to start. I suppose I might as well start with today.

Eli played soccer this past spring in Wisconsin for the first time, and of course he loved it. He is a born natural. Also, Vito was roped into coaching Eli's team, and of course he loved it as well. Like father, like son. We were a little disappointed that they wouldn't be able to play/coach on the same team this fall.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. We got an e-mail from the Dumas Nazarene pastor saying he had seen signs for Dumas YMCA fall soccer sign-ups. Dumas is about 15 miles south of us, it is the closest city with grocery stores, WalMart, etc. So I did a little research and saw on their website that they have an option for "Cactus" when signing up. I jumped all over that and contacted the YMCA program director right away.

Long story, short . . . a few years ago the Moore County (that's the county Dumas and Cactus are both in) YMCA had a decent program going at the Cactus YMCA. In fact, in the Cactus soccer program there were over 200 children playing! However, the director of the Cactus YMCA moved to the Dumas campus and the programs here died. It's too much for parents to take their kids to Dumas twice a week for soccer practices and games. This year there is only one child from Cactus who is playing soccer--Eli. So, I told the program director who we are and Vito signed up to coach a team. We're in conversations now about how we can partner with the Moore County YMCA!!

Anywho, back to today . . . Vito is coaching Eli's team, which is a team of 8 kindergartners from Green Acres elementary and Eli. The team name is . . . are you ready for this? . . . Green Acres Kindergarten. Whooo! What creativity! This morning was their first game and they beat the opposing team 13-3! Eli scored 4 goals and its quite obvious that he's better at offense than defense! It was a beautiful morning for a soccer game and we had a great time.

After the game, one of the team member's grandma came up to us and told us that she was here at CNMC for the ground breaking in May. She is somehow related (by marriage) to the family who sold us this property and remembered meeting us at that time. Connections, connections, connections.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I am continually floored by the way God puts it all together . . . in fact, God even works through soccer!

Vito warming up with the team before the game

Good job, Green Acres! (Eli is number 10)

Just What I Needed

Yesterday, I was lamenting about the fact that we had spent the whole day doing things "around the house." We had phone calls to make, a dresser to put together, lessons to prepare . . . seemingly meaningless tasks. I remember asking Vito, "Is this just part of the job or are we missing something here?" Then, this morning, a missionary friend of ours posted on their blog. It was just what I needed to hear. Thank you, Jill, for your timely post and for the reminder that all of the tasks count, especially when done for the Glory of God!

Here's a link to the Fothergill's blog: Life And All Its Glory

Not Forgotten

Don't worry! I haven't forgotten about blogging! We are still without Internet and ran out of data on our phones is last billing cycle . . . so we've had to limit any "unnecessary" Internet usage. But, we're told we should have Internet by the 18th, which is only a week away! So, until then . . .