Yo estoy...: January 2025

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Estamos en las maravillas invernales.

I don't know if I'm alone in this, but the cold in Colorado is much easier to handle than the cold in the MidWest.

Even a polar vortex is warmer in Colorado!

Outside our window!

Hiking with Ethan and Jenna.

Train!

We don't spend the whole time out playing and frolicking in the snow. Below was one session about "transition" that I appreciated the visual provided. A "family" is roped to each other and then loosely to the other members of their team and then expected to traverse an unsafe bridge. Very very clearly, the job could not be completed without the help of the surrounding supporters. In addition, the job could not be completed any faster than the slowest member of the team.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Estamos en un barco.

Stoller Family Christmas Cruise 2024

Leaving the port at Cape Canaveral.

Formal dinner for Christmas Eve.

Christmas caroling in the piazza.

Our steward must have felt sorry for us, as we had not brought any decoration for our door.

Santa visiting all the kids on Christmas morning.

Tea time in the dining room.

Visting Old San Juan, Puerto Rico on 12.26.24

Stopping for gelato.

Visting Old San Juan, Puerto Rico on 12.26.24

These boats are cities at sea. Monsterous!

Visiting Chocal in the D.R. (A small women's chocolate cooperative)

At Chocal we worked alongside the women, planting cocoa seeds, roasting & grinding the cocoa, separating the shells from the cocoa by hand, mixing the chocolate, pouring the chocolate into mold, and then of course packaging the product. Yes there was definitely taste testing along the way!

Amber Cove. Puerto Plata Dominican Republic 12.27.24

Stoller Family Christmas 2024

Tour through the galleys, stopping to get a picture with the Head Chef, Jerry.

Head chef, Jerry and Director of Restaurants, Oscar did a cooking show for us. Hilarious.

Much Love.

Estamos en transición.

I've kept this blog for a few years now. I thought it an unexpected milestone when I hit 10 years, now with 2025 we've rolled into 17 years of blogging. I thought it an unexpected milestone when I hit 700 posts, which now the blogspot is past 1000 posts. Could I turn philosophical and perseverate on the meaning behind this, perhaps relating it to goal setting, or considering realistic expectations, or the unexpected way life unfolds? Of course I could, and if I'm honest each tangent is unfolding in my brain right now. But at the same time, false pontification is not the mood I'm in at the moment. So instead I'll just say...

Happy 2025!

It's going to be another wild ride of a year. I turn 40 this year. Jake and I have our 2nd anniversary this year. Lord willing, we will move long term to Honduras this year. Each of those statements hard to believe. But we're buckled up and ready, here we go! We traveled with the Stoller family over Christmas, and had a couple days at home over the New Year's holiday before heading to the East Coast. Attending New Year's Eve service, praying together with our West Lafayette family, it seemed real and heavy that this time next year could potentially look very different. I am trying to make a point of slowing down and enjoying what life has for us this year. Not necessarily a New Years resolution, but rather just reflecting a change of season, or different stage of life, acknowledging that life is happening quickly and I don't want to miss any of it, or spend it overly stressed and unable to recognize joy in the process.

End of 2024.