The Oldest and the Youngest

My mother-in-law is visiting us from San Pedro. She’s “resting” from her small farm and 4 granddaughters she has been taking care of. She’s 72, the oldest of the clan, and has health (heart) problems. Oscar and Dolores, his sister, are taking turns having her here in Asuncion for at least a month to see if this doesn’t help her slow down a bit and take care of herself and not her extended family of 11 kids, 38 grandkids and 11 + great-grandkids, plus, 100 or so chickens, several ducks, a set of geese, one cow, and many cats and dogs. She’s got a handful!
Well, here at home, she’s quite content with her youngest grandson…Edson. The youngest is sure enjoying the cuddling company. He never has to reach for anything. He has walked around and around the yard (being held, of course) looking at trees, lemons, leaves, bugs and birds all morning. He sat in the warm sun for an hour listening to Abuela Sergia pray in Guarani…and without complaining! He is squeezed, kissed, and loved by abuela, AND he sure knows how to give the appreciation back! He squeals with laughter, lovingly looks into her eyes, and happily gives attention back to abuela.
I just put Edson down for a 2 hour nap after lunch, 1pm to 3pm. This has been his usual routine lately so, I was surprised to see that he was up again at 1:45…in abuela’s arms! I said, “I didn’t hear him cry!” She said, “Yes, he was crying! That’s why I picked him up!” It seemed a little bit suspicious to me, but I let it go…abuela won’t be able to wake up my sleeping baby everyday!
I found two verses (even though there are so many), one to dedicate to the Oldest in the Caballero Family and one for the Youngest of the Caballero family:
Abuela: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4
Edson: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord…Jeremiah 29:11-14a.
We love you both!!

Mandioca

After a couple of weeks of “pre-packaged” fast foods in the States several years ago, Oscar complained to me that he wanted a REAL meal. Was he meaning the Americans do not eat REAL meals? He meant that he wants one made from scratch and with MANDIOCA! Well, we started out our search for mandioca, (yucca root) found in warm climate countries and eaten along with all meals. We were visiting Ohio! We made our rounds and finally found it in Wal-Mart in Mansfield. It was beautiful and Oscar’s mouth was already watering for it. The price seemed a little high at $2.99 a lb. That would be $2.99 x 6,000 gs.(Paraguayan money) – 17,940 x 2 (about 2 kilos per lb) = 35,880 gs. a kilo! It was outrageous! One mandioca root is 1 lb! We would need at least 4 roots for the whole family. We finally decided to buy it and packed about 8 lbs in our bag an equivalent of 4 kilos…4 x 35,880 = 143,520 gs.. All the while I was feeling so bad that we were spending so much on something SOOOOO CHEAP back home.
Well, Mandioca hit an all time LOW here in Paraguay this week. Today at the supermarket it was 370 gs a Kilo. That means it is 370 / 2 = 185 gs a lb. (185/ 5,000 gs.) which means that it was $0.04 a lb.!!!!! ( I think I did my math right on all this money exchange.) What I bought in the States several years ago would have only needed to be $0.16 but was a total of $23.92.
Anyway, we eat mandioca almost every day. The kids and Oscar just love it with every meal. Sometimes we fry it like French fries. Sometimes it is fried in little cubes and after it is golden brown you add an egg and scramble it together. My brother ate it with chimichurri. Gaby eats it with salt and lemon. Brandon pours on hot sauce and Ranch. It can be pureed and mixed with meat to make a fried patty. Some have used the pureed mandioca for a crunchy pizza crust, and it is used in many, many other ways.
Being so cheap, who wouldn’t use it in everything!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLEN!

Today is my friend’s special day. It’s Ellen’s birthday! I’ve only known her since October of last year and it seems as if she could be my sister. She came as a short term missionary and has truly won over the hearts of ALL Paraguayans; young and old, rich and poor, etc. She came without knowing a word in Spanish, and now we can’t get her to stop talking! I told her that I was going to write about her today so here it goes…
Ellen is FRIENDLY. She cares about everyone and is just plain loving. It doesn’t matter WHO you are…an impatient teen, a disobedient student, an “interested” youth, all the neighborhood girls, or whoever. She always writes little notes to tell us how much she appreciates us. She always has time to show you she cares and wants to love you with Christ’s love. John 13:34-35, 1 Peter 3:8-9
Ellen is OPTIMISTIC. Everything seems so fun when you’re with her. Even when things go bad, it’s too cold, the rain ruins our plans, she’s far from a telephone to communicate back home, or steps on Arnold’s dog mess, she’s so happy. She always looks at the good in everything. Psalm 16:11
Ellen is ACTIVE. She never stops playing with the little kids. Even though she is tired, she will stay up an extra hour to play games with my boys. She gets out her recipes to bake cinnamon rolls some Saturdays for our treat. She loves to go grocery shopping…walking there and back, of course. She goes for walks with the neighbor lady, runs at the track with other young kids, and goes bike riding with our kids some times. It seems as if she is NEVER tired. Hebrews 10:24
Ellen loves to SERVE. She will set up chairs at church. She will carry people’s loads of groceries. She will help sweep where ever. She jumps at the chance to serve water at the table. She washes my dishes…with joy! She seems happiest when she’s serving others. Mark 9:41, Galatians 6:10.
I was thinking of a verse that I could dedicate to her and I found so many! (1 Timothy 4:12-14, Romans 12:6-8,1 Peter 4:10) My prayer is that she will continue to love and serve as I have seen her do here in Paraguay WHEREVER the Lord leads her after November 2007. When you leave, Ellen, you will leave an empty space in our hearts. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Mother’s Day – Oscar’s Birthday

May 15th is OUR day. It’s MY day because of Mother’s Day. It’s OSCAR’S day because it’s his birthday. Strange enough, here in Paraguay, it’s even a holiday! We always have a hard time deciding WHO gets to be congratulated first, Oscar or me. Yesterday was a wonderful break from school and routine…a good, family day.
I wonder sometimes why there is so much fuss in Paraguay over Mother’s Day. People even let off fireworks at midnight…Monday night! Parties started on the 14th already. Our neighbors had music going until 3 am in the morning. Some say that women have a great impact in Paraguayan history, family life, farming, etc. While the men were at war, the women stayed home to handle the crops, animals and many, many children. (Oscar’s mom had 14). During one war the women and children even went to battle. Women…mothers…are very highly esteemed. Last year my neighbors had some “MARIACHIS” come to sing to their mother at dawn. Towards the end of the day, yesterday, I was surprised to be considered a 2nd mother, and was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Oscar likes to joke that he is his mom’s best Mother’s Day present and that his birthday is so important that they made a holiday out of it. Well, of course, we started celebrating his birthday on Monday, also, and today, Wednesday, at a school meeting we continued with the party. Tonight after church there are refreshments planned to celebrate his 40th birthday. Yesterday I made three cakes to take to the different places we were celebrating.
According to Oscar’s birth certificate, passport and other legal documents, he is 41. He was “born” on May 15, 1966. According to the rest of the family he is 40 this year and was born on May 15, 1967. His brother, José was born August 15, 1965, which means that if he was born in 1966 his brother would have been exactly nine months old…but the mother claims that there is a 1 year 9 months difference meaning that Oscar had to be born in 1967.
Anyway, it was a beautiful, warm day that was lots of fun.
Last night there was a TERRIBLE thunderstorm and half of our house is with out electricity. Today, wintry, cold weather is settling in and it’s raining.

Mimo, please!

Edson’s become “mimoso”. In Spanish I guess that means something like wanting to be held, cuddled, hugged and kissed, etc. He wakes up every 20 minutes with a little whimper (sometimes more than that) and when he’s held, of course, he goes back to sleep. Oscar says he’s spoiled, but any attentive mother would not agree. Her baby is NEVER spoiled!
Well, that is MY opinion with all three of my kids. I would NEVER THINK of spoiling them. If they are crying or whimpering there must be a reason…he has a fever, he just got his shot, a mosquito bit him, his diaper needs changed, and his socks are too tight, whatever! But my best excuse is always…he’s getting a new tooth!
Well, this time it’s TRUE! He has two new teeth popping out and he’s uncomfortable. It’s cold outside (and inside for that matter). He needs warm hugs. He needs to be rocked in the rocking chair. He needs to be cuddled with warm blankets. He’s crying out “mimo, please”.
He’s at that stage where things are different. He can eat now…squash, potatoes, and bananas. He can rock back and forth on all fours and sometimes even slide around or flip back and forth to get where he wants to. He laughs, screams, and coos all day long. But…oh…that tooth! It’s hard to grow up. Think about Brandon, 14 years old and 5 inches taller than myself…even though we are “mimoso” many times. I could NEVER get him to fit in my lap on the rocking chair!
My baby’s not spoiled! But, I think I’ll have to go and hold him for a while and rock him back to sleep…it’s all because of his tooth!

Cooking in the country

This is how the car looked after the ride home yesterday through the mud roads in San Pedro. I tried to upload this yesterday and my connection wasn't good. So, this picture goes with yesterday's story.

Today's chapter is about my cooking experience. My grandpa loves going to the country when he comes. I think he remembers when they used to do everything by scratch. No...already prepared packages to buy in the store!

Anyway, well Oscar took his mom and Dolores to the doctor’s and I stayed home with 6 little cousins/grandkids to cook for. Remember, this is San Pedro…it is the country! Cooking styles are very different than the city. The oldest girl, Deborah, 17, killed 2 chickens. (I wasn’t about to do that!) She knew how to grab them (Edson thoroughly enjoyed the chicken hunt as the girls ran around trying to grab the squawking things), kill them and take the feathers off the chicken, but never cut one up…that was my job. Usually we get the “nice” plump ones at the supermarket with no innards inside. This one had all the guts still in it, it was still warm, and it was very skinny. Its corn breakfast was still in the neck! I started cleaning, cutting and washing each piece, trying not to think that it was a little bit gross. The animals (cats and dogs) were waiting for any little waste we would throw to them as we cleaned the chickens. We quickly prepared Vori-vori – polenta ball, chicken soup…OVER COALS! Working over the hot fire and blowing to keep the flame going was challenging since the charcoal wasn’t real good and kept burning out. That worried me a bit because a farm chicken has to be boiled a lot longer or the meat will be tough. Our meal had to be done by 11:45 since the girls go to school in the afternoon session. Thankfully I had MANY babysitters who took care of holding Edson and we soon got our soup boiling.
The next step was to make Vori-vori…little polenta balls. Since I came from the city I expected to have the polenta already ground. In the country…you have to make your own! The girls were experts at that, also and already had the corn seed boiling over a campfire and were soon grinding and sifting it. The polenta is mixed with farmer’s cheese, an egg, and some of the broth. After mixing it well, little balls are formed and set aside. When the soup is almost done, you add the balls, boil an extra 5 minutes and it is done…it was 11:45! We made it.
After lunch the cool air was settling in and I smelled like a burning log since I was working over fires all day long, I decided to leave the cleaning up to the girls and took off to clean myself up and sleep a siesta.

Oscar's Mom, Ña Sergia

We just went through a spontaneous and tiresome weekend trip to San Pedro. For about two weeks we have been receiving calls from Oscar’s brothers and sisters that his mom is not well. We were planning a trip in about two weeks, but Sunday’s calls were insistent and after placing Brandon and Gabriel at their favorite friends’ house, we took off with Edson and picked up Oscar’s sister on the way. The 250 mile trip went smooth until the last 30 miles of the trip. It was around midnight and the dirt road to San Pedro was TERRIBLE. Our speedometer was on 20 m/h for a whole hour as we dodged big holes in the road. The pavement is to be finished in 13 months, but unfortunately we didn’t see any preparations for the new road.
We arrived at 1am and found my mother-in-law very sick with fever, a bad cough, high blood pressure and cholesterol AND refusing to go to the doctor. Oscar’s sister was insisting on bringing her back to Asuncion, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Finally, it was decided that she would see a doctor in the morning in San Pedro and Dolores, Oscar’s sister, would stay with her for a week in order to make sure she was taking her medicine. She was a little bit better Monday afternoon with just a pretty bad cough.
Around lunch time on Monday there was a change of weather and the southern winds forced us to bundle up. The rest of the afternoon and all throughout the night it was windy and rainy. This morning it was 50 F and very windy. We hurried to prepare our “mate” (Yerba tea leaves in a little cup with a sippy straw called a bombilla) and take off for Asuncion. We got back five hours later and with a VERY DIRTY CAR!
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about cooking our meal!