Journal Excerpts from 2008

Thursday, January 24, 2008
This month in a nutshell: Melissa and her Brazilian friend, Melissa herself, Eddy making music with us, people over, Christmas in white Germany, furry rodents!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
At Hannah's bridal shower, we discovered a gift most of us had never heard of before: Sex music. (Except I don't think it would take too much to get in the mood at this stage in life.)

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
During dancing last night, I did my first lift! I didn't even see it coming. Then he asked me if I wanted to do a flip!

Thursday, January 31, 2008
This morning our little 8-year-old was running around our facility in hysteria. When she tried to climb the fence, we took her down and escorted her back to the house. (An escort is a type of walking restraint.) She was so scared during the escort, that she wrapped her legs around my leg and urinated.



February 14














Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I've been swimming in the ocean this week. It's MARCH and the beach is packed.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Among our clients, we have the most dangerous species on earth: young men with nothing to lose.

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Uncle Jascha's house/store, our cousin Jackie, Inee's roller skating party and Danielle's wedding
Journaling in the form of a collage is my latest thing. Jessica just came back from Germany with stories about Jackie and Uncle Jascha's new store.








Saturday, June 07, 2008
Yesterday I saw Teri and another girl at a grocery store parking lot. They were smiling and wearing bright summer tops and their hair was flying in the breeze as they hurried to the store. I wanted to run out of my car and call out "Teri, wait!" and shop together with them. But I was too slow in getting my purse and shopping list together.

Once in the store, I saw the other girl and recognized that it was Kristen! She told me she's getting stuff for her wedding tomorrow. (Which is now today. Kristen is married today!)



Sunday, August 3, 2008
During worship today, we sang, "Your beloved needs you now." I love how we can be so passionate and vulnerable with God. One day, I hope to be that passionate and vulnerable with a man.




Random family picture




Tuesday, August 05, 2008
My dad had me proofread a letter contesting a traffic citation. I laughed so hard I couldn't talk. Here is what he wrote:

I was perplexed when the officer told me that I was speeding. There must have been a sincere error. First, he said that while driving he noticed that my face was "up-tied," [uptight] then he checked the speed while driving in the opposite direction, and then turned around to follow the car. I am sorry, if my face looked "up-tied" and might have given the officer a wrong message. My face might have been "up-tied" from wondering about the speed of the car which passed me.

....What was quite surprising to both of us (my wife and myself) was the comment about my "up-tied face." Even if I would have speeded, which I am convinced that I was not, how would it be possible to check the speed while driving in the opposite direction after seeing another's face through the windshield? I trust that this citation will be dropped.



Thursday, August 14, 2008

Abigail, Nathan and Rachel's daughter

Thursday, August 28, 2008
As much as my coworker and I tried to redirect the conversation, all the girls wanted to talk about were their crushes. One 10-year-old has a safe crush at least. Peter Pan.

"I saw him at the parade, " she told us. "He was so hot in those leggings. "

My coworker changed the topic again, but the girl still had her chin in her hand, and with a dreamy look repeated, "Those leggings were so tight, you can't even imagine."

!!!

Random family picture

Saturday, September 06, 2008
Whenever we pass a house for sale, Mary (my 82-year-old landlady/housemate)says, "Why don't you buy a house? Boys are looking for a woman with a house."
That's Mary's dating advice. :-)





Thursday, October 02, 2008
Butterfly chrysalis

Last night the pupa still looked green to me, so I set in on my nightstand, wondering if it was a dud. When I opened my eyes this morning, my heart almost stopped short at what I saw. There, flexing its wings, was a brilliant monarch butterfly.

We already knew it's a male, based on the chrysalis. (Brian's an expert.) So my next question is: "Will he find a mate?" Brian assured me that he would.

"But how will he find her?"

"They'll just visually see each other."

Saturday, October 04, 2008
Mary and I saw the redwood Herter mirror (15 x 10 ft) at the LA art museum yesterday. As we looked at ourselves in that enormous mirror, we felt pretty.


Friday, October 10, 2008
We're still swimming in the ocean and it's October!
After a day at the beach










Saturday, October 25, 2008
Last year, Dad announced that the holidays will no longer be a major family event for us, until the grandkids come. So I'll be spending every holiday this year with my colleagues and kids at work. They're the best entertainment anyway.


Tuesday, November 04, 2008
I just got a voicemail from Mom saying, "What's this I hear about you saying that your dad said we're not celebrating holidays together anymore? We're actually planning Christmas around your schedule. And we're even having an extra Thanksgiving with you." I could hear Dad in the background, agreeing that he'd never said that.

And I so clearly remember him saying it! There was nothing mean about it. It was just like, "Hey girls, you're free to do whatever you wish, and your mom and I are free as well. You don't have to stay close to home anymore."

Nevertheless, we're having Christmas together this year.








Friday, November 14, 2008
"She said no again." I turned to see it was Hermon talking to Steve. "I've been trying to dance with her for over a year."

He wasn't even talking about my favorite dancer, who was dancing in a corner, surrounded by men. Like in a birthday dance, they were cutting in in the middle of the song, so that she was dancing with several guys in the course of each song.

Mary and Mom

Saturday, November 15, 2008
Mary is getting ready to move in with her son, and I'm moving in with Anya, Hilary and Jacklyn. So we are both slowly going through all our stuff. Neither of us is in a rush, and we frequently stop to reminisce over certain items. She's come across some recordings of her late husband, which she listens to with a faraway look. I've come across some dear letters from my best friend in college.

Mary and I have lived together in this house for 3 and a half years. One day I'll look back on this time and think, "those days with Mary..."

Monday, November 17, 2008
Siggi sagte mir vor kurzem: "Du bist jetzt im gutem alter mutti zu werden."



Thursday, December 4, 2008
Melissa prepared a candlelit goodbye dinner for our family (they left for Germany) on our deck. She blew up 100 creme balloons, so it was like we were in the clouds.









Friday, December 05, 2008
Yesterday I had a workout with an Olympic trainer -- my very own housemate, Anya. (Misty May is one of her clients!) It felt so good to know I was doing a SERIOUS workout.

Monday, December 08, 2008
One of our boys had an emotional breakdown on a field trip today. And I was shift leader.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Anya and her friends took me country-western dancing last night.

I've gotten an insider's glimpse into a whole new world since I moved in with these girls. All three are semi-professional soccer players. Hilary and Jacklyn's boyfriends are soccer coaches, and everyone they bring to the house is an athlete. Anya trains the U.S. men's volleyball team and gets asked out by NBA players. Yesterday we were talking about going to a rodeo and someone knew the top roper. It is so fun to be single when you're around people like this! They're not only athletes, but passionate Christians also.


Monday, December 15, 2008
Hilary's boyfriend gave me some cooking tips that have made a world of difference. Simple things really. Like, "Taste the food."



Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Ingrid, home for the holidays

Ingrid is back for Christmas. In fact, she is sleeping in my room as I write this. Last night, as we lay in bed, she told me of her boat course in the Gulf Islands, and how new worlds opened up to her as she rowed under billions of stars and swam in bioluminescence. I felt enchanted just hearing about it.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Before caroling at the convalescent home, we all ate at the Hofmann's. There were about 40 of us, and we all fit so easily into their huge house. Ingrid and I felt very welcomed, but also a bit foreign to these wealthy, stylish people. It reminded us of the time we visited a church in Bel Air.


Sunday, December 28, 2008
During worship this morning, Charissa led us in a RAP! That was so much fun!

Mennonites in Belize

This month I joined a study team from Germany, organized by my uncle Peter, to visit Mennonite settlements in Belize.

Uncle Peter

Mennonites are an early protestant faith group which, through endogamy, became an ethnic group with its own language.

There are many different kinds of Mennonite colonies - Some are as small as 25 families, some as large as 3,000 people. Some have no electricity and drive horse-and-buggy. Others have cars and flushing toilets. Some colonies have strict dress codes, others more lax. But they all have one thing in common: They all speak Plautdietsch.

There were 3 basic types of Mennonite colonies:


TRADITIONAL. They have no electricity and drive horse-and-buggy, but don’t look Amish. The men shave, wear overalls and cowboy hats. The women wear dark dresses and head scarves. Tractors are allowed so long as they do not have rubber wheels.

Traditional colonies are the largest type in Belize - some with 3,000 people.

AMISH-LIKE. They call themselves Mennonites and speak Plautdietsch, but look Amish. They don't like cameras.

PROGRESSIVE. They have cars, cell phones, and flushing toilets. The women wear head coverings and bright dresses with flowery print. (Except in Blue Creek, where the people are totally modern.)


Even the industrialized colonies have no toys, and their kids play endlessly outside.

JOURNAL EXCERPTS FROM MY TRIP

BELIZE TRIP DAY 5

Maria, Erwin, Heinrich, Pavel* and I separated from the group today. We borrowed a pickup truck and went out in search of people for the film project.
We drove to an ultra-conservative colony and showed up uninvited at Peter Penner's house. At first he was suspicious of us, but after talking for a while in Plautdietsch, and after we promised not to use our cameras, he allowed us into his home...

On our way back to our host colony, Pavel was craving a beer and when we stopped at the liquor store, the others each got one too. (Must be a German thing.) By the time we got back, it was late and our host families were expecting us. But we now had the sudden dilemma of what to do with the beer bottles. We couldn't leave them in the car, since it was borrowed from a Mennonite.

So Pavel just threw them on the side of the road! In Mennonite territory!

BELIZE TRIP DAY 6

The 5 of us went to Belmopan today, where we interviewed a man who stepped out of the colony and married a Mayan woman.

Later at the market, we met Florian, a young man from Germany who has been living with the Mennonites for a year now. He hopped in the car with us, and showed us the way to a remote settlement called Springfield, where the people look Amish.

We stopped at a mill, and looked around. I felt awkward, like we were snooping around on someones property. A young man driving by on his horse-and-buggy saw us and stopped. He introduced himself as "Doft Hoada" [David Harder] and offered to show us around.

Jungle hike by night. After some time with David, some teenage boys led us on a jungle hike. They were shy, but cute too. One of them was showing off, and climbed a tree about 60 feet high! It became dark, and we didn't have flashlights, but the boys had brought kerosene lamps.

When we came out of the thick of the jungle,
and into the clearing, there was a crowd of Mennonites waiting for us, eager to meet us. Word had spread that we were there - "Germans from Russia." (When they say "German" they mean Plautdietsch. And I don't think they know that most Mennonites emigrated out of Russia and back to Germany decades ago. They're a little behind on their history.)

We had so many dinner invitations, but ended up going to David's brother-in-law's. The house was packed with neighbors and relatives, all wanting to see us; the children outside stared at us through the windows.

I had changed out of my skirt for the hike, but even in my jeans I felt more than accepted. The adults were eager to get into deep conversation with us, especially about spiritual topics. It was getting late and they kept asking up to stay the night. I have never felt so welcomed.

I really wanted to spend the night - it would've been so fun! But our host colony was waiting for us, and we were planning to leave for Guatemala early morning. Florian wants to come with us...

On our way home, everyone except Florian and I got beers, which were tossed out the window again. Alas, what will Florian think of us?

Again it was past midnight by the time we got back to our host families. As Heinrich pulled the car into the driveway, I asked if they know Florian is spending the night. "No," he answered. "They don't know yet of their good luck."

BELIZE TRIP DAY 12

(back row) Jakob Esau, Abe, Heinrich Esau, Viktor Sawatzki (front row) Maria Sawatzki, me, Jakob, Lena

Today we visited the Mayan ruins in Lamanai. Abe Rempel came with us. He lives in a very progressive colony, in which the people are totally modern.

Me, Abe Rempel, and Erwin. Erwin is the second-youngest of 12 kids, and he too was surprised that the Mennonites in Belize don't know how many siblings they have.






BELIZE TRIP DAY 13

We spent the night at a field station in the middle of the jungle. As I fell asleep last night, I could hear the howler monkeys - an eerie sound. Last week we were staying with a Mennonite family, and they gave Maria and me a bed to share. So it's nice now, to have my own bed.

This place is very simple and all-wooden. I've already told several people that this is where I want my honeymoon one day!



*Forty people came from Germany for this trip. Here are some of them:

Maria - linguistics teacher, doing her dissertation on Plautdietsch

Erwin – the son-of-the-man-who-translated-the-Bible-into-Plautdietsch

Heinrich – linguist and member of the Bundesrat für Niederdeutsch (German Federal Council for Low German), doing a film project on Mennonites

Pavel – cameraman and partner in the film project

Jakob & Heinrich Esau - inseparable brothers, full of humor

Mennonite Kids

As I was walking, a small Mennonite boy came alongside me and took my hand. Surprised by the boldness and trust, I asked him if he knew my name.

“Jo,” he said. “Natalie Wiens.”

I did not even know he knew my first name.

In Tikal with Leon, the boy who knew my name.

The Mennonite children were generally shy and unresponsive when spoken to. From what I gathered, the reason is two-fold:
1) They are taught to distrust people outside their community.
2) They are not used to conversing with adults. In the traditional colonies, they are not even permitted to attend church services until they are 13 years old.

THEIR SCHOOLS
When we peeked into their traditional schoolhouse, the children were standing in front of their desks, chanting the time-tables in Old High German. It looked like the 1800’s, with barefoot children, wooden benches and slate chalkboards.

TRIVIA THEY DON'T KEEP IN THEIR HEADS
When asked how many siblings they have, most kids had to count.

Sweet Moments in Belize

ROADSIDE FRUIT.

ROADSIDE COCONUT WATER. Once when we were hungry, Tjnals (our bus driver) took a hatchet and several of us followed him to a coconut tree. He chopped some open and at first we were sharing them, but Tjnals kept hacking down coconuts like there was a limitless supply. By the end we were so full of coconut water, we thought we would burst.

JETSKIING IN THE BACALAR LAGOON.

Drinking milk still warm and foamy from the cow. Something my dad always talked about, and now I finally got to try.




SNORKELING IN THE CARIBBEAN. A Creole man and his son swam with us. He caught a live fish and put it in my hands.


LAUGHING TOO HARD. Pavel was filming an interview for his documentary one day, when Erwin and I thought it would be funny if we started arm wrestling in the background. So without saying a word, we casually placed ourselves about 10 feet behind the interviewee, and started arm wrestling. As though it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Something about the moment - maybe the way Erwin was laughing - but I laughed so hard I peed my pants.

WORSHIPPING GOD IN A MAYAN CAVE. We were deep into the cave with our canoes, when we turned off our flashlights and sat in total darkness. For several minutes, we sat in silence. Then someone began to sing "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," and slowly everyone joined in.

Last Day in Belize

6:10 I awake to the sound of jungle birds and glance at my watch. Erwin and I had agreed to go jogging at 6:15, so I scramble out of bed, get dressed and head
outside. In the fog I can see Erwin tying his shoelaces.

We start on the dirt road, but then take a small beaten path into the jungle. It is by far the most beautiful environment for a run I have ever been in.

9:00 Packed and ready to go home, all 42 of us get on the bus. I sit in the back with Franz Thiessen, who cuts me off a piece of sugarcane - something we have grown used to eating. Before heading to the airport, Tjnals (our bus driver) stops at Abe Rempel's house where the Esau brothers and I get off. Abe is going to fly us to the airport on his private plane.

Since it only takes 30 minutes to fly there, and we have all this extra time, we decide to go horseback riding.

9:20 In a wide open field, I feel the thrill of a galloping horse for the first time.

12:00 We are on our way to Abe's garage and I ask if the plane has a roof. All 3 guys burst out laughing hysterically. Does that mean duh it has a roof, or duh it doesn't?

12:30 We are in the air. The plane is a 4-seater and it does have a roof. Heinrich glances back at Jakob and me and says, "Die letzten Minuten sind die teuersten," [The last moments are the most precious] to which we all laugh gleefully.

We're cracking jokes and all excited. Abe suddenly flies us full-speed toward the sun, and then pulls the throttle and lets the engine idle. I'm screaming but loving it.

13:10 We join the rest at the airport.

13:40 The Germans are gone, and only Pavel and I are left. We have a couple hours before our flights, so Abe takes us up to the aerodrome control tower. Everyone there knows him and is happy to see him.

16:40 The plane is empty and I am leaning against the window with my legs comfortably stretched across 3 seats. As I reflect on my time in Belize, I feel as though the trip was tailor-made to my liking. The Lord knows my background, my tastes, my desires; it is like He planned a personal vacation for me.

Dad

He has recently learned to be more encouraging (he tends to be brutally honest), and now writes us encouraging notes. He folds the notes into paper airplanes and flies them at us.




He clips our nails.
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Melissa and Dad, 2002







He maintains our cars.

Dad and Elona

He helps us with our paperwork.




Jesse and Dad








When I was a teenager, he snuck me out of the hospital for a few hours. Dads are cool like that. (Gene said that when he was a kid, his dad would sign him out of class for weeks at a time, to go on business trips with him.)







Sometimes Dad puts his right hand on our head and blesses us - telling us we are valuable and picturing a special future for us.











He does this when Mom is stressed.

"I know looks shouldn't matter, but I'm glad they do."

-T shirt, worn by a little girl at my work

You're Beautiful.

Some volunteers came to do a decorate-your-own-box craft with our girls. When they were finished, all the volunteers wrote personal notes to each girl and put them in their boxes.

At the end of the night, we read the notes, and half of them had the same wording: "You are beautiful inside and out."

At first I thought the sameness made it less personal. But then I realized, beauty might be the core of every girl.