Recessionary Scrabble

It's no secret that we're in the beginning, middle, end (take your pick) of a global economic recession. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't still find some way to enjoy ourselves and sharpen our minds at the same time.

Yesterday, we joined some friends for a game night and we tried out some new and old games. One set of games we remembered from our time in Honduras about 10 years ago. CAMers Harold and Carol Krause taught us "Swipe" and "Take Two" that are played with just a set of Scrabble tiles. You don't even need a Scrabble board to play these.

Sometimes a game of Scrabble can be found at a yard sale and the board is in poor shape, so if all you want is the set of letters, you might be able to get a bargain for these two games in one.

Here's the rules...sent to me just today from Aunt Carol:

Swipe

1. Turn all letter tiles face down. They can be in one big pile two—however it’s handy for players to reach. They should be out of the way of the middle of the table.

2. The first player flips over a tile, throwing it into the center of the table.

3. The player to his left flips one, and then the next player flips one, etc.

4. As soon as someone sees a word that’s 3 letters or more (no proper nouns), he calls it out. The first one to call out the word takes it places the word in front of him. The person who takes the word is the one who throws out the next tile.

5. At any time (whether it’s his turn or not) a player can call out another word. He does this in two ways:

· He sees another word that is 3 letters or more in the center of the table.

· He wants to steal a word that someone else has or else add to his own. To do that, he must add one or more already-turned-over letters from the middle of the table to the word that he or someone else has. It must change the root word. He may not simply add an “s” or an “ed” to the word. If the word is something like “dust,” he may use an “s” to make it “studs,” but he cannot make “dusts.” It is helpful to keep adding to your own words because then they are more difficult for someone else to steal.

6. When all the tiles are used up (or else all players have agreed that they have given up trying to make a word from the last turned-over tiles), then the person with the most words wins the game. It doesn’t matter how long the words are.

Take Two

1. Turn all letter tiles face down in the center of the table. Each player takes 7 tiles but leaves them upside down.

2. When someone says “Go!” each player quickly turns over his own tiles and at the same time all players proceed to form their own crossword puzzles. All words must connect. Two-letter words are permissible. No proper nouns. A player may rearrange his own words and letters at any time.

3. When any player has fastened all his tiles together, he says, “Take two!” and all players must take two tiles from the center, whether they have connected all their own letters or not.

4. The game continues in like manner, with players calling out, “Take two!” when they have connected all their tiles and everyone grabbing two more tiles and continuing to form words and connect them to his own puzzle. If all players get stuck and can’t use up all their letters (and therefore can’t say, “Take two!”), then they may decide to just go ahead and allow everyone take two more anyway, to get out of the bind.

5. The game is over when there are no longer enough tiles for players to take more. At this point the other players look at the winner’s puzzle to see if he has spelled all the words correctly. If so, then the winner’s score is 0. Each other player adds up the value of the letters that he was unable to connect to his puzzle, and that is his score.

6. Players can decide ahead of time that they will play to 100 or whatever. (The one with the highest score is the loser.)

Thanks Harold and Carol for teaching us these games all those years ago. Now all we have to do is find someone who'll play them with us!

Enjoy them everyone!

A New Milestone

Our library has way more than 5,000 books but just to report here that officially, we've topped 5,000 and reached 5,089 on our online catalog! Woo-hoo! Time for a reading party! (we just received a few more boxes of used books and videos yesterday to add to our boxes still awaiting input...back to work!)

Thanks to Sarah our local missionary intern who has been helping us once a week the last couple weeks with entering the last few hundred into the system!

Check it out here:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/alanbethcam (library)

There Comes A Day

Having worked and played on computers for over 20 years (hard to believe), I know from years of experience in using Microsoft Windows, that there usually comes a time when something will go wrong and badly so.

For my 18 month old HP laptop, that day came yesterday. I suppose I should be grateful that recovering from a bad BIOS update (thanks to HP) is much easier than it was in years past. In fact, other than staying up until nearly 5 a.m. trying to get the large part of the recovery and downloading of countless Windows updates taken care of, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

That's not to say I'm happy that I lost a night of sleep (I still got about 4 hours of sleep), for I am not happy about it. That's not to say it was a simple procedure. It wasn't. I also ended up spending a few hours today trying to begin putting the pieces back together. I've got hours to go, but most of the reinstalls can wait until I really need the programs.

I've come to the conclusion after our wonderful experience with the iMac we bought last September, that the extra cost for Apple's Mac computers are well worth it when put into perspective of the savings provided in maintenance and repair time, the prevention of endless frustration, and hours of lost sleep. So far I have spent less than 1 hour maintaining our iMac in the past 6 months. All this just to say that when it's time to buy the next laptop, Macbook will be the order. I need my time and my sleep. Good-night! (Sweet dreams Bill Gates)

Our Little Tough Guy

Dayton lost a tooth Saturday so he has a matching pair of holes. Nice symmetry.

After 5 hours of church service today Dayton tripped and fell flat on his face on the concrete floor. We left immediately (missed the last 2 hours of church today!) Poor kid...cried for about an hour and definitely had a concussion. The photo is bleached out a bit but he has a huge bruise on his forehead which was the point that hit the floor first. Several people at church said to put sugar on it. That was a crazy-sounding idea to me but Bethie did it anyway! Now I keep checking the floor for a line of ants. lol

He seems to be doing much better but pray for Dayton that he'll really be OK from this and that God will spare him from the genetic disorder he inherited from his mother that requires a good cut or a head banging fall about every couple of weeks of his life.

Cat n Dog Theology

Fellow CAMer Tim Blycker presented "Cat n Dog" theology today in our church. The presentation consists of five 1 hour sessions on core theology. It is a lot of fun to participate in the presentation and a great way to teach the basics. This was done in Spanish but it is a method developed in English. Check it out at: http://catndogtheology.com/.

A five hour theology Sunday service is a lot to ask from our kids but they hung in there. Dayton shared his colors with Miguel and Minerva's little girl. Their kids are sooo cute!

I wasn't exactly sure what I had been volunteered to do...fortunately, it was only helping to make the letters for our opening song...OBDC. In Spanish those letters spoken quickly sound just like the command form of the verb "to obey." Clever! Here Julio Cesar and I are leading in the letter "O." Since we had a non-Spanish speaking guest in attendance today, I was making the "O" in English and Julio was making his "O" in Spanish.

(that's a joke...they're the same letter...duh!)

Men's Conference

I enjoyed our annual men's conference yesterday at the new facilities of Christ Saves ("Cristo Salva") Bible Church in Querétaro. I drove 5 other men from our church. The four men in the back seat barely fit but there weren't too many groans at the speed bumps! We heard from two elders of Denton Bible Church, Denton, TX and also from CAM missionary and director of Puebla Bible Seminary, Roger Oliver. The messages and workshops were good and the lunch was a great way to sample a few different kinds of Mexican cuisine. The cactus was excellent.

Today this church held a dedication for their new building and property. Interestingly, this land was purchased many years ago by a Presbyterian believer who donated it to the Bible church to develop as a church and community center. This makes the second community center related to a Bible church in Queretaro and ours in San Juan makes three in the area. Community centers are great ways to reach people with the Gospel and it's great to see another one in the development stage.

Another little tidbit from yesterday's time at the conference. The missionaries working with Cristo Salva mentioned that they might have a group with 45 youth come down in March to evangelize through kids' clubs. They normally would have them do a lot of construction but there's no funds available to continue the construction. The team was heading to a border city, Reynosa, for this trip until a week ago when the violent war in the northern states caused the international bridges to be closed in this city. This is the area where we cross about half the time we go to the U.S. and we were not aware of this development.

Please remember to pray for the drug war in Mexico. Last year thousands were killed in this war and the violence is escalating this year to higher levels. As you may have heard in the news, Mexico's stability as a nation and that of its government is in a precarious position.

The photo above show a piece of the property where the bathrooms are located. It was very dry and dusty yesterday but in the rainy season when drenching downpours are common, I suspect a run to the bathroom during church service is a calculated event!

The view of the city from the "roof." This is actually the second floor which needs to be built. The first floor partly underground since it is built on a sloping hillside. Makes a great play area but the drop-offs around the edges are dangerous...that's what makes the games so exciting!

One of our workshops. Bryan Smith is translating.

Just getting started. I'm not sure of the final number but we probably had between 70 and 100 men attend the meetings which started at 9:30 and ended about 5:30.

As is often the case, the drive to and from with the other men was a great chance for me to practice my ever-rough Spanish skills and to enjoy some laughs...usually at my expense. I came up with some new words for the Spanish language which were well-received! My favorite invention was "hamburgrasas" for "hamburguesas" (hamburgers). "Grasas" are fats. We all got a good laugh out of that one as we passed our local McDonald's ("of death"...the one here in San Juan is horrible).

What Good Is A Road (Part 5 of 5...por fin!)

In the final installment of my posts and photos about the roads of Mexico, it seems fitting to have a photo of a pilgrimage. These are common in Mexico and at times only take up the shoulder of a highway or one side of a road. When they come into town, they typically take up the entire road as you see here. Sadly, the pilgrimages are a part of a misguided faith wherein those who are walking (and sometimes cycling) believe they are earning merit with God through the sacrifice of their journey. Pilgrimages are one of the saddest observances we often make here on the roads of Mexico. Somewhere in that category of sad sights are the dozens of roadside prostitutes we observe every frequent trip we make to nearby Querétaro. Nothing like the many blocks upon blocks of them seen in certain parts of Mexico City which I've never seen personally but have heard about. I don't need to see it to believe it.

Bicycle rickshaw taxis are common in Mexico City. I even rode in one once. It is quite the experience. I'm not sure if this guy was waiting for another passenger, mesmerized at the thought of an ice cold Coca-Cola or just taking what appears to be a very well-deserved if not necessary break, or perhaps all three were true.

Yes...I can't say I understand it nor can I explain why...but the people in Mexico just love playing Frogger. I always thought that the video game was based on frogs jumping across floating logs and lanes of heavy traffic. Obviously, the creator of that game was inspired not by our green, jumping friends but by the roads here in Mexico.

And finally...sometimes people store stuff on the roads of Mexico. Construction materials like sand and gravel are often dumped into heaps on the roads of Mexico. In fact, we were tooling down a nice road this past Monday evening on our way back from Amealco, and as I came down a slope in the roadway, I found myself navigating around a huge pile of dirt that took up about 3/4 of the roadway. No sign...no warning...just a normal, routine, unpredictable Mexico road hazard. Here in this photo, they aren't just storing gravel and sand and adding mix and water, they're making cement in order to construct a building. How convenient! They use a lot of nails in cement construction (believe it or not)...those nails are used in the wooden forms and for leveling lines.

A little-known fact is that eventually every one of those nails is removed from those forms and lines and tossed into a nearby street or highway for good luck. At least...that's all I can figure. I really have no idea why the roads are littered with nails otherwise, but when I see concrete construction on one side of a street, if possible, I veer to the other side of the street just to avoid potential nail punctures in the tires.

While I'm handing out free tips, if you should ever drive in Mexico, remember this: When crossing or entering a one-way street...look BOTH ways before proceeding. Doing so may save your life!

I hope you enjoyed a little walk...or drive...or life-threatening experience on the roads of Mexico with me. I hope I haven't scared anyone from wanting to come down and minister here or even simply visit us here. Sometimes people ask me if they can drive down here rather than fly and if you're ever one of those people and my instant reply is to gulp and make an odd hemming and hawing noise, you'll now know why. The first part of the answer of course is "yes." The second part of the answer is..."and do you intend to return home with this same vehicle in one piece and yourself being alive and well?!?"

LOL

Well...I guess when we say..."pray for safety in our travels"...you'll recognize that as a genuine prayer request and not just a trite statement. Thanks for following the blog and feel free to pray for us! We'll be driving today!

What Good Is A Road (Part 4)

Here on the roads of Mexico, you can buy just about anything from your car window. No need for a drive-in restaurant or drive-thru window...just get stuck at a light or in heavy traffic and you're likely to have plenty of options. This guy was selling "Gorditas de Nata" for about $1 a bag. If you're curious and want to know what a "Gordita de Nata" is, I'll tell you. It's an overweight woman from a town called "Nata." Ha-ha...that was a little joke...or big as the case may be. (sorry it's after 11:30 p.m. and my humor can get a little dangerous at this point in the day...or night as it is) Actually, these are little sweet breads which is probably why that's exactly what they look like in the photo.

Jugglers are common at street lights. They hope for some coins for the show. Also, car window washers and car dusters are common (no they actually try and remove the dust from your car, there's no need to add dust...and once in my case, one car duster actually removed part of my car which is why I never let them touch my car anymore).

Say it with flowers...in this case...at least don't run them over. Often the prices are quite good but the flowers can be quite wilted as well.


Another juggler...can't beat the fire sticks though. Sometimes they do flame-throwing from their mouth but I refuse to tip them b/c it is just too dangerous for the person...I don't want to encourage it.

What Good Is A Road (Part 3)

Then there's what they carry (other than people) on the roads in Mexico. Produce trucks (among every other kind) are often loaded to beyond reasonable capacity. This one wasn't too bad. That's cauliflower, I believe. I have a hard time eating some things set before me in people's homes or in restaurants here in Mexico so I can certainly rule out eating the produce that has fallen onto the roads here. While we often hear or even say that we waste a lot of food in the U.S., we might be reminded at this point that there are tons and tons of fallen produce on the side of Mexican roads. Not that anyone feels guilty about it. Nor is it likely that you're going to volunteer to eat it either. I'm certainly not going to! Depending on what type of vegetable that has fallen to a messy end, my kids are generally pretty happy about it. :-)

I'm not sure if this is garbage or laundry or just what...but it's loaded and not looking too securely packed. I didn't follow this truck for long! In Cuernavaca, a passing truck once lost a red brick which landed squarely on our front fender. We routinely pass trucks dropping gravel and sand and dirt and garbage and well...you can just about name it. This is another reason I tend to drive a bit fast down here. I either don't want to get hit by something or I don't want to ever know what hit me!

The infamous pig truck...legs sticking through...snouts sticking out...sometimes the other end threatening to give the local car wash added business. If you know what I mean. The chicken truck isn't much different. When I changed the oil on the truck recently, I pulled a number of chicken feathers out of various nooks and crannies in the engine area. Not sure if those were just loose feathers from a truck or if I took out Chicken Little on the highway, but either way in this game, I'm pretty sure the chicken lost.

I'm not sure if the cardboard owned a truck or if this truck was actually trying to carry a mountain of flattened boxes. Some people just hate to throw anything away, I suppose. Actually, I hope this one was heading to a cardboard recycler somewhere close-by.

What Good Is A Road (Part 2)

Well...I'm back and ready to give you a break from all the reading with some photos of what the roads in Mexico are sometimes like.

I suppose some of the surprises we receive when driving in Mexico are the "vehicles" which are being driven. Somewhere north of us, there is a truck plant that apparently only produces and/or assembles truck frames, motors and drive trains. These are then driven by daredevil stuntmen at 60 mph on wooden crates to somewhere south of us for the rest of the production. It is a sight that never ceases to amaze.

Just how many people can fit into a full-sized pickup is the eternal question in Mexico. No one knows the answer and I'm sure the record will continually be broken. We passed this truck a couple years ago and it was impossible to count the heads as we passed. I gave up after about a hundred. :-)

Accidents probably shouldn't be included in the odd category. They are common even in the U.S. I'm glad to say we don't have a photo of any gruesome wrecks although we've passed a couple. This particular wreck apparently killed a couple people but by the time we creeped by the scene, nothing was left but picking up the loose cargo. On more than one occasion we've passed a vehicle on its roof in the roadway. Sometimes this was a single car accident that left us incredulous that the accident was even possible. But...as with God...all things are possible when it comes to Mexican driving. (OK...maybe not EVERYTHING...but certainly the unexpected!)

And it's not just what they drive but the way they drive. It's a bit hard to see in this photo but one big slow truck is passing another big and slower truck on a mountain incline as we approached on a 2-lane highway. Of course, that's not a fair interpretation because in reality, this stretch of highway was actually made to be used in this way. You'll notice I was over on the shoulder as was the truck being passed. That is the way the road was designed to be driven. This particular pass was very comfortable and I even was able to take the photo while the mass of metal was approaching. I can't say that has been the case on every such pass I've witnessed or been a part of, but so far...all mirrors on my vehicle are still intact. I've seen others lose them. (no, I'm not joking)

What Good Is A Road (Part 1)

If anything about ministry could be called routine, then I guess the last couple weeks has pretty much qualified for "routine" status. That's good. We're thankful for that being the case! However, that makes posts and photos for the blog a bit challenging.

The past few weeks I've been wanting to post something about the routine of driving here in Mexico. I've probably mentioned it before, but one thing is certain about this topic, nothing is "routine" about Mexico's roads. Just about every week we observe or experience something we hadn't until that point in time. It's quite exciting and quite often it's quite stressful!

So...without further rambling, I'd like to share a few photos and thoughts about the roads in Mexico.

First, roads are a means to an end in Mexico. Isn't that philosophical?!? The problem is, the "end" depends greatly on the individual or group, not on a set of laws, rules or regulations. This means that there is a great variety of interpretations and expectations for the roads in Mexico by the people and animals and things that use them.

Yes, things like actually driving from point A to point B seem to occur most every day in Mexico, but there are some other ways to view a road and these other ways usually catch our attention.

I don't have photos of every one of these other ways so I'll start off naming a few for which I don't have a photo handy.

Parking. Cars and trucks are often parked on roads in Mexico...and I don't mean in parking spaces. I just mean parked in the road. This can be annoying when there's no way around them.

Maintenance. Vehicles are often serviced on roadsides...and sometimes right in the road! Be careful of that car ahead of you at the light...it just might be sitting there having a tire changed or a tie rod replaced or who knows what else.

Soccer. Some of the best playing surfaces around are in the street so be careful of those kids...and adults...playing their beloved national sport.

Cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, dogs, cats have all crossed paths with my vehicle as I've driven the roads in Mexico. Some were merely taking a nap on a warm surface. Occasionally, I've had to swerve to miss them. Doing so for napping people is the most unnerving.

Well...that's Part 1. I think I'll work on Part 2 now and include some photos to give you a better idea of some of the many ways for which a road can be and sometimes is used for here in Mexico. Stay tuned all week...there's 5 parts in all!

Happy Valentines Day (uhh...sorta!)

Wilson Rawls (author of WTRFG)

My literature club of basically 4th and 5th graders is reading through Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I have no idea who Wilson Rawls was but I came across a few interesting pieces of his biography this weekend.

He was born on September 24, 1913 in Scraper, OK and named Woodrow Wilson Rawls. He died in 1984 in Idaho Falls, ID.

Rawls was homeschooled by his mother! After reading Call of the Wild by Jack London, Rawls decided that he wanted to be a writer.

Over the years Rawls wrote stories and traveled but he never actually was able to sell any of his writings. His grammar was never very good and he lacked formal education. Finally, in 1958 he reached a breaking point, gave up writing, and burned all of his work.

Not long after this he shared his ambition to be a writer with his wife, Sophie. She encouraged him to keep writing. Not long after that, he wrote Where the Red Fern Grows in a 3 week period. She edited his grammar and the story was published in a series of articles in the "Saturday Evening Post." It was published by Doubleday in 1961. Sales flopped. It wasn't until the late 1960s that the book was first recognized as a children's book rather than a book for adult readership and sales skyrocketed. The book quickly became a classic among children's literature.

In 1976 he wrote one more book, The Summer of the Monkeys. This too became a classic children's book.

Rawls sprinkles his first work with references to God and prayer. I have never read The Summer of the Monkeys, so I don't know if he continued this pattern. I would guess he did but I'll have to find the copy in our library to find out.

His life-story, as little of it that I know, is inspiring to me. He was nearly 50 years old when he finally achieved his dream of becoming a writer. One doesn't have to be young to accomplish great things and reach a dream. He faced many challenges and frustrations in order to reach his dream and he almost gave up. In the end, it was the encouragement and assistance of his wife that allowed him to finally reach the "mountain top" of achievement. This reminds me of how sometimes our personal dreams aren't meant for us to reach alone. God must be at the point and others (a spouse, a child, a friend, a church, etc.) may be instrumental in our own achievements.

You probably have read Where the Red Fern Grows. Perhaps now that you know a little about the author, you'd like to read it again...or, for the first time.

Termites? Call Orkin or Just Keep W-orkin'

The elementary science class made termite mounds yesterday as part of their lesson. Katherine, in the brown dress, is a new student to the class which now numbers 11 students!

The O'Brien family recently arrived in San Juan del Río with 3 young children. Counting their 2 pre-schoolers plus Katherine, a kindergartner, the number of MK homeschoolers with which we have some contact within a one hour radius around the city of Queretaro is now 35. Add to that two Mexican MKs and that makes 37. Beth also routinely helps some of our church members' kids with high school math (in Spanish) and this puts that figure well over 40. We continue to have some interactions with at least another dozen MK homeschoolers in other parts of Mexico as well. (The number fluctuates from year to year and has reached as high as about 70 in some years.)

We consider it a great joy and privilege to serve these missionary families and Mexican believers as well. Praise God for calling us to this ministry!

One Year Later...

January 31st marked the one year anniversary of our blog, Knowing Your ABCDs. Not exactly a big deal but it's been a fun and informative way to share our ministry and lives with the world.

The world? That might seem a little melodramatic but here's some interesting stats from Google Analytics from the past year:

Number of visitors to our blog: 1,785 visitors
Number of total visits: 4,008 visits
Number of countries represented by our blog visitors: 67 countries
Number of countries with more than 1 visit represented by our blog visitors: 46
Most interesting stat to me: 6 visits from Iran
Number of U.S. states represented by visits: 45
U.S states still missing: Montana, South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire (someone please visit while in one of those states...lol)

As you know if you've visited here much, I sometimes post homemade videos that I upload first to YouTube. This was something I started to do before the necessity for posting here. Among these 53 videos, one which I uploaded about 11 months ago called "San Juan del Rio, QRO" which was simply a panorama view of our city has been viewed the most: 7,679 views. Impressive.

Well...so much for useless stats. Thanks everyone for your interest in our ministry and lives...whether passing or something deeper. It's a privilege to serve Jesus Christ anywhere...but especially here in Mexico. We're looking forward to another year of sharing events and prayer requests with you right here at Knowing Your ABCDs. I hope you'll continue checking in with us. Feel free to comment on our posts and to email us if you have any questions or personal comments.

We appreciate your prayers and interest. Grace and peace to you today.

Baby Shower

Bethie made the three cakes for Gaby's baby shower which was held Saturday at the home of Paul and Grace Becker. (Paul escaped to our house and watched Ku Fu Panda with the boys and me.) Beth's mom gave the talk. Looks like they had about 25 ladies.

This is Gaby's 2nd baby (supposed to be a boy this time). You might recall she was married last year after her first baby was about 18 months old. I posted photos from the wedding. Beth and I were the "Padrinos de Lazo" (we provided the decorative rope that was placed over them to symbolize their new unity in marriage).

She and her husband, Francisco, appear to be doing well, and as always, we're grateful for God's mercy, grace and forgiveness. He can overcome our deepest sins and our biggest mistakes. Be encouraged by this truth! I am every single day!

Birthdays Mean...

Food, Neighbors and Friends

Funny thing about birthday parties in the "campo" (rural area) is if you're going to have a party with any guests, you have to invite ALL the neighbors or you'll offend someone. This party included all the neighbors on the immediate surrounding hill. No school friends were invited to this party or the entire school would have been invited, and neighbors further down the road were out of luck too. This could have easily been a small party for a couple hundred people...there's gotta be a cut-off somewhere! As it was, this party of just a few friends numbered between 40 and 50 guests!

"Es la cultura"...it's the culture.

Tucker, Silas and Annie...ages 5, 4 and 1...either that or someone is turning 145! Notice Tucker's shaved head...he really wanted a haircut like his daddy's. Even baby Annie under the cap has a haircut like her daddy's!

A well-known fact about the art of piñata-hitting at birthday parties is that the birthday kid(s) get to hit first and then the guests, beginning from the youngest/shortest and ending at the oldest/largest kids or until the candy vault is broken open.

I've figured out a lesser known fact in that when they're young the idea is to not let them hit it too hard or too much. That way....

...by the time they're about age 11 or 12, the "fatal" candy-producing blow, like Daniel is about .5 second from delivering here, comes near the end of the line of kids waiting their turn. That way the excitement is prolonged and more kids get a chance to try and hit it. This also means that there comes a day when every frustrated child will get his or her turn to just totally wail on the thing. Of course, this also means the candy inside is thus reduced to a pulverized mass of wrappers and sugar granules, but ohhh...does it feel good to finally get a chance to beat the daylights out of it!