Finalmente!

I finally learned the Subjunctive Mood in Spanish!! I've been hearing about this integral and daunting part of Spanish grammar possibly since high school and definitely since early college from my Spanish-learning-friends and now I TOO KNOW HOW TO SPEAK IN SUBJUNCTIVE!

woo hoo ! I feel like our Spanish is finally getting somewhere. I say "our" because Matt and I have been right about the same level throughout our entire spanish-learning-relationship.

We went to Xela (pronounced "shay-la"), Guatemala to study Spanish for a week recently and we studied at the same school, Celas Maya, where we studied for a few weeks three years ago. It was so wonderful revisiting all of our favorite hang outs in Xela from three years before and revisiting all of our wonderful "when we were falling in love in Guatemala" memories.


This is the courtyard of the school where we studied one-on-one with a local for five hours per day.

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We also had the privilege of studying with our new friends: Jordan and Laura, who are currently long-term volunteers at the San Lucas Mission about 30 minutes around the lake from us here at The Opal House. It was fun having friends for a week - we really enjoyed studying and chatting over fair-trade coffees with them!

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This is the Parque Central in Xela. It is quite charming and beautiful with its' neo-classical architecture, it kind of reminds us of a miniature Rome without all the traffic and noise.

Living a Good Story - The Pursuit of Content

forward from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years:What I Learned While Editing my Life by Donald Miller

(author of Blue Like Jazz)

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If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either. Here's what I mean by that:

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This was an excellent read and an even better story and idea. seriously this is the kind of content that changes things. His thesis meant so much to me. It was perfect timing in my life. And not only did he talk about the beauty of living a meaningful story, but he shared meaningful stories along the way. I seriously full-on cried for beauty about 8 times while reading this book. And Beauty Tears are what I long for. (We can talk more about how my personality most likely plays into this later).

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As I get older (drum roll please) happiness seems to be more illusive. Maybe it's just that I think about it more or it's because I'm already married which is what occupied many of my pre-marrital thoughts. Maybe it's that I'm feeling culturally, linguistically, relationally lonely here on the farm in Guatemala. Maybe it's that I don't really know what I want to "do" with my life. It could be lots of things, but it's ok, I'm not going to let this search get me down. I just want to be more pro-active about living a good story. I'm a sucker for meaningful moments in life as well as in movies. Yet so often I just wonder through the day, not looking for the beauty, not creating beautiful encounters with those around me.

another excerpt:

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"I had a friend in town for six weeks this year. She was visiting Oregon and doing some work here, and over the six weeks we rented some movies and went to coffee and ate at a few restaurants. We had great conversations. But honestly when I think back on those six weeks, what I really remember are the few times when we made an extra effort to do something memorable. We took my dog Lucy for a hike and introduced her to her first waterfall. We took the kayaks out on the river and strapped them together to have a floating picnic. When we look back on our lives, what we will remember are the crazy things we did, the times we worked harder to make a day stand out."

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I like this, I want to make things "stand out." and i need inspiration as well so I love reading other people's blogs (please write things down, everyone) and hearing other people's stories (please keep sharing).

thank you.