Saturday, September 24, 2011

A gift of a weekend

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. (James 1:17a, NIV)

Last night was our first night of Fusión 47, our youth group at La Elipa Church. We had over 20 youth gathered, including friends of our regulars, and it was a good and fulfilling afternoon together. I got the opportunity to share about why we exist as a group, and we talked about our plans for the year to come. We also played a relaxed game of ultimate frisbee in the park with another teen, Jorge, who we met there. Jorge has Downs Syndrome, and as is so often the case with people with Downs, his spirit blessed us, and I hope our acceptance blessed his mom and grandma. (When he showed up with his grandma, she seemed disappointed that we were in the spot that was his routine play spot. Glad for the opportunity to turn the disappointment upside down!)

In the midst of a busy week, it just made sense to take the day off today... and it's been a great day. We really had a great Meggan and Ben day as a couple; we connected well together throughout the day. It's amazing how clean we can get the house when we're working together! (Translation: it's amazing how clean Meggan can get the house when she has a little help from me.) We had multiple conversations about stuff deeper than just the urgent or current stuff in our lives. We Skyped with Meggan's parents after over a week w/o chatting (they had been on vacation), and we also watched a sermon online that got us talking and processing about our present & future on a healthy level.

It certainly helps that Andrew has been incredible all day; he was in a good mood all morning, even after getting a big g-DONK on his forehead. (He likes to walk around with his eyes closed sometimes, and that can be dangerous, as you might imagine.) He ate well at lunch and dinner, and he took a 3.5-hour nap, which certainly doesn't hurt in the mood department. We Skyped with Mima, and for twenty minutes during our conversation after his bath, he was just shutting himself in Mommy and Daddy's closet and popping back out. When he was done, he picked up the milk cup Mommy had brought back for him and walked to the rocking chair in his room to tell us he was ready for his bedtime routine. That was a pretty incredible first to witness as a parent. What a boy!

Our friend Hannah also arrived today. She'll be living in Madrid this year, working at a Spanish public elementary school not too far from us as an English teacher. It's a blessing to serve as a welcoming party, and it certainly doesn't hurt when one's guest is a highly agreeable person.

Pork stir fry for lunch; spaghetti for dinner; apple crisp for dessert, with a Dutch beer and a fútbol match before bed. Tomorrow morning I'll eat breakfast w/ the youth before church, and it'll be another good day. Giving thanks profundamente.

(And to think, when I first wrote this post, I didn't even remember that I woke up this morning to find out the Brewers had clinched the division. Seriously, where are my priorities?)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Hillsong in Madrid

On Saturday, September 10, Hillsong came to Madrid for a one-night concert. One of the students in our youth group said, "hey, let's go!" - so ten of us went and had a great time. (Note: ANYTIME a student takes the initiative to plan an event that involves spiritual content, you jump on board!!!)



There were a handful of songs where the crowd - surprisingly large for an evangelical crowd in Spain - sang their guts out, in Spanish, while the singers just backed off from the mics and listened to the people. I was overcome with the sense of the artist's joy they must have experienced, hearing people sing the art they had written and created, in a language they could not understand, in worship of the God they share and together desire to see glorified. Powerful stuff.