The Plarn Bag

A few months ago I looked around my kitchen and realized my supply of plastic bags was getting a bit out of hand. See in Morocco the plastic bag is everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Its also an important part of culture. If you're ever going anywhere with anything - a piece of bread, an apple, a change of clothes, on a trip to Spain - you should put the a fore mentioned items in a plastic bag. To simply carry them, well that would be unacceptable. Therefore there are a lot of bags around and it seems I'm always getting "new" bags from people who've given me things or whatever. So, as I was saying my supply was getting out of hand and I didn't really want to just throw them away...There had to be something I could do with them.

Then I met a lady from town who had used her plastic bags to make a purse. I was stunned, impressed and definitly interested. I got online and looked up the newest thing in recycling - "plarn". Ya, its awesome. So you take your plastic bags, make them into "plarn" and then you crochet yourself whatever the heck you want. So for the past 2 months or so I have been working on this:

I fished it tonight. So excited to finally be done and so excited to have my totally versatile beach bag. Sand, water, who cares its made of plastic bags, I can just wash it out and away we go! Anyway, if you're interested you can find out so much more online. Some of these ladies make pretty nice purses, complete with fancy lining and ribbons. I went more casual, but the possibilities are endless! Save up your plastic bags and make something fun. I'll warn you though, its kind of addicting :-)

Spain

I wanted to post about our trip to Spain, but it was really pretty straight forward. Sun, swimming and pork. Since we can't get pork products in Morocco we loaded up. And since the sun was shinning we took advantage. It was really relaxing and we're all feeling refreshed.

We were able to accomplish something besides getting a tan while we were there. We met the Doctor that will be delivering Baby #4. He is a nice German man who has lived in Spain for a long time. He checked everything out, noticed it all looks good and gave us the go ahead to plan on the 25th or 26th of August for the scheduled c-section. We'll do some prenatal stuff here in Morocco, and then show up on the day of the surgery. I feel pretty modern doing all my prenatal stuff via the internet, but what can I say we're pretty cutting edge ;-)

If you want to see more pictures of our time in Spain, check out this link.
Spain Pictures

Happy Birthday!

Today is my wonderful hubby's birthday. There are so many things I love about this man that God has blessed me with. He is an incredible Dad and loving husband. He makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes. Shoot, the man even does his best to listen to me when I am making no sense and just blabbing about nothing. If thats not amazing, I'm not sure what is. 

So, Happy Birthday Youssef. I love you!

Vacation

We've been blessed to be visiting Southern Spain for the past week thanks to my wonderful Mom and Dad. They graciously shared some of their timeshare points so we could relax in style, something that we definitely needed! Its been wonderful to enjoy things that we can't normally get in Morocco - bacon, decent milk, swimming pools, good ice cream and time as a family. Its been a nice time for me to spend some quality time thinking about some themes that God seems to have been quietly mentioning to my heart.

For the past few months I've been wondering, wrestling and worrying about my role as a Mom. Am I doing enough, what if my kids grow up to be hoodlums? What if they never learn their multiplication tables! I never really finished my thoughts, there wasn't time for that, just let the thoughts that danced across my brain and then joined the pile of things to think about someday. I've had great conversations with friends and family about priorities and trusting God to do the work, but I've struggled with my role in all of this. How do I really know I'm doing a good job?

On our way here Joey and I were talking about an organization we work with to help the poor in our area. They recently had shared with Joey how they evaluate various groups. They look at both the "output" and the "outcome". They are separate in their minds and involve totally different things. As we talked about the organization I felt like God was saying to me that I needed to start evaluating my life looking at "outputs" and "outcomes". Its all still in the processing, thinking through stage but we're making progress. See, the output, thats my part, my role. The outcomes, thats totally up to God. My only role in outcomes is prayer. The outputs as a Mom, Wife, Daughter, Friend, etc. Those are things I can measure, control and evaluate. I can set goals and meet them. I can accomplish things and move on. I suddenly have definition and a concrete way to look at my life, see the output and know if I'm doing a good job or change if need be.

I realize that I've known most of this before, but I've struggled to apply it to being a mom. So, over the past week I have spent time thinking about what my outputs have been. I've been able to say "good job" and "gotta change that" in multiple areas. I've set goals and priorities mentally for my relationships, my "jobs" and just life in general. There is a lot more to think about, a lot more to sort, but I feel suddenly confident knowing (being reminded I suppose) that God has got the outcomes covered, I am only responsible for the output. I know that the thing with output is it constantly needs to be reworked, re-evaluated to make sure I'm on track with what God has for us. I also am reminded that getting away from things and time alone to think through what God has been whispering to my heart is necessary for me.

So, I guess I'll need to go on vacation a lot more often :-)

Technology

 "I love technology" - Kip on Napoleon Dynamite

Sometimes I have to reflect on technology and how small its made our world. Whether its after an email, a skype conversation or an hour browsing facebook, I can't help but think that maybe God knew that someday I'd live here, away from family and friends and that I'd need this. Need to hear about their lives, tell them about mine and laugh despite the distance. Yep, I'm pretty sure God was only thinking of me when he gave some guys the ability to create all that we know of today. Right. Just keep thinkin' that Dani. But still I love technology.

Three Cheeky Chunks

Exciting Times

We've been having a great time here with friends,

and walking to the local store,

and watching the local goat herd.

Yep, pretty exciting times.