Beatitude Attitudes, vol. 6

Yay! It's Beatitude Attitude Tudituesday again! Since I rarely get my act together to do a post on Monday, this is usually my first post of the week - a perfect way to start.

[1] Blessed am I because the Pirate and I, after a Sunday day of rest that was a little TOO uneventful, decided to mix it up by playing the UNgame in the evening and ended up having several hours of really good, deep conversation (LOVE that "game"!)
[2] Blessed am I to have discovered that I can use Maseca (that's the special corn flour used to make tortillas) in place of wheat flour for just about anything. I made ginger cookies for bible study last night that were a big hit! This is the recipe I used, simply substituting maseca for flour:
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Crispy-Ginger-Cookies-Once-Upon-A-Chef-199980.


[3] Blessed am I that the weather is FINALLY turning warm here in the tropics! for two days in a row I have not had to wear my sweater when I go out to water the plants in the morning.

[4] Blessed am I to have a family in which everyone appreciates each other and makes an effort to stay connected. I have known so many parents who are either estranged from one or more of their children, or their grown children don't speak to each other, or the cousins don't even know one another. Even though all three segments of our family live hundreds of miles from each other, we continually look for ways to reach out and do things together. Here's a picture of son Josh with his son Ethan and two of our other son's daughters, Jordan and Elisha, who went with their uncle and cousin on a school trip to Washington DC and environs because Josh wanted to spend time with them outside the normal "everybody together" setting.


[5] Blessed am I to have an excellent opthamologist in the city nearest to us (an hour away) - AND he speaks English! Although I'm fairly fluent in spanish, when it comes to talking about eye problems, it's a relief to know that my doctor will definitely understand what I tell him. His name - believe it or not - is Dr. Lettuce! That is, his last name in spanish is Lechuga, which is the word for lettuce.

[6] Blessed am I for our trip to the Big City today (well, the biggest one within several days' driving). The Pirate took the afternoon just to explore and we found a lovely restaurant for lunch. Usually we only go there for major shopping expeditions (or as Pooh put it, Expotitions) but today we just puttered around the area near the cathedral and went to our favorite "five and dime"-type store. Yay! NOTE: the photo below is not that store, but the municipal mercado showing the mayoress (alcaldesa) shaking hands with someone.


[7] Blessed am I to live in a country where women aren't obsessed by their weight. Nobody I know here talks about dieting or trying to lose weight. They DO care about their health, and sometimes make adjustments to their food habits for that reason, but weight is not an issue down here. That's a MUCH more emotionally healthy perspective than the way that most Americans think about their weight, which is often based on a concern for physical attractiveness according to the culture's standards. We could benefit from considering the perspective of those saints who gave no thought to outer beauty but instead focussed their attention on inner beauty.


I herewith direct you over to Rakhi's blog, Pitter Patter Diaries, for more blessings.