Favorite Things

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens...that Fraulein Maria must not have gotten out much if those really were her "favorite things." (being a nun perhaps restricted her trips to the beach) I guess I'm not much of a flower person (unless of course it is a chocolate flower) and although I do love cats, I've never been enamored by their whiskers. Some of my favorite things are as follows: kids, basketball and the beach. God has been showering down His blessings on me lately with my "favorite things" and as the song says, "every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise" so needless to say, I am full of praise and very thankful as the big "day of thanks" approaches.Being around kids is one of my favorite things and the kids in the village of Shiparango really are some of my favorite people in the world. They are filled with such innocence, wonder and joy and are so easily excited. The last Sunday we went, one of the young girls kept playing with my hair so I pulled out a strand and gave it to her and she acted as if it were a prized possession. During the service I played, "pick the hand with the coin in it" and they acted like it was the most ingenious game ever invented. (they're great confidence-boosters) I felt a tiny bit bad distracting them during the sermon but I am a big kid and since I couldn't understand the message, I played with my friends, trying to shush their giggles so we weren't too obvious. (not much as changed since I was little in the "big church service" playing tic tac toe and eating candy since I didn't understand. Hey, at least I wasn't painting my nails like Heidi once did. In retrospect, I am so bummed that I couldn't appreciate the teaching since Chuck Swindoll was the pastor at that time.)

In the middle of the service I looked towards the men's side and saw two faces I hadn't seen in months- Bernardo and Andre!!! These are the brothers whom I first fell in love with in Shiparango but they've been going to school in the city so I haven't seen them for ages. I don't know if I've ever been so excited to see people unexpectedly. A gianormous smile was permanently smeared across my face as I waved with enthusiasm. When the offering bowl was placed in the center, I gave all the little girls around me coins to bring to give for offering and I saw Bernardo and Andre, both holding babies, looking at me expectantly. I motioned for them to come over and get coins and they bounded over smiling and and proudly went to the front to give their offering. I had a flashback to my parents giving us money during "big church" to give for offering and feeling the same pride that shone in these children as they dropped the coins. I've grown so accustomed to seeing begging children on the streets who are so jaded and whose faces are so hardened, they don't smile or show signs of appreciation when given money- but these joyful kids where thrilled to have money to offer to God. What an eye-opener for me- to be so excited to have money because they could give it away- wow. I am constantly learning from these young ones.

After the service, I soaked up every second hanging out with my friends. of course we made our customary "ugly faces" and Andre had learned a few English words so I worked with the kids on saying, "My name is....." I feel such a bond with these children although we can't really talk. This past trip I started thinking about seeing them in heaven and got excited about the prospect of speaking with them in the future. The following is my favorite picture from Mozambique so far. Christina is the girl looking right at the camera, Andre is the boy who only has one hand and is rolling back his eyes, Lucia is looking up at me and a new friend is trying to get into the picture. (did you pick up on the fact that I can't remember her name?)
Another of my "favorites things" is basketball. I love playing it, I love watching it, and I love coaching it as well. The only time I've actually played since being here was the other day after church when the Bower family had a group of us "young American girls" over for a Brazilian lunch. Lisa and played in our long skirts against Cory (one of my students) and his parents. (Yes, I succumbed to the pressure and wear the long skirts I previously mocked but as I've mentioned, showing your knees is very promiscuous here. It did make the defensive stance a bit more challenging however.) I may have frightened the group a bit with my competitiveness- we nearly skunked them the first game and I couldn't control my beastly facial expressions when I would stuff Cory and Mr. Bowers.

The CAM teams have had 2 games so far and I confess I thought our teams would get pummeled by the competition- we aren't exactly "skilled." However, whether it was our home court advantage (the court is about 2/3 the size of a normal court) or our prayers or the fact that there are other teams just as "raw" as we, the boys actually won their first game and the girls....the girls actually scored quite a few baskets and had fun:) If she didn't get into teaching, Lindsay probably could have worked for the paparazzi. Perhaps I was "in the zone" (pun intended) but I didn't even notice her scurrying about, taking pictures and leaving a fanta ananas (aka "nectar from heaven") by my seat. What a true friend! Here are some of the pictures she took that made me laugh- I love candid shots because you can catch great facial expressions and awkward motions.
Below are some of our crazy fans. I love how I know all the kids at the school since CAM is so small. Luke, the little blond boy in the picture on the left, is in Lindsay's class and I have his older brother Coleson in class. He wrote me the cutest "thank-you" note for Thanksgiving that said thanks for being "nise" and "please come back after Christmas." Does he know something that I don't? Punit is also one of Lindsay's and though he can be a little terror and uses inappropriate "potty humor," he is sweet and quite entertaining- I have his older sister Canon and his brother Neel in class. Stephen is the boy screaming into the cone and I have his brother Andrew in class. Quick random story about Andrew: On Friday I noticed Fredy looking at Andrew's scalp and I saw a glimpse of red. Wandering why he had drawn with red marker on his scalp, I meandered over and saw dripping blood on his scalp!!! "What on earth?" were my words. "Oh, Fredy threw a brick at my head last period," Andrew calmly said. Ummmm...they didn't train us for dealing with head wounds at Westmont. I looked at Fredy in shock and horror and he said, "Don't worry Miss Katie, he asked me to throw him a brick but then he wasn't looking when I threw it. You think he'll need stitches?" I love this job- you never know what will happen:)

Next you'll see me showing Coleson how to be a bear and showing off my "man hands" at time out.I love the pony tail in the following picture. Also, please notice that the parents are sitting right behind the bench taking pictures. The game went into overtime so of course I was intense and calling time outs but then felt every single parents' eyes on me, listening intently to my "words of wisdom." Am I coaching or performing a rap? (notice my hands. I'm trying to point out all my awkwardness before Katie Butler does)
Next, here are my sweet and hilarious girls. Miria is a beautiful Brazilian 10Th grader who loves to box out and although she's sugary sweet off the court, she can be vicious on the court. (no wonder I like her so much)


I love how much both teams laugh during the game. These kids crack me up. During the game I had a "little helper" who sat on my lap and covered her ears when I yelled to "box out!" Lauren is Cory's little sister and her mom is also our ref. Apparently I am playing the "vegetable game" during timeout. For the unfortunate who've never played, everyone chooses a vegetable and then you say your vegetable name and then someone else's name such as "tomato to carrot" and then carrot says, "carrot to squash" and so on. The trick is if you show your teeth, you are out. We used to play this game in....are you thinking elementary school? No, we played it at Westmont when recruits came. (we knew they would only fit in on our squad if they were strange enough to enjoy this game) I highly recommend playing but word of caution- it can be painful. We played at the Bowers while sitting by the street, but we all started laughing too hard thus, showing our teeth, when their 2 year old girl walked towards the neighbor's guard and then dropped her pants and diaper.

In our second match we played against teams from the Iris orphanage. I've never been so excited for the opposing team to score:) These kids have been playing for years at the orphanage and were really good. We got creamed but I was OK with it- it doesn't hurt as badly to get creamed by orphans for some reason. Our girls played against a young boys team who, though not very skilled and only 11 and 12 years old, ran and ran and ran and could jump "out of the gym." The following pictures are of the competition.
Apparently I was feeling constipated in the picture on the left. Please note how high the boy is jumping compared to our girls.
We've got two more games next week against the International School and American School which could be interesting. I'll let you know how they go.

Another one of my "favorite things" is the beach. I love the beauty and wonder of the ocean and appreciate the splendor of God's creation, but I'm a Califonian and thus love laying in the sand, baking under the scorching sun. Lindsay truly is a kindred spirit since, although she is a Texan, she too can sit under the sun for hours and never get bored. The beach by our house is dirty and unsafe so I don't hang out there although I did once take off my shoes and frolicked in the water with Gizmo. Yes, frolicked. Lindsay and I have been yearning to get to a beach and Heldio, a fellow Mozambican teacher at CAM, offered to drive us to a beach about an hour away. Here we are on the ferry going across the river to get to the beach. You may recall that I mentioned Heldio in the past- he's the one who said I look like Kevin Bacon.

When we rounded the corner and first saw the ocean, my jaw dropped. A beautiful strip of white sand stretched out before us with glassy, green and aqua waves crashing on the shore. Remember, I'm used to seeing dirty concrete so this was literally a breath of fresh air. I almost cried. For a few hours, the other cultural stressors of living in Mozambican were forgotten and I was on a beach in Hawaii with a good friend, reading magazines, tanning, wading in the water; perfectly content. The water was warm and I made it warmer:) I wanted to be able to say I that I have peed in 3 different oceans- check that off of my "list of things to do while on earth." Heldio was a bit concerned when I told him I've been rescued by life guards several times- not only are there no lifeguards, the ocean floor suddenly drops so deep that whales have been seen swimming very close to shore- I secretly thought that would be amazing to swim with whales (totally trumps swimming with dolphins) but a fear of jelly-fish like creatures that congregate in the area, kept me in the clear water. You can see that Lindsay gets artsy with her picture taking and if you know me very well (or have taken notice of my bare feet) you could guess those were definitely not my toes- those are way to normal looking. However, in my defense, I have the most normal toes compared to my siblings- look at Trav's or Heidi's toes and you might gag.
So when the dog bites or the bee stings or when I'm feeling sad, I'll simply remember the kids, basketball and beach, and then I won't feeeeeeeeeel sooooo bad. I was so sad on November 17 because I couldn't be at Vander's first birthday party. I left a rolly polly baby who could hardly roll and now see a little boy crawling with fury and nearly walking and it breaks my heart that I've missed so many different stages in his life. It is so amazing to be here in Mozambique and I am so grateful that God called me here but it's not always easy and does require sacrifice, the biggest is being apart from my amazing family. Luckily Vander won't remember that his auntie was absent his first year of life but I'm afraid that right now he may think I live in the computer.