Apolo Aventuras

That's Spanish for "maybe I wouldn't recommend visiting Apolo during the rainy season."

Some of you will remember the lovely little town of Apolo that I shared with you last May, home to my dear friend and fellow veterinary missionary, Linda. Taking advantage of my time between semesters and Angelica's last little bit of summer vacation, we took a series of three buses over 36 hours to get there from Santa Cruz. In Cochabamba we picked up our CVM extern, Starke. Using 6 weeks of his last year of veterinary school, he visited Santa Cruz to see what we do, Cochabamba to work on his Spanish, and now Apolo to see how another veterinary missionary is living.

So, we showed him that not every day is full of working on animals. Some are spent finalizing the year's budget, some traveling between projects in the mud, some waiting for the farmers to show up, some following-up on the previous day's cases, some days off visiting spectacular waterfalls (see the pics on FB), some teaching externs about serving full-time in Bolivia, and others, of course, spaying and neutering the local canine population.

When we'd finally accomplished all these things, it was time to say goodbye to Ange's new playmates the Lugtigheid kiddos and sweet little Apolo once again, where life is simpler, the water and power are both likely to go out at least once if you stay a week, and ~12 people gather around the surgery, I mean kitchen table three times a day to share a meal.

So, we boarded the bus back to Santa Cruz via La Paz and Cochabamba. In the middle of the night, halfway back on our first leg to La Paz we stopped. The rains that sometimes cause landslides, and wash out roads, had this time created an impassable waterfall across our path, showering down not only voluminous water but also large threatening rocks. Our driver decided to wait till the water level receded, but the continued rains meant rising water levels, and led to a wait, without food, shelter, cellphone signal or bathrooms for 36 hours, making our supposed 12 hour trip into exactly 48 hours of balancing between dehydration and hydronephrosis.

But despite the mud stains we'll be working out of our clothes for weeks, the boots that have yet to dry out, and the 2 days and 3 nights in a row spent on a bus with an 8-year-old, Apolo will always be the place Angie learned to ride a bike, and I think in her opinion, that made every second on that bus worthwhile.

World Travelers

If you’re ever thinking your Spanish is getting pretty good you should pay people to remind you over and over again of just how many mistakes you’re still making. So, that’s exactly what I’ve been up to for the past week.

I took A on her first bus ride for her first adventure outside of Santa Cruz to the booming mountain metropolis of Cochabamba to revisit my old language school for some brushing up.

Traveling with Ange means sharing a bed and hence getting kicked throughout the night by little feet dreaming of futból, but in the daytime it means constantly having a sweet sticky hand in mine as we explore new unknown places. So new, in fact, that she said to me the other day as we waited to buy tickets for something, “In Bolivia we don’t have lines like this.” “Huh? Honey, we are in Bolivia, Cochabamba is another city in Bolivia, like Santa Cruz.”

Angelica 1 and Angelica 2. Ange finally met her namesake, my lovely language teacher.

Telling her this statue is the tallest Christ in the world didn't really mean much to her since her world still only consisted of two cities (or countries, whatever.) We came back to Santa Cruz yesterday morning for our Vineyard church national conference this weekend, and to enroll her in school tomorrow morning. Then we'll head back on the road to Apolo, which might as well be another continent it's so far away, even though it's really still in Bolivia. We'll, of course, keep you posted on all our adventures.

Update on motherhood, for those of you who are curious: We've been together two weeks now, pretty much 24/day since she's on summer vacation. I've yet to need to discipline her, but just yesterday she started to finally get her own will a bit. My friend, another adoptive parent, says that's a good thing, it means she's feeling more comfortable, but it's not quite as easy as when she happily complied with everything I said. On top of that she's already using the English I'm teaching her against me. He new favorite word when she wants to do something is "pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease." Since it's also really nice to be able to talk to the adults in our own secret language, I'm starting to reconsider this whole English thing...

Mis Hijas

Usually, when a new child comes into a household the pets take a backseat in the family hierarchy. However, in our little family tree my puppy dog Ruby's importance, if anything, has been elevated. Maybe she can't play Barbies very well with her sister, but they still have so much in common.

Their personalities are remarkably similar. If Ruby could smile she would surely smile as huge and as often as Ange, and I think, like the two of us, she would probably have dimples. They are both always so playful, full of joy and live completely in the present. Neither of them has ever asked me what's gonna happen next, or where we're going. In life, like in the car, they're just enjoying the ride, a lesson I could definitely learn from.

All three of us are animal lovers. Puppies and kittens being high on all our lists, but high on Ruby's list for more mouthwatering reasons.

Ruby and Angie are both calm easy-going girls, but if tested, their energy levels could blow mine away any day. However, only once so far, have I had to employ the motherly ¨resting my eyes.¨ Each of them lights up like a Christmas tree in response to any affection. And they both know exactly how to use their puppy dog eyes

to win me over every time. I wonder if Ruby taught Ange that one.

Oh my goodness, they both have so much hair. Relatively, everyone does compared to me, but I think these girls must be in the top 5th percentile.

They both love to please their momma, but only one of them I have yet to discipline or even need a stern word for, because she's never chased a cat, or eaten someone else's food, or disobeyed me in the slightest. I sure hope Angelica starts rubbing off on her sister in this area.

This motherhood thing is so much fun! When's it gonna start getting hard? (Rhetorical question, don't answer that.)

Final Stop

If you look closely at the "Team Spears" family Christmas photo here, you'll see that two of the lovely ladies are wearing their Talita Cumi scarves made especially for them by the newest granddaughter, Angie. This pretty well represents my time in the US over the past two weeks, sharing photos, gifts, and stories of my new daughter. I often found myself wondering what the visit would have been like without such news, I'm guessing a lot less interesting and a lot less glowing, as that's what I seem to do when I talk about her.

But I wasn't the only one glowing on the KY/IN stop of my whirlwind tour. Last Thursday, one of my favorite people in the world, Ashley Brown became Mrs. Giles. It was a beautiful couple of days of reuniting with old friends, and meeting new Texans, from the groom's side. It's been just a bit difficult to allow so many friends this past year+ while I've been away, meet and marry people I know nothing of, but to my huge relief, I was very approving of Mark, Ash's new hubby. It was such a treat to be included in their three days of festivities, and get to know who I'm releasing her to, just a little better.

The three days included the traditional rehearsal and wedding, plus their unique spin on how to spend a little extra face time with the out-of-towners; a New Year's Eve party, complete with all the reception leftoves, even wedding cake from the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen!! To make room for a little extra red velvet with cream cheese icing, a few of us took one last charming walk of the year along the waterfront. I was not as excited about the unseasonably warm weather as everyone else since I was savoring every sweet minute of cold, but I totally appreciated Louisville's beautiful familiar skyline. How many places is it really possible to consider "home"? MD, DC, CO, KY, IN and all my beloved friends and family in each; I'll miss you, but fortunately I doubt I'll have much time to dwell as I start a new chapter of my life tomorrow when I arrive in Santa Cruz and pick up Angelica. Your prayers would be lovely.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country..." -Hebrews 11:8-9