#NeverADullMoment

There is a very dear man I have come to know over the last year who uses this hashtag constantly. He doesn’t just cut my hair, he brings me inspiration, laughter, and joy. Yes, his life looks to be full of nice dinners and fun with friends and travel … but more than that, he is constantly raising money for causes, focusing on positive outcomes, and grounded in a free spirit that is always forward thinking and filled with momentum.

I have thought of that hashtag a lot over this week.

See, life here is very simple in one sense. School is out right now, so the boys are here all day. But we are always doing something. I have come to look forward to siesta just to have a few moments of the day where there is downtime.

We wash clothes by hand and cut the grass with machetes. Today, I was hauling off tree limbs from across the property to make a single brush pile so that cutting back the grass is easier in the future. We have had a tamale making party, a day of sports competition by a neighboring foster home, a day where 20 or so Mormon women came to help out. If you are on kitchen duty for the week, you are seriously on kitchen duty. There is no, “I cook, you clean,” philosophy.

The entire property is cleaned twice a day – I mean all of the rooms and outside corridors are swept and mopped. The pathways, which are dirt pathways are also swept. I really, really want to tell one of my kids to go sweep the dirt and see their reaction. In the past week alone, I have seen almost every appliance and movable surface completely removed from the kitchen to be wiped down. I am talking ovens/stoves here. And mattresses. Mattresses are aired out.

During down time, someone, somewhere on this property is studying – remember that I said school is out? It does not matter. There is at least one hour a day designed for studying.

Tomorrow I go to the clinic to visit town. Sunday, we are going to the foster home that visited us (I hear they have a small zoo!!) Thursday, the boys are going to a type of heritage day where they will be performing a traditional dance.

My “Never a Dull Moment” is not filled with looking for ways to pass the time. I am chopping vegetables, or teaching English, or learning Spanish, or hanging clothes on the line, or tending to my blisters of what I call “my little girl hands.” This makes the boys laugh. I stepped in a pile of fire ants today, which is not the most exciting thing I have done here, but it certainly wasn’t dull.

I sing to the boys and they laugh that when they play music I dance awkwardly and make them dance, too.

In the evenings we play basketball or soccer or fly kites.

I can tell you that for the first time in a long time, I sleep every night… Well, there was that one night when the rooster took up residence outside of my window. Do you remember from Robin Hood the watch men? “4 o'clock and all’s well?” Yes, that is what the rooster did outside my window every hour on the hour. That is the only morning that I slept in until breakfast time at 7:30.

There are no idle hands. Yes, there are times we do all gather and watch TV in the evening, but for the most part … there is Never a Dull Moment. It is a simple lifestyle, but it manages to be completely robust in the same breath.