Chilling out

Last night before I went to bed, I kept thinking about the scorpion the boys found in the chow hall and about Amber's story of finding a scorpion in their house one night in the dark.  So right before I went to bed, as I was putting on my sleeping socks, I prayed, "God, I don't mind pill bugs or beetles, I can handle earwigs, I can even handle spiders as long as they're not black widows.  Even if I stepped on a big fat spider in the night, that wouldn't be so bad.  Just please please please don't let a scorpion be in my room on the floor in the night when I can't see it."  No joke, I finished saying that, turned to go flip off the light, and a little teeny critter about a half-inch long was beelining across the carpet.  It looked like a spider and ran as fast as one, but of course I didn't want spiders in my room either, so I stepped on it in my sock foot just enough to maim it so I could pick it up with a Kleenex.  When I knelt down to examine it, lo and behold, it was tan-colored and appeared to have a teeny little lobed tail with an itty-bitty point on it.  AAAAAH!  I smushed it with the tissue, threw it away, and said, "God, was that my scorpion just now?  Well, if it was, thank You that it was small and that I got it over with.  But I still have like another 15 nights in which another bigger one could come, so PLEASE let that be the only one!"

I turned off the light and got in bed, but I put my flip-flops next to the bed for walks to the bathroom.  I was super tired, but it still took me probably 20 minutes to fall asleep, I was so haired out.

Today was slower overall.  I tried to take some relaxation time . . . set aside an hour for an afternoon nap.  This morning Juanita made pancakes, bacon, and fruit.  Mark led staff devos today and we talked about Romans 12:1-2.  I think that was one of my favorite parts of the day. . . it's just such a good passage.  I watched Josefina teach the kids' Bible class after that.  They were learning about the six days of creation and about all the things God made.  Next I took a walk/run around the 1-mile loop road, and then read my Bible for a few minutes, and then went back to the chow hall to help Juanita prep the lunch.  We had a nice conversation today.  She told me that by the end of three weeks, I'll be doing much better in my Spanish and will be able to talk without pausing or saying "um" in between words and phrases.  I hope so!  I'm learning more signs, too.  I made a goal of learning at least 3 new words and/or sign names each day.  (FYI, a sign name is made up of a regular sign that says something about you, combined with the first letter of your name.  A deaf person is supposed to give you yours, not a hearing person.  Josefina gave me mine a couple of years ago.  It's the letter R combined with the sign for "braids" or "pigtails," because I was wearing braids the day she chose it for me.)  Anyway, Juanita told me she is going to have her first two grandkids this fall, and they are going to have a baby shower for her daughter on the 25th.  It will be here in the dining hall, so I can go!  I'm excited to experience a real Mexican party in Mexico!  We made salad, rice, and chicken legs with chipotle sauce for lunch.  The oven-repair guys also came to fix the right-side oven in the kitchen (there are two chambers in it because it's an industrial-size) because the pilot light or the gas or something wasn't working.  They were laying on the floor for a lot of the late morning.

I worked on the linen room for a while until I'd finished going through the pillowcases, and then I was tired so I went and took a nap.  After that, I came back to the kitchen and got out stuff to make more school snacks: pumpkin muffins.  I'm trying to make a variety of big batches of things right off the bat, so that there are enough different snacks to keep the kids from getting too bored.  I helped Trish serve the dinner.  Juanita had prepped it earlier and it was all ready to go.  It was pasta with cream sauce and veggies, served with leftover salad and a pan of carrot cake bread.  We helped the kids clean up the kitchen and then I spent the rest of the evening making the pumpkin muffins.  Another massive undertaking.  I think in the end, I baked 96 of them.  One was too burnt and stuck in the pan, but the rest came out okay.

Just so you all can get to know some of the people I keep talking about, I've decided to profile some of the Ranch staff for you.  Presenting our first one . . . Trish!  :)


RSM Staff Profile
Name: Trish
Hails from: Escondido, CA
Role at RSM: Teacher
Has been here for: 2.5 years
Favorite thing about serving here: Building relationships, both with the kids and staff.  She says she always enjoys the bond that develops as she gets to know someone, and she loves all the social interaction here, because she's super extroverted.
Fun fact: She has done some incredible 3D crochet projects, including a winged dragon and a full-size, wearable replica of Gimli's helmet from LOTR.