When you hit the ground running be prepared for a long slow down process

My dad's philosophy has always been to just keep going and don't stop. Schedule to the max. In general, I agree. Why take days to recover or days off?

There are pros and cons.
Going home for Christmas was one of the most whirlwind trips I have ever taken.

The Christmas program here in Oaxaca was somuch better than I could have hoped for. From the amazing decorations to the fantastic performance of the K-12. Wow. It was, amazing. I can't even describe. After the concert a group of us went to the Italian Coffee Company to hang out. Originally I was not going to go, it would be dumb right? Leaving at 5am the next morning and I still needed to pack and I was EXHAUSTED. But pass up time with some of my favorite people? You only live once right?
All that to say, I got home around 10pm and started packing. Or rather, unpacking what I had packed because I wanted to make sure that I put in what I needed. :) Around midnight or 1 I fell into bed for a quick nap before needed to leave for the airport. My pilot friend was bringing me in as he needed to be there early for work.
Oaxaca to Houston - 2 1/2 hours. Then a 10 hour layover in Houston. Really? I was settled to just sit around for thatamount of time and watch the Christmas rush. But when I saw a monitor that said there was a Continental flight to Portland in 1 hour I headed to the gate. Hey, I can dream about going standby during Christmas travel right? No such luck for that flight and the lady told my there wasn't any more flights until mine 6 hours later. Ok. Hmmmm. I found a great little corner and got my 45 min of free internet.

4 hours later I was little hungry. So, while going to find food and to see if my gate had been posted I saw another flight to Portland. Wait, the lady told me wrong. So I rushed to that gate and got a standby ticket! Oh please! Then came the dilema of contacting my family. How could I let them know that I was going on an earlier flight? Ask a stranger to borrow a cell phone? My little brothers do that all the time. . . Hmmmm. The internet does let you get on facebook so I posted on everyones wall and waited. They started boarding. I still had no idea if my family knew or not. Ah! Then I saw movement on Ls wall so I quickly had a conversation with her. She would pass on the message.

I got on the flight and arrived home 3 hours before my original flight. Whew.

Slept in my own bed and got up the next morning to D and L interested in doing some Christmas shopping. Sure. Why not? Who needs a day to recover right? So off we went. Shopping. It was fun. We parked at Lloyd Center and took the MAX downtown. Made for a fun day. Then we met the rest of the fam for Tangled.
Church on Sunday then dad took us out for a family dinner. We celebrated Christmas that night as J would be in the hospital on Christmas day. J and P came down and it really felt like Christmas.

Tuesday L and I helped do hair for a friends wedding while J was having his open heart surgery. He did great and we were able to visit him after the wedding. D stayed the night with him that night. Next night I did. It was a rough night for him. They collapse the lungs when they do open heart surgery and he was having a really hard time breathing all night. So monitors and beeper would be going off pretty much all the time. Then the nurse would come in and mess with stuff. There was only this little chair for me to sit in and try to sleep. I didn't get much that night. He was moved out of ICU the next day though, so from then on in his room was a bench for sleeping. Nice. :)
The rest of that week was spent running errands I needed to run and visiting J in the hospital. Then Tuesday of the next week we left at 4am to drive down to Cali for New Years. Yes. Crazy.

12 hours later we arrived at the M house and after dinner we all went to bed. It's a long drive. Spent the morning chilling at their house then drove out to see the F family who were visiting family nearby. It was so great to see them! L and I ended up staying 2 nights with them and skiing for 2 days at Kirkwood. Thursday night D gotengaged to the man of her dreams and that turned New Year's Eve into an engagement party of sorts at the M house. Saturday morning we got up early and made the 10 hour drive back home. Sunday afternoons, after a date with Dad, I drove up to Centralia to visit J and P. Spent the night and Monday morning there then took off to pick up S and do a couple last minute returns and purchases of things I needed before I headed back to Mexico. Then soccer game where I subbed for D who was still in Cali. Tuesday I went out for coffee with J in the morning then out for pedicures and lunch with Mom. Packed all my stuff in a suitcase and spent the last night in D's bed.

Back to Oaxaca. Traveling went smooth and even got an offer for a free flight from the flight attendant. I hope he was serious. :)
We stopped at the taco shop on the way and I got my first torta of the year. SO GOOD!!!! Off to school at 7am the next morning. Good thing is, the first 2 weeks back I didn't have any secondary classes, so I was able to just plan for elementary and worldview class. :) Friday, school again. I started going out to the car and sleeping for a few hours after arriving at school. That helped. The weekend was a blur as always. Went to Spanish church Sunday evening. It took a few days for my ears to get back in tune with Spanish. It's much better now.

The day I left I felt a cold coming on and by last weekend it was in full force. I spent Friday and Saturday in bed with our cat, Dr. Watson. 2 days of solid bed rest and I was ready for the next adventure - Monte Alban.

Monte Alban is Oaxaca's claim to fame. A huge ruined city on the top of a hill. It was fascinating. We climbed and ran around everywhere looking at things. Then ate Tlayudas in the Zocalo before heading back to Mitla.
My secondary class started this week. I have four boys who are in it wanting to learn how to sing in harmony. So, I have been doing research on barbershop quartets. Every time after class I walk out the room with a huge grin on my face. There is something about guy voices all singing in great harmony that gives me the chills. It's the best.

Also, I will be having the elementary class put on a musical this spring. So I handed out parts for audition and listening CDs for them to start learning the songs.

There. Do you feel caught up? :) My goal is to be a little more faithful to this blog from now on. The fair starts tonight in Mitla so I'll have something interesting to post about.

R and I are also trying to figure out another time to get to the beach. . . Hmmmmmm.