Second Leaving and "Overcoming Ourselves"…December 2013

Post-Thanksgiving brunch with family at Mom's Colorado City home

Instead of spending 5-6 thousand dollars to import books and household goods into Ecuador, we returned to Colorado for a second round of sorting and letting go, and enjoyed time with family and friends. We left Colorado in a deep freeze, my mother traveling with us for a visit to Ecuador.  There were airport delays, we had to leave baggage behind due to an embargo in Ecuador, we missed our connection to Quito…stress!

Enjoying Colorado sunrise with elk before packing begins

Two vans, Bill's sister, and my sister and her husband got us and baggage to Denver

Journal entries

December 9, 2013

Sushi-fueled brainstorming re: project in Haiti

Between dealing with storage stuff and trips to Books Again and consignment, had good times with [friends, including] Sally Lincoln, Donna and Robert Mack, and Kyle Laws, brainstorming a Haiti trip/book (Sally to paint portraits of women).  Unloaded half of our things from storage, dumped many professional papers, and sorted and consolidated 30 years of stuff...honing down, down to essentials.  Sally and Kyle commiserated with Bill giving up books he's loved for 40 years.  Sally, an English literature major like Bill, keeps her library at 50.


Mother's hands in repose on flight to Miami remind me of what they
have done…changed diapers,

Maitre d at Miami International Airport Hotel

scrubbed floors, baked pies, packed for multiple moves and journeys, typed letters for work and sharing with her beloved parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren, pulled weeds, sewed quilts, driven cars, held babies and books, played pianos and organs, caressed many faces with love.

Mama Esther Engle, seasoned world traveler

Having missed our connection to Ecuador, American Airlines put us up for the night at the Miami airport hotel.  Mom was a great sport about it all, and the Haitian maitre d was wonderful!

Mom and me at hostel near Quito airport; one more leg to Loja

December 24, 2013

Nochebuena (literally good night: Christmas eve) now the stroke of midnight, fresh from lovely Misa de Gallo (mass of the rooster) at cathedral and friendly passing of the peace.  On a philosophical/spiritual high after finishing The Goldfinch…then wrestling with tamarind goo full of seeds and tiny hard bits

Christmas angel's parade on our Loja street

and thinking of how God must stretch us thin to get out all the junk in our lives.

Happy day with Pastora (friend from Cuenca) and mother doing Christmas puzzle while I baked Kris Kringle and then Bill did supper of vegan loaf and mashed potatoes and green beans and pumpkin pie fresh from oven.

Dear Cuenca friend Pastora Prado and Mom with Christmas eve project

The chef at work on Christmas eve dinner

December 30, 2013:  The Internal Journey

"No one has a harder struggle than the man who is striving to overcome himself," wrote Thomas A Kempis, "and it should be our business to overcome ourselves, and every day to get the upper hand over our old nature, and to show some progress and improvement."  I react to Mother's need to be "right" because I have such an enormous need to be right!  God, help me to let this go…to be humble about any knowledge which is "mine" or even spiritual insights.

Nochebuena dinner in our Loja apartment with Pastora and Mom