who wants to lose weight...?

in my first year living in spain, i lost about 10 pounds. i guess from walking (yes, we walk in europe, we don't have the luxury of driving door to door to every place we want to go), eating healthier--fruits and veggies are amazing here and i don't really buy pre packaged and ready to go food. i think last summer helped shed some cause it's soo HOT here and i just don't eat as much when it's HOT. so, i just weighed myself today to see where i am... 57.5 kilos (approx 127 pounds)! that's, if my memory serves well, about 19 pounds smaller than when i left mn for los hueros. i put that exclamation point not for excitement but for shock! i'm actually not too thrilled that i keep losing weight. my pants seriously are not fitting me, i have to wear belts with everything except my shorts that have ties or elastic! i don't have money to buy a new wardrobe! i guess the surgery and not eating for a day then being sick last week and not eating and puking up acid and saliva is the cause of this most recent loss of fat. i hope my muscle isn't going away. my butt doesn't seem smaller, but i guess it is since my pantalones are sagging on me. let's just hope my breasts don't deflate into nothingness. i need what i have to fill out my wedding dress next year!! :)

moral of the story: move to spain if you are in need of shedding some pounds or kilos.

Some nasty pics of me ears...

Last Thursday, I had a stapedectomy. Here are some pics that represent my life in the last week. This first one is my ear with the drops just sitting around because it cant' get through the packing that's in there.

Here's my ear after it's been cleaned with alcohol by my Mr. Piper. Nasty, huh.
In one way, I look forward to getting this packing stuff taken out of my ear cause it's quite annoying...the feeling of your ear being plugged up for 2 weeks. Annoying it is. But I can also imagine it will not be pain less when the doctor pulls this thing out. I hope it is quick!And here's me laying on the couch in Barcelona for 3 days post-surgery, in a non AC'ed apartment. Not fun but I survived.
Keep praying for my recovery. It's been quite the week as not only did I have this major surgery, but before the surgery I had a slight cough, I still have the cough and today I got my period and it was a bad time, I pretty much wanted to die. I guess all the pain I've been through is prepping me for some babies in the future, eh?!

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

Thanks Marin for proposing to me (for real, this time with a ring) last night, June 22 in Spain! Te Queiro mucho!!

June!

I think I've had my start of months messed up. I think June 1 was start of month 23 at IMM. Anyways, I've been here for 22 months now. It's gone by pretty fast I must say. I've experienced a lot in the last almost 2 years....mostly all good things. Met great people. Made new friends. Learned. Worked on a project for thousands of hours that will hopefully be put into many many languages in the years to come and seen by millions of people who need to hear of Jesus or who need to be encouraged in their faith!

My parents come 5 days to visit me!! yippy. the first and only of my family to visit me. Good thing I had my 3 girls come and also my friends living in Europe the same time as me. God has truly blessed me during my time in Spain!

Hugs and kisses from Madrid.

20.

Start of month 20 at IMM in España. cool. times gone by pretty fast. I've done lots of fun things a lot of people don't get to experience in life. i feel like i'm in college again at times...it's Thursday night at 10 pm (the start of a 3 day weekend for Semana Santa (Easter) and I'm still working. We have a big, huge project due on dvd by next Monday night and my part of it is just taking way longer than I hoped. Always things to fix and challenges to work through in video production (actually, in all things in life that are worth the time and struggle). I don't really want to work much this weekend, so I'm trying to get lots done tonight! And, I want to sleep in and enjoy some on the decent, but not really really nice weather we have finally, this weekend. If I only I got paid for overtime...nah, this is missions!! But, I'm super excited for when this project will be DONE because 1. I've been working on it for over a year and 2. our first foreign language is African French at the end of April! 3. it's a sweet production with a story and message that changes live!

march madness!

it's true---this month i can easily call march madness! once i get time to upload pics of my fun activities from the weekends with my housemates (including some very spanish cultural things) you'll see how the madness has occured. then there's the thing that takes up more of my life...work at imm. we are coming close to the deadline of the open the bible: gospels project...por fin! but we have been encountering challenges as we like to call them! lots of work. lots of working a bit of longer hours than normal. stress. headaches. lower back pain. edititis (a new word cheree made up. it's the problem of the pain i have from editing too much, sitting in the same position too long and using the mouse the same always!!) so, with that, there's also other issues in my personal life and the issues that come with living with other people who don't exactly know how to clean up after themselves the greatest and leave left overs in the fridge far too long since they never go back to eat it! then it becoming very nasty and smelly around my food! and what not. then there's the taking an online course in spanish and having to write a 4 page paper in spanish by april 20. oh, and also having a passion to make a human trafficking awareness video and really really need the help and guidance of God to make it work because i need Him! getting tax stuff ready to send with someone to the states. making cards for my friends who've had great events happen lately and getting those ready to send. trying to convert a pal timeline to ntsc but having issues (that's what i'm doing now as i write this). constant IT problems that slow me down at work. just straight up stress, annoyance, busyness, not being able to fall asleep when i lay my head down. this makes me a bit on edge and perhaps my housemates have felt or seen it. sorry gals. not to mention missing my super adorable nieces and nephews that i see pics of on fb. that' s it... only pics. no vids. :(

so, please keep me in your prayers because i need it!

month 19 almost over. month 20 on it's way. good thing I'm extending til november, because thinking of leaving in 4-5 months would be crazy!!

*listen, i know my life is greatly blessed and so much better than about 97.9% of the worlds, i'm just in need of venting and happen to be doing it on here so alicia and christina can read it because they are the only 2 people who regularly read this. and if you're not one of them, please tell me so i can be surprised!

Start of Month 19!!

Did I count that right? I've been here since Aug 1 of 2008. I think 19 is the right number. Wow. Who can believe it? These months have gone by pretty darn fast! 2010 has already flown by. It's so weird to think that this is the year I'll be moving back to the states. It's probably not going to be at my official 2 year mark which would be Aug 1. I'm thinking of staying just a bit longer because there is a lot of transition and staff changes this year and I think my boss will appreciate me staying...well, I know he will, he's hinted at having me stay longer!

This month is March Madness! No, I don't care about college bb. My housemates only have 5 weeks left and they have a list of things to see, places to go, and what not...so we have many weekends booked for fun events! This Saturday-a Flamenco show!! Our friends found it--it's a not too spendy and looks really good! Other things on the tentative schedule: a Jazz club, the Rastro - huge market, Monet museum and a girls slumber party... which is also happening this weekend!

To add some fun content to this blog and break up the text, here's an adorable image of Alexandra. I had coffee with her mom and my friend Tiffany the other weekend. Lexi is seriously the most precious and adorable baby in Spain! Her daddy is a Spaniard and her mommy American. She's like a precious moments doll. Her eyes, that curly hair....too cute!!

What will I do when Cheree and Julie leave? It won't be as fun. I'm sure more peeps will come to visit--we have 2 interns this summer, so I've heard. A bunch of MA's are in the works, but who knows when they'll get here.

Another reason for March Madness: countdown to the Open the Bible: The Gospels project is due!! April 1 baby! I'm juggling various projects at work. Taking an online course (in Spanish) on intervention of prostitution and human trafficking-which is basically research for a project I feel I need to do while I'm here...an awareness video for human trafficking. There are a few parties lined up in March for co-workers leaving and co-workers adding a baby to their family! Oh so much to do and seems like not enough hours in a day--especially when I like/need to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night!

And here's Plaza Cervantes in Alcalá de Henares! I love this place. Just gorgeous. This was taken last week on my phone...not bad huh? Oh my-I'll miss Spanish plazas when I leave this country.