Overmedicated

This photo represents something I've been thinking a lot about lately, and that is the over-drugging of our culture. This all began with Aaron's trip to the emergency room on Saturday, due to an adverse anxious reaction to the Claritin D he was taking for his allergies. Immediately the doctor came in a prescribed more medicine to help Aaron sleep, a controlled substance called lorazapam. This is some pretty intense stuff, which has been causing Aaron to sleep for the last three days straight, and has also been making him see double and feel really weird right after he takes it.

In addition to our emergency room adventures, I've been watching several intriguing documentaries on Netflix, including The Business of Being Born and Frontline: The Medicated Child. These shows have made me realize the horrors of what overmedication is doing to our culture. We use one drug to fix whatever problems we have, and then we use another drug to fix the problems that the first drug caused. 

I have come to realize that part of being alive is feeling pain. For example, many women do not wish to feel the pain of childbirth. So they ask for drugs to help take the pain away, and in the process make a normal delivery very dangerous for their child and themselves. Those who undergo the pain and endure labor come out of it much more aware of their own humanity. We were made to endure pain and to heal naturally.  We should also not use medicine to get rid of every inconvenience or minor annoyance. Just because our children are annoying to us at age two, doesn't mean they have serious behavioral problems. Maybe it just means that you suck at discipline. Just a thought...

Anyways, I guess I will have to read more about all this, since eventually I want to have children. Even in my own life and while making decisions with Aaron, it is interesting to think about whether or not overmedication is a good idea. Should I take tylenol or advil for a slight headache or the monthly cramps I must endure? Or should I learn to suck it up and endure the pain? Maybe the latter will help me to understand the reality of humanity and will in some way help me to reduce the selfishness and sensitivity of our culture at large. In any case, it is a very interesting discussion.

Of valentines and springtimes and sweet-times with my honey...

Every day I think I fall more in love with the handsome man I married. This last week has been a special one because of many things, including our first attempt at "parenting" as a team, a day to celebrate love, sunshine filling the air and melting all the icky brown snow, and me starting my job at McDonalds which has given me a HUGE understanding of what Aaron does every day. I appreciate him SO much more today than I did before my first shift making french fries.

On Monday Aaron and I got to work as a team as we babysat eleven kids and twenty teens at our church so that their parents could go out for a special Valentine's evening. While I'm sure we blessed the parents of our church, I myself was blessed by watching Aaron play with little ones and try to keep them entertained for three hours. My husband is extremely good at everything I'm not, and that's why I'm so thankful that God made us a team. He kept those kids moving! That man has a never-ending supply of group games to play, while I can't think of even one game that works with such a variety of ages. What I am good at, though, is holding the little ones, planning crafts, and cleaning up vomit when a 2-year-old started violently throwing up at the end of the night. We're both super-organized, probably overly so for BFC, but in the end, it all went smoothly and we were able to get some time together at IHOP after the dinner rush had gone, so we got our Valentine's Day together after all.

On Thursday I started my new job at McDonald's. Don't let anyone fool you when they say they "just work for minimum wage". Just because flipping burgers and making fries doesn't pay very well, that doesn't mean it's easy work. During lunch at the Drake McDonald's, you can't make fries fast enough to get them out the drive-through window. Especially not when it's your first day on the job. Thursday I learned to make McCafé drinks and fries and today I got to take orders. It really helps me understand how hard Aaron works and gives me much more sympathy when he gets home tired and just wants to sit and stare at a computer screen.

Also, my new job at McDonald's has started to develop in me a moral position for my own life on the importance of working in a low-paying environment. Although my plan for my life includes a PhD, I think I must at this point realize how important it is for me to work at least part time at a fast food restaurant or such. For one thing, the people who I am studying and hope to be serving can only be found in such places. There is no one on earth like the hard-working immigrants that work the line at McDonald's. When I'm studying literature, I have to realize where the feelings of oppression and the undying strength and joy of the Latin American people come from. When I'm teaching grammar, I have to know how it's actually spoken by those yelling out orders to their co-workers. Language is not a sterile thing that you can learn in a classroom. Therefore, even though it doesn't pay much, it's really hard work, and in the long run most people would think that a job at McDonald's is far below my education level or capability, I hope that through the next few years I will continue to seek employment in the places where I can come in contact with real people. Academia is one part of what I'm learning, but if I ever want to be qualified to teach others how to love and serve the Hispanic community, either here or abroad, I have to spend as much time practicing what I'm learning, and the only way to do that is by being there and experiencing the long hours and low pay that Christina, Elvia, Mayra, and Enrique (all my new coworkers) experience every day.

All that to say, I'm glad for my new job, and I'm learning a lot. I'm thankful for the wonderful man I get to spend all my hours off with. And I'm more joyful than ever because the sun in shining and in about a half-hour I get to pick up my little brother from the bus stop for his weekend visit. :D I can hardly wait!

Celebrating three years together...

On Saturday we went out to Dos Rios, the fanciest Mexican "Cantina" in Des Moines, to celebrate the three years that have passed since our first date. Over a beautiful and delicious meal of calamari, pollo con mole, and steak molcajete, we reminisced and remembered some of the most special events of the last three years, including our summers apart, family weddings, our own wedding and graduation, and romantic events sprinkled through the last 1096 days that we have been a couple. Then we dreamed about the next few thousands of days, thinking about where we will be in three, six, and sixty years. It was fun to celebrate the love that God has given us. We're so thankful for the years we've had and look forward to the years ahead. 

Dos Rios' famous guacamole in a molcajete

The POWER of prayer

Well, we now know why it is nice to have a landlord! Last night at about 8:15, we were getting ready to leave to workout, when we were surprised by a loud knock on the door. A neighbor had been driving by and had noticed water gushing down our driveway. We bundled up to go out and trudge through the snow and ice to take a look at the geyser that had erupted in our yard. Water was bubbling up out of the ground and through our driveway, down the street. Because of the frigid temperatures, that water was quickly turning to ice, and our street was becoming a home-made ice rink. We frantically called our landlord(who didn't answer), the city of Des Moines sewer people (who said because it's private property they are powerless), and about five other random numbers of people we thought might somehow help. Since it was after-hours, no one was in their offices and we were getting more and more worried. We were worried that it was our fault (although we had done nothing wrong and our own water was working just fine.) We were worried that the water under our trailer would create problems to the foundation (and I was worried that our trailer was going to float away during the night...) Basically, we were getting really worried. As we stood out in the freezing snow, neighbor after neighbor stopped by to remark on what a mess it was (but all with no real help or advice).

Finally, after an hour-and-a-half of frantic phone calls and doorbell ringing, we went inside to warm up and to resort to the only thing we could think to do, and that was to pray. Feeling completely powerless, we laid our fears and worries down at  His feet and were prepared to wait for His answer. We didn't have to wait long, though, because as Aaron was finishing up his prayer, we heard boots crunching through the snow outside. We jumped up to see who was there, and it was our landlord himself! He gave us the good news that it wasn't our fault, we wouldn't float away in the night, and that first thing in the morning he would have a crew out there digging it up and fixing the broken main. As soon as we got back inside I (Andrea) burst into tears of thanksgiving and we both called our worried parents (who we had frantically called just moments before for advice). Everyone was super-thankful and exhausted at this point, so we just went to bed.

This morning when I woke up, I was glad to see the crew was there as promised! A little digger-machine and our landlord greeted me at 8 AM, and by the time we left for work, they were already hard at work on the hole and the mess of an iceflow that was our street. We'll see what progress they've made by the time we get home. So today, we are so thankful for a God who answers prayer, a landlord who fixes broken mains, and a place to go to get away from the horrible racket and mess they're making in our yard!

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Our landlord, Roger and the little digger machine.

The source of the mess. In the middle of that frozen lake somewhere is the bubbling geyser.