Siguiendo Mi Catracho: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Can you spot the differences?

Here is a picture of me last year before I left.

Here is a picture of me a couple of days after I got back.

Can you tell what is different?

No?

I have eyebrows. All my life my eyebrows have been non-existent. Well not really, they were just very blond, so it looked likeI had no eyebrows. It used to be the joke when I was growing up, one of my brothers would hit me (lightly - playing) and my mom would fuss at them saying that they hit me so hard that they knocked my eyebrows off, LOL.

Well one day Lale asked me if I was wearing make up and did I color in my eyebrows. Nope sure didn't. Somehow in Honduras, my eyebrows got dark.

Amazing what a little time south of the border can do for ya.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I am Fabulous...

Well Jennie thinks my blog is anyway, LOL.

For receiving this award, the rules state that I have to mention 5 things that I am addicted to, as well as nominate 5 blogs.

So lets get started with 5 things I am addicted to...

Books. I love to read just about anything. I love to learn about new things, and just books in general
My husband and children. No explanation needed.
Tea. If I was still in Honduras the answer would be Pepsi. But now that I am back in the US, I don't drink soda, just my tea. I will be sending back BOXES and BOXES of tea so that I dont run out like last time. And I had a hard time finding tea like I like (a hard time as in - not being able to find it at all)
Wal-Mart. I *heart* Wal-Mart. And I seem to have passed the Wal-Mart loving gene on to my children, or Mickey at least. Before I left Honduras Mickey said to me "Mommy please send me a picture of Wal-Mart". She is her mothers daughter, LOL.
The pulperias. Um, what can I say. I like the convience of being able to go, or send one of the kids, to the pulperia for whatever I need. Yesterday I had to go to Food Lion and thought to myself, man where are the pulperias when you need one? LOL.

And here are the 5 blogs that I am gifting the award to.

Alan at The Gospel Cryer
Damama over at Damama's At It Again
Ginger at The 4 of US and A Dog
Kelly at A Canuck in Cancun
Brook Anne at The Moras Mexican Adventure

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Then, I also got a Friends Awards from Anelys over at 3 Blooming Buds. The award states: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

And here are the 8 lucky winners of this award.

MamaSprout over on Honduras Sprouts
Another gringa from Olancho Bound Gringa
Jennie from Learning to Adjust
from Please Dont Put Those Beans Up Your Nose
Karen from The Rocking Pony
Andrea from Swamp Suburbia
Susan at Life With My 3 Ro's
Meg at Our Life

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A day in Honduras...

In one of my last posts I said I was going to try to post my adventures and stories in chronological order, but I have changed my mind. I am a woman, and I am pregnant, so I am allowed.

I think many of you know that I belong to a Yahoo group called Honduras Living. And in this group one of the main peices of advice that they give people who are looking to move to Honduras is to go to where you think you may want to live, and rent a place there for six months to a year. Among other reasons, one reason is that during the dry season where you want to live may be paradise, but during the rainy season that paradise could turn into five feet of water in your house. And I agree with this advice 100%. (even though I technically didn't follow that advice, LOL)

When we bought our land - the one where our house is built - I bought it sight unseen, because I trusted my father in law. My husband knew somewhat where we were going to live, but he hadn't seen the land either. My father in law lived on that land for 3 or 4 years until Lale went. Then Lale got there right at the rainy season. Not once was there a problem with flooding or anything else.

Then I showed up. In July 2008 there was a day where it rained almost all day. Not unlike other days where it would rain all day. I love when it rains because it sounds so pretty and so nice because of our roof. Anyway, after about 4 or 5 hours of rain, it REALLY began to rain hard. And within 5 minutes we had water on our front porch. And another minute after that we had a river going in the front door, and out the back - and it was filling up the house as well. Now after I got the cement bags up higher, and getting all the electrical stuff off the floor, I couldn't stop laughing. Why was I laughing? Because all I could think about was the advice that was given - that I had given to others as well - about live there so that you can see what you are getting into.
Now what had happened was that across the street is a place where when it rains real hard, the water comes down the mountain and goes into a creek, and from there it goes to the river that runs behind our land. Well this day for some reason, the water jumped where it usually goes, and made its way across the street - right into our front yard and into our house.

Here is Jordan, fighting the rising water with a broom. Not very effective, LOL.

This is the water in the house. You can't really see it very well because it is dark - but the glistening that you see is the river in the house, LOL.

You can see Lale and someone else digging in the street - they are digging a ditch so that the water can go to the creek on this side of the road, since it wasn't trying to go to the creek on the other side of the road, LOL.

This is the front yard during the flood

The view from the back door.

And here we are during clean up. It was this day that I realized that I really really wanted a squeegie. When I go back, I will be bringing squeegies.

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Here are some pictures of the fun that day.

Johan and Levi watching the rain.

The front yard is beginning to fill up.

The skinnies in front of our "pool".

My mini waterfall. Ain't it pretty? LOL

The water is now in the house. The wood you see is in front of a step trying to keep the water out. Obviously it isn't working.

We now have a river in my backyard.

My kids enjoyed the adventure - especially because they got to go to Tocoa and spend the night with Mama Toya while Papi got all the water out of the house.

Friday, January 16, 2009

30 questions

A friend of mine is heading to Honduras - following her own catracho so to speak - sometime early next year. And so she has been following my move with interest. She had asked me to tell her all about it, but that was just to broad of a question for my mind right now, LOL. So I told her to post questions for me on her blog, and I would post the questions and answers here.

Well she took me up on it, and posted a blog post of 30 questions for me. And here they are.

1. How was the plane ride with 7 children & 800lbs of luggage?

It was much easier than me traveling with just Levi when we came back, LOL. Honestly, the plane ride was easy peasy. The kids were good, and I planned well for it. I had new toys for the little kids, MP3's and new games for the GameBoys for the older two. Snacks for everyone, and sippy cups for the little ones for when they came around with the drink cart, so I didn't have to worry about wet messy clothes. I don't know if I said so or not, but I got everyone a brand new backpack just for the trip and filled it with trip stuff, not to be touched but at certain times (or on certain planes) and it worked out well.

2. How did it go dealing with immigration @ the airport?

Immigration was easy. They ask you where you are going, how long do you plan on staying, and thats about it. Then they stamp your passport and tell you how many days you have on your visa.

3. What did you think of everything as you were riding towards the home you had never seen?

Having been to Honduras and Tocoa before, I had seen a good part of where we were going on the last trip. But I still sat there and took in everything thinking of the kids, and trying to see what they were seeing.

4. How was your hubby when he saw all of you, after spending so much time apart?

He was excited to see all of us (especially Levi, since he had never seen him - other than in pictures). And no Anelys, I didn't get a picture of him when he first saw Levi. I was actually still dealing with the immigration official when Jordan took Levi to Lale.

5. What did you think of your house?

I liked it - I still do. There are some things that I want done to the house, and am hoping that in the next 3 months before the baby is born, I can make enough money to get those things done.

6. How is it different from homes here?

Um, lets see. Geckos on the wall. Cement floors (which will be tiled soon YAY), tye-die walls (LOL - they aren't that way anymore). No hot water, just cool water. I dont know. It is built for a hot weather climate, and the homes that I have lived in are built for both hot and cold weather, so its different for me, but from what I understand homes in places like Miami are alot like the homes in Honduras.

7. Tell us about your 1st day in Honduras?

Check out the other days blog

8. How have you been doing laundry? Cooking?

Before I broke my foot, I washed the clothes. We don't have a pila yet (its being built once the back porch is finished, and they will begin working on the back porch in Feb), so I washed on a small rocklike table that we have out back. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, just time consuming. After I broke my leg, I had someone else doing the washing. I prefer that, and I think when I get back I will have someone to do the washing - if nothing else.

Cooking - before I broke my leg I cooked outside on the fuego as well as inside on the stove. I actually enjoyed cooking on the fuego and can't wait to get home to my new outdoor kitchen and fuego. The fuego that I have right now is just a temporary one until the back porch is finished. (The back porch will have a laundry room on it as well as the outdoor kitchen - which will have the fuego, and a fire oven too)

Here is a picture of how my clothes are being washed for now.

9. Oh, what about diapering? Don't you still have babies in diapers? Have you been buying disposables or did you buy cloth before you went? My roomie cloth diapers her baby, with the diaper covers, all in ones, etc. & it's easier than I thought though pricey up front. I'm interested in knowing how you've dealt with diapers, formula, baby check ups, vaccines, etc.

I had originally planned on cloth diapering the kids when I got there. When we went, Lana and Levi were in diapers still. But Lana was 75% potty trained pretty soon after we got there. And I would alternate between disposable and cloth diapers. Levi couldn't handle the heat and cloth diapers, so he then went to disposable, and I used cloth on him only as a last resort. Then when I broke my foot and someone had pooped in the cloth diapers, Jordan was supposed to rinse the poop off and put the diapers in a special place so that they could be washed. Well instead she just hid them in a bucket under a bunch of clothes and they got ruined. So out of 24 (I think) cloth diapers that I took with me, only 3 were not ruined. So we use only disposable. And I will be sending down tons of cases (from BJ's) of Huggies for the new baby and for my fat boy. (They are cheaper here than there - although if you buy at places live CVS they are about the same price. If you buy diapers at places like BJ's or Sams then they are way cheaper here.) Formula they have here, same formulas as there. The price depends on where you get it. None of the kids had baby check ups because for some reason there medical/vaccination records didn't make it to Honduras, and you need those for the vaccinations. Levi is 2 months behind on his vaccinations because at his 9 month check up he wouldn't have gotten any, but at his 12 month he would have gotten 3. Lana and Johan both need there 2 and 3 yr vaccinations. I do believe that Isa is all caught up, and I know Mickey is too. At least by the vaccination standards here in the US. I don't know about the vaccination standard in Honduras. Lale will be taking care of that as I am sending down a copy of the vaccination record to him. The baby will be going for his/her vaccinations and well baby check ups though from the get go.

10. How close are you to a real town? Stores?

I am about 15 minutes or so from Tocoa, which is pretty big. It isn't a big city like La Ceiba, Tegucigalpa, or San Pedro, but it is a good size city. It has alot of stores, and I can get basically everything I need there. The 8 months I was there I didn't go shopping anywhere else other than Tocoa. (although when we were in La Ceiba, I did take advantage of the Pizza Hut, LOL) There is a mall there now too, but I haven't been to it. For some reason a rip to the mall with all the kids does not appeal to me, LOL.

11. How has the weather been treating you? Has it effected your arthritis?

Actually the weather has been ok. I am one who doesn't like the heat to much, and there were days that it was hot, but with a fan, I dealt with it no problem. I will say though that I am glad that we don't live in Tocoa. Although it is only a short distance away, due to the difference in elevation, it might as well be a world away as far as temperature goes. There were days at home the heat was fine. Hot yes, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then we would go to Tocoa, and I would be sitting in the shade and just have sweat rolling down my legs/back/face etc. and my shirt would be wet with sweat. Ugh. I wouldn't have made it if we lived in Tocoa. As far as my arthritis, its been fine. And my arthritis meds are cheaper there (and no prescription is needed there for the medication) than it is here in the US. Gotta love that.

12. How have the kids dealt with it all?

They have adjusted well. Mickey is sad because I am here, and not in Honduras, but other than that everyone is doing well in Honduras. Mickey and Isa start school in February and they can't wait. Johan and Lana are having a ball and all of them are picking up Spanish like crazy.

13. How has his family & friends been with you & the kids?

They have been great. I love them like they are my own flesh and blood, and they feel the same way about me. They give me advice and offer to help and are wonderful people.

14. Have you adjusted to the different foods, etc.?

Yeah. I just missed real butter and cheese mostly. Oh and being able to get the cuts of meats I wanted.

15. Were you happy there?

In general yes. There were some things that I wasn't happy with, but that had nothing to do with being in Honduras.

16. How was it different from what you thought it would be?

I am going to post about this soon. It wasn't much different than I thought it would be. The biggest difference is the stress it put on my relationship with my husband. Alot of it is the money stress. It isn't like when you are in the US and low on money. It is a whole different type of money stress, and it can cause problems in a marriage. Also the whole getting used to living with someone again after being apart for so long is hard as well. Oh and him thinking I know what to do with something without him having to tell me. For instance, he has grown up his entire life with planting corn, etc. etc. so he knows the difference in the types of corn. Me, I bought corn in the grocery store. In the summer it was corn on the cob, and the rest of the year it was frozen corn. So he brought in a ton of corn - some of it still on the cob (2 types but I didn't know), other already off the cob. I asked him what it was for, and he said to plant. I didn't know he was talking about theone type still on the cob. The rest is for the chickens and pigs. So I went to help him, and I picked up the 3 bags of corn that was still on the cob and began to take the kernals off. I put it in a bag and then when I was done, I just put it back where it was. Well I made the mistake of mixing the corn in the one bag that was to plant with the corn from the other bags that were for the chickens and pigs. And the corn that was to plant was expensive. He was upset with me big time. But I told him, if he would explain things to me - because I don't know, I have never done some of this suff, it isn't like first nature with me, like it is with him. And because he didn't explain exactly what it is that he wanted, he just asked me to take the kernals off the corn, he can't get mad at me. I told him it would be like me telling him he had to speak Japanese, and if he didn't well then he would be in trouble. He forgets that I don't know alot of what he is talking about, and don't understand what it is that he wants me to do until he shows me.

17. Do you think you will stay there long term?

Yup. Im not going anywhere without my husband, LOL. And honestly, thats home now. You all know I am "home" meaning back in the US now, but it no longer feels like home. My home is a couple of thousand of miles south of here.

18. How do you feel about being back in the States?

I want to go home. It isnt the same here anymore for me.

19. How did you manage to get everything done in a day with a broken ankle & leg & 9 children?

Um, I didn't really. A neighbor was really sweet and would come twice a week and wash my clothes for me - for free!! - and she would sweep and wash dishes if there were dishes in the sink. Jordan did alot for me before she left to come back, and Mickey helped out alot after Jordan left. And I just did what I could. What I couldn't do, either Lale did, or it didn't get done.

20. What interesting places did you get to see?

During the entire time I was there we didn't go anywhere really. We went to La Ceiba a couple of times if that counts.

21. What do you plan to take back with you?

Wipes, Diapers, some things from the container store, a squeegie - more than one, fly paper, batteries and some other things. I am going to do a couple of trips to Walmart and figure out what I want/need and see if its something that I can get there or not and go from there. There were alot of things that I remember thinking - when I go back to the US, I am going to make sure I bring xyz back with me. I don't remember what it was that I had planned on buying, LOL, but a couple of trips through Walmart will jog my memory.

22. What did you miss the most?

It depended on the day and my mood. One thing I remember begging my mother to send me was cheese. Velveeta cheese. I really wanted cheddar cheese, but couldn't find any here. And the sliced American cheese that I bought was HORRIBLE. I mean really nasty - it tasted like yellow sliced lard. Ugh. Gross. And I really wanted cheese. Real cheese that I was used to. But then when I got it (Velveeta, not cheddar) it wasn't what I had imagined either, LOL. And butter. Real butter. I even tried to make some, but it didn't work. The butter/margarine that I have tried tastes alot like the cheese. A lighter yellow chunk of lard. Ugh. Although right before I came back, I found a store in Tocoa that sells American food, and I about cried. (They even have Cheddar Cheese - at 99L/8 ounces - which comes to about $5/8 oz - or $10 a pound - but still, if I ever feel like I need it, I know where I can get it. And real butter too!!!)

23. What do you miss now the most about Honduras?

You mean other than my husband, the kids - and the warm weather? (I can't believe that I am saying I miss warm weather!!) I miss my home. I miss the view. I miss the stupid rooster that crows outside my window all night long.

24. Do you have any regrets?

Only that he went down ahead of me. It made adjusting harder because it added another thing that we had to adjust to. (Getting used to being together again - will post about it later as well)

25. When are you posting pictures?

Some are up now, and others will follow in posts to come

26. Were you more relaxed there than here, ok would you be if you hadn't broken bones?

Well it depends on what you mean by relaxed. When I was in the US, I didn't do much of anything, because I didn't have to. There you have to. Not because someone is making you, but for instance. In the US I didn't have to worry about the clothes. I had a washing machine and dryer, so I could throw in a load and go do something - or nothing, LOL. Then later, throw it into the dryer and forget about it. In Honduras if you want clean clothes, well then you have to get your rear out to the pila/rock/river wherever it is that you wash your clothes and you have to wash them. Then you have to hang them up to dry. I do not want a washing machine in Honduras for the main reason that the water has grit and sand etc. in it, and it will ruin the machine rather quickly. You can put a filter in it, but then you would be changing the filter probably every other time you wash clothes, LOL. I will be getting a dryer though. When you try to dry clothes during the rainy season - even hanging them under a roof or something - it takes forever (say a week or more with somethings) to dry. And that is annoying. So I will have a dryer before I go home. But to answer your question, I was relaxed in the US, and relaxed in Honduras, but just in different ways.

27. What is your advice now as a returning Gringa?

I don't know. Do your research, learn to speak spanish, and everything that you thought you knew, well expect for it to be wrong, LOL. Expect to hear alot of stuff that you will think is crazy, expect to see even more stuff that you know is crazy. And just be ready to roll with the punches, go with the flow whatever. And don't stress over it, because you can't change it anyway. As it has been said on the HL group - TIH. This is Honduras.

28. Do you feel that all the questions you asked, research you did, & all the preparing you did really helped you?

Yes I do. But I think what helped me most of all is my ability to speak spanish fluently. so I can communicate with everyone I come in contact with, so I don't feel so isolated.

29. Are you having a boy or girl? How do you feel? What do the kids think about baby? hubby?
I don't know what I am having yet. I didn't go to the doctors in Honduras (because where I was, at the clinic all they did was weigh you and give you vitamins. Well I don't take the vitamins, and I can weigh myself at home.) I have a doctors appointment in February and I am sure they will send me for a sono - so as soon as I know - if I can find out - then I will be sure to post here. I feel fine, and the kids are happy. Lale is happy too.

30. What surprised you the most? Are you tired of questions yet?

You know, I don't know what suprised me most. I want to say the staring - where everyone would come by and just stare, and if I talked to them, they wouldn't say anything - that sort of suprised me. But then again, I sort of expected it as it happened the last time I was here as well. It is just disconcerning I think. Oh, I know. That the lack of communication -no internet, or phone signal where I am, no tv signal, no cable, no radio signal, it wasn't as bad as I imagined. I was able to adjust to life in the boonies without much withdrawel symptoms. Oh, and having a whole month with no running water and electric that was iffy due to horribly heavy non-stop rain wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. I mean it was VERY annoying, but it wasn't a super huge deal. I was grateful when the water came back on though because I was very tired of bucket baths.

Our trip to, and first day in Honduras.

You know alot of people (I think most who talked to me) told me I was crazy for taking all 7 of my kids, by myself on 3 planes to Honduras. And they felt sorry for me too. To be honest, I was a little nervous about how they would act, but not to to nervous. I was more excited that we were on our way home.

The trip started out on a good note. You see, my mom didn't want to take me to the airport. She didn't think she could handle saying goodbye to me, and to all the kids. Here I was, her only daughter moving thousands of miles away from her, but I was also taking more than half of her grandkids thousands of miles away as well. And this is the half that she saw at least once a week, if not more. So she didn't want to say good-bye. And I understood. So instead she called a friend, who is the owner of a transportation company and set it up with him to pick us up in a 15 passenger van, and would also bring a cargo van for all of our luggage. Well when he got there to pick us up, he had the cargo van for the luggage, but for us he had an awesome white stretch limo. I had only been in a limo once before in my life, when I went to my junior prom. It was a 6 person limo, and we had managed to fit 10 people in there, so needless to say, this time it was much much MUCH nicer. The driver even had brought some Veggie Tale cartoons for the kids to watch on the way to the airport.

We got to the airport somewhere around 1:00AM, and I moved all of our luggage up to the front of the line (so that I wouldn't have to push it everytime someone moved to the counter) and then we got in line.

thanks mamasprout for the advice on using the buckets!!

We were done with checking in sometime around 2:30AM/3:00AM and I made the kids go through security. There was no problems at the airport, other than the kids being excited and tired. And if you are not a parent, let me tell you that is not a great combination. They become extra excited due to the tiredness, LOL. But all in all they were good.

We got on the first plane, which took us to El Salvador, and they went to sleep for most of the trip. When they were awake, they ate breakfast and played with the (new) toys that I had brought for them to have (only) on the (first) plane.

On the plane ride to El Salvador, they played with (new) toys that I got for them for (only) this part of the trip. (*hint for those who will be traveling with little kids. Get some new toys that they have never seen before and only let them play with them for certain parts of the trip. That way they toys stay new, and the kids stay occupied).

Then we got to El Salvador where we had an hour and a half wait for our second leg of the trip. The kids were still tired from not having had a full nights sleep, and were a tiny bit cranky, but still were good. Levi was the biggest crank pot of all because he wanted to get on the floor and play. But at six months old, well he just didn't understand why I wouldn't let him. The plane ride from El Salvador to San Pedro Sula was a quick flight - all of 45 minutes or so - and the kids were great on that flight as well.

Then we get to San Pedro Sula. We arrived at 9:45AM and were supposed to have an hour layover there then catch the last flight to La Ceiba, landing in La Ceiba at around 11:30AM. Well for whatever reason we didn't even leave San Pedro Sula until after 12:00 noon. So that wait in San Pedro was alot longer than an hour. By this time Levi wanted another bottle, but I didn't have any water to make him one, and I didn't have any water either (thanks to the whole you can't take liquids on the plane). Nor did I have any money - American or Honduran. Well I had change, but still, no bills. I managed to get the cranky lady at the coffee thing in the middle of the lounge to sell me a cup of warm water (not from the tap!!) for 5 Lempiras, which came to a quarter. I had a quarter so I bought the water. Crisis adverted, LOL.

When they finally called us to board the plane, I was worried because I had heard tons of horror stories about TACA losing luggage - especially if you fly all the way to La Ceiba. However walking to the plane, I saw all of our buckets being loaded onto the plane and was able to relax. I am guessing that since this plane only holds 12 passengers (or they only take 12 passengers) and were counted for 8 of those 12, that the likelyhood of them "remembering" our luggage was high, and if they "forgot" someones luggage, it would be one of the other 4. Lets hope that everyone on that flight had there luggage at the other end.

Now this last plane was a plane that I didn't really want to get on. It was a pretty plane, color wise and all the kids ooo-ed and aaah-ed over how pretty it was, but it was a propeller plane. I wish I had taken a picture of it - but trying to coral 6 children across the tarmac to our plane, (and keep them from running off and looking at all the other pretty planes) and carrying one that weighed approximately the same as a heifer, well that would have made taking a picture next to impossible. One that was not pressurized, and it was loud, and it bounced up and down while in the air, and it made my ears hurt the entire plane ride. I swore that I would NOT ever ride in a plane like this again, and when I travelled to Honduras again, I would just take a bus from San Pedro to Tocoa. I hated that plane. It was so loud - Lana was sitting right next to me, and cried the entire time - I am assuming because of her ears - and by cried I mean SCREAMED - and I couldn't hear her over the sound of the engine. (After my trip home, where I took a bus to San Pedro Sula from Tocoa, I have changed my mind. I will travel all the way to La Ceiba - even ride in that crappy plane - as long as I don't have to ride in the crappy buses. Ugh. I had forgotten how much I hate to ride in those buses)

We finally landed in La Ceiba, we made it through customs and immigration and what not, and the kids were so happy to see there Papi (and so was I for that matter) but I was ready to go home. I wanted to see my home, and get settled in. We split up into two trucks and headed home. Well not home actually, we headed to my in laws first. We spent about an hour there, then we headed home. It was funny though, the entire time in the car was probably 3 hours or so, and I didn't say much. Just took in all of the scenery and being next to my husband. Its funny that after a bit of separation, you feel a bit embarrassed (or something) being next to someone, when you should feel at ease - especially since this someone is someone that you have spent the last 7 years with, and plan on spending the rest of your life with. Or maybe I am just weird, who knows. But it was like that the last time we were apart for a bit. It took about 6 hours or so to get back to normal.

When we got home, I was pleased to see the house.

Not so much pleased with the color (orange and yellow tie-dye,

thanks to the lime in the cement that wasn't totally dry/cured), but with the house in general I was very pleased.

My first thought was, I can't wait to tell Matt that there is a house, LOL. Matt is a family friend and he kept saying I would end up going and there would be no house for me to live in. That the money that was sent prior, for the house, was spent on other things etc. etc. I kept telling him that my in-laws are people that I trust, and he would just laugh. The kids were excited to see there rooms and to get settled in, and they were even more excited to see that we now had a dog. Sungi. (In one of my previous posts, I posted about Sungi getting ran over on purpose in front of our house).

It was nice to be able to sit down in my own home, with my children, and my husband, and have everything like it should be. All of us together. Me being able to talk to my husband and see the expressions on his face, and being able to touch him, and him being able to hug the kids and meet Levi for the first time, and for him to be more than a voice on the phone, or a face on the TV/computer screen (I would put videos of him on for the kids).

The kids enjoyed being able to go outside and play and get dirty, and to see the chickens.

And Lana, who at first was scared to go out the back door, she loved to watch the chickens.

and fall asleep watching the chickens...

And me, I loved the scenery that I got to wake up to each and every day.

Oh wait - that's not the scenery that I was talking about...OOPS.

I can't imagine having to live anywhere else. I wouldn't want to.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Finally - a rest for my arms... And a promise.

Finally my arms get a rest. Levi is finally walking. At 14 months, he is the laziest of all of the kids. Andre and Lana walked at 9 months (Lana closer to 10 months if I remember correctly), the rest of the kids walked at 12 months give or take 2 weeks. And to be honest, Levi isn't lazy. He is just cautious. He has fallen so many times in Honduras (off the bed, off the couch etc. etc.) and since we have a concrete floor, he knows that the floor hurts. So he has been walking on the bed for a while now, but when it comes to walking on the floor without holding onto something or someone- wasn't happening. Until today. I love his smile.

I am still working on editing my pictures. It is taking longer than I thought - but then again I have well over 500 pictures that I am editing, so that takes a while. I did get all the videos for upcoming blog posts uploaded, so I did make progress.

Now for my promise. I have 8 months worth of stories and pictures and videos to post, and while I will try to do it in chronological order, I can't promise it. I can promise that by Saturday evening, I will have my first post up about my trip to and first day in Honduras.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hello All!!!

Hello all!!! I am back in the US for a couple of months.

Oh how I have missed my online family :) Thank you all so much for being worried about my lack of updates. Alot of it came from me breaking my ankle (having surgery) and then later finding that I had also broken my leg - which gave me 16 weeks of what is basically bedrest.

I have so many stories (I wrote blogs while at home to post either when I came here to the US or whenever I got a chance to get online) and I have tons of pictures to show as well. I will be doing a better update complete with pictures and videos later this week. I am going to spend the next day or two editing my pictures - resizing and what not, so that I can post them with updates. So be sure to check back on Friday for updates.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

South of The Border - blogroll

In order to free up my sidebars on my blog, I decided to pull off the majority of links and put them each in there own post - with the link to the post on my sidebar instead.

If you have a blog, and I haven't listed you on here feel free to leave a comment with a link to your blog and a bit to what it is about.

Honduras and Immigration Help Links

Here are some links to some immigration help websites as well as some links to different places in Honduras.

Immigration Help Websites

Help Honduras

All About Honduras

Banks Of Honduras

Honduras Newspapers

Siguiendo Mi Catracho

About Me

Escudo de Honduras

Honduras Time

At My House

Lotsa Linky Loos - Link Filled Posts