Friday, November 14, 2008

Already more than a week!

I know it's been awhile since we blogged, but it's a little more complicated since we need to be on-line to blog, and in order to be on-line we need to take the laptop to an internet cafe. Plus for those of you who were part of the whole blogging conversations, you also know that Harlan's supposed to be doing this! :)


We are checking into the option of having cable internet in our house and plan to do that as soon as possible. It's pretty expensive, but maybe not a whole lot more than most of you who have high speed internet in the USA.


As of the beginning of this week we are now part of the “daily rotation”. Mondays and Wednesdays are ours, plus we will probably have an occasional Sunday. We are now on vacation schedule since the kids are out of school so the times will change in February. Harlan needs to get up and open the front gate at 6am, pass the kids for breakfast at 7:30am, pass them for lunch at 1pm, pass them for dinner at 5:30pm, be in charge of what's watched on TV in the evening, lock the gate at 8pm, and take care of any visitors, needs or problems in between.


I will need to give the cook all the food needed for the day including breakfast the next day. Andrea and I are also in charge of the girls in the afternoons on Monday and Wednesday. We will be going for walks, taking them over to the other property, in charge of the trampoline, cooking/baking with them, etc.


I am also having devotions with the girls, one night a week with each of the three houses. Harlan does the same thing with each of the 2 boy's houses. We go after our own kids are in bed. Although when it was time to get up and go to their houses it felt like something extra at the end of the day, the devotional times have all felt very meaningful and I have been blessed. But that's how our God works!


Thursday is our day “off” and we go to Teguc to do our shopping. Hopefully the process will eventually take less time, but this week we left around 8am (Honduran time :) and got back around 3 or 3:30pm. Thursday night and Sunday night we have also designated as “family night” and we had our first family meeting last night. Everybody feels much better now that all chores have been properly assigned. :) They will also be nights of playing games, reading books, etc.


The kids do not enjoy spending the day shopping in Teguc and decided to stay out in Valle. They get to be with Karla Patricia and Lilian and yesterday enjoyed going down to the creek bordering the property. Zack got more than he bargained for when his flip-flops started floating away and he fell in the water while trying to retrieve them! All three continue to do very well. Ali enjoys spending most mornings in the Finca kitchen helping the girls make pancakes, flour tortillas, etc. Angelica was helping today as well. They really enjoy the “fruits” of their labor. :) Angelica still enjoys reading every chance she gets and it's a good thing she doesn't mind reading books over again! Zack has some up and down feelings about the Finca kids. He loves playing with them, but sometimes gets tired of someone always wanting to grab him or carry him. He enjoys playing with Caleb (Alonso and Michele's son), Daniel (Angel and Berta's son), and Gabriel and Jonatan (both Angel's nephews) here in our house.

Harlan has been spending some time raking hay to be used as mulch when the Livengoods come, fixing various plumbing issues, and trying to mosquito proof our house. Ali has an ongoing battle with mosquitoes and keeps losing. She has several bites on her face. They also wake Harlan and I up at night singing in our ears. We hope to buy more screen next week.


I have finally finished cleaning most of the house, which really needed it, and most things are in their places. Karla Patricia and Lilian have been a huge help and are the only reason it is mostly finished. I have forgotten how much time it takes to do things here like meal prep and cleaning up after wards. I'm sure things will get easier as I get accustomed to where everything is and get into more of a routine.

I was just saying to Harlan that it feels like we've been here much longer than a week and to some degree like we never left. I think it's partially because this was home previously and therefore we have returned to something familiar. I also think it's because God is answering all those prayers given on our behalf and I praise him.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

thanks for the update....it's good to hear that you're feeling at home already.