Headed Home for the Holidays!

Tomorrow afternoon we are leaving for Managua (the capital) where we will be spending the weekend with friends. Then we fly out early Monday morning for Maine! I am very excited to be going back to the states for a few weeks. I love the Christmas season and have a hard time being overseas during it! I am looking forward to seeing friends & family but also little things that I miss. Like; hot showers, yummy food, electricity 24/7, carpet instead of tile floors, safe water right out of the tap, snow…the list goes on!

If you could please be praying for us as we travel on Monday (the 17th) it would be much appreciated. I naturally do not worry or stress about many things, but flying with a baby stresses me out!
In my foolish youth I had little empathy for mothers with “annoying” kids. My worst nightmare is to be “that mom” with the crying, crazy kid.
We have a two hour flight out of Managua to Houston and then a three hour flight from Houston to Boston. Then a three hour drive from Boston to Maine.
We will be leaving Nicaragua around 7:00 am and won’t arrive in Maine until around 10:00 pm. It will be a long day for Ashlyn!

Please pray that Ashlyn will somehow want to sit on my lap for hours at a time!
Also that she will be able to sleep on the plane. She has a hard time sleeping anywhere other than a crib. And for my sanity, I stress myself out worrying about if she’s going to have a “melt-down”.
Thanks so much! It’s a relief to know I will have people praying for us! I will see some of you soon!

Late Night Visitor

Last night our dogs started barking rather ferociously at our front gate. I went out to see what was causing all the commotion and there was a horse grazing on the grass by our gate.
I put the dogs inside and treated the horse a big carrot. She looked like she could use some extra meat on her bones! The thought crossed my mind that I could just bring her inside my gate and have a pet horse…but I resisted the urge.
Seeing horses everywhere is one of the things I love about Nicaragua!

Worm

As I walked in our house yesterday I noticed something moving in the corner. I went over to get a closer look and there was a long, skinny worm. I was about to pick it up and remove it from our home, but it seemed weird. Not your average looking worm; it was all black, very skinny for a worm and moved differently.

I started having second thoughts about picking it up as irrational images of the worm oozing “killer worm venom” crossed my mind. I decided to call Adam over (so he would get oozed instead of me). Adam started pushing the worm out of the house with his shoe and it started squirming around. We both stopped and stared at it as the “worm” made a perfect “S” pattern as it moved along.
As we were staring at it the weirdest worm ever, a Nicaragua friend of ours (who happened to be over) came to take a look. He quickly informed us that our “worm” was a baby snake and we should obviously kill it.

So our killer worm turned snake has been disposed of but leaves us with some questions…
Where’s the momma? Does he/she have brother and sisters?
And the question that is plaguing my mind…how did he get in our house??
Our house is raised up with about a foot tall cement step all the way around. There is no way such a little snake could have gotten up it. This leaves only a few options of how it got in, none of which I like. Our snake must have been hatched in our house, on our porch, or possibly in our drop ceiling.

We are keeping our eyes out for any more and hoping to find none!

La Purisima

“La Purisima” is a week long Catholic celebration here in Nicaragua. It is a celebration to honor the Virgin Mary, many people put alters to her in their homes and then neighbors come bring gifts to each other.

The locals seem to be having a grand time, but I must say, this is my least favorite “holiday” I have ever encountered. It’s so LOUD!
To celebrate there has been parades marching by, bands playing proudly down the street and music blaring at all hours of the day and night. But the one thing I dread the most is the constant explosion of mortars.
They set mortars off sporadically throughout the day and then quite a bit in the evening. But then they set them off precisely at 3:00 am and 6:30 am for about a half an hour straight.
At the 3:00 am mortar extravaganza a band even walks down our street playing! It is absolutely startling to be awaken by mortars exploding and a band marching down your street at 3:00 am. It feels like a twilight zone and honestly, I don’t know why anyone would get up that early for anything.

Tonight is supposed to be the “grand finale” tribute to our dear Mother Mary. The US Embassy in Nica emailed all the Americans and told us to stay inside our homes! I guess things can get a little crazy with people drinking and even shooting off firearms.
So here we are, safe in our home listening to a band playing somewhere in the distance and mortars exploding every few minutes. I am very glad La Purisima is almost over!


A parade marching past our house complete with a Virgin Mary float and band playing behind it.

Yummy Turkey

Here's a video of Ashlyn enjoying a few bites of leftover turkey the day after Thanksgiving.

Measuring Tape

One fateful day a small measuring tape appeared in our truck. We have no idea how it got there, but it has become one of Ashlyn’s favorite things to play with.
She crawls around with the tape draped over her neck like she’s a tailor. She even takes it on walks with her when she pushes her high chair around the house.
Adam and I find it quite amusing since she looks like she’s going to measure something at any moment.

Off to find something to measure!
Getting a close look at her amazing measuring tape. Trying to recall her last measurement.

Thanksgiving Day

A missionary family here hosted a big Thanksgiving meal and I think every missionary in Nicaraguia was invited. I ate an enormous amount of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. Not to mention two pieces of pumpkin pie. This is the first time I’ve been overseas during Thanksgiving that I’ve actually gotten to eat turkey. I was very thankful for that because I absolutely love turkey. When we were in India I’m pretty sure they served us roasted gofer on a stick.
It was wonderful to have a big yummy meal and stuffed myself full. I haven’t done that since leaving the states and I must say I really enjoyed having the “I ate way too much" feeling.

Ashlyn was a little overwhelmed with all the people at first, but I think she had a good day. She ate so much! I don’t think she ever stopped. Everyone who sat at our table was amazed at how much she consumed. She seems to be a big fan of turkey too; every bite was accompanied by an “ahmmmmm” sound.
Ashlyn also took her first official step that day! When we first arrived I was holding her hand and walking with her. As soon as the kids there saw her they started running over. She saw them coming and got so excited she let go of my hand and took a step. Then she quickly realized I was no longer holding her and sat down! There were lots of kids there, most of them were a few years older but they really liked “playing” with her.
She also got to bounce on a trampoline and wade in a pool. Oh, and see their pet monkey which she was rather intrigued by!

Adam and I both had a really good time talking and laughing with people. You forget how easy it is to communicate when you speak the same language! It was also refreshing to talk to people my age. There are no Americans in our town under the age of 60. Not that I have anything against the 60+ age group; it was just really good to talk to girls my age. We were very thankful for the great food and fellowship, it was a fun day!

A Change in Weather

When we first arrived it was hot, really hot. It was dripping with sweat at all times hot. All you wanted to do was sit around with a fan blowing on you. It was like that for the first three months we were here.

Then in October the rain started and it rained everyday, sometimes all day. The newspaper said Nicaragua received more rain this October then when Hurricane Mitch hit in 1998. The president even called a National State of Disaster because of all the rain. All this rain ruined crops and the price of beans has gone up! And let me tell you that is a big deal here, nobody in Nica is happy about the price of beans going up!
As for Adam and I, the rain got a little old; our yard was a muddy swamp most the time. I declared our house a natural disaster due to muddy dog prints everywhere.
When it was raining the weather was a bit cooler, however when it wasn’t raining the humidity was suffocating! Luckily, it rained most of the time.
Adam and I did enjoy seeing the streets flood. Within minutes of the rain starting roads would be flooded with at least a foot of water. It was amazing to see streets turn to rivers in minutes. Even better was watching people try to drive motorbikes and bicycles through them.
One time when these “floods” happened we were driving on our way to Managua. The road was dry in spots and then covered with water in others. We hit a spot where the road was flooded at the same time a man on his bicycle did. As I looked out my window I saw the man disappearing behind the wall of water our truck was spraying on him. We were only about five feet apart and I could not see him through the water. I can’t believe he stayed on his bike, I thought for sure he had fallen. But when we looked behind us there he was still peddling away!
We felt bad (or maybe I should say I felt bad because I haven’t seen Adam laugh that hard in a while). But it’s not like we got him wet, he was already drenched from the rain.

This month…the grand month of November, has been wonderful. The rain has pretty much stopped and there is a constant breeze blowing which is so refreshing! It doesn’t start to get hot until about 10 am and then starts to cool down again around 4 pm. At night I would actually go as far to say it feels cool with the breeze blowing.
So, rejoice with me! It is no longer unbearably hot!! What a refreshing change in the weather.

Birthday Girl!!

Today was Ashlyn's birthday! It's hard to believe one year ago today I was giving birth to her. I didn't even know if she was a boy or girl or what she looked like. Now I can't imagine life without my little munchkin!

Her birthday was filled with the three things she loves: good food, horseback riding and the ocean.
For breakfast she had a banana pancake for breakfast with extra banana on the side. (She's a banana-holic.) I also made her a pineapple cake that she really liked. I was trying to make a semi-healthy cake, but it ended up being full of sugar. Oh well.


After cake and presents we went the camp and I took her for a half an hour horseback ride. She never grew tired of it! She is such a serious rider, all quite and concentrated but seems to be fearless! She only talks when she sees a cow or something else that catches her interest. You have no idea how elated I am that she likes riding.

In the evening we went to the ocean and played in the waves. We had supper at one of the restaurants on the beach.

It was a late night and a big day but I think she had a good time. Yesterday I was feeling a little guilty being overseas and not having a "normal" birthday party for her. But I think she enjoyed today more than she would have a party.
Thanks to everyone who sent presents for her. It means a lot to be remembered even though we are so far away!

Gecko Killer

This morning Ashlyn and I were practicing “walking” in her new shoes. I was holding her hands as we circled the living room together. I noticed something on the floor just as Ashlyn’s clumsy foot smashed down on it. When she lifted her foot there lay a baby gecko…poor little guy, he never saw it coming.
On the next trip around the room Ashlyn noticed the gecko too (now with no tail and bulging eyes). This time she aimed for it and actually tried to step on it! Who knew my sweet little girl could be such a heartless killer?

A crib for Ashlyn!

Since arriving here we’ve been borrowing a "Pack n' Play" for Ashlyn to sleep in. Lately I’ve been feeling bad since the mattress is so thin; it can’t be very comfortable for her. So, since she has an up and coming birthday we decided to use it as a good excuse to go crib shopping!

About an hour from us is a road with shops all along it selling hand made, wood furniture. It is pretty fun place to visit. The shops are just extensions of the people's homes; it is really impressive to see how they make everything!
After awhile of driving around to different shops everything started looking the same. But then we found a crib we liked…it has two wooden drawers on the bottom and one side of the crib unlatches and folds down. It also has a canopy that is removable. Pretty snazzy! I’m imagining hitting my head on the canopy, so we’ll see how long it stays attached.
Not only was this the crib we liked the most, but it was the least expensive one we had looked at!

Ashlyn really seems to like crawling around in it and "walking" herself around by holding onto the bars. Tomorrow we are going to buy a mattress for it and pick out some fabric to have sheets made. The crib mattresses here are just thick pieces of foam. After purchasing the foam you take it to the tailor and pick out fabric for the sheets. Then the tailors sew a whole mattress cover as a sheet with a zipper to get it on and off the foam. I’m excited to pick out fabric for the sheets and start to make her room a little more “homey”.

My little cowgirl!

A few blocks from where we live is a small hotel run by an American man. In the last month he has befriended us and helped us out with various things. He also owns five horses; two
geldings, a mare and two colts. The most amazing thing is he has decided to give them to us! On Monday we will be moving the horses to the camp. Not only will they be available for the camp to use but us as well! I am so excited!

The past few days I have been going over to his place and riding them. Tonight after I had my ride, I took Ashlyn around. We did a circle around the yard and then Adam came to take her off. She started bawling! We didn’t know what was wrong. Then I thought maybe she wanted back on the horse. Sure enough her sad cry magically disappeared and she was all smiles! That was the first time I’ve ever seen her really cry because she wanted something. I took her all around the yard and even trotted quite a bit. She loved it and still cried when we finally had to get off. I could not have been more proud! I am so excited she loves riding!

Trotting around!
Taking hold of the reins!

Ashlyn "walking"

Here's a video of Ashlyn "walking" by pushing a chair in front of her. She also says "bye" to us as she leaves the room.
This morning she was standing up in her crib when I came in to get her. Her eyes were peeking up over the top; she is getting so active! As soon as I put her down she's on the move. It's crazy to think she's going to be a toddler soon!

Nica. rice dish

The other night our neighbor came over to bring us some of his daughter’s birthday meal. It was a special meal and his family had taken all day to prepare it. He had even taken the time to find someone who speaks English and had them write down how to explain all this to us. How sweet of him! After explaining, he handed us a plate of steamed plantain leaves tied up with string.

After opening the plantain leaf I saw these gelatinous looking cubes and said “What is that? It looks like chunks of fat!” Adam responded by stabbing one with his fork and popping it in his mouth. A second later his face twisted in disgust and he stated “yep, that's fat”.
So it has chunks of fat, perfectly cut into large cubes. Rather gross according to our food tastes. But the majority of it was a mixture of rice and potatoes with spices. Adam ate it (minus the fat cubes) and said it was pretty good.

Ok, so I have to come clean. I didn’t even try one bite. I had already eaten supper and the fat cubes turned me off a bit. But honestly I probably wouldn’t have tried it anyway. I just have no adventuresome spirit when it comes to food. I’d much rather stick to things I know and love. What can I say? It is one of my many short comings of a missionary.
In my defense, when living in India I ate more than my share of mushy rice dishes.

Ashlyn Update

This month Ashlyn has really started to engage us. She laughs when we laugh and tries to “talk” about things to us. She has also discovered she can make us laugh. Once she figures out we think something is funny she will do it over and over again.

One thing that makes Adam and I laugh is when she does her “tri-pod”. I’m not sure why we call it a “tri-pod” the name just seemed to fit. It’s when she makes a V with her body by putting her hands and head down in front of her. At first she started doing this on things she liked, a rug or blanket, even sand. But now she just does it all the time, maybe she just likes the way things look upside down.

Ashlyn has also started to pull herself up and loves walking with me holding her hands. Her favorite place to stand is at the living room window because it’s low enough so she can see out. I am nervous about her falling and banging her head on our tile floor, but so far so good!

In the morning I usually sweep the house and she just follows me around from room to room playing with toys or finding something new to explore. I love hearing her palms smack the floor as she crawls after me. Lately she has been “turning on the jets” with her crawling. She has her normal crawling speed, but then sometimes when she’s excited she makes this funny panting sound and takes off across the room.

We only have one step in our house and Ashlyn has been fascinated with learning how to go down it. I have tried to teach her to how to slide herself backwards so she is going feet first, but for some reason she doesn’t seem to get that. So she attempts to go head first. She puts her hands down first and then tries to walk her hands forward enough so she can get her legs down. One time she was right in the middle of this process and realized it wasn’t going to work. She just froze and then I heard her quietly say “ut-oh”.

Every month I think to myself, “I’m so in love with this pudgy, sweaty, toothless little girl, I can’t possibly fall more in love.” Yet every month I fall more in love with her! As cheesy as it sounds it’s true, I just adore her.

Christened

In Nicaragua most lower class families get around on horse carts, bicycles, or just by good-old walking. Many people are not use to traveling on buses, trains, cars etc. Because of this and the roads being rather bumpy, when they do get in a vehicle they often get a little motion sick.

That being said...I would like to announce that our truck has officially been christened…twice. I’m not sure why they don’t mention they are feeling sick so we can pull over. But just rolling down the window and sticking their head out seems to be the preferred choice. Needless to say, it gets on the outside of the vehicle. Right now our truck has throw-up down the side of it. Yuck!
I’m just glad they have such a good sense of humor about it. They really don’t seem to mind too much at all!
I will refrain from adding a photo to this blog. :)

Visitors!

This weekend Adam's Uncle Bob and Aunt B came to visit us. They just moved to San Jose, Costa Rica about two months ago. Right now they are in school learning Spanish for one year. After finishing their schooling they will see where God leads them next.

It was great to see some familiar faces and to just talk! We shared our different experiences and stories about living in Central America. One silly difference we noticed was Costa Rican’s always carry an umbrella with them. But in Nicaragua few people carry umbrellas, most people just stand around in the rain. Bob & B brought their umbrellas with them, Adam and I don’t even own one! My theory is, it’s hotter here and rain is a nice way to cool off.

While they were here we toured our town, the camp, Granada and San Juan Del Sur. They have such a laid back, yet adventuress attitudes. It was our pleasure to show them around!

Ashlyn also really enjoyed having them here! It was two days of going non-stop, but she seemed to enjoy the change of pace. She loved all the extra attention and said "hi" to them at least 20 times a day. I think her favorite part was going to San Juan Del Sur where we found a secluded beach full of rocks. Ashlyn loved playing with the rocks and of course eating some sand as well.

It was a really fun, refreshing weekend and I miss having them!

San Juan Del Sur

This evening Adam and I went to San Juan Del Sur, it is about 45 minute drive from our home and is a very popular tourist destination in Nica.
Ashlyn got her first taste of salt water, and I must say I think she liked it. Not only was she all smiles as the waves hit her, but she kept sucking on her hands and shirt. Gross!
We all had a lot of fun playing in the water and afterwards we went out to eat at one of the local restaurants. It was so relaxing listening to the waves while we ate. It was a great night and I am looking forward to our next visit!

Rainy Day!

It rained most of the day and for the first time Ashlyn noticed the rain and seemed very interested. So I took her out on the back porch and we played in the water pouring off our roof. She would squeal and kick her legs in delight when I would swing her out into the water that was coming down off the roof. We both got soaked, but she loved it!

When it rains our yard becomes a giant, muddy puddle. The dogs decided to have some fun chasing each other around in the water. It was a lot of fun to watch them, especially when they came flying up onto the tile floors. They would slide a few feet and then wipe out, crashing into each other.

Sawyer and Rio wiping out on the tile.

It's the little things

It’s the little things that make you fall in love, setting that one person or place apart.
But it’s also the little things that start to drive you crazy. That’s what this blog is about!

Every night before bed I take the dogs out to go “wee”. I have a path I always take when walking in our yard, it is the “safe zone”. Last night I foolishly wandered off the safe zone. One moment I was walking along, not a care in the world and the next second my feet were on fire. I had walked right over a fire ant hill and the little buggers were biting me like crazy. I ran to the pavement and threw off my sandals but they were all over my feet. I started smushing them to death, but they just kept biting me. So I ran into the house and hopped in the shower to wash my feet off. This got rid of them, but my feet were still on fire and this morning they are so very itchy!
It’s not really the fire ants themselves that makes me so angry. It’s the fact that I cannot stand in my own yard for more than 30 seconds for fear of getting attacked. They have stolen my freedom, I can’t put Ashlyn down in our yard, or play with the dogs, even standing still long enough to pick lemons or avocado’s is risky. I am a prisoner to tile and cement floors.
However I do retaliate against the ants. Every time I have been attacked I find their hill and douse it with vinegar and baby powder (according to my research these are two things ants hate).
Insane? Absolutely. But it makes me feel better.


The fire ant hill covered with a nice powdering.





The second thing is how dirty my house always is. I can sweep and mop the whole house and within two hours, it looks like I haven’t touched it in days. It is infuriating, especially because it’s so hot here I sweat buckets sweeping and mopping. You would think in a country where all the houses have tile floors they would have some great mops; like the Swiffer 2000 or something. But nope, I’ve got this wooden handle with a cloth mop head that I attempt to wring out by hand. After a week of mopping with it, it’s just smelly and gross. So now I am a prisoner to dirty, tile floors.

The third thing is the electricity is always going out. The electricity is on a schedule because the power company’s generators were built in the 50’s and can’t handle the country’s demand for power. So they shut the power off Monday thru Friday from 7 am to 2 pm.
It took about a week of trying to turn things on and a few spoiled bags of milk to adjust. Now I have gotten use to using our propane stove to heat things up and moving perishables into the freezer everyday.
But these last few weeks almost every time it rains, or for no reason at all the power on our street goes off. This mostly happens at night, and then Adam and I just lay in bed sweating, trying to decide if it’s worth opening the windows and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes or just to lay there and sweat. After a week of the power going out almost every night Adam did some investigating. He finally figured out there is a faulty transformer on one of the street poles. The power company has plans to fix it in a month…or so.

These are a few of the little things that are driving me a bit crazy. Someday I will write a blog on all the little things I really love about living in Nicaragua, but today is not that day.

Video of Ashlyn

Here's a short video of Ashlyn saying "hi" and "ut-oh".

The World Race

Today we went to Granada to meet with a missionary couple who are working with the mission organization Adventures in Missions. They are going to be moving here to help run “The World Race”.
The World Race is an eleven month mission trip for people in their twenties to early thirties. They divide into eight different teams and travel around the world ministering to the poor.

The great news is they are going to be using Campo Alegría as a debriefing base! Potentially we will be hosting them four or five times a year for week long debriefs. They have already come once before and think the camp is a great place for them. We are very excited to be involved in such a wonderful ministry!
I love mission organizations that take young people overseas for extended periods of time. I know they are changing lives doing ministry, but also everyone who is on the trip will never be the same.

Another neat thing is the missionary couple moving here are relatives of some friends of ours who went to Bethany College with us. It really is a small world!

If you're interested in learning more about The World Race, here's a link with more info. http://www.theworldrace.org/

Creepy Critters

One night I was walking out to our truck and noticed that little bits of leaves were marching past my feet. These ants faithfully come out every night making a line across our driveway. They haul away the leaves and flowers that have fallen from one of our bushes.

This guy is just weird looking (I’m assuming it’s a guy…could be a lady). He or she was found crawling around on our back porch. It seemed to be eating something off the tile, but the only thing that I saw was dirt and dust. If they eat dirt, I’d like a few more of them around. Ashlyn was thrilled by this creature and learned a new word. “Bug!”

My little Ashlyn

Lots of you have asked for some pictures and update of Ashlyn, so here it is!

These past two months have been especially fun watching her grow and learn.
She has started crawling, a stage I was really looking forward to. It is so fun watching her crawl around after her toys, the dogs and I. I just love having her crawl after me when I go into the kitchen. I hear her chubby little hands smacking the tile floor, and then chairs start to move under the table (she just loves playing with chairs, and usually gets rather distracted from her goal of finding me at this point). Finally I see my little cutie appear around the corner with a big smile on her face.

Ashlyn is now talking a little bit. Her first word was “hi” and now she has added “bye” and “uh-ohh” to her vocabulary. She is working on perfecting "da-da,” "ma-ma" and “book”. Everything else she calls "abee" for some reason.
We are starting to teach her "Baby Signs". So far she knows how to sign Dog and ask how to ask for More.
She is also waving to people now. Adam and I never taught her to wave, she picked it up all on her own. I was at the checkout line of the grocery store and she was sitting in the cart. I was busy paying, when I noticed that some Nicaraguan women where waving at Ashlyn and she was happily waving back. For about a week after that when we went out she would wave and said "hi" to everyone.

One thing she has learned is what the word "no" means. It has been fascinating to watch the internal struggle she has. To obey or not to obey? She only has three main rules so far; no playing with shoes, the dog dishes, and no flipping her plate of food upside down. She usually is really good at obeying, but the one rule she has the hardest time with is not touching our shoes. For some reason she has just got to touch mommy’s sandals.

My favorite time with her is in the morning. She never cries in the morning to get up, she just waits for me to come get her. When I come in she sits up as fast as she can, gives me the biggest smile and says "hi!” Her smile is what captures me; it is of pure love, like she hasn’t seen me in days.
Then its breakfast time, her usual is banana and egg. She is crazy about bananas, every morning it’s squeals of delight as I cut up the banana.
After breakfast we read books together on the couch, she loves reading books. She turns the pages as I read a long. She’s a really fast page turner though, so I have to speed read through.

Ashlyn adjusted to life in Nicaragua faster than we did. She loves going into town and seeing all the people, especially the horse and buggies go by.
People come up to me all the time because of Ashlyn. They love holding her and interacting with her. It is fun to see her engage them with smiles and waves.

If you would like to see more pictures of Ashlyn, you can visit our photo ablum of her at this link: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/thetoddz/Ashlyn

Chicken Run

There is a certain event that takes place in my backyard on a weekly basis. I look forward to this event very much and always hurry to get my shoes on and grab Ashlyn so we can go watch. I think only the dogs trump my enjoyment of this fiasco.
It starts off with some clucking and bucking that sounds a little closer than usual. Then the dog’s ears go up and they are off like rockets. As I scramble to get ready, I here the clucking turn into squawking and flapping; the “event” is in full swing.

Once again one of the neighbor’s chickens has flown over our wall and is now being tormented by our dogs. It never takes long for our neighbors hear the squawking and appear above the wall. I then proceeded to capture the chicken and hand it back over the wall.
A few times the neighbors have not appeared; at that point I don’t quite know what to do with the chicken. I have considered just letting our dogs have a free lunch, but I would feel bad for the neighbors. I also though of trying to throw the chicken back over the wall. But the wall is about nine feet high and has barbed wire circling the top. I know I would end up throwing the chicken straight into the wire. So I finally decided to place the chickens on our water tank until the neighbors come.

Since this happens on such a frequent basis I can’t help but think of the movie “Chicken Run”; where the chickens are trying to escape from the farm yard to start a better life for themselves? I’m pretty sure these chickens are trying to escape from our neighbor’s yard.
And I understand why, they see their buddies get behead, plucked and thrown in a pot. They know what’s coming and they want out. Flying over the wall is their only chance.

This morning a chicken was perched on the barbed wire above the wall peering down into our yard. I’m sure she was trying to come up with a plan of how to get across the yard and over our outside wall to freedom. So far only one chicken succeeded in this, she ran across our yard, flew up on our truck, then onto our other neighbor’s roof where freedom awaited her on the street below. Perhaps this has given the others hope.

I’m not sure how long this will go on, but one thing is for sure, eventually we are going to come home to a yard full of chicken feathers and two very happy dogs.
P.S. A special thanks to my Grandma and Grandpa Moore for letting me chase their chickens when I was a kid. Knowing how to catch one has been very useful!

Church

Today we went to church in a city called Granada, which is about an hour from our home. The road we take is full and I mean full of pot holes. It's so riddled with potholes the local kids fill them in with dirt and then stand at the side of the road with their shovels and beg for money. Rumor has it these kids have been known to create their own "toll booth". By holding a rope across the road to stop your car and ask for money. What entrepreneurs!
I personally love this road, it is an action packed ride of consent swerving, braking and bouncing. I enjoy watching Adam maneuver around cars, animals, people and potholes all at once.
Adam on the other hand is not a big fan of the road; his face has a constant look of pain as we bounce along. I'm sure he's imagining what kind of damage the holes are doing to our poor truck.
Ok, enough about the road I got a little side tracked there...back to the church.
The "church" we went to was a gathering of about 10 people, mostly Americans. It was held in someone’s home and was the first meeting they’ve had. It was started by a missionary couple here who wanted to be able to worship in English and have fellowship with other missionaries. So, they started their own church and will be meeting the first week of every month.

It was fun, refreshing and encouraging to go. I loved their vision for missionaries to be able to connect, support each other and worship in our own language.
Yet, at the same time they are only meeting once a month so we all have an opportunity to get involved with a local church too. I think it is a great balance and I’m excited to be a part of it.
Next month we are meeting again and afterwards we are going out for breakfast and then on a boat ride!

Intro.

I have decided to start a more personal, "off the cuff" blog that will keep family members (and whom ever else is interested) updated. It will be me blogging (or perhaps a more accurate statement would be "blahing”) about my thoughts, daily life, Ashlyn, the dogs and maybe even Adam will get a few moments in the lime light, if he's lucky.

I hope you guys will like reading it, because most of my day is spent playing with a nine month old, washing dishes and throwing toys for the dogs. So I'm sure you can imagine the kind of exciting things I will be writing about. Enjoy!