catch up

It's been a long time since I've blogged. oops. I"ll do my best to capture all of the highlights of the last month.

Tristan was diagnosed with typhoid fever and dengue fever (a bacterial and viral infection at the same time) and was pretty sick last week. He had a raging fever and they threatened to hospitalize him but after being in inpatient care for 6 hours they decided he could come home. He was on a lot of medicine and thanks to the meds and the incredible amount of people praying for him, he is recovering - the DR said to except him to feel weak and tired for another 2 to 3 weeks. He also prescribed some kind of vitamin booster drink as his immune system is very weak and will be for a while.

Sigel graduated from 6th grade! We're so proud of him! He was 3rd in his class with a 96% GPA. Nana flew in as a surprise for the graduation which was fun and our friend Jenny came as well. It was at the country club (the only nice place to have a party at in Comayagua) and after the ceremony they had a nice dinner for everyone. The ceremony was a little different then what happens in the States - yes there were lots of speeches and all that, but when it was the students name was called the parents went up as well and stood waiting as he got his diploma and then we turned for a picture. As this was happening we realized how young Tristan and I look compared to all the other parents of 6th graders. lol. considering we're only 13 and 14 years older than him :). Sigel was really happy about his graduation - he couldn't stop smiling all day long and into the night which was pretty awesome.

Tristan's parents were here to visit - Shanon was here for Sigel's graduation and then Bruce came a week later. We really enjoyed having them here! Our kids were officially spoiled - Sigel loved having someone to play games with all the time and Maddy loved having some new people to boss around. Maddy especially bonded with Bruce super quickly. We didn't go anywhere or do anything special this time- they just entered into our normal life and we slowed down a bit so we were all together. One afternoon we went to a 'corn restaurant' - yes everything they serve is made from corn and it's all typical food. we ate there and then wandered through the Zoo that is a part of the restaurant - they had monkeys, raccoons, deer, a fox, iguanas, bunnies, hawks, owls, etc. Maddy kept squealing with delight! It was a fun afternoon! We also celebrated Christmas with them while they were here so for the first time maybe in my life, my house was decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving! :)

For Thanksgiving we had Bruce and Shanon here as well as our friends the Horsts - friends from Valle de Angeles who came out on Wednesday, spent the night, and then we celebrated on Thursday and they drove home. It was a lot of fun to cook with Janelle and hang out with them - they are great friends to us! I was very happy that I found a turkey - they are imported and not always easy to find. I paid an arm and a leg for it, but it was worth it :).

I have been working on getting some medical exams for a little girl done - Marcelita is 8 years old and has a lot of physical as well as some mental problems. She is almost blind and after seeing our Dr's that came on a team in June, they were concerned that she might have tumors and that was why her eye sight as well as other things were getting worse. The tests are very expensive - which is why it's taken from June for us to get the tests done. So it took 3 days, but we were able to get her x-rays, ultrasounds, and urine samples completed. (it takes so much longer here because you don't have appt's so you have to come and wait in the clinic, and then one day Marcelita hadn't fasted so she couldn't do a test, and then the next day the technician didn't show up...etc, etc.) The last 2 tests for her are scheduled for this Monday - it's a magnetic cerebral test and an autism assessment test. after this we should know if she has tumors and I'm working to get her into a special needs school here in Comayagua.

Sigel was in his first Taekwondo tournament this last weekend - we were nervous for him as he's only been practicing a month and a half. He lost but he held his own and he was very happy about it! It's been a good thing for him to be in Taekwondo - it's something he really loves and he goes 2 to 3 times a week to practice.

those are the things that stick out from the last month in my mind. there's probably more but that's a start :)