The New Year & we're already on the run!

Just a funny picture to share - these are our 2 pigs and they were screaming bloody murder because Tristan had picked them up - hence Tristan's funny face. :) They were about 6 weeks old in this picture.

This last week and a half I've been surrounded by boys. I already had Tristan and Sigel, and now Jorge has moved in and for three weeks we've got Santos in our house while his mom is in the states. So I'm completely outnumbered and now I'm thinking I understand why I'm having a girl - we have so many boys around us all the time - I need a daughter. :)

New Years eve Tristan and I were both wishing that we could just go to bed as normal - but that doesn't work when you have 3 boys asking what kind of party we are having :). So we then invited Mandy and the girls over too and we played games and watched a movie. We taught them how to play Yatzee - and about half way through the figured out the game and what a "yatzee" was and that's when the yelling and cheering all started :). At midnight we toasted to sparkling cider. It was actually a really fun time and we're glad that we didn't just go to bed. The next day we took the kids to the park for the afternoon - because Tristan and I are both bad about taking a day off if we're at home because there is always work to do. So we met the rest of the ministry kids at the park and played soccer and frisbee and basketball and half went swimming (the water was so cold Sigel was blue for an hour after he got out - but he loved it). This was the first time in months that I've felt good enough to play with the kids instead of sit and watch - so it was really fun for me to be able to play soccer and basketball with the kids.

Sigel was off of school for the week between Christmas and New Years so we all went out to El Ayudante to work. Tristan is currently putting the doors on the mission house from scratch - meaning the doors and the frames for the doors came so rough that he's having to router out spaces for the hinges and cut down the doors because they came too big. I can't believe the patience that he has! It's taking 8 hours for each double door! wow. Jorge, Santos, and Sigel spent the 2 days working on the fence surrounding the mission house -reinforcing the fencing with rebar and then welding the rebar together (a new tool Tristan taught them to use) and nailing it to the posts. It's a really big job and they were able to get 2 of the 4 sides completed. Me - well I lent a hand where I could and cooked for the 'men' and worked on some paperwork for El Ayudante - composing a list of all the projects that were completed in 2009 and then the projects that need to be done by summer 2010 and also a list of all the things that El Ayudante needs to purchase to furnish the house - like sheets, towels, kitchen stuff etc. We also got in contact with a local block layer and construction man that Tristan worked out a contract with him to start working on the construction of the medical clinic. While we were in the states we raised $2,200 for the continuation of the clinic. We were able to see this gentleman's work and we really feel good about him and his quality of work so that's really exciting. He also gave us awesome prices - below what we were willing to pay him. He'll be starting this next week with a crew of 4 so we'll be able to see the progress really quickly. We're super excited about that!

Above - one of the double doors Tristan has put up - he's done 3 sets and has 2 sets left / below LtoR - Jorge, Santos, & Sigel

Jorge has now been with us 2 weeks. It's been a tough but promising 2 weeks. Jorge expectations and ours were very different from each others so we had to have some serious conversations about expectations and how it's all going to work. He didn't realize that to us him going to school is the first priority and was already talking about missing school to work with Tristan. We informed him that if he doesn't go to school he can't live with us. Jorge lives in a little room that is on the side of our house (not inside) so his space is separate. He has a shower and toilet and sink plus a bed and a counter/shelving system that Tristan and Jorge made for Jorge to be able to cook. We also got him a fridge and burner so he's really set up to be independent which is the plan - to move him towards taking care of himself. Grocery shopping the first time was quite interesting - he was completely overwhelmed and we understood why when we got home and realized he didn't even know what boiling water looked like. wow. So we've had lots of cooking lessons in the last 2 weeks - him coming and telling me he has a very important question - "how do I cook the hotdogs?". So he's been cooking with me and this second week he ate a lot better than the first :). He's also sharing meals with us a few times a week. School starts for him February 15th.

This week Tristan was supposed to have gone to El Ayudante to work for 3 days. However our weeks plans got completely scratched when the lawyer informed us that importing the truck (which needs to be done by the 10th as our truck visa expires) was going to be very complicated. It would take me pages to explain the whole thing, but basically the lawyers dropped the ball on some very basic things which left us with little option but to leave the country. So we're leaving tomorrow morning for Nicaragua - and while there we're going to visit the El Ayudante in Nicaragua which is something we've really been wanting to do anyway. We have to be gone for 3 days. So Sigel is staying with Mandy and Heiti while Tristan and I take off and leave Santos and Jorge to take care of the house and our ever growing farm. The good thing is that this should be the last time (we said this last time) that we have to leave the country for visa's. We are paying the taxes on the trailer to import that (20% of $3,500) and the truck - instead of paying 20% of 18K - we're putting under a missions fellowship for importation purposes to avoid this huge cost. The down side to this is that we 'donated' it to the fellowship - at least according to in Honduras. In the U.S. we have not lost ownership. oh the hoops we have had to jump through. So, we're really praying that this will all be settled in the next month. I think we're going to have a party when we finish :).

Our first year anniversary of being here is coming up - January 14th! (not including the year we were here teaching).

So I've never blogged about my being pregnant. If you only read my blog and haven't heard yet - Yes Tristan and I are pregnant with our first child -a girl. It was such a secret for so long and then I have so much other stuff to blog about that I leave out the pregnancy - not that I'm not thinking about it all the time! For me it's by far the biggest thing that is happening. I just had a scan with my widwife today and everything is fine - we were able to listen to our daughters heartbeat which is always such a wonderful, relieving sound to hear. I'm 19 weeks - almost half way already! I've decided I definitely like 2nd trimester better than 1st! The first 15 weeks I felt sick all the time - not just mornings - and I have never felt so tired or weak in all my life. I kept asking Tristan is that was the normal me because I couldn't even remember what it felt like to feel 'normal'. well all that's passed and I'm back to a pretty normal pace - i'm exhausted by evening but I'm not nauseous all the time - but still gagging and acid reflux - i'll take those over nauseous though! I think about her all the time - amazing how she's already such a huge part of my thoughts and how important she is to me. I still haven't felt her which is driving me nuts - I can't wait! I did wake up during the night and felt like I had felt her do a summersault and I woke up Tristan I was so excited - but then I started to doubt myself wondering if it was just a dream - because I've been dreaming so much more since being pregnant. It was an awesome feeling - or dream if that's what it was - and I can't wait to feel it for sure. I do have a 'baby bump' and it's just starting to be noticeable. It's such an amazing feeling knowing a baby is growing inside of you and that I'm responsible for it's health and safety. Tristan is also really excited - always checking on 'his girls' and rubbing her.

Next update I'll share about Nicaragua - a country we've only driven through and not explored - looking forward to the adventure :).