Relaxing weekend of Hard Work

A relaxing weekend of hard work

I'm sitting here at El Ayudante. We're here for the weekend to work because there is so much that goes on during the week – the weekends are our only chance to come out for a few days. We made it a family event and came out together because Sigel doesn't have school on Monday and Tristan is working with a team for 10 days starting next week and will be gone so we didn't want to be apart another weekend as well. So Friday we packed up our stuff and fumigated our house (so when we come home the house will be a disaster but hopefully bug free!!!). As much as it's a lot of work coming out here – planning & packing the food, packing up ALL the baby essentials, all the tools and driving 3 hours to 'camp' at a mission house, it's actually a little like a vacation and it's relaxing. What!?!? yep it's relaxing – because I don't have a to-do list that is endless out here. I don't have a dirty house to clean, clothes to wash, or a hundred emails to answer. Out here we work, eat simple meals, and work some more.

We've been coming out here for 1 ½ years – for anywhere from 1 day at a time to 5 days at a time. My job description has changed – at the beginning it was just Tristan and I – working 15 hours because we both are so driven to 'just do a little bit more'. Now we bring a truck load (6 of us) to work and now I'm the Mom. I cook, do the dishes, encourage, bring tools, and work while Madelyn is sleeping – otherwise I'm the mom. I hold Madelyn. I really liked while I worked with just Tristan, but I have decided that I really also like my new job – I get to spend hours holding Madelyn and giggling with her while everyone else lays tile. :)

This weekend we're working on the back porch – tiling, screening, and putting up trim boards. The weather is great – warm but with a nice breeze. It's not 110 like it usually feels like out here.

Maddy's Paperwork!

We now have almost all of Madelyn's paperwork. She's 4 months old and we can finally take her out of the country if we wanted to :). The paperwork was a puzzle. It was all in order – first we had to get her Honduran birth certificate – which involved going to 5 different offices around Tegucigalpa – first a handwritten form, then a signature and stamp on that form (at a different office of course) and then take it to the other office to have someone type it up, and then back to the first office to order a different kind of birth certificate that the U.S. Embassy needed. So we got all that. Next we had to make an appointment with the U.S. Embassy to report her 'birth overseas' – then go to the appointment with lots and lots of paperwork – we even had to prove that we was ours – bringing pictures of while I was pregnant up through her birth to the present. And make a list of all the times we've been out of the U.S. -with dates and all – that was quite a list. At that appointment we ordered her birth certificate, passport, and Social Security number. THEN we had to go back to pick it all up a couple weeks later. So we have all that. One more step we must do is go to Honduran Immigration and get an appointment and then get her Honduran Passport. So much to do. Madelyn has joint citizenship with Honduras and the U.S. Until she is 18 and then she will have to choose one.

Our kids

Sigel has started school. We attempted homeschooling after Heidy left for the States to go to college but it was a big failure. Sigel and I were both miserable and he was not accepting me as his teacher. So he has finished his second week at a private bi-lingual school about 15 minutes from our house. It's very small – only 9 in his class. And the best news – he tested into 5^th grade! When he came to us a year and a half ago he was in the middle of 2^nd great. He's such a smart kid! And this is in his second language. He's adjusting pretty well to school. He has to get up earlier – which is hard on all of us :) and he's getting used to the small things – like writing his name on all his papers and studying for tests etc. This last week he marched in a parade with the school around the pueblo – he was so cute and nervous about it – he even combed his hair without being told :).

Madelyn is growing so much! She's 4 months old. Before a few days ago she would roll from her back to her side by accident – now she's figured it out and does it all the time on purpose. No more sitting on the couch or on the table! She's not sleeping through the night – actually it's gotten worse instead of better :( - now waking up 2 or 3 times a night! At her DR's appt last week he told us she was in the 95^th percentile for height and 50^th for weight – so she's a tall girl :). Maddy is so much fun. We're really loving learning how to parent a baby. I love how she expresses herself with her whole body when one of us comes into sight and how she trusts us to take care of her – like when she wakes up from a nap she lets out a big “hey! I'm awake” and then doesn't make any more noise as she waits for us to come in the room – she watches the door :).