Odds N ends

Some weeks it's hard to define what we did because it feels as though we run in circles to do it all.

Yesterday Sigel had Family Fun Day at his school. They were raising money for a projector for the school so it was a full day (9-2) of outside games and challenges plus lots of booths of food for us to buy. it was a great sunny day and lots of fun. Tristan and Sigel won a prize for winning the father/son relay race. I asked Sigel if he wanted food at one point and he said " i think i'll have to eat afterwards - i just don't have time - i have to go play soccer". he had a blast and played hard the entire time - only stopping once for a bowl of fries. Maddy loved being outside and having so many kids and dogs to watch. We then had some friends over for dinner to eat our ham from our pig. it was a lot of fun! They have a baby 5 mo older than Maddy and the two girls played together the whole night - super cute!

Above: Sigel making a goal :) / below: Kyle and Tristan with their girls - playing wii together

Madelyn finding toys in the box / below: Sigel's first time bowling - he beat us both his first game ever!!!

We are working on our residency again. (boo hoo- back to lawyers!). it's already been 2 years since we've completed it the last time and we are now changing it up because we can have our residency under Madelyn (because she was born here) verses doing as a religious residency. So 'they' say that it's better to have it under Maddy and easier to get. So to do this it means $1,000, visits to immigration, the lawyers office, collecting paperwork, making copies of paperwork, more visits to the lawyers offices, calling to make sure the lawyers are actually working on it, more paperwork... catch my drift? so this week we started that and it should be done in 4 to 5 months. This week and next will be the most work until the end of the 5 months and then we'll have to be in the office a lot again.

Another paperwork thing we've taken on is getting me car insurance! We were able to add that into our budget for this year which is great considering how dangerous it is to drive down here. So this meant dropping off paperwork at the insurance place, dropping off paperwork at the lawyers office to notarize something for that, and then going to a different building to get pictures of the car taken. Then when we have time, Tristan will have to take a morning and go into the downtown area and do more paperwork for it - which could possibly take a whole day. but the good news is it's only $250 for the whole year of insurance! :)

We have a team coming this Wednesday for El Ayudante. They are the BOSSES and board of directors of the project. We're really excited about them coming because so much has happened since they were here last that we are hoping they will be really excited and happy. that's the hope. it's also a lot of work because they are staying in the mission house for the first time so we want it all to be perfect. While here, they will be pretty much building 2 houses!!!! a guard house and a staff house plus doing some more finish work on the mission house (little things). The exterior walls and the floors are poured for these 2 houses and one of them will have the roof on - and the team is doing the rest - plumbing, electrical, windows, doors, false ceiling, screening in a porch, interior walls, toilets, kitchen cabinets, closets, light fixtures etc. the list is super long and it's going to be amazing how much they accomplish in one short week! It's a team of 30+ experienced construction workers and handyman type people. oh and they are also connecting the well to the house and doing electrical stuff. it'll be pretty much amazing :)

So for the team this means lots of trips to Comayagua for Tristan to bring supplies out there - and lots of times in stores buying the supplies (everything just takes longer here - at one hardware store it took them 2 hours to check-out because they had to enter a 5% discount for each individual item that we got a discount on! and then they had to go to the storage yard to pick it it all up the next morning because it was closed that night.) I too have spent time going all over to get supplies for the mission house and for all the food. it's a lot of running around and a lot of time on the phone planning things.

Vanessa - one of our transitioning orphans - came over on Friday and spent the entire afternoon and evening with me - making cookies and bars and dinner and just hanging out. it was a lot of fun and really good for her to be with family. she's so impressed with my cooking - she doesn't know how to follow a recipe for everything is impressive - so we're working on teaching her how to follow recipes :).

Yesterday we also picked up another intern that is staying with us for a month. His name is Riley and he's from Reedsport. He'll be working with us in whatever we're doing. So at the moment our house is: me, Tristan, Sigel, Maddy, Jeff, and Riley. I must start cooking in bulk for all these boys!! :)

So that was part of our week - at least the highlights. :)