holy water

 

great things about being back in honduras:::

well, #1, i actually got here again. a miracle in itself.

--getting to see all the kiddos and families again

--the/my {oh so important} job of fetching milk in the morning. i missed that! it's like watching the village CNN report because i always get the top stories before 7am. and believe me...there are top stories.

--hiring scorpion hit men to take care of those creepy nightmare-ish things that hang out in my bathroom. {oh wait, i didn't miss that}

--those babies! i think i was going through cuteness overload withdrawls not being able to hang around those two. they are baby BFFs. 

anyway..

we just got this wii game thing goin' on down here. introduced the kids and house parents to boxing today at a little get together we had and they loved it. and i totally got my butt kicked by a nine year old. we would have done another bonfire but, since it's like torrential downpour around here seemingly every afternoon we had to save it for another day.

speaking of downpour, i included a few snaps of our yard. where does all that water come from?! and the chocolate river {that's right, we've got one of those down here} is fillin' up quick. oh, you wanna know my favorite part? well, i'll tell ya. all that rainwater thinks it got an invitation into our kitchen. like three days in a row now. love iiiiiiiit. the cool part is that after it rains this crazy green/yellow aura comes glowing through our front windows and doors. kinda eerie kinda sweet.

welp. that about tells it all, friends. 

and still, at the end of this post, i'm not real sure what it's about. 

oh! for all you LOST lovers out there, we're watching some of that tonight. but i feel like i'm breaking a cardinal rule of the tv show and starting at like episode 12. isn't that horrible? 

i probably won't lose sleep over it.

the homeland

oh the treats about being home...

since "operation: get out of central america" has come and passed, i thought i'd share little bits and pieces about being home to visit. so far i've been totally overloaded with love and treats -- 

1//targeeeeet, the place where anything can be bought.

2//magical manicures with mama {something i could never get myself to pay for on my own, but still love}

3//brother's last day of high school classes! oh, what a miracle.

4//my new morning friend, the classic french press. i know you're not supposed to put espresso ground coffee in there but, what the heck, i love that stuff.

5//the biggest {i mean for real} pizza i've ever eaten in my 23 years of life.

6//a treat to get to go to niece's gymnastics expo

7//kites at the park with friends

8//the classic "cute baby with large sunglasses on" picture {had to!}

9//reunited with the one and only alterra coffee {major happy face.} and no it doesn't embarrass me to be kissing a coffee cup.

10//wagon ride to the park

11//a bit of swing action

12//my favorite little girls in the whole wide world.

it's been a nice rest to be home with family and friends doing {normal} american things. 

good good news:: officially headed back to hondo in a little over a week. who hoooo!

next stop tomorrow:: the zoo. with many small children. oh boy.

happy sunday lovelies!

wade in the water

yesterday was another trip down to david's property to swim -- this time with twice the number of kids and lots of extended family. remember the last trip? the hike to get there is a little crazy, especially with all the little ones but it is totally worth it. the kiddos spent the whole day collecting snails and the rest of us just enjoyed the day off in the sun with all of our friends, new and old. 

kelly trying to form an opinion about her new bathing suit....cute!!

 jose and fernando adding to their rock collection.

what a beautiful place to spend the day.

 cousins.

 a good snap of the house moms hanging out in the water.

a very wet version of me our good friends who happen to be the daughters of our new house parents.

kelly finishing off her slice of the watermelon.

 the spectators who could swim no more.

eugenio, one of the kids that came last week, just had a birthday so we made him an extra big chocolate chip cookie and told him how old he was now {he had no idea it was his birthday!}

hope ya'll had a lovely weekend as well.

little things

today is an ordinary monday. 

we are thankful for 

the rain that has finally come after a few weeks of waiting. 

 for visiting friends. 

 for give hope 2 kids family. 

for new puppies on the porch. 

and for an extraordinary box of blow pops that successfully feeds my unashamed addiction.

{{how can this not make you smile??}}

{the guys of the house made breakfast the other day. french toast and eggs. this was their final exam to graduate "cooking 101" class. they passed. 

can i also draw your attention to the 3 liter pepsi bottle filled with milk straight from the cow? 

love that country life.}

{{unashamed}}

{{ david teaching his daughter about the bull they killed that morning for food. yes, that is the head. }}

{{ early saturday morning at our house }}

{{ this morning's english class with out friends visiting from virginia. playing a little simon says to help remember all the body parts in english}}

{{love that miss girl finishing up her meal for the night. headed straaaaaight for the bath. }}

tomorrow....tomorrow will not be so ordinary. 

tomorrow we get to meet five new kid's that will be coming to live with us.

 prayers for our new house family, the kid's travels tomorrow and a smooth transition into their new home.

love.love.love

san luis love

this week we got to spend some extra time hanging out with some friends who 

live in a village about an hour's walk away. 

some of the kids have started computer classes in the library and, per usual, 

they're always up for a good game of soccer. 

their village is very small with no electricity -- 

and their school room is in the same building as church. i still can't get my head around what a crazy different place they live in but it's been so much fun getting to know the kids and their teacher.

above: computer class -- learning the basics about how to work one of those things.

some playdough time -- their favorite part was to make little "tortillas" out of it.

cute baby kelly -- the life of the party. her favorite part is tasting the crayons 

{too bad they aren't flavored, girl!}

our coloring pages entitled "through the decades" -- 60s mod, 70s shag carpet lion, 80s vegas liger. 

the typical {and the not so typical}

thought i'd share a few scattered picture that haven't quite made it up here in the past month...

valentine's day was spent making cards for all the guys while they were out running errands in town all day. except for my valentine, he was taking a nap and playing with markers on the floor.

the kids learned how to make chocolate chip cookies with melissa who brought her family down from good ol' wisconsin to serve and encourage the team down here. thank you again!

sunday soccer day in urraco

we are so proud of our gringo goalie!

also, fun fact, i was also asked to play defense on the women's urraco soccer team. i warned them. i did. and yes, i played one sunday. i have a feeling there won't be another invitation, no matter how desperate they are for players!

hanging out with the babes that aren't so small anymore! josiah and kelly are right on track for soul mate status. and i promise they're not in jail -- it's just our front door!

if you didn't know, we are filming the new flinstones movie right here in the valley with those monstrous lamb ribs we've got.

monica and i have taken to cooking experiments lately. this is one of our unexpected successes -- bagels! the first time they were nice and small and just plain. this time we added in a little cinnamon raisin fayvah and got a hold of some cream cheese to make it a pretty magical experience.

one of the many oh so loved scorpion visitors in our house. every time it rains. kelvin's new tactic is his pocket knife and clothespin combo. seems to work pretty well. at this this one is not in my hair.
 or inside the toilet...

my new hobby is making a corn hole set -- working on hand sewing the bags. i think i've been working on it a little too long. by the time the swimming goggles end up on my face it's gone too far.

 ginormous grasshopper number four in our house this week. to the hondurans, this is good luck. i'll keep that in mind {even though there is no such thing} instead of focusing on the
jurassic park size insects in our kitchen!

it's times like these that make every ounce of this worth it. three four year olds, baby kelly, and tia eva and tia monica all on the hammock together making funny snoring sounds and laughing. not quite convincing tio kelvin that we are actually sleeping.

speaking of tio kelvin...he looks less scary post-shave.

the end!