It's Party Time!!!!

 

December - this month is filled with fun parties, birthday's and Jesus Birthday. I love this month. I love making memories with my kids. This year was definatly different but it was SO good. We celebrated with some of our own traditions and added some new Honduran traditions.

 

                  Because of course we need to wear sunglasses while making tree ornaments :)

                      Decorating the Christmas tree, Isaac had more fun playing with suitcase. :)

 

 

We started the month with a missionary party. We got to know some of the other local missionaries and had a very fun white elephant gift exchange.

 

The next day was Hannah's birthday - hard to believe she is already 8 years old. We celebrated her birthday in Honduran style with a Pinata and everything. a few other missionary families joined us to make it a real party. She felt very blessed and was a very happy girl.

 

       Talking to Granny and Grandpa on the phone - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!!

Pinata, rainbow cake, friends and a BBQ

 

The next week we had our community outreach Christmas party. We had craft tables, sugar cookie decorating, games and family photos. Then we had a short program centered around Jesus Birth and served Naka Tamales (tamales filled with chicken, potato,rice and corn meal). We had over 200 people come!!! It was so much fun to bless our community and share Jesus love.

 

 Decorating sugar cookies - it was a huge hit, however the frosting was So bitter!!! I guess I added to much food coloring :( oh well, they were all eaten anyway.

Hannah, Blanca, and Diana at the party.

 

                                                              Serving tamales

 

Here is a closer picture of the tamales, they are wrapped in banana leaves then steamed. They are really yummy.

 

 

Christmas Morning!!! Was just our family, then we joined Beth and her family for Christmas dinner.

 The grandkids playing with their flashlights and awesome rain boots from Granny and Grandpa. I think these were the hit of the night. They stomped around the house chasing each other with the flashlights. I'm sure there will be lots of Frog (sappo) hunting in the near future. :)

 

 

 

 We also enjoyed a great Christmas Eve service with Mohagens. We sang Christmas carols in Spanish and worshiped. It was so nice having Christmas with my sister and having all of the cousins together.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

 

 

Why not make lemonade?

 After Thanksgiving and spending a few days unpacking and getting settled back into our home we went to Tela to have a mini vacation before sending my mom and dad home. Tela, is a town on the coast - the Carribean Coast. So our plan was to soak up some sun, play in the pool and the ocean etc. However, when we arrived we realized that they had gotten a huge storm. Our plans changed.

This is the 'road' to our rental spot

 

So we had a decision to make; and we decided to make lemonade with the lemons we were given. We played on the beach with sand being careful not to step on all the garbage that was washed ashore. We ran from the waves and the 'fecal foam' that we named then quickly changed the name to 'fantastic fun foam' before Hannah caught on to how grossed out we were.

 

 

Isaac loved the sand and played for hours with his 'mo mo's

 

 

As the days went by it started to get warmer and the sun even started to peek out between the clouds ocationally. Sand castles and baby crabs. We found these big rocks down the beach so of course we had to climb them!! Then we all laughed and laughed as the waves crashed over the rocks and soaked us.

 

 

Tracy and I after getting wet from the waves. Good thing for hot showers :)

 

 

Our last full day, the waves has decreased enough to where we could finally get in the water!!! I was so excited to show Hannah how to swim in the ocean. She was so nervous and the waves were still really big (bigger then I thought) so - Hannah and I crashed into the sand and under a wave. BUMMER!!! About an hour later, Hannah braved it again. Sweet girl.

 

Grandpa and girls warming up after swimming.

Hannah and I after our big crash.

 

So, I hope that we taught our kids this week that life is all in the attitude and that we can have fun with family anywhere.

 

And we definitely had fun and lots of laughs and snuggles.

 

 

 

 

We have arrived!!

We made it!!!! The flights were awesome, the kids did great and the kids even got a little bit of sleep.

15 bags, 6 carry ons, 6 backpacks, granny and grandpa and us. :)

 When we arrived at 'dante' (as the kids call it), we were greeted by dinner at Beth's and a welcome home sign in front of our house. Tracy and Mark (one of the other families) filled our house with breakfast and had the beds made. I felt so welcome and so loved.

So, the last few days we have been starting to settle into our house. Most of the bags are empty and Isaac fell asleep on time last night. :)

 

 There is a new playground at Dante and the kids are enjoying it daily. It is a great place of neutral ground for the kids. And it is under a huge tree and is at least 10 degrees cooler then anywhere else. :)

 Isaac and Ali playing in the dirt. Isaac is loving the huge place to play and all of the dirt that he can play his 'mo mo's' in.

We have Arrived!!!!

wow!!! We made it!!!! Everything went fantastic, all of our bags arrived and the kids slept on the plane and all the way in the car!!! (I think they were tired). We are settling into our house and trying to find a home for everything that we brought with us. We are enjoying family time and getting every moment we can with mom and dad before they have to go back to the states.

Hello

And were off...

Hello, were headed out to Honduras today.