Rainbow Bright, live poultry and me!

Thursday is one of the two big market days here in Tactic, the other is Sunday. So today I went out in search of sweet potatoes and pots for my plants. When I got there I ended up behind a lady with a panicking chicken in a basket on her head, which succeeded in jumping out of the basket nearly landing on me! Next I noticed one of the clothing vendors had a sweater for sale with Rainbow Bright on it! If you're not in your mid-twenties you may not know who that is, but man for me what a blast from the past to see the little girl in her colorful outfit! We had a record and book about her when we were little, the kind that a bell rings when it's time to turn the page. So after that I bought my plant pots, some sweet potatoes, an itty bitty pineapple I couldn't resist because it was so cute (and only costed 1 quetzal - about 16 cents!) It was a successful shopping trip:)

Feliz Navidad!

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! Here's a shot of our brunch, and one of Blaise modelling his new outfit from his proud Papa. I was more homesick the week prior to Chistmas than the actual day!

Mumma and Blaise and a Slightly Scary Reindeer

Christmas Eve?

I can't quite convince myself it's Christmas in this lush, green environment that I live in. No matter how many christmas carols I sing, cookies I bake, or presents I wrap. Maybe next year it will sink in more, unless we're in Canada for Christmas! So we're celebrating Christmas Eve tonight with a Nativity Play (complete with flying angels!), tamales, and firecrackers. All this starts around 8 so it will be a late night. I'm already tired too, since Blaise slept in our room last night and likes to make noises in his sleep, AND it was someone's birthday so we got the traditional firecracker and loud music wake up at 4:30 this morning. Ah well, what can you do eh? A big merry christmas to all!

I love a man...

...with dishpan hands:)

Trip

Our Honduras trip was great! And we got there in our new CAR! That's right, the same week we sold our car in Canada we bought one here. With a baby and the rainy season we are really appreciating it. It's a little blue four-door KIA, and we have not named it as of yet. We enjoyed the heat, mayan ruins and eating out at restaurants all the time. There were a lot of turists there though so it was good to come home. Blaise travelled well but I wouldn't want to do any longer of a road trip with him. Must go make supper! It's almost Christmas and I made cardamom and gingerbread cookies today, yumilicious.

Goodbye Ester

Hurray our car finally sold!!! Thanks Saison and Dean for taking care of selling it, and bless you Neil for liking it and buying it. I'm a actually a bit saddened that Ester Buck (our car's name) is no longer ours. We bought her just before we were married and she has served us faithfully. After growing up being mortified on a regular basis by the cars I had to ride in I really value a reliable and decent-looking car. Just ask my sisters about the mail car, the car that sounded like a duck when it started, and the suburban we dubbed "The Green Beast". Trust me I could go on.
It's a rainy, cool day so I'm going to go make some banana bread to help me warm up. Adios!

Precious Family

Here's us on American Thanksgiving (before you all get up in arms we celebrated it because of a an American friend we have here, don't worry we're still loyal Canucks:)
Aren't we a handsome family?! And as you can see from the photo of Blaise he's growing up - sitting up in his chair and grabbing the toys! What a kid. He also really likes grabbing the handles of mugs whenever Zaak or I hold him with up a cup of coffee.
I started a new job this week; over-seeing the child sponsorship program the ministry has here. I'm thrilled to be taking on this role as it's something I'd hoped to be involved with while we were still in Canada. So today we went to see two families who have sponsor children in them. At the first one we brought them a box of food, because their father won't provide for the family and is with another woman most of the time. He beats the mother and the oldest boy, maybe 11 years old, tried to protect his mom but then got beaten too. The kids in the home were wearing really dirty clothes (probably because they were the only set they own) but had the sweetest faces. Their house has a bumpy dirt floor that a nearby creek is slowly eroding away. We talked with them and then prayed for their family. The second family had a nicer house and the father is active in his church - it was a much better environment.
Puts life into perspective and makes me proud to call myself a Christian. Not a gay-bashing, anti-abortion, "holier than thou" Christian (which is what the world thinks of Christians for the most part), but a little Christ - giving food to the hungry, praying for healing in that hurting family, visiting and hearing peoples hearts. And it's only because of the grace, love, and peace God has given me that I am able to share these things with others. I am constantly humbled by the trust and confidence God has in me; that I will love the people He puts in my path.

Oh And...

I forgot to mention that my watch stopped on my birthday!?! Any ideas on what that may mean...I shall be timeless perhaps??? And thanks to more well-wishers, Mom and Jess who surprised me with a phonecall last night, and emails from Auntie Gaylene and Randy.

27 Years Today...

Well today was my birthday - thanks for the well wishes (Mum-deb, April, Saison, Aimee, Kevin, Myra, and Tey). Zaak had me open my presents from him on the roof so he could light firecrackers for me ( a tradition here) and he gave me a lovely pair of jade earrings and a journal. Then our neighbors Ruth and Walter had us over for a very tasty birthday breakfast of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and fresh pineapple - delish! I started to get a bit sad later in the day, missing my family and friends but I was looking forward to going out for supper with Zaak and Blaise. Little did I know my english students planned a surprise party for me! So I got to enjoy a pinata, cake, tamales, and the company of my new friends here. God is so good to me; it has been a cumpleanos to remember!

What do an orange tree and a turkey have in common?

They are what Zaak brought home for me from his last trip to the Capital, and they weren't even my birthday presents!? Lucky me hey. And in case you're wondering it's a REAL turkey this time; fat and frozen. So now I have a bird to cook and a tree to trim for Christmas! I love my husband:) The orange tree even has an orange on it!
I'll put a photo on here once it gets closer to Navidad. My birthday is at the end of November so I don't like to do anything Christmas-y until after my birthday. I'll be 27 this month, it sounds like such a mature and grown-up age to be but I still feel like I have so much to learn about life. I guess that's good attitude to have:) I sure love where I am in my life right now; living here in Guatemala with my sweet little family. Sometimes I get choked up at how truly and completely blessed I am.

Mama and Blaise & a pretty papaya.

Splish Splash!

Blaise likes his bath! He has a nice mohawk going too:)

Jujubes Eh

Found out today that Jujubes are a Candian thing, Americanos just call them candies. At least according to Michelle, my American friend here. So the team from BC left us among other things, clothes, towels, medicine, a toque (yay!), books, rain ponchos, pillows, and jujubes! They remind me of my grandpa, especially the taste of the red ones for some reason. Speaking of food, one of my favorite topics, I had a delicious supper tonight of black beans and cream, corn tortillas, and fresh salsa - YUM. I love the traditional Guatemalan fare.
Blaise has taught himself to roll over this week so that's a milestone (at least all the books say so). He's also started making funny faces with his mouth, little "fishy-lips" and then makes a smacking sound - too funny this boy of mine! He grabbed my glasses right off my face yesterday too! One of the couples here from BC (Tim and Amanda) got engaged and when he went to call his Mom to tell her I got choked up thinking about how some girl is going to steal Blaise away from me someday! Getting ahead of myself a bit I know, all in due time.
I'm about a third of the way through "The Count of Monte Cristo" and it is a very good read. The unabridged version (which I am reading) is almost 1500 pages long and that makes me happy because it will take me awhile to finish. Sometimes I read books so fast I can barely recall what the book was about when I get to the end, I have to keep myself from gobbling them up too quickly.

Fleas!?!

I am now quite sure that the bug bites I previously mentioned are from fleas. Not lice, FLEAS. The bugs that generally bite and pester animals. How grotesque. I'll be washing all my bedding tomorrow to trying and get rid of them. Not too anxious to go to bed tonight all of a sudden. Ugh. Bugs! Why can't they stay outside where they belong! If you have any home remedies for making fleas flee, hook me up!

Fathers

Showed "A Little Princess" - one of my favorite all time films to my 3 Guatemalan charges Zoila , Sandra and Manuel ages 8-11 yesterday. Jessica (Les and Rita's youngest daughter) joined us too. We ALL cried at the end. I've seen the movie probably ten times and every time I cry. And I'm proud of the fact that I have a soft heart, a heart that God has softened.
(If you haven't seen the film don't read on because it will spoil the ending for you.) At the end when Sarah realizes her dad is alive and he doesn't recognize her - oh the pain! But then when the police are trying to take her away and her dad comes out of the house and shouts "SARAH!" Oh the joy! I think anyone who has experienced any kind of father related sadness in their life really is moved by this scene. After the movie was over and we were all wiping our eyes and chuckling at ourselves I realized something. The three siblings have been abandoned by their father, Jessica has never known her birth father (she was adopted by the Peter's when she was a baby) and my father died when I was 16. The role of a father is huge, I'm so thankful for Blaise's wonderful father and that God the Father calls me His own.

The "Cold" Season

Talked with my neighbor Ruth today and she said her husband commented how the rainy season is over, and now it's the cold season. But if this is the cold season I'm laughing! Today was like a nice summer day in Alberta or BC! Windy and sunny, perfect for doing laundry. Not a lot to talk about this week, I have some kind of bug bite on my leg I discovered this morning, pretty newsbreaking info I know:) Zaak will be home tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that:) Have a great weekend one and all!

I love mail and avocados:)

We've received our first piece of snail-mail this week! And it is from none other than the illustrious Mr. Curt Gesch, my favorito teacher from highschool. What a thoughtful chap. Sure did appreciate getting a letter, you all have our address right? So if your looking for something to do this weekend, write us! (I'm not laying it on too thick am I?!?)
No folks, that's not a bowling ball that Blaise is holding, it's an AVOCADO! Incredible eh? I couldn't resist buying it at the market the other day, and it's really nice inside too, we had some for breakfast today.

Who?

I've been wanting to do this for a few days now, put all three of our baby pictures together and compare. So who do you think Blaise looks like? (He's the one in the middle, I'm on the left and Zaak's on the right.) I find that he's looking more and more like Zaak, but he still has my nose, mouth and chin. Also I know he looks like his own little person but it's fun to compare.
Tonight some of the teenage girls from church stopped by and wanted Blaise! It's already begun, he's charming the ladies at 3 months of age. Ahhh the sleepless nights I'll have (again)! I'll have to get my rifle from Uncle Terry...

Sadness and Loss

Well, we caught our mouse. The poison did the trick I'm afraid. Zaak told me last night he'd spied a mouse carcass near Blaise's room and so he took care of it. I felt bad that the mouse had to die and we were the cause, but he was leaving his "mark" everywhere around the house so he had to go. I wish we could have reasoned with him, then taken him out to the countryside and found him a nice spot to live. But mice are not to be reasoned with. Sorry little mouse.
Today Blaise and I have the place to ourselves because Zaak went to help deliver relief supplies to the people hit by Hurricane Stan. The reports are saying about 200,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, and over 800 people are missing. I was trying to imagine what would happen if this type of disaster happened in Canada, and I know there would be a lot more hoopla about it. This certainly puts my mouse musings into perspective. One village was completely wiped out here, can you imagine? The Guatemalans often live near their families so I'm guessing there are entire families that are now gone. Godspeed the resources to help those who did survive but are without shelter, food, water and belongings.

Mice and Men

I just finished translating the instructions on a package of mouse poison. Yes, we have a mouse who I do feel sorry for (since we plan to exterminate him) but mice carry diseases! This morning there was even a mouse dropping right beside the poison package, like he was taunting us! So tonight we hunt us a mouse...stay tuned to find out what will happen!
On a much brighter note, our little man Blaise has slept through the night 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW!!! I think this is the beginning of something wonderful. My friend Ruth who has 2 little kids was telling me how you love your babies even more than you already do once they start sleeping through the night. It's so true! When I see Blaise in the mornings after a full night of uninterrupted sleep I feel such immense love for him. It's fantastic this journey and adventure of parenting:)

Happy Bird Day

Thanksgiving Dinner turned out great despite the skinny turkey; he must have known what his fate was to be and so had been fasting in hopes of his life being spared. I made a mean pumpkin cheesecake (from a fresh pumpkin as you can see) plus we had mashed and sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce (from the can unfortunately - you can't get them fresh here), olives, gravy and green beans. YUM! It was a memorable first Thanksgiving in Guatemala!

Laundry and Rain Don't Mix

Here are Blaise's clothes and blankets blowing in the wind, sweet shot hey? I think I could pretty much enter it in a photo contest and win a prize:) I'm usually eyeing the skies on days I hang out laundry, but I've always been interested in the weather anyway so I don't mind. We got cable last year and I was most excited about having the weather channel! I think my sister Alanna has aspirations to be a weather girl on TV someday too. Hey I'm proud of myself for figuring out how to put a picture on here all by myself, yes sirreee.

Nicknames

Okay I know I'm going a little "blog-wild" here but this will be my last post for today, I promise.
I called my old blog "Bersblog" and tried to use it but couldn't remember my password so alas I had to start over. But I called it that because Ber was a nickname given to me in highschool by Jeremy. He was in the grade below me and had nicknames for everyone. He called me Ber, Sarah "Rah", Patricia "Sha" and Esther "Ster". His locker was beside all of us 4 girls and so he'd come from class to his locker and see all of us there and say "RahBerShaSter!" Funny guy that Jeremy.
The King of nicknames though has got to be Alan. He has come up with about a dozen nicknames for me, he's a clever one that Alan. My favorites are Ambrosia and Rambler:)

Rest

My kitchen is clean, my baby's asleep, and my husband's hard at work making a music video from our home movies that I know is going to make me cry. The town is quieting down, only a few dogs are barking and there's a church service going on that I can just faintly hear singing from. It's the weekend! La fin de semana. Life is sweet.

Phew!

I started a blog way back in '04 (heehee) and couldn't remember my password so I just decided to start over. It only had one short entry anyway. So April has inspired me as of late to get a blog going. Zaak's had one for awhile too and I love reading it so now it's my turn!