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!