Finally!

Wow I´ve missed blogging! We moved to a new house and no longer have internet access at home so that´s why I haven´t blogged for so long. So what´s been happening since my last blog? We were robbed, moved to a really nice little house, my orange tree blossomed, and now we´re on little vacation with Zaak´s lovely sister Saison. We were in El SAlvador which is quite the country (more on our seedy hotel-volcanoes-flat tire-waterfalls-crazy dude who kicked our car in at the border adventures later, Blaise is kicking up a fuss and wanting to get out of this hot internet cafe) and now we´re in the delightful touristy town of Antigua in Guatemala. Had crepes for breakie and probably will have sushi for lunch - yeehaw!

Dandelion Wine

This is my favorite song right now, it's by Ron Sexsmith (An illustrious Canadian artist) and so very lovely. Here are the lyrics but you really need to hear the song to truly appreciate it. Thanks Zaak for always scouting out great new tunes for us to listen to!

Dandelion Wine

And when I think of her
It's with the warmest thoughts
I took so much from her
I really learned a lot
How to dust off my heart
How to make it shine
How to take a field of dandelions
And make dandelion wine

Such sweet and simple days
Though bitter tasted the wine
We drank it anyway
For love had made it fine
When the world was young
When the road was bright
And the morning poured
Its golden light
Like dandelion wine

Oh I believed in us
Long before deceit and lust
Had lost the trust
Forgive me girl
Forgive me girl

Now when I sing to you
It's with a heavy heart
I took a love that was true
And tore it all apart
How can I let go
Of all those times?
With this memory
Of her hand in mine
And dandelion wine

And dandelion wine

Highchair Heaven:)

This week we bought Blaise a highchair and mealtimes are much more relaxing now. Before I had to wrestle with him while feeding him, but now it's a piece of cake with him contained in the chair! I was so thankful that they had one I could take right away, it was about a quarter of the price of the plastic, north american looking one in the "mall," and it fit in the trunk of our car! Yay! The food all over his face in the first photo is egg yolk, carrot and rice cereal in case you are curious.
Watched "Unbreakable" tonight with Zaak; it's a very well done film if you have never seen it and need to rent a good flick this weekend.

Feliz (?) Dia del Cariño

So here's us on V Day two years ago...

And here's last year...

And here's this year. If you think I'm not a' lookin so good you're right! It's because I am crazy sick with inflamed sinuses, so my face/head has been hurting for the past 3 days. Well here's to being healthy next year. Zaak very sweetly got me tons of flowers from the market so that brightened my day. I also watched "Chocolate" which is one of the ultimate valentines day flicks of all time. Hope you all had wonderful romantic evenings or at least lots of chocolate to eat:)

Happy Almost Valentines Day:)

Are you ready?

Got some sweets for your sweet?

Pucker up:)

Cold and Colds

Yep, it's cold here in our house - hence the toques. We have also all been fighting colds this week, not fun. But we're on the road to recovery now. Blaise has also sprouted tooth number 2 this weekend the amazing little fellow:) I'm not quite as excited as I was about his teeth after he chomped down on me when he was breastfeeding the other day...youch that hurt.

Another Fun Foto...

...of me and my sis-in-law Saison (who's coming to visit us next month - YAY!!!)

Ha!

I was just looking through some Montreal photos and this one is too good not to put on my blog:)

Two Sickies

Although they don't look it here, my two favorite guys are sick. Blaise is on the mend now but earlier this week had a growly little voice and was sneezing lots of cute little baby sneezes.
Zaak on the other hand is in the throes of his illness; the shakes, pale-faced, hot and cold flashes, runny nose and so on. I made him some chicken and rice soup tonight and some fresh-squeezed o.j. so he's being well-taken care of. He's also taking that wicked tasting oil of oregano we brought with us, ugh. I am feeling fine so hopefully I won't catch this but we'll see:)

11 Years

It has been eleven years since my dad died. I was only 16 and I still miss him. It makes me sad knowing all the things he's missing out on in my life. But I'm thankful for the time I had with him and look forward with great anticipation to seeing him again. Zaak and Blaise took me out for dinner tonight to commemorate the occasion and we had a lovely time.

Unbelievable

We had Erick and Gloria, a couple who work for the ministry here, over for supper tonight. I asked how the fruit trees were doing that they had planted on the property the ministry owns, and Erick said they had been stolen. Stolen RIGHT OUT OF THE GROUND! Isn't that crazy?! Three days after they were planted,someone dug them up and took them. Now they have tomatoes growing on the land and a guard (with a gun) to keep them safe. Talk about the value of food hey.

Una lagartija en mi casa!

This friendly little fellow surprised me today when I saw him beside our bedroom door. Zaak assured me that he wouldn't crawl into bed with us, that he probably eats flies and other such pests and so to let him be. I toyed with the idea then gently swept him outside. A little while later I went to see if he was still there and he was back in the house! So maybe he's on a mission or something; I guess I'll leave him alone. I'm thankful he's not a rata, raton or cucaracha anyway. (All of those are so close to the english words that you can get my meaning I'm sure).

Squash Anyone?

The Beauty of Technology

I just spent over an hour perusing friends websites and blogs. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love technology! Call me Kip:) It's so neat to see what people are up to and to keep current with them even when we're so far away. I also like how people post links to other people's blogs - very fun. And this whole blogging thing would be a waste of time without you! Yes you! Friend or family of mine who is reading this right now. So thanks to all of you who read and comment, and brighten my day with your thoughtful, encouraging and humorous comments. Thank you (In alphabetical order) Aimee, Alan, April, Curt, J.R., Kevin, Marta, Melaney, Mom Deb, Remy, Saison, and Zaak. And those of you who read but don't comment; tsk tsk! I wish everyone I knew had a blog/website I could visit, but then I'd probably get nothing else done in my day:)

Homebody

I really love staying home. Doing little chores around the house, caring for and playing with Blaise, cooking and baking, studying Spanish, distracting Zaak from his work, going on errands to the market, taking a nap if I want, checking my email, working on Sponsorship Program stuff - this is the life for me. Funny because I never saw myself as a homebody, but I find my days go so quickly and I'm so content. Now if it rains a few days in a row I start to get a little stir-crazy, but the sun usually pokes out after a day of rain.
I was reading how this past Monday was said to be the most depressing day of the year by some expert, with people not keeping their new years resolutions, the bad weather and other such tomfoolery. And funnily enough Monday was a terrible day for me! It all started when I found mouse turds in Blaise's dresser drawers, I think that put a damper on my entire day. And you know once you start thinking about all the things that aren't going your way in life it's amazing how much you can some up with! I miss my family and friends, my hair looks bad today, nobody's asked me how I am, my tea got cold, blah, blah, blah. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who supports me unwaveringly, and a God who loves me even when I'm having pity-parties for myself. That night when I went up on the roof to toss my parsley to the neighbors cows, I looked up at the cloudy sky and felt God say to me "Amber you are here for a reason." And a feeling of total and complete peace settled over me. So! Life is good. Night all.

Bath time with Papa

Blaise the Incredible

Clase de la Educacion Fisica

Yesterday I taught my first phys.ed. class to the highschool girls at Colegio Beerseba. We walked up the steep road behind the school, stretched at the top of the hill, and then jogged down. Felt a bit silly when there were people carrying down big loads of sticks on their backs or big baskets of flowers on their heads, but we just said good morning to them and kept going. When we got back to the school we did push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, squats, stairs, skipping and jumping jacks. Finally we played some basketball at the end. So that was the hardest workout I've done in a long time, and today I can sure feel which muscles I used! I'm really glad I get to be involved at the school, it's such a wonderful environment; all these sweet little kids saying "hola seno" to me:) (Female teachers are "seno" and male ones "profe") Also it was neat to play on the basketball court that the group from our church 3 years ago helped to haul dirt for. So I'm happy to be teaching again because I can get to know the girls, get some excercise, have a break from being an "ama de casa" (housewife) but I'm also thankful it's only once a week:)

Big News!

Blaise enjoyed his 6 month birthday this past Friday - we had cake that day by chance and so put a candle in it, but he didn't get to eat any of it. So far it's only rice cereal and bananas for the little champ. So this morning after breast-feeding Blaise he stuck my finger in his mouth and lo and behold there's a TOOTH! I was shocked and delighted, since babies sometimes have a really tough time teething. The only difference I noticed was less b.m.'s the past couple of days (big hardship). Way to go Blaiserd!

Rene

Our friend and co-worker, Rene, was in a motorcycle accident yesterday. He was taken to hospital still conscious and once there they discovered he had a broken leg, crushed shoulder and skull fracture. Zaak was with him earlier in the day. Rene has a wife and baby girl waiting for him to come home. Please pray for him.