Bed-Head Blaise

Glorious Galoshes

Gingersnaps

Here I am with my second batch of Xmas cookies, we already polished off the shortbread ones I made on the weekend. Thanks to Aimee for the great recipes!

Earthquake!

Yesterday we felt our third and so far biggest earthquake since we've been here. Mariah and I were sitting at the table when it started, and we both thought it was just a truck going by (we live too close to the highway, I know). But when we continued to feel the table shake we knew we were experiencing an earthquake! The water in the jug on the counter was even gently sloshing back and forth - wild eh. A friend here told me today that it was 5.3 on the scale, but I don't know if that's just hearsay or not. Anyway, cheers to it not being any bigger than that!

Halfway to Baby

We are 20 weeks pregnant now, and just 20 more until we get to meet this new little person! I can't believe how much faster this pregnancy is going compared to my first with Blaise. The baby has started kicking and squirming a bit but the movements are still quite gentle. For some reason I suspect that we're having a girl this time, but we need to get cracking on a boy's name in case it's not a girl. We've got 2 girls names we like but can't decide on a boys name yet.

Amber at 3, 5 and 7

I went searching for some old birthday photos and found these. Notice for my third and fifth birthdays I have a green and pink cake. My mom for some reason went on a streak of making me pink and green birthday cakes, so to this day it's a joke in our family. My favorite is actually my mom's German chocolate cake, mmmmm.

Twenty-Eight on the 28th

Today was my "golden birthday" and it was a good one. I got up to the smell of breakfast cooking and had a nice long shower. Zaak made me pancakes, papaya, fresh squeezed o.j. and Mildred tea. He also surprised me in an email I read after he left for work, with a picture of his gift to me - a new ipod shuffle! The punk had just convinced me I didn't want one when he had this up his sleeve the entire time:) Then I did some errands and later relaxed while Blaise napped for a good three hours after lunch. We ordered tamales and cake for my bday supper so all I made was the ponche, a cinnamon-y, fruity hot drink that people drink at fiestas around Xmas time. Yum. So then we celebrated with our small group and a few other friends. I feel blessed to be me, with the family and friends I have been bestowed with. Thanks to my sweet husband who made my day special, my son for his extra long nap and kisses and snuggles today, and all of you who emailed me your well- wishes. I am truly loved.

Copan Birthday Trip

Here's Blaise and I at a lovely restaurant in Copan Ruinas, Honduras. We left Friday and drove the 4 hours there with Mariah as our travelling buddy. The highlights for me were eating out and getting a break from cooking ( top 2 meals were waffles and salmon, mmm), an hour long body massage (Mariah's birthday gift to me), exchanging 7 of my old books for 6 new ones at a book exchange, and just the change of scene. Blaise did not sleep well the two nights we were away but travelled like a pro. We enjoyed a good night's sleep in our own beds and rooms last night that's for sure. Now its just over 2 weeks until we leave for Canada, yippee!

It's Cold

We are experiencing some seriously cold weather here in Tactic. Before you squack "What!?! But they live in Guatemala, Central America!" keep in mind we live in the mountains. No they are not snow-capped or anything but it still gets cold. Plus houses here have no heating system, so it's like we're camping. It's even warmer sometimes outside than inside! So we are doing all we can to stay warm; eating soup, huddling around our fireplace, drinking tea, wearing layers, and snuggling up to the rice bag and each other. I'm also working on Zaak to take us somewhere warmer for the weekend for my "golden" birthday present. (I will turn 28 on the 28th). So if I get my way (and I usually do:) we may just be a few hours away for the weekend enjoying some +20 degree weather, oh joy, oh bliss! In the meantime I will take any suggestions out there for keeping warm.

Blaise's World

Blaise has got a skirt of mine on here that he rummaged from the dirty clothes basket - funny boy. He was sick this past weekend, vomiting and no appetite. Thankfully he's on the mend now, but man there's nothing in the world like your child being sick and not knowing what to do for him. Not fun. He can say water now (more like "wa-wa") and says "mmmm", "wow", and "wowee", quite the expressive little lad. Zaak started scaring him the other day so now his thing is to walk into a room and say "rawrrr!" and expect us to be scared. He also likes to say "boo" to try and scare us:)

The Happy Couple

Congrats Oscar and Evelin, may you be eternally happy together:)

La Familia Robichaud

This is our third attempt at a family photo with Blaise aka Mr. Squirmy Pants. We were all dressed up for Oscar and Evelin's wedding so I was hoping for a nice shot. Oh well! Blaise likes to be on the go a lot lately, which makes any type of sitting still event a bit difficult. At leasthe can't out-run us quite yet:)

Las Vegas and a cozy fire.

Our landlord, Frank Sr, came over yesterday to size up our fireplace situation with his young son, Frank Jr. Little Frank is a talkative lad and was asking me questions about Canada. Their family lived in States for a year when he was 4. He must be about 7 now, and shared some of his ideas about the world with me. I will quote him here: "The best towns in the world are Canada, the United States, and Las Vegas. In Las Vegas there are no poor people, and even the smallest house is a mansion." Talk about cute eh? I didn't have the heart to tell him there are poor people everywhere, and that Las Vegas is one of the saddest "towns" in the world.
Back to the fireplace situation. Last week I had purchased wood for our fireplace so Mariah made us a fire while I made supper. Soon our house was filled with smoke as it poured out of the fireplace instead of going up and out the chimney. Zaak says it's poorly constructed and I am in full agreement. So today Carlos the Carpenter came to fix it and and it works now! I was so thrilled to have a warm crackling fire going this evening - God bless you Carlos!

Thief Part 2

So unfortunately I have another thieving story to tell. Today I went to the market in Tactic and someone swiped my wallet out of my purse. I reached into my purse to pay for my pineapple and two pounds of tomatoes, and there was no wallet. Mariah was with me so she paid for my stuff but I had this sinking feeling in my stomach. I checked the car, the house, and it was nowhere to be found. So, we have now had our house broken into and robbed, I had my wallet stolen last March in Antigua, a plant stolen, and now my wallet again. I only had Q300 cash in it (about $45) BUT I also had my visa so I had to cancel that and can only get my new one at Xmas. More than the actual losses is the feeling of violation. Why me, and why me again! I'm a missionary here in this country supporting the Guatemalan economy with the money supporters send our family and this is how I'm repayed?!?! Sigh. I guess it's all part of the journey but I just feel sick about it still. And I know I need to keep it in perspective, and fight the feelings of wanting to pack up and head back to Canada. People are robbed all the time in Canada too. The highlight of it all is that Mariah took me out for lunch afterwards to cheer me up - what a sweetie:) Mariah is a Canadian friend who just moved here from AB to tutor the Peters kids in their homeschool. We love having her here, she's been hanging out with us a lot and it's great.

Thief

As I was walking back from my neighbor's this week I noticed something strange. There was something amiss with my flower garden that's outside my bedroom. Two rose bushes, check, white flowering plant, check, aloe vera...? Where's my aloe vera plant? Somebody stole my aloe vera plant right out of the ground?!? I had to laugh it seemed so ludicrous. Later I was not laughing, because is the thief seeing what he can get away with or did he just really want an aloe vera plant? I'm pretty sure they're not expensive and mine was rather bedraggled looking to boot. So, that's my story. I remember Bernd from our home church in AB saying that there were hundreds of dollars worth of plants stolen from the church gardens there. So I guess plant thieves are not that uncommon around the world. Go figure.

Baby

We are expecting baby #2 on or around April 18, 2007! That makes me nearly 15 weeks along. I'm feeling good, just hungry all the time and more susceptible to headaches. I have a feeling that this one is a girl but we shall see! If it's a boy we need to figure out a name, we've got two girls names ready. So we're prepared for twin girls, haha. I have an aunt who has twins and she says she wouldn't wish twins on her worst enemy. Zaak's also feeling good and hasn't put on any pregnancy weight as of yet. (When I was pregnant with Blaise he gained 15 pounds!) I think Blaise is going to be a wonderful big brother, he will already kiss my belly when Zaak tells him to kiss the baby:) So sweet.

The Bug Bite Blues

I don't know if you can tell in the photo but Blaise has bug bites all over his face and hand, as well as a few on other parts of his body. I am also suffering the ravages of a bug feasting on my juicy flesh, with bites on both arms and legs. They itch like mosquito bites but one usually hears mosquitos before they bite, so maybe some kind of spider got us, who knows.
Blaise must have picked up on people using mics at church to sing, because he knew exactly what to do with this one of Zaak's when he found it. Funny boy. The things he picks up on totally amazes me. And I love how he is so easily engaged in any sort of play - anything I invent for him to do seems to delight him. Today Zaak and I were kissing him on his cheeks in unison, Zaak on one side of Blaise and me on the other, and man did he ever laugh. Big, mouth wide open, belly laughs. I love this kid!
Zaak is in the Capital tonight picking up a team so Blaise and I are holding down the fort. I'm thinking I will have a more peaceful sleep since last night Zaak was talking in French in his sleep. I do miss him though. Happily he will be back home with us tomorrow.

A Better Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with our other fellow Canadians here and it was a fabulous meal. It was better this year because we didn't bother with trying for a turkey. Instead we had yummy, plump roasted chicken! And when you're eating chicken with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes - it's not too much of a stretch to imagine it's actually turkey. Also last year Ruth and I did a lot more of the cooking so we were totally exhausted by the time we got to eat. This time I just did the sweet potatoes and she did the pumpkin pies. The Peters's excellent cook Carmela did the rest, except Jessica made the stuffing. I skipped my usual pumpkin cheesecake because really who needs pumpkin pie AND cheesecake? Especially after stuffing yourself on the main course. Blaise's favorite part was my corn cob, that kept him busy gnawing for a good 20 minutes. So here's to our 2nd Thanksgiving in Guatemala! Hope everyone else's was wonderful too.

Happy Birthday Pretty Mumma

It's my Mom's birthday tomorrow so here's a little tribute to her. She's not, shall we say. technologically advanced enough to read my blog but hopefully someday. I'm still having trouble getting her to email me from an address I can reply to! Anyway... This photo of her is from the early eighties, and isn't she lovely. I don't see much of myself in her, my sister April is the one everyone tells looks like our Mom. I won't say how old she is but she had me when she was 20, so if you know my age - presto:) Happy birthday Mom, I love you and miss you.

For the Love of Books

I'm reading this lovely book right now and am about a fourth of the way through it. I bought it in Montreal with April near the place that makes those delectable bagels. My goal is to make this book last the entire month of October, which will be quite the feat for me. If there is one thing I am good at it's reading at an incredible speed, too fast in fact. There have been times I've finished a book and then not been able to remember what it was about! Generally I'm not quite that bad, but I need to slow down. This is the second to last book I have to read before going to AB in December to restock my library. I've loved reading for as long as I can remember, even in elementary school I had a ravenous appetite for books. There's still nothing that can compare to curling up somewhere cozy with a hot drink and good book. I'm always slightly suspicious of people who don't like to read. A few all time favorites would have to be: Life of Pi, The Book of Sorrows, The Screwtape Letters, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Poisonwood Bible, Jane Eyre, Blue Like Jazz, The Narnia Chronicles, The BFG, The Diviners, and countless others. I wish I had a list of every book I've ever read. Bring on any recommendations you have for me to pick up when I'm in Canada por favor:)