Wow, it´s been a LONG TIME

I am going to write as much as I can and post as many pictures as I can before Herme and Katya can´t handle waiting for me any more... pictures taken since around early August till the present, and include first birthday celebrations :) (They are in reverse order, and my husband wants it clarified that his pants are only dirty because he had just sat down on a dusty bench....)

Let´s see, where do I start??

Well, still no job. My poor husband has applied for things ´beneath him´, for things recommened by friends, anything within his ability....and no one even wants to interview him (beyond an initial screening anyways), much less hire him. We don´t know what to think. He just keeps looking, keeps applying. The whole state of the economy doesn´t help any - there just aren`t a lot of jobs out there, and there are so many people looking for work.

My parents came to visit for a weekend, just in time to celebrate Katya´s 1st birthday. That was awesome, especially since Mom coming was a complete surprise to me! It was quick, part of a business trip, but we enjoyed every minute of it :) So special to have them here for the birthday party and everything.

Living so far, far enough to make travel expensive and therefore not common, was not a part of how I saw my life, and yet here I am. I am happy here, wouldn´t trade my husband or how this has all come together for anyting, but it is really hard to be so hard from family and friends sometimes. Speaking of which, this lack of internet time has started to wear on me...I feel really out of touch with all my U.S. folks. Sometimes I feel like you all have moved on with your lives without me, if you know what I mean. I know it isn´t really the case, but with communication a little harder of late, thats how it feels. Oh how I´d love to be able to use skype in my house and talk to you all whenever the mood strikes!

What else? CAn´t believe that my baby girl is already a toddler! What a fun age, learning something new everyday, showing off for us. Of course, there´s the tantrums and tired breakdowns and vomiting 9x between the hours of 1:30am and 8am, but it´s all worth it of course :) She started walking at 9 months, got scared by a fall, and didn´t find her confidence to walk alone until 11 months. But then she just took off running! She is always on the move, or at least it often feels like that. She loves to read, together or alone. She loves animals, no fear, says ´ruff!´ every time she hears a dog bark. She´s generally a very happy, smiley, friendly girl, although she is a bit discriminating in who she wants to be friends with, gie kisses to, etc. She knows where her nose is (or mine, or yours), she can tell you she is ´so big!´, she loves it when you applaud her. She likes to play peek-a-boo, palms facing out, elbows sticking out to the sides. She waves to the moon every single time she sees it, even if that means 5 times in 6 minutes :P

Ok, I think my time is up. So good to connect with you all :) I love and miss every one, and will try to figure out how to get online more often.

Coming soon...

...a real live post with pictures and news and comments...

Have you all given up on me? Internet access has been scarce, but I have lots I want to write. Now that we finished with those classes I was giving at church (which were fairly prep intensive), I am hoping to get online soon and do a real update.

For those who have been praying for us, still no job in sight. Just one closed door after another. Besides praying for a job opening, please pray that we would hear from the Lord if there is something we are supposed to be learning, changing etc. 7 months of closed doors makes one wonder, you know?

Ok, promise to write for real soon, like in the next week-ish.

8 months and growing

Pictures appear in reverse order...most recent are first. The last/oldest is from early Marchish, but just too cute to leave out (and I thought Carole would enjoy seeing the pjs). The rest are from the last month and a half or so. I tried to include some of our favorite fashion statemtents (pigtails, auntie´s hat, dresses from Gramma, showing off her belly) as well as some of her favorite activities (first time in the walker, loves to be on her feet, eating avocado, cold baths in hot weather, drumming on tupperware). She´s been growing like a weed lately (she fills 12mo and sometimes 18mo clothes already...) - I´ll have to try and take some more pictures to post that show just how big she´s getting. I´m guessing she weighs close to 20 pounds these days, and shé close in hight to babies at church that are 2mo to 1 year older.

The New House

Wow, it is embarrassing how long it has been sinceI last blogged, and how long it took me to get these pictures posted...sorry! But you know how it is, you don´t want pictures of a dirty house, but remembering to take them when the house is clean...

The house is simple, but feels much more open and is possibly bigger than the other. It is just 3 open rooms, one leading into the other. The first couple of photos are of the bedroom, which is the furthest in. (Oops, they loaded in reverse - read everything from the bottom up...) That is mosquito netting over the bed so we don`t get eaten alive at night :) In the 2nd photo, said netting kind of eats up the view, but you can see the corner of the doorway that leads into the funny little side space we use like a walk in closet/storage area. The skinny wooden door leads into the very small bathroom (even smaller than we had at the other house). The doorway full of light leads out to the side patio area. If you could see thru the netting, that is where the door into the kitchen is. The pictures of the kitchen and living room are fairly self explanatory. You see in the living room the only window in the house, but since the kitchen and the bedroom each have a door, the light andair get in. You can see the benefits of moving when the husband isn´t working- thanks to him, I have shelves installed in the living room and kitchen (that he made - the space was there, but nothing else), curtains installed, the netting over the bed, etc. I also posted a couple photos that show our view out front - lots of TREES (a rare find here). There is also one of the front of the house with our built-in bench, and one of a portion of the patio - we enjoy the neighbor´s palm tree hanging over the wall as well as a flowering vine.

We love the open layout, although my husband sometimes says he looks for a straight line and never finds one :) It was built by the owners themselves, and you can see for example that the floors are not level. We really love the location, all the trees, being able to walk to the church or to visit friends, the 7 minute drive to thein-laws. We are not so fond of the unwelcome visitors of the animal/insect kind, one of which even elicited a mild scream from me. They may do us in and cause us to look for yet another hous, if we can´t work with the owners to close them out better.

Ok, my baby girl has waited long enough for me, thanks to this computer being really really slow. Not that I am complaining, because it is free to me internet access:)

Hoping to post some new baby pictures later this week - stay tuned!

Baby Dedication

We have video too, but its taking too long to load - maybe next time...

(People who sometimes call me - call me! I haven`t heard from you in over 2 months! Inkling - thanks for your comment and link - we`ve been praying for you!)