Good Article

Here is a short analysis of interest regarding the Honduran political situation from a professor at Grove City College in PA, where a couple of our missionary kids attend(ed) college. Enjoy! http://www.visandvals.org/Honduras_and_the_United_States.php .

At Home in the Casita

Since arriving on the beautiful North Coast of Honduras last week, we've been busy getting settled in at home and at work and enjoying catching up with all the great people here, both Honduran and American.

Here is our very cute, very functional house. The giant mangrove tree in front shades most of the house for most of the day. God always provides us with just what we need.

We planted a garden, which, after only a week, is sporting 6" tall green beans and gobs of lettuce, zucchini, and watermelon seedlings. Having just come from Montana, where weeks elapse before seedlings emerge, this is amazing. Gotta love gardening in the jungle!

We also have lots of coconut palms, and our house came equipped with a grinder. It's yummy!

We've already had our first significant plumbing problem: tree roots clogging the kitchen sink drain. Fortunately, I'm married to Josh, who has the skills to remedy such problems. He took a picture of the root ball he pulled out of it, but we'll save you all the gory details.

We live in perhaps the most beautiful yard ever. (Incidentally, the last house we lived in here in Honduras had the best shower ever. Our new place can't boast such a fancy shower, proof that you just can't have it all:o) Anyway, the yard is huge and lush and has a wall to contain the kids and dogs. At present, we have 13 chocolate lab/weimereiner dogs in the yard. Fotuntately, 11 of them are currently blind, immobile, and weigh about a pound. I think most of them are already promised to people, which is great, because in a month or two, nothing will be safe in the yard!

The wall around our yard has big windows covered by wooden shutters. Here are the girls sitting in a widow with the river in the background. Last spring, they killed a 10' 9" crocodile in that river. Apparently it ate a cow, and that was the final straw. Glad there's a wall between us and its babies:o)

The girls are still getting used to things here, especially Hadley. In the last week, she has boycotted her crib, deftly exiting it whenever she wants. When Guildy learned how to climb out of hers, I nearly panicked. I had no idea what to do. But this time, it's not so scarry. She has been getting some rather difficult Staying In Bed At Naptime lessons, but I'm sure she'll give up and not fight it soon. So no both girls sleep in the same bed, which gives them ample opportunity to kick and fight and wake each other up at about 4:30 every morning, activities they both seem to enjoy immensely. Josh might make have to make a little bed for Hadley, as we don't want to keep starting our days quite that early!

Three mornings a week the girls are with a lovely Honduran gal named Lyndi. She is a young teacher, but isn't currently working in the schools. She reads to them, plays games, works on vocabulary, etc. Guildy is picking up a lot very quickly. Hadley is mostly mad because she can't come with me, but I'm sure she'll adjust. This morning when I left, she tried to pack her sippy cup in my bag and went over to Guildy and hugged her and kissed her and said good bye. She was sorely disappointed when she had to stay, but Lyndi said she only cried for a minute and was fine, so at least I don't have to feel guilty about her crying all morning.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'd like to post more pictures, but the internet is too slow, so it will have to happen another day.

Getting Here

Our journey to Honduras took us through Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, and Florida, with lots of visiting and tons of driving along the way. We went through Yellowstone Park on our way out of Montana so Josh could look at a property for his dad on the east side of the park. We didn't have much time to stop and be tourists, but we did see a few things quickly. Travelling with the recently potty trained is never efficient!Once we got to CA, we got some good visiting in with Grandma Linda......

Cousing Tilly..... Jackie and Baby Oatus....

Sydney turned 12 while we were there. Guildy felt so grown up hanging out with the big girls. She even got to stay up for part of the sleep over! Below is Josh's Aunt Patti showed them how to make little clay figurines.

Old Stuff

Here are some old, but nonetheless blog-worthy photos from September back in MT. Those of you die-hard blog followers (namely the Grandmas:o) will enjoy them!

The fall was gorgeos in eastern MT this year. So one day in mid-September, we went to the Dredge Cuts at Fort Peck with our good friends Gibson and Tunney and their mom Brittiny. Guildy and Gibson are the same age and they had a swell time playing together. Hadley does this trick whenever there is water....bath tub, ocean, dog dish...all fair game. It was such a sweet trick that she had to show Tunney, too! On another warm day in September, we painted outside!

My Mom had some great petunias this year, which would have made a great background for some kiddie pics....except the light wasn't the greatest....and the kids weren't real cooperative:o)

A Good Opinion Article

The following link will take you to a good opinion article about the current political situation in Honduras. It is from the Wall Street Journal, which, throughout the past few month's political upheavals, has run several highly accurate opinion articles. Enjoy!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574439090743723958.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook

It's Been Awhile

I always think that if I'm going to post something on the blog, it needs to have a picture to go along with it. Unfortunately this provides a great excuse to procrastine. Thus my infrequent posts of late. Anyway, here's an update on us. As I type, we're in Middletown, CA visiting Josh's dad and stepmom and a smattering of other friends and relatives. Tomorrow is the big Topline Cattle Co. bull sale here at the ranch, so things are all abustle with preparation activities. It's also Sydney's 12th birthday today! Big weekend!

Next Tuesday, we fly out of San Francisco en route to Honduras. We will stay overnight in Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday night and actually get to Honduras on Wednesday. We keep praying for peaceful, fair, honest resolutions to their continuing political problems and for safe, uninterrupted travel. Air travel seems to be back to normal after last weeks little upheaval, so we're thankful for that and hope it holds. We fly into San Pedro Sula, about 120 miles west of our final destination of Balfate. Although it's not terribly far by Montana open road standards, it's about a 5-hour drive with lots of bridges that could be blocked if protestors decided to do so. Blocking bridges is a favorite (and effective) tactic for Honduran picketers. It gets attention!

The girls are doing well considering all the travel. In the past week, we've driven over 1,600 miles and slept in 5 different places (one of which was a hotel in Lander, WY, where I forgot my favorite pillow. Grrr. It's supposed to be in the mail.) Anyway, Guildy sleeps well in the car, and said, "That was a quick trip to Bozeman," after she slept the entire 6-hour trip:o) Hadley isn't such a happy car sleeper, but she does alright. This morning, they enjoyed a swim with cousin Owen, and they have been having a great time playing with Aunt Sydney and Aunt Cade.

Well, I think that's it for now. Next time I'll try to put up pictures!!