Talby's First Week

For being a newborn, Talby has had a busy first week. Actually, she has contentedly slept through most of it, and Josh and I have been the busy ones! In order to leave the country when our visas expire in mid-January, we had to get going on her passport paperwork and Guildy's passport renewal. So, at 3 days old, we ventured out to the Civil Registry office in Balfate (about 3 miles away). It only took 2 days to get her Honduran birth certificate, as opposed to the 2 weeks it took to get Hadleys, so we were thankful for that. Then we made a trip to La Ceiba to get passport photos, but they were wrong, so we ended up doing them ourselves. It took about 50 shots to finally get a good one of Talby! Then Monday, we went to the Consulate's office in San Pedro Sula to turn in all our paperwork. We are praying that it is all complete and correct!

It was significantly easier to get a good picture of Guildy! My Scottish neighbor Liz just loves "bathin' babies" so she gave Talby a bath one day last week. I'm not a big fan of bathin' babies, so it worked out well for me:o)

Oh, and we had another rat, which wrecked another good night's sleep. This time it was a regular skinny tailed rat, but apparently all rats have an affinity for stoves, so this on took refuge there as well. Josh hauled the stove out to the porch, but this time he had time to fix the oven, which hadn't been working up till that point. Then, he fired it up in hopes the rat would come out. It did emerge briefly, Josh tried to smash it, and it headed back into the insulation, opting for death by fire as opposed to death by smashing. It smelled like a branding for a little while, but I think we got it thoroughly creamated. Resting with Dad....In spite of our busy schedule,Talby has still had time to work out. She rolled over from her tummy to her back on Sunday, and she even did it 3 times in a row to show it wasn't a fluke!

Now that our passport stuff is done (hopefully), maybe we can get back to normal life!

Sunday's Child

Our sweet Talby Mildred made her appearance this morning at 9:40, arriving exactly on her due date, which we thought was considerate:o). She was born at home and we are all doing very well, aside from being tired.

Just a couple minutes old.Our good friends John and Penny came and took care of us. Penny had to be in the States until just a couple days ago, and we were sure she would miss the birth. But she made it in the nick of time.Rubber faced girl....

Big sister

If It's Not One Thing, It's a Huge Rodent

So I haven't been sleeping so well what with my 9-month prego physique and crazy hormonal profile. Once something wakes me up in the middle of the night, then I can't get back to sleep. Normally, it's Hadley suffering from some nocturnal emergency related to drinking or going to the bathroom or loss of her pillow.

So last night, I got up at about 3 for one of my regular trips to the bathroom, then settled back into bed, pleased that everyone was sleeping so well. It was even raining, which means it's nice and cool and makes a lovely sound on our tile roof. I was just dozing off when I was pretty sure I heard Something on the bed. Not wanting to overreact, I perked up a bit to listen...when It went scurrying across my feet. Now this most difinitively falls into the Not Okay Under Any Circumstances category. I sucked my little feet up as fast as they would go, but it took me an extra moment to work up the intertia to get my large self out of bed and to the kitchen light right outside our bedroom. The nasty creature had beat me to the kitchen, then ran under my feet when the light turned on. Of course, this caused some rapid, involuntary movement (much easier to carry out now that I was on my feet) and a little bit of a shriek.

Josh had been slumbering peacefully on the couch up to this point because he has a cold and didn't want to pass it on, but when I screamed, he bolted up, ready for action. I didn't get a good look at my rodent friend, so I thought it might have just been a mouse. We moved everything in the bedroom and couldn't find anything. Josh went back to bed on the couch and I crawled in bed with Guildy. (She woke up and asked why I was there. When I told her, she said in her most conforting, grown up voice, "Don't worry, Mom. There's no mouse in my bed, so you're safe with me.")

A few minutes later, I heard Josh up rustling around, turning on the porch light, moving furniture, etc. Apparently our rodent friend, who wasn't a mouse at all, but rather some sort of large (as in 8" long) jungle rodent cross between a rat and a flying squirrel, had an affinity for people and had been trotting across the back of the couch while Josh was laying there. It bolted for the kitchen, seemed to be hiding in/under the fridge, resulting in the dismantling of the back pannel of the fridge. But he wasn't there, so Josh started looking in the cupboards. Upon opening one cupboard, Rat-Boy, as we had come to call him by this point, took a look at Josh and jumped about 3 feet from the shelf onto Josh's shirt. So Josh got a pretty good look at his funny little face, flat, hairy tail, and almost webbed back legs, before smacking him off himself.

At this point, Rat-Boy disappeared, and a thorough search of the entire house revealed nothing. By this time, it was time to start making breakfast, so we gave up, only to hear scratching inside the stove. Josh dismantled the stove, but couldn't find anything. Once again, I went to cook and heard it again. So out to the porch went the stove, where it will live until Josh has time to completely take it apart. There is a vent-type thing that he might be stuck in. At any rate, it was a less than restful night. We'll try again tonight, unless, of course, we have a new baby by then!

Oh, and in addition to Rat-Boy, there were a horse, a couple cows, a huge toad, and literally hundreds of insects on our porch during all this, all seemingly wanting into the house. It hasn't rained for several weeks, and the wildlife seem to have gone crazy!! Oh, and we have an iquana who is about 2 feet long who has taken up residence between the tiles and tar paper on our roof. We're definitely the minority in our own home! Never a normal, boring day here!

The baby and me cooking breakfast on the porch.

A Few Recent Pics

Of great significance in my life is that we have figured out a pretty surefire way to make Hadley nap. She hasn't been napping well since last summer, but she sleeps like a champ in the car, so a couple weeks ago, Josh suggested moving the car seat inside. It works like a charm and our lives are infinitely better as a result! We had a hen sitting on some eggs in the bushes outside our house. The kids had a great time monitoring the situation until an errant dog came by and ate all the eggs.Snack time/devotional time outside the Children's Centre last week. The kids are eating grapefruit off the trees in the yard. Guildy and Hadley don't have enough Spanish to very well understand the story being read, but they enjoyed the company and the Christmas coloring page.

Even baby Orlin enjoyed the story. He has severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy, among a whole list of other problems, but he can interact a little and enjoys being out and about in the stroller.

Hadley and Anna

On Thursday and Friday mornings I have a couple classes at the Bilingual School. Guildy and Hadley come along and Anna, who is helping there for 6 months or so, does some school with Guildy and keeps them busy so I can do my classes. She's awesome!!

Settling In

Between our normal daily duties (Josh: fixing stuff that breaks around the hospital, Me: home schooling Guildy, wrangling Hadley, gestating Baby #3, and teaching math and science classes) we're finally getting settled into our little house by the Children's Centre. Josh still has quite a few things to build, but it's to a very functional stage. It's pretty small (about 800 sq. ft. including the porch), but very well planned out, so it's quite comfortable.

The front of the house. You enter from the side porch. Barefoot, pregnant, and well....you know the rest. I love, love, love my little kitchen!!! Our friend Terry made the cabinets. All the wood in the house is either dead stuff that Josh hauled out of the jungle, with help of course, or logs that washed up on the beach with the rainy season storms. This eliminates the guilt associated with cutting down living tropical hardwood trees....and it's just plain fun to scavange up what would be worth thousands of dollars in the States basically for the cost of paying a local guy to mill it. Josh's friend Tomas cutting up some driftwood logs in our yard. All the rains wash dead logs out of the mountains and up onto the beaches, so business is booming this time of year for guys in the wood trade. Josh has been building all kinds of great stuff for the house. Below is the wooden hinge on our medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The whole thing is built without nails, just pegged together. The corner of our bed, also pegged together. Josh built a bike for Guildy (individual bike parts are super cheap here, so you can get the parts and put them together if you're so inclined), so she has been busy figuring out how to manage a bigger set of wheels. So far the crashes have been minor. We have a great circular driveway perfect for endless practice laps. Another view of our driveway looking toward the main road. The Children's Centre, which currently is caring for 20 kids of all ages, is just out our door. The girls have a great time playing with all the kids. Guildy chats in Spanish and plays soccer by the hour. Although she is starting to use a few Spanish words, Hadley prefers to just speak LOUDER English, seemingly oblivious to the fact that nobody understands her. And here is a completely unrelated photo from a couple weeks ago when we were still living in Staff Housing. Our neighbor James found a road kill boa constrictor (they are endangered/protected) and was scraping its hide. The girls found it endlessly interesting to watch the process.

Well, I think that's it for interesting stuff from the Browning's. We're still waiting patiently for the arrival of the wee one, so hopefully the next blog post will be pictures of her!!

One of these days, I will post an actual update of how and what we are doing, but for now I'll just stick to fun/silly stuff. The missionary community had a little Halloween party Sunday night. Shockingly, my girls were princesses. Fortunately, their princess dresses were still in storage here from last winter, so with just a little aluminum foil and cardboard, we were ready!

Josh (the cowboy:o) and Guildy during the pumpkin-or-watermelon carving contest. The girls' pumpkin won the contest. It's the one with the face to Hadley's left.A few other fun costumes. Samuel Jensen and his girlfriend Joelle....dressed up as each other:o) Iain a.k.a William Wallace. To quote our resident Scotsman: "Do you really think the real William Wallace looked like Mel Gibson. Come on."

Random....Very Random

The following consist of a very random conglomeration of photos deemed blog-worthy for a variety of reasons.

I just came across this on one Cooper's Facebook. Looks kind of artistic, doesn't it? In reality, it's from last July, and it's Grandma Linda, Guildy, and Hadley eating popcicles in front of the "good tin" which, the week before the big all-class reunion in Circle, replaced the crusty, rusty tin chunks covering the old burned out drug store.Hadley, today, naked in the kiddie pool. You can just never get enough of these:o)

Guildy and Josh in the Dominican Republic on the family mud bogging tour of the coastal area near the resort. Hadley and I didn't participate, but everyone who went had a great time. Guildy looks less than impressed with the mud in this picture, but she said she had fun. Guildy and Great Grandma Milli in the Domican Republic. Such beauties!!

And....completely unrelated....Josh's sister Cooper and her boyfriend Lex's Halloween costume. So, so extremely funny...

Rainy Day

This weekend's tropical storm brought nothing more than some normal rainy season weather, for which we are very thankful and which the girls have been enjoying immensely. The building we are staying in for the next couple weeks has a great downspout, perfect for filling cups and

'cooking'!

Tropical Storm Richard

It looks like it could be a breezy, rainy evening on the North Coast. Please pray for God's protection from rain-related problems.

Punta Cana

All 61 members of the extended Browning Family from IL, FL, MT, CA, NV, and NY met in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic last week for a family reunion. Of course, you can't really tell who is who from the photo below. It's mostly just impressive to have that many related people wearing matching t-shirts and squinting and sweating like pigs in the hot October Domican sun:o) Most of the family we hadn't seen since the last big Browning trip in 2007. Grandma Milli is 87 and still doing great!

Mike, Lisa, and all the kids and spouses.The week was filled with lots of visiting, swimming, and digging at the beach. And yummy food, too! Zech, Mike, and Oatus and Owen. Can't tell they're all related!

Guildy and Cousing Hayden

Owen, Guildy, Hadley, and Oatus at the beach.

Oops, forgot to turn this one. Oh well, Guildy and Cooper still look babin'!