Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A Day In Our Life

None of our days are typical really. I just decided this morning I would pick today to take a "snapshot" so that you could see what one was like... actually I wish I had taken more snapshots of this day!


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

4:00 - I wake up to feed the boys.


5:00 - Lucha sees a scorpion crawling down the hall and tells us about it.


5:05 - Jimmy wakes up and kills the scorpion. (FYI: A scorpion killing kit is the same as a spider killing kit, just change the flipflop to a larger shoe.)

Lucha proudly standing in front of the squashed scorpion!


5:10 - I work on and finish my first set of Bible story finger puppets for the boys. This one was the story of Zacchaeus. I am seriously considering selling some of these sets on etsy, but that's another post. I am having too much fun creating them. / Hang some laundry on the line.

Here's Zacchaeus


5:15 - Our neighbor starts revving his truck engine right outside the boys' nursery window... I spend the next 5 minutes trying to figure out WHY he does this EVERY weekday morning and if there is any way this could possibly be benificial to his vehicle. I decide that it doesn't matter and that I need to work on the whole loving your neighbor thing. The boys stir, but don't waken.


7:00 - Jonah and Silas wake up for their second feeding of the day (Side Note: It just happened to be 3 hrs later, I do not believe in the whole making your baby wait 3 hrs thing.)


7:40 - Playtime with boys! We sing and play with finger puppets. They have tummy time in Jonah's crib together. They grab each other's hand and smile at each other a lot now. I enjoy watching them interact.

Silas and his baby pushup!

Jonah and his baby pushup!


9:00 - Jimmy works in his garden. / Boys go back to sleep.

A beautiful okra flower in Jimmy's garden!


10:00 - We wake up the boys and leave the house to drive to Santa Elena (the "big city" in Petén about 40 minutes or so from our house.)


11:00 - We drop off our micro to get an oil change and to fix a patched leaky tire. They say it is going to take an 1.5hr. Thus begins the "1.5" jokes. In Latin America you take whatever estimated time frame you are given and multiply it by a "distance from reality factor"! Petén's distance factor is a pretty large number.


11:10 - Abel meets us at the mechanic shop to pick up the title to the Blazer that Luis needed us to sign over and then drops us off at the Pizza Hut.


11:15 - Our plan is to wait in Pizza Hut until the micro is finished since there is no way the 4 of us can fit in a tuktuk. We chose the Pizza Hut because it is air conditioned, has a large booth big enough for us all to fit in and I can feed the boys without an audience. Plus they serve delicious coffee! (Side Note: I'm not sure if it is the same in the States, but PH has THE BEST hot wing sauce. Jimmy ruined it for me though because he told me that the hot wings were 60 cents a piece. So now I just buy a little cup of the sauce and dip my pizza into it. Honestly it is THE BEST hot sauce I have tasted. I wish I could buy a large bottle of it. I would dip everything in it!

Our normal booth that we fit in with both carriers (old photo).


11:16 - The waitress tells us that the section that has our booth in it is closed right now, so we have to squeeze into a little one by the entrance.... oh well. (Another Side Note: We usually skype in Pizza Hut on our laptops with our parents so that they can see the boys. The internet in our town is too slow. It was too noisy around this booth, so no grandparents time today.)


11:30 - Our pizza comes, but the waitress forgot my hot sauce.


11:45 - Waitress comes back with hot sauce, Silas makes a humongous diaper!


11:55 - Back from changing diaper, eat my cold but deliciously spicy pizza.


12:15 - Jimmy calls mechanic. They say that it will be another 45 minutes, but that they're "almost done". We enjoy our time just chatting together and playing with the boys.


1:00 - Jimmy calls mechanic. This time they say, "Hey, your tire has 10 holes in it. You need to buy a new one." Jimmy says that's fine, we'll buy 2.


1:05 - We leave Pizza Hut and decide to kill time at the Maxi Bodega and dollar store... or at least what I call the dollar store. I find some alphabet magnets for the boys! Silas makes another humongous diaper... this one's a change your outfit one.


1:30 - Jimmy calls mechanic. They say, "Fijese, we don't have any tires this size, but we will start calling some friends to see if they do."


2:15 - The boys need to eat again, so we decide to try and find another cool secluded place... like an ice cream store... right?

Saritas (on right) has delicious ice cream. This is at a new shopping center across from the airport. It is the most modern "looking" area within hours.


2:16 - After walking in we realize that there is NO air and it seriously smells like the outhouses in Santa Rita, but figured there weren't any better options, so we sit down.


2:17 - We feel bad sitting in there without ordering anything so Jimmy gets a small sundae and I get a Mirinda.


2:18 - I realize that I have had 3 coffees and a Mirinda to drink all day and wonder how my body even makes milk.


2:35 - I feel bad changing Jonah inside the ice cream shop even though no one could smell him over the stench already there, so I take him outside to change him on a bench.


2:40 - I come back inside and tell Jimmy that it is actually cooler outside, so we leave.


2:41 - Jimmy calls mechanic. They say that a friend has tires, told us the price, and that it would be 45 min.


2:42 - I realize the cake shop next door has air conditioning, so we move in there. These cakes are very pretty, but very Chapin (Guatemalan), and since they don't serve any drinks we didn't buy anything. The lady was very nice and loved playing with the boys, so she let us just sit in there.

Before Jonah really let loose on Daddy! His spare shirt was in the micro!


3:24 - The micro's ready. Jimmy takes a tuk tuk to go pick it up. (It took 4.5hrs to get an oil change and fix the tire.)

We have a rearview mirror again! Ever since the whole windshield incident Jimmy couldn't get the old glass off to be able to glue on the new one... he was happy.


3:45 - We go by market to pick up a Kekchi couple from New Horizon. They are longtime friends and the lady has been very sick. She kept going to a witch doctor and finally we convinced her to let us take her to a real doctor. She was very nervous about this, but in so much pain, finally willing to try it.


3:50 - Dr. Aragon (my Petén OB) sees her. He is very patient with her. I was going to go in with her, but since her husband was there I figured that he would instead. I stayed in the micro with the boys, and somehow Jimmy ended up in there with both of them! She was too shy to talk to the doctor. She told Jimmy, "He doesn't speak Kekchi, so I will talk to you and you can tell him what I say." The thing is, Jimmy doesn't speak Kekchi either, he is just used to her broken Spanish... I thought it was cute!


4:10 - After an ultrasound and examination, we leave the doctor's office with a diagnosis and some pills... everyone's happy.


4:20 - The 6 of us stop by my eye doctor. I have had an eye infection for 3 weeks now and can't get rid of it. My doctor was supposed to give me the all clear to wear my contacts again, but she wasn't there. She's in Honduras... oh well.


4:25 - We stop by the post office to check our PO box. (We can get bubble mailers from the States for somewhat reasonable prices... really unreasonable, but the Grandmas like sending stuff!)

We had 2 from my mom waiting on us! These had clothes for the boys and food for us!


5:00 - We drop off the couple at the gate to New Horizon and pick up Mateo.


5:15 - We make it home and realize that 2 pieces of our left over pizza fell out of the box in the micro. Fije and Lucha are very happy about that.


5:16 - In her typical "you'd have to have lived on the streets to have skills like this" fashion, Fije stole half of Luchas'.


5:17 - Feeling sorry for Lucha, I tore off half of one of my remaining good pieces to give to her.


5: 20 - Jimmy cleaned up for the adult Bible study in Santa Rita. / I cleaned Mateo's finger he had sliced with a machete and got him a new bandaid.


5:30 - Jimmy and Mateo leave for Santa Rita. / I feed the boys. Afterwards we read a lot of books and sing.


6:15 - They make it to Santa Rita.


6:30 - Adult Bible study starts. It ended up being the biggest turnout yet! 4 new teenagers came too and participated.


7:45 - Jimmy and Mateo leave Santa Rita. / I laugh at Lucha for following me around like a cat because of the loud thunder. She blocks the doorway while I read to the boys so that I can't shut the nursery door... scaredy cat! I let her because she's cute.


8:25 - Jonah and Silas fall asleep.


8:45 - Jimmy's home! (It took an hour because he stopped by an ATM.) Jimmy tells me about what I missed at the Bible study and I tell him about what adorable things our boys did while he was gone.


9:0o - We heat up some yummy soup Jimmy had made in the crock pot the day before. He's a crock pot master. We continue watching a Doris Day movie that Jimmy had DVR'd for me.


9:15 - We pause movie because of a thud we both hear.


9:16 - We discover it was another very large scorpion. It had fallen out of a plant that was on the wall (very close to Jimmy's head) and had landed on the tile.

I know... I need to sweep up the ceiling flakes/wall flakes/lizard poop/dust under my end table. Our windows are always open, so you get over it.


9:18 - Jimmy kills scorpion.


9:20 - We eat some yellow Peeps that came in the bubble mailers and then just talk and spend time together.


10:30 - We decide at least one of us needed to go to sleep. Jimmy stays up to work on translating class outlines for the Kekchi Institute module next month.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing one of your days. Scorpions! That's something I'd have a VERY hard time getting use to.
    As far as the Bible story finger puppets - I'd think it would be a fantastic idea to sell them. I'd buy some to use in my daycare and maybe even in Baby Bay at church. I know of several parents and/or childcare providers that would be interested.
    God Bless

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  2. Your life sounds quite similiar to ours, except that I think our city is bigger than where you are. And those bubble envelopes from Grandmas are the BEST. It makes our day to get one of those full of little treats from home.

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  3. I loved reading this. You, Jimmy and Jonah and Silas are being prayed for.

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  4. What an amazing day. You guys make it look easy. Glad you are so young and strong and have God looking out for you. I will continue praying that God will keep you all safe and productive. Love you guys.

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  5. Sounds like a long, rough day for all of you. Ya'll always handle everything so well. I am so glad ya'll truly trust God for your care and we are glad to know you are in His hands! I know there are many friends and family praying for all of you on a daily basis.

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  6. Shelley, I love you . . . . And Jimmy's okay. =) [[[HUG]]]

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  7. oh wow, what a day. Scorpions, look frightening. The finger puppets look fantastic

    Could you please email asap

    Thanks

    SuzanneinAustralia
    Hannah's prayer

    suzannembrown@bigpond.com

    ReplyDelete

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