Jonah & Silas' 1st Haircut

My little ball headed boys finally got some hair. It was getting pretty scraggly in the back. Haircuts for the boys was one of the first things on our "To-do list" once we got here. I was a little worried about this haircut because I didn't want the boys to look funny the whole time they are here, but my cousin recommended the lady that cuts her boys' hair.

She was so good with them! She let them sit in Jimmy's lap the whole time. Jimmy's mom had the idea to use ring pops again. That work really well.

Papa and Kiki came too! It was a family event!

I saved a curl from each of them... all their curls are gone now.

The buzzer was fun!

Jonah didn't fuss at all until afterwards. He was running a fever, so it was understandable. It wasn't much of a fuss anyway.

Silas ended up looking the most different, since he had more hair to begin with.

Papa helped entertain them too...

while Mama & Kiki took a bunch of picture!

Since the ring pop was the main event I don't think they even noticed they were getting a haircut!

It was a wonderful experience. My boys look so handsome with their big boy haircuts!

Moments Worth Keeping

I am so far behind from posting everything I want to remember from this furlough. Our laptops have been out of commission. Mine started acting up right before we left Guatemala. Thanks to AppleCare I was going to basically get a brand new laptop for free (new logic board, battery, hard drive). Anyway Jimmy and I decided to trade because mine had a dual processor and his was smaller with a much better battery (I don't ever sit at a desk), so it's Jimmy that is going to get a brand new laptop for free. Switching ended up being a lot harder than I thought, but we finally have one working laptop again and it's mine!

Our first Sunday here, my aunt invited all of my dad's side of the family over to her house for lunch. I am so thankful for how close my dad's siblings have stayed. I hope my boys will be like that.

They always have a lot of fun together. This is definitely the gene pool Jonah came out of. I see so many Carswell traits in him.

I was so thankful for this time with everyone. This would have been the only way we would get to see everyone while we're here, so I really appreciate my aunt putting it all together.

Jonah and Silas got to interact with their cousins. All the little kids were so good with them.

Part of our future Petén family lives in Jacksonville... Becca! (We missed you Jay!)

She has been coming over almost every night after class. We love spending time with her!

Becca went shopping with me one day. It is overwhelming coming back here with so many options. It is nice to have help. I've been shopping with my mom too. I'm taking all of Jonah & Silas' 2T clothes back with us and some toys to save until later, some new clothes for Jimmy and I, spices, toiletries, and other kinds of household things.

One night Becca, Jimmy and I went out to one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you.

This was our chef! We had a lot of fun.

We got to go see my Grandma Carswell. She lives about 5 minutes from my parents house and they visit her almost every day for lunch. (I love that about my parents.)

Jonah used a drink machine for the first time.

I think he thought that was a pretty cool toy.

Silas found the candy machine.

They also found some spinning chairs.

My grandma kept unintentionally referring to Silas as a "she" because his hair was so long in the back! So right after this we went and got the boys' first haircut.

Moments like these I want to keep forever.

One night my mom and Becca watched the boys while Jimmy and I went on a date. It was wonderful!

Last Wednesday we met with Bro. Messer, my home pastor. We got to share our vision about KBI. He was very supportive, so much so he even planned a trip for December to come teach a module!

Wagons, Doggie Doors and a Bunch of Gringos

We have had the best time so far in Jax. We have already done so many things.

The boys got to visit with their Great Grandma Wootton.

They met Bella and learned how to use her doggie door.

Silas even says "Baba" when he's looking for her.

We have gone on walks.

Silas likes to walk Bella.

My aunt sent us this wagon to use while the boys are here, they love it! I actually have 2 aunts that were so nice to send all kinds of toys, clothes, car seats, and even another crib for us to use while we are here. Add on top of that all the goodies their Kiki had for them, they haven't even played with all of the toys yet.

Poor Jonah came down with a fever the night before we flew out of Guatemala City. He has been running a temp off and on for days now. Silas just starting with one yesterday. It hasn't slowed them down much.

They love playing with Kiki and Papa. They explore their new surroundings all day long.

They love Kiki's cooking!

In the Petén they always wear sandals, but we decided to spring for some dressier shoes while we are here... socks and all. I love seeing them in their little boat shoes. They look so grown up.

Sunday we went to our home church. Jimmy got to speak in the Spanish ministry. The singles class has been really supportive of us. We enjoyed visiting with them!

I was really nervous about the boys being in the nursery. They have never experienced something like that. They have pretty much spent every waking moment with their mommy since birth. Jonah walked right in and found a piano and never looked back. Silas was a little timid. He cried at first, but this man was so sweet and sat with him. I am so thankful for the workers who were so nice to my boys!

After church Silas was at the door waiting for his mommy. I couldn't find Jonah, he was busy exploring! It's funny because I thought they were going to be the opposite of this. Ever since we got to the States they have switched. Jonah is less bashful around gringos and Silas, my little outgoing boy, doesn't want anything to do with them.

I Always Wanted to Go To Belize

Last Wednesday we made the 6+ hour trek to Guatemala City to fly back to the States for our 2 month furlough. We found out at the last minute that we were going to have to pay $800 to leave our vehicle there while we were gone. There are a lot of micros getting stolen right now, so that was the only safe option we could find. About the same time we found out about that price our friend Luis called and said that he insisted on driving us to Guatemala City and then picking us up when we get back. (For those of you who have been down here it's the coaster driver Luis.) At the last minute we also changed who was going to be watching our dogs. We were going to leave them at our forever house and have Lico feed them, but instead the mini zoo keeper from the hotel in our town said that he could watch them. This lets them stay at our house which is added securing for us. We had just recently gotten to know him. He is very good with animals. Both of these things were a specific need that God met for us that I am very thankful for. No need is too small for God to take care of.

{At Taca check-in Thursday morning}

Thursday morning we flew to Miami. For the boys' sake we were so excited about having a direct flight.

When we got to the gate we were casually informed that we would be landing in Belize to refuel. All the tourists were thrilled, but we go to Belize all the time, so to us it just meant another hour to our flight. They told us some story about a gas tank fire in Miami but honestly I think Taca was too cheap to buy Guatemalan gas (that had just gone up substantially).

So 2 hours into what we thought was going to be a quick direct flight we were sitting on a runway in Belize (about an hour drive from our house lol). The boys had just fallen asleep, but of course this mini layover woke them up.

{Silas with his ring pop}

We had 3 seats, 2 had been purchased with sky miles! That means we get 6 pieces of luggage to come back with!

I was really worried about how the boys would behave on the plane, so I had tons of things planned for them on the flight. We had gotten them headphones and they watched videos of themselves. We colored, snacked, looked at the magazines, sang (very quietly), and had several toys we kept rotating. Someone suggested suckers to us to help the boys with the pressure change. Genius I tell you... genius! I will never fly again without suckers. The boys did so good on the flight, even the lady in front of us commented as we were getting off about how good they had been. I am so thankful (and relieved)!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: Jimmy was in possession of the ring pops when we got on the plane. We had 4 carry-ons plus 2 boys, so understandably he dropped one (a ring pop, not a boy). Unfortunately it landed in the middle of the aisle full of boarding passengers. He was going to wait to get it, but the ring pop never would have survived. It most definitely would have been trampled. I saw Jimmy's face and knew what he was thinking. All hopes of a peaceful flight were about to be lost. Without hesitating Jimmy threw himself over the ring pop in a full body block. The only casualty was the man across the aisle from us who was innocently placing his bag in the overhead compartment. His personal space had definitely been violated. The man disgustedly looked over his shoulder knowing nothing of the ring pop that had just been saved. I was laughing out loud by this point, but before we could explain the poor man asked for another seat and was moved to the front of the plane. I have never seen Jimmy get that close to another male... proof that there is little a father of twins won't do to preserve a little sanity.

New Materials

We leave for a 2 month furlough in less than 48 hours. Can you sense the anxiety? In the last couple days we have been checking things off of our "To-do list". We've done fun things like go to the dentist, lay a leach field at our forever house, take a family photo, clean up baby vomit (not on the list), get Atzi fixed... all the super fun things you put off until you're about to leave your life for an extended period of time.

In the midst of those things I have 2 very good nap takers, so I was able to update our materials in time for our furlough. I reworked our website with a new program that loads much faster than iWeb (Goodbye MobileMe!) and is googleable. Our website is what brought us into contact with Pastor Andy, James Yoder, and Jay the temp intern, all blessings to our ministry, so we think it is pretty important. If you had the other one bookmarked you may need to redo it with just this address:

www.jimandshelley.com

So all of our materials have our new logo on them now. I even had time to make a favicon! The boards that are the background on everything are the boards from our building in Santa Rita... kind of sentimental.

We ordered new and improved prayer cards... improved because they have adorable twins on them!

The family photo was an ordeal. We had the camera with a timer on our tripod. We had ordered a remote just for occasions like these, but once we were all dressed for the photo we realized the batteries had melted in the remote... it's that hot here. It started pouring down rain as we were walking out the door too, that is why the photo was taken on our patio. We put Jimmy's laptop on a table in front of the camera with family videos playing to get J & S to look in that direction. It helped, but still after 100+ photos I didn't have a single photo with 4 pleasant faces looking at the camera. So...

I stole Jonah's head from the photo above and...

photoshopped it on top of this one for our final photo (the one on the prayer card). Jonah had been a sweetheart the whole time we were snapping photos, so I thought he deserved a happy face.

Anyway, that's what is going on around here. Jimmy is meeting with José and Domingo right now about radio stuff. When the boys wake up we are going to Santa Rita for one last visit. Then it is off to Guatemala City. Thankfully we only have one flight, a straight shot to Miami. It's good to be from FL, it saves you a lot on airfare.