Exciting News!!!!

As you probably know, the decision of when to leave for Honduras has weighed heavily on our minds as of late. It has been very difficult to tread the line of "counting the cost" while also trying to rely on Jehovah and not on ourselves. Living here in California also has made it easy to get distracted from our goals. Thankfully, we have the encouraging visit of the Circuit Overseer this week and we have been able to discuss our plans with him. He had some very good advice for us, and this helped us to make a decision. 

So....we have booked our flight for Honduras. We leave September 14.

It feels so good to have an actual plan of action now. If this plan works out the way we hope, Jehovah willing, we will be able to stay in Central America full time. 

And you know what this means. We will be down there during the super rainy season, which makes us ridiculously happy for some reason. I think we envision water up to our waists carrying us off, never to be heard from again. I don't know if it actually gets that bad, but how cool would it be, right?

Anyway...we are headed off to Colorado next week to visit my parents and go to the Convention. Should have some good pictures. Road Trip!

The last week or so has been interesting. Zach is all better from his operation and is back at work. I've been on my deathbed for about two weeks with some nasty sinus stuff, but I'm starting to get better. The only thing is- I can't hear! I've been almost completely deaf for about a week now, and it has no signs of going away. When I went to the doctor, they didn't see anything wrong with the ear itself, so it's probably related to the sickness, but it is so weird.

 We're getting closer to being able to leave, so I'm starting to do all the paperwork and such. We had been planning to take my cat with us when we go back to Honduras, but I just got all the requirements and I don't think that's gonna happen. There's sooooooo many rules.
And the other fun thing I got to do today....I finally went to the Social Security office and officially changed my last name. Yes, I know, I am the world's worst procrastinator. I just kept thinking I would do it when my passport got close to expiring, and five years later, my passport is close to expiring...so yeah.
Now to change all the other documents before leaving....fun fun.

Super excited!

Awesome day today.  We went to the local swap meet to browse and found a little taste of Honduras.  One of the stands was selling fruits that we tried while we were down there,  including the rotten brown fruit,  which I now know is called mami. And. ... they had guanabana! Our favorite!

That is all.

The Zoo!

The past couple of weeks have been interesting. Zach has been really sick from a kidney stone and hasn't been able to work at all. Tomorrow he is having outpatient surgery to get rid of it. Hoping all goes well. Thankfully he isn't getting cut open. They are going to stick a laser in him and blast it to pieces. At least, that's the plan. If that doesn't work, he will have to schedule another procedure. Fun fun.

Next month we are going out to Colorado for the District Convention at the new Assembly Hall. Super Excited!

Last week, our niece had a field trip to the zoo with her school, so I tagged along. Yay pictures of animals! (Kids count as animals too, right?)

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

It's only been a busy couple of months. Let's see if I can remember everything....

Well, not off to a good start. I'm drawing a blank on February. So we will start with the Memorial. Our hall had clean up day, and we got to paint the sign and the gates. This was only slightly frightening since I kept having to paint over black widows and I was pretty sure they were going to attack me. However, I escaped unharmed. Here's some pictures.

We signed up to auxiliary pioneer in March and April. I spent two weeks with my grandparents during the campaign and got to work rural driving territories, which was fun. Haven't done that in ages. 

There were 416 in attendance at our Memorial. It was standing room only.

This last weekend was our 5th anniversary. Zach surprised me with a trip to Beverly Hills, which we've never been to. We stayed at a nice hotel, did some sight seeing, and got to see my dream car in real life. Pictures!

View from hotel room. You can see the Hollywood sign in the distance.

 Treats from the hotel

 Dinner. The bread came with three different dips. It was fancy.

 Zach with a Bugatti Veyron *sigh*

 The Beverly Center parking lot. This is exciting because in the movie Volcano, one of my favorites, the building gets blown up. 

So that's what's been going on with us lately. I think some other stuff happened, but I can't remember anything else. 

We still don't really have plans of any sort right now. We now know we will be staying here in California until at least August, but everything else remains to be seen. In the meantime, we're just doing what we can and we're sure it'll get figured out soon. 

Ok bye!

At Long Last

So, it only took six months or so, but I have finally finished my photo books of Honduras and El Salvador.

Here's the links if you want to take a look-see.

Honduras:
http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=62e04a4c85f7fd00394efde2a3839afd&version=304897&siteID=ViaPreview

El Salvador:
http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=bb55487ca7df988462bc11695ec9502e&version=304894&siteID=ViaPreview

Now if I could just finish our wedding album...

Guess where I am!

Yes, that is actual snow on the ground. You know what that means. I'm back in Colorado. And it is FREEZING! This was an unexpected last minute trip, and has no end date yet. But that's ok, it's giving me a chance to see old friends. I've gotten to visit the old congregation twice so far; it has been so nice to see people. I feel really loved.

 

While here, I also have been doing some more purging, trying to simplify things. It's getting down to the hard stuff, since I've already purged so much on the last visits home. On the one hand, I highly doubt we will be using any of this stuff- I'm talking about you, favorite wool coat and popcorn maker- but on the other side, these are things we've invested time in and have good memories of (yes, I have good memories involving the popcorn maker) and we might have use for them if our plans don't work out to stay down south. Ah decisions. This is kind of like ripping off a bandaid. Anyway, if anyone needs household items, let me know. I'm sure I have something you might want.

 

Sentimental time! Here are some pictures of my nieces and nephew (you'll notice they posed so nicely for me), because I have a new camera. This one is waterproof so expect some awesome underwater photos from our next trip.

 

 

You might notice I haven't mentioned our current plans. That would be because we don't have any. Well, we have a purpose, but not a plan. Points to anyone who remembers the definition and difference between a purpose and a plan from that talk a few years ago.

 

We are trying to focus on certain goals, and that requires us to stay in one place for some time. We are hoping to be in El Salvador for the convention, so if you count backwards that puts us in Honduras...this summer? Hopefully sooner, but it all depends. I'm trying really hard not to stress about it, because I'm a planner. And my plans don't always work.

 

Plus, we still really need to learn Spanish. That might actually be the main delay. :) I think I will do anything to get out of learning that language, including learning a different one. Actually, there is a Chinese group in El Salvador, so we can always learn Mandarin. I think it would be hilarious to move to a Spanish speaking country and speak every language but Spanish. Hmm, there are a lot of Germans too....

 

I'm going to try to update more often, if interesting things happen. In the meantime, check out this sister's blog http://nicachica2010.blogspot.com/. She lives in Nicaragua, and I've really enjoyed reading about her experiences.

 

Ok, that's all for now.