Raves and Rants

Yeah! Time to blog! Just for the record, I have all kinds of time to sit and blog. I just choose to do other things like sleep, bathe, etc. I have 24 hours in everyday just like the rest of you.

One thing about not blogging very much, and not having time to read all of the blogs that I love, is that I feel much more disconnected. I just have some things to talk about. I have some rants, and a couple of raves.

Rant: Doctors in Guatemala don't care at all about child development. They don't ask questions about it. They also prescribe medicine for the slightest ailment with what seems like little regard for what Mom and Dad think. Parents aren't really part of the process, but more like an appendage to the patient that needs to be "treated."

Rave: I live in a country that has very good medical care. If my kid gets sick, I don't have to travel to some filthy, open air clinic with circuit doctors. I don't have to have medicine (except for the occasional children's Claratin) brought in from the states. I don't have to be care-flighted to another country for emergencies. I can get ultrasounds, x-rays, antibiotics, doctor advice, and all kinds of care for my family with relative ease, just maybe some long wait times and long lines.

Rant: Errand running in Guatemala. To go get cash, pay the electric bill, pay rent, and visit a carpenter, I will most likely need 3+ hours. Maybe more if the lines are long.

Rave: I have a wonderful muchacha that works for us and keeps me sane. She cleans my house, irons my clothes, and has started doing most of the cooking. (you may be wondering why I'm ranting about anything if this is one of my raves)

Rant: The bed that I wanted for BoyD's room is the coolest boat-shaped bunk bed, but will cost $950 to make here, and we can't afford that...because that's almost a thousand dollars for a bed.

Rave: We found a very simple wooden bunk bed for half the price, mattresses included.

Rant: Foolish people. Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice."

Rant: My own judgmental heart. Like for some reason, I am that person who knows what those foolish people need to do.

Rave: Prayers for healing. God our Father heals. How cool that we can petition Him when we are sick, and that He is faithful! Does he always say "yes?" No, but He does say "yes" a lot. A lot more when we ask Him more. He has healed BabyK's upset tummy, Brandon's ear ache, and He's working on GirlM's cold, and that is just this last week.

Rave: Godly people who love you. I have a woman who lives here in Xela (a missionary) and every time I talk to her, she blesses my spirit.

Rant: Not sleeping through the night. I know people who get a lot less sleep than I do, and they are doing great (well...they are managing), but I need a lot of sleep. I really need 9 hours a night to "feel" rested. Maybe I can get that when my kids are out of the house. For now, I am dealing with waking 1 or 2 times every night to feed my beautiful baby.

Rave: (Update: Last night he slept for almost 7 hours...and I did too!!!!)

Rave and Rant: Homeschooling. I love that I get to be the one to most influence my children, that I get to teach them what I feel is important, and that I am not going to miss out on important moments. I really don't like fighting BoyD to finish cutting out the number 3. I don't like that it takes him over an hour to color a tree trunk because he just doesn't want to do it and can't find the "right" color brown.

Rave: Disney World

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Back in the Saddle Again!

I have really high hopes of eventually having time to regularly blog again. I think at this point that they might be a little...well, unrealistic. But for the moment, I am taking some time to put down some thoughts, events, photos, etc.

Just in case you have any desire to know what is going on in our lives! :)


BabyK is now 5 1/2 weeks old. He is starting to smile. He was (at one point) sleeping 6 hours straight at night, but is now back to waking every 3 hours at night to eat. Sigh. I'm tired, but I know it won't last forever.



Both BoyD and GirlM are adjusting well to the new baby. GirlM is very interested in the baby, but also wants to be in my arms a lot. She is a lot fussier. But, she is eating better and hopefully gaining a little weight.


(The kiddos in a "roller coaster" inside their "house")

The coolest thing I have noticed with the new baby coming and moving back to Guatemala is how well the other two are getting along. They play together all the time. BoyD looks out for his sister and sees her as a friend. They bicker and whine, but overall, they are good buds.

We are trying to unpack. It is really hard to do with 3 kids underfoot making messes as we area cleaning them up. Poco a poco. (Little by little)

BabyK gets way too few baths. He got is first in the tub bath this morning. He was getting a little rank and crusty.



After bath was time for his first cloth diaper! Yeah! Finally! We have been battling a diaper rash b/c the kid poops all the time. Now that the rash is better, I put him in cloth.


The above pictured diaper is one that I made for him. I made it out of Brandon's old t-shirts and it is super soft! I am pretty proud of it, although he is about to grow out of it because it took us 5 weeks to get rid of his diaper rash.

Ok...on to a little more personal note.
I'm very homesick. I miss my mom. I miss clean water and ATM machines and reasonably priced baby equipment. I miss English TV shows. I don't yet feel at home here even though it feels like home because we still aren't unpacked. I feel a little like a stranger again here. The states feel like home but we didn't really feel at home entirely there either because we never had our own space. (Although we were so blessed to have people to stay with that made us feel welcome and gave us as much space as their houses would allow!)

My life feels very out of sorts. I am not used to this as I am a little anal about organization and routine and structure.

• I still can't wear my clothes (and we are going to Disney World in 1 week!). I have 15 more pounds to lose. (with my other kids, I was at pre-preggo weight by 6 weeks...I am getting older, I guess)
• I don't have my closet or my kids' closets organized yet so I don't know wear my socks are or the 3 pair of sweat pants that I can wear.
  
• My kids have not watched TV (thankfully), but have received no education in a long time.
• I don't have any kind of routine as I am getting out of bed at around 9am every morning.
  
• I haven't read my Bible in I don't know how long.

Ok..enough complaining. My life is so blessed by a wonderful husband who gets the older kids up, makes them breakfast so that I can sleep in, and watches the baby so that I can blog. I have 3 wonderful children who make all of the craziness worth it.

Back to work, I guess.