Emma sings for ASA!

So Emma is involved in the drama club at school.  There was a program at Halloween where they did the play Hansel and Gretel.  It was cute but simple.  We went to school for this weeks program expecting the same type of program.  The play was a little better and more put together.  At one part in the play it looks as though the 3rd graders are going to sing but my daughter just stays up there.  I was a bit embarrassed for her at first because she clearly seemed to be in the wrong place.  But much to our surprise Emma sang a solo for the school.  She had not told my hubby, nor I that she was doing this.

When I asked her after why she hadn't told us she said, "I did!  Last night." 

My replay was, "No last night you told me you were nervous. That is all."  She was shocked that I didn't gather from that sentence that she was singing a solo.

We are so proud of her!  She is growing up so much everyday right in front of my eyes.


 

My Kids Speak in Church

I want to start by apologizing to my family. My kids gave these talks in Sacrament Meeting several weeks ago and it has taken me time to get them put together.

I would also like to apologize to any typos or errors. Yes, I noticed them but I honestly could not figure out how to go back and delete after I had moved on to the next slide. I could have figured it out had I been given enough time, but I figured you would rather see them sooner than later.

Lastly, I would like to apologize to all of you Spanish speakers out there. I am sure my translation leaves something to be desired, but you get the idea.

I am so proud of my kids for their courage to get up and do this. It was several weeks of practice and hard work but in the end they were confident and willing to step out of their comfort zone. Emma has become so confident in her Spanish that last week she stood and shared her testimony without any preparation. I have wonderful kids and I thank God everyday for them.

Halloween in Paraguay

I know it has been nearly 2 months since I posted, but honestly I don't have that much to post about.  Life here is pretty dull, but we like it that way.  We are spending a ton of time together as a family and getting to know the other families here. 

Shawn has kept super busy with his church calling.  Our bishop has a very sick baby girl that will be in the hospital for several months.  As you can imagine he is consumed with taking care of his family and has left much of the church business up to my hubby and the other counselor.

About a month ago I learned that the maid we loved so much had been stealing from us.  So my month has been filled with trying to find someone new.  I feel blessed that a family with the embassy had a maid but not a house, so I borrowed their maid for the last 5 weeks until we could find a new one.  I think we have a winner, but only time will tell.

Other than that the kids are doing really well in school and their Spanish amazes me every day.  Isaac just said to me this morning, "Mom when we got here I didn't know any Spanish and now I am learning it muy rapido."  He makes me smile.  What is even more amazing is to hear the kids talk to only Spanish speakers.  I stand in awe. 

On the 27th the kids and I headed to the embassy to decorate my hubby's office.  It was fun to just spend time with the kids making memories.  We hung ribbons, balloons, ghosts, spiders and spider webs.  We put our pumpkins out and added a few things to make it feel like home.  I would post a pic, but no cameras are allowed in that part of the embassy.  But here are pics of the kids' pumpkins.  This is the best we could find here, and the kids got a kick out of them.

There is no doubt our Halloween was not Halloween in the states.  But between the school and the Embassy it was still wonderful.  On the 28th Isaac dressed up as 3 different characters.  He started the day off as a zombie for a musical performance his class did for the school, then changed into his favorite book character, Jengo Fett (because that is what we had) and then finished the day as Harry Potter.  Now I know you are wondering why he couldn't be Harry Potter for his favorite book character.  The answer, because his mother is very mean and would not let him go as a character in a book he has not read.  So Star Wars it was. 

Zombie

Jengo Fett

The evening of the 28th we headed back to the school for a parade of costumes, trick or treating (just Isaac), dinner and games.  It turned out to be a fun night, after we found Isaac.  There was a time there that we couldn't find him, but he was so smart and went to the bus stop and waited for us to find him.  Isaac played games with his best friend Max, Emma ran off with her friends and Shawn waited for the "fun" to be over so we could go home and he could go to bed.  He spent the next 4 days in bed.  

The American School -- Decorated

Harry Potter, Hermione,
and Nearly Headless Sir Nicholas

On Monday we met after school at the embassy and made the rounds to all the offices collecting candy. The kids decided to go with a Harry Potter themed Halloween so Isaac was Harry, Emma was Hermione and Eli was Nearly Headless Sir Nicholas (how could I resist with that crazy head of hair he has?) The kids had a blast.  There were a couple of haunted houses and some great costumes.  We started in the Ambassadors office where we found the Ambassador on the floor covered in "blood," and a dull kitchen knife lying next to him.  It was funny!  He is new and it was a great introduction for the kids.  We finished at the Ambassadors house with pizza, cookie decorating and chatting with friends.  All in all it was a wonderful time.

Eli, BEGGING for more pizza

And there you have it.  Hope you had a wonderful Halloween.  And with the holidays coming up I would guess it won't be another 2 months before I post again. 

Church Calling --- the what?

On Sunday we arrived at church (late as usual-- but to be fair it starts at 8:30) and headed to our classes. While Shawn was in Priesthood and I was in Primary we were summoned by one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency.

 This is what we hear: "Buenos Dias, something something hasta mañana mummble, somthing importante que something, somthing something something servir something parte something, something fuerte something."

 I look at my sweet husband and he looks at me and I say, "I didn't get any of that did you?"

 "NOPE"

 The man repeats again what he wants and at the end I look at my husband and say, "I think they are calling you to be the first counselor in the bishopric."

My sweet husband feeling overwhelmed by the HUGE language barrier says, "When do you need to know?"

"Sometime before sacrament."

With about an hour to come to terms with this new calling we sat, talked, prayed and cried. Okay I cried. And now I will sit by myself during church, kiss my Tuesday nights good bye and probably have to stop cursing. But I will pray for strength... and the gift of tongues and enjoy the service.

Why don't we have "Children's Day"?

Until now the answer to that question was always what my parent's told me, "Everyday is Children's Day." But now that we are embracing the Paraguayan culture we have learned that today August 16th is Children's Day in Paraguay.

Why you ask? The story is actually quite tragic. We are remembering the infamous Battle of Acosta Ñu. In 1869 the war had already taken its toll on Paraguay the dictator Francisco Lopez needed younger and younger recruits for the his army, this particular battalion was made up of 3,500 children ages six to fifteen. Although the war was essentially over the Brazilian government wanted Lopez captured and on August 16th, 20,000 thousand men from Brazil's army obliterated the small Paraguayan battalion made up of mostly children.

So today we honor their memory (and pray our children will never be forced to take up arms to defend our country at such a young age) by celebrating the innocence of being a kid.

So Happy Children's Day to you!

MADE IN THE USA! (Or as close as we can get.)

Shawn's birthday was not too long ago and it is tradition that he eat pie for his birthday (So he is not forced to share a cake with his daughter who has a birthday 2 days later.) We looked high and low for a pie this year and could not find one. So instead of a pie we bought a very different cake from a very pricey bakery around here. Shawn and I really liked the cake, it was very moist (almost like it had been dipped in milk) and a little bit tart as it was a lime cake. The kids however hated it and it took some begging and pleading just to get Isaac to take a bite, afterwards he assured me he was going to "throw up in [his] mouth."

So it is tradition in our house to have dessert on Sunday nights. Last night I whipped up a lemon cake (thanks to Betty Crocker) and orange frosting. As you might expect from my unadventurous 7 year old he did not want to eat it. To which Emma said, "Isaac it is homemade with powder right from the U.S."

Yes, that is how I homemake almost everything with powder right from the US.

Things I Do Now that I Didn't Do Three Months Ago

• make pizza sauce from scratch
• buy (and actually use) fresh herbs from the grocery store
• spend several hundred dollars a month on amazon.com
• patiently wait 2-3 weeks for my Amazon order to arrive
• have a stock pile of breakfast cereal just in case there in an emergency
• buy meat from the butcher (IN SPANISH)
• buy fruit by the kilo
• pay the bag boy to walk my groceries home for me
• Sit through 3 hours of church I don't understand
• beg my English speaking friends to go to lunch with me
• wear shoes all the time (in the states I would rather be shoeless)
• have clean sheets twice a week
• hand wash dishes (sometimes it is just easier)
• check facebook 15 times a day (okay sometimes I did that before moving here)
• talk to the baby first in English then in Spanish (because he won't point and laugh)
• invite the missionaries over once a week
• smile when I hear my kids speaking Spanish
• stand in the grocery store and convert currency in my head
• look out my window when I hear clapping (there might be someone at the door)
• usually have about 3 dozen eggs in my fridge (they come in packs of 30 or 60)
• buy eggs warm off the shelf
• buy milk in one liter bags that then are frozen and stored; we defrost 4 liters at a time 1 whole liter for Eli and 2 skims and a whole for everyone who is not Eli
• try to teach people how to say my kids' names (for some reason Eli is the hardest one)
• schedule all of my (and my kids) Dr. appointments around the few weeks I will be in the states
• use our awesome bbq at least once a weekend
• eat coconut cookies; because they are good!
• drink yogurt, because there is no other kind
• use a prepaid phone plan because it is cheaper
• force my kids to try junk food because we are in a new place and we try new things
• hide my underwear so the maid will not wash them when she is here
• buy coke in returnable bottles
• constantly check to make sure the baby is not playing with roach traps
• or roaches --- yes, gross, I know

I'm sure there will be many more. 

I guess things could be worse I could be living in Ouagadougou!  hehehehehe---Yes Sheryl, I do think I am funny!

~