Moving to the hotel was really sad and difficult but we still made great memories. Gavin enjoyed eating his Mac and Cheese from a coffee mug and was fabulous at washing all of our dishes over and over in the bathroom.

Having Mike here was such a blessing this week. But having him leave was super hard especially since we do not know when he will return to bring us home. But we know this is only a season and we are taking one day at a time!

Hello everyone..sorry for the blog silence. Nadia and I are still in Guatemala and our goal is stay until the end. She is now 9 months! She is doing so well, she squeals for joy all the time. She is sleeping great, sitting up very well, she loves playing in her rana (walker). Gavin is back home in the States and is doing really well too. Mommy misses him so much but he is simply being spoiled by his Gamma's and his Aunt Chelle.

As many of you know we sent our little man back to Estados Unidos, to stay with and be spoiled by our family in Toledo. He is safe and really enjoying his time. We skype 2-3 times each day. Gavin is also getting to spend a lot more time with his daddy then he would have if he was still here in Guate.

I just wanted to post a quick post and say that I am tired, I am sick and I am sad..but I am still thankful for so many blessings.

The idea that we are living in the third world is not enough on top of it we have active volcanoes, and scorpions in our house. Fuego was active while Mike was here and it was quite amazing. Most nights Gavin shouts at the volcano, Wake Up volcano, Wake Up!" I of course hope the complete opposite. The Tailess Whip scorpion was absoulutely the worst thing the leg span was about 5.5 inches and the pinchers were scary. Luckily we had dinner guests over which sounds weird but my friends husband, who in actuality is acranaphobic helped get it from under our table. I did not sleep well that night as one can guess. Luckily we discovered they are nonvenoumus and we are a safe distance from Fuego!

Family of Four! Notice the RED, WHITE, and BLUE! Someday we will be bound for the Estados Unidos (United States) it is amazing but a reality that I try daily to accept that we still do not know when we can come home. Things that are wonderful though are the amazing new friends we are making that are all stuck in the same place. God is blessing us with health, safety and Gavin and Nadia are truly bonding in great ways. God is also providing the gift of family knowing that Mike will be here in two weeks hurry up time! Then his sister, then my Aunt Deb will be able to stay for almost what we think will be the remainder of the time is so wonderful and provides a peae of mind.

Just being cute kids.

Sorry I cannot figure out how to rotate the images..but Gavin was so fun lining up the shoes we absolutley loved it!

Cute baby tights!
So, Nadia now eats real food...she is amazing she eats solids from an actual plate..just kidding her rana (spider walker) allows her access to many things such as plates of food.

There is nothing more to say besides she is so beautiful! Que Linda y muy bonita. She is also sitting up on her own and now sleeping all night. She likes a "Patcha" Guate slang for a bottle at 5:00 A.M.

Gavin is just having a hoot here, he is entertaining himself and so many others here at Santa Rosa. He is so into throwing, jumping, shoving, kicking and exploring anything and everything. One thing he is still enjoying is hunting for make believe tigers on the grounds. His make believe play is really starting to develop and it is wonderful to watch him develop new games and imagintive play.

A future internet addict in the making. Gavin loves using his borrowed computer. Thanks Emily and KK.

It was nice to have a taste of what it is like to be a family of four. It will be so nice to finally be all together back home in Indiana someday. This journey continues to test our faith moment by moment and each day is one day closer to us being together.

This is Nanna's and Nadia's most favorite activities. Talking to the baby in the mirror. Is this a proud Papa or what! Nadia thinks he is the greatest too.

So this is one of my favorites of the 500 or so images we took this past week! I love you babe and I miss you. Thanks for being such a great Daddy and thanks for all your support.

Having Mike's mom here has been nothing short of a miracle from above! She is so helpful and ready for any challenge like the Bodegona...which is our grocery store of sorts kind of like a miny target but please don't imagine the one on 116th street. Think of things like chocolate sauce near light bulbs and really really weird lunch meat. We are starting to get the hang of cooking here but not exactly. It's really better to buy certain things at certain places. Like bread from a bakery, and meat from a butcher shop kind of thing.

Sorry, for the blog silence again...now I will have a bit more free time to catch up. It was great to be a family of four for one week but it simply went too quickly. I will have many photos to share and entries to add so stay posted. Mike left early this morning but knowing he will return in 3 weeks is such a blessing. I wish I had more information to share about our process or when we may be returning home but unfortunately we are weeks away from that journey.

Parades, Parades, Antigua usually has a parade every weekend celebrating something and a little bit of everything..if you wait long enough on arch street you will see one. It is a really fun and exciting to see culture everywhere here.

Nadia's first haircut!...She did not seem to mind at all and it was nice to even out her really long growing hair in the back.

Thanks again Nana and Papa especially Nana for staying soooo long to help us. Your patience and support for our entire family have been amazing and a gift from above.

When it is all said and done the trip with my parents was filled with a lot of giggling, hugs, kisses, pain, and even tears from all. Thanks again Mom and Dad for helping us get established here in Guate. For those of you who do not know when my mom came to help me foster (had to share this sorry mom) with Gavin the day before she left we climbed Pacaya, yes with a 3 month old, yes it was an active volcano, no we did not go near the lava, but we could hear it booming. Well, on the way back down the volcano mom sprained her ankle and it was the size of an apple. A park ranger was able to wrap it and give it a treatment. So, the next day we teased that she had to get out of Guate, before Guate got her! Well, on Friday I was terrified when she woke up and proclaimed to me (still unable to walk upright with back pain) that she needed to go to an emergency room. I knew the connections and I had were reliable and I basically knew that where we had to go but I was not exactly sure because I had never been to a Guatemalan hospital! The whole idea gave me shivers...but I prayed for direction and stayed calm and started making phone calls. By 9:00 am I had a bilingual driver and the name of the medicines mom needed. He drove us very slowly through Antigua the roads are so bumpy and we were very thankful because she was in so much pain. The fastest way to get treatment here is to go to a pharmacy first and buy WHATEVER and I mean WHATEVER drug you want. She wanted a narcotic level pain killer that is only injectable. When we asked for it they handed it to us like it was a box of q-tips or something. SYRNIGE and ALL! When we asked for two more...they walked right over and gave it to us! Mom exlaimed in disbeliefe, "THEY HANDED YOU A SYRINGE." The Dr. at the private hospital was very helpful and reccomended more pain medicine and even wrote her a note to stay for 10 more days if she was going to unable to fly. Mom, laughed and said the same thing as 2 years before,..."I'm going home I want my own bed." I replied with the same reply as two years ago, "you better before Guate gets you!" Even though the last thing you want to do is go to a hospital in the third world I am happy I know that we can get to one very quickly and it is a decent hospital too.