10/25/09-10/31/09

(Just an updated picture of the cement cylinders blocking our road.....they are now painted!! Yeah!!)

Sunday 10/25/09

Being back in the states is very weird. I am beginning to get a glimpse of what missionaries go through when they come home.....not quite as extreme though. I am feeling guilty about all the "excess" that we have here. While sitting on my bed, I realized that my bedroom is bigger than many of the houses in Guatemala.

Our first day here began with Cole waking up at 5:00!! He didn't have a clock so he didn't know what time it was. He decided that even though it was still pitch black outside, he would get up and read by the bathroom light that I had left on for them. Since having kids, I have become the worlds lightest sleeper and his page turning managed to wake me up and I couldn't go back to sleep!

Every half hour, Cole asked if he could go see Gator. Gator is the big lab that lives on our street that the big kids love and the little kids dread! I had to keep telling Cole that most normal people without kids actually sleep in on the weekends!! Instead, they got to go visit the Gadeski's (our next door neighbors) since we could hear their kids and knew they were awake. I sent the kids to ask them what time we had church at. 1:00 UGH!! What am I going to do in an empty house with 4 kids until then??? Oh, send them to Mary's house to borrow an iron!! The kids were so excited to see Mary (our neighbor on the other side) and also to get to see her new kittens!

At church they had the children's primary program. We snuck in at the last second so most people didn't know we were there. It was hilarious to watch the different reactions of people when they did see us. Some just walked right by like everything was normal then stopped, did a double take then came back to visit. They said it was so normal to see us there that they had forgotten we weren't supposed to be there. It was pretty nice to go to Relief Society and understand what people were saying. It was a lesson that we had already had in Guatemala and it was pretty cool to see how much I had actually learned the first time around!!

At church, I briefly spoke with an old friend who is interested in renting our house. YEAH!! We have been stressing out so much about what to do with our house.

After church we got to visit with Kay, John, and Gator. Mary had gotten John to come move an extra table and chairs from her house to ours so we'd have something to eat at. Morgan and Cole had a great time playing with Gator while the adults got to catch up. They also introduced me to a new guy living directly across from us. Kay kept trying to let me have her get a pizza for us. I kept telling her that we already had food for that night. It is so cool to have wonderful neighbors!!

Monday 10/26/09

What an exciting morning. It began with a visit to the storage unit. I had forgotten what we had put in there and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of the stuff we needed!! It was like Christmas morning!! There is still plenty to look for though! I was so happy to find the Halloween bucket so that the kids could do their usual activities this week! Next time I'll need to look for the Christmas stuff!!

We left the storage unit with the van completely full and headed to our favorite dentist. We had appointments for Morgan and Alysa. While the rest of us were sitting in the waiting area, the girl at the desk asked when my appointment was. I told her it was tomorrow and she asked if I wanted to go right then since they had a cancellation. I told her I'd love to but I had all 4 kids. She said that that was fine since the kids are so well behaved. (The kids sure have her fooled!! j/k) Then the dentist came out to give me the report on the two girls and saw Cole and Laina. He said he'd check the schedule but he thought he'd have time to get them in also. We ended up walking out of there with all 5 cleanings done and our Wednesday appointments changed to get 3 cavities filled and 1 tooth pulled. I LOVE the dentist office!

With that done, I got to go do my favorite thing with 4 hungry kids....grocery shopping. We got a bunch of stuff including my favorite flavor of Doritos!! We got the cart all loaded up and went out to the van only to remember that the van was already full from the storage unit!! The kids sure enjoyed getting to hold bags of groceries for the drive home!

After a little while getting stuff situated at the house, we left to Mesquite. I am loving my van with the DVD!! We had a great time visiting with Sharon and her two puppies.

Tuesday 10/27/09

I don't know what the deal is with Cole, but he can't seem to sleep in in the morning and he doesn't know how to be quiet!! Cole and Morgan up before 6:00 to take the dogs for a walk. They had to find their clothes and get dressed and giggle up a storm so that I couldn't go back to sleep. Oh, well. After they got back from the walk, Sharon started making cinnamon rolls for breakfast. yum! It was so nice having a yummy breakfast and not having to make it!!

Laina keeps saying that she loves grandma's house. Too bad she is terrified of the dogs! She (as well as the rest of us) is having a huge static problem with her hair. We are not used to this dry weather anymore!

We went shopping so I could get a new phone and the kids ended up getting spoiled by grandma!! They were in high heaven. We also went to the Salvation Army to look for a couple cheap things for the house. I got a couple kitchen utensils, and books but Sharon ended up buying a new bedroom set!! She decided to transform the den into another bedroom.

On the way home we got some Little Caesar's pizza and ROOT BEER!! Yummy! That is something that I definitely missed in Guatemala!!

The kids helped Sharon bathe the dogs, move in the new bedroom set, then we headed back to Vegas in the cold, windy weather!

Wednesday 10/28/09

Back to the dentist first thing in the morning for Cole's filling and tooth pulling, and Laina's two fillings. Laina did a great job and didn't even have her mouth put to sleep! Cole did have his mouth put to sleep to get his tooth out. It was a baby tooth that had the permanent tooth coming in. We had tried to wiggle it loose for months with no luck. As you can see in the picture, the root was still so long that the tooth wasn't going anywhere!!

(The top square part is the actual tooth but the bottom triangle is the remaining root!)

We also went to the library and Cole was excited to get his very own library card! The kids checked out a bunch of books and should be set for a little while!

The kids enjoyed spending the afternoon reading books, playing in the craft bucket, and trying on a bucket of "big" clothes to grow into.

Cole has been looking forward to going to scouts for months and he was all set for tonight. We drove to the house just to find out that it had been cancelled! Poor Cole was so let down!

I was pretty excited to have a family come over to look at house! They are interested in renting it when we head back to Guatemala. It was pretty strange to walk through the house and realize how much work Chris has put into this house!! There are so many extra little details that he has done to give it that little extra touch. It is pretty sad to know that we will most likely never be living here again! We have really enjoyed our house and our neighborhood!

We finished off the day with the "Daddy's not home" meal (pasta, tomato soup, cheese, bacon, hamburger, with mustard and bbq. Sounds gross but the kids love it!) followed by our long awaited root beer floats!

Thursday 10/29/09

We went to Morgan and Cole's 1st grade teachers Halloween party at the school. Mrs. Lochridge has made such an impact on the kids. Even Alysa and Laina pretend school and say that they are Mrs. Lochridge. Alysa is really upset that she won't be here to have Mrs. Lochridge for 1st grade. Anyway, the party was really fun but it was great to get a chance to catch up with Mrs. Lochridge. Morgan and Cole couldn't stop talking about all of their adventures!

Before we left, Mrs. Lochridge gave us a pumpkin that the class had scooped out but hadn't carved. The kids worked on the pumpkin for the afternoon!

Friday 10/30/09

This morning we decided to take it easy since Cole has been having really bad headaches. We finally left the house to get him some Tylenol. He spent the majority of the day in bed but managed to get well enough to go to the Track or Treat for the stake. It was our first time going and we were pretty late since we had started watching a movie! I thought for sure everybody would be out of candy and leaving by the time we got there. Surprisingly I was wrong. They were still going strong and the kids got a bunch of candy. We did end up leaving early though when Cole's head started hurting really bad again. He went straight to bed and didn't even ask for a single piece of candy!! That's when I know it is serious!!

Saturday 10/31/09

Happy Halloween

What a fun day. The day began with garage sales!! It got off to a slow start but we did manage to find a couple of decent sales. I found some cheap stuff for the house, a soccer ball for Cole, boots that Morgan refuses to take off, a jacket for Alysa, a Barbie movie and butterfly wings for Laina, and some other odds and ends.

On the way home, I decided to swing by my old CVS and see if they had any good deals. My favorite manager was there and another cashier that remembered us. There wasn't anything worthwhile on the clearance endcap so I started to leave empty handed. The cashier asked if I had seen the diapers. I told her that there had been one package but it scanned full price. She said that they had a bunch in the back for 75% off. I ended up getting 6 packages of diapers for my sister for less than $4 each!! At the same time my sister, Meghan, was at a CVS in Texas buying stuff that my kids need. It is going to be so much fun to see her next month and swap all of our stuff!!

My kids have continued a Hunsaker tradition of trading Halloween Candy. The kids set up "stores" complete with signs. They had so much fun setting out all of their candy from last night and then going to each other stores to trade candy for what they like.

Trick or treating was very productive tonight. We just walked around the neighborhood but they did pretty good. Alysa and Laina's feet started to hurt so we dropped them off at Mary's house while Morgan and Cole finished the last street. Alysa and Laina picked the wrong street to miss!! The kids are going to have a lot of fun with their stores tomorrow!!

10/24/09

Saturday 10/24/09

It has been 8 months since we left for Guatemala and we are heading back to the states today for a little break. The day began at 5:30 with a pretty pleasant drive. There wasn't much traffic and limited motion sickness. I did have to sit in the very back seat for a while to let the kids have a chance to see out the window! Chris was really stressed out about getting us to the airport but we drove right there and were able to park. Chris tried to walk us in but they had security people at the front door. (Nobody that isn't flying is generally allowed past that point.) Apparently the security guard was in a good mood or really sympathetic because she allowed Chris to go in to help us get checked in. Even though I know I would have been able to do it, it was reassuring to have Chris with us! After the check in he did have to say good bye when we had to go pay our exit fee and then go through security. Security was unusual for us. They decided to check two of the kids bags. The security officer kept asking me something and neither Morgan or myself could figure out what it was. Some nice gentleman saw our "situation" and came to our rescue. Apparently she wanted to know what airline we were flying on. On the Continental website it says no pointed scissors. So, I told Alysa that she could pack a pair of children blunt tip scissors. No go....they confiscated them! I have never had such a hassle going through security before! Once we got through security we stopped for a quick muffin before going to board our plane. As we entered the ramp to get on the plane, they had another security station where they searched EVERY bag of every person on the plane!! They even confiscated the water that I had bought in the airport!! From that point on though, things went pretty smoothly. We were in 1st class (yes, I got glares from all the adults walking past seeing 4 kids sitting in the big plush seats!!) and the kids were ecstatic! We probably had some of the best food that we've had in 8 months!! Steak, potatoes, veggies, rolls, salad, cheesecake, etc. The kids loved ordering their drinks and being able to pick what meal they wanted. They also enjoyed watching movies and for the most part were very well behaved. Morgan and I kept forgetting that we could talk to people in English!! I probably spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to put together a sentence to ask the flight attendant for something and then remembered he spoke English!!

Once back in the good old U.S.A., we had the fun of going through immigration, then picking up all of our luggage, then going through customs, then rechecking our bags, then trying to find our terminal. It was so strange to be surrounded by white people again!

The second flight was even better!! Since we were in first class, we had an entire row and then one extra seat next to a stranger. None of the kids would sit by the guy so I ended up putting Alysa and Laina together, Morgan and Cole together and then me behind them. It worked out wonderfully since the kids all picked cheeseburgers for their meals so they didn't need extra help with their meals. The flight attendant was great also and was more than willing to help the kids out. In addition to this, the airplane had direct t.v. and each kid could watch what they wanted. There were some movies so the kids were completely content for a while. I was even able to rewatch the movie from the previous flight that I only got to listen to bits and pieces of. About half an hour before we landed, Laina finally decided to take a nap!! Great timing on her part as usual!

Welcome to Vegas: On the way out of the airport, Laina had to plug her nose the whole way to the car because she said it stunk so bad! I have to say that I really don't miss all of the smoking and people swearing, and the fast pace of everything!

Sharon (my mother in law) picked us up. What a lifesaver she is! She had put food and stuff in the house to get us through the weekend!! Thanks Sharon!

By the time we got to the house, the kids (and mom!!) were very tired, cranky, and ready for bed! The kids were so excited to see their old rooms that they got a second wind and it seemed to take forever to get them to go to bed!!

10/21/09-10/23/09

Wednesday 10/21/09

Today was officially the last day of classes at school. The kids were very excited. I'm not sure if it was because it was the last day or if it was because they didn't have to wear their uniforms! I decided to go in a little early to take the 4th graders a treat. Rice Krispies are pretty rare and very expensive here but Corn Flakes are EVERYWHERE!! So, I made Corn Flake treats instead of Rice Krispy treats. They loved it and it was easy!!

While at the school, I felt really out of place. I felt more like I did when the kids first started school and I had a hard time leaving them rather than feeling like a person who has taught half the school year!! I am a little nervous to see how next year goes especially since the two other teachers that I felt comfortable with are both leaving!! UGH!!

Since I was pretty much out of commission the past couple of weeks, Morgan has not been able to go to her Faith In God activities. I promised her that I would take her for her last one which was today. I am still blown away by how comfortable Morgan is and how excited she is to be with the other girls. Her leader is an incredible person also!! She sat and talked to me for a little while. She wants me to bring her some yarn to make a sweater since they don't have real yarn anywhere here in Xela!

Thursday 10/22/09

O.K. So I am the biggest wimp in the entire world! I am scared to death to drive around the Central Park area.....much less attempt to park somewhere! The roads are so tiny and you can't see anything and they are all one ways but I don't know which way! Anyway, the school had their final practice for their big production today at a theatre in Central Park. When I found out where it was, I opted to not attend the final performance. (Do you seriously think I am going to do that drive/parking IN THE DARK!!???) So, being guilt ridden, I decided to at least go to the last practice. Yes, being the wimp that I am, I drove to Chris' job site and begged him to drop us off!! He reluctantly agreed. We watched the practice and I was pretty disappointed that nobody wore their costumes. I thought for sure it would be a dress rehearsal! Oh, well. When we were finished, the kids and I started walking back until we met up with Chris and he took us back to the job site! Someday when I don't have 4 kids yelling in the car and I don't have anywhere in particular that I have to be, I might go drive around and try to get a little more oriented in the crazy maze they call streets!

The rest of the afternoon was filled with cleaning, packing, and a little t.v. for the kids. We also had a visit from the sister missionaries in our ward. One of them is from the states and her parents are currently living in Utah so I told her that I would take some stuff to them on my way through Utah. She said that her parents would love to talk to somebody that knows the area she is living in and some of the experiences. I don't know if my stories will put them at ease or scare them!!

Friday 10/23/09

What a fun morning with the kids! We went down to the market in search of some last minute gifts and baskets for the kids Halloween costumes. We found the gifts right away but the baskets took forever. We walked up and down every single block of the market but nobody had the baskets. About half of the people were carrying the baskets but nobody was selling them!! We had all but given up and were heading back towards the car when we happened on a little stand that had a basket. We ran over to see if it was actually for sale and found out that there were three baskets all put together!! What are the chances. We bought all the three and the girls are ready to go trick or treating Mayan style!!

I can't believe that we are leaving tomorrow. The kids keep asking me (every half hour) how many more hours until we leave for Guatemala City? It is definitely going to be a long day tomorrow for everybody. We all have a 4 hour drive to the city then a couple hours at the airport, then several in the air, then luggage and customs in Houston, then another flight, then to Vegas and a long drive to the house! It could be a lot worse though! From start to finish, it should be about 16 hours. Piece of cake with 4 kids!! (Wish us luck!) Oh, and Chris gets to do the 4 hour drive back to Xela by himself!! Poor guy. We are sure going to miss him!

10/14/09-10/20/09

Wednesday 10/14/09

I stayed home again today. I figured that there wasn't really anything that I HAD to do at school and it was more important to get better. I am sooo glad that I made that decision! Instead, I graded tests, tried to clean a little, and I even actually made dinner. To make it even better, Cole said it was a grandma dinner! WOW!! That's the biggest compliment my little boy can give me about dinner!

Thursday 10/15/09

I took the kids into school this morning but instead of staying, I told the principal that I will not be teaching for the rest of the year. I felt so guilt ridden when I told her but now that it is over, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me!! They only have 5 days left anyway and all of that time is going to be spent doing tests or practicing their dances for the closing clausura. Who knows, I might not even take the kids in next week!

I kept Laina with me since she wasn't feeling well and we headed to the grocery store for the first time in weeks!! It was so exciting until she started throwing up in the car while I was driving. I have to say that I am the most talented throw up catcher in the world these days!! I was able to drive (on the crazy roads), find a plastic garbage bag (we keep the van well stocked!!), and hold it open for her to throw up!! It was amazing! (Yes, only a parent could fully appreciate this!)

On that same note, Cole went on a field trip with his class today to a doctor's office. Apparently they were showing the kids some gross stuff that they had removed from a stomach. Cole (being his father's son with a weak stomach for gross stuff!!) got queasy and the doctor ended up having to take care of him!! I later found out that they gave him some medicine (This country is a very medicine oriented country. If there is any ailment....medicine, medicine, medicine!!)

Going in the other direction, I am starting to regain a little bit of my strength and starting to feel more like a normal operating human being again!

Only 9 more days to go!!

Friday 10/16/09

Today was the last day of English finals but none of the kids were feeling well and they didn't want to go to school. Morgan wanted to go because she was supposed to help Sully in the snack shack at the school. I packed everybody up, dropped Morgan off and had Alysa and Cole run in and take their tests. They were done in about 10 minutes!! For some reason our kids don't take very long to do the English tests!! (:

While the kids were taking their tests, Laina managed to throw up in the car once again. I need to restock the plastic bag supply!!

After that ordeal, the three younger kids and myself headed back home. We spent the day lounging and correcting tests. Cole was my helper!! Alysa and Laina miraculously healed and played ballerinas all day.

Saturday 10/17/09

I am the most evil mom in the entire world! I had the nerve to have Morgan clean the sink after doing the dishes!! You would have thought that I was physically torturing her with the wailing she was doing!!

I finally finished a year and a half long project for my mom!! Two summers ago she found a wall hanging quilt pattern of a moose that she liked. She changed it to be the size for placemats and I agreed to make 10 of them!! I am so glad that they are finally done!! She's going to have to get some plastic covering for them because if anybody spills food on them, I'll probably loose it!! They took FOREVER!

As a family we went to Central Park. There was some sort of a fair going on. The amusement rides were hilarious!! It looked like they had taken old broken down Barbie jeeps (the kind that kids drive) and welded them onto a circle which was attached to a hand crank!! It was a little scary! Needless to say, our kids didn't get a turn on the rides!

While I took a nap, Chris took the kids to get some kites. They bought two at the grocery store (The Guatemalan version of Wal-Mart) and on the way home saw a street vendor selling some for 1/3 the price. He bought two more so that each kid would have one. Guess which ones worked and which ones wouldn't fly at all!! Yup, the expensive ones were pieces of junk and the cheapies actually worked!! The kids really had fun except Alysa who was frustrated!! They were all getting the hang of it. Now when they say they are bored, I can tell them to "Go fly a kite!".

Notice the aluminum siding shack behind the kids. The workers put these up when they are building houses. They store their supplies in them and often sleep in them since it takes so long for them to travel home each night.

Laina was huffing and puffing after running around for so long with her kite today!!)

Remember the aluminum siding shack??? Well, they just built this this week. It is their version of a port-a-potty. I have to admit that I am very impressed with this work crew (they even wear hard hats!) and am grateful that they have their port-a-potty since the house they are building is right across the street from us and I really don't like looking out the window to see people peeing!!

While watching a movie tonight, Laina opted to sit on a plastic chair and watch it on the computer screen while everybody else sat on the couches and watched it on the t.v. screen. After a while, I heard a weird noise and realized that she was sucking her thumb which meant, she had fallen asleep!! Sure enough, she had her head propped up on the desk and was fast asleep! Unlike all of our other kids, she seems to be able to fall asleep about anywhere and in record speed!!

Sunday 10/18/09

Laina and Morgan wanted to wear their traditional dresses to church today. Emiliana had taken them home and washed them for us and she also offered to help us get the girls dressed. So, before church, we went over to her house and she helped get the skirts on. She does such a better job than I do!! Chris got a few pictures with his phone so they aren't the best quality but you can at least get an idea of the surroundings. Emiliana is such an amazing lady!! She just exudes loves and compassion!! I have learned so much from her just by her example!! I can't wait for my family to meet her when they come to visit!! It'll be hilarious to see her stand next to Tyler!! She's probably not even 5' and he's about 6'8" I believe!!

On the left is Emiliana's 9 year old son, her 13 year old daughter, and herself.

See the green sink behind Laina to the right. That is the laundry basin that she washes everything in!

Today was our last Sunday here for the year. Next week I should be able to understand the lesson!! I do have to say that our R.S. teacher today is great. Her name is Norma Perez and she uses visual aides which really help me a lot!!

Monday 10/19/09

Tuesday is a national holiday. Rather than having Saturday and Sunday off, working Monday, then having Tuesday off, the job site opted to celebrate the holiday on Monday. Since Chris wasn't working, we decided to let the kids stay home from school and spend time with him before we leave! Chris and Cole were able to get haircuts while the little girls watched. Morgan and I ran in to the school to drop off all of the graded exams and the report cards. (Yeah!! I am done!!) We all met up for lunch before going home.

For our Family Home Evening we decided to do something nice for Emiliana and also for the Cheney family for helping us while I was in the hospital. The kids decided they wanted to make cookies. We used our last bag of milk chocolate chips from the states!! It felt good to be able to do something nice for people. I hope that the kids are learning something at the same time!

Tuesday 10/20/09

I kept the kids home from school again today. The kids are actually meeting at the theatre to practice the dances today and since none of my kids want to participate, I figure there's no point in going!! Instead, we washed all of our clothes then picked out what we want to take to the U.S. We got almost everything packed in 4 suitcases (even with 3 extra suitcases packed inside of the suitcases!!) Now, what are we going to do to stay busy for the next 3 days??

After choir, we had a special drink supposedly since I was leaving. It was a combination of the interesting rice drink and hot chocolate. It was very tasty until I got to the rice part. Something about drinking rice just doesn't work for me yet!

10/09/09-10/13/09

Friday 10/09/09

I am still resting. I absolutely can not stand being sick and not being able to do my normal stuff! I don't know which is worse...the illness or the being in bed! Chris took all the kids to school this morning and I sat home by myself. Yes, the quite is nice to a certain extent but I was sure glad when the kids came home....even if they did proceed to yell and scream! Chris has been so busy with work and I feel bad that he's had to take up all of my slack. He is a good man and hasn't complained at all.

My dad sent us the '24' season 6 DVD. I am so excited! Whenever Chris and I think of '24', I'm sure it'll bring back memories of laying in bed with a ton of blankets to stay warm and watching the show on the computer at night!!

The girls pretending to be missionaries. They had their first appointment at Hermana Morgan's house!!

Saturday 10/10/09

Chris had another concrete pour this morning at 6:00 so he was up and gone before anybody else even began to stir. The kids and I spent the majority of the day lounging around in our pajamas and watching Saturday morning cartoons. Alysa was pretty excited to work on her binder for the plane ride. (The kids usually pack a zippered binder with papers and activities to do on the plane or in the car.) Morgan finished making her first scarf, and Cole cooked dinner! I spent a little bit of time working on some moose placemats for my parents cabin.

The girls insist on wearing swimsuits and playing outside. They got pretty messy this time in the dirt!

Sunday 10/11/09

My first trip out of the house in forever!! I went to church today to play the piano. It went pretty good but I had no energy. It was pretty tough to sit for so long. We only stayed for sacrament meeting even!! I spent most of the time trying to figure out how I could bare my testimony in Relief Society in Spanish. To my great surprise, Chris got up in Sacrament meeting to bare his testimony. He said that he hasn't given his testimony in Spanish since his mission. He thanked the ward for their love and service and concern for me and for the family. It was pretty cool even though I don't know everything that he said. The entire congregation was dead silent the entire time he talked!

Our little ballerinas in training. All of the girls (yes, even Morgan) are wanting ballet attire for Christmas so that they can do the ballet class at school next year!!

Monday 10/12/09

Another day home from school for me. I am starting to feel a little better (other than the horrible pain in my back and ribs from all of the coughing!!) but I am forcing myself to slow down so I can get better before getting on the plane. It was a little easier today since I started a book yesterday so I have something to occupy my mind!! I think I am going to try to go back to school tomorrow. It is exam week so I won't have to do too much.

I had a couple of unexpected visitors this afternoon also. My visiting teacher Emiliana and her 13 year old daughter stopped by to see what she could help with. They had walked all the way to my house from the church (about an hour walk!). I am still blown away by the compassion and love of the people here! Luckily Chris came home at the same time so he was able to help with the translating. We're probably going to have her come in and help me clean once in a while. We asked her how to wash the girls traditional dresses and she offered to take them home and do them for us. We also asked what peoples reactions would be if the girls wore them to church. She got a huge grin and said that the people would be honored. She then taught us the proper way to get the skirts on. (so they don't fall off!!) She also told us that the primary is doing a service project and they were collecting plates, cups, and napkins for it. We gave her a bunch of plates. Since she had so much stuff to carry and since the dresses are about 8#'s each, Chris offered to give them a ride home along with Cole and Alysa. On the way he asked what else they needed for the primary project and she said that they needed napkins. He had her show him where a little store was on the way and he went to get some napkins. The first store didn't have any but the second did for Q4.5 (about $.50). Chris said that she was concerned that that was too much money. It still boggles our minds that people live on so little means here and are perfectly content. It really makes me realize how much people can get preoccupied with money and forget the real important things in life. Anyway, he ended up getting them several packages before taking her home.

As soon as they left, I got the stuff out to make dinner when I heard another knock on the door. It was another family from the ward. The wife and husband speak less English than I speak Spanish but they are very nice people. The wives mother was there also and she doesn't speak any English. We had some small talk until Chris got home. It is really cool for the members here to get to visit with Chris because he shows them pictures of the progress of the temple here. Most of the people here don't get that opportunity especially since nobody is allowed on the jobsite! The security guard wouldn't even let me in the other day!!

By the time all of our visitors left and I got dinner cooked, we were eating about 2.5 hours late!! Oh, well. The kids were happy that they got to help make pizza and that I didn't make them eat vegetables!!

Tuesday 10/13/09

Today I was feeling better so I thought I would try to go back to school. Big mistake. It seemed like the second I walked in the school I was feeling horrible again. The teacher that I had filled in for when she had her baby has been covering my class and even though I was there today, she came in also. After I left the school completely exhausted, I decided that I would let her monitor the final exams and just send them home with Morgan for me to grade. Once home, it was back to bed for me for a little while. Once rested, I was doing much better.

I thought I would do a little experiment and see if other places had the same effect on me as the school. I went to choir practice and was fine. It was actually a much needed break for me. I'm a little bored with being in the house!! I just have to keep reminding myself that I need to get better before I can go on an international flight with 4 kids!! 11 more days!!

10/05/09-10/08/09

Monday 10/05/09

I had my mind made up that I was not going to teach school today unless I felt better in the morning. This morning I was able to get out of bed so I thought I'd try to teach class. I was doing a little better but Laina had been up coughing all night and wouldn’t get out of bed so Chris took the other kids to school and I stayed home with her. As soon as they left she came downstairs and said, “Mommy, I just needed a little more sleep but I’m ready to go to school now.” We spent a little time hanging out before we finally went into school. It was a miserable couple of hours but I survived. Even the kids in the class said that I looked white. When class was done, I collected my kids and decided to have our family home evening activity be a trip to the hospital. The idea of going to a doctor is the last thing that I want to do especially in a 3rd world country in a language that I am not confident in! But.... I figure if I want to be able to get on an airplane with 4 kids I better get better!

So, off to the hospital we go . We took two vehicles so that we could get checked out and then Chris could go back to work and I'd take the kids home. Wishful thinking!

We walked in the hospital not knowing what to expect. The waiting room was full of people in indigenous clothing. When we tried to check in, they just took us straight back to an exam room. We had a guy come in and start the process of figuring out what was wrong with us. He scheduled a pediatrician to come check out the kids and an internal medicine doctor to come look at me. After a while they took me off to another room by myself where a lady doctor that spoke English came and checked me out. Her English was choppy but understandable and found out that I had about a 104 temperature and possibly pneumonia. She said that I needed to get some chest x-rays done and then left. I sat in the little tiny room by myself forever! Each time I heard little pitter patters going down the hall I’d get excited thinking it was Chris and the kids but it never was. I finally realized that it was the short little nurses running down the hall!! After a while a nurse came and took me back to the first room where Chris and the kids were. The pediatrician had checked out all four kids and gave them a ton of prescriptions. They all had the same crud and apparently a lot of kids from the school have been seen for the same thing. The kids were done and ready to go but I still had to get my flu test results, get my chest x-rays etc. Somebody came and got me to go get the x-rays but Chris couldn’t go with me. I was put in a crazy room with an x-ray technician. I don’t know what he said but I heard a word that sounded like metal and he pointed to the top half of my body. It clicked that I had an underwire and I probably should take it off before the x-ray!! He showed me a bathroom and there was a gown hanging up. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to put it on or not. I sure love this guessing game. Apparently I guessed right when I just removed the metal and he was able to do the x-rays.

Back with Chris and the kids, I couldn’t even sit up anymore. I laid down on the couch and started drowsing off. The next thing I know, they are saying that I don’t have the flu but I have pneumonia and I need to stay in the hospital for a few days. UGH!! Seriously, what could be worse!! Oh, this could be worse…..Chris’ boss, Chris’ boss's boss, and the church boss are all coming to Xela for tomorrow and the next day!! What are we (meaning Chris since I can’t help with anything!) going to do?

The nurses started to take me to my room and halfway there, they said that the kids couldn’t go any further! WHAT!! They won’t let the kids visit me in my room! I didn't even give them a kiss goodbye. What a horrible feeling. Talk about being torn though, Chris was trying to help me get situated in the room and translate for me as I am bawling my eyes out since I am so scared and at the same time all four of the kids are left by themselves in a little area of the hospital scared to death as well. While I was bawling like a baby in my little hospital room, the four kids were kneeling together in the garden area of the hospital praying. The nurses came in and told us. Talk about a humbling moment. My heart was just aching to have my kids with me!

The room that they put me in was straight out of the 1950's. The bed was not a mattress but a bunch of lumps. In order to adjust the bed, I'd have to get out of bed, go to the foot of it and reach down to turn a crank to move it up or down!! I just had to laugh! (or I'd probably start crying again!)

Notice under the 'B' the wire with a little button. That is the call button for the nurse (timbre). It reminded me of the "fish on" button that my dad rigged up from the river bank to the cabin!

The shower came complete with a little water heater shower head thing.

I never want to have to blow my nose again!!

The window is right next to a delivery drive and it was pretty noisy!

In addition to the crank bed, they use glass thermometers. Chris told me that the kids didn't know what to do with the thermometer when the nurses tried to take their temperatures.

Once we found out that the kids couldn't come in and that Chris had to decide to be with me or with them, we called the Chaneys. They are the family that works for the church here to build the temple. They came right over to the hospital and stayed with me while Chris picked up their daughter, Alora, and took her and the kids to the house. I had Chris call Lily to call Michelle to tell her that I won't be teaching this week. The next thing I know, Michelle is there to visit me! I was shocked. Chris got the kids all situated and had Alora stay the night with the kids. After a while Chris came back to the hospital to stay the night with me. It was so emotional leaving the kids!

This was where my 6'4" husband got to sleep!! Not the longest bed in the world!

Tuesday 10/06/09

The night was pretty miserable. Chris had to sleep on a little tiny couch and I was coughing the whole night. He had to get up at 5:30 and leave me in order to get home and get the kids ready for school. He took them to school, took Alora home, and then had to go to work. I have the best timing in the world and today and tomorrow just happen to be the two days that everybody is in town for the meetings at Chris' work. I was on my own but I was doing better at communicating with the nurses since I knew what kind of questions they were asking. I was able to relax a little more. (Relaxed means I wasn't bawling hysterically!)

Sister Chaney came back again and stayed most of the day with me. It was very reassuring to have somebody with me.

In addition to Sis. Chaney, I had a couple of visitors. Sully came down to see me as well as Teacher Deanna. I felt so loved! Deanna even asked the kids what my favorite candy bar was and got me one as well as a bag of jellybeans for the kids. The Twix bars were very welcomed especially after the foreign hospital food!! I've never eaten as many types of squash in my life!!

I have written a lot about the power outages here. I didn't think it would happen in the hospital though. It went out twice today and it was pretty dark in my room! Every time the power went out, it was only for a minute or so. However, the cable wouldn't turn back on when the power came back on. The T.V. we had to request and found out at check out that we had to pay $25 for it!! It didn't even work most of the time!

Chris was able to bring the kids down to the hospital and they let me go up by the waiting room to see the kids. It was so good to see them...even if they were tired. Morgan brought me a huge stack of cards that the 4th graders had made for me. After everyone left, I had to walk back to my room all by myself. It was fun to have them walk by my window and wave to me though. I put the cards up and when my doctor came to check on me she asked if I was a teacher. She wants somebody to teacher her 12 year old son. I told her that I already do too much and that's why I was in the hospital!! She later brought another doctor back to check on me as well. He listened to my heart and supposedly heard an abnormality. He wants me to get an ecocardiogram done. He told me that I could wait and do it when I get back to the states which means he's not suggesting just to get some money!

After the doctors all left, I started to settle in for the night by myself! Since the cable wasn't working, I watched a movie on the computer and went to sleep. I was surprised that I actually was able to sleep a little. Much better than the previous night!

Wednesday 10/07/09

I am feeling a little better....maybe 60%. The nurses kept asking if I had gone to the bathroom. It was probably because there was no used toilet paper in the garbage can!! I never remember that they don't flush toilet paper here! Oops!

Sis. Chaney again spent most of the day sitting with me. I also had some unexpected visitors. The president of the Relief Society, Alba, came by which completely shocked me. This is the same lady that for the longest time wouldn't even look at me!! After her there was Karen. She is the coolest person! She learned some English from a mission companion and really wants to learn more. She sang a song for me half in Spanish and half in English. It was pretty neat. She also brought me a note from the sister missionaries. After that there was Blanca and Christina. They are in the district that I just did the quilting group with as well as the choir. I am so unbelievably overwhelmed with the love that people have shown me the past couple of days. In addition to the visits, people have called Chris and coworkers of his have come by the hospital! For the sisters in the ward, most of them rode a bus to get to the hospital to visit a sick person that they can't even communicate with. How much courage and love would it take to do that. To be honest, I don't think I would have been able to do what these wonderful women did for me!! The saints here are amazing and have the true love of Christ!

I was told that I could go home today after my last dose of antibiotic through the i.v. Chris came down to pay and we were ready to leave to go pick up the kids and go home......not so fast! The cashier lady wasn't back from lunch and we couldn't pay and my i.v. wasn't done so Chris ended up leaving to get the kids. Sis. Chaney had left when Chris got there so I was once again on my own. This time it didn't go so well!! There was a bump on my wrist where the i.v. was going in and a bunch of the nurses were concerned. I wasn't in pain so they continued the 2nd bottle of the i.v. I had to go to the bathroom really bad and got up to go but my blood started going up into the i.v. I had to call the nurse using the fancy buzzer. She came in and took care of it but in the process got some big air bubbles in the tube. She left and I saw the bubbles so I started freaking out and pushing the buzzer again while trying to shut off the i.v. Nobody came until finally a lady came in to give me a business card. "Ayuda me por favor!!" That was my best attempt to say that there was a problem and to get somebody for me.....still nobody came. I had to struggle to get to the buzzer again and finally another nurse came in. She got the air bubbles out but when she started the i.v. again my "bump" that the previous nurses were concerned about got huge and hurt. She kept saying stuff to me that I didn't understand and yes, I was bawling uncontrollably again. I couldn't get Chris to answer his phone to help me either (come to find out that his phone isn't working again!!) The nurse finally shut off the i.v. and just left. I finally got ahold of Lily who Chris had picked up with the kids and she said they'd all come down there rather than have Chris take them out to the house. When they got there, we had to ask somebody to come in and figure out what was going on. The nurse that had walked out thought I was crying out of extreme pain and so she was going to get the doctors approval to start a different i.v. The lady just couldn't get the i.v. started right. Another nurse (the head nurses wear the old nurse outfits with the white skirt, shirt, and little hat! It was great) came in and figured out that my hand position just needed to be adjusted and got the i.v. going again and I was back to normal. What an emotional ordeal though. I never ever ever want to have to go through that again.

1/2 an hour later the i.v. was done and I was able to get dressed and go home. I was so excited to take a shower!!

On the way home we stopped and got my prescriptions. I can not believe how much money we have spent on medicine between the 4 kids and myself! Hey, if it makes us feel better, I'll pay it any day!

Once settled at home, Chris had to go back to work. He took Cole with him and left Laina asleep, and Morgan and Alysa watching a movie. I had the most miserable headache so I laid down. Laina woke up a while later and ended up in the bathroom with diarhea. After that I told her to go get her pajamas and she managed to cover her entire bedroom floor in throw up! WELCOME HOME!! When I tried to put her in the tub, I also noticed that she had red bumps on her chest and back. After the bath and the clean up, she managed to throw up two more times on her floor. Fun times! Seriously, what else is in store for us?

Cole at the job site.

The dad of one of my students is an importer from the U.S. His last trip up, he got some Dr. Pepper for Chris. Chris was able to go pick it up at their house on his way back to work. I think he desperately needed that to help make up for the crazy week that he has had! I do have a great husband that amazes me all the time. He has really had his hands full this week. I just hope he doesn't end up in the hospital!

Thursday 10/08/09

The alarm clock went off this morning and I didn't even move. I was so tired and did not want to get out of bed. Chris got up and got the kids all ready for school and I didn't even help. Laina didn't go to school but instead she was given the job of taking care of me for the day. She was pretty cute about it. We had fun watching Barbie movies and eating Cup 'O Noodles together. We laid on the couch and took it easy. I am still feeling really weak and tired and I am doing my best to force myself to stay down so that I don't relapse. The medicine is still making me cough to clear my lungs out and that in turn is giving me huge headaches and some very sore ribs. The pain has gone to both sides of my body now! I really need to kick this crud before our trip! (16 more days!!)

I was paranoid all day that the R.S. president was going to come by and I would have to concentrate to talk with her. My poor head is just fried and I wasn't up for it today. Luckily she didn't! Not that I didn't want her to visit my head just wasn't up for it!

Chris brought kids home from school, made them lunch then headed back to work. The kids and I were able to hang out for the afternoon. There was limited coughing and limited fighting!! YEAH!!

To make it even better, Chris went to the grocery store for me and Morgan made dinner. She was pretty proud of herself.

10/02/09-10/04/09

Friday 10/02/09

This morning I got the chance to watch most of the General Relief Society Broadcast. It made me think that I don't know how I would get by without Relief Society. I have never lived close to my family and Relief Society has always been my family away from home. Even here in Guatemala where I don't fit it, I have been warmly welcomed and been made to feel like part of the Sociedad de Sucorro. The women make me feel like I am needed and wanted here. I can't imagine trying to survive this challenge in life without the R.S. to help me!! I have usually felt like I am the one giving to R.S. but here it is more like the R.S. is giving to me.

Class was miserable today. I had absolutely no energy at all. The second the class ended, I went home and went to bed. I let the kids do whatever they wanted while I laid down. I still had to pick up the girls dresses and really struggled to get out of bed. Chris was able to meet me at the store after work and help me communicate with the lady that we bought the dresses from. The girls had a blast trying on the dresses when we got home. I think the funniest part was each girl having to get their "high heel sandals" to wear with the dresses.

The rest of the night was a typical Friday night with pizza (no energy to cook) and a movie.

Chris was also able to officially get our tickets to go home. We'll leave here October 24th and come back Jan 2. Chris will be making two trips...a week at Thanksgiving and a week at Christmas. Can't wait!!

Saturday 10/03/09 21

What a miserable night! During the night I rolled over a heard a snap in my rib. Talk about extreme pain. I had absolutely no energy and spent the entire day laying on the couch watching conference and trying to be part of the family. Chris has really had to help out a lot since I haven't done anything. The kids were also good helpers.

One thing that stuck out today was the talk by Elder Bednar. I really liked hearing that my family is normal when the kids fight and argue and complain all the time!! It gives me hope on a day that I really need it!

Sunday 10/4/09

More of yesterday.

Time to go to the hospital