9/5/10-9/11/10

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The storm that we had over the weekend has really taken its toll on the roads and many people! There have been lots of landslides, closed roads, etc. These are some of the headlines and pictures from the news.

Dozens killed, missing in Guatemala landslides

Death toll from Guatemala landslides rises to 54

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11193592

After church today, we gave all of the donated temple clothes to the bishop to distribute. Thank you to everybody that helped us with this project. The members really appreciate it!!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The main highway from Guatemala City to Quetzaltenango was reopened today. There is only one lane in some spots and it took some of our friends about 10 hours to do the drive!

For those of us who weren't stuck in traffic, we were able to enjoy the wonderful sun outside. We spent a lot of time playing around outside. Morgan and Cole were so excited that I let them walk to the little tienda by themselves.

In the afternoon, the weather changed again into an amazing thunder and lightning storm. The rain was pelting everything! Half of the windows in the house were leaking and we couldn't see past the cornfields. A bridge went out near our house and a section of the road started to flood. Chris was lucky to make it home! These are the pictures he took from his car.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Late last night there was another landslide and the main highway is closed again. The local roads are all a mess as well. Chris left for work only to return a short while later because the road was closed. He ended up having to work from home and I didn't even try to take the girls to school!

Alysa was learning about alliteration today. She wrote: Henry Horse likes to hiccup. She then got to make a broomstick horse. We had recess time and she ran around on her horse and Laina pretended she was a butterfly.

For choir, we practiced a special musical number twice then we went to make matching jewelry to wear for ward conference. We also had a dinner. I had a great time and was able to understand a lot of what was going on. It was great having such good friends that saved seats for me, helped me with directions, and just overall helped me out. I told Chris about this and his sacrastic response was, "You're either really loved or just incompetent." I vote for loved!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Cole is such a good example to us when he gets up and exercises each morning. He's been getting up at 6:00 and doing homework until 7:00 when he is allowed to "get up"! He is definitely a self motivated person!

Before school, we went on a snail hunt (yes, with a container of salt!), and a butterfly hunt which was interrupted when we spotted the coolest bright blue bird. It looked like a brown bird until it started to fly and then its wings looked like an iridescent blue! We had so much fun and it was so incredibly gorgeous that we decided to have school outside. The kids would take off running around and playing whenever they were waiting for help with their work. The gardeners kept looking at us like we were crazy.

I was enjoying the weather so much that I forgot that we live almost on the equator and that the sun is very intense here! I got so fried! None of the kids got burned but my arms sure did!

I am starting new private piano lessons for the kids in my class at the church. Today I had my first student. The poor kid looked so nervous about trying to talk to me. He's a great kid from a wonderful family.

We had another powerful thunderstorm tonight. It was so relaxing to sit on the balcony, listen to the rain, thunder, and watching the lightning. The town was pitch black but the lightning lit up the entire sky like it was the middle of the day. I was determined to get a picture of the lightning. Luckily the storm was so intense and so long that I was able to get a few good pictures.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I can't move my left arm from working on a quilt yesterday! UGH! The quilt is a king size with fleece backing and it just doesn't want to get shoved through the tiny space in my sewing machine!

My new visiting teacher came over today. I was a little (o.k. a lot) nervous about the meeting. I read the message in both English and Spanish to help me at least know what the main ideas were! The appointment actually turned out very good. I was pretty proud with the amount that I understood (or thought I understood!). My visiting teacher told me that she was very nervous about having to visit me and had actually told the Relief Society president that she couldn't do it. The president told her that I really needed somebody to visit me in Spanish. How right she is! I think I am going to start a quilting group so that people will come over and talk with me a little more.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Chris stopped by the house this morning with a guy from work. Paul is from St. George, Utah and his company is doing the tile for the temple. His family is also going to be coming down to live here for 3 months. They have two boys about the same ages as Morgan and Cole. We are so excited to have them here. It is so fun and strange to feel like the "experienced" people here in Xela. We are looking forward to being able to help others feel more comfortable here like others had done for us when we arrived.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Alysa and I did our shopping together today. We ventured into new territory at the market. She is a little more willing to do new things than the other kids. She also helped me show Paul and Deloy (the other guy from St. George) where to find some things at the grocery store. When we got home, she helped work on a puzzle, make the stuff for fish tacos, as well as clean and sanitize all the stuff from the market.

Cole and Chris are both thoroughly excited that it is football season. I don't think I saw Cole the entire day! While Cole was occupied with football, Morgan helped me start a new baby quilt. I'm going to make a rag baby quilt to show the ladies at church to see if they want to come over and learn how to make them.