Back in the Saddle

Ug! It´s been so long since I wrote last. I was pretty sick last week and now feeling much better, so I am trying to catch up with everything. I had a throat infection (maybe strep? I don´t know) which resulted in a fever and chills, etc. Then I ended up getting a wierd skin rash and severe joint pain in my ankles and wrists. It was enough to send me to a medical doctor rather than the homeopath I had been seeing - I just felt that my body wasn´t getting better on its own. So after a cortizone shot and antibiotics and a couple other things, I´m feeling much better. It´s so hard for me to take any medication but there was no way I could continue to wait this one out. I told everyone the day I started feeling better I woke up doing the "health dance"! It´s amazing how much I take for granted the days I feel good and can move my body without pain, walk, brush my teeth, etc. So many things I think we all take for granted. I just got a gentle reminder and am very grateful for the fresh start.

This comes just in time, as the Hogar Infantil Christmas party is this Saturday, December 15th and I´m helping out by organizing all the gifts for about 75 kids plus staff. David and Leslie Guinn from the US Board of Directors will be here tomorrow, and they are seasoned pros. Each year they stuff thier plane with toys and come down, shop the crowds in nearby Tuxtla Gutierrez for bikes and last minute gifts. Somehow this all happens in a weekend and everyone ends up happy! I hope this year will be the same. I´ve decided, with the help of employees here, that this year each child will also get new underwear and socks, along with a few gifts. All the girls need new bras and I guess it´s been a few months since underwear has been given out so it seems like the right time. I´m venturing off in search of the best deals this afternoon and to scope out more toys and gifts. If I can find cheap knitting needles (I found some for $1.50 US the other day) I may give each knitter his-her own personal set, just from me for Christmas. We´ll just see what happens.

I have a Christmas wish to share, if I may be so bold. We are basically not buying Christmas gifts this year, I don´t think, so as to give here to the kids a little more during thier vacation time (some kids stay here at the ranch while most go home to spend Christmas and New Year´s with their families, so we want to do some special things for those left behind) . So, if you normally buy one of us a gift, please feel free to take this year off. However, if you wish you can make a donation to the ranch instead (log onto hogarinfantil.org to learn more). Every little bit helps, and it would be a meaningful gift for us.

I have to go because kids are calling me....take care

Love, Katie

More bugs!

Lst night we had a wierd bug episode. Just before going to bed I noticed that there were about 1,000 or more ants of all sizes in the hallway of our cabin here at Hogar Infantil. Luckily, this hallway just leads to the space where we´re storing all our stuff, but it adjoins to the room in which we´re sleeping! I was a little freaked out to say the least, and Neto said ¨maybe it´s going to rain¨ (so this is what we have to look forward to ever time it´s going to rain?!?!) He put a lining of soapy water around the perimeters of where they were and taped up the door leading to the sleeping area, so I could actually sleep! I still thought I heard the tape unsticking all night long, but I actually slept pretty well, considering. I´d never seen anything like it so I think there was something baromitically(?) funky, because in the morning they were all gone! Wierd, but all I can say is at least they weren´t something like snakes or scorpions (we found a tiny snake a couple weeks ago in the same area of the house, but it was a baby - not even as big as an earthworm, and a non-poisonous variety. We´re also seen a couple scorpions. Just part of the Mexico experience!) Just thought I´d throw that little story in for fun...

I hope everyone at home is well - we think and talk about all of you so much (Happy Birthday to Issac last Saturday!). Take care - I´ll write more later this week.
Love, Katie

Eaten Alive!

Well, we´re back from the coast, and we had a wonderful time! Neto´s mom is doing quite well, but gets dizzy spells and nasuea for a few days at a time. She was just fine while we were there, but I guess it kind of knocks her out when she has a spell. She was so happy to see us, especially the kids, and Neto spent several evenings visiting with his mom and siblings once the kids were in bed - lots of laughs! They speak in Zapoteco, of course, so if I´m there they end up translating everything for me or just speaking Spanish for my benefit. But I love hearing the language and trying to pick out the words I know. Unfortunately the words I know aren´t as interesting: tomato, tortilla, good morning, etc. I´m trying to learn, but I quickly become reminded that it was hard at first when I learned Spanish.

We mostly spent our time hanging out and helping out, Neto and his brother clearing our lot where we want to build. It is a great lot, and apparently lots of people keep offering to buy it. I guess that just after we bought it last year the town decided they wanted to make a park there with a soccer/basketball court, and they tried to make them sell it back to the town. Luckily, Neto´s family are strong-willed people and there was nothing the town could do. They are building another court across town that will be nice, so I don´t feel too bad. The little house that is there is in need of lots of repair. We had originally thought we´d tear it down to build a big house, but we realized that it really just needs a new roof and a few minor fix-ups, and it could serve as extra living space or a shed. It´s just a one-room space with two doors and no windows (we can easily put in a couple windows), but that´s a project we´re leaving for later. We´ve decided to build a fence around the property first, because the hope is that Neto´s family can use most of the space for a produce garden and have that as a source of income. The problem is that many animals come by - chickens roam freely, (I still can´t figure out whose chicken´s my mother-in-law is feeding, as she only has three and there are at least a dozen who come to eat the corn she puts out every day!), and horses get loose and eat otehr people´s grass and flowers, etc. Anyway, we´ll have a fence made of cement block to about knee-height, then wire fencing up to about 8 feet, with a couple big doors for getting in and out with a truck or car, or by foot. This will take up most of the savings we have, so the house plans will have to wait. It´s so exciting to be doing something with the place, though, and hopefully helping out Neto´s family with an alternative source of income. The fish and seafood is so depleted right now, no one is getting anything they can make a living off of.

So, why the title for this entry, you may ask? Mosquitoes - how can something so tiny impact one´s state of sanity so much?!?! I estimate about 300 or more bites on my body alone (judging from the 100 or so I counted on only one calf and foot). It seems like a lot, but really a bite that just looks really big is actually a cluster of 5 or 6 bites. Eric is equally bitten, and Anna a little bit. When there are so many bites in one area (both Eric and I seem to get bitten mostly in the calf/ankle area) it makes the itching quite excruciating. I keep intending to wear socks but it was so hot I couldn´t bring myself to do it some days. But, we´re both over the hump of the itching, and have some local remedies for next time, I hope. If they don´t work, I am actually considering some real repellent, which makes me shocked at myself, but it really is bad - especially for Eric. Neto, of course, is unaffected. I don´t get it. If anyone has some wisdom on mosquitoes please write! In the meantime, we´ll jsut keep plugging along.

Leaving this weekend for a week

Well, things happen slowly in Mexico, I always have to remind myself to go with the flow...we haven´t gone to Neto´s Mom´s house yet, but we hope to go this Saturday. We´re trying to line up a loaner car, and the one we´re going to borrow needs the brakes redone - something worth waiting for when the mountain pass is officially called ¨La sepultura¨, or cemetery, because of the amount of people who have died falling over the cliffs around the curves! Brakes are good. We could just go on a bus this time, but I ALWAYS get sick in the curves and I´d hate to be miserable for 2+ hours with kids hanging on me too. I´m excited to see Neto´s family and our little plot of land. I guess they have planted jamaica, which is a flower they use to make juice, so they plan to sell it, I think. I think Eric and Anna will like a break from so many people. The girls here have finally realized that Anna is scared by so many people wanting to pinch her cheeks and pick her up. There´s a maintenance guy here who she´s afraid of and I feel bad because he´s so nice and a good person, but he has some odd manerisms.

My yarn is GONE and also all my knitting needles - at least I kept hidden the ones I´ll need for my own sweater and the shawl I´m making for Neto´s Mom. Now the little boys want to learn, so I´ll have to find a shop here to get some more scarf/hat yarn. The girls have made soem realyl cool scarves, and the director even suggested tome last night that we make a little business and sell them in the park in town. Maybe if I buy the yarn for the first batch and then we use $ from selling them to buy more yarn...we´ll see. It´s fun to see them so excited and proud of what they´ve made.

I´ll write after we come home from Neto´s - in the meantime I´d love to get an email at katielunabella@hotmail.com. Also visit Hogar´s website if you´d like to know more about this place that is so special to me and Neto: hogarinfantil.org.
Take care - Love, Katie

We´re here!

Hello to all at home! We got here safe and sound, thank God, and are enjoying the beautiful Mexican weather....NOT! It´s been raining and cold at night (about 60 degrees,which feels cold with wind and no heat in the house!) I have clothes I washed two days ago that are still hanging wet on the line outside. But we got the hot water heater fixed in the cabin at Hogar Infantil where we´re staying so I got a hot shower this morning - something I definitely take for granted back home. It has been raining a lot here for a couple weeks, causing horrible flooding in other parts of Mexico, but here there are no real complications, except cancelled school and a few stores closed, and a phone line that cuts out for a day or two at a time. I told the kids that if we closed school in Oregon every time it rained, there´d almost not be a school year!

Thanks to all who donated yarn. The girls came up to our cabin yesterday, and it was like a feeding frenzy of yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks. We came up short in needles and hooks and I hope to get to town later to buy some. A few have made scarves and are proudly wearing them everywhere. Others are just learning and taking a little more time. Eric and Anna are adjusting well - Eric just plays and plays with the kids with legos or his machinery we brought. He surprises me at how at home he feels, but he keeps talking to the kids in English! He switches to Spanish once he realizes they don´t understand. Anna has been mostly hanging out with Mom and trying to avoid being picked up by everyone who walks by. She´s getting used to it here, but I think she misses her own bed and surroundings a little.

Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and there is a costume contest tonight. If the weather holds out we´ll go to the cemetary to visit the tomb of Nich Anderson, the founder of Hogar, and also give the kids who have family members buried here the chsnce to visit. Today is a day of celebration rather than mourning for the dead - there are marimba bands and balloons and goodies to buy at the cemetery, lots of flowers and people sharing their loved ones´ favorite foods while they tell stories. It is believed that the spirits of the dead come to be with them at their gravesites on this day.

We´ll hopefully spend next week at Neto´s Mom´s house, where there is no internet and limited phone access (and hopefully not so much rain). I´ll try to write a little more after that. In the meantime , here are a few pictures (If I can figure it out on this computer!) Take care, all - love,

Getting ready to go...

Well, the countdown is on! We leave October 30, so we're in that stage where you have tons of junk lying around to pack, but it's too early to pack most of it! I'm sorry for the lack of pictures and content, but I set this up mostly for people to follow our trip to Mexico. In the meantime, here's a cute picture of the kids in their "loft" (or, top bunk). So, check back in a couple weeks and we'll have some news to share - take care!!

Just trying this out ...

Hi! I'm just trying this thing out, so I'll write more when I actually have something to say!