Hello to all!  I apologize for not writing sooner, but we´ve been a bit busy!   All is very well right now, the trip went really well, except for a late-night delay in Mexico City.  I have a great recommendation to anyone traveling with young children - take a few teens who are fun and energetic and your children will be totally entertained!! Long story short, we got to Hogar Infantil around 2am, quite tired but grateful to finally be here. 

We spent three nights, Eric and Anna got homesick at night, missing Daddy, more than anything.  But in the day they´re having lots of fun with cousins Rachel, Faith and Olivia and new friends.  The first day we were waiting to go into lunch and talking with the house parent for the little girls, when all of a sudden I wondered where Eric was.  I looked around and he was right in the middle of the line with the little boys!!  So cute.  They´ve both seemed to need some quiet time but also have fun with the groups of kids.

On Wednesday we took a trip out to see Abuelita on the Oaxacan coast.  Because it´s rainy season all the mountains are green and beautiful, it was a breathtaking trip.  A close friend of Neto drove us out and dropped us off, picking us up again on Saturday.  We spent three nights in our little house - while it still needs some fixing up and furniture, it´s so exciting to have a house of our own!  One of my nieces at first called it a ¨room¨, as in, ïs this whole room yours?¨ Cracked me up, since it really IS about as big as a large bedroom.  I was so moved by the fact that all of Neto´s siblings and his Mom had worked really hard to fix it up for us - painting,  weeding, moving beds over from Neto´s mom´s house, etc.  We felt so welcome and nurtured! 

Welcome, nurtured, and HOT.  Imagine the most humidity without it actually raining, then add about 110 degrees onto that.  Pretty unbearable, and even those who live there were commenting on the heat.  Our respite was going to the beach and feeling the breeze, dunking into the warm sea and lying around in the hammock.  Heavenly.  Eric and Anna played with her bobbleheads (Littlest Pet Shop) and made volcanoes and cities in the sand.  The only other challenge about being at the beach is the mosquito problem.  We are still scratching all over from those nasty, powerful tiny creatures!!  Anna couldn´t sleep last night because of the itching so I finally gave her some benadryl, it seemed to help.  Knocked her out, at least!!   Other than that the trip was wonderful, we ate shrimp at every meal (no kidding - the only time we missed the shrimp was because my MIL had left it out for us and I thought she meant for us to just have garlic-fried crab for breakfast.  Got in trouble for that one, but we took the shrimp to the beach to eat there.  Amazing seafood, great catching up with family.  I would have loved to stay more nights but felt like we had all had about all we could of the heat and mosquitoes, so I hope to go back for a day or two later on in our stay. 

The weather has been so fun!  Sunny and warm, but with some rain and drama, too!  Our last night at the beach we had a heavy rain and thunderstorm that was really impressive - all of us ¨big folks¨woke up because a hard rain on a tin roof is a bit hard to sleep through, unless you´re 9 years old or under, apparently.  Last night at the ¨ranch¨ (Hogar Infantil) we got caught in a rain and lightening storm and made it back to our cabin drenched, only to have the lights go out.  We had two flashlights and then someone had the idea of breaking out the glowsticks we brought to share with the kids, that helped.  Today I ran into town to get some candles so we´ll be more prepared next time.  It was really fun and we sat around and read some stories together. 

I think my nieces are also having lots of fun.  One night they were playing a game with the kids here that was similar to ¨Duck Duck Goose¨, and one of them skinned her knee.  She kept saying "I just LOVE that I skinned my knee, haven´t done that for so long!"  I think they´re enjoying being kids again, I´m hearing lots of giggles all around.  So many people here ask about Anna and her treatment, it´s been an interesting experience for me to relive that with people who were not witnessing the whole process in Oregon.  The first morning I was talking to one of the cooks who´has been here for 25 years, and I started crying - did not expect that, but it´s such an emotional thing to feel everyone´s love and concern and know that they have been praying all this time! 

Ok, I better go - I was hoping to upload photos, but haven´t figured that out yet.  I´ll try another day, but for now you´ll have to be OK with a written update.  More will come!  I hope all is well for you and you´re enjoying summer.  The kids here have one week of school left, and Sunday is the big Quinceanera, so we might try to take a day trip to San Cristobal in the highlands during the week.  Life is slow here and we´re just going day by day.  They ring a bell for every meal and we go to bed when we feel like it, doesn´t seem to matter that I didn´t bring a clock.  Gotta go - an old friend just showed up and I want to catch up!!  Love to all!