Back home again!

Hello to all!

Well, this blog idea didn't work out so well while we were there.  I guess it was too much effort for me to get access to a computer and then figure out loading photos, etc...so I'll just catch you all up now from the comfort of our own home.  In the previous post you can see some photos, I'll try to explain some of them.  There are photos of the crazy gringos enjoying their first tropical downpour - everyone thought they were crazy for dancing in the rain, but they had a great time.  I chose to stay dry and take the photos, haha!

I tried to put the photos of Hogar Infantil first and the ones of our house at the coast at the end, our little house is so cute!  If it weren't for the mosquitoes and unbearable heat, I'd be ready to move in for a year!!  Neto's mom has planted lots of coconut trees, three mango, guanabana, lime, nanche, caco, and I'm wanting to get some avocado, more mango and citrus trees started.  I figure that by the time Neto and I retire down here we'll have a regular food forest!    We took one last trip to the beach with 8 Hogar kids and my sister and her two youngest, it was a fun day trip!  The beach was glorious and breezy, had lots of fun swimming and playing in the water.  It was so great to see Neto's family again and say goodbye.

Let's see, we mostly spent lots of time at Hogar Infantil just playing and doing crafts.  There are photos of both sets of my family who came and overlapped trips for a couple days.  One bummer was that by the time my sister Mary and her two youngest, Kate and Ruth got there most of the children had gone home for their summer vacations.  About 20 kids, mostly middle and high school ages, were left at the ranch - they either had no where to go for vacations (either deceased, absent or uninvolved parents/family).  It's great to be there during vacations, doing activities with the kids who stay on, as they tend to get bored and watch lots of TV.  So our beach trip helped, and then we took the rest of the kids on a trip to a local ecotourist sight of a sinkhole that's inhabited by a huge colony of green parrots, we went for a hike and had some snacks at the restaurant, and watched some brave young guys repel into the bottom of the hole to walk among the forest down below.

The photo of something blurry on a hand is the tiniest frog I've ever seen, so cute - about the size of a cricket.  Also you can see Anna and Olivia ready to devour a bunch of rambutan, the addictive fruit of choice for the trip.  Yum!  We tried to have lots of fruit on hand: pineapple, papaya, tiny finger bananas, rambutan, avocado, oranges, etc.  Mango season was over in the area but we still scored a few on occasion.  We also splurged on some apples (from Washington!) although that's not very consistent with my "buy local" philosophy, but whatever.

There's so much to tell, it's hard to write it all up now.  We had lots of play time, card games with older kids, knitting with all ages, legos with boys mostly but sometimes the girls, sculpey clay, etc...even with all the activity there were many art supplies we didn't get to use yet, so we left them with another U.S. volunteer who happened to be there, so she can organize some activities for the rest of their summer break. 

My favorite part of the whole experience, aside from seeing my children and teenage nieces explore and blossom in a new culture, was catching up with old friends and kids who we'd known since they were little.  Many have their own families now or are expecting babies, and it was so wonderful to reconnect and reminisce with them.  Lots of great conversations, which you know I love!

I'm going  to get going and finish unpacking and folding clean clothes.  Also thinking of scoring some blueberries this weekend, hmmm.  Great to be home, but already looking forward to our next trip!!  Next time we'll make sure all four of us go - the kids and I missed Neto so much, and I think he's really glad we're home, too!   Thanks for checking in about our trip!  Love to all -

Katie

Photos

Crazy Gringoes in the tropical rainstorm!

Legos with kids at Hogar!!

Making bracelets

"Down by the Banks of the Hankety Pank"

Played many games of improvised "baseball" with an unripe guanabana and an old broomstick! I think this was just a game of catch, though.  Funny how easy it is to just make up your own fun!

At the Quinceañera party, so much fun!

Anna with our good friend America

Climbing the hill behind Hogar gives an amazing view of the children's home and surrounding valley.

Bobbleheads go to Mexico
Anna holding a baby iguana

We all love rambutan!

Eric's sculpey clay creations

Anna dancing with friend, Nacho

A church in a town famous for it's hammocks.  I loved these decorations!

Our little house is all fixed up, thanks to Neto's family

Visiting with Abuelits, she's an amazing woman!

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!

Getting Ready!!

Do you think I have enough yarn?  Never!  It is impossible in life to have too much yarn, haha!  Most of this was given to us by a woman who has been a donor to Hogar Infantil for many years - she sent us several big boxes out of the blue, Neto took down a bunch last trip and I'm going to take the rest, plus all the art supplies I've bought from our Aurora Arts Association raffle last December, plus any other donations people choose to give.   We're all getting excited for our trip, the kids are not grumbling so much and now getting excited to meet new kids and play, play, play!!  Anna has been asking me how to say "Bobblehead" (our name for Littlest Pet Shop critters) in Spanish - ummm.....not sure!  "Cabezones"?  We'll think of something.

If you wish to donate some art and craft supplies for us to take to the children at Hogar Infantil, feel free to call or comment here, otherwise we'd just love your prayers and well wishes for a meaningful and fun trip!!   You can subscribe to this blog if you want to keep up with our adventures between June 24th and July 18th - I'll try to post some photos of the children's home and our visit with Neto's family on the coast along the way!

Many blessings to all!!

Going soon!

Just wanted to let you all know I've brought this old blog back from near death to use it for our summer trip.  The kids and I will go to Mexico from June 24 - July 18.  Should be exciting and eventful - I'll post photos and stories as I can.  More to come in a few weeks! 

Don´t worry...we´re alive!

Oh, brother! I am so sorry for not writing! I have no good excuse, other than I haven´t made time! Today I´m out on a windowshopping day without kids, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity! We´re doing well, getting ready to come home in about three weeks, but at the same time not able to imagine leaving all the family and friends here. I spent last week with the kids at Neto´s Mom´s house, it was great, the kids had a blast with their cousins nextdoor and going to the beach to play. I actually got some of my book read and more of my sweater knit, one sleeve to go and it´s finished! Of course it it always wierd to think that it´s the middle of January and about 95 degrees out, sleeping with a fan all night long! One odd thing is that there has been a series of incidents involving people stealing the copper electric wires that bring electricity to the town, first two days before New Year´s (I was also there with Anna). It was fixed just before Neto arrive with Eric, at about 6pm on New Year´s Eve! Then, when we were there last week two more sections of copper wires were stolen, leaving us without power overnight a couple times (I hate to be a weanie, but it´s awful to sleep in a hot room without a fan, and sleeping outside with the mosquitoes is not an option!) Rumor has it that they were guys from the power company who were upset they didn´t get their Christmas bonuses. Anna´s reaction was cute when she thought that the lights went away (in Spanish you say literally ¨the lights left¨) because they had feet. Being without power is not that big of a deal, as all stoves are gas-powered and there is usually fresh fish daily to eat, but the only danger in not having power for days on end is that the town water pump that gets turned on everyother day doesn´t work without power. We ended up hourding water and re-using the dish water to flush toilets, etc. Adventures in remote Mexico...

The kids are doing well, I´ll attatch a few pictures, (Eric watching Abuelita make the traditional hard corn ¨totopos¨) Eric says he doesn´t want to go home, he wants to stay with his friends here at Hogar, but at the same time he wasn´t too hip to the idea of staying on as a student there while we went home. haha. Anna says she will go home to see Grandma and Grandpa and Teddy (our nextdoor friends´cat) but is having a great time here, too. Maybe this is their first lesson in having their hearts in two places at once. I am, as usual, feeling like I want to go home to see everyone and at the same time wanting to pack up and move down here.

They have almost finished the fence around our property in Neto´s village - the doors should be delivered this week, then Neto´s family can use the space for growing vegetables to sell. (see photos...one is taken from the porch of our littel house, the other is of the house itself) We decided to fix up the tiny one-room house that is there (we spent everything on the fence, so we haven´´t started roofing the place or anything yet), making an outside kitchen and fixing the outhouse, so we can at least rent it out while we´re gone and have a place to go when we visit. Over the next few years we´ll probably start building a real house next to it and eventually use the little one-room as a guest house or family room. Neto´s Mom and I cleaned it up inside a little and killed two scorpions. I had seen one when I picked up a piece of metal sheeting, and when she and I later picked it up together, a lizard ran out towards us. Of course I thought it was the scorpion and we both started screaming before we realized it was just the lizard. It was a good laugh anyway!

Well, I´m going to go and hope to write again before we go...hope you all are doing well and please forgive me for not writing more! Take care -

Love, Katie

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!