Grammy's Here! (and a slight correction...)

Grammy arrived safe and sound in Panama this afternoon, after traveling all night to come see us! We grabbed some dinner on the way home, and now she's in the guestroom trying to sleep despite the heat, loud music, and fireworks. Dad, thanks for letting us steal her from you for a few weeks!

I also wanted to take a second and clarify something. When my mom walked into my room, the first thing she said was... "THAT's your 'word wall' ?" She explained that based on the photo of my "word wall" from a previous post, that she (and the rest of the fam apparently) thought I was so lame that I covered my ENTIRE wall from floor to ceiling with posters of spanish verbs. Apparently the photo did not accurately show the perspective. So just to clarify that I'm not that lame, I've posted the original photo from my previous post, and a new one showing the correct perspective. (Maybe it's even more lame that I felt the need to make this correction?) I think I need to dig a little deeper for blog post inspiration... but anyways... here you go.

See? I'm only kinda lame!

Happy Sunday!

Countdown to Grammy: 3 days!

today and everday...

Our First Panamanian Christmas!

We survived our first Panamanian Christmas Eve... complete with loud music, midnight dinner, and a sky full of fireworks from every house! We got home around 1am, and woke up to do an "American style" Christmas morning with Anna. She doesn't fully get it yet, but she is loving her new toys and said "Wow!" and "OOOHH!" over and over while she unwrapped her gifts (thanks Grammy!). Check out the slideshow of our first Christmas in Panama!

Merry Christmas to everyone back home!

REJECTED!

Well... (head hanging low) I submitted three vector illustrations to istockphoto, only to be totally rejected. The inspector stated that I had open paths in my files, which I can't seem to find. So... do I try to fix it and resubmit? Or do I just let this one go? What do you think?

Christmas in Panama

Pastor Bert & Vero are headed to the states tomorrow to spend Christmas with their family. Eric will be taking over the Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday teachings and a few faithful people will be helping pick up the slack in the Children's Ministry. We will be spending Christmas Eve with a family from church, and we are very excited about it! Christmas Day we plan to spend together, just the three of us. After Christmas we have several exciting things happening! My mom is coming to stay for three whole weeks! And a team from Calvary Chapel Santa Fe Springs will be here in January for 9 busy days! Please pray for us as we continue to minister here even without Bert & Vero. We'll be sure to keep you updated!

Skin MD

This is my first (and maybe only) review!!!

I received a bottle of Skin MD natural Shielding Lotion + Sunscreen SPF 15! I NEED a good lotion with SPF living here in the intense tropical sun.

If you go to their Website, you can read all about the amazing moisturizing power of this new product and order some for yourself! I've been using it since I received it, and I love it. It's such a pain to apply chemical-filled sunblock on whenever we leave the house... but with this lotion I can apply it like I do any lotion (which I use regularly- even in this humidity) and I am protected from the damaging UV rays.

who doesn't love???

a good boy band! Not me! check out this Veggie Tales Silly Song! (We love them ALL by the way).

yesterday...

was my birthday! The big 2-8. Here were the highlights:

1. sleeping in
2. hubby made potatoes
3. me-time all day
4. dinner with the girls
5. cake & ice cream
6. English TV night
7. leg rub

All in all, a good day!

A few random shots...

At the Panama Canal... watching a cruise ship pass through the locks

"Hey everybody... look at me put my arm out over the edge of the balcony! Neato!"
(just kiddin')

Casco Viejo

Chad makes a bunch of new friends!

Hello? Is this not the most beautiful pic ever?

Casco Viejo

While my brother was here this past weekend, we decided to visit Casco Viejo. We've been in Panama nearly a year, but for some reason had never made it out to this neat area of rich Panamanian history. We had a beautiful lunch, and spent the afternoon walking around this old port city taking in the classic Spanish architecture and breathtaking views.

The Panama City skyline from Casco Viejo.

Ruins- (or was it the "first traffic control tower", eh Chad?)

The Presidential Palace

The Cathedral

La Plaza de Bolivar

I can't help but wonder what this building looked like when it was first built!

113 (One hundred and thirteen)

Until my brother arrived on Thursday, it had been been 113 days since I'd seen a member of my family (besides Eric and Anna of course). I didn't think I was homesick. I was wrong.

Yesterday my brother and I spent over an hour sitting at the restaurant at the Panama Canal watching as a huge Celebrity cruise ship passed through the Canal. Seeing hundreds of Americans standing all the around the ship waiving to us as we on land waived back, I couldn't help but have twinges of sadness. And then today, it just hit me. I miss my family. I miss my mom and dad. I miss my siblings. I miss my nephews and my niece... I miss seeing them grow and learn new things... I miss being there on the weekends for family get togethers and barbeques... I miss everything about them. 113 days and counting.

Isn't It Beautiful?

This amazing product is called the Bamboo Tablet, by Wacom. It comes with a wireless pen, and can be used to create graphics and illustrations on the computer. I have been drooling over these tablets for months now, but had not even considered really spending the money to buy one for myself. But once in awhile, God blesses you with a new friend... someone who knows you and chooses to sacrifice in order to be a blessing. When my brother arrived from the states on Thursday, in the suitcase was a new, sleek Bamboo Tablet from my dear friends Lauren and Jeron. What an amazing gift! Thank you guys for thinking of me and blessing me beyond my expectations this Christmas. You are both amazing, and I can't wait to see you next month!

Word Wall

A cheat sheet of sorts... I finally put up lists of the spanish verbs I use most often, and the conjugation of each verb into the present, imperfect, past & future tenses. It's right above my computer where I will see it everyday and hopefully this will help make them stick in my brain!

Anybody have any other helpful memory tricks for improving my spanish vocab?

Tomorrow is C-Day!

Not only is my brother Chad coming for a visit, but he is bringing along with him, my brand new green Dell laptop Computer with all the upgrades! I have been drooling over this computer for months, and I was finally able to purchase it! I may not sleep tonight. Seriously

We have *ahem* a new dryer!

Well....... new to us anyways!

A dear friend of ours arranged for us to receive this old dryer from an expat who didn't need it. Now, as you can clearly see... this thing is beat up and rusty, and it screaches when the door is opened. And I fear electrocution. Seriously.

But who knows? A little elbow grease and this old dinosour might be good as new! Right? I mean, it's possible? Isn't it?

Hmmm.... I mean, well, there's at least a chance? Don't you think?

I'M IN A BASKET EVERYBODY!

After several days of watching Anna attempt to stuff herself into the small white toy bins, it finally occured to me to put her in the big toy basket. And she couldn't believe it! She sat in that basket, and didn't make a peep, for a good 15 minutes. She only stood up because daddy came in, and she needed to make sure that he saw her in the blue basket.
And in other exciting news, Anna has her first scraped knee! She was running around outside with all the other kids last Sunday evening, and she fell in the street and scraped her knee. She cried a little (but mommy didn't freak out!) A little cuddle and she was back to chasing the kids in the street.

improvising...

Although Christmas decorations came out in the stores in about August, there are very few harvest decorations in this country! So when it was time to decorate the church for Thanksgiving, my pickins' were slim. But I found these very bright, orange ornaments at one of my favorite stores in the mall, and bought a bunch. An hour before dinner on Thanksgiving, I still had no idea what to do with the ornaments, until one lovely lady suggested this: And I think it turned out quite lovely.

Six things we've had in our house this week...

1. A GIANT, ENORMOUS, NASTY grey slug about 6 inches long and at least an inch in diameter. Normally, I would have grabbed my camera, but I was literally so disgusted, that I had to go take a shower while my husband disposed of it.

2. A very fussy kid who I think has thrown herself into the terrible two's a bit early. At least that's the diagnosis of our American friend who is a Child Psychologist. That makes me feel a lot better actually, because her wild screaming fits are becoming nearly unbearable!

3. A medication-resistent fungus that has taken over my right foot and has now appeared on all of my fingers. No shame here. I'm way past shame.

4. Giant fuzzy black ants, two of which have made it into my mouth by lying in wait on the rim of my juice filled glass, just waiting for me to take a drink! It was not pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

5. Rats. Yes, as if the giant cockroaches, centipedes, millipedes, slugs, ticks, biting ants, mosquitos, and flies weren't enough, we have now seen grey rats running through the kitchen. Beautiful.

6. Piles and piles of smelly laundry. Not by choice, mind you... but we have just come out of a solid week of non-stop rain. It's impossible to dry clothes on the outdoor clotheslines, and only slightly less impossible to dry clothes by draping them all over the inside of the damp house. And so they sat. In the hamper. And mildewed. And I am now diligently trying to salvage our clothes and wash out the stench. Thank God for the past two days of sunshine!

HAIR! Then and Now...

At one month old, the first thing people noticed was her hair!  Now, at 17 months old, the first thing people notice is her hair!  What a cutie.

this is what it looks like...

when daddy has Anna for the afternoon. Baseball hat. Oddly wrapped diaper. And lots of fun!