Leyla's Newest Tricks

Yesterday, Leyla clapped her hands for real! She has been putting her hands together for awhile, but just her fists, or one hand on top of the other fist. Yesterday she put both her little palms together and clapped. And she's been doing it ever since! She loves it. She gets really excited and squeals. Today, she has been talking a lot and clapping or applauding herself for sitting up, standing...

I put her in the playpen for a minute while I heated up some lunch and came back and she was standing up! She is getting harder and harder to contain - she always wants to be moving and twists her little body to get whatever she wants. If she's seated, she wants to stand up; if she's standing, she wants to sit down. I can't do anything without her noticing and wanting whatever it is I have or am trying to do. I came home from school Friday and her face looked really dirty - then I looked at her clothes, and her legs, and she was covered in dirt and dust and fuzz! I asked Maria (Marcos' niece who watches Leyla) what had happened, and this is what she told me. She had layed the comforter on the floor and put Leyla on it to crawl around. Then she went out of the room for two seconds and heard a "Hmmm" near her. She turned around, and Leyla was off the blanket, in the doorway, staring at her! ha! So she had crawled off the blanket on the nasty floor, that's why she was dirty. Pretty funny. Of course I gave her a bath right away!!

Here is a video of her clapping :)

My First Blog

This is my first ever post on my brand new blog. I have no idea how to arrange or edit my blog and I'm getting a little confused. But, I will keep trying!

I live in Catacamas, Honduras, my husband's hometown. It was his plan when he graduated to move back home to Catacamas, so, when we got married, that's what we did! Marcos just got started on his project, Project Third Day, last June when we moved here. He works in the mountains planting mahogany, cocoa, and coffee. Since he just got started, we haven't seen the fruits of our labor yet, of course. But in about 5 years we should start seeing some profits. He also started raising some cattle!

While my husband is in the mountains working, I stay in town and teach Math and English at a private, bilingual school here. I teach seventh and eighth grade - high school here - and it is extremely challenging. It is very difficult dealing with kids who have grown up in an environment that does not value education. Every day is a struffle trying to motivate them to pay attention and do their homework. Sometimes I lose my patience, sometimes I want to give up, and sometimes I feel like I have an impossible task. But God has put me here for a reason! So I am trying to stick it out for as long as He wants me to be there.

My baby girl, Leyla Rebekah, was born October 29, 2009 and will be 7 months old on Sunday! She is so beautiful and I love her to death. Being a mother is so amazing! It is incredible when I think back to being pregnant and can't believe that we created such a beautiful baby. I love when she smiles at me and laughs or gets excited and jumps and claps her hands. She is precious! This past month she has learned so many new things. She has always loved to stand, but now she can stand on her own holding on to the furniture and she can almost pull herself into a standing position! She started crawling last week and started clapping her hands today. She still hasn't said "mama" or "dada" but I think she may be a little confused trying to learn two languages at once. She says a lot of mababada and mmmhmm and grunts though. She loves to read, pats everything, and loves mangoes and bananas. She also loves bathtime and splashes ALL over the place! She loves her stuffed animals, remote controls, cell phones, and daddy's chapstick. She is extremely curious and gets into everything and sees everything - it is impossible to hide something from her. I can tell as she gets older she is going to be a handful!

I guess that is a little introduction to my life. Like I said, I'm new to this blogging thing, so we'll see where it goes from here!