Christmas Crafts

We put our Christmas tree up yesterday! I bought a few new ornaments in Tegus and a tree skirt that's really cute. I will take a picture to post later.

Now I'm trying to think of more decorations I can put up. I don't really have decorations except for the tree! I'm thinking of making a tree out of some cheap ornaments and wire...

and I really want to make these with Leyla:

 I think it would be really cute to paint these on plates to display. Hopefully I can find the right kinds of paints! Then I can give each of the grandparents one as a Christmas gift!

Here are some other cute ideas:

Giving Thanks....since it IS Thanksgiving!

This month almost everyone is writing their "thankful fors" and blessings every day. I decided to make my own list because I do have LOTS to be thankful for in my life.

1. I thank God for giving me a loving husband who works so hard to provide for us and take care of us. I love that he is so motivated and passionate about what he does, always wanting to do the best at whatever it is! He is a wonderful father to Leyla and a wonderful husband :)

2. I am thankful for LEYLA! She is so cute and sweet and surprises me every day with something new she's learned, or some new expression or saying. She is growing up so fast! I think how different my life would be without her and can't imagine not having her. She is such a blessing to us and I thank God that he decided to give her to me!

3. I am thankful that God has helped me find happiness in Honduras. We have been here 2 and a half years now and I really believe I am fully adjusted to my new lifestyle. God has helped me find new hobbies and interests here as well as friends and family who keep me happy. I knew that marrying Marcos meant moving here and God has blessed my decision to marry and FOLLOW him as my husband. God has really blessed me and helped me make Honduras MY home too.

4. I am thankful for our jobs. Marcos has a wonderful job planting mahogany, cocoa, and coffee, and I have been able to earn some money teaching too. There are so many people here who live on less than half of what we make each month, so we are truly blessed to have the jobs that we have.

5. I am thankful this year that my mom is able to visit us here, to see how we live, to spend time getting to know her granddaughter, and to really see with her own eyes that we are happy here!

6. I am also thankful that my dad is going to visit in December for Christmas! Can't wait to show him everything about Honduras!

7. I am grateful for my husband's financial smarts that have allowed us to invest in land, coffee, and bulls that will help us in the future to buy a house, pay for college, travel, etc.

8. I am thankful for a mother-in-law who has helped me adjust to Honduras, gives me tons of useful advice, who loves to babysit Leyla :), who invites us into her home and shares her home with us, and who is a great Christian example and leader for me and my daughter.

9. I am thankful for Maria. She takes great care of Leyla and the house; even though we've had a few problems, she has been with us for two years now and has really become part of our family. Raising a teenager is challenging - and even though she's not my daughter, I feel like God has given me that responsibility. I am so thankful that she talks to me and trusts me; I hope that our relationship will continue to improve and that she will trust me as she goes through these difficult teenage years.

10. I am thankful for God's faithfulness - since I have been here I know He has never left me and has blessed us and will continue to bless us. I am excited for the future and seeing what more He has in store for us!

Just a few cute pictures of Leyla :)

 

 

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was a pretty special day this year. First, it happened to fall on my birthday. This year was special too because I turned 24 on the 24th of November! Also, my mom came to visit all the way from Tennessee. So Thursday was a big celebration of Thanksgiving AND birthdays (Maria's was on the 22nd, too).

I woke up at 6:00 and had the turkey in the oven by 7:30 AM. Then I started making the fondant for mine and Maria's birthday cake. I can't remember how long that took....anyway in the meantime,

 Rudy and Maria helped blow up balloons!

 Leyla loves balloons so it kept her occupied.

 The turkey! I rubbed it with butter, rosemary, salt, pepper, and sage. I roasted it for about 5 hours, then left it in covered for another hour or so. It was really soft and tender, not dry at all. The wings were falling off the bone!

 Dinner included turkey, gravy, yeast rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, and dressing. YUM.

 The finished living room! It looked really nice with all the balloons!

 Kyle carving the turkey!

 My cake :)  I love the little beads - they looked like pearls!

 We lit 16 candles for Maria, sang, and added 8 more for me, and sang again.

 

 Everybody stuffed and happy!

Leyla and her Stroller

Here is the video I took the morning Leyla got her stroller!

Astra

Astra is our new German Shepherd puppy! We still have Lizzy and Bull, and have 2 puppies of the 8 left to sell. A friend of ours had Astra but didn't want her anymore I guess, so we made him a deal. Marcos always had German Shepherds growing up and wanted one for us, but pure German Shepherds are VERY expensive. Since he was willing to make us a deal we took it!

I named her Astra. It was one of the first names that came to my mind, like it just fit her or something. I looked it up to make sure it was a name :) It is Latin for star, like Astrology, Asteroid, or the names Astrea and Astrid.

 At first we were worried that she wouldn't get along with the others. She seemed very shy and scared (we still had 4 other puppies when we got her). Every morning she was sleeping by herself and the others were with Lizzy. I was afraid she would be lonely, or cold. She eats slowly too and seems smaller and thinner than the others; they eat so fast that she doesn't get a chance! But, slowly, every day she is getting more sociable. Now she plays with the other puppies and they are even sleeping together! And my absolute favorite thing that I just witnessed, the cutest thing ever - the two puppies left were nursing on Lizzy, and SO WAS ASTRA!

Is that not the cutest thing? What a sweet dog is Lizzy! I am so happy that they are all adjusted now and that Lizzy is such a good mother and has accepted her even as one of her own. And, after Lizzy got tired and didn't want to let them nurse anymore, I looked at Astra and her belly was swollen and full! She had nursed and nursed her fill of milk. I am so glad she is fitting in now and adjusting!

Happy Birthday Marcos!

Marcos turned 28 on November 3rd and we had a small party for him that weekend. It was a surprise and he really was surprised!

Lazy Sunday

The power was out all day today, from about 8:00 this morning until around 5:00 tonight. No fun....

Marcos had the bulls brought in today so tomorrow we will find out how much they weigh and what they're worth! Exciting day! We have 12 total, hopefully they will all get top price (which means they will weigh about 900 lbs).

Since I had nothing else to do today and 4 men from the mountains were at my house, I decided to plant a couple more flowers and weed. We extended the fence on the neighbor's side of the yard and planted the Dahlia there - it has grown so well and has a bud at the tip so I decided it was ready to plant. In the other fenced area we planted a red hibiscus plant, one that grows tall and bushy with small red flowers (not the large hibiscus type). Three of my potted roses have rooted for sure, and I have three more that are green but still not showing signs of life (no leaf buds). I have an orange hibiscus and a pink hibiscus, plus 4 more of the same red hibiscus! We only have 2 more spots in the two gardens, for the roses. We'll have to buy more screen/wire/posts to make another small one, and then figure out where to plant the bazillion hibiscus plants, ha :) Haven't taken pictures yet, but I will in the morning to post! Also, we still have 4 puppies left - once they are gone I will feel more comfortable planting without fences. Bull and Lizzy don't bother the flowers too much anymore.

In other news, we BOUGHT a puppy. Yes, that's right - we have 4 puppies we're trying to sell, and we bought one. Crazy. She is a German Shepherd, two months old. Marcos had 3 German Shepherd's growing up and always wanted one, but they are very expensive. His friend had bought this little puppy and Marcos made a deal with him to take her! She seems to be adjusting well to life here with the 6 other dogs....HA. She is very sweet and playful though. So, now we will have 3 dogs - the plan is, when she gets old enough to cross, we will have to give Bull back so that he doesn't impregnate her....and eventually we'll cross her with another German Shepherd. Then we'll end up with just her and Lizzy. I like that much better :) No puppy problems unless we WANT them!

Here are a couple of pictures of Leyla and her new toy. It is a stroller Bartola bought her for her birthday! She loves it and plays with it all morning long, pushing it back and forth in the yard. She calls it her "toy."

 I love her oversized PJs shirt!

One more video

I think I forgot to post this video of Leyla playing ball. She is hilarious, the way she stands to throw the ball!

Halloween

They don't do much for Halloween here. When I say "not much" I mean nothing.

They don't even have pumpkins! I have never seen an orange pumpkin or I would have gotten one to carve for Leyla. Wouldn't that be fun!

A friend from the US sent me a few things along with a boxed cupcake kit, so we made those! And that was all of our Halloween! It was fun though; they looked crazy and Leyla enjoyed them. Tasted pretty good too. Thanks Joni!

 I let Leyla do the icing, but she just got it all over her hands. It was cute how she squeezed and squeezed, and she didn't get any of it on the cupcake! Then she kept licking it off, trying to clean her hands, but eventually realized, hey, why put this on the cupcake? Why not just eat it directly? And then she proceeded to squeeze it into her mouth instead! Smart girl :)