Every morning Josiah likes to eat breakfast almost the instant his eyes open. I can see it when I look at him he is thinking about food. Its also pretty obvious the way he leans to look into the kitchen to see if I've started anything or not.
His favorite right now seems to be oatmeal or cream of wheat. We've been running low on the oatmeal so cream of wheat it has been for the past week. I get it all ready and then head over to the couch to feed him. We don't have a highchair so I just set him next to me with his towel bib and away we go. He is usually so excited he starts bouncing up and down. It is too cute.
This morning he woke up before I had a chance to get the cereal started. So I put him on the floor with a few Cheerios and got things ready. When we sat down the computer was sitting in front of us scrolling through pictures randomly. He loved it! He was in 7Th heaven. Good food, fun pictures and mom all together in one place. Every time a picture with people smiling came up he would giggle and smile really big. When we were finally finished eating he crawled up onto my lap and sat and watched the pictures for a good 10 minutes! He probably would have watched more, but there were things to do. It was so much fun getting to laugh with him over pictures. I love how he is growing up and recognizing people and things. Kiddo's are SO much fun!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
weddings, weddings, weddings
In the states this time of year is full of weddings, buying gifts, getting dressed up and going to a beautiful ceremony. Well its that time of year around here too except there are quite a few differences.
For one there isn't actually a ceremony that takes place. When the Bride and Groom decide to get married - after the ok from families, etc. - they fill out a marriage license and they are legally married. Then sometime in the summer they have a big reception.
One part of the reception is going to pick up the bride. The groom and his family and friends travel to the brides home and pick her up. Their car is covered in ribbons and bows like a big present. They pick up the bride and then they parade all over the town honking their horns and listening to loud music. It is a crazy time. I sat in town the other night and saw 6-7 wedding parties go past. They were all dressed up and having a lot of fun.
We went to a wedding today in the village. We were told to get there about 2pm because that was supposedly when the bride was going to get there. Knowing how things work around here we didn't get our hopes too high for being on time. We got there and the men were meeting together in one house and the women in another. The women were dancing and laughing together. They love to dance. I can't make my hips move like that for the life of me, so usually I just try and sit and watch. Today I was actually feeling like trying, but Josiah had other plans so I watched the girls enjoy themselves. They are really good.
After about an hour or so of sitting around and dancing they pulled out the tables and got ready for the first meal. We ate lamb with prunes and olives. It was actually really nice. After that we gracefully made our exit to the groans of many people. The bride hadn't actually arrived and as it turns out isn't going to arrive until 8 or so. Joey is on his way right now to help transport people to get her.
It was a lot of fun to see all the women dressed up and to get dressed up myself. I borrowed a dress and got my head all covered in a new scarf I got for my birthday. It was so much fun. I think I might have even enjoyed hanging out for a bit longer, and if the kiddo's hadn't been so tired we probably would have. I don't have to really worry though because its wedding season here, just like back home.
For one there isn't actually a ceremony that takes place. When the Bride and Groom decide to get married - after the ok from families, etc. - they fill out a marriage license and they are legally married. Then sometime in the summer they have a big reception.
One part of the reception is going to pick up the bride. The groom and his family and friends travel to the brides home and pick her up. Their car is covered in ribbons and bows like a big present. They pick up the bride and then they parade all over the town honking their horns and listening to loud music. It is a crazy time. I sat in town the other night and saw 6-7 wedding parties go past. They were all dressed up and having a lot of fun.
We went to a wedding today in the village. We were told to get there about 2pm because that was supposedly when the bride was going to get there. Knowing how things work around here we didn't get our hopes too high for being on time. We got there and the men were meeting together in one house and the women in another. The women were dancing and laughing together. They love to dance. I can't make my hips move like that for the life of me, so usually I just try and sit and watch. Today I was actually feeling like trying, but Josiah had other plans so I watched the girls enjoy themselves. They are really good.
After about an hour or so of sitting around and dancing they pulled out the tables and got ready for the first meal. We ate lamb with prunes and olives. It was actually really nice. After that we gracefully made our exit to the groans of many people. The bride hadn't actually arrived and as it turns out isn't going to arrive until 8 or so. Joey is on his way right now to help transport people to get her.
It was a lot of fun to see all the women dressed up and to get dressed up myself. I borrowed a dress and got my head all covered in a new scarf I got for my birthday. It was so much fun. I think I might have even enjoyed hanging out for a bit longer, and if the kiddo's hadn't been so tired we probably would have. I don't have to really worry though because its wedding season here, just like back home.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Whew, what a day!
Finally a chance to sit and let you know all about my unforgettable birthday! Joey's mom, brother and sister were going to be heading back to the states and needed a ride into the city. It worked out perfectly because I needed to go see the Dr. for my 5 month check up and its always nice to have more than one reason to make the long drive.
So the plan was to get up and head out early, make a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch (special treat for the birthday girl) and then head on into the city for a nice dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Wonderful plan, excited about the plan, going to be a great birthday!
Well, I should have known better, planning is silly. Especially here, so Sunday night when I got the word that things had changed, I wasn't too surprised and I was curious about what the next day would bring.
Remember how I said the King was in town, well it seems we got invited to see him on Monday morning. So, we decided we couldn't miss an opportunity to see, maybe even MEET the King. We headed out at 9am, the time the invitation said to meet him. After running into all sorts of people who hadn't seen the invitation or didn't exactly know what it was all about we finally were told to wait in front of some tents. Finally someone we knew came and told us where to go. We were moved to a large area, with barricades and tents. We stood in the corner in the shade. It was SO hot in the sun. Since it was a high security zone we didn't grab much, not even a diaper bag for Josiah.
We were really the only ones around, other than some secret service guys, lots of police and soldiers and the carpet guys. The carpet guys were laying out carpets for the King to walk on. Big beautiful red carpets. They were under a really big set of tents and then made a sort of walk way out to a podium. Things weren't looking good for things starting on time, since we were the only ones there and all. Then around 10 we heard people yelling as they came running into the area. There were thousands of people - who didn't have invitations - who were going to stand in the same area we were just to get a glimpse of the King. They were running to get the best spot and soon they were crowding in to where we stood. It was getting kinda crazy and I must confess I was wondering what in the world we were doing there, it wasn't looking very promising to actually meet the King.
The guards then realized (or were told, I can't remember) that there were Americans in the crowd with an invitation. So after a time they came and got us out of the group. It was pretty funny, they didn't really know what to do with us. So they kept moving us around. "Stand here, oh actually stand over there. Oh, we forgot it is a high security risk for you to stand here, so we'll have to move you. Stand in the shade it isn't good for a baby to be in the sun." On and on it went different police would argue with the solders and with the secret service men about who had authority to deal with us and where should they put us. They didn't think we understood which was part of the fun, but we understood most of it. We got to talk to some of the secret service men and spend some time sitting on those beautiful red carpets.
Finally after 4 1/2 hours. They moved us into a line in front of the barricades full of people. We stood in a line along with some other important native officials. Around 1:30ish the King pulled up in a fancy Mercedes (that's what Joey said anyway) and out he came waving and blowing kisses. He quickly ran under the tents and looked at all the pictures of the new development. Then he ran along the walk way of carpets and raised a flag telling an excavator to go ahead and did a hole. Then he waved again and ran back to his car and drove away. All in all he was there about 20 min. I know he saw us and we were only about 100 ft away from him. I even thought I saw his lips mouth the words "Happy Birthday" as he walked by. Just kidding, but he was pretty close and it was exciting to see him.
As soon as he left the whole place cleared out. It was like a stadium after a football game. Go as fast as you can and get out of there! We rushed to the car and got on our way. After dealing with traffic we got on the road to the city about 2:30 and we were off. We decided to bi passMcDonald's for the sake of time and got to the city about 10pm. We picked up our friend Tom who was there for a night and went to the nice restaurant. It was so fun. I had a yummy fish in cream sauce. It was really good. I was super blessed with lots of fun gifts - new clothes, new flip flops and cute earrings.
As I climbed into bed I thought about the day. Its not everyday you get invited to meet the King and be surrounded by people who love you at the same time. I can honestly say that I will never forget my 29Th birthday, it was a day to remember!
So the plan was to get up and head out early, make a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch (special treat for the birthday girl) and then head on into the city for a nice dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Wonderful plan, excited about the plan, going to be a great birthday!
Well, I should have known better, planning is silly. Especially here, so Sunday night when I got the word that things had changed, I wasn't too surprised and I was curious about what the next day would bring.
Remember how I said the King was in town, well it seems we got invited to see him on Monday morning. So, we decided we couldn't miss an opportunity to see, maybe even MEET the King. We headed out at 9am, the time the invitation said to meet him. After running into all sorts of people who hadn't seen the invitation or didn't exactly know what it was all about we finally were told to wait in front of some tents. Finally someone we knew came and told us where to go. We were moved to a large area, with barricades and tents. We stood in the corner in the shade. It was SO hot in the sun. Since it was a high security zone we didn't grab much, not even a diaper bag for Josiah.
We were really the only ones around, other than some secret service guys, lots of police and soldiers and the carpet guys. The carpet guys were laying out carpets for the King to walk on. Big beautiful red carpets. They were under a really big set of tents and then made a sort of walk way out to a podium. Things weren't looking good for things starting on time, since we were the only ones there and all. Then around 10 we heard people yelling as they came running into the area. There were thousands of people - who didn't have invitations - who were going to stand in the same area we were just to get a glimpse of the King. They were running to get the best spot and soon they were crowding in to where we stood. It was getting kinda crazy and I must confess I was wondering what in the world we were doing there, it wasn't looking very promising to actually meet the King.
The guards then realized (or were told, I can't remember) that there were Americans in the crowd with an invitation. So after a time they came and got us out of the group. It was pretty funny, they didn't really know what to do with us. So they kept moving us around. "Stand here, oh actually stand over there. Oh, we forgot it is a high security risk for you to stand here, so we'll have to move you. Stand in the shade it isn't good for a baby to be in the sun." On and on it went different police would argue with the solders and with the secret service men about who had authority to deal with us and where should they put us. They didn't think we understood which was part of the fun, but we understood most of it. We got to talk to some of the secret service men and spend some time sitting on those beautiful red carpets.
Finally after 4 1/2 hours. They moved us into a line in front of the barricades full of people. We stood in a line along with some other important native officials. Around 1:30ish the King pulled up in a fancy Mercedes (that's what Joey said anyway) and out he came waving and blowing kisses. He quickly ran under the tents and looked at all the pictures of the new development. Then he ran along the walk way of carpets and raised a flag telling an excavator to go ahead and did a hole. Then he waved again and ran back to his car and drove away. All in all he was there about 20 min. I know he saw us and we were only about 100 ft away from him. I even thought I saw his lips mouth the words "Happy Birthday" as he walked by. Just kidding, but he was pretty close and it was exciting to see him.
As soon as he left the whole place cleared out. It was like a stadium after a football game. Go as fast as you can and get out of there! We rushed to the car and got on our way. After dealing with traffic we got on the road to the city about 2:30 and we were off. We decided to bi passMcDonald's for the sake of time and got to the city about 10pm. We picked up our friend Tom who was there for a night and went to the nice restaurant. It was so fun. I had a yummy fish in cream sauce. It was really good. I was super blessed with lots of fun gifts - new clothes, new flip flops and cute earrings.
As I climbed into bed I thought about the day. Its not everyday you get invited to meet the King and be surrounded by people who love you at the same time. I can honestly say that I will never forget my 29Th birthday, it was a day to remember!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Here comes the King
Yesterday we took a group of volunteers into town. There was a big ta-do because the King is in town!!! They have gotten more done in the past month getting ready for the King than they have in almost a year! Courtyards and sidewalks have spiffy new tiles and buildings have been painted. There are flags everywhere, you should see the town, all lit up and looking beautiful.
Anyway, one of the many things that is going to happen is that the King is going to drive around and people will get to see him. So we went and waited along with everyone else in the area for almost 3 hours. Each moment we thought maybe the King would be coming along, but we were always disappointed. We finally left after a while to head home and get dinner going. We never saw the King but we hope to sometime this weekend. He is going to go to a village near where we are building houses and we are hoping to run into him there. Maybe he will even shake our hands!
While we were waiting for the King, Josiah got some waving practice in. He stood and waved at everyone. He is so cute when he waves. He doesn't quite have the motion down, so he twists his wrists towards himself and moves his arm up and down at the same time. It is kinda like a princess in the rose parade, but we aren't going to tell him that! All the people love him, we even had a solider come and give him kisses. It is so much fun to watch him draw a crowd
Today we are taking a bit of a lazy day. Josiah is 9 months old and his friend Elias is 1 year today, so we will have a bit of a celebration tonight with cake and everything. Tomorrow hopefully we'll get to sleep in and then on Monday morning we head for the city. It will be nice to spend some time with wireless internet and restaurants from around the world. But it will be sad too because Joey's family is leaving for the States again. Hopefully our last days together will be full of fun and memories.
Anyway, one of the many things that is going to happen is that the King is going to drive around and people will get to see him. So we went and waited along with everyone else in the area for almost 3 hours. Each moment we thought maybe the King would be coming along, but we were always disappointed. We finally left after a while to head home and get dinner going. We never saw the King but we hope to sometime this weekend. He is going to go to a village near where we are building houses and we are hoping to run into him there. Maybe he will even shake our hands!
While we were waiting for the King, Josiah got some waving practice in. He stood and waved at everyone. He is so cute when he waves. He doesn't quite have the motion down, so he twists his wrists towards himself and moves his arm up and down at the same time. It is kinda like a princess in the rose parade, but we aren't going to tell him that! All the people love him, we even had a solider come and give him kisses. It is so much fun to watch him draw a crowd
Today we are taking a bit of a lazy day. Josiah is 9 months old and his friend Elias is 1 year today, so we will have a bit of a celebration tonight with cake and everything. Tomorrow hopefully we'll get to sleep in and then on Monday morning we head for the city. It will be nice to spend some time with wireless internet and restaurants from around the world. But it will be sad too because Joey's family is leaving for the States again. Hopefully our last days together will be full of fun and memories.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
everything must have a beginning
I've realized that I am really bad at letting people know what is happening in my life on a day to day basis. So I thought I'd try this silly blog thing and see what happens. I will have to be careful what all I say and I will probably not really get to this every day, but at least I can try and let you know what is going on with us over here and keep family and a few friends on the inside track.
Last night Josiah spent the night with his Auntie Anna. They looked so cute all cuddled up and snuggling together. I woke up at 6:30 to Josiah's giggles as his Auntie, and Grammie got ready to go to work. So I gathered myself together and came out to join them all. The first indicator that things weren't going so great for Josiah was the fact that he threw up a little. Afterwards he seemed fine so I was thinking maybe it was the heat or something. Auntie and Grammie left and I started making Josiah's breakfast like I usually do. A big bowl of cream of wheat. He loves the stuff. Can't get enough of it. So I made his usual bowl and sat down to let it cool a little. Josiah was content to sit and cuddle with me, so that was that. Finally the food was ready and I was shocked to find that he only wanted 3 bites! Somebody call the Doctor! Josiah won't eat!!! Poor little guy was just feeling kinda yuck. So I put him down for a couple naps (he's on his third right now) and hopefully tomorrow he'll feel all better.
We went up to see Joey working a bit before Josiah took his latest nap. He was working on pouring a roof for a family we've been helping. This family is so friendly and so much fun. I have really enjoyed the few times I've talked to them and wish I could spend more time with them. It is so nice to sit and laugh with the women. I just plain love it. Pouring a roof is hard work. We have to hand lift the buckets up to the roof and then do our best to get things all nice and flat. Everyone is plain tuckered out, so I think they are all going to head to the beach and rest as much as they can. I am choosing to rest in my comfy bed. So off I go. Nap time it is. Thanks for reading my first little blog. Hope I'll see you again sometime.
Last night Josiah spent the night with his Auntie Anna. They looked so cute all cuddled up and snuggling together. I woke up at 6:30 to Josiah's giggles as his Auntie, and Grammie got ready to go to work. So I gathered myself together and came out to join them all. The first indicator that things weren't going so great for Josiah was the fact that he threw up a little. Afterwards he seemed fine so I was thinking maybe it was the heat or something. Auntie and Grammie left and I started making Josiah's breakfast like I usually do. A big bowl of cream of wheat. He loves the stuff. Can't get enough of it. So I made his usual bowl and sat down to let it cool a little. Josiah was content to sit and cuddle with me, so that was that. Finally the food was ready and I was shocked to find that he only wanted 3 bites! Somebody call the Doctor! Josiah won't eat!!! Poor little guy was just feeling kinda yuck. So I put him down for a couple naps (he's on his third right now) and hopefully tomorrow he'll feel all better.
We went up to see Joey working a bit before Josiah took his latest nap. He was working on pouring a roof for a family we've been helping. This family is so friendly and so much fun. I have really enjoyed the few times I've talked to them and wish I could spend more time with them. It is so nice to sit and laugh with the women. I just plain love it. Pouring a roof is hard work. We have to hand lift the buckets up to the roof and then do our best to get things all nice and flat. Everyone is plain tuckered out, so I think they are all going to head to the beach and rest as much as they can. I am choosing to rest in my comfy bed. So off I go. Nap time it is. Thanks for reading my first little blog. Hope I'll see you again sometime.
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