Life in a third world country with 7 kids still at home.Blog Days 17, 18, 19, 20,21,22, 23, 24

Trying today to get caught up with my blogs. Everything except yesterday's nutributter program. Last Fri. I mostly caught up with emails and paperwork in the am and took a Friday date with my husband. By the time we have both done all this "mission" work all week [ mostly my responsibility } and homeschooled the 5 youngest kids [ mostly his repsonsibility ] , we feel we deeply deserve time off starting Fri. afternnon. So we left around 2, Juana had cooking kid's dinner [ and then leaving until Tues. am ], and we headed for the weekly hour massage. It is also a medical massage as I have neck and shoulder issues and Jody has back issues. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at an Italian Bistro that  makes it 's own noodles.  Then we came home, waved at the kids and went back in our bedroom , made a fire in the fireplace and watched a movie. Friday Date nights are usually pretty much the same down here excpet the restaurant changes and sometimes we can take in a music show. The best part is having time alone and away from the stress.
The next day is Sat. cleanup. It is mostly a hugh trial of my patience as I struggle to get work done and not yell at the kids who try hard to not get work done. Having a new IPOD that has my favorite songs on it and drowns out the kids help a lot. Sunday is a walk into San Andres for church. The 3 pictures of kids above are my kids ready for church. Alisa and Tony will soon be 10 and 12 and feel ripped off they have to celebrate their birthdays in a third world country with crappy plastic toys. This time I remembered to bring them each a second hand but working DSI [ think that is right}. They each want one really bad and I think we found a decent hotel, economical hotel on the lake with swimming pool and trampoline to spend a night at sometime between the 13th and 17th. Then we can rent a video and have a dinner and ice cream. They will think that is pretty special. Church is in Spanish so we stay for the first part and then go home and have a family Sunday School lesson.
Monday, Jody and I and kids go to Los Robles while Jody meets the new carpenter who will finish the guardian house and get it ready for the new family to move into. I go with Dominga to get a picture of the kids in the elementary school next door that will be in our feeding program this year. That is the bottom picture.
Tuesday, I go into town to get Scotia set up to do a culinary arts internship. She is in culinary arts in 11th grade in the states and has brought her book with her to study, but needed some practical cooking experience. So she starts tomorrow at our favorite Thai rest. Ling, the owner, cooks the lunches for the 20 kids at the private school Scotia and Caleb go to. Scotia will help cook the lunches. We are all excited for her to learn and cook at home. With Bethany an Italian cook expert from her 1.5 year mission there and now Scotia with Thai food, things are looking better and better for family reunions.
Wednesday we are back up to Los Robles for me to have a meeting with Mario and Dominga to discuss many things concerning future operations. I have Roy translating and it goes well. Jody checks the progress of the guardian house.
Thurs. is more of the same. Everyday we have emails and phone calls to do concerning the family and the for-profit business. Much time is taken with blogs and meetings with staff. Juan comes everyday to receive translations to give Mario and Dominga and to continue work on the never ending problems dealing with student sponsorships, medically fragile kids and nutritionally deprived kids. And did I mention budget that never seems to be enough. I can't download pictures here at the house so picture blogs require I got into San Andres, sip a liminoda and write blogs at the pizza rest.
Finally Fri. is here again. I am sick again with my first Guatemalan cold and a horrible cough and fever. The massage I am hoping with get me well enough to make the nutributter extravaganza the next day and Jody is plain exhausted. He is a wonderful teacher, but 3 of the kids he teaches are special ed and he is 61. We leave at 2 excited agian to have a few hours of free time and stress relief.. I do not sleep well that night due to 2 hours of coughing, but make Peter's nutributter program. I will wirte about it the next time I go to the pizzeria as I have a bunch of pictures. I come home exhausted and sleep from 8 pm to 8 am. Today Sun. is a rest day. Alisa is making a pasta dish she learned from her sister Bethany .TTL.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/
http://www.casadesion.blogspot.com/