THEY'RE BACK.....

Hi everyone. Sorry for being such a bad blog updater. There really is no excuse other than power outages and internet being down. We had a quite a few power outages recently (5-6 hours at a time) so I finally broke down and bought a lantern on Tuesday because you can't do a whole lot by candle light. We'll since I bought the lantern I haven't been able to use it. You can bet that we've had power outages, but they've been during the daytime instead. I guess I'm saving on lantern oil though.

View of Tegucigalpa from Picacho

So, what else have we been up to? It's really been a great month. Our last team was blessed to stay a few extra days because of Hurricane Ike. We really enjoyed the extra time with them getting to know them better. Reed and Ella really befriended a nice woman, Marie. Reed still asks when she is coming back. He had a lot of fun bringing Marie on his secret trails around the mission grounds. One Sunday we went to Picacho National Park here on El Hatillo. The park has a great big statue of Jesus which overlooks the city. It's kind of nice to have Jesus looking over us from the mountain. I see it as a reminder that he is always watching over us, but we often use him as our guide to get back home when we are lost in the city. Our streets here do not have signs, so as long as we head toward Jesus we know we'll make it home.

The park also has Mayan Ruins, a zoo, and lots of beautiful nature. Everyone climbed the stairs to the ruins, even Reed. Ella was carried by Ryan in a fast dash up the stairs. I think I had only made it 1/4 of the way and they were at the top. I made it up okay, but coming down was a little nerve racking with my decreased sense of balance. I took the steps down sideways only to find out that there was a back way which was not quite so steep and went by a nice little water fall. We had to skip the zoo the day we went as we were running out of time. We will definatly be going back to explore more in the future.Reed is still enjoying school and likes making new friends at the playground. Ella also has made a few new friends and looks forward to seeing them at church, ladies bible study, and on couple of playdates. Ella is often found talking on her cell phone to her friends. Having social interaction for them is such a blessing.

On September 20 Ryan and I started teaching 6-8th grade Sunday School. We are really enjoying the kids in our class and hopefully they are too. Reed decided to ask his teachers if Ella could join in on his class. She is loving having anything to do with school. Their class is held in the nursery room so when I asked her how she liked it she told me "I like Sunday School, but it's really the nursery. Actually!" Now she tells us it's nursery school. They get smart so fast.

We were blessed to have a mini vacation recently as well. Denny and Donna McKendrick were back in their home state, Wisconson, for their son's wedding, so they asked us to do some house sitting for them. I didn't realize how much I would like it. Ryan and I were so excited to have a living room to relax in, watch movies, read and then go to bed in a whole different room. It was also a big treat to put the kids to bed in separate bedrooms. Although it was sweet because one night we found that Reed had snuck into the room Ella was sleeping in and fell asleep next to her. They really get used to that comfort fast! The McKendrick's guard/gardener, Antonio, and his family (Anna, Christopher, and Scooby) live in the basement of the house so we enjoyed trying to communicate with them. Ella really liked playing with Christopher, 6 months, while Reed spent his spare time playing outside with Scooby and Jojo (the pups). We picked up Denny and Donna at the airport on Wednesday. Reed and Ella were pretty happy to have them back, however, they were a little disappointed we had to move back home. Reed said he wanted us to move into their house and they can move into our house.

We've had a few weeks of offtime from brigade, but we've managed to stay busy. Ryan has been treating missionaries and their families, he also started treating teachers and staff at Pinares (Reed's school) Wednesday evenings. They are all very appreciative of his hands. Ryan also went away to an overnight mens retreat on the SW coast of Honduras. It's a good thing Antonio was with me and the kids, otherwise I don't think I would've been to okay with it. Ryan got to sleep outside on a cot and eat grilled fish. I've still been spending time in the pharmacy and with the kids. The next 5 weeks should be pretty busy with teams so, that will help to make the baby countdown go a little faster. We only have 7weeks to our due date. SCARY!! We are currently planning to have the baby here in Honduras, so we've got lots to get ready.

Oh, the title of today's blog, "They're Back!" Well if you hadn't already guessed, yes it's the scabies. After a few weeks itch free they've decided to make a return. We've all been treated again and disinfected our home. We feel pretty confident the culprit this time may be a little pup named, Scooby. Denny broke out around his ankles a few days after his return and the kids have them at chest level. Those silly scabaroonies!! Hopefully we've got 'em this time.

And now some pics and a video of the kiddo's!