The Giant

Remember how Ava was afraid of the giant on her 1st day of school and I thought it was the tall priest? Wrong. She recently showed me who the giant is... a boy in her class! He is very tall and chubby, and for a little girl with short legs I guess he is a giant. And yes, Ava is still scared of him. In fact, she thinks she hates him. I know that's not good, but you have to hear the way she says it... 'I hate him' in her cute little Ava voice. Maybe I need to get it on video or something because the way she says it is hysterical. I've worked with her on the whole 'we don't hate anybody' thing, but she can't get it out of her head that not liking, being scared of, and feeling uncomfortable around are not the same as hate.

Anyone know...

how I can add this this as a page element on my side bar? I think it would be interesting for everybody to see all of the earthquakes larger than 4.0 that we have, but I just can't figure it out. They stay up there for 1 week. Sometimes there are none, sometimes a lot. We just had a 6.1 (ok, so it was pretty far away, but I still felt it & all of my pictures are crooked... again!), that's why I'm thinking about it. Thanks in advance.

Worth Looking At

Click here to read about our day on Friday . If you decide to leave a comment, please do it on this blog rather than on the humanitarian one- we made it for my parents ward.

Happy Easter!

It is next to impossible to get a picture of all 3 of the girls that looks good because Jinnie HATES to stand still. Out of 40 tries, here are the best shots of the girls modeling their Easter dresses... the other 37 pictures had Jinnie running away.

Expat Tea

On Tuesday there was a farewell tea for my friend, Inga from Belgium. In a couple of weeks she will either be returning to Belgium or relocating to Paris. That day there were people from the following countries: USA, Belgium, Mexico, Italy, Dominican Republic, Surinam, Australia, South Africa and New Guinea. It's so fun to hear all of the different English accents from around the world.

Oh, and since I haven't updated for a bit, Dave is healthy again... it looks like the meds worked!

A Guy Thing?

I should be updating about Dave's trip to the doctor right now, but I can't... he decided to reschedule for Wednesday because it was inconvenient for him to go this evening. OK, this has to be a guy thing because what woman in her right mind would do such a thing? Especially just after spending a night in the hospital? Needless to say, I have no Dave update.

This evening I became the secretary for Mini-Kinder (Ava's school class). At a class meeting somebody recommended that I should be the president, but I quickly turned that down when I realized that about 1/2 of the parents were not at all thrilled with the idea of the gringa who is super young and doesn't speak or dress so well (so what if I wore a hooded sweatshirt, jeans & running shoes? I was cold! Where does it say I have to dress nicer than I do for church to attend a class meeting?) being president of their children's class...or maybe it was the fact that I kept getting more & more bored & tired (pictures below are a pretty accurate example of what I'm sure I looked like as the meeting ran on and on and on...). Secretary I can handle. And it looks like the parents think I can handle it as well;)

Really LOOONNNG

Just as my arm started getting better, Dave decided he wanted my slot on the possibility of surgery on Monday. Wednesday he started having abdominal pain. It was continuous and so Thursday evening he decided to go to the doctors. I picked him up at 7:00 and he informed me that he needed to go the the hospital for some tests because it looked like it was appendicitis. The hospital was next door so he decided just to walk there so that I could take the girls home, find a sitter, and bring him a book to read. When we were half way home he called and said that the hospital was out of beds, so we turned around to get him and took him to a different hospital (the one where our neighbor works). We dropped him off and went home. He called as soon as we got home and said that at first they said they had no beds, but when he explained that he needed the tests done RIGHT THEN they finally found one for him. But now the problem was insurance... in Chile you have to go to your insurance company BEFORE you go to the doctors, hospital, etc. The insurance office was closed, so we couldn't get the papers. So then they wanted a blank check (very common here). We don't have a bank account in Chile so we didn't have a blank check (they don't really want a US check). Then they said we could put $2,000 down. That would have been fine if he had had that much cash laying around- but we didn't. And you can only withdraw around $500 a day in the ATM's here. Wahoo for our neighbor... I ran downstairs and talked with him... he worked it all out so that we could pay the hospital later. NICE!

Since all was worked out with getting Dave admitted I started my search for a babysitter. I didn't want to call any of my friends with young children because it was a school night & it was starting to get late. Soon it was discovered that all of my other options were at Young Women's or the university. At 9:00 our friend Carolina was able to make it and I headed to the hospital. When I arrived Dave had had several tests, but we waited forever for his ultrasound (yes, we joked about him having a baby). Anyway, the results showed that he didn't have appendicitis, so there would be no surgery that night. He does have inflamed glands though. They gave him a painful shot and admitted him to the hospital for possible surgery on the glands in the morning. When Dave got in his bed he was shaking uncontrollably because he was so cold. I was worried that it was an allergic reaction to the injection, but I guess he really was just cold. Once he was all settled in for the night I headed home- it was a little after 1:00 am by the time I got there. When I arrived the next morning the pain was still continuous, but not as strong. About noon Dave was discharged with Rx and instructions to return if the pain became worse again. On Monday evening he has another appointment (his doctors office hours START at 6:00pm... ya, this is Chile). Hopefully by then he will be pain-free and this will all be over. If not he may need surgery next week. Until then he's supposed to take things easy (which he hasn't been... he spent most of Saturday working and at a Primary activity). Aside from the pain and uncertainty of health problems, Dave & I had a really good time. It was nice to have all of that time to ourselves (ok, so we had to share it w/doctors, nurses, and a million phone calls, but it was still mostly us). We didn't turn on the TV or read our books. We just talked and laughed. I'm pretty sure that everyone in the emergency room thinks we're crazy because we were laughing the whole time we were in there... good thing we're gringos- they already assume we're weird;). As much fun as we had, we've decided NOT to make this our regular date night activity.

Amazing

I have the most amazing neighbors. Honestly. On Friday I noticed a bump on my arm. Each day it got a little bigger. Finally yesterday (Tuesday) it was really starting to hurt and felt like a kernel of corn surrounded by some fluid was under my skin, so I decided to make a little visit to my neighbors in #1 (we live in #5 of the same apartment building- their kids go to the British School as well, so they take Hailey & Ava to school every day). The husband is the medical director at one of the hospitals in town and the wife is the best dermatologist in the city (I think I've mentioned them before). Anyway, the two of them discussed the possibilities (bug bite, infection, tumor, etc), wrote me up an anti-inflammatory Rx and gave me an 'urgent' referral to get an ultrasound this morning. When I picked up the the results in the evening, my neighbor (the husband) met me at my car in our parking lot, looked over the results and said he'd give me a call when he had gone over everything with his wife. About an hour later he came up and told us that I have an infection (maybe from an insect bite) and gave me an Rx for antibiotics. They should do the trick, but if not I will have the bump removed on Monday. I honestly feel so blessed to have them as friends/neighbors. It's not always easy living in a foreign country, but it is so much easier with them; they've honestly been the answer to a prayer on more than one occasion. Unless we live next to Dave's sister Sarah & her husband, Eric in the future (she is a nurse, he's studying to be a Dr) or to my brother Nathan (he's planning on being a Dr) I don't know that we will ever be treated so well medically again.

Book Tag

I was tagged by Lynette... here are the rules:

• Grab the book nearest you.


• Go to page 123


• Go to the 5th sentence on the page.


• Type the following 3 sentences.

'To the radical Islamist, the Americans weren't human, they were jahili. Barbarians, subhuman. Decadent and soulless, without value to God.'

Well isn't that happy? It's from Chris Stewart's series, The Great and Terrible- Volume 2, Where Angels Fall. Besides the depressing 3 sentences above, I'm really enjoying this series so far.

I'm tagging Sara, Katharine & Joel.

Different

Different is the only word that comes to mind after attending our Stakes Relief Society birthday party last night. I've been in the Relief Society for 9 1/2 years and I know I have attended many birthday celebrations, but only two come to mind. I remember when we lived in Michigan having a spiritual message in the chapel, and then moving to the cultural hall where there were many service projects to participate in. There was birthday cake in the primary room that we could eat in between projects. We celebrated the Relief Society by giving relief to others.
This picture is from 2 years ago when we were 'dancing' the tango in Buenos Aires; I felt it was fitting for this post. After 2 1/2 years in Chile you would think I would know what to expect in many situations. Not the case. Husbands were invited and I knew that each ward was practicing a dance, so I figured there would be some spiritual messages and then we would watch the dances. Dave didn't come because he needed to work on a talk for stake conference tonight. In reality there was a brief spiritual message followed by the dancing: the tango, Charleston, swing, and some real hip-moving dancing from Columbia. When this was over it was announced that we had to be be finished with our dancing by 1:00 am. WHAT?!? It was a dance for everybody! And the lights were in no way dimmed. To tell you the truth, I hate dancing with Latinos. They have rhythm; I don't. It's still such a shocker to me to see both men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes out dancing like they are in high school! Even our Stake Patriarch was dancing. Needless to say, I stayed and talked with a few people and then gave other 'singles' a ride home.

Was one party better than the other? One was spiritually uplifting and I felt that I was doing good. The other was fun & made me want to take dance lessons with Dave (we have learned the cueca, the Chilean national dance, but I'd love to learn others). I would love to experience a Relief Society b-day party in other countries to see how they celebrate.

I'm in Love

This post has nothing to do with Jinnie, but she was feeling a bit left out of the school picture post, so here's her picture (don't mind her crazy hair... she is just now leaving it alone after it is done and this picture is 4 months old... just focus on her adorable cheeks) along with some recent conversations:

H=Hailey, A=Ava, D=Dave, Dad

...today during lunch...

H: remember how your Barbie cup broke?

A: ya, it broke (in a sad voice)

H: well don't be sad, I will share my princess cup with you! (followed by a hug & a kiss)

A: Hailey, thank you. You are a princess.

...Friday night, aka movie night... it was Hailey's turn to pick a movie (Little Rascals) & she was so excited to watch it. Dave came home from work about 1/2 way through and this is how their conversation went.

D: Hailey, I need you to run a few errands with me. You can finish watching your show tomorrow.

H: That's ok daddy... you are more important than my show.

These are the rewarding moments of motherhood.

After School

Hailey: They didn't teach me to read! (in a very disappointed voice)

Ava: The giant didn't eat me... and they didn't let me cry. My bathroom is adorable.

No matter how many times I told Hailey she wouldn't learn to read the 1st day of school, she never gave up hope. I'm not sure who the giant is... I think it may be the school's priest, as he's really tall. Ava is really scared of whoever it is. I'm glad she didn't cry... was she forced into not crying? Some kids were crying when they were dropped off, but Ava is very easygoing. Glad she thinks the bathroom is cute.

1st Day of School

Hailey and Ava were so excited to start school today. Hailey started Kinder and Ava started Mini-Kinder. They woke up early and were in great moods... infact I heard them outside the bathroom door as I was getting out of the shower... Ava decided they should wait there and scare me! They were both very picky about how they wore their hair and what color of ribbon they wanted tied in it (not too hard, when only red, blue, grey & white match the uniforms). They both ended up with their hair the same way, except for the ribbon (red w/polka dots for Hailey, blue for Ava).

We took Ava to class first... she had met her 3 teachers last week and had no problem with me leaving. She is very much a people watcher and has been nervous about making friends, and when I came back to check on her after taking Hailey to class, she was looking into another classroom's window. I told her to go and play on the slide, but she said the other kids won't let her. In reality she hadn't even tried. Her teacher then had her meet another little girl & told them to hold hands and go back into the classroom for story time.

Hailey has 1 new teacher this year, but the other is the same. Only problem is that the one that she already knows is recovering from surgery, so she didn't know any today... at least she knew all of the kids in her class (they will have the same group of kids from Mini-Kinder (preschool) until high school graduation). I was quite surprised that when Hailey gave me a hug she didn't want to let go... I can't wait until 1:25 so that I can hear all about the first day of school!

Hailey enjoyed walking Ava to class. Ava had no problem leaving us to walk to the playground with her teacher.

Hailey catching up with her best school friend, Valentina Zuniga.
For some reason I only captured Ava without a smile and even though you're unable to tell by the pictures, she was happy to be at school.