Get Excited!

We are coming home for the Holidays! We will be home tomorrow in the afternoonish! Can't wait to see you! This is me excited to see you!

Belly Shot

Here I am at 20 weeks. I don't know if this is interesting to you, but I'm sending it anyway! :) I'm starting to show a little, which is fun! This dress makes me look a little bigger than what I really am - or so I think!

We went to the doctor last Friday and everything looks great. Here we get to have a sonogram everytime we go, so we get to see the baby all the time - which is very cool! I had some blood work done as well. I'm a bit anemic (the baby is sucking me dry of all my iron), but that's okay who needs iron anyway. The doctor suggested that I eat more foods with iron in it. He suggested liver as one of his top choices. Ummmm, no thanks - I'll just take a pill!

Weevils are EVIL

Do you know what a weevil is? Well, I do now. Basically there are these gross, nasty, dumb bugs that get into everything. They like flour, pasta, ceral, pancake mix, rice, etc. They like to hide in cracks and between walls.

The other day, we were making rice and when I opened a brand new bag they were everywhere! We slowly realized that they were all over our ceral bags, cans, uh gross! Their name is so appropriate. Weevil, as in in evil.

Please feel sorry for me! :(

Ok, not really, but they are gross.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Today, my mom is .... years young. As I'm about to become a mom, I'm thinking more about my mom. My mom and me are very different and also very similiar. People who had never met my Dad, always say I look like her, act like her, and have her same expressions. When I was a bit younger that would bother me, but now I take it as a compliment. I like my mom ( as well as love!). She is one of the strongest, most independent woman I know. As well, she loves me extremely well and is the most perfect mother for me. At times, we don't always see eye to eye - but I know that she loves me regardless. And I the same for her.

I hope you had a wonderful day Mom! I love you and can't wait to see you!

The Funnest Week Ever!

(I know funnest is not a word - but it's the most appropriate!)

Jon and Sami came to visit this past week and it was so wonderful! We got to do so much!

On Monday night they got in around 9:30ish. When they came they brought us so so so much stuff!! We got tons of maternity clothes (thanks Mom, Orell, Denise, Sami and Sara!), tons of smell good stuff, cool lights (thanks Julie and Chase!), a basketball, shoes, velveeta cheese and rotel, candy galore, and some wonderful towels!!! It felt like Christmas!! We are so, so, so thankful for all that was given/brought to us!! It was wonderful!

On Tuesday, we took the day off of work and just hung out. We ate some Nica food from a frutanga (not a Fruit-tangalo), played Scrabble, and saw James Bond.

On Wednesday after a short day of work, we were off to the beach! We (meaning David and Jon) sea kayaked, played in the pool, boogie boarded! We ate some wonderful food and saw some gorgeous stars! We stayed till Thursday afternoon. There's nothing better getting a tan on Thanksgiving day! We then came home and ate a yummy turkey dinner with some friends here! It was wonderful to have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole!

On Friday we went to Esteli with some other friends here. We saw some of the most gorgeous waterfalls ever and hiked in a beautiful canyon! It was amazing! We came home on Saturday night! And then alas, our sweet friends had to go home today!

We had a wonderful time with the Lilley's and feel blessed to have had them here! It lifted our spirits and was a wonderful encouragement! Thanks so much for coming!

The Lilley's

We are so excited!!! We can't wait for these friends to come see us!! What a blessing!

El Guadabarranco

The other day while I was walking my kids back from music class, I heard, "Look Mrs. Russell, there's a guadabarranco!!" The guadabarranco is the national bird of Nicaragua. My kids and I learned about it while we were studying Nicaragua during their Independence Celebration. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. It's really pretty. But that's not the point of this post.

It hit me right then, of how cool it is that I work in such a beautiful place. Never when I was working in Dallas did I see a gorgeous tropical bird in the "hallways" of my school. We never had that experience, imagine that! We sat for about 5 minutes and looked at it. At that moment, I was thankful to be in such an amazing, beautiful place that the Lord created.

On a side note: I also think this bird is cool because it has these 2 real long tail feathers. Everytime I see one or when I taught about it, the lyrics, "Shake your tail feathers..." went through my head. These kids here would not get it if I sang that, but those kids back in Dallas would for sure! :)