If my house were on fire...

...and my family was safe, and I could only take one thing with me...What would it be?  Right now, it would most definitely be this swing!

 

 

 

Levi sleeps fine in his bed at night, but at naptimes, he will only sleep in the car or this swing.  I've tried everything, and its miserable for everyone in the house...and he will never go to sleep.  Put him in his swing, and he's asleep within a couple minutes.  And for now, I'm ok with that.  Because on days like today when Kyle leaves the house by 7 am and very likely won't be home till 10 pm...it means the kids and I can actually have a good day :) 

The last couple weeks have been extremely busy for us...Kyle is in his 3rd week of his second quarter of classes.  And these classes are A LOT of work.  He thought he was busy last quarter, but it was nothing compared to this quarter!  On top of his 200 pages or so of reading to do this week, he also has papers to write and projects to work on.  AND this week is the national basketball tournament.  Thankfully it is in Tegucigalpa, but it means he leaves the house early, comes back late, and squeezes in his work in any spare minute he can find.

The kids and I had a battle with head lice this past weekend...which meant 10 or more loads of laundry, stinky lice shampoo, a few different home remedies, and hours spent combing out hair.  There's been no sign of lice or nits since Monday, so I'm PRAYING there will be no relapses.  I have however become an expert in locating Honduran head lice and nits...and yes there is apparently a difference between American head lice and Honduran head lice.

On a much happier note, the Honduran Fellowship has rented their first office and has a new assistant...all in the same week!  Both of these were most definitely God-sent and are both perfect fits for the HFMM.  The office won't really affect my job...I will still do my work from home.

The office is in the tower on the right, on the 9th floor.

And Levi is now 1!  We had a very fun birthday party for him with a bunch of our friends from church and school.  I think he enjoyed the party, and he definitely loves all of his new toys :)  He isn't walking yet, but will soon I think...but he climbs stairs.  Entire flights of tile stairs, all by himself.

Juliana is quickly learning Spanish from our nanny, and she's had friends over a few times to play.  Her and her friends like to take her Dora house to the back porch and spend hours playing there.  She was also invited to a birthday party last Saturday and actually made a friend :)  She's been to birthday parties before and always gets very shy and plays by herself...basically she goes for the snacks and candy...But this time she actually understood enough of what was going on to have fun.  She's still talking about her new friend, Olivia.

Busy 2 Months

Its taken me awhile to get around to updating the blog...My intention was to keep it updated at least every month, if not every week.  But every time I sit down to do it, there's too much to write and I don't know where to start.

 

Family

Its been busy since we got back to Honduras 2 months ago.  It took awhile to get resettled back into our house and routine.  The kids and I have been sick 3 times each...usually Juliana gets sick, gives it to Levi, and then I get it (Levi’s getting over a double ear infection right now).  I also cut my thumb pretty badly in September and had to get 6 stitches.  The stitches are out and the scabs have started to come off and it doesn’t look too badly, but its pretty numb.  Its hard for me to write or do much with my right thumb.

 

 

Juliana

This year Juliana has 5 elementary aged kids that live in 2 neighboring houses that she likes to play with when they come home from school.  Its the first time that I've been able to just send her outside to play on her own.  It is a little different for me (and sometimes a little frustrating) to have a bunch of dirty kids running through my recently cleaned house, but I try to remind myself that we're very blessed to have neighbor kids and a safe area for them to run free and play.  Our church recently started a "Li'l Ones" sunday school class for 3-4 year olds (and added in the 5 & 6 year olds as well), which she is loving!  They study the same story and bible verse for a month...this study they were learning about creation.  I love all the things she is learning and the funny things she comes home saying :)

 

 

 

 

Levi

 

Levi crawls everywhere, gets into all the cupboards, makes funny faces at everyone, and will be walking in the next couple months.  He got 4 top teeth within 3 weeks of getting back here, for a total of 6 teeth.  I can't believe he will turn 1 in just 2 weeks!  I've been busy planning a train birthday party for him.  We'll have a bunch of friends from church and school over for snacks, cake, and a piñata.  We have a 5 day trip planned (for the school track meet) right before his party, so I'm trying to have as much as I can ready before we leave.

 

 

 

Melodee 

I’ve had an overwhelming number of computers to fix for staff at the school, and the Honduran Fellowship website has needed a lot of updating.  Between all this work, a lot of sickness, and a hurt thumb, I've needed a little extra help.  We needed to hire a new nanny this year to take care of the kids on Tuesdays, and since she was looking for another day of work each week, she also comes on Thursdays.  So far it has been wonderful!  She is the first nanny that the kids have actually liked.  She spends the day on Tuesday playing with them and teaching Juliana Spanish.  On Thursday she comes to help me clean the house & wash laundry and diapers.  Or if I have a meeting or computer to work on she keeps the kids busy for awhile.  Juliana asks every morning if Iris is coming to play with her, and Levi threw a fit when she left today (So she came back and played with him an extra 20 minutes...and then he threw a bigger fit when she really left :).  It makes it easier when I need to leave the kids, gives me time to get some work done, and I don't feel guilty that the kids are feeling neglected.  Its also helped Levi become accustomed to being held by other people...he got pretty clingy towards the end of the summer and didn't want to be left in the nursery at church or taken care of by anyone else.  He's  definitely gotten better the last month and will let most people hold him...at least for a little while.

 

Kyle

Kyle started on his master’s degree a week after we returned to Honduras...he says its a lot more time consuming & work than he expected.  This is the 8th week (and end of the first quarter).  He’ll have next week off and then he starts the 2nd quarter.  Its a lot of reading (he told me this is the first time he’s done every bit of the reading for a class 😊) and MANY papers to write, but he’s really enjoying the classes and doing well. 

 

At work he has a few events coming up in the next couple weeks--a planning trip/meetings in San Pedro this Saturday, the track meet in San Pedro the following week (which we will all go for), and then Family Game Day at school the weekend after that.  Family Game Day is a yearly event where our basketball  teams come and play against teachers, alumni, other students, and their parents.  During the last couple games Kyle has started a "Balls & Dolls toss" where the audience tosses balls & dolls onto the court during the first free throw.  Then all the toys are collected, I wrap/gift bag them later, and then a school or hospital is chosen and the students take them to give away right before Christmas.  The first couple years its been a little slow to catch on....so I'm praying that this year the students and families will really want to take part and bring lots of balls & dolls to throw.

 

Kyle's also still enjoying leading the youth group at church...they are currently answering their "tough questions" that they worked on over the summer.  He'd also like to plan a weekend event (retreat or something similar) to help the youth bond and really become a group.

 

Hope everyone is doing well.  We loved being able to see so many of you this summer and are still so thankful for how you've all blessed us.

 

Love,  Melodee, Kyle, Juliana, and Levi

Heading back

Well I should have written this post weeks ago, but its just been too good of a summer!  We have had an amazing 7 weeks spending time with friends and family, and we've seen God's faithfulness every step of the way.  Its been hard saying goodbye at each of the places we've been, but at the same time we're ready to head home and get back to work.

Since I left this for last minute :) here's just a quick run-through of some of the things we've done and places we've been.

First we were in Nebraska for about 3 weeks.  We were able to go to a family reunion and a cousin's wedding reception, visit great-grand parents, aunts & uncles & cousins, see Seussical the Musical, go to the playground and splashy parks a few times, and spend lots of time with Grammy and Bippa.  LOTS of time spent in the car, but it was worth it to see everyone.

 

 

 After we left Nebraska, we flew to Hawaii.  We were able to spend the first week with Kyle's sister and her family.  I think the kids were excited to spend time with their cousins :)  Kyle's grandpa also came for 2 1/2 weeks...it was his first time meeting his 4 great-grandchildren.

 

A trip to the aquarium all together

We went to see the Battleship Missouri with Kyle's dad & grandpa.  The Missouri is where the documents were signed at the end of WW2. 

We also got to spend time with some of Kyle's friends and their families.  A great time had by all...I think :)

As some of you know, in addition to spending time with family and friends, Kyle and I were raising some support.  In all honesty, at the start of the summer, it seemed like a huge amount that we'd never reach.  Over the last 7 weeks we've  been amazed at how God has worked.  We haven't  raised all of the needed amount, but we are close enough that we feel more confident in the direction that we felt God leading us.  It will mean some changes (and extra busy-ness) over the next couple years, but I think it'll be good too.

Ok, time to load up the suitcases and run a last couple errands.  Our plane leaves at 3:20 this afternoon, and we arrive in Honduras around lunch time on Thursday.  Looking forward to a new year!

Almost

So the month of June is always crazy for us, but I think this year it was far more busy than ever before. Out of the last 2 weeks, we've had 2 evenings without a dinner or other major event happening.  They've all been really good things, but combine that with packing & preparing to leave our house for 7 weeks...and I'm EXHAUSTED.

Some of the highlights just from this week:

1.  Juliana got to go to 2 sleepovers :)  The first was for Kathryn Mattica's 10th birthday, and was with the other (all older) girls from church.  The second was 2 days later, with Christa, while Kyle, Levi, and I went to the graduation dinner.  I have to say, she was pretty tired once she got home from both.

She cuddled with Lily all night :)

2. Graduation / Graduation Banquet / Annelise's Graduation Party

Graduation was extra exciting this year because Annelise Zacapa was graduating.  So hard to believe she's all grown up and going to the States to study in a couple months.  We's so proud of her, but its a little sad.

My date while Kyle was an usher at the banquet

3.  Kyle's birthday

Kyle turned 31 on Wednesday, which happened to be the day of Graduation & the banquet after.  So we celebrated the day before and the day after.  On Tuesday we had a BBQ with a few friends, and on Thursday a potluck with the people from our bible study and also our surprise guests, Joseph and Ruthi!

 Today we finish packing, cleaning up the house, finishing up other last minute things...and tonight we have dinner with the Raineri's and Mattica's before we part ways for the summer.  In the morning we leave for the airport at 8:30, fly from Tegucigalpa to Houston,  pass through customs & immigration, have time for supper, then fly to Dallas, and finally run to our next plane to Denver.  We have a rental car waiting for us there and we will drive to Ft Collins to spend the night with my aunt and uncle.  One very long day, Levi's first time flying, and our first time flying with 2 kids...  Please pray for smooth travels, safe flights, and patient kids & parents :)

Rough Month in the Webb house

Three weeks ago Juliana came down with a fever, and it took me a few days to figure out that she had a cold (she didn't have any other symptoms for awhile).  And although she tried to remember to cover her mouth when she coughed and sneezed, its nearly impossible for a 3 year old to keep her germs to herself.  A week later both Kyle and I got it, and a few days after that Levi.  From there it turned into sinus infections, ear infections, etc...  All 4 of us have been on antibiotics at some point during the last few weeks but I think we're mostly recovered now.

Other than being sick, the end of the school year always brings some new and different things.  My residency card and both of our driver's licenses expire every May and those generally entail many hours of waiting in line at Immigration and Transito.  This year we also needed to go and apply for Levi's Honduran passport, which is a different office (and set of lines) at Immigration.  However, sometimes offices and businesses show preference to pregnant women, the elderly, and handicapped, allowing them to go to the front of the line.  On a few occasions banks have allowed me to go to the front of the line when I have had Juliana or Levi with me, but not always, and they make Kyle stand in the regular line.  BUT at each of these appointments this month they have allowed me/us to go to the front of the line...making it a half our appointment, instead of waiting in lines for the entire day!  You can be praying about Kyle's residency and driver's licenses, though.  The school is changing him to a 5 year, non-immigrant residency, which they have been working on for months.  He is supposed to always have either a card, paper, or stamp in his passport that says he is legally in Honduran, but at the moment he has nothing.  He also doesn't have a valid driver's license because you're not allowed to renew if your residency is being processed.  We really need his residency to be completed before we leave in 3 weeks.

Levi is 7 months old today!  He has really enjoyed getting to eat "solids" the past month.  He had 2 teeth pop through about the time he got sick, and he's really wanting to crawl.  Some friends loaned us their exersaucer, which he loves!  He also loves his big sister and we're pretty sure he's the smiliest baby on the planet :)  He'll go for his 7 month check-up and a couple shots tomorrow.

Juliana is as dramatic and fun loving as ever.  This afternoon she slipped on some gravel, scraped her knee, and then started screaming.  When I picked her up, she told me "That dirt made me ANGRY!!!"

Some friends of ours have a family property on the beach in the south, which we used to go to fairly often, but haven't been able to go in 2 years.  We finally worked out a trip over Mother's Day weekend, with about 30 of our friends.  It was a wonderfully restful time, which we feel was needed before we head into the final few weeks of the school year.  The property has all kinds of wildlife that roam freely (deer, raccoons, macaws, emus, and supposedly a crocodile that walks from the ocean on one side of the property to a pond on the other side...).  

You'll see the macaws in the trees and the wooden stands down below where the workers put their food and the baby macaws live.  If you look closely there is a mommy emu eating the macaws food out of the feeder, while the baby macaw walks around on the grass in front.

Happy Mother's Day! 

Apparently the weekend was exhausting for some :)

I think in my last post I had mentioned that we were trying to get Google Apps set up for the Honduran Fellowship, but had been denied.  Well one or 2 days later we were approved and have been getting it set up for each of our users.  We're starting to see the benefits of having our files and contacts saved online and accessible to each of our staff, and once all of the kinks get worked out it should be even better.  I'm now starting to update some parts of the website that haven't ever been changed since it was created.  Should be some good changes coming up.

Kyle's end-of-the-year Athletic Banquet for soccer and volleyball was after school yesterday.  It went very well, the kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and I discovered that I could pretty easily fit 22 extra large size pizzas in the back of our Escape :)  I was also put in charge of playing music, so Juliana and Levi got to come along...they both had a great time getting out of the house and playing with the coaches and students.  

Now we are finishing up the last couple weeks of school, and preparing the computer, youth group, bible study, and our house for us to be gone for the summer.  Quite a feat to prepare to travel for 7 weeks!  I can't believe we fly out in 3 1/2 weeks!!!  By the way, we're trying to work on a schedule for the summer to see everyone we can and talk about our ministry areas, since they have changed a bit since the last time we were back.  If we haven't talked to you already and you'd like to see us, let us know so we can work something out.  

My big boy and the little photographer

Levi is 6 months old this week!  How in the world did that happen so fast???  As of last week he started rolling from his back to his tummy, so he's no longer safe to leave anywhere but the floor :)  He can also sit pretty well without falling on his face, weighs just over 19 pounds, and has his first tooth just starting to poke through.  We just started him on solids this week, and although he's still working on keeping the food in his mouth and swallowing it, at least he opens his mouth and has somewhat enjoyed everything except for plain yogurt.  Its amazing how 2 children can be so different...Juliana got her first tooth at 14 months (she was already walking) and would close her mouth and refuse to eat anything.

How can you resist that face?!?

Juliana has recently decided she wants to be a photographer and is constantly asking to borrow my camera.  I just uploaded my pictures and there were  400 some on it from the past 2-3 weeks (usually there's maybe 20).  She had taking pictures of every inch of our house.  Many of them were out of focus, but she got some interesting ones :)

She figured out she could take pictures of herself by using a mirror :)

She's quite the creative girl...

This week Kyle is gone with the volleyball teams at their tournament in San Pedro.  A couple weeks ago the kids and I went to one of the friendly games that his Varsity girls team played...where I decided that we wouldn't be going along with him to the tournament.  Sitting in a gym for 2-3 entire days, with a 6 month old and a 3 year old just doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun :)  Juliana asks every hour or so where daddy is, if he'll be home today, what he's doing right now, and if we can "skype on him".  Unfortunately he hasn't been at the hotel much, but she did get to talk to him at lunch today.  His girls team lost their first game this morning, but were playing another game this afternoon...and the other teams had 3 games this afternoon/evening as well.  He said they really needed to win if they wanted to go on.

I have been busy working on things for the Honduran Fellowship the last week or so.  We wanted to set up Google Apps for NonProfits in order to make it easier to share files/contacts/calendars between the 5 staff members (instead of having 3-4 copies of everything and trying to keep them all updated).  After spending 3 full days getting everything set up we were denied because of a question over the non-profit status of the Honduran Fellowship.  I'm hoping we can get it straightened out and not have to come up with an alternate plan, but the Mattica's had to make a quick trip to the States this weekend.  

Playing Catchup

Well, we moved into our house 5 weeks ago, and I feel like since then its been non-stop activity.  I had planned to catch the blog up last week, but our internet wasn't working well enough, so now there's even more to post about!

Our Move

We were told the 2nd to last week of February that the school wouldn't pay rent for March for our house so we had to be out by the 28th (and have it cleaned up after we were out).  Kyle was out of town Feb 22-24 so I finished up the packing and as much cleaning as I could do (I packed an entire house by myself!)...while the school maintenance and administrators finished up as much of the new house as they could.  The plan was that it would be completed & cleaned by Monday, we could move Tuesday, and have the old house cleaned by Thursday.  Well Monday morning, Kyle wakes me up early to tell me he has to go on a field trip with the seniors on Tuesday during the move.  Probably not the best idea when your wife has already packed the entire house and you have 2 very young children...

Anyways, I finished up the packing even more quickly than I thought I could and then had to make a quick trip down the mountain in the afternoon, in order to return to the house by 5 to start the move early.  Thankfully we have incredible friends who came to help us and we moved about 1/3 of our boxes and the couches.  The next day Kyle was gone and some of the school's maintenance men moved the rest of our boxes, appliances, and beds...the rest were still finishing up the new house :)  We did get everything in the house and a couple friends came over to make beds and unpack the kitchen.  We still have nothing hung on the walls and a few things not finished on the house, but hopefully things will slow down a bit now and I can think about that.  

Kitchen 

Dining room

Downstairs living room

Levi's bedroom

Upstairs living room 

Juliana's bedroom

Our bedroom

ABSH Soccer Tournament

A week after we moved in Kyle had to go to San Pedro for 5 days for the national soccer tournament (2 of our teams qualified).  I was exhausted from working on the house (and never getting caught up) so the kids and I went along.  Usually our teams don't do very well and I end up spending a lot of time in the hotel.  But this year they did really well (our boys team got 2nd place) so we spend pretty much the entire time at the games.  

HFMM Retreat

After the tournament we returned home, and had a VERY busy 4 days before leaving again.  March 15-17 was the yearly retreat for the Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries and Ministries (the ministry that I have been working for the last year).  My official title is Website Manager, but I am also in charge of creating a database with contact information for each missionary (and trying to college the info from each person) and had a few other things to work on before the retreat.  Kyle had a few things going on at school, so he was coming and going throughout the weekend, but we had a very good time.  A speaker came from Florida, and did 4 sessions on being set free, which left us with a lot to think about.  I can't say that I came back all that rested but it was good to meet up with some old friends and meet some new ones.

Semana Santa/Easter

After the retreat we were home for 1 whole week!  A week filled with laundry, cleaning, LOTS of baking, and repacking.  Earlier in the a group of our friends decided we should all vacation together during our week off leading up to Easter.  After MUCH searching during January that we could afford and would hold all of us...in fact it was even able to hold a few more :)  So last week 27 of us from our church, school, and a neighboring ministry set off for a beach house near Omoa Honduras.  Some of the group was able to go on Saturday & Sunday, but the rest of us had to wait till Monday because of church responsibilities.  Apparently it was hot and sunny over the weekend, but after we arrived it started raining...and rained and stormed for 48 hours straight...during the dry season when it often doesn't rain for months at a time.  It finally stopped raining Thursday morning and we got home time at the pool (the beach & ocean were too dirty after all the rain).  Friday morning, the day we were supposed to leave, was sunny and nice so we actually decided to stay an extra day and return home Saturday.  

Juliana swimming in the rain

Levi getting a little sun on Thursday

Easter morning we had our annual after-sunrise sunrise service...the sun just comes up too early to have the service at sunrise.  As it was, we were up at 4:30, and left for church at 5:30.  That afternoon, Kyle played tennis with a friend, while the kids and I went to an egg hunt.  

At first she didn't want to go down into the yard with the
kids to collect eggs, but then realized there was candy inside...

Levi

Levi is now 5 months old.  We took him for his checkup and shot on March 22nd (same day as our 5 year anniversary).  He's a growing boy!  He's staying right about the 75-80% for height and 70th% for weight.  The doctor keeps insisting that he should be rolling from his back to his stomach, but I think he's just too contented to be wherever I put him.  If I put him on his tummy, he usually just stays there...sometimes he uses his arms and legs to rotate a little to see a different direction...but he just stays on whatever side I put him.  I think his favorite things to do right now are smile, laugh, and scream...he can be one noisy boy!  He is definitely more contented than Juliana was...sometimes I wake up during the night and can hear him from his room just laying in bed talking to himself :)  We took him to the embassy on March 4th to report his birth and apply for his passport, which we picked up last week...so he's now a US citizen!

Juliana

Juliana's not really growing, but she's definitely learning :)  She has been singing some of the Easter songs from church this week, and has mastered the ABC's pretty well (though sometimes it sounds like 'Elmo and a p' in the middle).  She has a little table and chair in our upstairs living room with all her markers, crayons, and coloring books, and sits there a lot doing her "school work".  She loves being in the new house, and being able to yell "good-night Christa" from her bedroom window (the teacher's apartments are right outside her window).  She's starting to get back to her old self, but isn't quite there yet.  I've been working on making her bedtime earlier and things to try to help her more.

Kyle and I

Kyle has had a very busy spring.  In addition to his job he is coaching volleyball...head coach for 1 team and assisting 2 others...so he has practices after school 4 days a week plus Saturdays.  By the beginning of May sports will be over and hopefully he'll be home a little more.  This week I've been unpacking, cleaning up, doing large quantities of laundry, had 2 bible studies yesterday, and am trying to catch up on bills, emails, and a lot computer work that have been piling up for the last month.  

Sorry for such a long blog post...I should probably start blogging after each activity instead of waiting for the end of the month :)