It's the Holiday Season

So in the last 2 weeks we have celebrated Christmas, Stephens birthday and ringing in the new year! It was our first Christmas in Honduras and away from our families, Stephen's 26th birthday and our first time seeing dangerous fireworks at midnight all over an un-monitored city . . . but it was pretty cool looking!

Back in the fall Stephen and I decided to save some money by staying here in Honduras for Christmas break. And we have really been enjoying our time here together we've loved being home, getting things done around the house and spending time with friends! We were able to go play tennis downtown at a sports complex, we went to see the new Hobbit movie, we have been able to play lots of games with a few other families that stayed over break. We have watched movies, washed the car, started a new workout routine and I have been able to get some reading done! Christmas day was great! We had a big breakfast, spent the morning opening gifts (shout out to my husband who got me some pretty awesome stuff) and skyping with family. Then later in the afternoon we got together with our friends Tim, Liz and their daughter Abigail, our pastor and his family and a few other people for a Christmas dinner . . . the power stayed on for us for this holiday, Praise the Lord! It was truly a wonderful Christmas! I am so thankful for the friends we have made while being here in Honduras, it is when you are far away from family that you realize how important good friends are! And we have some good one's that we are appreciate so much!

Stephen’s birthday was on the 29^th so we invited some friends over to share in a meal of ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, zucchini, and stuffed mushrooms. (Kyle and Melodee with their two kids Julianna and Levi are on the left and Tim and Liz with their daughter Abigail are on the right), Now I had never made ribs before but Stephen loves them so I did my best and the birthday boy approved . . . so now I think I have started a new tradition; ) Then we had cheesecake for dessert, in the past year Stephen has discovered a new love for certain foods . . . cheesecake being the main one! It was a happy day filled with laughter, love, food and friendship! I am so thankful for Stephen’s 26 years of life; I praise the Lord for the amazing man that I have the privilege of being married to. Each year together, month, day together, I continue to learn what it means to love and to be loved and I wouldn’t want to be discovering that with anyone else. Stephen James, I praise God for your life and who HE has created you to be!

Happy New Year! As I look back over the past year, I am amazed at where life has taken us. We live in Honduras, just that fact in and of itself still kind of blows my mind. At midnight, as were standing on a patio, overlooking the city; watching all the fireworks go off all around the city, so beautiful and dangerous; we celebrated bringing in the New Year and talked of the future . . . that’s when I really get amazed. Yes we did the whole looking back thing but what I like doing most at the beginning of the year is looking forward to what is ahead. Looking to what is coming, what can be accomplished, and what new adventures can be tackled. I love being able to share my hopes and dreams with someone, to be married to someone who is just as adventurous as I am. So as adventure comes our way, you will be sure to hear about it! So to 2014, may you be filled with wonder, excitement, adventure and love! 

We LOVE Visitors and Electricity!

Thanksgiving Update . . . my apologies for being WAY behind with my posts. With all this time off school I'm gonna try and get caught up! We had an awesome time with my brother Joel and his wife Sarah when they were here over thanksgiving! We were able to do some traveling and have some adventures! Joel had to do some observations for his health and PE degree, so he spent as much time in the classroom with Stephen as he could. There was a lot happening as they were here, the elections took place the day after they arrived. Here in Honduras the elections are not a safe time, there is a lot of corruption within the competing parties as well as riots all over the city. Because of the unknown circumstance school was canceled the day after elections, which gave us an extra day off to spend with Joel and Sarah. On that day off we decided to go to a national park called La Tigra it is well known for the fun fact that it is part of a cloud forest. And as we found out that is literally what you do, walk higher and higher into the clouds. So that was a fun day of hiking and spending time together. Tuesday and a half day Wednesday were spent at school and then Wednesday afternoon we had the oil changed in the car and went to see a movie . . . movie theaters here are so cheap it costs about $3 American dollars, and it’s in English : ) Late Wednesday night the power went out . . . . and stayed out for a total of 5 long days, coming back on for maybe 2 hours on two separate occasions. Talk about a thanksgiving ruined haha! Trying to make a feast without power is nearly impossible. That is why I was so grateful that we had already made plans to travel! We left early on Thursday morning since thanksgiving dinner was now out of the plan. We traveled towards the middle of the country to Lake Yojoa where we stayed at a brewery! It was such a cute, quaint place. We were able to explore a coffee plantation that afternoon and then enjoy our long awaited thanksgiving feast provided by the staff at the brewery, it was delicious. They also had awesome homemade cream soda’s, coke and root beer : ) Then on Friday we went to the ecological park and saw some beautiful views of the lake and some incredible nature. After that we went back to the brewery for lunch then lastly off to the waterfall. It was awesome, much bigger than any of us expected : ) It was beautiful. Then we headed home . . . it was a whirlwind of a trip but we had a great time! Joel and Sarah’s time went by way to fast but it was so fun to share our home, friends and country with them!