Merry Christmas!!
This year's annual family letter is here in our blog to make it easier for everyone to access our photos. Plus, you can check in to our previous posts if you like.
January: As usual, we spent New Year's Eve and Day with David's family, this year breaking in David's mother's home in Valle de Angeles. David spent the majority of 2010 going back and forth from La Esperanza (where we live) to Valle (about five 1/2 hours away) in order to oversee the construction. It was lovely to spend a New Year celebration together in the home.
David had lost his wedding ring and Corita got him a new one...
The year started with a new addition to our family. Giulia Giorgi, an Italian exchange student, officially became part of our family. We had Giulia and Pedro Antonio (Corita and David's godson) in our home for most of the month, making for an interesting opportunity to experiment life with two teenagers before Raquel and Joel join those ranks.
February:
Pedro Antonio went home at the end of January, but by this time, we also had Maike Külper, an exchange student from Germany, as part of our ever-growing, ever-changing family.
David's birthday swimming in Otoro with Giulia and Maike:
March: World Day of Prayer this year was from Chile. Once again, Nancy planned the program with some other women from the community.
Joel turned nine this month, with a Kung-Fu Panda theme party, complete with dancing, games, fried rice with chopsticks, and a piñata. We couldn't have pulled off this amazing party without Maike and Giulia helping us!
One long weekend in March we took our annual whole-family trip (with all of David's sisters, their families, and his mother, plus the five of us). This year we went to La Ceiba to visit Pico Bonito, a national park/rainforest. It was the first of such trips for the newest member of our family: Juan José Cuan Euceda (the kids' baby cousin).
Dancing in La Palapa Restaurant in La Ceiba:
Pico Bonito National Park - Crossing the hanging bridge to enter the park:
Enjoying a refreshing moment in the jungle (Joel and Raquel):
David and Corita hanging out under the Ceiba tree (Oops! We got caught!)
Nancy still loves hiking!
The beaches at La Ceiba are lovely.
On the way home we stopped at Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, near Tela.
Juan José's favorite part of the day was making bubbles!
Near Lago de Yojoa, Nancy got a break from the long ride, and a chance to play marimba.
Maike's birthday was at the end of March and Giulia's at the start of April.
Celebrating birthdays, with Giulia and Maike just home from the beach (great sunburns, girls!):
April: Lenn Ashbaugh, Nancy's step-mom, died this month, shortly before our trip to visit her.
Here's an old picture of Mack, Nancy, Nancy's brother Alan, and Lenn Ashbaugh, taken about twenty years ago!! (We were able to scan the photo...isn't technology great?)
During the Holy Week holiday a very fruitful chance meeting took place wherein we got to know a neighbor who has a holiday home nearby and several grandchildren who are our kids' ages. Don Benjamin is very interested in the greenhouses David has, and proposed a mutual investment in several greenhouses on part of his property.
June: Giulia graduated from Southwest School this month, returning to Italy in the beginning of July. Raquel especially suffered from the loss, having become very attached to her Italian sister.
July: The highlight of 2011 was our trip to the United States, visiting friends, family, and interesting sites in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. Our trip photos are in the July blog posts, in case you haven't seen them and want to. The most important part of our trip was catching up with family. We saw Nathan in New Mexico, Larry and Kim and a whole bunch of Nancy's Ashbaugh/Krebill relatives in Colorado. Do check in to July to see those photos. Nathan is still in Alamogordo, New Mexico, but he was able to travel back to Las Vegas, New Mexico (with his girlfriend Andrea and her mom Liz) during our trip so that we could have a little more time together. Raquel turned 12 this month.
August: Raquel began 8th grade and Joel began 4th grade. Nancy stayed in the USA, visiting Iowa, as well as enjoying extra time in her hometown of Longmont, Colorado, where she stayed until early September for her 50th High School Reunion. It was good to get caught up with long-lost friends. Meanwhile, she spent time cleaning out her parents' home and reconnecting with her brother Alan while they planned the sale of the house.
September:
October: Both Joel and Raquel began karate classes this month. Finally, there's a good after-school opportunity for them! (Some photos of October on the November posting.)
Nancy had a World Day of Prayer training session in San Pedro Sula with trainers from New York and Peru and participants from all over Honduras. The preparation took many months, as you can imagine.
November: We have a Thanksgiving post on our blog, if you would like to see it. (If you saw it earlier, we now have added the photos and some other info.)
December: This month started with a weekend trip to San Pedro Sula (about 3 hours away) to take the kids to their first ballet performance to see exerpts of The Nutcracker. (See photo at top.) It was good to get away from the routine. The kids were disappointed that the one weekend we went to the (usually miserably hot) north coast, the weather was cool and overcast, making swimming in the hotel pool a trembly experience.
The kids passed their first level of karate this week, getting yellow stripes on their white belts.
This year's annual family letter is here in our blog to make it easier for everyone to access our photos. Plus, you can check in to our previous posts if you like.
January: As usual, we spent New Year's Eve and Day with David's family, this year breaking in David's mother's home in Valle de Angeles. David spent the majority of 2010 going back and forth from La Esperanza (where we live) to Valle (about five 1/2 hours away) in order to oversee the construction. It was lovely to spend a New Year celebration together in the home.
Here's a picture of David's mother with four of her five grandkids (Juan José was already asleep).
The year started with a new addition to our family. Giulia Giorgi, an Italian exchange student, officially became part of our family. We had Giulia and Pedro Antonio (Corita and David's godson) in our home for most of the month, making for an interesting opportunity to experiment life with two teenagers before Raquel and Joel join those ranks.
February:
Pedro Antonio went home at the end of January, but by this time, we also had Maike Külper, an exchange student from Germany, as part of our ever-growing, ever-changing family.
David's birthday swimming in Otoro with Giulia and Maike:
March: World Day of Prayer this year was from Chile. Once again, Nancy planned the program with some other women from the community.
One long weekend in March we took our annual whole-family trip (with all of David's sisters, their families, and his mother, plus the five of us). This year we went to La Ceiba to visit Pico Bonito, a national park/rainforest. It was the first of such trips for the newest member of our family: Juan José Cuan Euceda (the kids' baby cousin).
Dancing in La Palapa Restaurant in La Ceiba:
Maike's birthday was at the end of March and Giulia's at the start of April.
Celebrating birthdays, with Giulia and Maike just home from the beach (great sunburns, girls!):
April: Lenn Ashbaugh, Nancy's step-mom, died this month, shortly before our trip to visit her.
Here's an old picture of Mack, Nancy, Nancy's brother Alan, and Lenn Ashbaugh, taken about twenty years ago!! (We were able to scan the photo...isn't technology great?)
During the Holy Week holiday a very fruitful chance meeting took place wherein we got to know a neighbor who has a holiday home nearby and several grandchildren who are our kids' ages. Don Benjamin is very interested in the greenhouses David has, and proposed a mutual investment in several greenhouses on part of his property.
June: Giulia graduated from Southwest School this month, returning to Italy in the beginning of July. Raquel especially suffered from the loss, having become very attached to her Italian sister.
July: The highlight of 2011 was our trip to the United States, visiting friends, family, and interesting sites in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. Our trip photos are in the July blog posts, in case you haven't seen them and want to. The most important part of our trip was catching up with family. We saw Nathan in New Mexico, Larry and Kim and a whole bunch of Nancy's Ashbaugh/Krebill relatives in Colorado. Do check in to July to see those photos. Nathan is still in Alamogordo, New Mexico, but he was able to travel back to Las Vegas, New Mexico (with his girlfriend Andrea and her mom Liz) during our trip so that we could have a little more time together. Raquel turned 12 this month.
August: Raquel began 8th grade and Joel began 4th grade. Nancy stayed in the USA, visiting Iowa, as well as enjoying extra time in her hometown of Longmont, Colorado, where she stayed until early September for her 50th High School Reunion. It was good to get caught up with long-lost friends. Meanwhile, she spent time cleaning out her parents' home and reconnecting with her brother Alan while they planned the sale of the house.
September:
This month we had some time with David's family. We took Daniela (the kids' cousin) to Chiminike, the Honduran Children's museum in Tegucigalpa which had a special exhibit about Animatrix dinosaurs from Discovery Channel. It was so much fun that we took the whole school a few weeks later.
October: Both Joel and Raquel began karate classes this month. Finally, there's a good after-school opportunity for them! (Some photos of October on the November posting.)
Nancy had a World Day of Prayer training session in San Pedro Sula with trainers from New York and Peru and participants from all over Honduras. The preparation took many months, as you can imagine.
November: We have a Thanksgiving post on our blog, if you would like to see it. (If you saw it earlier, we now have added the photos and some other info.)
December: This month started with a weekend trip to San Pedro Sula (about 3 hours away) to take the kids to their first ballet performance to see exerpts of The Nutcracker. (See photo at top.) It was good to get away from the routine. The kids were disappointed that the one weekend we went to the (usually miserably hot) north coast, the weather was cool and overcast, making swimming in the hotel pool a trembly experience.
The kids passed their first level of karate this week, getting yellow stripes on their white belts.
At the annual school staff dinner, one of the teachers spoke of the meaning of Christmas. Many of the things she said we could agree with, but some of the things seemed to confuse Easter with Christmas a bit. In the end, however, it was a great inspiration for us to take time to reflect on what Christmas means to each of the five of us. The school Christmas program was its usual humungous affair, very well done but a bit stressful to put on.
This month has been very busy for David, building another greenhouse (this one is in partnership with don Benjamin).
(Greenhouse photos on July postings; an endless supply available upon request!!)
The kids had a nice visit with their Abuelo (grandpa) who actually had an activity prepared for them...going to the creek to collect some gravel and rocks that he needed. It was a first (usually we sit and talk at his house for an hour, then continue on our way).
Our Christmas celebration this year was complete with posadas (the re-enactment of the Holy Family asking for shelter from door to door) and a donkey. Joel has named his donkey "Donkey" (have you seen Shrek?).
We hope your new year is full of blessings and we hope to hear from you. Getting your letters and pictures is always a high point for us.
Much love,
Nancy, David, Corita, Nathan (in New Mexico), Raquel, and Joel
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