Update and photos

It's been a while since we've posted anything.  We're still chugging along down here.  We had a nice holiday season other than we missed everyone horribly.  It was tough talking to you all on Christmas day.  I think we've done better than expected when it comes to homesickness but those special days when we know everyone is together are tough.  We had hoped to go out of town for the Christmas weekend but I ended up as duty officer for the embassy. Much like the mortuary someone has to have the embassy phones at all times so officers take turns "on duty" after hours.  I was the lucky one who drew the short straw and we had to stay within an hour of the embassy.  Being duty officer was the first responsible that I have actually felt prepared to do well.  After years of mortuary calls I felt ready for just about anything.  It turned out to be very quiet and we were able to enjoy a really nice Christmas.
Christmas and New Years here are definitely a different experience.  On Christmas Eve the kids wanted to sleep in sleeping bags in the living room so they could be as close as possible to the presents when they woke up the next morning.  They understood well the doctrine that Santa can't come until kids are asleep so by about 10pm they were in their sleeping bags trying to fall asleep.  Then the bombing started.  For the next 3-4 hours the entire city shook.  Imagine the most enthusiastic firework lovers and absolutely no restrictions on fireworks.  They lived by the mantra of the louder the explosion the more fun you must be having.  The kids got pretty scared laying in their sleeping bags.  Finally we decided to embrace the experience and we went outside to be part of the action.  Silent Night was not being sung anywhere in town.  After a time it began to seem like an oddly appropriate demonstration of celebration for the night.  Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess and the loudest noise display shall sound.....
At work December was a busy time.  One thing that I've been surprised to have found myself doing is public affairs outreach.  In a two weeks time I had to appear on 7 different radio shows and then make a second appearance on the Mujer a Mujer (woman to woman) television show, this time by myself.  Way out of my comfort zone.  Next month I will be going out to different cities as an election monitor to look for potential election fraud.  It's all fun stuff that I never anticipated doing.
The kids are doing well in school.  Vivian, last month received an award for Outstanding Citizenship.  Abraham has singlehandedly introduced and converted the British school he attends to American Football.  The entire fourth grade now plays it every recess and before Abe's arrival they hardly knew what it was. That kid will be a great missionary some day.  Maggie just had her birthday, now a six year old.  And Simon has been a walking accident (see photo below).  Traci has been taking tennis lessons and is loving it.  And based on the enthusiastic declarations of her spanish speaking teacher she apparently is the next Chris Everett.
This past weekend we were able to leave the country for the first time.  We drove to Guatemala and had a wonderful time in Antigua.  It is a remarkable and beautiful old city and best of all it is safe to walk around in so we thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of moving and milling around. 
I'll post some pictures from the last few weeks.  Most are from our trip to Guatemala.  I apologize if it's too many.

I don't know if these are in the States, I'd never seen them before, but they're all over down here.  The kids love 'em.  This and the following photo were taken at the embassy Christmas party.

All the kids have gotten pretty good.

I once went to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert and the lead singer couldn't stop drinking long enough to sing. Maybe Simon has a singing career ahead of him. 

Blue and Maggie exhausted.

The one sure way to always make Simon happy is to read him a book.  Being with one of his siblings does it too.

Last week Simon slipped in the bathtub and bit through his tongue. It was really gross and kind of scary. Then on Tuesday of this week he was trying to climb into the car and fell out onto the garage floor. We didn't know what was wrong with him but finally took him to the e.r.  Turns out he broke his collar bone.  This picture shows how he generally feels about having his arm constricted.  Face is not injured but just covered in chocolate.

So for years our kids have been timed out by putting their noses on the wall.  Maggie was having a time out the other night when Simon decided that he too needed to be punished, really punished.

Just liked this picture

For Maggie's birthday she wanted to have a chocolate puppy party. Traci made more chocolate than was humanly possible to consume and yet somehow we managed.

Part of the fun on the trip to Guatemala was our hilarious fellow travellers.  We were behind this bus for a few miles on a steep narrow winding road.  Perhaps my favorite few miles of driving ever.

Who needs a horse trailer.  We watched this horse lean into turns.  You could almost see his thoughts saying "good grief".

We found a beautiful hotel in Antigua. Not a bad view.

This is the fountain in the main plaza in Antigua (I'm sure those of you who've been there remember it well).  As we approached it for the first time Traci said, "somewhere nearby there must be a little stone baby crying."  Comic gold.

Loved walking the cobblestone streets

The four best kids

I'm thinking this would be a great addition to the Larkin showroom.  Traci really wanted to buy it and put it in the living room in front of our couch as our "coffin" table.

We also really enjoyed the cool evenings.  It had been a while since any of us had worn a sweatshirt.

Most beautiful pool ever.

After a lot of walking.

A city full of little trinkets for sale is a big hit with kids.  I told the kids not to give into the somewhat aggressive street vendors.  I figured I'd have to be the strong one who just said no.  About 10 minutes into our first walk down the street a ten year old boy named Melvin said to me in Spanish "Mister please buy this wooden flute and put food on my table."  We are now the owners of two wooden flutes.

The toughest part of the trip was that Simon wanted to be walking at all times. The problem was he never wanted to go in the same direction as the rest of us.  So we basically followed him around for 2 days.

We finally said we wanted a picture of just Traci and me.  Didn't know until later that Maggie had snuck in.  I think I like it this way.