Continuing and Starting Over

3 months old

Destiny Hope is 10!!

This amazing girl turns 10 today. I feel overwhelmingly blessed to be her mom. She couldn't be more different than me. I've said that plenty of times. But she is my sweetheart. She teaches me so much, and fills my days with surprises and lots of laughter.

She continues to be the extrovert of the family. I love how she has started asking people questions to get them to talk. "Have you ever had a dog?" "What time do you wake up in the mornings?" "What's your favorite movie?"

She understands quite a bit of Spanish, but is still real hesitant to speak it. She likes being a part of our ministry's art site and education site, but we can't seem to get here there near often enough. She also is beside herself with excitement when she gets to spend time with her fellow missionary kid friends (from other ministries).

Hope has just started 6th grade along with her brother this week. Grammar, Reading, and Spelling are her strong subjects. She loves learning new things on her own... making her rainbow loom bracelets, cooking her own homemade lip gloss on the stove, discovering creative ways to do her nail polish, and watching then memorizing gymnastic routines. You tube is a school of it's own for her.

The way she continues to teach herself gymnastics makes us so proud! She teaches herself something on the trampoline first and before we know it she's doing it on the ground. She is never satisfied. Always pushing herself. Some days she limps around like an invalid because she is so sore from hours of gymnastics the day before.

Her goals in life are still the same. Get married, have five kids, and live on a ranch in Montana with lots of animals especially dogs. She adores dogs and spent a whole afternoon crying her eyes out after seeing an especially cute puppy at the feed store here in town. She knew with all her heart that dog belonged with her. I am excited about her future FOR her! I will be so happy to see her living on a ranch one day with doggies running everywhere.

She's got a red-head temper and can slam doors, wail, and make drama like a true professional. Thankfully it passes quickly and we have our sweet girl back usually before we can even figure out exactly why she is flipping out. Camden and I have learned not to look at each other during her "displays of emotion" because we laugh and that doesn't help things. Blake is learning there is no talking to her during this time and that if slamming her door helps her feel better well she can just slam the door. Once. Hope's learned once better be all it takes to make her feel better.

Hope is very excited about her little brother that's on his way. She talks to him, sings to him, massages him out of my ribs, shakes him awake, smells his package of diapers we bought like they have the scent of flowers, and squeals and oohs and aahs over all things baby. She is learning lots about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and breastfeeding. I think she's pretty much got it figured out until she does something like puts a soccer ball in her shirt and then yanks it out screaming, "Oh my gosh! My uterus!!" Then I wonder if maybe she isn't just really confused.

She loves leggings and skinny jeans and gymnastic clothes. For her birthday dinner she requested "chicken tacos, rice, and sour cream...lots and lots of sour cream." Her hair drives her crazy but she tries hard to take care of it because she knows her daddy loves her curls.

I am looking forward to this next year with my best girl. My little helper, my entertainer, my red-head beauty. Words truly cannot express how very grateful I am that she is my daughter.

Happy Birthday Destiny Hope!

Just Living Life

Hope insisted that she wanted carrots and pears. She came home and put them in solution. And there they sat until I dried them, cut up the carrots, and put them away. She has eaten a couple of bites of pear and 3 slices of carrots. Good intentions......

I was so excited to make one of my favorite meals that we haven't had since we left the states last year. I knew Camden wouldn't eat it, but Blake, Hope, and I love it. Tater Tot Casserole. I couldn't find tater tots but I used hash browns. I used fresh green beans instead of frozen ones. I was so excited that I took this picture. And then we ate it. The green beans were as crunchy as fresh carrots. So, so disappointing. Hope didn't eat. Blake insisted that he liked it, but the next day for leftovers he picked all the green beans out. I pouted about it for 15 minutes or so. And then today when I finished the last helping....I picked all the green beans out.

Hope is the one in the family that can handle the frigid temperature of the pool. She loves for me to watch her do tricks. Pops out of the water and talks to me with her goggles on. It makes me want to laugh so bad. She is such an extrovert. She loves joining in on birthday parties joining in the common areas. She makes fast friends with kids who come to stay in the short term condos. I so wish I was more like her in this way!

Hope took these two pictures in Antigua. She has a good eye.

Hope doing homework in our room. Me practicing my indoor lighting photography. As of today our bedroom walls are no longer yellow. Hallelujah.

We take a trip into Guatemala City about once every 2 weeks. I am always, always impacted by the wealth verses the poverty that I see here. Picture 1...a fancy car in a dealership. I took this while sitting at a red-light behind the truck in picture number 3. Some type of trash truck with three men sleeping inside. The middle picture shows the beautiful blooming trees that we enjoy ALL YEAR LONG in the amazing climate of the mountains of Guatemala. I have my complaints about Guatemala City. Traffic, bus fumes, crowds, bus fumes, but then I remind myself that this is an adventure....and that when I get home I can take a nap.