The beach

So this past Saturday we all went to the beach with Venezuelan students. It was an hourish drive and then we took a boat for 15-20 minutes. It was pretty interesting. Honestly, there were moments we thought maybe we weren't going to make it on the boat. There were around 10 people on each of the below boats and they do not "drive" slowly regardless of the conditions of the water. The kids handled it pretty well.Once we got there, they both loved the sand. Leah would find all kinds of corral and put it in her mouth. Great. At least she wasn't eating handfuls of sand.
Noah didn't really want to go in the water. The guys tried to talk him in to it, but he didn't like the waves. Can't really blame him. They almost took him out a few times.
But he went in with Tony. And Tony took good care of him. Some of the students even built a sand wall for him so he could just sit and the water would come up but not get him because he was behind the wall. They were really good to him all day.
Leah passed out a little while after we got there. She started to fall asleep on the boat but then it got pretty rough. Bart didn't mind. He doesn't like sand anyways, so he got to take a nap with her. And then burnt the tops of his feet because they were sticking out past the umbrella. Whoops!
I feel like I just had to take this picture. I looked up and this was my view. Come on buddy. Put some more clothes on! It's ok though. I would probably rather see that than all the women walking around in their bikini thongs. Yuck. Seriously. Noah definitely loved playing in the sand and even contributed to burying Kristin. But he didn't really understand why. Matter of fact, I don't really understand why either....
He was loving just dumping sand all over himself. He looked like a little albino child since he was covered in sand.
Then the little man passed out on the boat ride back. I have no idea how but he must have been pretty tired.
And on the van ride back, they both passed out. Bart started to also, but probably would've dropped the baby, so he stayed awake. The kids were pretty worn out but they had fun. And we did too. However, the beach isn't nearly as much fun when you get to clean sand out of 2 kids' cracks and crevices.
More to come soon. We're pretty tired but starting to feel like we're catching up and getting a little more energy. We feel like project has been go go go, but it's great for motivating people. We're just getting old so it's harder for us. :)

And as a little side note from the beach, yesterday on campus I saw a girl named Cristal accept Christ! It was pretty amazing! She is 21, has been married for 5 years and has a 4 year old. In the past year, she has lost her mother and other family members (extended family) and her father has been sick so she has felt the burden of taking care of him because she's the oldest. She has 4 younger brothers and I think 2 younger sisters, so she was at a point of needing to really rely on the Lord and allow him to provide peace and rest for her. We're excited to get to follow up with her and we told her she should go home and share with her husband and son. I'm praying that the stresses of life don't keep her from getting involved and growing in her new faith. Will you please pray with us for that? What an awesome opportunity we have to present the love of Jesus to the people of Venezuela!!!

Some VZ pictures

These are not in any kind of order....but here's our kitchen with totally open cupboards (great for babies and toddlers) and the bottles of alcohol on top of the cupboards.Around 30 people crammed in our living/dining room for dinner 3 nights a week. Not really sure what Clay and Justin are laughing at, but probably Noah.
Noah passed out on our Pooh blanket. He pretty much always naps in our room now so they can both get decent naps. It's working ok for us.
And the airplane ride. Noah definitely wasn't a fan of taking off but then he did fine. He didn't like the 2nd flight nearly as much, probably because it was 4 hours and felt really long. Leah did really well considering she was a lap child and couldn't really go anywhere.
The weekend was a combination of tiring and relaxing. On Saturday we decided to go to the beach. That meant leaving at 7:45 and getting back around 6:00. It was a long day but the kids had fun. We'll post more pictures soon. We have to download more of them. Plus, we don't want to overwhelm.....

Oh and the Venezuelan Pentecost (we've adapted this from the Azeri Pentecost as we used to call it on Stint) has arrived. Not really. We've just all had a little bit of the runs. It might have been some of the veggies we ate with dinner last night. They had soaked in a vinegar solution but maybe that didn't work? We're not feeling bad though, so that's pretty amazing considering how bad it could be. We're praying we don't get any of that nasty stuff. The kids have colds but they're handling it pretty well. So sad to have a cold in a really hot place, but I'm sure their bodies are adjusting to a lot here.

Please pray for sleep, energy, health and that we would rely on the Lord. Last week was great and we're hoping it continues to be great and that we and the students don't get sick and/or burnt out. Oh and pray for some of the guys on the project. Some decided to not be wise and apply sunscreen at the beach and they are very much paying the consequence for it (one guy is blistering). They would appreciate the prayers as they try to recover.

Until next time.....as they say in Venezuela: chow (good-bye)

The first few days

From my (Melissa's) perspective:

Well, with almost a day of travel and all of us not going to bed until 4 am on the morning we arrived, we thought it would be good to get up, take a shower, have some breakfast and then get the ball rolling. Nope, no water. Wasn't planning on that. Actually, we did have water at 6 am when I randomly woke up and thought I had a good night's sleep only to find out I slept for 2 hours and it was super bright outside. But I choose to go back to bed, and then wake up at 8 to now water. Whoops!

Most of our first day here we didn't have water. That kind of makes for a small challenge with kids. We went out to eat for lunch and dinner with the team since no one had any sort of food other than breakfast (the stint team that is hear graciously got us all breakfast food for the first few days we were here). So that was nice not to have to run to the grocery store right away. Problem is, I still don't totally know where to get groceries. I mean, Christian, a Venezuelan staff guy took me the other night because we were barely getting by on what we had, but it was a 10 minute drive and, let's be honest, I'll probably get lost if I try to go there again. Oh well. I think there are some small places close by. I have a few weeks to figure it out. :)

The kids have been doing ok. Leah is a super trooper. She's been sleeping really well and eating pretty well here. I haven't been able to give them much fruits or vegetables since we got here since I forgot to buy vinegar at the store, but they're surviving off of bananas and other things. Noah has had a pretty hard transition. He understands that this is weird and he doesn't understand why we live with 2 other people (we're sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with the other 2 staff women on the project, so there are 6 of us in the apartment). He likes them both, so enjoys playing with them or asking where they are. Luckily our apartment complex has a little playground type area that we can go to when both kids are awake. There's a pool too, but we're not sure if we can actually use it. Noah is pretty excited about it though. It even has a kiddy area.

I'm feeling pretty disconnected from the project. Our apartment is far enough away from everyone else that it makes it pretty hard to be involved with 2 kids. But 3 nights a week, everyone will be at our place for dinner, so that is good. And I'll get on campus to meet with students at least once a week. And we have a family night where we go out and do something fun, so I'll be able to touch base with people here and there. Sometimes I just feel like there's not much purpose in me being here. Though I am in charge of all the money, so it's probably good for Bart and Claire (and the students) to not have to worry about all of that stuff.

Julieta, Christian's wife, and I have been able to touch base a little. They have a 2 year old and a baby due in August so it's nice to be able to connect with someone who is in a similar life stage. I'm really looking forward to being able to spend time with her.

I honestly haven't seen Bart much. It's pretty strange. I feel like I just need to get out and explore but Bart doesn't like that very much. He worries that it's not safe. It is, at least during the day. I went out by myself with the kids the other day to meet up with everyone for dinner and a few people kind of freaked out. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Stay cooped up in the apartment all day long every day? No way!

Oh and the apartment. Let's just say, bachelor pad. Gross. This is how dirty it was. Leah is crawling and the tops of her feet and her knees where constantly black. DISgusting. So we (I) decided that I would pay someone to come clean the place on the 2nd day we were hear cause I just straight up could not handle it. It's better now. And it's such a strange apartment. The guy has enough toilet paper to last like a year. Sweet. Don't have to buy toilet paper. He has like 20 tooth brushes between 2 bathrooms. He has 2 plants, 1 of which is looking pretty bad, but the other 1 looks perfect. He has a strange porcelain doll type thing sitting between the plants. I'll take pictures and post this stuff. Don't worry. Oh and he has like 20 empty bottles of alcohol sitting on the high shelf in the kitchen. And that's not mentioning the numerous pictures/figures of Mary/Jesus or something of the like. He also has a tv in every room and an empty fish tank which Noah got pretty excited about cause there was a car in it. So weird.

Oh, and he had a dog. Dog hair everywhere. I'm used to it already. There isn't a vacuum here so what can you do? There is absolutely nothing childproof about this place. We have to lay the stroller in the kitchen area so Leah can't get in to everything because there are no cupboard doors or anything. And there are knives, spoons, tools, pots, pans and many other things she could get into. Hoy da. We do have hot water though and air conditioning. Both are pretty darn amazing. So it could definitely be worse. Oh and the blanket on our bed.....Pooh. One big gigantic Pooh. Noah loves it. This place screams bachelor pad, yet not at all at the same time. I really don't get it. But we're here and it's working for us. And I kind of have to laugh even as I type this. The joys of living in another country.

So this has been a book. Sorry. It's been a lot of what I expected and yet a lot of what I haven't expected. But we're making it work. Noah is picking up a little Spanish and everyone that sees our little gringo kids either smile or say something in Spanish. Most of the time I just smile cause I have no idea what they're saying. I think there will be a lot of that this summer. Me just not knowing half of what people are saying. That's ok. As long as I know where home, food and the bathroom are, I'm probably good.

Out like trout.

Melissa