Post on my 31st day!

Josiah was showing me his pomegranate cause I'd never really seen one before or eaten one. They don't have much taste actually. Hmm, interesting the things I have to come to Mexico to "experience". :)
Iris may not be able to pick Josiah up at all but he still finds his way to his mama's side! He'll climb right on up when she's sittin in her rockin chair...and he's good at it!! :)
Oh, little Pemienta! She is a true ankle biter except tonight it was more like calf biter! This pic was taken a few days ago but tonight I had capris on and she kept nippin at my legs!! Little......cute puppy. She just doesn't get it sometimes. Eventually she left me alone, after I showed her enough attention (I guess) and she went to bug Negro! They are always rough housing together! :) This puppy is much cuter now that she's de-bugged and has some meat on her bones. And she's no longer that weird color gray. She's definitely white with a little brown on her back. Cute stuff! :)




So, today Iris had a doctor's appointment, to check up on her and the baby, in Chihuahua City (which is 3 1/2 hours down the mountain). The appointment was at 4pm, this afternoon, but they left at 10am because of the driving and many other things they needed to accomplish. Well, before they left Andrew said "Did Iris tell you that we might just be doing today what was planned to happen on the 17th of September?" I was like "NO! WHY?!" Iris has a c-section scheduled on Sept. 17th but last night she was having some pains and wondered if they would just keep her there, today, and take the baby now. It seemed like maybe the doctor would due to the fact that Iris is 35 weeks along and she is so far from the hospital with her doctor and all. They said they would call me and let me know. So, since this was unexpected, I got a quick lesson in how to start and stop the generator that charges the battery that "fuels" our electricity (which is the computer) and how to fill my little gas tank on the Coleman stove and a few other "quick lessons". Also, we hadn't stocked up on food so they told me I could take the wheel barrel down the street, close here, and get some things when I needed them. It's a little tiny convenience store with not tons but enough...milk, etc. And that if I needed anyone I could call (from their cell phone they were leaving me) a few different people in town. Whewhoo, what a wake up call in the morning!! :) Anyways, they finally did call me then, at 9:00pm tonight. Once they were finally done in Chihuahua. They are on their way home now. Everything looks great and she's still scheduled to go in on the 17th (as far as I know). So, okay, a weird day with not knowing what was gonna happen, but no need to fret, it's not yet!! :) But soon!

The town of San Juanito

Estetica Unisex means a Hair Salon for both women and men. Maybe I could move to Mexico and work at this salon??? Hmmm....nah, I'll keep my New Image, thank you very much! :) There are lots of salons in this tiny town to choose from, though! :) Another interesting tidbit. I realized the other day, when Iris and I went grocery shopping and drove past probably 8 or 9 other stores before we got to the one we went into, that there are SO many little grocery stores in San Juanito! Andrew said this town is only about 10,000 people. And there is a grocery store on almost every block!!! I asked Iris why that is and she said it's because most people have to walk to where they go so there needs to be grocery stores in every area so that people can have easy access. Makes sense.
I like this purple house! It's so Cheery and friendly, I think!
Here's another cute San Juanito house! If you can't tell it has teal windows, which is my new favorite color!! :)
Here's a little mountain thingy in San Juanito. They have a name in Spanish (Andrew told me) but I forget what it is. Ya know, unless I look at the written word (in Spanish) it is sooooo hard for me to remember how to say it!
A more up close and blurry picture of that same "mountain".

A SECOND double rainbow (promise)?

That's right, once again, 2 rainbows that make a full completion (although I couldn't get the entire thing in one shot!
This, I'm sure, is THE brightest rainbow I have ever seen, in all my 27 years! It was amazing! :)

Pictures from today.

Washing the veggies in water with this little droppy stuff so their okay to eat and not get sick! :)
I can't resist pictures of lots of veggies/fruits!
I forgot to mention, that this is my new stove. A 2 burner Coleman camping stove. Yup. The gas stove (which this one is sitting on top of) started leaking propane and we all know that's not good! I'm loopy enough without that additive! :) So, it's back to the wood cook stove and this gem! Hey, it's better than all the meals done with "fire legs"! :)
This is our only light in the evenings. It's in the kitchen and it's a propane lamp (kinda like what the Amish have). We have flashlights and stuff for when we go to other parts of the house. And lately it's been cold enough at night (Andrew said it was 41 a couple of times) that he's been building a fire in the fireplace in the living room...so that's a bit more light.

NEW SHIRT!

So, today I went into town, just Hannah and me, lookin for some stud earings but didn't find any. SO, I couldn't come home empty handed! :) Just kidding, but we did do some more shopping, just girl time, and I found this cute shirt for only $119!! Okay, so it's a 119 pesos, which is less than $11! Not too bad and I can always use more short sleeve shirts for work. I wear them all year long (at work) because of how warm it gets in there! This is my bday present to myself!

Just for ol' times sake!

Here's a few more of Leigh-Ann's pictures from our Guatemalan trip, in 2001, with King's Commission. In case you didn't want to look at the whole album, I've picked out a few of my favorites. :) Just click on each one to have a look-see! **Gramms, just click on one of these lines and it will take you to the picture. Then once you're done looking at the picture (and reading the caption) just go up to the very top of the page and click on the green arrow button for "back" and it'll take you back to this page where you can then click on the next line. And then just keep doing that same thing to see all of these pictures. :) Am I making sense or is it as clear as mud? Also, G-ma, look on the "Granny, git ur pen" post cause there's another comment for you! :) I love love love you! MORE!!**

us silly girls

the Guatemalan "boys"- ahh, Danny!! We all loved him!

on the way to the beach- I really rode in the back of this truck for over an hour to the beach!

Leigh-Ann and me in front of all the veggies in the kitchen of the orphanage

kids at a school

all of us girls on our trip

lice? read the caption on this picture. lol!

painting fun at the orphanage

at the hot springs

our whole team

I hope you enjoyed and didn't get too bored with my little trip down memory lane! That was the trip that really stole my heart for the Spanish speaking countries! God started something in me, in Guatemala, that he continues to work out, in/through me!

Another "suspension" bridge.

So, in one of my posts from my birthday I had pictures of us on a suspension bridge and I mentioned that all though it took my breath away, a little bit, it was nothing compared to walking across the one in Guatemala. It was old and rickety and had wooden planks with rope to hang onto on the sides. And some of the planks were falling apart or missing! Yikes! AND this was the only way that this one village had to get out anywhere. If they wanted to go sell or buy something, for instance, they would have to cross this rickety bridge. AND the women did it with huge things balancing on their heads! YUP! That's right! Anyways, I just wanted to show you a picture of us on this bridge.....my friend, Leigh-Ann, has it posted on her blog with other pictures from our Guatemalan trip....you could look at those too if you want and see if you can spot me! :) Okay, so click HERE to see this picture. The person, way out front, where if you put your mouse over it it says "me" is not really Me. It's actually Leigh-Ann, since it's her photo album. :) I'm in the way back. And this picture does nothing to show how truly far down this little valley/hole thingy was! IT was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG way down!!! And look, Ma, I'm just fine! :)

A little bit less of me?!

I'm smilin this cheesy grin because of the next picture! I sure am getting brave with the pictures of myself that I post...but hey, who cares! Leigh-Ann, you're my inspiration (well God first of course) for loving myself and loving all forms of pictures of myself! Really! So, thanks!! :)
If you can't tell what this picture is about.....well...my jeans are quite a lot looser than when I came! As well as are all of my clothes!! Ha! Of course 2 weeks of sickness can help out with that but also, the Bornman's eat so much healthier than I usually eat at home....lets face it, at home, I eat like JUNK! So, lets see if I can keep this up, even once I'm back in Goshen- fast food heaven!! ha!

Life in San Juanito.

This is an honest to goodness, real billboard wall thingy in San Juanito!! In case you don't know Spanish, the jist of it is this: "Responsibility is the best friend of Sex!" And that little yellow, dancing guy (you figure out what he is)- he's saying "Use me!" My oh my how they advertise here! And a friend of the Bornman's, Suelle, said that, yeah, that's this whole campaign thingy going around teaching people how to be responsible! Interesting stuff! :)
2 of the 4 books that I've consumed within the last week! You may call them smutty Christian novels and I might agree but there no different than all the movies everyone watches all the time! And it's something to do, especially when one is sick for 2 weeks! :) Josh and Linc, these might possibly be what you call "Female ____". I'll give you that on these ones! ha!
This is the what you see now when you look out the windows in the Bornman home. The housekeeper, Zonida, basically told Andrew that he was stupid for not having bars on his windows to protect his home. Well, since I'm here now to help Iris, Andrew has been able to get these made and placed over the windows on the main level. Very interesting view. Kinda like jail but yet not. The nice "country" decorations on them give it a warm feeling! :) lol!
The lucky ducks that got to learn how to do dishes on one of the days I was sick!! :)

More Pictures of Sunday- My birthday, of course!

The Bornman Men!
Another picture of that little girl, with the baby and their older sister (I assume).
Here's a display of some of the Tarahumaran things that they make and then set up to sell at all the touristy places; like there along Copper Canyon.




There are a few stories that I've been meaning to tell but have forgotten to do so until now. One is this: When Andrew took me to Cuetemache, to the doctor's, last week, I had some American cash that I still needed to exchange. Andrew and Iris had said that it was easier to do so when we were in Cuetemache because here, in San Juanito, you could wait in line for hours at the bank to exchange some money so it was better not to "risk" it! So, even though I didn't know how soon we could get my money there to exchange, I still had it, in dollars. So, can you guess how I exchanged my American cash for Mexican pesos??? Well, Andrew drove around the downtown of the city and to a certain corner. I'm not sure of the names of the streets at that corner but Andrew knew just where he was going. So, we pulled up and there were several guys standing out on the corner (not hookin or anything, just standing there) :) and some of them were sittin on the back of a pick-up truck. We hardly even pulled over to the curb and this man was right there, at my window, with a HUGE wad of cash: both dollars and pesos!!! He knew why we were there and he asked me how much I had to exchange. I told him "Ochenta" (which means $80) and he said "Okay." He pulled out his calculator (because these street side money changers are very efficient!). Actually, Andrew said that these guys will give you the best exchange rate you can get at the time! So, hey, better for me! :) So, he pulled out his calculator and showed me what he was punching in, making sure I saw everything that he did. Very honest man, he was! :) He typed in 80 and multiplied it by 10.80 and vuala! He owed me 800 and some pesos for my 80 dollars! It was great! I handed him my money and he counted out my pesos and handed them to me. He even gave me an extra peso! Ha! It's only like a penny (not even) but hey, such an honest business man!! :) It was great! It kinda felt like I was doing something illegal, like dealing drugs alongside the street............Karisa: "Hey, you got the stuff?" Man on street: "Yeah, I got the stuff. You got the money?!" Karisa: "Yeah, of course I got the money. Here it is, in full." Man on street: "Yup, looks like it's all here. Well, here ya go. Now get outta here!"........... So, yeah, seemed like something like that! Anyways, it was an exciting addition to my outing that day and I wonder what the city of Goshen would do with a money changer like that?! Hey, there's an idea! We have so much of the Mexican culture in our city now a days that if we had a money changer like that alongside the street, with pesos and dollars, I could just get my pesos, in Goshen, before I even came down to Mexico! That'd be so much easier! Then I wouldn't have to worry about doing it once I'm here and possibly waiting for hours at the bank to get it changed! Hmmmm........maybe I'm onto something here..............Anyways, I forgot to mention WHY these guys are changing money along the street. Well, Andrew isn't quite sure why but these guys come out there when they need American dollars. Maybe they're going to the states and need some cash before they go or maybe they're doing something illegal....either way, I don't get hurt and I get some money changed. And really, I'm pretty sure it's nothing illegal, just some guys needing some American dollars! :)

Look Ma, only one hand!! :)
Breathtaking!
Another Tarahumaran that I snapped a picture of (without her knowing, thus without any pesos). That's a baby on her back, too. But that baby is a lot bigger, probably a walking toddler! These are some strong ladies, let me tell you!! :)

My birthday meal!

Mmm Mmm good! I was so craving one of these puppies for weeks now! It's hard to get junk food off the brain! :) But this did a great job of filling the need! Yes, that is lunch meat on the hamburger. For some reason in Mexico that's how the come. But they also come with avocado, which I really love and have to pay extra for in the states! YUMMY!
Okay, so the picture doesn't really show the true "hue" of her hair but it was quite violet! Just like my Mama's! She reminded me of the Mexican version of my Mom (crazy hair and all), only Mom, you are much more beautiful!!! :)
The cool sink in the bathroom at the restaurant we ate at! It was a nice place. It was actually a hotel restaurant. The hotel being The Best Western! Well, let me tell you, this was the nicest Best Western I've ever seen! They know how to do it in Mexico! :)
In the bathroom......what can I say? I think I was full of myself today! Oh well, a girl deserves at least ONE day out of the year to dote on herself! :)
These two cuties were outside of the restaurant when we left! Look at the tiny baby on her back and she's not so big herself. These are Tarahumaran Indians...the ones the Bornman's feel called to! Anyways, they don't appreciate their picture taken without any compensation so I gave her 10 pesos (not quite one dollar) for a little bracelet and a picture of them! Small price to pay for such cuteness!! :)

The suspension bridge!!

Yikes, stripes! Fruit striped gum!! (anyone remember that commercial?) :)
On the suspension bridge! Kinda shakin with the wind but really nothing compared to that really old crickety suspension bridge in Guatemala, but kinda takes the breath out of you, just the same! :)
Am I dramatic, or what?!
On the bridge, see the wind whippin around my hair?!

Birthday Pictures!!

The wind wippin through our lovely locks!! :) Hey, I actually got to style my lovely locks today AND put on makeup!! Yayhoo for that!! :)
I think we might have had a bit too much to drink.....hmmm! What's with my eye?! Yikes!
Look Ma, so close!!! :) Don't be scirred! I'm still safe and sound! :)
I know, so many self portraits but, HEY, I'm the birthday girl and felt pretty good! So either like em or leave em!! :)
Look at that view!

Birthday of pictures!

Awww, what a cute family!!!
We tried to have Samuel take a picture of Iris & myself and this is how the first one came out! :)
This is the second one, the most decent but still, Iris wasn't prepared cause we weren't sure if he was even taking a picture or not. :) Good job though Samuel!

Hannah and Samuel! Aren't they so cute?! Yup!