Blog Swapping

We are moving to a different blog page/site/whatever. Anyone with links, feed readers, etc. should switch to the new location: http://thetaylorites.blogspot.com/.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Adventures in Traveling

This last weekend started with a "spur of the moment" trip to Tela, in the northern coast of Honduras. We had wanted to go before leaving Honduras, but we were not exactly sure how or when it would work on. After talking with our neighbor, Victoria, we found out that she also wanted to go to visit her family. So, I borrowed a vehicle from a friend in Tegucigalpa on Friday afternoon (after the Bible Study with some of the university students) and came back up to Valle de Angeles to load up and leave early Saturday morning.

Each of our kids took a small backpack since we were only going for a weekend (we planned to return on Monday). We spent much of the day Saturday driving and since I have not driven in Honduras much, better yet, I have not driven a car in about 4 months! We had a great trip up to La Lima where we dropped Victoria off to visit with her family in the afternoon, then we headed further East to Tela to see some more friends. During our drive we both noticed how different the surroundings seemed; we certainly we not in the mountains anymore, but even more the north coast resembled what one would expect from a place in "the tropics". Tela is a little "pueblo", or town right on the coast. After navigating through a torrential downpouring of rain and avoiding oncoming semi-trucks driving in my lane, we safely arrived in Tela, and immediately I was reminded of Galveston...or South Padre Island (basically any town right on a coast). The smell, the birds, the people! How distinct from inland places and yet how similar to each other they are.

The place that we stayed at was great! Our friends and owners of a building with several hotel-style rooms (usually reserved for invited guests) were very hospitable. While staying in Tela, our friends also had a German-Honduran family staying the the apartments. It was interesting to meet them and to listen the German-Spanish accents.

Sunday afternoon we went to the beach! For some of our kids, it was their first time at the ocean. While they were a bit timid of the waves crashing on the shore they still had a fun time. In reality, it is easier on us as parents if the kids are a bit less "adventurous"...it meant that Alesha and I could safely leave them on the shore playing and swim in the ocean...though we never did go very far. Each of the kids remembers me showing them how to "wave hop" in the deeper water. Daniel spent most of his time playing in the sand just barely beyond the reach of the waves. Nathanael slept and played quietly in his car seat in the shade; when we did take him in the water, he was not impressed at all (though the pictures that I got of him came out really nice and do not tell the true story!).

We returned from the beach exhausted and sandy. We gave the kids a quick, cold shower and put them in their beds. By the time Alesha and I did the same, I think they were all fast asleep. I woke up about 7 minutes before supper was supposed to be served...we were a bit late. ;-) After supper, we headed off to a "campo blanco" which is a new church plant that the Christians in the area were starting; the main part of the building was finished, but still needed some finishing touches (I think someone said that it was almost one year old). We got there in time for some singing. Shortly after I sat down and man started to preach and then a lady in front of me pointed toward Daniel. The next thing that happened was Alesha tossing Nathanael in my arms and she scooped up Daniel as his started vomiting (yes, during the man's message...and he kept on going...poor guy). I then looked over as Levi who was looking rather squeamish also, but after talking with him some, I found out that he just had a booger in his nose. :-p One by one though, the kids needed to leave and so we all found ourselves sitting at the open door to the building listening to the man's message and cautiously watching the children. I nice lady ran to her house nearby and brought Daniel some tea and a shirt to wear. After the meeting, when Daniel was feeling better, we all joked around about Daniel's inauguration of the building.
(Don't worry, the "fun" doesn't end there!)

The next morning, Monday, it was time for us to pick up Victoria and return to Valle. Our return trip was going swell, even though there was not much talking going on. I think that we were all very tired. Almost halfway into our return trip, Levi decided to make things a bit more interesting and follow in his brother's footsteps. Yup, he yielded up his breakfast. The rest of the trip we were all on edge about Levi and Daniel...and Glory who was sitting between the two boys...and about Nathanael who was not enjoying his car ride either. :-( We finally arrived in Tegucigalpa (almost home!), but being that it was night time and raining and well, spaghetti-road-Teguc,...we of course got off track and got lost for almost an hour. Finally, we paid a taxi to help us get back in the right direction. We got home about 8pm...not terribly late, but it was a tense adventure. Again, we all crashed immediately after getting home...oh! did I forget to mention that we forgot to eat supper! ;-D

Enjoy!
Taylor

...where mangos fall like manna

Thank You God, for free fruit! Every morning after breakfast, Dan goes outside and "hunts for mangos".  This is the back of our house and the big mango tree....

The other day, Taylor was in Tegucigalpa so the kids and I decided it would be as good a time as any to dice up all the mangos I had been trying to pile on top of each other in the back of the refrigerator. (Well, I diced...the kids stood on the chairs like baby birds waiting for their turn to scrape the seeds clean with their teeth. :)

Yeah for a completed project!!! (Well, at least until tomorrow when we go pick up more mangos.) 

Adventures in Waiting

I went to help a friend work with some university students on Thursday. It was a good time and we are going to start meeting with about 10 students every Friday. I expect that before I leave, my friend, Grant will ask me to talk with them about science, creation, and the Bible since many of the students are asking about it...but that is not really the point of this blog...

...Grant needed money. So we went to the main bank building for a large, respectable bank. There were several floors and a security systems that rivals the Lubbock airport! We went to the 2nd floor and to a room called "Casa de Cambio" which I interpreted as "House of Change"...that seems like a reasonable place to cash a check (something that Grant had done there several times already). After waiting for about 20 minutes, we found out this so-called house for changing money in the main bank building, well . . . errr, it didn't have any money!

Next, we went to get gas. This should be easy, right...wrong! We pulled up and there were several attendants standing around. Grant asked one of them if he could get gas. The attendant responded with a "No" but in about 5 minutes we could get gas. Evidently, there was a shift change about to happen and the attendants did not want to handle any more gas until the shift change was over . . . it reminds me of nurses changing shifts, but this was only for gasoline, not people's life! ...sigh...

Check back soon for more adventures!
Enjoy!
Taylor

MIA

It has been a LONG time since this "regularly updated" blog was updated. I'm really sorry about that. I almost have a good excuse. Two weeks ago, the boys and I were sick. Nothing debilitating, just nasty hacking coughs and about as much energy as you would find in pond scum. :-/ We got better...just in time for Taylor and I to catch the stomach bug that was making it's way around. Taylor was EXTREMELY considerate to wait until I was better before he caught my crud. Then we got better again. We took no pictures. This is probably a good thing.

On a much more exciting note, Taylor did get the privilege of teaching and preaching for several days this past week! There was a group campers here for an "English Camp", meaning a camp where the meetings were held in English and attended by bilingual Honduran young people. There are many bilingual schools here, where for the upper grades, all classes are held in English. Taylor talked about some of the scientific marvels that leave us in awe of their Creator, about the uses and limitations of what can be studied using science, and about the history of death (how it came into a perfect creation and what the Creator did to remedy it). It was an awesome privilege for us to feel like we were able give a clear gospel message here. This whole language-learning process tends to leave us feeling pretty useless often enough. Blah. Maybe one day this will be different. :D

The Pila

In Bible Study tonight, we read the chapter where Rebecca watered the servant's camels and later went with the servant to become Isaac's wife. I was following pretty well until we got to the part where she poured out her water jar into the trough (translated in Spanish as the "pila"). I completely lost the next few thoughts giggling over my own mental picture...for you see, the only way I had ever heard that word before refers to the contraption pictured above. I don't know, the thought of a caravan of camels surrounding the rub-board in our back yard (complete with soap suds in my imagination) just made me smile. Now, I really do know that this is NOT at all what the translators had in mind, but it made me think I should post some pictures... so: what is a pila?

A "Pila" (peelah) is a wonderful outdoor sink/washboard attached to a water tank, usually near the back door...the pila is intended for handwashing clothes, but is also quite invaluable for rinsing out mops or hosing off muddy children.) Now, we have the use of a washing machine, which we use for most of our clothes, (Thank you, Don Jim! :), but we have found that dirty-grimy-little-boy socks get a LOT cleaner when they are actually scrubbed. Besides, it's just too cute to watch my "three little kittens wash their mittens" (or socks, as the case may be. ;-)

a Taylorite update

We have had a really nice week just being "here"...we have had Spanish lessons, we have walked to town, we have gone to Bible Study, but we haven't done much out of the ordinary... which means that we have actually done school. ;-) Yeah!!! We've been enjoying reading through Little Pilgrim's Progress out loud. We like to do at least some of our school work outside...which can be distracting in both a bad and a good way... today it was in a good way: when we sat down to read, we found out that the little ferns we were sitting by would fold their leaves up if you touched them! So...Glory drew them in our notebook and the boys ran around seeing how many ferns they could pester. ;)

It's been a really long time since I updated about the kids' current interests/projects, so for those who are interested, here's what we are up to:

Glory loves to have her nose in a book (surprise, surprise :) but lately she has really been enjoying playing house in the woods with her doll, 'Charlotte', and is continually braiding pine needles into bracelets, rings, and crowns. Her Spanish pronunciation is coming along really well...and reminds us why we are here while our kids are small. She has also started helping me rinse dishes on a regular basis, and is a wonderful help watching Nate. Nate is pulling up on anything he can find and has started really liking to have us walk him around while holding his hands. He likes to clap when people sing. He likes to laugh at funny faces...which is where Levi comes in. ;) Levi is getting to be a really good tree-climber and enjoys a chance to run. Periodically he will come up to me very proud and out of breath and say, "Whew! Mama, do you want to feel my sweat?" (Ummm, not particularly??!!) . Dan? He is my shadow. He sits on the kitchen counter and helps me "took". He takes it as his personal responsibility to walk with me to the house up the hill to wash clothes. (We have graciously been given the use of the washing machine there.) If he holds the door for me and helps put the soap in, he can sometimes convince me to let him ride on my back like a monkey on the way back. He carries on a happy little stream of verbage that is almost understandable. But what he lacks in clarity, he completely makes up for in voice inflection...and though Taylor still accuses him of throwing in some Quechua every now in then, he really IS getting easier to understand. :) I guess that's about it - thanks for reading my ramble! :)

The Birthday Boy

Thursday Nathanael turned one! :D The big kids and I made our little cookie monster sugar cookies instead of birthday cake. If the speed he ate them and the amount of crumbs that flew are any indication, he liked them just fine. ;) We wanted to get him something to take back to Tx, so we bought him a top...the kind with a string; now we just have to find somebody that can show us how to make it go. ;) Grandma and Pa sent him a balloon ball with a cloth cover which he thinks is amazing. Glory made him a card that he is STILL wagging around. Grandma Migl and Granny B sent cards too...Thank you, everybody! Friends here took us out to eat pupusas (a "local dish" that the experts say is really from El Salvador...though it has certainly become a favorite here in Valle.) We also bought roasted corn from the roadside vendor; Nate spent the whole time we were in the restaurant AND the whole way home gnawing corn off of that cob! After we got back, Granny B skyped us - complete with a lit birthday cake. :) Grandma and Pa called to say good night, ending a VERY full, first birthday!

Family adventure day :)

(Samuel's House)

A few weeks ago, we were planning to be in Nicaragua...when we didn't have to go, it gave us an extra Saturday! So... we took the opportunity to hike out to a neighboring community called Sauce ("sahw-seh") where several of the saints live. Since there are no house numbers, we didn't think we would actually get to visit anyone, but we wanted to explore the area - and we needed a destination. We had a great time walking together and were blessed to have one of the men from the assembly drive by just as we got to the outskirts of the community. He was headed into Valle, but took the time to drive us to his house...so that we could find it again. We gladly accepted the coke they bought for us and then their teenaged son was shanghaied to be out tour guide - Eli spent the next hour or so walking with us showing us where everyone else lived. :) We were really hot and tired by the time we walked back to the camp, just in time for a late lunch and quiet time. I was SO proud of the Glory and Levi - they walked the whole way with not so much as a grumble...
in fact, by the end, I think it was us old parent-people who were slowing up Levi's progress. ;)

Doña Paula's house

Doña Paula laughed at me for taking a pic. of her stove. :)

Eli showing us some figs

Closed Doors, Opened Doors

Pic #1: Friday's Honduran lunch, provided by friends.
Chicken, pataste, beets, tomates, tajadas, and corn tortillas.

Yet another Honduran adventure came to us last Friday as we were preparing to leave the country and renew our visas. We got all packed up, Taylor took off time from work in preparation for our travel, and we headed down to Tegucigalpa to buy tickets and stay the night, since according to the Tica Bus website, the bus for Nicaragua leaves at 9am. We met some new friends who drove us down.
Door opened!

Alesha and the kids were dropped off at the Wooler's while Esteban and I went to buy tickets. At the bus station, I found out the the bus for Esteli, Nicaragua has not been running for 3 years! Moreover, the manager of the bus station informed us, very authoritatively, that THEY KNEW THE NEW VISA RULES! and that there have been no recent changes and that we would have to go all the way to Costa Rica! I was not expecting this; I had read several articles and talked with a lady who worked in the government offices (but I was not exactly sure what she did), so I was not 100% sure what to do.
Door closed!

Esteban and I left the bus station not really sure where to head next. We ended up at the new Immigration offices. The Lord opened the door to us there when they affirmed that we only had to cross the Honduran border and return...whew!
Door opened!

There was not enough time to grab the bus to Nicaragua so, having all of the passports, I applied for a 30 day extension to our visas. However, the immigration office was currently in the process of moving. The lady we talked with pointed to a big semi-truck and basically said that the necessary forms were somewhere in there and would not be available until Wednesday or Thursday.
Door closed!

After talking with her some more, she looked at our visas and saw they they would expire on Monday. If we did not renew them soon, then we would be subject to a heavy fine. So, she wrote us some kind of ticket that would allow me to fill out the required paperwork and pay for my extensions. Then all I should have to do is return to the immigration office later the next week and hand over my forms and proof of payment.
Door opened!

And THAT is the story about why we are still in Honduras this weekend. It was a stressfully exciting time. We are still praying that this arrangement will work out next week when I have to return to the Immigration office. Thank for your prayers and concerns.

Pic #2: Victoria, the lady who made our lunch on Friday.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Road Trip!

Since we have tourist visas, every 3 months, we have to leave Honduras for at least 48 hrs. So...this weekend we plan to go to Esteli, Nicaragua, and visit the brethren there before turning around and coming back. (It should be about a 6 hr. bus ride from Tegucigalpa.) I have much to get finished this morning before we go, but I wanted to let y'all know that we would be without internet this weekend.

Because Christ paid for my pardon,
Alesha<><

The Teacher

So we now have a Spanish tutor. Yea! Best of all, she comes to our house at a time that is convenient for us for three days per week. The "class" is technically for one hour, but being in Honduras, and since she is a lady from the chapel that we know, sometimes she stays longer or has a meal with us (that's extra practice for us!).

Today I noticed something interesting. But first you must know some background info about Alesha and myself. --- Alesha (and Glory) are simply better at understanding (sometimes via guessing) what is being said. Alesha is better at pronunciation. Alesha is also an "A" student. Taylor does a better job of correctly conjugating verbs. Taylor is a "B-C" student. ---

Now on to my story:
Our classes begin by reading. We each have different books to reads. I read out loud, while Martha (our instructor) corrects my pronunciation. When I am done, Alesha starts to read her book and I begin to review what I read, looking for words and expressions that I do not understand. Then I review my words with Martha and write a sentence using those words. Alesha does the same with her own set of words.

Today, while reviewing my words with Martha, Alesha was listening in and as Martha was explaining a Spanish meaning in Spanish I found that Martha was not looking at me, but rather looking at and talking to Alesha! *sigh* Well, I certainly could have been irritated, but instead I found the whole episode humorous. Afterall, I like talking to and looking at Alesha too! ;-)

Enjoy!
Taylor

Semana Santa - the condensed version

Left our house at the camp in Valle on Friday.

Returned on Saturday to help clean up the camp grounds.

Sunday thru Wednesday in Tegucigalpa working and getting eaten by mosquitoes.

Thursday return to Valle, but we decided to stay in a hotel in town. That was way fun!

Sunday return to the camp.

Sunday thru Tuesday sleep and recuperate...and pretend not to be sick.


Enjoy!
Taylor

And our next attraction is...

...is our American Family exhibit. Ahhh, and you are in for a special treat folks, for look! They have their curtains open and we can take a peek. Please don't tap on the glass or you may startle them.

. . . . . . . . . .
Enjoy!
Taylor

Nate's New Whachimacallit

Ok, so maybe it wouldn't sell too well in the States, but Nate thinks it's great fun. This Whachimacallit is brought to you by whoever left the swim trunks in the lost and found, whoever cut the top off the 5 gallon bucket, and by my parents, who raised a decent scavenger, if I do say so myself. ;)

Learning

Just a couple of things to update what's been going on with us...Glory is back home for school, and we are all enjoying having her back. We feel like it was a REALLY good icebreaker to have her go to the neighboring school for a few weeks, but since most of the classes are in English, she was learning frustratingly little (except during recess, which she is still encouraged to attend). Since one-on-one (or in our case one-on-two) instruction can be much more efficient, it doesn't take us near the 6 hrs. she was in school in the public school. This leaves time for going to the neighbors and learning to make donuts. :D

Varones vs. Sapo

Boys see toad.
Levi is a bit cautious of toad...

Daniel comforts Levi and says,
"Toad no eat Levi. Toad no eat Levi."
...
...
Toad jumps.
Dan is done.

The end of boys vs. toad.

Enjoy!
Taylor

Progress

On one of my previous writings/rantings, I commented how our Spanish progress seemed slow. I suppose that my wonderful God hear my moanings and gave me some spurt of wisdom. Today, Sunday, was the first day that I was able to understand most of the speaker's message! At the same time, Glory moved up to different Sunday School (without Alesha and the boys) and she, too returned elated that she understood much of what was said! And if that was not enough, we made a new friend today, Carlos. We had seen him at the chapel building but had not yet talked with him. He too complimented us on our accent; though we knew few words, he seemed impressed at how much we could communicate and at how clear our pronunciation sounded!


Yea for progress and thanks to God for some refreshing encouragement!
Enjoy!
Taylor

Daily Life & The "Finca"

Nothing is new, but at the same time everything is new every day. There is always something going on around here...yet, living here we have just become used to the unexpected being a part of normal life here in Honduras.

Over a year ago, the kids all got a "stick horse" from Grandad Key. (Yes, I mean a literal stick/dowel rod, with a wooden horse head at one end. Something you would expect to see several decades ago.) Our kids have always enjoyed their horses, but we left them at home. I suppose Levi missed his horse, so he improvised. He and Dan had a grand time with their primitive stick horses that day!


I was telling my mom the other day how random events happen and sticking to a schedule is rather difficult. While I think that this is "freeing" for Alesha, it is sometimes "frustrating" for me. I like to have a schedule and stick to it, but I am learning that life is not like Burger King: I cannot always have it my way. ;-)

Even with this randomness, we try go to the orphanage on Saturday's. It is a lot of fun for everyone. The girls tend to stick with Alesha, while me and the boys do...well, boy things! Here is a picture of the boys playing (Levi is in the red shirt), and the following picture is of the girls being girls: just standing around watching and laughing at the boys.



Enjoy!
-Taylor

Glory's First Day

As some of you know, there is a small English-Spanish school next door to the house that we are staying at. Since being here, we have tried to encourage the kids to interact with the school kids, especially since many of them can speak some English, but after Levi more fully realized that this Spanish stuff really was a different language, they both become nervous about trying to even play games with the school kids. Even so, early last week Glory asked me if she could go to the school as a student. Though we were a bit cautious at first, she continued asking every day such that I talked with the Principal and we both agreed to try it out for two weeks. So on Monday Glory attended her first day of "Spanish" school. Glory was humored to know that the kids attending the school go there because their parents want them to know English and at the same time Glory is attending the school to learn Spanish.

Though Glory was excited, she was also very nervous and a bit scared on her first day as she walked out of the house. Alesha accompanied her to the general assembly (where they sing a song about the Honduran flag and say a prayer for the day) and then also to her first class. By the time Alesha and Glory got to the classroom, her future classmates were making quite a ruckus which caused Glory to be even more scared (I'm glad that I was not there). However, the Lord provided some relief for Glory in the form of chickens. While Glory could barely maintain her vision through blurry, teary eyes, Alesha pointed out to her what all the commotion was about. There, in the room, were two "free range" chickens running around, and they happened to be sitting on what would be Glory's table!

Glory quickly settled in to the pattern of her school day. We still get to see her twice a day during "RECREO" or Recess. She seems to be enjoying herself and making friends. The boys typically attend to her when she comes to the gate during Recreo, though as the days go by, she comes by less and less. Yesterday, she just waved at us from a bench that she was sitting at with some other girls.

Bienvenido Honduras!
TaylorH

Meeting at Solidad - by Glory

We went to a meeting in a place called "Solidad". For a while, we rode in the back of a pickup, but for rest of the way we walked because part of the way you can drive, but then the road gets harder for you to drive because there is lots of hills and rocks. We crossed a stream. It was so big that there were stones to help you get across! We also climbed a mountain, and the mountain was pretty. The whole walk was quite long. When we got to the meeting, at first it was dark, but then they turned the light on and we prayed, sang and read the Bible. The little room was almost full. The two people that live at the house are Don Pedro and his sister, Dona Marta.



Now I'll tell you about coming back. When we were coming back, it was dark and we had to use flashlights. When we got to the stream, Papa carried me across, but then I walked by myself. On downhills I held Mama or Papa's hand. There were still lots of hills! Up hill, down hill, hills, hills! It was fun to walk there. When we got home, we got ready for bed and went to sleep. THE END.

Stressfully Exciting

Just to give a bit more of a balance and to perhaps encourage those of you are struggling and think that we are not...today we went to Valle de Angeles...alone! No locals. No missionaries. No friends. No help.* It was suppose to be an exciting "lunch date". Drive in to Valle, have lunch, get some needed groceries, and come back. Sound easy, right? We did it in Tegucigalpa. Well, I suppose that in my overconfidence in myself, God was going to use to humble me a bit.

Let's start off with the vehicle that was graciously lent to us. It works great...after it gets started. I think that the starter is about gone, so the "easiest" way to start it is to park it on a hill and roll in down in 2nd gear with the clutch in, then once moving fast enough, pop the clutch out and pray that the engine starts up...it usually does...just don't find yourself at the bottom of a hill without the engine running. With all of this in mind, it took me 20 min driving around to find a place where I felt comfortable enough to park the Land Rover: headed downhill, reasonably clear street, long enough or steep enough to start the engine.

After I finally killed the engine, we walked around a while trying to find a place that someone had told us about. I never found it. So we stopped in at a nice looking place that was probably designed for tourists in mind...and so were the prices! Not especially high for the US, but certainly high for other Honduran places we had been to. This was a bit of a disappointment for me.

After the stress of the drive and the unsuccessful hunt for a particular eating place, I was beginning to feel hungry; I was not a happy camper and was a bit glum that everyone was having a horrible time. Well, thankfully I have a wife who is not so easily set back by setbacks. She observed that the kids were having a grand time at the table waiting for the food and she, herself was delighted to be in Valle with just us. So after slapping me around for a while (i.e. smiling at me and telling me how wonderful it was to be there), I had to agree that things were not as bad as I had imagined. We all ate our lunch happily, bought some groceries, prayed for the Land Rover to start (and it did!), and headed back home!

Enjoy!
Taylor

*Of course, we had each other and are precious God who knows us. And yes, we (including the kids) were praying at every corner.

Different Sames

Sure, living in a different country has, well...differences. Due to the large US influence in Honduras, there are many US products available. So, theoretically, we can make many of the same foods that we are used to cooking. They have flour, sugar, salt, and other such ingredients used for cooking...but these ingredients are not *exactly* the same as what can be found in the US.

• The salt is different and we have not quite figured out why. Perhaps it has more moisture in it or possibly it has some other minerals still attached to it. I guess the product manufacture's process is not as refined as the US.

• The sugar is bigger and probably has a very small amount of molasses still in it. It is more like something that you would expect to find in a "health foods" store in the US, except here it is not overpriced!

• The flour is also a bit different. We cannot exactly say what is different about it, but it is different. Bread-based products that Alesha is known for making so well turn out *almost* the same and after repeated attempts we have decided that the flour is also just a little bit different. Not different enough to make the bread, etc. bad, just slightly different, slightly unique,...slightly Honduran.

Enjoy!
Taylor

P.S. - Yes, that is an ox cart on the road.

Settling in

The kids are beginning to get braver here at the camp...it's taken the better part of this week for them to decide that this is home, but they really like playing here and are beginning to talk to people some. I asked Glory yesterday if she wished we would have stayed in Texas or if she liked our crazy life; she cocked her head and thought for a few seconds before deciding that she "likes our crazy life!"

..because I have been lousy at posting pics

It was quite infuriating trying to take pictures on the road up to Valle de Angeles...the view is absolutely beautiful, but the road twists and turns so much that just as I took the picture, we would careen around another corner. After we got settled here, I deleted a whole fist full of pictures, mostly of the trunks of pine trees. However, I did get a few worth looking at. :)

-Alesha