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! :)