Slowing Down

We've been house sitting for two weeks now, and I'm finally convinced that nothing is going to kill us in our sleep. All the jungle noises that kept me awake the first few nights are no longer terrifying. What's that tapping? Probably a lizard scurrying across the roof. The gulp-gulp-gulp coming from the pond? Just the bullfrogs' lullaby. That thing that sounds like a fax machine? It's the very rare and elusive fax-caida. Seriously. I'm not making this up. (Okay, I made that last one up). But here we are, in the jungle, and we're doing just fine. We have a few mosquito bites (fewer than I had in Tulsa last summer), And the humidity is a bit outrageous. I never knew 85 degrees could be so hot. (And I do realize how cruel it is to complain about the heat when the rest of you are in the middle of winter!). But we are living in The Jungle. It's not that bad. I'm not saying I want to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely. (Name that movie!)

(A Blue Morpho butterfly we saw walking up our driveway.)

We are still figuring out the job situation, and have some good leads. The people we met at church last week were very helpful, and gave us some good contacts. We should know more in a week or so after meeting them. The church itself is a Vineyard style denomination, which fits Michael and I just fine. We like the atmosphere and the people, and are excited to go back.

Other than our weekly trips into town, the days move slowly, forcing us to relax. We spend a lot of time outdoors. We walk to our neighbor's house to catch the fruit truck that supposedly comes every Wednesday. When the fruit truck doesn't come we content ourselves with eating fresh bananas from their trees.

(Michael crossing the stream on the way back home)

We play with Cassie, and take her out on the town where she is the star of the show in all our social interactions. I had to look up "que linda" on google translate to see what all the ladies were cooing over my baby.  It means, "How cute!" and I couldn't agree more.  She is doing great, by the way, and adjusting to the heat just like we are. We give her cool baths when we think she's too hot, and she enjoys splashing in her little tub.

She talks to us, herself, and her toys, in baby language. She is saying "mama" and "dada" now. Which means two things. First, she has a new way to get our attention other than crying, for which I am very grateful. And second, we are completely at her mercy when she calls our name--it's so adorable, how can we not come running?

She's not crawling yet, but she is very mobile - rolling over, scooting, and army crawling are all part of her repertoire. We have a little play area set up for her to move around, or she can sit in her stroller which also doubles as a high chair.

The internet is our biggest issue right now. We get very little signal here, so it is frustrating to do anything online. We will be working on that this week.  And speaking of connection issues, I should try and post this before I get booted offline!  Later!