Anybody got an ark?

So, that tropical storm I was talking about in my last post has come and is on it's way out...however, ANOTHER tropical storm, Nicole, is coming through today! It has been raining absolutely non-stop since last Friday. That makes drying clothes impossible. Actually, it's raining so much and there is such a high threat of landslides and flooding that school got out early today and is cancelled for tomorrow and Thursday. That makes for a great 4 day weekend, although it's raining too much to get out and do anything. The good thing is that I will have time to do all my work for my master's class....it is a little bit more involved than i expected, but the topics we are talking about are SO interesting. Maybe I'll go more in depth in that one day when I have more time. So, keep praying for our little country which is totally waterlogged right now. Thanks!

random happenings

So, today Suzy and I saw our national bird in our neighborhood park:That was such a nice little surprise this morning!


In other news, Monday is gonna be a big day. First of all, Suzy will be 10 months! Whoa! How did that happen so fast? She's at such a fun age though. It's the best when you walk into the room and she starts clapping for you. Who else does that? I mean, my 3rd grade class did that for me once when I walked in with my new haircut- my bangs were practically glued into this awesome wave and it was so impressive that they actually clapped when i walked in! True story.

Also, Monday is a big day because I start my first online class at Fuller Seminary! It is called "Ministry Issues in Gender and Human Sexuality." The fun part is that Kelly McPhail and I will be taking the class together!

In even different news, we would appreciate your prayers for El Salvador: we've had some problems on a nation-wide level recently with increased gang activity/threats...to the point that a couple of weeks ago, there was no public transportation whatsoever for 3 days because of gang threats. That's a big deal in a country that depends on buses. All this has been in response to a new law that makes being part of a gang a crime. Thankfully, nothing really happened other than the fear that was generated amongst the people which in someways is worse than if anything actually happened. We're praying for physical peace, as in the lack of violence, as well as peace in the hearts of salvadorans. Don't worry, gang activity is not something we see personally, but it's something we are aware of.

You can also pray for El Salvador as we are experiencing the effects of Tropical Storm Matthew this weekend. Excessive rains always show the fragility of houses and roads here.

Also, as a country we are all mourning the death of the zoo (and the country's) only elephant, Manyula. She personifies every salvadoran's childhood and everybody has fond memories of her. Really, everybody has been talking about her death as if she were a family member, she is that loved. I even met her one time! She died at the age of 60 years old (55 of those years were lived here at the zoo), and thousands of people went to her funeral. She was buried in her area of the zoo.

Mama

So, even though "mama" was technically Suzy's first word several months back (she said "mama" just minutes before saying "papa" so i win!), she definitely prefers saying "papa" all the time. However, in the past few days, she has started saying "mama" a lot more which of course is music to my ears! We finally got a video of her talking:

1st trip to the lake

Today was Independence day here in El Salvador, so we took our free day and went to the lake! It was Suzy's first time and she loved it.

Get up, stand up...

So, Suzy has decided she loves standing up and walking around (with help, of course). She's always standing up in her crib when we go get her in the morning. We know that she's awake because through the monitor we hear: "Papa, Papa" in her sweet little voice. She knows that Papa gives her her bottle in the mornings, and so she's always saying his name! So precious. And here are some pictures from our trip last weekend to the botanical gardens: