baby shower!

we got a fun package in the mail from marty and sara...check out this cute dress from peru!

Last Saturday, our pastor's wife and daughter gave me a baby shower for all of my girlfriends at church. we had a great time playing silly games and eating some yummmy comfort food (they are from texas)! here are some pictures from the shower, starting with the winning play-dough baby:
chugging bottles:

trying to guess the baby food:

yummm lemon meringue pie and chocolate mousse pie and a diaper cake! all the other delicious food got gone before i could even take a picture!!

check out the cute bag Ruby made for Suzy!

I don't know if Suzy's daddy is gonna let her go out in this leopard print bathing suit....;-)

the whole gang...thanks for everything!!

the Henriquez gals:

the 3 pregnant gals from church:

in other news, i don't know if you would call it a craving, but i have really enjoyed drinking fresh fruit juices that they sell on the street by our house everyday. i love that in el salvador you can buypractically anything you need in a handy plastic bag: ketchup/mayonnaise, sour cream, soft drinks to go, juice, etc. my favorite juice flavor of this week has been fresh orange/carrot/strawberry juice. it's the best way to eat carrots (well, other than eating carrots in Sakura japanese food!) Every afternoon usually consists of going to get a juice and homemade plantain or yucca chips with lime and salt (also sold in a bag on the street) and usually at some point in every day i eat a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, or at least realllly want to eat one.

we've also enjoyed having Lulu over several days this week to play. it's been great practice!

happy independence day!

Today is Independence Day here, which means no school, and a half day on friday and yesterday! So we took advantage of our free time to go up to Comasagua and check out the new, almost finished house of our friends Pastor Jose Luis and Sylvia and their 7 kids. Sylvia greeted up with homemade corn tamales and atol, a hot sweet corn drink made from corn that was just picked on Sunday. Marty and Sara, yall would've loved it! You have probably heard us talk a lot about this family, and we are so excited that they finally have their own house after all the struggles they have gone through, big enough for all of the kids to even have their own room! God provided this miracle for them through donations from Quaker Gap Baptist and First Baptist Wallace. When the mission team came down in July, they worked on starting the foundation and moving the dirt to make room for the house, and now just 2 months later, its almost completely finished, with fancy tile floors and a second story balcony seen here:Here is cute little Ashley, growing up quickly: The 4 youngest of the 7 kids and their favorite playmate, Elvis:

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth's room:

We also took advantage of the half-day to go on a picnic at our favorite park:

A huge locust that was as big as Elvis's hand:

Tonight we are having an Independence Day party, ironically enough for our foreign co-workers and friends. What better way to celebrate independence than with pupusas!

100 days to go!

Today i was looking at the countdown on how long we have to go until little Suzy gets here, and today we are at 100 days to go! I feel like time is going so slow, but i think time will start passing by realll fast from here on out, as we realize all there is to do before she comes! This week was also a milestone because i realized that hardly any of my clothes fit. And we're not talking about normal clothes. No, i left those behind a long time ago. Even a lot my maternity clothes don't fit now! This was the cause of a minor breakdown for me (possibly because of crazy pregnancy hormones), but luckily i have the best husband ever who is the best shopper ever! He went downtown the very next day to check out all the thrift stores and buy me new (to me!) maternity clothes! If there was ever a person who could last longer than me shopping in a thrift store, it's elvis. luckily, he loves digging around, finding treasures, and boy did he find some treasures! with $17, he bought me 2 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of dress pants for work, 2 shirts, and a pair of long shorts. and the crazy thing is that every single thing fits me perfectly! i've decided to never go shopping again, just send my personal shopper for me!
watch out, tomorrow we are down into the double digits on the countdown!!

baby update!

Our little girl is growing all the time! it has been fun to experience the new changes over the past couple of months. First, i could only feel her little tiny movements, then 5 weeks ago, Elvis felt a kick for the first time. And now we can even see her little body moving around in my tummy! it's such a weird feeling like i have never felt before to see my abdomen doing "the wave". i love it! it's a party in my stomach all day long!
We have been pretty set for a while (ok, like 2 years) that her name will be Suzy _________. We are still debating over middle names, but we like to be able to go ahead and call her by her name! My dad has called me Suzy Q my whole entire life, so i feel like i'm passing on my name even though it's not my official name! So please pray for Suzy when you get a chance. I think it's safe to say that Suzy has Daddy wrapped around her little finger even from the womb, even if it is a little tiny finger! Right now she weighs about1.5 pounds and is about 13.5 inches long. I read last week that my uterus is now the size of a soccer ball! crazy! anyway, like i said, i love being pregnant. and not just for the perks, like everyone rushing around to pick things up off the floor for you and the fact that i didn't even have to wait in the long line at the bank today!


In other news, the kiddos came back to school last monday, which is why i have been waaaay too busy to think about blogging, or relaxation in general for that matter. My new job position has been challenging (physically also since i have to walk up to my 3rd floor office about a billion times a day!) but i have enjoyed the challenge. all that stair climbing makes me feel like i deserve chocolate any ol' time i want. anyways, mom and dad, elvis took a first day of school picture of me because we knew you would want us to continue with the tradition!