Sunday, August 23, 2009

Hudson, Football, and my Dad.

Yesterday we had another good youth day. The grade school kids came over to our house at 9 am for pancakes, a lesson, and Wii. Then the teenagers came over at 10 am for a lesson, video games, internet, and then the beach. While eating lunch yesterday with the teens Hudson's tooth finally came out. He had been messing with it all week, and on Thursday I tried to pull it out. This didn't help. For the last two days it was hurting so bad he didn't want to eat. So now as he heads off to his first day of first grade tomorrow he will be missing a top front tooth. He is excited and nervous at the same time for school tomorrow as he doesn't know anyone there and half of the day will be spoken in English and the other half in Spanish. The teachers are bilingual and know that he doesn't speak Spanish yet. But with this immersion he will pick it up very fast, but at the same time he will be very frustrated at first I'm sure.

Today Hudson's neighborhood friends came over, like they do most days to play video games during the heat of the day. One of the boys, Juan, usually stays for dinner too. Tonight he said he wanted to say prayer! Afterwards we played soccer outside, they asked tomorrow if we could play American football. Now that's what I'm talking about!

I talked with my mom yesterday and today about my dad. He is still in the hospital and still losing blood. They are not sure where he is bleeding and gave him two more units yesterday. He now has had a total of 5 units this week. He's had several procedures this week to figure out where the blood is coming from and a hand surgery to remove an infection. I didn't find out till yesterday, but Friday night he was having trouble after the surgery. His breathing wasn't good, his heart rate wasn't good, and he wasn't responding very good. It's hard being 32 hours away from my family as this is going on. My sister was able to drive down to Joplin from Jeff City Saturday morning, but Friday night when things were looking bad, my mom was there alone. Please pray for my dads healing and for comfort for my family.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Week in review

This week has definately been interesting. Unfortunately it rained last Sunday night so there was no volleyball to be played. But when I talked to one of the guys this week he said Friday night, so hopefully tonight I will be able to play with the neighbors again.
Less than 2 weeks ago we got a new puppy for the kids, I think it's a black lab mix. Anyways we named him Titan. 2 days ago I was working on the computer and Heidi sent Hudson away and called for me. Heidi had been cooking dinner and fed Titan, when she turned around he was lying motionless under the table. He had choked on his puppy food and not been able to make a sound. I pounded on his chest a little, but it was too late. Hudson took this pretty hard, I don't think Brooklyn understands what happened. Last February we lost another puppy that someone in our neighborhood gave antifreeze to. Please keep our kids in your prayers and they deal with this and continue to adjust to life in Mexico.
Also, I've been on the phone quite a bit this week with my family. My dad has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. He's had a low red cell blood count. They have given him 3 units of blood and today are supposed to do the second scope to see where he's bleeding. If they can't find it today they will give him a pill to swallow that has a little camera on it. Since recieving the blood he's doing better, he was getting pretty week. Please pray for his medical issues to be taken care of and for him to regain his strength.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Highs and lows in Manzanillo

So it's been a fun few days. Last night I took my 2 year old daughter Brooklyn across the street to the park. In the street there were people in the neighborhood playing volleyball again. (They set the net up in the middle of the street to play, forcing traffic to go around the block to go around them.) The first time I saw this I didn't know what to think, but later I didn't think too much of it. Anyways, I was standing there and a guy in English asked me, "Do you play volleyball?" I was stunned, first I was surprised that the guy knew that much English, but mostly surprised that they were asking the foreigner who they'd never talked to (other than "hi") to play with them. I told them, "Claro", which means of course. We proceeded to play volleyball till it was too dark to see the ball. I was introduced to the 8 other players and a couple of ladies who were watching. Afterwards I was asked if I wanted a Sol (Mexican beer) or aqua. I simply said "no thanks. They then asked me to play again this evening. I excitedly said yes and went to my house to share with Heidi what had happened. I remember several times since I've been here waking up to loud music and people shouting and laughing. It would be my neighbors having a party. This would happen anywhere from midnight to 5 am. And since our houses touch, you can distinctly hear and feel the bass to the music. Last night I was glad that all those times I was having trouble sleeping that I bit my tongue and tried to tune it out, (I'm a very light sleeper, if someone snores it will wake me up and I won't be able to get back to sleep!). If I would have appeared upset and tried to yell at them or get them to be quiet, they probably would have labled me a "rude American" and not asked me to join in their volleyball game. I was reminded of the noise of these loud parties again last night. Again there was a fiesta outside, this time till 3 am, and the bass again kept me awake. This morning I wanted so badly to blare my TV, music, or even set off my car alarm and leave it going, but in the end this would accomplish nothing except hindering our ministry here. I must admit that I'm not perfect, we have a new puppy that barks like crazy when put in his crate, knowing this when I left for church this morning I opened the windows in my house so that the neighbors could enjoy his barking. When we returned home 2 hours later, yep, he was barking! I do feel bad, and hopefully next time will take the higher road. Please pray for me as I am excited about playing more volleyball with the neighbors tonight, and that as my language improves and I get to know them more that friendships will develop.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Trying this blog thinggy again.

I first off want to apologize to anyone who has checked for updates on our site: http://web.mac.com/aikinsfamily I was having trouble updating it, then our hard drive crashed, and with the Apple website the info to be able to edit the site is stored on your computer. I can't figure out how to update it, SO here's a new blog.
We have now been here for 6 weeks and are adjusting well. We experience mild culture shock now and then, but nothing too serious. Our house is finally all set up, nothing too serious is broken at the moment, and we are taking language classes. Hudson will be starting school (1st grade) in less than 2 weeks. Half of the day will be in English, and the other half in Spanish. Please keep him in your prayers as this will be difficult and frustrating for him. Heidi was hoping to be able to teach English part-time at this school, but last night she received an e-mail saying there was no openings at this time. Please pray for our family that we continue to trust in God to take care of our needs. We were hoping for this extra income since we are not yet at our monthly support goal yet.
Also please pray for my dad that has been not feeling well and is in the hospital. It's hard to be thousands of miles away during times like this.