Hammocks! and birthdays too--

A few weeks ago we celebrated Javier's birthday and had a great time. We loaded into the truck and drove about 45(ish) minutes to a pizza place he and Kerem had been told to try. They set us up with a table on the roof, and we all enjoyed the view. To the left was this long stretch of trees with a narrow stretch of street running  through for miles with little speckles of city lights and mountain bumps at the end. We spent a few hours at the restaurant laughing with the kids, and getting to know a new friend Jamie, who was in town for about a week of mission work. He says he is trying to come back early 2012, so here's hoping. He lives in Chespeake and works with broadcasting, but fell in love with Honduras a few years ago and has returned here and there for mission work. Javier and Kerem's sweet kids have gotten very into this game of slap the fingers, and Maryann spent a good while playing with a few of them. I do my  best to steer clear, and consider Maryann a masochist. You play with your fore and middle fingers held together tightly, and slap the fore and middle fingers of your partner. The game is over when someone gives. No thanks...It stormed the entire drive back to town, with crazy heavy rain and power outages greeting us when we got home, but we had fun with it.

The next day Javier surprised us with hammocks for the house. Happy birthday to him (us)! I still can't believe he gave them to us--that Javier and Kerem they spoil us! Javi says you can't live in Honduras without a hammock, and I happen to agree. It's like our porch was crying for a hammock. Chris and Maria gave Irene Maria's because she never used it, so we now have three hammocks hanging on the front porch. Maryann was so patient getting ours hung. She had to get the ropes tied just right so they didn't knock against each other and drive us crazy. Relaxing into that thing is just so...relaxing :) Easing into it and reclining back, the soft fabric scoops you up in this swaddling hug, and the weight of my arrival mixed with a cool afternoon breeze gives this soothing sway. It's hard to imagine, but it somehow leaves me feeling so weightless even though I feel the weight of myself wrapping the hammock around me. It has so far proved fabulous for power naps before caminando al mercado, toiling away over lesson plans, video chatting family and spending quality time with the roommates as the three of us enjoy our porch-front haven.

As an aside, Kilalah is no longer a member of the Casa Rosada family as she was gifted to a friend's family in the mountains towards San Pedro. The unexpected adoption (or abandonment depending who you ask...) left a sour taste in Javier's mouth and it comes up almost daily. Kerem and I can't stop laughing every time they get into it. So of course when Javier gave us the hammocks it was discussed that Maryann wasn't allowed to use hers until she brought the cat home. We miss Kila, but I'm sure she's happier with her friends in the mountain.

Pretty flower I photographed while Maryann used her knotting skills...it makes me think of Nana and all the irises she always had growing. And it grows on a big plant right in my yard :)

My girl hard at work! 

I wonder what the hammock will be like when I return to the States. I wonder if I'll live somewhere with a nice space to stretch a hammock. Maybe I should add that to the list of "wants" for whenever I end up looking for a place to live State-side...