So behind.  We are finally here in Arizona and loving it.   We are trying to get our place set up and make it feel a little like home.  I have so many things I want to post about, but NO time to do it. Wilson's first birthday, playing in Utah, the rest of our panama trip, the move, AZ, holy moly I'm behind.  

A few thoughts from the last few days.

Before we moved from Canada I would have moments of panic.  I had gotten really used to having Johnny, Attena, Adam, Mark, Liz, Grandma, & Grandpa ALL around to help play and keep the kiddos happy.  I was worried about handling it all on my own again.  Since then I have had some sweet moments that have reminded me how much I love being a Mom.  Excuse the example - but Wilson has had a bit of the runs lately and last night he was getting a bad rash and woke up it seemed like every hour.  I changed him twice in the night and then  5am he woke up crying again.  Part of me was groggy and grumpy but the other part didn't care at all.   When I put him in the cool bathwater at 5:00 I got a big sweet toothy grin and it was the best feeling in the world.  I sat there playing with him while he giggled and splashed.  I was overcome with the greatness of motherhood.  I don't really know how to put into words how thankful I am that I get to have the best job in the world.   That little toothy grin was just the tender mercy I needed.

Enroute To Panama

Where to begin?  Panama was awesome.  Much of this will be from my journal so that I have an online copy.  Beware - long post ensuing. 

Sat. August 9, 2008

"The air is warm with moisture that sticks to your skin.  A black mist of water wrapped around you like a warm blanket.  I have found my true love - humidity.  We get into taxi after taxi.  They are dirty and driven by little men. Chinese, Panamanian, Black.  Everywhere we go there is loud reggae music pounding out of the blackness of the night.  Spanish is everywhere.  Arguing the price of the taxi. Laughing. Loco - to much. You won't take advantage of this gringo.  And it's only four dollars.  Four dollars is to much. Yes. Loco.  Honking horns all vying for the same spot on the road.  At the last second someone wins and we all avoid crashing into each other.  And for some reason I feel perfectly safe as I am thrown around the dirty back seat.  Start stop. Start stop.  The smell - sometimes it is the stink of the ocean, then sweating bodies, then sewer, then the thick incense wafting out of our taxi's trunk.  The streets are dirty & littered with garbage.  The causeway, by the Pacific, sports American cuisine and shops.  The whole city is a mix of nice new stores right next to old dirty poverty stricken concrete boxes where the people live.  Everyone is rascist but no one cares.  My eyes are wide.  Trying to take it all in and failing miserably.
 

My first night in Panama.  Starting on the left side of the table, Vielka, her daughter (I forget her name), Nate Herrington (Mark's MTC comp.), Kerry Ellison, Brian Ellison, Mark & Me!

Mmm, yummy Pina Colada's.

Luis Prado. My new favorite person.  Mark baptized him and he was our personal guide through Panama - ensuring that we didn't pay a cent to much for the taxi.

Welcome to Panama.  The food was pretty yummy... for the most part.

Sunday August 10, 2008
"We wake up early to go to the temple dedication. It is wonderful. I love to see the Panamanian saints. They are thrilled to have the Prophet in their midst (so are we by the way). As they seal in the cornerstone of the temple a large clap of thunder peals through the moist air. Lightning flashes and the down pour begins. The horizon disappears as sheets of water pour from the heavens. President Monson makes a couple of jokes about the weather and then marches back into the temple telling everyone to "fall in line."   The dedication resumes.  This part of Panama city is wealthier.   I see lush jungle growth all over rolling hills.  Across from the temple looks like jungle.  There are all kinds of noises echoing up from the canopy of trees - birds, bugs, monkeys - I think.  Already the ground is dry from the rain storm and the sun is beating down on us- moist, hot.  I think my toes might get sunburned.  

President Monson told us a story about a couple who tried to live frugally and modestly and the Lord blessed their investments.  They came to the Prophet with 3 million dollars and told him they wanted to help build temples.  He let them choose the temples and they gave 1 million dollars to help build the Panama temple.  What great examples in a world of such materialism!! 

After the dedication we checked out the Panama canal.  One 7 world wonder down. Six more to go!

Sunday night we went to a huge mission reunion.  There were at least 5 or 6 mission presidents and then a whole bunch of past missionaries that came back for the temple dedication.  This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  I loved hearing their experiences while in the service of the Lord.  Many of them wept as they expressed their joy in reuniting with old missionary companions and friends and finding each other still strong in the faith.  Some of their stories were hilariously funny and I got a tiny little glimpse of the sacrifice that it truly is to serve a mission.  There was a very sweet spirit there that was the fruits of good people finding joy in the gospel.

Mark, President Boren (Mark's Mission President) and Nate (MTC Comp).

Monday, August 11 2008

It is 5am.  We are sitting outside the mall a block away from our hotel waiting for Tito to pick us up to go to San Blas.  This is going to be crazy.  We have a lot of mud hills to climb.  Vamos en un pickup.  We just stopped at Pacore for breakfast.  2 scones with thick granules of sugar on top.  Yummy. I can't believe I ate them.  The restaurant was one small room. Very dirty.  We are driving across the Isthmus of Panama.  Last night we slept on the coast of the Pacific and tonight we are sleeping on an Island in the Atlantic.  The vegetation is everywhere and it sings. Literally. 

The jungle soil where they have carved out the road is yellow, red, & orange.  At one point we were going down the road sideways.  I thought maybe we would just roll down.  Ha. Loco here.

Once Tito gets us to the river we climb aboard Fidelio's cayuko.  It fits 16 people for now, but could hold lots more.   The river water is a muddy brown because it is the rainy season.  The jungle is receding a bit as the open ocean draws near.  The air smells better.  It is good to be out of the dirty city.  The air is calm and the water is still.

Zina's first allergy

Zina had a few mosquito bites on her cheek that she wouldn't leave alone so we put a bandaid on to keep her from picking at them.  Bad idea.  This is what her cheek looked like after we took the bandaid off (which I had to do while she was sleeping because she was so attached to it - and it was probably pretty sore underneath).  Poor Girl.  Allergic to adhesive on bandaids! Who knew?