#1

Alright. Entry #1 of Blogstravaganza. For the next week I will be sitting a house with unlimited Internet access (woohoo!) and a wicked view of western Belize and Guatemala, so in an attempt to pick up the slack I am going to blog every evening… maybe. Probably.

Unfortunately my partner in crime, Lucie, has headed back to France last Friday and I already miss her like crazy. Don’t worry, we made sure to send her off properly, with a cupcake party, a reggae dance party, and of course, our weekly Open Mic party at Perkup. I even (quite nervously) took to the stage with a farewell serenade of “Ain’t No Mountain High,” with the help of Merv. Ay yi yi. It was sad to see her go, but I am really glad to have had her around for the last couple months!

I’ve had a few other visitors since Lucie left, some big and some small, both horrible. I managed to go 20 years without ever acquiring the dreaded lice, but that streak came to an end about a week ago. You can imagine that in a home of 50 people Lice is not an uncommon occurrence, and the ladies found my fluster at it all quite entertaining. Edgar and Josiah just laughed at me so naturally I threatened to rub my head on them. My second set of visitors came in the form of 4 huge pitbulls and one “rare Canadian breed.” I’m not sure the owner realized that I am Canadian and have never seen a similar dog in my life. I was warned to be cautious of the dogs and sure enough, when I attempted to head out the next morning the dogs had slipped their collars and were waiting at my door in hopes of shredding me up into tiny little pieces. Getting a hold of someone crazy enough to tame the dogs back onto their leashes was quite a task and, long story short, I didn’t leave my house until 2:30 the next day. To say that I dislike dogs, pitbulls in particular, is an understatement.

When I finally made it in to KCH, the house was a bundle of activity as the kids are free from school for Easter break. It’s so great to have everyone home and running around. There’s always something going on. Every kid is so beautiful and amazing, and everyone has their place and role in the home. I love that I am part of this big family. Eighteen of the middle aged kids have headed out on a camping trip for the next few days, leaving the house significantly less busy than usual. They’ll be back Sunday, just in time for the annual Easter trip to Hopkins on Monday! I haven’t been south in Belize yet, so I’m excited to head to the beach with the kids for the day. Unfortunately I will likely still be recovering from a nasty sunburn I managed to acquire today…surprise, surprise.

Bedtime.

XO

Steph