Boyd Bear Tracks

Now that my life has finally settled down a little (for a while), I get to write on my blog!

At first, I thought I wouldn't really need to write anything since we are in the U.S. and people will see us at some time or another. But then, I realized that I won't be seeing EVERYONE all the time. So, I'm sure some of you will still want to see pictures :-)!

Homeschooling has been a challenge. The kids had to get used to "doing school" again, and now they're usually tired and grouchy since we run around a lot. We didn't used to go anywhere at night so they always got to bed on time. Now, we go to AWANA, small group meetings, family reunions, and we travel! I guess I can see why they're more grouchy than usual. The other difficulty is that I don't really notice that it's their bedtime because the sun doesn't go down at 6:00 p.m. like it used to in Colombia (that was my clue to have supper and get them ready for bed). It can only get worse with the sun going down later and later as we near summer :-(!

I've had so many "Oh!" instances (aka "culture shock"), I can't write about them all. But, the funniest was probably when I asked for "drive-up" at Hyvee (a grocery store). When I got to the door, there was no one there so I assumed that you were supposed to get your own groceries. I went to the door and had to JERK it open--that should have been my first clue. Then, I found my cart and took it out to the car--the door wasn't difficult to open from the inside (I wonder why?). As I was loading my groceries, a young man with a Hyvee shirt came out and started apologizing profusely (there was a spill in aisle 3, he had a bad leg so he wasn't very fast. . .etc, etc.). I told him that it was fine and climbed in the car. . .only to hear my mom laughing! She said that the "kid" probably thought I was in a terrible hurry because I "couldn't wait one minute" for him to get there. I felt pretty silly! Then, I understood why he had been apologizing so much. . .He thought I was going to chew him out! It probably made his day that I didn't :-)!

The other night we had a "crazy hair night" at AWANA, so I fixed the kids' hair up. I mixed food coloring in shampoo and put it in Lucas' hair. This was at the last minute so I didn't really think about what I was doing. After they left (Marcos was sick so I stayed home), I tried to wash the color off my fingers and it didn't all come off! Then, I was worried because I was afraid I had permanently colored Lucas' hair! But, it must have been that when I mixed the food coloring in the shampoo it stuck to my fingers. The stuff I put on Lucas' hair came right out! WHEW!!




Marcos was sick in March with bronchiolitis and had to have nebulizer treatments. He finally got over that sickness; but now, he's sick again with a stuffy nose and cough (maybe a little wheezing again). Poor little guy! It seems we're just passing this cold back and forth amongst our family! I'm hoping with the warmer weather we can finally "kick" these illnesses. That is IF we get warmer weather. On Sunday it snowed several inches! We were glad to see some snow (we missed most of winter), but some warmth would be good right about now :-)!


Someone gave us a "walker" and Marcos LOVES to "stand" in there and play or look out the window. It's a wonderful toy! He's pretty happy when he's in there. I just wish it were collapsible! :-)