Cookies, challenges, and cockroach killing among other things

After baking biscuits on Wednesday, plantain corn muffins (surprisingly good I might add!) on Thursday, Friday came and baking was on my mind. Kadian was craving something sweet so we set out to find a vegan dessert recipe. We made thumbprint shortbread cookies with apricot and grape jelly. So yummy! This is right before we put them in the oven. Baking provides a sometimes much needed enjoyable distraction and it makes me feel more at home. Even if the oven is gas and temperatures are impossible to guess lol.
When the cookies were done we quickly ran out of room on the mini cooling rack. Being the adaptable and resourceful SMs that we are, we quickly cleaned two graters and used them for the remaining cookies. This is Kadian's "we-are-seriously-doing-this" face :) haha.
Next we decided to make homemade crackers. We have almost zero counter space here, so we use our table instead. We rolled out the door and then realized it was too big for our tray. A quick estimated cut, and it was ready to go.
I threw it around a little to stretch it out. But mostly just because I wanted to feel like one of those skilled pizza makers :)

Our first tray of finished crackers! Yum. Finally I ended the night by making hummus. I didn't think that our blender was going to make it; however, after much stirring and restarting, the hummus reached creamy wonderfulness. I made it with fresh lime since we didn't have any lemon. Very good choice!

Sabbath morning--Nelle & Cia to the rescue. Kadian took her hair out and wanted them to fix it up for church. Afro hair is so much more complex and interesting than I ever imagined! They have so many cute hairstyles, but you wouldn't believe how much time goes into some of them. It's quite impressive.

Our lovely "gemelas" (twins). They matched so well today, I had to get a sister picture.

Darcia, me, and Dawnelle ready to walk to church.

Kadian, Darcia, Dawnelle, and I. Kadian's hair turned out super cute!

Other news: I survived my first week of school. The pre-kindergarten teacher went home sick Tuesday morning, so I had to take over pre-K as well as teach my other preschool Bible classes. The little pre-k kids don't understand or know any English yet, and the assistant, Rosita, doesn't either. We had quite the time dealing with 25 little three-four year old kids in the morning. The afternoon pre-k class was much smaller, but we had more crying children so it was challenging as well. Thankfully, I was able to skip teaching my other Bible classes and just focus on pre-k for Wednesday and Thursday. I now have all of their names memorized ( I think!). My afternoon class of 13 kids has three Alejandro's and one Alexandra (which sounds like Alejandra); consequently, specifying which Alejandro you are talking to can be tricky. One day I hurried over to squeaky little shouts of "la cucaracha!". Itzel Johanna (who is just the most adorable little girl!) was about to touch the cockroach! Why is there even a cutesy little song about "la cucaracha"? There is nothing cute about cockroaches. After a moment of deliberation I killed the disgusting crunchy creature with the bottom of a chair leg. Protecting my kids was my sole motivation. Now that's love ;). The kids are so darling! I can't wait to post some pictures.

Thursday morning was rough, because I talked to Steven for what I thought was the last time I would on Skype. The school day passed, and I walked home in the rain (of course). I stopped by Jumbo to buy an umbrella. Then I realized I didn't have enough money since I had bought something at the cafeteria earlier. I bought some granola instead and continued home. When I got home I got the news that it was a soccer day. Last time the girls went to play soccer, I stayed home to wait for Intessa to come install our internet (great excuse, even though they didn't end up coming). This time I went, but only to watch. Oh. My. Word. A guys' game was just ending, and so of course, seeing a bunch of girls, the guys decided to sit around and watch. I have never been more glad that I don't understand a lot of Spanish. From what I did understand, I can't imagine purposely subjugating myself to such comments. Ahhh...Not to mention the game is brutal. Dawnelle, Darcia, and Kadian were all slightly injured in one way or another. A bunch of the women teachers at Maranatha get together to play soccer every Monday and Thursday. Every Monday and Thursday...how can I possibly avoid something that often? I'm not sure if I had some horrible experience with sports when I was younger or what, but the idea of playing soccer with them is absolutely terrifying. I think I will have to get over this.

Friday, blessed Friday, in Friday I finally found relief. I did not realize how stressed I was until I saw Miss Jessica (the pre-k) teacher walk into the room. Happiness filled my heart! Turns out my Friday schedule is beyond amazing. All I had to do was assist a couple teachers and go to chapel. Plus, I got out earlier than I had all week! There are a.m. and p.m. classes for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten, so I had to stay an hour later than my roommates the other days. Friday was so good that I had energy to come home and hand wash a bunch of laundry and a little cleaning before baking with Kadian.

Turns out Thursday morning was not last time I got to see Steven. He ended up taking his webcam and called me from his hotel in Hawaii on Thursday night! I was even more surprised when I got a call from him on Friday evening from Majuro. I'm not sure when I'll get to talk to him again, but I'm sure sometime before he leaves Majuro on Wednesday or Thursday. He just found out that he will actually be going to Woja instead of Jeh. Woja hasn't started school yet, because they don't have a teacher. He will supposedly move to Jeh after a couple months when they find a teacher for Woja. In some ways not seeing him might make being apart easier. We will write letters, but neither Woja nor Jeh have any internet or phones. My best Christmas present will be getting to talk to him when he goes to Majuro!

Sabbath has been relaxing. We went to the youth church, did a impromptu special music courtesy of Kadian, came home and ate a very international lunch, and visited with Miss Myla. We gave her and Christian (little brother) some cookies and talked about vacation plans. We might go to La Ceiba on our independence break on the 15th. So exciting! Later we went to the evening youth program. We really enjoyed singing some songs in English and finally seeing the words to Alegre Voy Cantando (a catchy song that we sing a lot in staff worship at school).

P.S. I found another worm in the shower. Also, we learned that the weird black stuff coming out of our shower head is probably mold. Definitely doing some deep cleaning tomorrow.