...and then there were two.

5 days down and only 25 more to go. Yep, 25 more days of temporary widowhood. We are actually quite accustomed to spending 2-3 three weeks apart from each other as our lives have consisted of many trips since we moved to Brazil. However this time just knowing that it would be 4 made me a little less excited about the whole idea. I mean, usually the first week is just fine. I enjoy being lazy in the kitchen and living a bit more selfishly in general. However by week two the whole thing of not being in a consistent schedule (directly related to not cooking, I'm sure) and crawling into bed alone gets old. Although I'm not a basket case by then I really do start to look forward to having him home again. By week three I could definitely be labeled as an almost-basket-case. Come. Home. Now. Babe. And the fourth week? Well, let's not go there for right now. I still have 2 1/2 weeks 'til I know for sure what kind of a ticking time bomb I will be after living without my man for 30 days.

Even though I'll enjoy feeling sorry for myself over the next several weeks (which will be reflected in my posts, I'm sure) I am really, really excited for this opportunity that Jonathan has. He just got to spend 5 days of traveling by plane and boat to arrive in the village (they arrived yesterday). He gets to spend the next 3-3 1/2 weeks working in the heat of the day and building houses for two new missionary families moving into a village. Oh sure they'll have swarms of bugs to deal with and who-knows-what to eat during the day. But when it's all said and done he gets to crawl into a jungle hammock at night and sleep. Yes, these are the kind of things that make my man tick. He will come home physically exhausted but totally rejuvenated in spirit! And I will be so very jealous of the 25 lbs he lost after eating grubs and rice for a month.

And before he left I knew I had one of two choices. I could either 1, do lots of baking and partying while he's gone to help fill the void of his absence and gain a lb or two (or 15). Or 2 I could torture myself even more by trying to eat healthy, exercise more and lose a bit of weight to surprise him (and not feel too discouraged when he comes home with a sleeker bod). I thought I was totally committed to option #2 but up until today I've been teetering between the two. Time to get serious. Tomorrow will be the day. Promise.

Weeks before Jonathan left (and up to the day he left) it was a construction zone around here. We really wanted to get our wall built before he traveled which also entailed getting a car gate put into our right side wall and a walk-through gate installed into our left side wall. Our main concern was safety since without the one wall out front and the short wall to the left anybody from the highway in front of us could look straight into our dining room/kitchen at night and see whatever it is I'm doing. I realize that probably sounds strange to those of you who live in the States but down here one can feel quite vulnerable without a wall.

Here is a picture of our right side wall before construction (if you're standing on our porch it is the wall to the right.)

And here is how it progressed 5 days into it. Well, it was supposed to have been 5 days but the guys Jonathan hired still hadn't shown up. He grabbed the nearest helper and started working himself:-)

That big tree you saw in the first picture had to be taken down. That in itself is a looooong story. Just know that Jonathan did grab a different helper for that specific project regardless of how this next picture looks.

Here is the after picture.

This is the new wall out front (and we don't own two trucks! Jonathan is taking care of two extra vehicles for friends who are temporarily in the States!)

Our wall to the left before.

And now after.

Besides security, another reason we needed to get these walls up is because we got a puppy.


Now, if you have followed our lives for the past 5 years then no doubt your reaction is "WHAT?!!! Another dog??!!!" Yes, another dog. I guess I need to go ahead and admit that we go through dogs like we do hot cakes (is a hot cake a pancake? perhaps I shouldn't use expressions I don't understand.) Hum, anyway. Yeah, another dog. Let's just say our previous not-so-mentally-stable dog did us a huge favor by running away. Bless her little heart. We had to get up a wall quick so that we could keep this new dog in (we both felt we needed an outside dog for security, especially while Jonathan is traveling) and also to keep the previous not-so-mentally-stable dog out, should she decide to return. I still can't stop thinking that perhaps she'll show up in a few weeks, jump the new high wall (she jumped the old) and have 12 puppies on my front porch. If this happens then you can be assured you will see the owner of that mentally unstable dog become unstable herself. Ok, let's stop right now and officially introduce Chief.

We have had him for about three weeks now (he has quadrupled in size) and from all that I can tell he's going to be a good dog (but I'm sure Jonathan would discredit anything I say about this subject since I'm the one who drug the mentally unstable dog all the way over here last summer.) The worst part of having a puppy right now is the constant screams coming from a three year old who doesn't want her ankles used as chew toys. I think I'm pretty sympathetic when that happens because, oh my goodness, those teeth are sharp. I sure wish Cesar Millan could come live with us for the next 6 months. That would make my life a lot easier.


I finished my decoupage! I don't really know how I feel about it. When I finished it I was pretty pleased but was hoping that after having it framed then the little things about it that bothered me wouldn't be too noticeable. Well, they still are. Oh well, gluing napkins on a canvas is more of an art than one might think.


I have tons of projects I'm working on while the man of the house is away. Right now I'm really focusing on our bedroom. It is already feeling so much more inviting! It has always been the most neglected room in the house. I'll probably have some pictures to post in the next few days. I'm just hoping that Jonathan doesn't decide to get onto a computer and catch up on my blog on his return trip home! I really want to surprise him...