Moving home

Moving house is never an easy simple process, particularly when children are involved, however, amazingly it seems one of the very few processes here in Bolivia that can happen extremely quickly, our latest move being a case in point. Due to ever increasing rent we were no longer able to keep renting our current apartment so it was time to start looking again. Originally we were going to have to move right at the time when Isaiah was due to be born, however our landlady graciously allowed us to extend our current contract at the same price for just 3 months more to enable us to have Isaiah and get over the birth etc. The extension also served to enable us to host friends during a recent workshop.

With all such things in the past we knew it was time to start looking through the papers again and start asking around if anybody knew of any decent places up for rent. The down side to delaying was going to put us on a house hunt at a time of year when there was little movement due to it being the middle of school terms etc. However, in one weekend we had a number of places lined up to go and see.

Our first viewing was a definite possibility and we accepted the place in part because we were not sure what else was going to be available. The lady showing us the place was very non-committal saying that she had also had other acceptances and so would discuss it with her mother (the co-owner) and then get back to us the following day. Being unsure as to wether we would get it or not we decided to continue looking at other places, of which we were very glad that we did. We saw two other places that were pretty awful but the next we saw on the Monday morning we both really liked and so accepted that one too. The agent took our offer straight away and closed the door to any other viewers.

From there it was all a whirl wind. The Tuesday we signed a contract, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent busy packing, Saturday we were moved by a removal company and saw all our worldly belongings piled on the back of an open truck, then Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent unpacking it all again. Thanks to some good friends Alana was able to go and play with her good friend over the weekend which left us free to get on with the job. By the end of Monday it already felt that we had been living there for weeks.

In many ways it has been a good move, the apartment is still spacious like the previous one and receives lots of sun through out the day which is essential for keeping warm, its located in a relatively safe community and requires us all to do more exercise which is no bad thing as its located at the top of a hill on the third floor with no lift!

It has meant a change of kinder for Alana to one which is a little closer, but she seems to be very happy with the change and has been able to be reunited with some old friends who changed earlier on in the year.

Feliz dia del Madre

Mothers day was made very special this year by the presence of Isaiah within our family. This time last year I remember quite clearly being so sad at the fact that Alana didn’t have a sibling, whilst it was a joy to celebrate being a mother to such a precious daughter it was also a sad reminder of our three children never born. Little did we know at the time that within just one month Isaiah would begin his journey with us.

Friday was officially mothers day, when everybody seemed to be walking around with some kind of flower arrangement ranging from a single red rose to more elaborate floral displays. On every street corner it seemed that vendors had appeared in order to sell flowers and balloons and other knick knacks.

In recognition of the day the FH office here in La Paz set aside a special time to celebrate together the mothers who work within FH of which their were five of us this year. We each received a beautiful rose bouquet and then shared together a very scrummy white chocolate cake.

The celebrations continued on Saturday with Alana taking part in a special mothers day performance at her kinder. For the last few weeks all the children have been busy making special pieces of art work which were put on display as well as practicing a number of different songs which they performed for all of the parents. It was a delight to see Alana able to fully join in and sing all of the songs.

Sunday was our final celebration as all the Mothers at church were prayed for and presented with a little gift. On occasions like this I am reminded of how blessed I am to be a mother to two beautiful children. A blessing which I don’t take for granted.