Tonight, I am sitting by myself on my sinking couch watching the fireworks in America on pirated T.V. while my two beautiful children are snoozing in their rooms and my studious husband is at school studying his brains out. I can't help but feel so blessed to be from America. Coming to a small third world country has really made me grateful for the endless oppurtunities that are available to us as Americans. Our country really is amazing, despite a lot of nonsense that goes on too. A lot of people today expressed how they were really missing home. I do too, but I'm also very grateful for a home away from home. As I have been here, I have loved having the opportunity to really bond with my husband, live for my children, and meet friends that make life wonderful.
I have the most amazing husband in the world. He is my perfect match in every way. Boyd and I are very different from one another, but that's what makes us work so well together. I have been so proud of him as he has worked so hard every day to study. There is no way to know how grueling med school is until you are in it. Boyd has really taken it all in stride. He has found a way to keep his family happy and to also find time to study. That's pretty amazing. He's really sacrificed a lot for us.
Little Keido just melts my heart! He is growing up so fast. Tonight, he picked a flower for me, had me put it in my hair, and then said, "That's beautiful Mom!" When I wear dangling earrings, he will tell me, "Those are pretty nice earrings." When I put him to bed at night, he will put his little arms around me and say things like, "I love you sooo much," and "Let's get cozy." Lately, he has also really loves playing with all his little friends. He has great friends here!! There are about ten kids his age that just love playing together. I just can't help loving Keido with all my heart.
Emi is a Sweetheart! I can't believe how fast she is growing too. She got two little teeth about a month ago and has been eating everything. It's a little scary, because I'm constantly fishing things out of her mouth. Emi loves to play. She also loves to give Keido a hard time. There have been many times where I will be pushing the stroller and hear Keido say, "Emi, stop that. You stay over there." She will pull his hair, rip his cheetoh bag, suck on his arm, wake him up, and do all kinds of other things to him. They are the worst of friends sometimes, but also the best of friends. I have loved lately that they will make each other laugh. I think my favorite thing though is how Emi lights up and gets so excited when she sees Boyd. I just love little Emi!
I love all the families here. I think because we are all so far away from other family, we learn to rely on each other and love each other like kin. For example, tonight we celebrated the Fourth of July by having a BBQ by the beach. Our kids played, we grilled, made icecream, chatted, ate, and then shot rocks off the lower seaside deck in place of fireworks. It was so fun! I just feel so lucky to have such an awesome group of people to do things with all the time. I'm not going to want to leave here, because I don't think I will ever find such a tight group of adventure buddies again. I guess we will have to live it up while it lasts.
I am so grateful to be a wife, a mom, a Dominican for a while, and an American! I feel so blessed! Even though I miss home sometimes, I really feel that because of my wonderful family(friends included), this is truly one of the greatest times in my life. I couldn't be happier:)
