More from the nica!

So I am here too. We played volleyball this morning and then went and ate at Hamburloca. I had a chicken burrito and it was good. I haven’t got any mail this week. The zone leaders have the bag but the lock got changed and they haven’t been able to open it. Anyway, now we are just writing and off to buy a few things and then off to work.  Last Memorial Day I was in Masatepe.  I remembered this morning it was Memorial Day.  I can’t wait for the Memorial Day concert next year.  Anyway, I am doing real good. We are hoping for lots of success in June.  It has been a good week.  We are working with these same 3 people that we have been working with for several weeks.  We just need to finish teaching a few more things.  Only one got to church yesterday because it started raining at 9:30 and the others were ready but didn’t go out in the rain.  Sister Sutherland and I were on divisions on Friday and there was a Relief Society activity.  We went to get some people to go.  It was a little cloudy but that is normal these days and we went.  We got to the bus stop and it was quite windy but still no water. We waited and it just started dumping rain and thundering and lightning.  We huddled under a little roof but it was so windy that we just got soaked.  The lightning was super close and hit a power line close by.  Anyway, it was a memory and we all ended up just going home. Hopefully we can get them to the Mother’s Day activity on Friday instead. (Nicaraguan Mother’s Day is on the 30th.)  The other night I thought maybe I should top off the water jug in the bathroom and good thing, since there was no water on Sunday morning...quiet helps from the spirit.  I got to try a traditional dish on Sunday that I hadn’t had before... bahu.  It is beef with yucca, and plantains and cabbage salad. It was good. I also learned a new Spanish word in my book this week – tutear, which means to treat in the tu form (not usted).  I also used my other glasses yesterday since my favorites have a spot on them where the film layer is coming off.  It is getting bigger and bigger but whatever. I have spare pairs, but you know me and how I don’t like change.  Well, last night I wrote in my new agenda that it is number 10 of 12 transfers and it sort of hit me that my time is running out.  I need to make the most of these last 18 weeks. I can’t believe it.  (Elena, good job with the tie-dye and plaid!  And just so you know... I am a rebel and don’t decorate my planners J but yours look cool from what I can see. Anyway, have a good week crazy girl.)  I got to tell one of our investigators that my sister is studying law, so that was a good connection. They made us dinner last night. They compliment me on my Spanish so that makes me happy too. Well, I love you tons my friends. You are the bestest family in the universe. Mahalo.  I hope you are taking good care of my cat, Mr. Socks.  There are lots of cats and dogs here too.  Sometimes I think of seeing my precious little cat and how great that will be. But even better will be seeing you people in 4 short months. That will be awesome.  Well, I am off now. I better go. I love you tons and have a happy Memorial Day, Nicaraguan Mother’s Day, and happy June.  I am doing well and I’m healthy and happy.  The gospel is true.  Love, your nica sister and daughter, alc

Hi peeps!

Happy Memorial Day.  I remember last Memorial Day we went to the cemetery and then had lunch and ran errands while we were waiting for Lexxy´s email all day.  Today we had a fun BBQ at the office with a couple of zones and most of the hermanas.  The Eickbushes made hot dogs and hamburgers and it was grand.  Now we are just emailing.  It’s been a good week and it was great getting your emails and letters and the package with all the yummy food. mmmm. Thanks pranks!   So I’m finishing up week 41 here in the mission field... crazy that it is June this week.   I am doing well and hope you all are too. It has been nice and hot here and I am sweating up a storm.  So last Sunday we went to church for just the hour and it was fun because a lot of the senior couples around here that usually attend other wards were there and also the president and his wife. I talked to him about going to my old investigator’s baptism and he said yes. So that was good.  Then on Sunday we started our little campout in the house. It was really quiet and I enjoyed spending most of the day in my plaid PJ shorts and tie-dye. I decorated my next planner and the wall above my bed.  On Monday, we cleaned the house. I watched a video about the temple, wrote lots of letters and decided to cut my bangs. I didn´t intend to cut them as short as I did but they are fine.  J   About 5 pm the district leader called and said everything looked fine and we could go out at 6 like usual on Mondays. Then on Tuesday, it was a normal day until about 7 pm when the district leader told us to stay in the house the rest of the night. Apparently, the guy that lost the election was giving a speech and they didn´t want us out in the street.  On Thursday we had zone conference which was great.  Elder Cornish was there. It was the last zone conference with the Mcdermids there, since they are finishing in July.  Elder Cornish talked about how the only people that use the title elder are the apostles, seventy, and the missionaries.  That was cool to think about, since they are all witnesses of Christ.  It was a great zone conference and was fun seeing a lot of the missionaries.  I even saw Elder LeSueur from Mesa.  On Friday, we did exchanges with the two new hermanas coming in from the CCM.  I went out with a Dominican and my companion went with a Haitian.  It was fun taking the “kids” out for a couple of hours.  We ended up pretty much contacting the whole time but did make a few appointments to come back.  She was cool and has a twin sister leaving for Guatemala in a couple of weeks... weird twin stuff.  

Then Saturday was great going to the baptism. We took the bus there. He was surprised to see me as the hermanas didn´t tell him I was coming. I led the music and had a nice chat with him. I also gave my testimony. The elders in his ward that don´t speak English and the hermanas in Mendoza sang, “Nearer My God to Thee”, part in English and part in Spanish, so that was nice. The elders are really nice and will take good care of him in his ward.  It was fun seeing the stake president and his family. His wife told my companion that I am one of her hijas (daughters). J  We were going to take the bus home, but the stake president and his family ended up taking us back which was nice. It was dark and I wasn´t exactly sure about getting back, so that was really nice of them. I got my General Conference Ensign this week and it has been grand reading the talks. Also this week we found an old lady in her 90’s. I sure love this sweet old lady. We will see if we can help her learn more.  Also there is a man (and his son) that we have visited that reminds me a lot of Grandpa. Our hot water broke this week but we got a new shower head which was like a dream come true. Also we got a new toilet seat a few weeks ago which is also nice. They are small things but nice to have.  Here are some photos of me in the house during our two day stay. It is me and the wall I decorated... also the pictures of my planners (front and back), the one I am using now and the one for next transfer aren´t great quality but you´ll get the idea. There’s also a few from the baptism.  I hope you enjoy them.  I have to go, but I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day and yes, that will be grand next year to watch the Memorial Day concert and we will be saying, remember last year when we were...   ...good times.  Love you all a million bazillion. Until next week.  Love, ejc

Hola...Week 11 in Linda Vista

So, we have had a good week. We have several people now that have been coming to church. We have visited them several times and I knew that we really needed to talk to them about baptism so that they clearly understand why we are here. So we did. I was super nervous and I think it is just because I love them and I didn’t want to be rejected.  I was just really happy afterwards and that night and I enjoyed listening to my song ´the hardest thing I ever loved to do´ and the part that talks about seeing people you love get dressed in white. That will be an awesome day when they get baptized. I hope real soon. The next day one thanked us lots and told us how they admire us and how we have really helped them when they needed it. The part I am most happy about is that these are people who will stay in the church because none of them are going to get baptized just because someone told them to. Anyway, it has been a good week. I remember Elder Martino said that people say they admire our service and how it would help their church so much if their youth went on missions. I think he quoted an apostle saying that the two things people most admire about the church are tithing and missionary work and that when they asked other church`s leaders why they don’t do it, they said that their members wouldn’t do it.
Two Spanish words for the week ..... “patent leather” is “charol” and “tuxedo” is “el smoking”.  I sweat soooo much here... like yesterday, I got to church after we had walked several miles passing by everyone’s houses and my back was super wet. I drink quite a bit of water and people say that is why I don’t gain weight since I sweat so much. Who knows?  As for p-day, we played with water balloons with the zone and then went to Pizza Hut...mmmm. My friend Hermana Pastran will be training starting next week so that will be cool to have a newbie in the zone. Chessy said she knows a sister that is coming, maybe it will be her. But really, life is going well and I can’t believe I hit 14 months. The time is going by fast. I am starting to get that feeling like my time is running out and that I need to get these people baptized. I only have 4 months to do it. It is a bitter sweet feeling-excited to see all my favorite people at home but sad to leave my people here. Yes, we will be visiting these people when we come back no matter what happens. Anyway, the gospel is true. I am glad Max´s baptism went well. I did get a ton of letters this week and a package from Grandma Harvey and two from you. Thanks for everything. I didn’t have time to write today so I apologize for the lack of letters and I will try to respond next week.  Please thank Grandma, Kelsey, Chelsea, Jacque, Brittany, Greens, Gehrings, and Mary & Tom and hopefully I´ll respond next week.  The elders always say, “She has a year in the mission and she still gets tons of mail”... gotta love having the best mailers on planet Earth at home.  Tell Annika happy birthday. I sent her a card last week that hopefully she will get.  Life is going well.  I love my rain coat (my capote) and I wore it on Saturday, so that was exciting.  It rains on and off and is unpredictable so I don’t usually wear my boots. I am wearing them right now since my tennis shoes got wet at the water balloon deal today.  Have a happy week.  I love you sooooooooo much my forever family. You are the bestest.  Adios.  Love, alc

Saturday Greetings from the DR!

(Hi peeps! So there was a change with the schedule this week with the election stuff tomorrow. On Thursday the elders told us that we would be emailing and shopping for food on Saturday morning and working Saturday afternoon and then going to church on Sunday for Sacrament Meeting, since that is all they are having, and then staying in the house all day Sunday and all day Monday.)

Greetings from election central in downtown Santo Domingo!  It´s been a rainy Saturday here, but actually not crazy with the election stuff.  On Thursday and Friday afternoon there was kind of a caravan going on in the neighborhood, one day for one candidate and one day for the other. The assistants called on Thursday and told us to stay away from all of it since there was stuff going on in our area. There were tons of cars and people and even fireworks at night but nothing to be alarmed about. I was glad that I didn´t wear purple on Thursday since that was the color of the party that was in town that day. J Today has been normal and I think they aren´t allowed to do stuff today. I am not sure what tomorrow will bring but our neighborhood is pretty quiet usually so we will see. I am actually kind of glad to have 2 days in the house to relax a little bit. We are not to leave until we get a call from the elders. So it´s kind of like a mission lockdown. J I think our president is being extra cautious, so don´t worry. We are supposed to organize the area book on Sunday and then do a deep clean of the house on Monday. I also have a list of things I want to do which includes lots of letter writing, decorating my planner for next transfer (a Father´s Day theme), napping and maybe watching some church videos I bought last time I was at the temple. I bought some snacks too today to enjoy over election weekend. (The only thing that could make it better besides being with you would be my laptop or a TV to watch the election results.)  So things are good here in Gazcue. Hermana Lopez went out with us this week which was fun. She said Tanner is doing well in El Salvador, that his Spanish is very good, and that he is training again...small world. When we were walking home one night this week, a white van pulled over towards us and guess who was in it....my stake president from Mendoza and his daughter. She got out of the car and hugged me and I talked to them for a minute. They said they saw us walking up from the palace and turned around to come talk to me. They are a great family and it was so fun seeing them. Also when we were at our district meeting, my bishop from Mendoza walked through the hall. I didn´t get to talk to him but we just waved at each other and it was fun seeing a familiar face. I enjoy being close to the office and seeing the Eickbushes and getting mail when we are there. We were waiting for Hermana Lopez to meet us at the church so I decided to see if my English scripture case had finally come in. It hadn´t, but the next day during lunch, Hermana Eickbush called me to tell me they had come in. She also asked me if my name was Lenny, and I was kind of caught off guard and said no that it was a nickname. Of course she had just put a letter in our zone box from dear old Chessy. I figured it had to be from her since she would be the only one to write Lenny on the envelope. J The Eickbushes were telling me that they didn´t have water at their apartment because the pump broke. They had to come get water from the office and then heat it up on their stove to take a bath. There´s nothing like being a missionary in the DR...good times!  Luckily this was the first time in a year that this had happened for them since they are a senior couple. J I also saw president in the office and we talked for a minute and he asked how my sister was.  Then I talked to Hermana Hernandez a few minutes later and she asked how my sister was. They really are sweet and it is nice when people ask about Lexxy.  It is crazy it is almost June. Soon the mission will just be a memory just like BYU-H. Can you believe it has been 5 years since I graduated from high school?  Weird!  It seems like yesterday but then when I think about what we´ve done in the meantime it seems like a long time ago. On Monday I forgot to mention that I saw a Tiburon for the first time here in the DR which was cool. It was white and had a big ugly spoiler on the back but it was fun seeing my car here. I hope my real car is recovering from the skunk incident you mentioned in our phone call. J Also, on the way home from the grocery store on Monday on the radio they were playing, Hallelujah, but with Spanish words. I got a kick out of that as you can imagine. On Tuesday we walked past the US Embassy and the flag was at half-staff. I asked one of the office elders if he knew why and he didn´t so maybe you could fill me in on that. I had a dream about coming home this week and it was weird. I am pretty sure Robin Dalton picked me up at the airport and then I went and said hello to Brittany at their house. Then I came to our house. You guys were just hanging out and were sort of excited to see me, but it was weird and funny since you were all just at the house hanging around. I imagine my arrival will be a little different in real life with lots of hugs and Dominican kisses. J ...good times. Sorry I wasn´t able to let you know about the switch in email days, but just know I am happy and healthy and doing well and love you soooooo much. I hope Max´s baptism went well and that you have had a great Saturday. My time is up here, so I better go. I will email you next Monday which should be the 28th. See you in 6 months from tomorrow. Yay!!!!!!  I love you!  I will let you know how the election stuff turns out. Love you a bazillion my forever family. -ejc

20 more p-days to go

What’s up my favorite people?  I am here now. Yes I did enjoy a Fanta orange with my lunch today and I have a picture to prove it...mmmmmm. We are doing good and I had a great time chatting with you yesterday. That was lovely and just like old times. Nothing has or will change about how much I love all of you and am so grateful to be part of this eternal family.  I can’t wait until October 4. Then I can greet you with a hug and kiss too....Nicaraguan style... and like Lenny said, I will teach you how to be Nicas.  Well, it has been a good week in Linda Vista and we had a conference with Elder Martino. It was real good and he talked about the atonement and perfection and how to work with the members. He told us the most effective way is to teach investigators in the homes of members. So we are going to start putting that in practice. We had a good and nice lunch with him too. We are excited because the lady who cooks for us is finally going to let us teach her the lessons. She reads the Book of Mormon and comes to church but has held back a little, but her son told us that she is ready now. So we will start this week. We will need permission to baptize her since she lives in the other ward but she comes with her son to ours.  I think they will give it to us. We are also teaching a judge and her retired police mother. They came to church in April and we have started teaching them. They are pretty positive and came to church yesterday. The thing I like is that I feel like if we are able to baptize them, they are people who will stay and not just get baptized because they want to please the missionaries. Another lady came to church yesterday.  She told us she wasn’t going to come when we visited her on Friday but she came, so that is good. We taught 2 families after I finished my fabulous phone call last night and they are pretty positive. We are trying to find more families that are more positive since that is the focus right now of the mission. We can do it. I also enjoyed Nicaraguan guacamole for the first time this week. It was good and like normal guacamole plus hard boiled eggs. I enjoyed it. I don’t know why this email deal is so funny and slow but whatever. I am doing real good. 14 months this week and 11 for Lenny. Wow! Can you believe it?  Who would have thought we would be on missions and doing good and surviving but we are!  I am happy and healthy. Gotta love orange Fanta.  Sorry my emails are so slow but it was fun reading Lenny’s and yours and knowing we were on at the same time. Tell Chessy Hi for me. I love you so much and hope you had a happy Mother’s Day madre. I know the gospel is true and I love it.  I love my forever family! Love, alc

P.S.  Did you know aloha is a hola backwards? J  

week 39 in the mission field... 27 to go

I am on the computer now. We´ve had a pretty good p-day. We printed our emails, walked down to the office and I picked up a couple of letters. The Eickbushes gave us some popcorn and candy. I sure love them. Elder Eickbush gave us banana bread last Thursday that was real scrumptious. Then we walked down to the grocery store and a place to print pictures. I printed a few of people in Mendoza that I will write notes on and then give them to the hermanas to give to some of the members. We ate some fried chicken and platanos for lunch. It was sooooo fantastico talking to you yesterday. It felt like it was only like 5 minutes but whatever. Soon it will be November and I will see your lovely faces in person at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. So obviously the highlight of the week was our time chatting yesterday. It is so fun just picking up where we left off. Even though we haven´t talked for a while I still feel like life is just the same. All of the letters help. I sure love you. So last night after I got off the phone we found a new investigator and then came back to the house and were chatting with this lady who is our neighbor. She is super cool and it was fun getting to know her a little. We found quite a few new investigators this week between old investigators in the area book and contacting. We didn´t get anyone to church but I have hope for this week. We are still in the process of getting to know everyone. One lady we contacted let us right in and said she had wanted to go to our church and I think elders had visited her when she was a kid. She was going to come to the elder´s baptism but something came up.  Hopefully we can get her to church next week. It was fun watching the sister missionary, who got back from El Salvador, greet everyone in her ward on Sunday. She gave her testimony and they also had us too since we´re newbies here. It is still fun knowing that she was in 30th ward´s own Tanner Thornton´s district. Small world.  Please tell Marni that I need a haircut appointment for November 21. I couldn´t help but imagine me greeting my 30th ward peeps in November and seeing everybody. Everyone here greets with a kiss and a hug so I might still be in that habit when I get home. :) It will be so fun. There is a senior couple that comes to our ward too that is on a family history mission here taking pictures of documents to put on-line. Their youngest son is on a mission too. It was fun chatting with them. They are learning Spanish and so are the Eickbushes. I tell everyone that my mom is taking a Spanish class and everyone thinks that is great...congrats on the A.  Next Sunday is the presidential election here so we have to be in the house by 6 p.m. on Saturday & Sunday and we only have sacrament meeting on Sunday morning. It is possible that we won´t go out on Sunday but for now we will just go out for a little while in the afternoon. I finished reading, Our Heritage, which I enjoyed. I have also read True to the Faith and Our Search for Happiness.  Now I am starting Jesus the Christ so I can finish all of the missionary library.  I read the Book of Mormon in English and now I am reading it and Doctrine and Covenants in Spanish.  I hope to read the New Testament too. So I will have 11 months this week and Lexxy 14. Craziness!  Alexis mentioned doing a pointing thing with her mouth and they do that here too. Instead of pointing with your finger you just use your lips. They have lots of hand signals too. I will teach you how to be a Dominican when I get home. My companion is still learning Dominican stuff...for example... “ahorita” here can mean “in a little while” or “a little while ago”. But in other places it means “right now”.  I can´t wait to learn Nicaraguan Spanish.  One of the other songs on the cd Joyce sent called, “Today is the Day”, there is a line that says “The gospel´s the good news of life everlasting, that families-they won´t fade away... that love lasts forever”. Isn´t that the best! I sure love you my forever family. Love ejc

P.S.  Here are some photos of my peeps in Mendoza, the Egyptian man, and the hermanas.  Also there is one from my birthday. 
I hope you enjoy them. -ejc

Linda Vista week 8

So I have been here two months now. We had dinner at our Bishop’s house the other day. His wife made us mashed potatoes since she knew I would like that. It was good and they invited us again this week. This week we have a meeting with Elder Martino of the Seventy. That should be good.  We had a lady come to church we didn’t know and another one came who we taught once this week. She was a reference of the stake president’s wife and I really feel like she is prepared. We will work with her more this week and see what we can do for her. It was so great seeing her walk into church with the stake president’s family. This is the way missionary work should be. The members find, we teach, and they help us. It was awesome. We have a new lady to wash our clothes.  She is the mother in law of the stake president.  This lady is awesome and sewed a laundry bag for my companion and sewed up the hole in mine. She matched up all my socks and you just know she takes care of us. Anyway, the work is going along. We had a lunch with the district on Saturday because on Friday we reached our goal of contacting families. It was good, except the elders told us it was lasagna but when they uncovered it, it was rice and chicken. It was good but we were excited for something different.  Anyway, I learned something in Spanish this week. “Ser tal para cual” means to be two of a kind. Yo y Lenny (Elena and I) somos tal para cual. Anyway, I do get good compliments on my Spanish which makes me feel good, but I still have plenty to learn. One of the elders told us when he came he would say “como estás usted”. Since his parents taught him Spanish and they always spoke in “tu”.  He knew he needed to speak in “usted” as a missionary so he just changed “tu” for “usted” but didn’t know he needed to change the verb. That was a funny story. Probably funnier if you were here. J The ward mission leader got a good laugh out of me since I was being my Nicaraguan self and did this pointing thing they do with my mouth. It is hard to explain but I will show you when I get home. Anyway, he started laughing and laughing and said I was nica. J  I think my tastes have changed. I bought a 7-up light last week and didn’t really like it. I guess I am used to my Fanta but hopefully I’ll still like my Diet Coke when I get home.  I am glad to hear Lenny got her new companion and area. Just keep being positive my friend. You will do great.  I know I will feel like I left part of my heart in Nicaragua when I leave in 150 days. I really am not counting but the zone leader, who leaves with me, is and he told me today we have 150 left. That is good Max is getting baptized. I was wondering if he had turned 8. Well, I love you tons. The gospel is true. I am off, but can’t wait until Sunday.  Happy Mother’s Day and you are the bestest. Have a great week.  Sunday will be here so soon. J  Love, alc

Greetings from Gazcue



Hermanas Ball, Cottam, & Avery
Barbeque in the DR

We had a good p-day. I loved seeing my hermanas today.  I sure miss my peeps in Mendoza.  I miss hearing the members that lived close-by talking loud in the morning as they walked by the house.  I miss my Egyptian investigator but he is doing well.  I think I left a part of my heart in Mendoza.  We will see what Gazcue brings.  We went and ate pizza with the hermanas which was fun.  We walked by a park and the British Embassy had cool photos out, with pictures of the Olympic stuff. Cool! 

Hermana Cottam and Hermana Espinoza

I am here in Gazcue. I am in a new area with a new companion, which is interesting.  My companion is from Peru and is nice.  She got here on Wednesday afternoon and the Bishop’s wife in Mendoza brought me to the office.  I was planning on taking a taxi to the office but the assistants wanted me to come with a member so the Bishop’s wife took me.  The elders weren´t back from the airport and nobody was at the office so we had to pick up the Bishop’s kids from school.  It was either that or stand out in front of the office by myself and wait for the elders. J The office elders took us to McDonalds for dinner and then dropped us off at the house which is a 20 minute walk from the office. We unpacked and got settled in. On Thursday we went to our zone meeting and then hurried to go food shopping.  Then we went to a meeting at the office for the newbies and their interviews. It has rained a ton this week...pretty much every afternoon it has poured.  The Bishop’s daughter took us out to visit a few members and we have been doing a lot of contacting and walking. On Saturday we went and worked at the church´s booth at the Book Fair (feria de libros en santo domingo) and that was cool. It was all about family home evening. We had to take our tags off since they just wanted it about families and stuff...very low pressure, but great exposure for the church. On Sunday we went to church and contacted a lot. It is weird being in a ward where people don´t know how much time you have in the mission.  Yesterday someone said she wasn´t sure if I was brand new but then when I started talking she said she knew I had lots of time in the mission which was nice.  I am a little self-conscious about my Spanish, trying to be the experienced companion who doesn´t understand everything but whatever.  We got wet in the rain, but it is just that time of year I guess. My companion is adjusting. The Spanish is different as well as the food and stuff.  She asks me questions but a lot of times I don´t know the answers... like what kind of vitamins to buy at the pharmacy. She talked a lot with Hermana Vera today so that was good. Our house is nice with hot water and air conditioning.  The best part is the microwave. J  It is a lot like the house in Mendoza minus the bucket baths.  So the area is kind of hard, which I have heard.  Only 2 people have let us in their houses while doing contacts these past few days, but whatever.  The U.S. Embassy is in our area and the National Palace (the DR White House) is in our ward which is cool. I like walking around that. Someday I am going to drive up to that in my motorcade. J  There are lots of buildings that we can´t get into and it reminds me a little of Phoenix or places with rich buildings and nice houses.  Hopefully we will find some investigators.  My Egyptian investigator is doing good.  The hermanas are still teaching him.  They told me today they talked about the priesthood with him and how he could bless his family.  He said his son in Egypt asked him to give him a blessing but he said all he could do was pray for him, but now he knows about the blessings of the priesthood.  The elders that are now in the ward he belongs to don´t speak English, but they were at the lesson too and bore their testimonies and he said he couldn´t understand them but that he felt something.  That was the saddest part about leaving Mendoza.  I had to fight to hold my emotions back during that lesson on Tuesday night.  I said the opening prayer and he said the closing prayer and I always love to hear him pray.  As I was walking away from the church that night I absolutely felt that he was the reason I stayed in Mendoza so long and it was absolutely worth it.  He said he knows the Church and the Book of Mormon are true...J the joys of missionary work.  Well, I better go.  It has been great chatting with you.  I just want you to know that I think my direction skills have improved, so I am doing good in the new area.  I can find the office and our house which is important. J Anyways, I love you a million and can´t wait to chat for real on Sunday.  Good times!  Then after that I will see your pretty little faces in November and we can have a Spanish party.  I hope you all are doing well. I am settling in here.  I love you sooooooooooooooooo much!  Happy Mother´s Day. -Ejc