More Christmas Pictures

Here are a few more photos from the pre-Christmas in Fernie.

Aysha loves grandma's cookies.

The little baker (mouth full of dough)

Aysha examines the cookie cutters

A Blue Christmas (this one is from Humblodt)

Sledding in Muenster

We all enjoyed Aysha's first day of sledding. Despite a bit of trauma from snow in the face on the first run, Aysha had a great time sledding with uncles, aunt, and Grandma G. Mom and Dad looked after recording the event for posterity.

Thank You

Here we are, relieved to be back in Cartagena safely - no going into labor on the air plane! As I reflect on the holiday, I am profoundly thankful for my family. Both Moms made the trip more relaxing for us than if we had stayed in Cartagena. There were many delicious meals prepared and cleared away, grocery shopping done, and extra hands to take care of Aysha. I was able to relax and recover from my cold. It was wonderful! Grandpas, brothers, and sisters also helped so much to entertain and care for Aysha. It was a joy to see Aysha bonding with family. She is a lucky girl to have so much love and attention. I appreciate your care for her more than I can say.

Thanks also for all computer contributions! I am writing this blog from my new computer, which I am so excited about! And the web cam is great! We've already used it to call both grandmas and grandpas, as well as aunts and uncles.

We've been back in Cartagena for two days, and I've been busy getting ready for the new baby, setting up the bassinet, organizing baby medicines/toiletries, baby clothing (washing and ironing), and baby bath materials. I've also been voraciously reading about labor and pain management. If this baby comes as early as Aysha did, then I have until next week Tuesday! Jamie keeps reminding me that I also need to get my grading done, but I know I will feel better able to do that once I am prepared for the baby. I still have to pack my bag for the hospital, but may do that tomorrow. Then I'll tackle those final exams!

Well, it's Aysha's bed time (actually it is past her bed time - she is on a new, altered holiday bed time schedule, which means she gets to stay up until 9:30 or 10:00pm, and sleeps in a bit later too). I need to go and put her to sleep. "Aysha, are you tired?", and her response, "NO!" But I know she is.

Love to all.

This is Christmas

After decorating the gingerbread, we took a couple of portraits of the family in front of the fireplace.

Something Else to Do with Your Money

We found out about Kiva.org on an episode of Frontline called Uganda: a Little Goes a Long Way that we saw(and you can watch online by clicking on the link). It's a microcredit organization based out of San Francisco. It allows people to loan money to small business owners in the developing world. The small business owners use the money for whatever they feel they need to improve their businesses. Some build a new house as a headquarters for their work, others buy machinery, and some just buy more stock. The organization in San Francisco uses non profit organizations in a variety of countries to evaluate and support the people requesting the loans.

Most loans are between $500 and $2000, and are provided by several people. The loans are repaid over 6 to 18 months. Once the loan has been repaid, the money you loaned is returned to you to withdraw or to loan again. So far, the organization has a 100% repayment rate.

Karla and I made our first loan. I was hoping to make a donation to a Nigerian or Cambodian, but as no loans were currently requested from either of them, I chose a widow from Mexico who prepares and sells food to care for her 6 children. It was only $25. At the time of writing this, she still needs $200. There is a link in the sidebar, to her (and after all her money is raised, to others).

In other family news, we are now only one week away from heading back to Canada. I sent an email to Jocelyn, the owner of Fernie Academy, to set up an interview to talk about working at the school next year. I hope that by the end of the vacation we will know what wwe are going to do next year.

It's our last weekend in Colombia, and so we've got to get everything finished off. Karla is relaxing tonight watching Anne of Green Gables. I'm doing a bit of work and posting to the blog. Tomorrow and Sunday, we have a busy schedule of work. Good night all.