Grananda's Alhambra

We toured this entire fortress and spent about six hours inside. It was amazing to be inside a real-life castle.




"Granada is an old, beautiful city featering the Alhambra, an extensive Moorish fortress and palace. La Alhambra perches on a hilltop and offers views of the city below and the mountains above."
If you'd like to read more about this, pick up the book, Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving. He lived in this fortress for a short time and his writings about it have made it a world famous "must see". During our tour we used an audio guide with exerpts from this book. It made it very interesting!

I even got my 1st kiss INSIDE a castle while we were there! Ahh, my very own prince charming... how romantic...

A trip to the mountains

This is from our trip to Granada. We wanted to play in the snow and this is the closest ski and snow resort, the Sierra Nevada's. (about 4 hours drive)

A busy, busy toothfairy

The toothfairy has been quite busy visiting our house lately. It's been here four times in the last month and once a few months ago. Teeth seem to be falling out like rain! Needless to say, Camryn and Ethan both have cute toothless smiles today. The toothfairy used to bring Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea coins but now we've been finding Euro coins of all sizes and colors. Very Exciting times!

School news

I'm doing some unexpected things with my kids lately. I'm sending them to public school! (above is an arial view of the campus and a little of the base housing neighborhood) Well, let me explain. the on-base public school welcomes homeschoolers to register with them so the kids can be involved with the extra curricular classes offered and for any before or after school programs, assemblies, library usage, etc. It also give the school more funding each year, so we both benefit without extra obligations. So, I signed them up and have them involved with the weekly music, art, host nation and spanish language classes. Camryn and Sloan go on Thursdays and they love it but are addament that they don't want to go anymore than once a week. So home education is working very well for them. So far, it's been a very positive experience for all of us. Ethan is the one taking a totally new path. He's going to public school full time, every day. Travis and I struggle with trying to figure out his unique learning needs and have come to the decision that we need outside, "professional" help with him right now. I'd rather not turn to the school, but living in a foriegn country puts limitations on options that are available for us. They offer a one-on one,daily, reading recovery program that he got into that goes through the end of the school year. He loves it and his attitude towards learning and sitting down for school work has been very positive. So he's going to finish up the school year there and then I'll work with him during the summer before we decide what to do for next fall. He's reading and writing much better already. Something just clicks right with him in the public school setting and I'm thrilled to see the progress. I'm also having him tested for some develpmental issues that I wonder about but the school wants him to finish the reading program before they make any additional referrals. I really miss having him with me each day but I think this will prove to be best for him at this point.
There is a small homeschooling community of about 10 families on base. It's nice and we love getting together but it's very small and not as active as our other groups have been. However, the military community is unique from other bases we've lived on (or near). Besides the elective classes from the base school, we have a family support program that is a lot like a concierge service. They offer support in every area of family life including language translators, various classes, counseling, and weekly field trips. So by attending thier Spanish field trips once or twice a month and the monthly activities with homeschool friends it works out pretty well. We end up having a nice full schedule with lots of socialization, cultural experiences, and educational supplements.
The girls and I have a nice daily routine now too. With only one car, we spend more time than I'd like driving everyone around but this is basically how our days go. We take Travis to work in the early morning, then back home to get ready for the day. Then we take Ethan to his school, then back home for math, spelling, phonics, writing etc. After lunch we do history or science, reading and housework. By this time Ethan is ready to be picked up so we get him, play at a park for an hour or go to the library, then pick up Travis, stop by the Commisary if necessary and back home for dinner, homework, stories, baths, bed... All in a days work!

To market, to market to buy a fat pig

Home again, home again
jiggity, jig!
Shopping at the weekly outdoor markets! FRESH is what it's all about so it can get pretty gross and smelly but I guess it makes for good meals. Personally, I prefer simply buying the fresh veggies and green olives. I just can't see myself buying chicken so fresh that I have to take it home, chop the head off AND pluck the feathers! But I could do that every week if I wanted to!!

I'm online...at home now

Finally, we are hooked up with modern technology at home! It only took us four months due to a little procrastination and a lot of cultural infamiliarity! We were hooked up yesterday so last night I spent the evening purusing some of my favorite websites and blogs that I haven't keeped up with since our move. Amy and Katie, you both have wonderful blogs. It was so nice to get family updates and pictures. So, now I realize that this blog really needs photos. Now that I can do this at home, I'll start attaching pics with my posts. However, Travis is a little hesitant to move the internet on our main home computer until we get a handle on pop-ups and such. We don't want to be bombarded with trash emails and sites. I'll try to get a picture or two on here soon though.
It has been a very rainy and windy weekend. The wind storms around here are horrible! It blows for days at a time and they are so fierce that you have hold on to doors as you open them and watch out for palm fronds that get blown off the palm trees, etc. It's horrible to go out in and honestly, it affects my mood and makes me feel very grumpy. So, we stayed indoors and had a wonderful weekened at home with fires in the fireplace, a couple movies, a few board games, American Idol episodes, homemade chocolate chip cookies and several naps on the couch. The kids may have been a little bored at times but Travis and I have been loving it!

He's reading!

I am so happy to report that Ethan is now (dare I say) "a reader!" He has struggled for quite a while with the basic phonics needed for beginning reading. In the last couple of months, he has finally figured it out and our reading sessions are going sooo much better! Whew, this is a milestone we are happy to be crossing over. His goal since Jan 1st has been to read for 15 minutes each day. Sometimes, that 15 minutes actually takes 1/2 hour because I won't count the looking at picutres or wiggling around or other distractions. He has a timer that we use and while he's actually reading, the time ticks away. But lately, he's been reading past the required time! Oh, joy! I love hearing him read to me (finally).

A quick update

Homeschooling is taking some different turns for us right now. I miss SOCCO!! I'll have to write more about it on my blog "when I have more time." There isn't a big homeschool community on base but we get together once a month. My kids are the youngest in the group! There are a few other kids the same ages but Sloan is the youngest! Can you imagine having more highschool ages and no preschool kids in a HS group? So, I hesitate to say this but, SOCIALIZATION, seems to be an issue that we are creatively pursuing. My kids don't have much interaction with other kids and they are feeling a bit lonely. The Spanish neighborhood, where we live doesn't seem to have any kids! In fact we don't even see anyone around because every house has 6-9 foot high walls on all four sides of each property. It's different! Okay, my time is up and I have to go soon so, I'll stop here.

Christmas cheer

Celebrating Christmas in our Spanish casa. Feliz Navidad!

My delightful new Dyson!

Okay, my friend Rachel was right! How could I ever go back to my old ways, after using her Dyson vacuum cleaner?! So, now I'm a new, proud owner myself! Mine is grey and bright yellow. It looks like Ethan's favorite transformer, "BumbleBee" (from the recent "Transformers" movie). So, that's what we've nicknamed it. I realize it's a bit wierd to name a vacuum but hey, it makes it fun for the kids to use "the transformer." We don't have any carpet but we've purchased a few area rugs so we can vacuum those and the this thing vacuums up the dust balls on marble floors much better than a broom can do it. So, I'm very happy with my VERY expensive "toy."
Our household goods were FINALLY delivered last week. So now "the gang's all here." We're trying to find places for everything but it seems to be a long process. How exactly will we hang all of our pictures and artwork with concrete and tile walls throughout the house?
Our electricty is still tripping the breaker several times a day. I'm so tired of staggering our electrical usage. For instance, I can't use the washer and dryer at the same time. So it's one load at a time. And I certainly can't dry clothes and run the dishwasher at the same time. In the evening when our radiators are "heating" our house, the electricity trips off if we also bathe the children because of the electric water heaters all working at the same time. Anyway, it's frustrating. Today I recieved a call from the landlord that the electrician has tried to stop by three times when we weren't home. However, they won't set an appointment. I'm just expected to be home from the time the service request is put in until they decide to show up. It's a Spanish attitude that we are trying to used to. Very relaxed.
OH, gotta run... my kids are getting stir crazy and I'm still dependant on this cyber cafe for internet use! Internet hookup at home is another problem we are trying to figure out. ugh!

My unopened gift

I've debated about including this on my blog because it's so personal. But, I guess I feel okay about posting it now. Maybe it will share insight into the emotional difficulties of pregnancy loss. I wrote this in December and it proved to be a good theraputic outlet for me.

Like an unopened gift, resting beneath a tree of light
anticipation and excitement fill your thoughts
of what might be the most prized gift of all.
Oh, the desire to know more about what is waiting beneath the layers of disguise!
But for now, you have to wait
and trust that it will be in your hands and in your life soon enough.

Will it complicate you?
Will it keep you too busy?
Will it help slow life down?
Will it be big and strong or small and meek?
What about colors, textures, weaknessess, strengths, talents, personality...
You can never quite know what it is you will get in this gift
that you can neither see nor hold
until a much anticipated date.

Who can offer me this kind of gift?
I know it comes from the loving hands of all creation
the Alpha & Omega, the King of all kings, the Almighty God,
my Father in Heaven.
Am I worthy of a such a gift,
something made in the image of God?
If so, why would He hand me this gift of new life
with just enough time to embrace it in thought
but not in my arms, not into my life?

It's not nice! It's not fair!
What a cruel joke to play on me!
You can't just hand someone a gift
and then snatch it away
in an exchange of tears and heartache!
I wanted to keep this gift
to open it and treasure it
to nurture and care for it.

I've been given gifts like this one before
I'm surrounded by them everyday.
So why do I want more? Am I not grateful enough
of the gifts I already have in my life?
What's wrong with me?
Why am I no longer complete?

It's especially hard to encounter other people
that are holding their own precious gifts.
Some are unopened, others are newly unwrapped.
May God continue to bless them!
(But what about me? Why did mine get taken back?)

The tree of light is lovely
the garland and ribbons just right.
The gifts are overflowing
I just seem to stay focused on
what might have been...
what should have been...
mine...
to keep...

Settling in a bit

The food here is different - Mediterranean diet - not remotely related to Mexican food. We're going to have to get used to eating green olives just as a snack. Lots of fish and pork. Not much chicken. Dinner is usually from 9:30 PM to midnight. Trying to find a place to eat at 6 PM is impossible. Lunch times are also strange and certain restaurants are open only for certain times. Tappas are the "snacks" and places are dedicated to them specifically. Bars are not bars, they're family establishments. Children are welcomed anywhere and at any time.

We rented an incredibly small car. If you've ever seen movies with the microscopic cars, that's what we have. Barely fits all of us. The trunk/hatchback fits our coats, and a 5 bags of groceries, and that's about it. Our Montero just arrived this week. That was a big suprise as we didn't expect it for another month. Ultimately we'll need another vehicle but we'll probably return our rental car soon.
We're pretty close to the beach which is incredible. Summers here
are reportedly insane, because people come from all over Europe to hang out at the beaches. Should be interesting. Spain is not cheap. For some reason I thought it would be.

It will be interesting to live off-base and integrate into the Spanish community. People don't speak English as much as we were led to believe, but so far we've done alright. Travis has learned a ton of Spanish in just a few weeks. The rest of us are catching on but we seem to rely on his language skills most of the time. Necessity breeds motivation. We are settling into our house now. We moved in almost two weeks. Our express shipment was delivered a few days ago. It was nice to see familiar things that we own. Now all of our beds have a homemade Grandma quilt on them. Each one of the kids have thier new ones and I have our heavy levi quilt on my bed. New heaters were finally installed this week too. So now it's much warmer in our house. We bought a couple of area rugs for the living room and the hallway so that is making it a bit more cozy also.
The base opened up a new shopping center this week. It's been about 50 years since they've had new store buildings so everyone here was really exicted about the modern shopping center. It's very nice! They even have a Subway Sandwich shop and Starbucks! The grand opening was just three days ago and it seemed to be a huge success. Travis got off work early because there were no patients - everyone was shopping! We are headed to the new grocery store, called the Commisary, after we finish here at the library. We desperatley need groceries so it will probably take us awhile.

Kindred Konnection

I loved reading our family newsletter. What a nice taste of home. It's so nice to hear from everyone at the same time. Thanks for organizing it Amy.
Well, we now have a place to call home! We spent our first night in our new house last night and all went well. It was a little cold because the heaters won't be worked on for a couple of weeks from now. It's not too cold outside (yet) but the homes don't warm up from the sun, during the winter. They are made with concrete walls and ceilings, not wood and insulation. The floors are all freezing cold marble! I feel like we are in a museum with the marble floors and the few pieces of rental furniture in each room. We'll definately have to buy some rugs and slippers but socks (and shoes) will have to work for now. The military delivered rental beds, tables, chairs and couches for us to use until our own furniture arrives (in a month). It has five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms a big living room/dining room with a fire place and lots of built in shelves. We have a glass wall/door, enclosed patio that is practicaly begging for a hot tub for Travis, plus a lovely, tiled, courtyard patio too. It should work out very well for us while we are living here.
Travis is enjoying some vacation days this week so we can settle into our house and tour around southern Spain a bit. We've had a great time touring a couple of Spanish cities within 1-2 hours from our house. Yesterday, we were thrilled and amazed at the reality of how we spent the day. We took our passports, crossed the border and spent the day in Gibralter! It was wonderful! We spent about two hours touring the "The Rock of Gibralter" inside and outside. We took a private guided tour to drive around and up the top of the Rock and had several stops along the way to tour caves, mines and visit the local, wild, free range apes. We have some great photos of it all so I'll post them after I have full access a internet from home. (I'm still having to drive into the base to use the cyber cafes) Tomorrow we're planning another day trip and will probably head to Sevilla. Then on Monday, Travis will start working (and taking his first patients as an FNP!) and I'll try to normalize our routine and days with the children.

local tours

We are in the middle of our ICR class this week to learn the culture and customs of Spain and about the base here. Today we got on a big tour bus to tour Rota, visit a fish market, shop in the gypsy market, tour a 11th century castle and catholic church and enjoy an authentic Spanish meal at a local restraunt. The kids were with us and it was very enjoyable. Tomorrow we'll be touring the city of Cadiz.

We're still house hunting and we've found one that we really like but it's a little smaller then our home in San Clemente so we're a bit hesitant to move into it. Everything about it is nice though. It's just a bit small for us to "live in". One other home is huge, almost too big, very nice, but no A/C or heat. This really concerns us but we may decide it's better than the first one. If we can negociate to have A/C and heat installed before we move in, we may go with that one. It's quite a job to find a suitable home.

life and death in a matter of days

Ten days of wondering if I was pregnant
Ten days of working through the emotions and reality of a new baby...enjoying "my secret"
Ten days of "medical confirmation" and sharing the big news with my children, family, and friends
Ten days of bleeding, depression, loss, dispair, moving
Ten more days to go...
Life is changing too quickly for me to keep up with. How do I get through this? What do I pray for?
My prayer was to have this baby...why was I ignored? why was I cheated? why was I played as a pawn? why did this begin and end at such a difficult time and in a such a difficult way? why didn't my baby develop properly? WHY??? For crying out loud, WHY???? and what do I do now?

loss and change

I regret to share what I've been through the last couple of weeks. Thirty hours before we had to move out of our house (which was already empty), and leave our car for moving, I was at the E.R. and diagnosed with a threatened miscarriage. I had nothing, no home, no vehicle, and I was now losing my baby. We only had a few suitcases of clothes and each other. I had a 23 hour plane ride ahead of me with a foriegn country as my destination. I was blown away with emotion, raging hormones, confusion, and loss. It was like we were we under a rolling boulder that we couldn't stop and didn't know how to get away from. So I boarded the plane and had to deal with my miscarriage all the way to Spain. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and had another ultrasound to confirm that I've finished the miscarriage. She said I'll probably be done within a week and that everything was "good". I cried through the whole appointment. The day we left, I decided that I had no choice but to take a leap of faith and live what the Bible says to do...trust in the Lord. The scripture that I focused on is in Matthew 11. It shares that all who are weary and burrdoned should rest in the Lord for comfort. (I should have memorized it by now, but at this moment with all the distractions, that the best I can do right now.) At this point, I guess I'm just getting through each day as it comes. Spain is very different! I didn't come here with any expectations so everything has been interesting and odd. The 4 bdrm homes on base are all occupied so we've been house hunting out in the cities of Rota and El Puerto de la Santa Maria. El Puerto seems to be where we'll end up. Most houses have no A/C or heat and all have tile or marble floors throughout. They all have 7 foot walls around the properties so it's almost impossible to see what the property looks like until we have a key and a tour guide. Makes for a long week of driving around the neighborhoods while the kids watch movies on our DVD player.
I'm at the hospital cyber cafe and don't have much time to be here so I'll write again when I have a little more time.