Estamos aqui. (We are here.)

ALL of these pictures are of various places in Colima, where we are (donde estamos.)

After weeks of being in one-room hotels, two things happened for Samuel (who needs to have alone time and space to himself.) 1. He got really irritable and unstable. 2. He learned to swim on his own (without his P.F.D.)  I praise God that Sam is back to being himself now that we have been in our home and with a predictable routine for 2.5 weeks . 

After 2 weeks of eating at restaurants for every meal, only two boys were able to bounce on the trampoline outside of our breakfast buffet included with our hotel. Paul was as sick as we had feared his fragile intestines would be, plus he had a fever. I praise God that Paul is all better and his intestines seem to be stronger than I had expected, now that we have been in our home and I've been able to cook for 2.5 weeks. 

After 2 weeks of watching as much of the Olympics as he could (considering it was on at bedtime), Micah is in love with sports. Really, he is excited about any sport at all, including forms of tennis folks play here, e.g. padel and frontenis. Micah gets the nickname "Michael Phelps" at every pool, where he always makes new friends and swims laps. Yes, believe me, this nickname has been suggested by 3 new friends at 3 different pools, unbeknownst to each other. I praise God that Micah has been so outgoing to make friends easily in Spanish. 

Fútbol (soccer) is still Micah's favorite. Did you realize that we got to be in México when their fútbol team got the gold medal!? It must have been thanks to the Redding's cheering!

We have yet to figure out a way that we can fit soccer practice into our after-school schedule. Afternoons are full with homework and going to Maestra Carmen for Spanish tutoring Monday through Thursday. 

Are you ready for this timeless photo? Yes! It is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL picture, inside of a hotel room! 

I'm not sure how to describe all of the emotions I had on that day. I was sad because my nest was empty (no kids who needed me to take care of them), but I didn't have a nest yet (we moved into our home while the boys were at school.) I was excited for routine for Samuel, but I was scared that the challenge of being at school for 4.5 hours in Spanish as a 3 year old was going to be too much for him. I was excited for Paul to go to Primero Primeria (First Grade), but was worried that he would have a hard first experience of all-day school, since he had to skip kindergarten. I felt good about the school we chose for our boys, but didn't know anyone there yet. I felt excited to have a few hours alone with Anthony, but knew that he was leaving for Mexico City the next morning.  

Instituto Adonai is a private, Christian school that is focused on academics and character development. We also like that its mission includes educating the children of orphanages that are sponsored by Grupo Amor, our church here. We really like the boys' teachers! This picture is of the first day of school at the primary school, where Paul and Micah must be blocked by other children, because their blonde heads are easy to find in the crowd. 

Our red rental car is filled with our year's worth of belongings and is parked in our new driveway, in front of our new house!! I praise God for providing this great, safe, beautifully furnished home.

Can you see the three big piles of books behind a delighted Micah? There were even more than that, which we needed to have covered in transparent contact paper. Thankfully, the woman at the Papeleria a couple of blocks away was willing to cover many of them for a minimal fee. I praise God that Micah has been finding the positive in every situation, which is a pleasant surprise from our formerly melancholy guy who could let one imperfect thing ruin his day.  He seems genuinely glad to be here.   

Check out our view of one of our two volcanoes from the side of our house! Anthony spent most of the boys' first week of school in Mexico city, which is 8 hours hours east by car. I had many challenges while he was away, including a flat tire, hungry boys with an empty kitchen, getting the kids to school an hour earlier than they had been getting up this summer, Samuel throwing fits about going to school, bloody noses nearly every day for the other two, trying to buy what we needed to set-up house ... you get the idea. I praise God for enabling me to manage it all! Anthony has amazing stories to tell from Mexico city, too. He'll need to do a post soon.

Here is Anthony's office, where he gets to research with Carlos, who is great. Anthony started teaching today as well. 

Sam and I get to have 1 hour together before school and 1 hour together after school after/before we drop off/pick up the older boys. During those times, he does his homework, plays at parks, explores, and visits the library alone with his mom. I praise God that Sam likes his routine now, including going to school.

Things to notice in this picture: 1. Sam is so big already! 2. Instituto Adonai is a great preschool for him; he is in "Kinder Uno," which is the youngest class. It seems to be common here for 3 year olds to go to school five days per week. 3. I love the cobblestone roads with grass growing among the rocks! 4. VW bugs are as numerous as you would imagine here (can you see it?) 

Grandparents are so great that Sam's preschool had a fiesta to honor them! Loteria (Bingo) is a popular game here. 

Here is Sam's school on Grandparent's Day. He was sweetly disappointed that Grandma Bev and Grandma Jo didn't fly here to join him. Did I mention that I like Instituto Adonai? Believe me, Sam's teachers are great!!

Globos (balloons) were just what he needed to loosen up a bit. Delicious floutas and tacos helped, too. I praise God that Sam loves frijoles (beans) and pretty much any other food. 

 Here was a glimpse of Paul and Micah at recess (they are playing futbol in the background) when we went for a conference with Paul's teacher to check and see how he was doing. (Remember how I was worried about him struggling in 1st grade in Spanish?) I praise God that it turns out that Paul is doing great.

September 16, next Sunday, is Dia de Independencia. The whole month of Septiembre is a celebration of patriotism and red, white and green. Here is an example of decorations appearing all around town.

We spent one afternoon so far being tourists here in our new town, but I have also enjoyed driving around beautiful sites (even when I am trying to figure out how to get "that way" in the midst of one-way streets.)

For instance, I get to drive past this scene multiple times per day! I took this picture while stopped at the stoplight that I never mind hitting red.  A lot of my time here is spent driving, because we live 20 minutes from the boys' schools and Anthony's work. Since Anthony has been biking to work for the last 9 years, my taxi-service is actually one of the biggest differences from the normal Tongen family walk-or-bike-to school and work lifestyle. Okay, so there have been some other changes, too, but this post shouldn't get any longer!