RS Activity

This past Wednesday evening the RS held an activity where I was to teach the sisters how to make cookies. I have become the "cookie lady" in the branch. I didn't realize that I was introducing them to something new the first time I brought homemade cookies to a branch activity. After all, in the states, we have to have cookies for every church activity, right?
This is the whole group of us that night. It was small but I was thankful for that as this little kitchen was very tiny. We held it at the home of our branch president, where he lives with his mother. She is the little short lady in the white skirt and she is just an angel. Lora also got to come and then we have Kaitlin Gray here visiting us so she was there too...I was thankful to have the extra help.

We made 2 different kinds: No Bake Cookies and Choc Chip. Here are 2 sisters scooping out the No Bake Cookies to cool on a plate.

They were all smiles while stirring up the cookies. It was fun to see their joy. This sister in the black shirt is a very recent convert as of about a month ago and she just glows. Then the branch President's cute mom and Magaly who is a very dear friend of ours that we just absolutely love. She is the RS President.

OK well before you laugh at these cookies...let me explain: Sis. Lopez is so thrilled to even have an oven in her little dirt floor kitchen, but it is very tiny and my cookie sheet would not fit all the way in, unless we shut the oven door hard which made the cookie sheet raise up on one end; therefore the cookies slid a little downhill while baking and they turned out looking like this. I call them choc chip sliders! They still tasted good.

Alex joined us at the end when only one of his young men showed up for mutual, they decided to walk over and have their refreshments with us. Of course, all the sisters are always happy to see him....they love him.
This was quite a unique experience making cookies in such a humble little kitchen. The sisters each brought an ingredient to donate and then I brought all the bowls, spoons, pans, etc....Her kitchen is so simple, it was mind boggling for me to imagine cooking every meal here for her family of 7, 5 of which still live at home. They get by with so very little yet Sis. Lopez is just the happiest little lady you ever saw.
I have been to hundreds of RS activities in my life, but this one was extra special. I love these sweet sisters so much and I hope that with my cookies, I am able to make their lives just a little bit sweeter as well.

A Memorable 23rd Anniversary

This is what Lane and I saw tonight as we were escorted down the stairs by our 2 youngest girls

Lora and Emma had us wait upstairs after I had gotten dinner prepared to a point where they felt secure in taking over. They put Lane and I in separate rooms and had us put on the clothes that THEY had picked out for us. Since Lane is still recovering from surgery, he wasn't quite up to putting on a white shirt, but he was a good sport and put on the tie. A nice look with the pj shorts huh?
These little girls had been waiting for this moment all day...lots of whispering and laughing behind closed doors and sneaking little things up to their room that they needed for the BIG event....
Lane and I probably would have been content to let this day pass without much fan fare since he is not feeling his best and a nice dinner out was just not in the cards for him. Thankfully our little girls were not about to let that happen and they made sure that this was an anniversary that we will never forget. They were darling little waitresses and waited to eat dinner themselves until we were finished with our "date", even though it was well past 8pm when they finally got all this ready.
Lora even did all the dishes by herself and this was no easy mess to clean up...lots of big pots and pans. She felt so good about herself after and they are both going to bed tonight with big smiles on their faces.
THIS kind of thing is what makes Lane and I love celebrating each passing year more and more. I am so thankful to be married to the person that is the best person for ME. And these 5 wonderful people that we have been blessed with....there are not enough words to describe how I love them.
This certainly will be an anniversary that won't be forgotten. NO big tab to pay at the end of this dinner...it was priceless.

Surgery in CR

Having surgery here in CR is not something that either Lane or I ever anticipated would need to happen but after almost a year of suffering with pain and low energy, we decided it was time to take care this. We wanted to wait until we got back in the states where we would feel more comfortable, but Lane's discomfort was out weighing the desire to be "comfortable"in the states.
So here we go....
We called the Dr. on his cell phone on Saturday. He asked for Lane's first name and told him to be at the clinic on Monday at 2pm for surgery. Simple as that. NO more questions.
The drive to the clinic was just over an hour and Lane spent the entire drive giving me instructions on how to access his life insurance policy and then continued to give me an over view on how to run our business, complete with passwords, people to call and account info for clients.....like I was writing this all down. What in the world?? was he trying to help me feel calm? By the time we got there I think I was more ready for the anesthesia than he was. This discussion really made HIM feel better though, so I just let him keep talking while I looked out the window at the strange cows and tried not to think about the "what ifs"
When we arrived at the clinic, next to the Pizza Hut....we were asked to fill out a form which consisted of his name, phone number and whether or not we were married.
Back to the room to put on the nice green nighty, complete with booties, and a cap. He was looking right cute.
Lane was not stressed at all until they made one request....."Senor, tiene que quitar su anillo de bodas por favor " what?? he has never taken off his wedding ring even once in all of our almost 23 years of marriage. (our anniversary is in 2 days) He suddenly had a look of panic. It was cute. I don't know if he was nervous that the nurses would try to pick up on him or that I would run off during the surgery. I assured him that neither was the case. It has been a little personal goal of Lane's to never remove his ring and has turned into a bit of a contest. He just lost the contest.
So then the nurse (who happens to be a guy) came in to start the IV. He had some cleansing fluid in an old bottle of body wash...the scent said "endless love"...guess it was a sign that him being without his ring for a few hours would not damage our relationship. We had a good laugh over that. The people here are very resourceful. I mean, why waste money on a nice container for your rubbing alcohol when an old container from your grandma's shower will work just as well? It is not like we are paying thousands of dollars for this anyway (wrong)

ok, so he is all hooked up and ready to go. The anesthesiologist looks legit and talks to us for a few minutes. keep in mind that no one in this place speaks a word of english so thank goodness Lane and I are both fluent in Spanish (wrong again)

He is wheeled across the hall with a kiss goodbye from me first and then I sit and nervously wait....looking up pictures of gall stones on my laptop and making myself nauseous.

Boom,. he is back in 2 hours. Very loopy and not looking so good. The Dr. brought in the container with the actual gall bladder...not nice, but interesting. AND a clear plastic bag containing 12 shiny large stones that were actually quite pretty. Crazy huh? Lane was in denial that those were actually IN him and he questioned whether or not the Dr. just went outside and gathered up some stones from the yard.

All went well, although he was not able to use a scope and do it laparoscopically...he said the stones were too large for that. They had to be a bit more invasive which will mean for a longer recovery for Lane, but at least we were happy that the problem was removed.

Lane was able to sleep pretty good most of the night. Woke up once wanting more pain medication but when I looked for the nurse, he was alseep in the room next door...looked really comfortable. What was I supposed to do?? I just told Lane to wait it out...that sounds so cruel huh? I just couldn't bring myself to go in there and shake this guy awake.....Lane fell back asleep so it was all fine.

Well, we are on our way home shortly. Made a call to the kids a few minutes ago and Lora was so excited that we get to bring the stones home. She said she has always wanted a gall stone and could she please have one for her birthday? That works great for me since we are having her party TONIGHT and I don't really have much for her yet. She is a strange little girl, but we love her.
K, gotta wrap it up and get my patient home. Thank you for all the prayers and love coming our way. We felt it.
I will be a good nurse at home, I promise. I will give him pain meds whenever he wants.

Another interesting story to add to our CR adventure huh? Let's hope we don't have any more adventures along these lines.

Time to renew the passports....

Well, our 90 days was up and that means we have to leave the country to renew our passports. Our wonderful Canadian friends decided to take this trip with us since they have never been to Nicaragua and I guess they consider us the "experts"now..ha ha..that seems funny as we think about our first experience trying to cross the border. Seems so long ago now. Anyway, we are gearing up for a few days of fun, adventure and sweat mixed in. I have had to split up our trip into 3 different posts so....don't miss any of them if you want the whole story.

Welcome to Nicaragua again Martinsen Family!! We were so excited to have Alex and Mariah with us this time.

This is where we will spend our first night...back on Ometepe where it all began.

The lovely ferry that takes us on the hour long ride to the island

This monkey is the mascot of the dock. He is chained up and a little grumpy about that.

Alex shocked us all by actually buying a "perro caliente"from this vendor! He only ate one bite before he knew he had made a mistake. Is this the same kid who would not even eat a strawberry before his mission and now he will try unidentified meat products in a 3rd world country??

About to get on the Ferry.....I tried to capture our trip in these posts below without taking up too much time for details. So, enjoy the posts....

We rented scooters to take around the island since it is the easiest way to get around...more fun and less hassle than the local buses. We had 2 on a scooter except Alex had his own motorcycle until.....

Mariah had a little accident just as we were getting started for the morning. Ended up at the local clinic getting the wounds cleaned up and bandaged. Such a bummer for her. It shook her up a bit but we were all so thankful that it wasn't worse. It was interesting to experience the local health care on the island. Would have been nerve wracking to have anything more than scraped up feet and knees being treated, but hey it was free...even the prescriptions were free. NOT in favor of socialized health care, but I guess in this case it was nice.

Here is our little patient after the wounds were cleaned and bandaged up. She still looks pretty even when she is injured huh? We had all been on our way to the natural springs to swim so she is dressed in a cover-up and flip flops....we found out the hard way, that is not proper attire to be driving a scooter in!


It was a wonderful moment to be reunited with my "island sister", Leyla. Oh how I love this lady!

Her sweet little girl Melissa is painfully shy and does not like her picture taken. She was peeking out the door at us.

Baby chicks were getting lots of attention from our gang

Leyla and Emerson had a cage full of baby parrots that all the kids were having fun with too.

Love Emma's face in this picture as she is trying to get the parrot on her finger

There....she got it

Next we went around the island to Ojo de Agua (eye of the water). It is a beautiful natural spring that is so clear and refreshing. The water is supposed to have healing powers and make you younger as well...what do you think? Do I look younger????

3 Martinsen men enjoying the springs...this is really a beautiful place. Hard to capture it well through pics.

Emma and Luc had a blast here. They get along so well. We had arranged for a taxi to pick up Leyla, Emerson and the kids but it apparantly never showed up so they were not able to meet us here. Such a disappointment! We were able to fit their son Heyido on the back of one of our scooters so at least he was able to come with us.

We went back after the springs and made sure they got a taxi into town to have lunch with us. Simone from the Hotel cooked us up a wonderful Italian pasta with the best meat sauce we had ever tasted!

Here is a group shot of our family with them. This is truly one of the sweetest families we have ever met and we love them with a bond that will last forever. My heart was pounding as I knew that saying goodbye was only minutes away now....

This was painful. We tried to hug hard enough to make it last forever. Leyla will always have a very special place in my heart. I feel that we knew each other in the pre-existence and I promised to find her. The miracle is that we did find each other. I can't put into words how I feel about her and how we connected. I don't know when we will ever see each other again, but I hope that the Lord allows us to have that blessing again in this life...if not, then I know we will see each other again someday. Her life is on the island and most likely it will always be there. Life is hard for them . I feel so incredibly blessed to have what I have when I see how they live. They are always smiling though. Such a beautiful lesson for our family.

Us on the ferry and them on the dock....we waved and blew kisses until they were just a small speck on the island.....until we meet again. We love you!

A day at the Ranch

This is the 1400 acre ranch that Keith owns. He has hired a local family to run it and they take care of the horses and cook for Keith's visitors that come for the day. This is just one of the old buildings on the property. Getting the horses ready. I spent the whole day thinking about my dad and how much he would have loved this place! Very rustic and cowboy-ish...right up his alley.

I was happy to sit on a rocker and keep Mariah company since she was not able to go on the horses with her injured feet. We sat and talked and ate fresh warm bread from the kitchen.

After they all came back from the horses we sat down to a meal that had been prepared over the open fire. Traditional meal of rice, beans, tortillas and chicken. Tasted amazing.

I had to get a picture of the type of oven they use. I don't think it has the self cleaning feature that I am used to, but it seems to work just great for them. This cute little girl in the background lives here on the ranch.

2 other cute little faces that I captured here.

Here is a shot of the handmade tortillas we had with lunch. So delicious.

The women worked all morning making this wonderful sweet bread. They take it around to the neighbors and sell it. Our family and the Martins each bought a bag of 50 pieces for only $5. So yummy!

Lora was in pure heaven with her horse. We had a hard time getting her off when it was time to leave. She is a natural on a horse.

Lane and Emma were partners for the day. She was a little nervous at first but ended
up loving it.

This is Lane and Keith, the guy that owns the ranch. He reminded me a little of "papa Bud". Super nice guy and loved having all of us there for the day. He is originally from the states but has lived in Nicaragua now for 11 years. He is a retired family practice doctor.
We took so many more pictures of this day but just wanted to post a few here so you get the general idea of the ranch. The kids had a blast today.

San Juan del Sur

This is the wonderful Bed & Breakfast that we stayed in here in San Juan del Sur. Only $50 a night and it was beautiful. This is all of us loading up to go out to the ranch with the horses.

Getting ready for breakfast. Luc was a little anxious...patiently waiting.

So many pretty little sitting areas at this house...very relaxing

Trying to capture the open atmosphere of the house. Open courtyard, hammocks...so beautiful.

Here is the view from the back of the house. Alex is enjoying some time in the pool. Still working on his tan. Abram had several jumps from the balcony into the pool before he got shut down by the adults. Trust Abe to get right on that one. The house is directly across the street from the beach so it is a fun place to be. We really enjoyed our time here. Mariah and I were saying how much "nana"would love to get her decorating hands on this place and give it the extra special touches that it needs. Just needed a woman's touch as far as the decor but the house itself was beautiful and we had a great time!

A Wonderful Week

It is hard to believe that Alex has been here with us now for for over a week. I can't even explain how wonderful it is to have us all together again. Here are a few shots of some things we have done this past week...

This is a shot of us with some wonderful friends we have made here. Eva, Joe, Niki and Luc (The Martin Family) from Canada... they decided to follow our crazy example after meeting us here last August when they were here on vacation and returned home to start making plans to live here for 6 months. They arrived again a few weeks ago and we have been hanging out with them a lot and having some great food and great conversations about our different cultures. We are all taking a trip to Nicaragua together this week. Should be another fun adventure! Pino and his son Domingo are also in this picture. Good friends as well. We all had dinner together on Sunday evening.

Alex and Mariah. I just love seeing them together again.

Me and my boy that grew into a man during the last 2 years, but he still loves to give his mom hugs so it's all good.

Here is Alex with his 3 favorite girls in the whole world. They happen to adore him as well.

Alex and Mariah just "hanging out" ....Alex is working on that tan, trying to catch up with the rest of us.

Alex is getting a little instruction from Abram as he is about to try surfing for the first time

Father and son just enjoying a little together time

This time together is so precious to me. I am treasuring everyday as I know it won't last for long. Alex is already making plans to go out east and work for the summer, and Mariah is headed back to BYU in less than 3 weeks. Oh, I wish I could just keep them all under my wing forever but I know I need to let them go. Having us all squished together on the couch for 2 days of General Conference was just pure joy for me. I savored every moment. My heart was full not only because of the spirit of conference, but because we were all together and conference weekends are very sentimental to us. None of us wanted it to end. I am so blessed. I feel so much gratitude for my children and my husband. I feel very undeserving of them, but thankfully we have a loving Heavenly Father that blesses us in spite of ourselves.