Tuesday

The days here are passing by quickly for the most part. With teaching in the morning and running errands or meeting a friend for lunch in Antigua in the afternoons, I usually wrap up the day after I put Diego down around 7 PM and think to myself...another day closer to going home. Though, this place - Guatemala, the apartment I am in, the children's home - they are starting to feel more and more like home everyday. My mother and father arrive next week for about three weeks, which is a delightful treat! Then, Papa Christian will come the last week of July. While there is no way to predict what may happen, I hope the end of July brings good news of coming home. While I don't look forward to the sweltering heat of North Carolina's summer and I will miss the cleansing rain of Guatemala, I look forward to introducing Diego to our life and friends in North Carolina. I have the opportunity, also, to fly to San Diego for Labor Day weekend and I can't wait to see old friends and have them meet our new son!

My friend Melissa and her son Gavin will be going home to Indiana within a couple of weeks. She found out on Thursday that her adoption case is final and that Gavin is hers forever! She is very excited, and I am thrilled for her, but I will miss having her around and meeting her for lunch in town!

So, I decided to start renting DVD's to watch in the afternoons or nights here off of my little laptop. The first three I rented cost me about $5 for two nights. However, most rental shops here only rent out copies of the movies and they won't work on my computer. In fact, the first one I tried froze the computer about 10 minutes into the movie. So, my mom is going to bring down some DVD's of my brother's and her first two seasons of The West Wing. I'm excited about that and wish I had thought of bringing down more DVD's earlier than now!

I also have finished reading the 10 Hollywood trash magazines (and People) that my friend Tracey brought down for me. OK, now I asked you all to keep me updated on important happenings in the US as I don't watch TV here and thus never see the news. Jennifer Garner is pregnant? Tom and Katie? Paris Hilton engaged? People! These are important things in my life!!! I have to know this kind of gossip!

Our wedding anniversary is this Sunday, and yet again, we will spend it apart! I think we've only spent 2 of our 6 anniversaries actually together. Oh well!

That's it for now...I'm eating the most delicious chocolate brownie I think in all of North and Central America (I can't include Europe and Asia as I just don't know their fare as well). It's warm and chocolately and I'm in heaven. Plus, the rain has just started to downpour and it's such a soothing way to drift off into sleep!

Love you all...Lauren