The rat

A few months ago we started to smell a very strange odor. It was centered near the garbage and we found out that while it was near the garbage, that was not the offending member. The smell came from a bunch of plastic bags that I was keeping for later use. We threw them away thinking that maybe the cat had gone back there and used them for a litter box. That took care of the problem and life was peaceful again for a few days.

About a week later we smelt the same smell again, but this time it was coming when I turned on the oven. It wasn't strong, but I decided that we needed to mop the floor under the stove too. We did a lot of things, but the smell started fading. The only time you could smell anything was when the oven was on. I just figured that it was my pregnant nose acting up again.

Finally, last week it got so bad that I asked Jason to take to back off and see if something had died in the outer wall of the oven. He started taking the oven apart and the smell just kept getting worse and worse. We thought it would be a quick fix so I had bread rising on the counter. When we realized that something was on the insulation and it wouldn't be a quick fix we started taking the oven all the way apart to remove all of the insulation. I didn't get my bread made and ended up having to throw the dough away as we didn't get the insulation replaced until the next day. We did find a store near us that sells the insulation though.

After the stove was completely disassembled I was poking at the holes in it with a screwdriver and something moved. I shut the cat in the kitchen for the night as Jason was gone and I didn't want to see what had been in the insulation until it was dead.

The mouse escaped under the fridge and so we bought traps and more insulation and fixed things up again.

A few days after that we started to smell that smell again and so we moved the fridge and cleaned up behind it. It was so gross!!! As we were cleaning we didn't find the mouse and the cat all of the sudden had a great interest in our stove again.

Yesterday as I tried to cook dinner in the oven we once again smelt that familiar smell, although this time it was much worse. We found out that since the new insulation that we bought is thinner, it doesn't hide the smell as much. It was so bad that we had to turn off the stove, put dinner in the fridge for the next day, and eat out at Burger King after the service.

This morning Jason started to disassemble the oven once again to replace the padding, but this time we were determined to catch the mouse before we put everything back together. We put the cat on the top of the insulation and he started sniffing away. Jason tried pushing on the insulation to get the mouse to run out and couldn't find it. I started to poke with him on the top of the insulation and my hand hit this big bulge. I jumped back and told him that this was no little mouse that I felt.

That started an almost three hour time frame of chasing the mouse from fridge to stove and back again. During one of the trips between to the fridge we were able to see that this mouse was no mouse, but a rat. The little mouse traps we bought went off, but couldn't harm this rat as he was too big. The cat, we learned didn't want to kill the rat, but just wanted to play with him. Mittens was a great help though in letting us know where the rat was. After about 2 hours of chasing him all over the kitchen, the rat ran to my classroom/pantry. We kept chasing him and putting traps where ever we could to try and catch him. We finally succeeded when he was on the second shelf of my pantry with his tail hanging through one of the holes in the shelf. He was hiding from us. Jason took the rat trap (we went out and bought a new one that was bigger) and snapped it on his tail so he couldn't take off. He did manage to get loose from that, but he left about 1/3 of his tail behind. After that we chased him and he ran right into a glue trap. He caught his face in it. I took a picture of him (thinking he was dead) and then he started working his face loose from the trap so Jason took the dull end of a very big kitchen knife and beat him to death.

This whole time the kids were getting in the way so we told them to go sit on the couch and we would let them know when the mouse was dead. They were so excited to see it.

Our kitchen is now all back in order. We did move some things around to allow for ease of removing critters in the future, if needed. We are so very thankful that this is the first time this has happened to us. Ernesto and Nelly (Honduran friends of ours) told us that this is a very common occurrence and it happens to them a lot. No wonder the oven insulation is not hard to find. This is the first time for us in 5 years and I am very thankful for that. We did make a few changes to our house though. The dog food and water now stays outside and the inside garbage was moved so that nothing can fall behind it again. We are hoping that this will be the last time we have this problem.

Agua Splash

Today we had the honor to be invited to Agua Splash (a water park) by the colonel in charge of the Honduran Presidential Honor Guard. The military paid to take all of the families of these soldiers, and us, to the water park just outside of Teguc. Normally if we go to a water park it would be when no one is there and that was not the case today, but to refuse the invitation would be a huge insult. So we went and the kids had a blast.

The day started off with a bang when we found out that the time we had been given to be there by (7:00 am) was not correct and we didn't need to be there until 9:00 am. The bad thing was that we didn't get this call until 6:45 when we were dressed and ready to go, yet very sleepy. We got there a little before 9:00 am and had to wait until 10:00 am because the bus to pick everyone up was late. We were taking our own car, but we couldn't get to the park before them.

We have had a lot of heat and humidity these past few weeks. We were hoping that would last through today, but as our luck would have it, today was the day it started to rain. It rained and rained and then rained some more. The kids were already wet so we didn't make them come out of the water. It did make it cold though and they were shaking from the cold at times. Audrey (who must be part fish) came out of the water only for lunch and when we made her change to leave.

We are all tired out, but had a nice field trip day and are looking forward to a good nights sleep.

Incompetence

Today as I was working on some things that badly needed attention, I got a call from our insurance company. While we must purchase international insurance through our mission board and it is good insurance, it is not worth much here. In a normal year we have a hard time meeting our deductible. Because of this we have secondary insurance. We get it through the Honduras Medical Center (the good hospital here). We pay it monthly and receive a discounted price on medical care.

Today they called me to tell me that we were three months behind on our payments. Normally we are very prompt with our bills, but lately with all of my prenatal appointments we have been in and made sure they were paid on the first of the month. I told the lady that there was no way we had missed three months of payments.

I then had to put away what I was doing and go on a receipt hunt. The ones I had paid were filed away right where they should have been, but Jason is not as organized as I am. I called him as he was out at the property digging footings for the retaining wall and he didn't know where the other receipt was either. I did finally find it in his CLOSET. Some days I don't know whose filing abilities are more incompetent, Jason's or our insurance company's. :-)

I called them after all the receipts were found and gave them the receipt numbers. They were able to find the receipt originals and credit them to my account. Thankfully this is not the first time this has happened so we now know not to throw any receipts away.

We have the property and have spent several days out working on it. Please pray with us that God would provide the money to start building on it soon. We would so love to get things started but once we finish the retaining walls, we will have no more money to build with. Thankfully there is much work that we can be doing in the meantime. It is a good thing that the kids like digging as they will be doing a whole lot of it in the months to come.

To Many Boys

We had our ultrasound today and while it wasn't a surprise to us, we were kind of disappointed to find out that we are going to have yet another boy. We had all hoped for a girl to even the numbers out a bit.

This time I had a 4D ultrasound and it was a lot of fun. The doctor gave us a CD of all of the pictures. Most are not usable as he must have taken 10 pictures trying to show us it was a boy. I finally had to tell him that I didn't see what he was talking about and asked him to just tell me what it was.

As soon as the doctor put the machine in 4D mode the baby (who doesn't have a name yet) put his fingers in his mouth just like Joey (still does). I am going to need a good supply of pacifiers mailed to me if I am going to keep the fingers out of his mouth. Most all of the pictures have hands near or in his mouth.

When we got home and told Joey and Jordan they both expressed sadness that the baby is a boy. Joey told me, "Mommy, I am sad that your baby is a boy." When I asked him why he said, "We have to many boys." I couldn't help but laugh.

We were really hoping for a girl. Audrey and I were really going to enjoy dressing and doing hair. I guess we will have to adopt now. :-)

My due date based on my last two ultrasounds is December 25th. Praise the Lord the myoma has gone and should not cause any more problems.

Please pray for Becky Jackson (another BIMI missionary wife and best friend) as she goes in for surgery Saturday morning at 8:00 am. She has to have a hysterectomy. She is expected to be in the hospital until Monday afternoon.

Still Alive

Once again I was able to drag myself away from Facebook to write a blog. We have been really busy here so I haven't been able to spend a lot of time on Facebook either. I have a long list of emails to respond to.

We finally put the pool into storage yesterday. We bought a 15 X 4 ft pool for the kids this past summer (March-May in Honduras). It has been great. The only area of our yard big enough to hold it is a cemented square 16 X16 ft. The pool just fit, but it was underneath a big tree (our neighbors) which dropped leaves, sticks, and flowers in it all the time. A little over a month ago we cleaned it out and refilled it. It was so nice and clean, but the next day the water level was over a foot lower. We found out that the cement that the pool is on is not exactly smooth in all areas and one side of our pool has many pin holes in it. We emptied it then and it has been sitting there empty (except for the rainwater) for a while. We started noticing a lot of mosquitoes and finally figured out that we had our own mosquito hatching farm in the pool. Yesterday we had to clean it out once again and dry it out with towels so we could pack it up. Thankfully everything went well and the pool was put away just 15 minutes before it started to rain. The kids are enjoying the space to ride their bikes.

Please pray for us as we are in the process of purchasing some land. It is the property we were looking at when our truck broke down. We have been hiring a man Yoni (Johnny) who is an institute student and will be our next door neighbor to fix the road and then fence in the property for us. We should have enough money to put in the retaining walls needed to begin leveling out the property. We have our house and the layout of the property designed, but are not looking forward to waiting two more years to be able to move into the property. Please pray for us that we could find a house nearer the property to rent while we are building so that we could start right away. If we could find a house that is cheaper and closer we could take that money that we saved and put it into buying the materials needed to build the house.

This Friday is my ultrasound. I am very excited to finally find out if this baby is a girl or boy. I am almost 22 weeks along and this ultrasound will tell us what my due date is. My last ultrasound said I measured 1 1/2 weeks farther along. We are also excited to see if the Myoma that I have has gone away or if it is still there.

So far I have only gained 4 lbs which is good, but the bad thing is that until 2 weeks ago I hadn't gained a pound. I guess I am going to have to cut back on my deserts. I have had a craving for sweets that I only had with Audrey. Which is not so good as I gained the most weight with her. My doctor told me not to worry about not gaining weight though because I have plenty of reserve. I had to laugh at that because it really showed me that we are not in the states anymore.

Murphy's Law

I just have one question, "Who is Murphy and why is his law so mean?" Ok, so maybe that is two, but why can't his law be nice.

Yesterday, we went to talk to the owner of some property that we are interested in. It is a new property near Alan and Becky Jackson's house that is for sale. It is around 2 acres and might be usable. At this time it is so overgrown with brush that we would have to get it cleared to see what is actually available as there is a sizable hill on the property, but with retaining walls and moving the mountain around we think it will be really nice. The owner is the dad of one of the institute students and the property is next door to their house. The owner is asking a good price and we would pay to have this institute student clear the brush before we would buy the property.

Anyway, as we were driving to the new property, Jason said that he lost the clutch. The truck had to be left in the middle of the road (thankfully there are not many vehicles that pass on that road). We saw the property and then had to walk back to the Jackson's house. Jason and Alan then got some tools and went back to the truck. About 30 minutes later we heard a truck (they live in the middle of nowhere) and then it stopped. A few minutes later we heard it again and then it stopped. After about 15 minutes of this, we saw the truck drive into the property. Alan was driving and Jason was sitting in the truck bed. They had to push start it and anytime they had to slow down for a pothole it would die and they would have to push start it again. Jason started taking it apart in the driveway and found out that the problem is a part that went bad.

Becky took us home and today we have to try and find that part then go back to their house and fix the truck. This is the first time this truck has ever broken down on us and thankfully it is not a major fix. I just wish that it had broken down in our driveway. That would have been so much easier. :-)

Today is my shopping day so Becky Jackson (who also has an empty fridge) will take me shopping while Jason fixes the truck. I am so thankful for good friends. Becky told me last night that she is glad that it is finally their time to help. Usually the come into town to get their car worked on and we take them around. I am glad we have them for friends.

Jordan update

Yesterday when I tried to write this update the blog site was down. So you are getting day old information.

We got Jordan's test results back and that showed that he did not have Mono, but just your normal average flu. He is doing much better and has gone a full day and a half without a fever.

Joey, however, decided that someone in the Tate family just had to be sick and so he is now down with the same symptoms that Jordan had. He is so excited to be able to stay in his jammies all day. He has a high fever, cough, and watery eyes. Yesterday he took a 3 hour nap. Today his fever is not as high, but we will see what happens later on in the day when fevers normally spike.

Thank you all for your prayers. Jason is doing much better. He still has a cough and is weak, but he is getting better each and every day.