Week 10 in PR

Time is clipping along here on the island. I’m not sure how it happened but here we are mid October and the weather is just as pleasant as can be right now. It’s interesting to be here long enough for now to notice the difference but it is certainly cooler than it was when we first moved over. We’re glad to have it not quite so hot!!

Beach Day took us to Rio Grande beach just up the road from us about 10-15 minutes. It’s a spot where the Rio Grande Loiza river meets up with the ocean and it was a cool little spot to swim. The kids found some rope swing hanging from the tree and had fun hanging out on those for a long time. It was a beautiful night to be out of the house and out of school for a bit! Keen drew all his favorite holidays in the sand as we sat and talked about the snow that we know is headed to Utah this week and how different it is to be on an island instead! Oh how we love our beach days! 

The rest of the week flew by. Josh headed to Florida for a conference for most of the week and we just settled into our gym/school/dinner/bedtime routine. The kids are doing great in school and have just another week or so before the quarter ends. Deshs teacher keeps up updated on their activities for the week and usually sends us a couple pictures of what’s happening in the classroom. Such cute kiddos that they all get to be surrounded with all day! We got a fun package from Aunt Britt and the boys in the mail this week and just devoured the treats she sent. What a fun surprise! As usual, the daily mail check is always one of the most exciting things that happens all day. 

Rease started after school tutoring this week and has really loved the extra help she gets with her Spanish. She’s able to have almost two full hours of Spanish training with the teacher and only a handful of other kids in the class. It’s been a huge blessing to have after school tutoring for all the kids this year. We feel super lucky to be a part of that! As part of tutoring this week, Rease and the other students recognized breast cancer awareness and had a day that was in honor of all those with cancer. Kind of cool to see what they did. Desh took a field trip to the ice cream shop, Rhen broke a bottle of red nail polish and had fun cleaning it up, and Kim and Hector came over for dinner one night this weekend. Always a pleasure to be with them!

Saturday morning Josh got up early and planted a few bushes in the yard that have been waiting and needing a little love. Rease pulled on the pressure washer and between her and Beck they got the whole back patio washed off. It looks so much better!

And then right in the middle of working outside the rain started. And because everyone was already wet, why not water fight?! The kids had a great time splashing, squirting and throwing water at each other and no better way to get out of a little work right when you need it! 

We worked hard but also took some time to relax this weekend as well. Saturday we had our pizza and movie night and then Josh and I snuck away for a couple hours to a “married couples” party that was going on at the stake center. We didn’t know what we were getting into but we certainly didn’t expect to have as much fun as we did! There was dancing like you would never believe and there was no way around it, we caught the bug. All types of salsa and Latin dancing were happening and we just couldn’t stop watching everyone and wanting to be a part of it. We tried our best but also left there with a vow that we would take dance lessons of some sort while we’re here. We’ve got to get some rhythm and be able to join in on the next dance! Such a fun night to end another great week.  

Week 9 in PR

We had such a great week with Melissa and Jordan here! Sunday after church, the 4 of us took a drive up Guzman Abajo and past Rio Espirito Santo and beyond.  It was a gorgeous drive and an even better evening for that drive.  The weather was perfect and we got out and walked around a bit in certain places to check things out.  Such a fun time exploring our little corner of the island.  

Monday the kids had a break from school for Columbus Day so we went on a short hike on the Angelito Trail that ended up in the fun swimming hole.  We love climbing the rocks, jumping, hiking up the river, slipping, sliding and taking lots of pictures in this beautiful spot.  It was the funnest morning just hanging out in the fresh water and enjoying the warm sun!

The kids were brave and got up on this giant rock all together to get a picture and then jump off together.  One or two of them may or may not have hit the side of the rock on the jump but hey, at least we got the picture!

Beach day on Monday afternoon we ended up at La Pared in Luquillo.  It was fun and close and easy to get to and we loved being there until dark.  We have grown to love our beach days and so glad we've gotten to know the beaches close to us!



Tuesday we got back to business and the kids headed to school, Jordan left on a hike, Josh got back to work and Melissa and I went to Costco.  They were so fun to have because they just joined in on our day to day.  I loved catching up with my friend and having her back in my daily life!  

Wednesday morning we took the ferry out to Culebra and showed Melissa and Jordan our favorite Caribbean beach.  Flamenco Beach never disappoints and this week the water seemed especially clear and blue.  We had the best day sitting in the sun, playing in the water and taking in this gorgeous scenery around us.  It is a one of a kind place and we can never get enough.  Melissa and Jordan took hammocks and stayed overnight while the rest of us headed home on the evening ferry.  I admit I was glad to get back and sleep in our beds and get the kids ready for the next day of school.  

We celebrated Jordan's 50th birthday while they were here this week and we officially celebrated at a delicious spot at Seven Seas Beach in Fajardo called Costa Mia.  We had fresh fish, some local favorite appetizers and ended with tres leches and flan for dessert.  We feel so grateful to have spent Jordan's birthday with him in our new home!  It's crazy to think we're coming up on 10 years knowing the Hammers but also hard to believe that there was as time that we didn't have them part of our lives.  We just love them like family and know our lives will forever be intertwined.  Happy Birthday to our friend/brother Jordan!

Saturday we loaded into the cars and took a long drive across the island to Isabela where there was a pro surfing competition going on.  We didn't get there early enough to find a great spot to watch but we ended up on a ledge with a seat and a breeze that kept us cool for a bit while we watched.  It was such an interesting crowd and lots of locals there that you could tell were there for THE DAY.  Coolers, chairs, umbrellas, and lots of booze but also fun to see professional surfing going on just a couple hours away from us! It was a beautiful drive there and back and we felt like it was a good Saturday to end the week on.  

Early Sunday morning we said goodbye to Jordan and Melissa but only for a couple short months as they have tickets to come back with the whole family in January!  So instead of goodbye it was more of a see you later :)

The boys got Sunday haircuts after church and we took the rest of the day to just relax and get ready for another week ahead.  

Wow what a fun week we had with our friends here!  Loved every minute of it.  

Week 8 in PR

Mom and dad have been so fun to have this week! They are great project-ers so were excited to get right to work with anything we had ready for them to do. We started with our closet and installed some shelves and drawers instead of trying to do a dresser in the room. It turned out to be awesome and fairly easy to set up. We also put together a shelf unit for the girls room and bought some lights and fans to hang. A couple runs to IKEA and Home Depot and we were set for projects for a few days. 

For beach day we headed north to Playa del Capitolio to gather more sea glass. Grammie was on the hunt for it and we wanted to try this new place we had never been. It was so fun and we found lots of glass though it took a little more effort than last week in Patillas. We turned over rocks and looked in the water and came home with even more bags full of seaglass and shells. It was an absolutely gorgeous night and I cannot get enough of the sunsets on the island. 

We worked hard all week putting things together and we cooked hard for the missionaries on Tuesday night. It’s our tradition to let them choose what we eat on Tuesday nights and this week they wanted the traditional Sunday dinner - roast, mashed potatoes, rolls, delicious corn, the works. It was delicious and so fun to have our table full of people!

Wednesday was a day is girls have all been looking forward to! We had a shopping day with Grammie and left early and came home late and shopped all the day long. It was a blast and so much fun to get all the fun things on our list crossed off. We bought towels, benches, lamps, decorations, kitchen utensils, clothes, shoes and everything else that girls like to shop for.  We had lunch together and then shopped even more with Grammie spoiling us all along the way. We stuffed our van full to the max and couldn’t even think of fitting one more thing in there. The boys met us for an early dinner in the city and then we drove by the temple on the way home. We were pooped after our day but LOVED every second of it!

 Papa and Josh had fun shopping for trees and bushes one day and then worked hard getting them planted. Our yard is starting to get full of new trees and hopefully soon we’ll start seeing them all sprout ip big and tall! 

Rease came home from school Friday with an honor certificate for perfect attendance this quarter. So proud of this girl and how well she’s done in school and adjusting to something that is hard. She is so amazing.

We finished hanging lights and putting the kids rooms together with all the fun things we bought. They turned out sooo cute!

We got this sweetest message from Desh’s teacher on Friday. Apparently he has won over the kids in his class along with Señora García and I’m not surprised. He is so happy and excited about school most days and comes home with all sorts of stories from the day. We loved hearing that he’s also doing well in class and with his classmates! Such a sweet thing to get at the end of the week! 

Our kids have been writing notes and cards and letters like crazy to friends and family.  We've have a whole board in our house dedicated to showing off all the letters we get back in return.  The kids LOVE to check the mailbox and see if any letters have come for them!

We said goodbye to Grammie and papa Friday  morning and were sad that their visit ended so soon. It was a wonderful week with them and we can’t wait to get them back in a few months! 

We said goodbye to one set of loved ones and welcomed in another set the next day! Our friends the Hammers got here Saturday afternoon to spend the next 8 days with us! We are so excited to have them and show them all our favorite spots. But mostly just excited to be with them and catch up on life. It’s going to be a great week. 

Week 7 in PR

Monday Beach Day we drove down to Patillas which is an absolutely gorgeous drive up through the mountains and back down along the coast. It was so fun to make the drive down but even better once we got there.  We went all the way down there to go sea glassing and it did not disappoint. We walked along the beach for a couple of hours and grabbed bags of glass and shells and all sorts of good finds that we’ll find something fun to do with! It was a perfect afternoon to be out and we couldn’t get enough of this gorgeous spot!

We’re still out of power at our house so we spent a lot of the week wishing and hoping that the lights would come back soon! Our electrician Eduardo came and installed a power switch to hook up our generator to power the house. It was a game changer when that was done and we could actually switch lights on and use the washer and dryer at the same time! Baby steps. We’re so grateful for good people that help us out!

We have been watching and keeping track of Luma trucks that come up our way on the hill. It has been pretty quiet until Thursday morning when we actually had the mayor of Rio Grande show up right in front of our house! He was doing a live press conference about the power that was still out up on the hill and what they were going to do to get it back on for us. It was pretty cool to see him there and know that there was actual work going to be done around us. Sure enough Luma showed up and worked all day Thursday and Friday putting up new power lines, cutting down trees that were in the way and trying to get the power back on for us. Meanwhile we were living on the generator power and washing dishes outside in the outdoor shower since our kitchen sink hadn’t been installed yet. Kids headed back to school and life returned to somewhat normal aside from the power. We just have felt so lucky to have been taken care of the way we have been and have been just fine with the amenities we have. Things have certainly started to improve around the island. 

And in between it all I got the official word that I was accepted into the Boston marathon for next year! Wohoo! 

Friday and Saturday turned out to be awesome days. Friday the kitchen sink got installed and I’ll tell you I didn’t know how much I missed having a kitchen sink until I didn’t have one! It was a welcome sight to see Edgardo walk through the door to get that in for us! We’re preparing for mom and dad to come visit so it was perfect timing to get that in and have a fully functional kitchen. 

Desh took an updated picture of D Papaya and it has probably doubled in size since he planted it first. 

Saturday we welcomed mom and dad to the island and were soooo excited to see them! They took a red eye Friday night and got to our house around noon Saturday. They were tired but we can’t wait to have them spend the week with us! When they got here we were still out of power but lots of action happening on our street. Luma trucks were roaming around and the mayor was back to oversee things. We watched them put up one last power pole and attach the electrical wire to it. Then just like that, our red light turned on and that means our now owner was back! It was a celebration like no other when we got to unplug the generator and switch on the air conditioning. Mom and dad only had to make it through one hour of no power before it came back. They brought good luck to the island with them! We are so grateful to all those that have worked so hard getting us back up and running and we know there are a lot more that need help. We were without power for 13 days and 8 hours which was much longer than we ever expected. Now so happy to have those two weeks behind us. 

Sunday morning we had the most special day as Beck was baptized at La Playa de Vacia Talega. He really wanted to be baptized on the island and while we’re here wanted to do it on the beach. It worked out timing wise that we could have mom and dad with us for the baptism and that was really special. The beach had the perfect little cove of trees for us to have our meeting before the baptism and beck had asked Elder Leatherwood and Rhen to each give a short talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost. It was a sweet little meeting right before the baptism and brought the spirit to our small group. As beck and Josh walked out to the water for the baptism I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming gratitude for this son of mine who is trying hard to make right choices, for this place that we’ve been lucky enough to make a part of our life for a short time and for all those that were there to share the day with us. It was pretty great to be on a beach and watch my son make important covenants with his Heavenly Father. Once in a lifetime moment for me.  



We finished off Sunday watching general conference and I always love to hear the words of our leaders and feel a boost of love from them. We had scones (we couldn’t miss that tradition) and spent the day together and it was just the perfect way to end our week. So many good things to be grateful for this week but most of all this family of mine that I love with my whole heart. 

Week 6 in PR

This week has been an interesting one as we’ve all been trying to recover from Hurricane Fiona that came though last Sunday. We’ve been without power or water all week and it has been an adjustment to live life without both of those. But we’ve been fine. Our generator has been great and gives us enough power to run our fans, refrigerators and a couple of lights for a few hours a day. We’re in a good rhythm and have enough extension cords running to different parts of the house that we can function with almost everything we need to live. Our extension cord system is impressive to say the least. It’s a labyrinth of cords mixed with power strips and surge protectors but it’s working just fine for us! 

The water on the other hand has been a little more difficult to live without. Our cistern has been supplying us with water to our toilets and a tiny stream of water out of the faucets. Not enough to wash dishes or wash clothes but we at least get enough filling up the toilets that we can flush and let it refill for the next 15-20 minutes to be able to use again. That has been a blessing for sure. We’ve had to relocate our dishwashing station to the spot with the most water pressure and that happens to be the outdoor shower down at the corner of the house. That has been the spot for showers, dishwashing and rinsing out of anything that we need running water for. It’s has worked good enough and we just feel lucky to have any water at all. The adjustment to very little water in the house has been more difficult than adjusting to no power. But we’ve managed and it has worked out ok so far. I got up on the roof Friday to check the level of our cistern. We were right about halfway full and I started calculating how many more days we’d have water if the city water doesn’t return. I figured we’d have about 6 more days left in the cistern and that’s if we could really conserve. So the kids and I decided we could do limit our showers and use minimal water during dishwashing to help out. That night Rhen and I even showered in the downspout after a rainstorm and figured we were doing our part to conserve our water that way :) The kids have been amazing during it all and we’ve found lots of different ways to keep ourselves busy. The elementary kids started back to school Thursday and Rease and Rhen go to the church everyday to work on their online classes. It has been a good setup down there for them with internet, power and water which is what we don’t have at home. And we’ve been so grateful that we have that place for them to go to work on school. The middle school and high schools have been out all week so I’ve had Liev home with me during the day while the others are at school or at the church. He’s been helpful doing all sorts of things with me and we spend some time at the church with the girls too during the hottest part of the day while our generator is off. It’s been a week of lots of learning and trying to just get through the day with no air or ac. A couple of highlights from this week with no power:

We met Elder Linford at the church while we were there doing school with the girls. He just got to the island Wednesday and was assigned to the Luquillo Branch just down in the next town from us. He was at our church for district meeting with the other elders and we happened to be there at the same time!

Rhen has perfected the Pina colada and we’ve had multiple nights of delicious dessert. 

Josh and I celebrated our 18th anniversary - although celebrated may not be the right word since he was in utah and I was here. But we acknowledged the date anyway!

Our outdoor shower continues to be the place that we wash everything: dishes, clothes, bodies etc. 

And the best thing I saw this week? This little doodle that Desh had written on our white board. I’ll let you figure out what it says. It’s absolutely true. 

I also had the task of changing the oil on the generator. Since it’s new it was recommended that the first oil change be after 25 hours of usage. So of course that happened to fall this week so I got to work with two of my favorite side kicks. We had to get a part or two before we could actually get it done. But when it came down to it, it was actually a piece of cake. Desh and Beck filled the oil back up and it was good as new. 

We’ve also had water trucks and Luma trucks all over our mountain this week and I hope that means that our power and water will be back soon. I know everyone is working hard so I’m trying to be patient. But at least it’s a good sign to see trucks around getting some things done. 

While Josh was in utah he stopped in and grabbed a blanket from my friend suz who had made it for me for our move. She’s so sweet and Josh grabbed this pic of my basketball ladies while he was there. Miss them all like crazy! 

Saturday turned out to be a great day! Mid morning we got our city water back! It was a celebration at our house as we realized the water was coming full speed out of the faucet when we turned it on! We cheered and celebrated and then all took showers in honor of our renewed water. Kim invited us over to swim and we took her up in the kind offer to get out of the house. After swimming we took a little drive down to Fajardo and made it to Seven Seas Beach. Beautiful little beach outside of town with a gorgeous view and we ordered some drinks and hung out just taking it in before we headed back home. 

Homemade pizza night on Saturday and sadly we couldn’t watch our movie but we played games like champs instead. Beck and Desh were in charge of dish duty Saturday night and it was obvious by the suds leftover that there was just a little extra soap used during the washing. 

Today we had stake conference and it was so great to gather with such a large group of saints. I loved being there and hearing the messages from our stake presidency and being able to worship together. And this afternoon the boys wrote letters and made a box for their favorite YouTuber Mr A Game. They’re convinced that he will open their letters and packages to him on air, so we got a package all together for him. They’re the best!

 Tonight as we wait for Josh to get home we’re all grateful for the week we’ve had and the things we’ve learned. I’ve had so many moments that have brought me to tears as neighbors and strangers have offered helping hands to those of us that are around. I drove down the hill one afternoon and was stopped by a group of people handing out bags of food and cases of water to everyone that drove past. I was so touched by their generosity and know I didn’t express it well enough in my very broken Spanish. Another day our neighbor two doors down knocked at the gate and said she had saved some bags of ice for us. Her son brought up 5 large bags of ice for us to have in our freezer and I know she was giving more bags away to the rest of the street. Just kindness. And another morning I snuck away to the gym with Rease and we both took our bags to be able to shower and change our clothes while we were there (it had been a while since we’d each had a good shower to wash hair and everything). The woman who works at the front desk stopped us on our way out and told me that Planet Fitness is opening their doors to all family members to be able to come shower and take advantage of the facilities while so many of us are without water still. I just couldn’t help it and broke into tears as she was welcoming me and all my kids into the gym for something that is seemingly so basic as a shower, but something that we haven’t had enough of this week. My heart was touched and I realized how kind hearted and welcoming the Puerto Rican people are and have been to us since we arrived. We’re a community that is working together to get through this difficult situation and they’re all doing it with a smile and kind word. I hope that I can be the same way someday when I see another in need. For today, I’m grateful for all those around me that have loved and served us. 

Just a few moments from the week that I know I’ll never forget. For all of my life I want to remember what we’ve been through this week and what has built our character. Here are just a few:

- Cover Your Assets by lamplight until we can’t play anymore!

- Dish washing in the down spout 

- Reading books because we have no tv

- Pina coladas (perfected by Rhen)

- Hardy Boys every night before bed

- Conserving water in all sorts of way - boys peeing off the deck instead of using the toilets, showering outside or in the rain, filling up gallons of  “poison” water to use for hand washing, washing a few towels and essential clothes by hand (not enough water pressure for washing machine), and just the thought in all of our minds that we are short on water. It makes you think and act differently when you know it’s not endless.

- Early dinners so we can cook in the daylight

-  Liev learned how to light the gas stove with a match so he can still cook his eggs

- Girls working hard at the church on their online school classes

- Beck helped me start the generator everyday. Knows all he steps it takes to get it started

- I learned how to exchange empty propane tanks for full ones all in Spanish. And then exchanged them daily as we went through a tank a day with our generator. 

- Plunging toilets until we couldn’t plunge anymore to get it all just to flush down the drain! 

- The midnight shower in the downspout with Rhen (because we knew it had just rained and it would help us save the water)

- Learning to cook everything on the gas grill

- Teaching my boys (and learning myself as I went) how to check the oil in the generator and then change the oil when needed

- No school most of the week so we learned to be creative with our time. Make believing, writing letters, playing Pokémon, sleeping, playing games together. 

- Being grateful for all the “little wins”. There were many. 

- The simpleness 

Hurricane Fiona

Sunday morning we woke up to no power as Fiona moved in overnight. It’s interesting how the temperature dropped and was in the low to mid 70s instead of the 80s. And what a difference it makes to find yourself with no power and no fans or ac, but we felt fine because the air was so much cooler. Joshs flight was obviously cancelled and our stake conference had been cancelled until next week already so we knew we didn’t have to be anywhere Sunday at all. And a good thing too because from the minute we woke up it was constant and pretty intense rain the whole day. Mixed with winds that went from mild-moderate-heavy at times but were also pretty consistently there. It was just what I thought it might be in the middle of a hurricane. We have a big wrap around covered porch and the west side of the house was completely shielded from the wind and rain blowing in from the east. So we spent most of the day sitting outside and watching mother nature take hold of everything surrounding us. The winds and the rains got crazy at times and we heard and saw huge trees break off and fall right behind our house in the jungle. Water pooled up in our yard and ran like a small river down the road from our house. The bottom level did start to fill up and drain water through it just like we thought it probably would and we were so grateful for our preparations to get everything out of there or off the floor. Meanwhile Beck and Desh filled up some extra gallon jugs of water with the hose and kept those in case we also lose water. And…we ate! We are in love with this grill/griddle we bought and even more now that we can still cook on it with the power out. Josh made yummy tacos for us while we watched the storm go by. 

Sunday night we had church by candlelight and then fired up the generator to make pina coladas for dessert. We talked about how blessed we are to have a sturdy house and the essentials we need while the storm is happening around us. Mostly just a great day of feeling gratitude for the protection we were receiving. 

And so many people reaching out reminding us that we’re being thought of and prayed for. I don’t think we ever felt like we were in danger, and I know it’s because we were being comforted by a Heavenly Father who listens to all those prayers being said. We just felt so much love pouring in.  



Monday morning we woke up to more rain but not the heavy winds like we had Sunday. It was obvious that the hurricane had moved on but we were still getting the tail of the storm circling around us and dropping tons of rain in its wake. We also started to see the magnitude of damage that Fiona had caused when it came through and how many people had been left with flooding towns and homes. We feel a bit isolated up on the mountain and don’t always see or know what’s happening around us, but as we saw pictures come through on Facebook we realized how protected we actually are up on the hill as the rain and water drained down to the valleys. I wish we knew exactly how much rain we got but some places reported 30 inches in those 24 hours. That’s an incredible amount of water and the rivers just swelled up and ran over flooding homes and neighborhoods. In the central and south part of the island where the hurricane hit hardest there are whole towns under water, bridges that have collapsed and roads completely washed out. It’s so crazy to see all the damage happening on the island. The rain let up a little bit and we took a walk around our small neighborhood to see how everyone was doing up our way. Lots of broken trees and bushes and some small areas where the road has started to tear up but for the most part we did ok. We settled in for another day of lots of rain and letting the storm pass. We played tons of games and had a Spanish lesson and of course took naps whenever we could! Still no power all over the island and with no power we also have no internet. We started to realize that maybe getting Josh rescheduled for a new flight out of here might be the best idea so he can get at least some kind of work done while we’re recovering from the hurricane. 

Monday night we had to get out of the house. We loaded up and drove to the beach (you know since it’s Monday and all) and were happy to just be outside. We all posed in front of this incredible angel art and then wandered along the beach and up the pier. The water was so calm it was almost eery, like every bit of energy had been taken away with the storm. It was crazy but so beautiful. 

On the pier we found a few guys fishing and catching small bait fish with a net and then dropping them into bucket. It was so fun to watch them do their job. Liev cleverly named this Fishterra Beach because we didn’t know what it was called exactly and it fit with what was happening around us. Rhen hates the name but we’re going with it :) That night we watched the most incredible thunder/lightning storm around us and were in awe at how close it seemed to be! 

That night we went to bed with no power or water from the city still. 

Tuesday Josh and I got up early and headed into town to see what the state of the towns look like and check out what might possibly be open. We found the gym closed :( but Home Depot was up and running with lights and ac and all! We wandered around and found a few more extension cords that we’re realizing we need, got a couple more cases of water and hoped to be able to change out our small propane tanks for new ones. They were unfortunately out of propane so off we went to find somewhere that might have them. We didn’t have to go too far, just across the street to a little shop that I’ve never really noticed before but ended up being a gem to find! It’s a baking supply store and had lots of things that I haven’t been able to find at regular grocery stores including yeast! I was so excited to find it. And another miracle is they had propane and were able to trade out our used ones for new ones. Double win on that little store! 

We did end up getting Josh a flight off the island as the power and internet outage continue throughout the island. We got him packed up and then he walked me around the house and showed me all the things I might need to know for the coming days. Water valves for the city, water valves from the cistern, how to change the oil on the generator (which I’ll have to do in the next day or two if we need the generator much longer), instructions on when the garbage guy comes, checking the level on the cistern on the roof (and figured out that we have 450 gallons still of our 600 gallon tank), and all the things that I may need to know while he’s gone. I’m so grateful that he’s so prepared and I feel completely comfortable knowing what to do while he’s gone. We’ve figured out that we get the best water pressure in the outside shower and have taken to having our daily showers down there. It’s chilly but worth it after sweating all day in a warm and damp house :) The family keeps asking how we’re doing and I sent this out on day 3 of our power and water outage:

Today is Wednesday and we’re starting to realize that we may be without power and water for a lot longer than we actually anticipated. Lots of Luma and city trucks can be found everywhere working hard to get things back up and running so I know things are in the works. But it’s looking like it will take some time. In the meantime we’re trying to figure out anything to keep us occupied throughout the day. The kids are out of school for now and with no source of power to take up our time, we’ve been forced to be imaginative. Real life smash bros, clay art turned body armor, hide and seek, dead man cacoons, and everything else under the sun. We’ve dubbed cover your assets as our official Fiona game and have played at least 470 rounds of it in the past 4 days. All the creatures have come out as well with all the rain and now the sun, so we’re finding ourselves with lots of bites in the morning and critters crawling around everywhere. Some harmless and some just really gross.  Today we took chrome books down the hill to the church and hoped that it might be a place we could find power and internet access. Without being able to get on from home, the girls have really fallen behind in the online classes they’re taking from home. These days would be perfect days to get caught up on everything! Praise the heavens that we were able to get the logged on and working away on school! This may just be what saves our school year if we can keep it going. Thanks church!

We’ve settled into a routine of having the generator on a few hours a day and cooling down with the fans on, early dinners, games and books before bed. It’s a simple but good life we’re living right now. 

What we’re really feeling is just an incredible amount of gratitude for what we feel are true blessings amidst the storms. We’re safe, healthy, together, have plenty of water, a working generator, now have a place to get schoolwork done and a home that keeps us protected. We are truly blessed and know we have a loving Heavenly Father watching over us. Many many of our beloved Puerto Ricans are suffering. We hope they can find recovery and peace as well and hope to be able to help in any way we can.