Feliz Navidad from Honduras!

Here are some pictures and comments from the Boersma family Christmas in Honduras!

Joel and I playing a game of futbol on the beach. One of the greatest parts of the vacation was simply spending time with family that we don't get to see very often.

These are a couple local kids Darcy and I met on a walk. Jack, our caretaker at the resort, told us these boys "borrow" this horse and go and find cocunuts on other people's land to take home.

The above picture shows us putting to use our Spanish skills (un poco) with Wilson, our guide, who knew as much English as we knew Spanish. The picture sums up the communication process well!

We did two separate snorkeling trips out to Cayos Cochinos which are a group of islands about 15 miles out from the resort we stayed at. These islands feature some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean area and serves as home to a group of Garifuna Hondurans.

We all enjoyed the beautiful weather and extra doses of vitamin D. Jorge, one of our local guides, is keeping watch over the boat in the background. Most of the economy in this area is based off of the tourism industry.

The day after Christmas we took an unforgettable ride out to the popular cruise ship island of Roatan. It was unforgettable in the fact that most of the passengers on the ferry lost their breakfast on the way to the island-it was a pretty rough ride. We took this picture after our stomachs settled before the ride back to the main land. We did some site seeing and shopping while on the island.

One excursion that I didn't post a picture of is our white water rafting trip down the Rio Cangeral. This was recommended as one of the best rafting trips in Central America and it lived up to its hype. We did some challenging class 3 and 4 rapids and survived a crash coming down a steep fall throwing Susan, Michael, and our guide out of the raft (we do have this on video to watch next Christmas:)

The vacation was a wonderful time of connecting with the family and made us very grateful for our life that we enjoy in the US. Honduras is a beautiful country with the ocean, mountain, and jungle landscapes. We were also reminded of the poverty most of the world lives in compared to what we have as American citizens. We left Daraby and Dakota with Darcy's parents which worked out well and it was good to come home and spend a couple days with them before school got going again on January 3rd.

Thanks to both sets of parents for making this trip possible for us and thank you all for tuning in!

Being Sick and celebrating Christmas

Oh matching girls! Us four girls have a lot of fun together.
Last year I was pregnant with Dakota and now it just feels like we've been together forever. I can't believe I was even nervous about being a mom to two little girls. They are great friends and Daraby is the best mother's helper ever. She really keeps Dakota in line and won't brook any nonsense. She is more strict than I am. She loves to get the bottle and treats for Dakota, pats her back, talks to her as she gets up from naps, sings to her, reads her books and calls to her like she does Abby. "Abby come! Dakota come! We play toys! Come!" says Daraby. I love having her help and I'm so proud of the little girl/mother she is becoming. All her babies are well loved and she is constantly giving them rides in the stroller, putting them in the high chair, laying them in the cradle etc... In the picture below you will see that she got a metal grocery cart for Christmas. She already loves it! She mimics me. I try to just cuddle her and play with her but I have to play and cuddle her four dolls too. Since I was a tom-boy this is all pretty new to me. Oh I had dolls-I played with them alongside GI Joes. This nurturing nature is very Daraby. What a beautiful spirit! Daraby is hating the camera but her personality is blooming and her speech is adorable.

We celebrated by opening gifts as a family tonight as Andrew and I fly out on Sunday. Tomorrow we will be packing. Saturday we'll drop the girls off in Pierre and celebrate a bit with my fam. It won't be a white Christmas for us this year unless we get stuck in the states.

This week has been more than just busy it has been overwhelming. We've been super sick. I haven't been this sick in almost 20 years or so. Sure I was in the hospital after Dakota was born but that was nothing to this bout with Strep. Incredibly sick! I started to feel bad on Monday. On Tuesday morning Andrew and I went and worked out at that gym. We walked, ran some ladders and rode the bike. Afterwards I was bent over sick. I thought, "Wow! I really need to start working out more. This is pathetic!" Well, I do need to actually work out more but this sick was over the top and I spent the morning trying to gain my bearings back. By the afternoon I realized I was really sick. The Dr confirmed it- said I have Strep Throat and perhaps Mono. I'm one of the worst cases he has seen. "No doubt about," he said. I started taking medicine Tuesday night.
By Wednesday we realized that Daraby and Andrew had it too. Back into town I drove to get more medicine. We've had high fevers and lots of chills. Chattering teeth and everything. Awfully sick! My throat felt like it was being stabbed by knives. Very painful. We are getting better. Still feel pretty weak and light headed but this feels great compared to a day ago. I'm hoping we are up to snuff by the time we fly out. I wouldn't have been able to board a plane a few days ago. Pray that we don't have any complications and that this illness will go away completely.
By the way we have lots and lots of thank yous need to go out. We opened gifts tonight from G & G Boersma, Great G & G Boersma, Great G & G Van Duinen, Shorts and Seamans. We feel incredibly blessed and loved!! Just to think that last year about this time we were living in at state of turmoil about the future. We had no permanent home, change in jobs, no company health insurance for a month, loss of our possessions, and I was pregnant and we were sleeping on an air mattress in the living room. Oh, we had puppies last year. If you remember Abby gave birth to them in the Suburban on top of many our belongings while I was driving/moving to our temporary rental place. Oh the joys and pains in life. We've grown, changed and softened in a year. We are very thankful for the Lord's hand in our life and His protection.
Thanks again for all the amazing gifts for the girls: Knitted hats, knitted sweater, matching outfits, metal grocery cart, musical glow seahorse, play food, lamb puppet, (formerly loved) American girl doll, my little pony, little apron, etc.... So Blessed! Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!
Even in the midst of all the gifts I find the most peace in realizing that "God with us" happened so many years ago. He came to earth to bring us into a relationship with Him. Today he has made a dwelling place in our hearts: from a manger, to a cross, and into our hearts. A savior who is Christ the Lord! A graceful and loving God who humbled himself to come to earth. Let us imitate Him this season by humbling ourselves, giving others grace and extending an olive branch to the unlovely. A challenge for sure but doable with the love of Christ. Go get 'em and have a Merry Christmas while you are at it!


Dadda's love!


Oh Happy Baby! Dakota loves the camera.


Daraby is imitating me. She has a carseat for her baby and she is going shopping. You don't realize until you become a mom that kids listen, follow and do all the things you do. I love it.

So amazing, we got a knock on our door right in the middle of us opening gifts as a family, there were caroling kids outside our door. Very nice to hear SBA kids singing to us!

About Time- Bring on the Holiday Cheer!

Abby standing on guard in front of the new Christmas tree-if only she could keep Dakota out from underneath it! (we finally boxed in our tree with a couch and a toy chest:)


We cut our Christmas tree down the week before Thanksgiving on a cold Saturday afternoon.

We found a tree farm about 70 miles away from Sunshine. They have nice trees and we may have to visit them in the spring for some landscaping trees.

Our nephew Tyler turned 10 over the Thanksgiving weekend so we headed over to Sioux Falls to celebrate with him.

Our photogenic daughter-Dakota!

Daraby and Papa Ray

Dakota and Dad

A blueberry mess which Dakota thinks is pretty fun

We will not be seeing many of you over the Christmas holiday so we hope this helps you see a little of our life here in South Dakota. The end of the school semester has been intense with activities. I've often compared the school year to a marathon and we need the breaks to refresh and refocus on God's calling in our lives.

Daraby and Dakota are doing very well. Daraby is talking, counting, and bossing her younger sister. She loves dolls and helps Darcy take care of Dakota. Dakota has started crawling and is very interested in whatever she can stick in her mouth and eat. We believe she will be standing and walking before her first birthday (Feb 26).

We thank the Lord for his faithfulness in our lives as we think back over all the changes in our lives the past year-a new daughter, a new job, and a new home. What a mighty God we serve!

Wishing you all the blessings of our Savior and Lord over this holiday season and the year to come!

-Andrew, Darcy, Daraby and Dakota Boersma

Odds and Ends

Dakota is growing fast-she started the crawl this week which adds a whole new dimension to taking care of her!

Dakota and her size soccer ball

Dad, Mom, and Joel came out for a weekend visit the end of October. Abby (along with Daraby and Dakota) loves having Joel around!

If you pick up Dakota, you usually end up with Daraby in your lap at the same time. The sibling rivalry starts at a young age.

The girls enjoy playing together too!

The fall has flown by in a whirl-wind of school activities and family get togethers. We simply have not had the time or energy to update the blog in a while. As stated earlier, the Boersmas came out for a weekend and then we get back to Pierre a lot of weekends to catch up with the family there (and get away from school). When we've stayed on campus for weekends, we enjoy riding horses and relaxing with the girls around the house.

We are looking forward to the holiday season and the opportunity to spend extended time with family and friends. We won't make it back to Michigan for Christmas which will be different. Our friend Valerie Scholton from McBain passed away earlier this fall and it was very difficult for us not to be able to make it back for her funeral. However, we are required (haha) to be in Michigan the beginning of June for Susan's wedding, so we'll look forward to seeing a lot of you then!

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see about getting another update before the new year comes:)

Pictures

Make sure you read the update below the pictures. I did seperate posts. So read on!


Andrew riding Dually before the Wagon Ride starts out! Dually was nervous with all the loud clanging wagons and other excited horses. She calmed down after 10 minutes or so.


This is the wagon train coming down main street. The wagon team had all palominos and Andrew teased them that Dually would fit right in with their team.

This is a picture I took of Joel and edited.

Grandma Van Duinen and Joel pose for a photo when they were here for almost a week. Andrew's family worked their tails off around campus. Grandma and Mom worked in the dorms while the guys worked outside. Andrew's dad even helped with the pouring of one of the basements on campus.

All of the gang in our living room. Mom took the photo so it didn't end up being a 4 generational photo.

I got these cool Korean slippers from a kid here at school and Daraby loves to wear them. I think they look like heels on her.

Climbing in the tunnel at the school playground.

Cute photos of the girls that I took over the summer.

This is a photo of Grandma and Papa with Dakota when they were visiting here this summer.

Dakota is rolling and rolling over. She can push herself up and scoot just a wee bit. Below are photos of my projects.

The picture above is a high school riding a bull at a 4-H rodeo that we attended.