We're Back!

Well we made it back all in one piece!  We had about twenty some boxes waiting for us along with all our luggage to unpack upon our arrival.  Everything is coming together but still not quite finished yet.  It was pretty overwhelming opening up all of our stuff.  We had just a couple weeks after we first moved to decide what we wanted to have sent on the next container.  Having just gotten here, we were not used to living with less and we sent far more than we probably would have if we had had the chance to settle in a little bit more.  It seemed like for most of the stuff we opened we thought "WHY did we send this???"  So our once sparsely filled house is now very much so no longer sparse.  One more thing to try to reconcile in my mind and heart as the "us/them differences" are even more so glaringly obvious.  But I will say there are a few things I'm really glad we sent:)

All that being said, we are glad to be back and are looking forward to feeling settled again.  And I am once again all flustered at the thought of learning Creole.  Just when I felt like I was making some progress....

And we want to finally introduce our house help and yard guys!  We took these pictures with them right before we left in October.  First up, our house ladies!  Johana is holding Summer, and she cleans for us.  She is quiet and soft spoken and leaves the house spic and span when she's finished.  Madame Mari is holding Tucker and she does the cooking.  She is bubbly and outgoing and makes some really good food.  They make a pretty good team.  I think before they were hired they knew of each other but that was about it.  I can't understand what they're saying but they seem to enjoy working together.

Then we have our yard guys.  Most people only hire one, but we have a large yard with an abundant supply of plants that we have no idea how to take care of, nor do we really have the time.  I'm not around them as much since they are always outside, but they seem to have a good thing going.  They  even have a garden going for me!  So far I don't think you can classify it as a bumper crop but we're all new to this so we'll see how things go with it in the future.  Someinson is the shorter one on the left and Famito is in the red.

They all kept working while we were gone, keeping things in tip top shape.  They all work hard and do so with a smile.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them all better as time goes on.  While Danny was here in November, he started having them eat in the house with him for lunch rather than on the porch where they had been before.  He enjoyed it and got them all to admit that they preferred it:)  It should help with developing more of a relationship with them and we are going to keep up with that arrangement.

So there's our people:)  Come visit us and you can meet them in person!