It is hard to believe that another year has gone, …

It is hard to believe that another year has gone, until we look at Maya and see just how much she has grown and changed. She is definately not our little baby anymore, but an active and very independent toddler.
Christmas here was busy but good. We had friends and family around for Christmas Honduran-style on Christmas Eve- my attempt at tamales was somewhat successful but the rompopo (eggnog) was enjoyed by all! On Christmas day we had a kiwi-style christmas dinner here in our new home, with my parents and sister Deborah. Maya had a ball unwrapping Christmas presents, starting with her stocking in the morning, a present sneaked from under the tree (when we weren’t looking) after church, then the main event before lunch. After lunch we went over to Deborah’s boyfriends home for more drinks and food… and more presents for Maya! The rest of this week has been much quieter, as family and friends have mostly gone away for the holidays… but we have to work. We are planning to have our holiday (vacation) in February.
I continue to enjoy my new job, there has been (and still is) a lot to learn but I am enjoying the opprtunity to broaden my skills and deepen my knowledge in a very interesting workplace. My challenge for next year is to take on the role of Sexual Health coordinator for the centre. I have already done some training and will do more in March, along with some personal reading and study. I find this area very interesting, and look forward to learning more.
Luis continues with his work in Mental Health, and will probably stick with this over the next year as he works on completing his degree. He had hoped to get this done this year (2006) but unfortunately he has been struggling with frequent and severe headaches and was unable to do so.
As I would like to stick with this new job for a while, and Luis is studying, we will be staying in Wellington for a while longer. Our long-term plan is still to return to Latin America- we would really love to introduce Maya to friends and family there- but it is going to take a little while.