On Friday, Jennifer had our housekeeper Consolee bring over 4 of her 5 children - Barrique, Parfait, Nice, and Magnafique to make Christmas cookies with us. Jen did a little demonstration in the beginning, and the kids quickly mastered the art of cookie cutter-ing and decorating. It was fun for everyone. There are no pictures of finished cookies because I am not sure if any of them made it past the icing stage. Every two seconds Anna would break a cookie and say "Mom, can I eat it?" Zechariah (our guard) also came in and did some decorating.

Cleanliness is a big issue with me, particularly with the feel of clothes. Consolee normally does all the laundry, but because we don't have a machine and everything is hand washed, and because there is a lot, it often takes a week to get it back. Also, because there is so much and it rains all the time, it takes several days to dry and will often smell musty.

I complain if I have to hand wash a delicate sweater. But I woke up and thought "be the change you wish to see in the world," so I decided to do my laundry myself. I have never hand washed my entire wardrobe before - oh boy.


Since hot water does not run naturally, I had to boil water in our electrical teapot, so basically half a gallon at a time, to fill the first bucket, which I put soap in. The second bucket I filled with cold water for rinsing. It took me about six or seven "loads" to do all my clothes, and four and a half hours (of labor). Do you have any idea how heavy a bath towel is when it's wet? Did you know those things are made to absorb water? I could barely left it out of the bucket, and wringing the water out was a ten minute process. Whenever you think you've gotten all the water out of a towel, try again - you haven't.