Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

I woke up this morning with a big smile on my face. I'm home! And it's SO comfortable and wonderful. I decided to take off of school for the rest of the week because, well, I just want to. We have a field trip on Thursday and Jonas is supposed to have friends over on Friday. Today would have been our only free day. I played Zelda, read a little, did a thousand loads of laundry, unpacked and put stuff away, did grocery shopping, cooked dinner, and ferried the girls around to choir. Ultimately, it was a relaxing and productive day. The great mood didn't last for the whole day, but I tried! Thankfully, things are still good between me and Ben. Praise God for that!

Today was crazy. We got up at 4:30am and headed out by 4:45am. We drove to the airport and got the car dropped off and checked in pretty quickly. We had to go through two security checks, including a USDA screen, plus we had additional security stuff that we didn't have in the U.S., which was a little time consuming and frustrating. We got through it all though, with plenty of time to spare! We eventually boarded our first flight, on time, and the kids did great again. Our first layover was in Miami and that was a couple hours long. We went and got some lunch at a couple of different airport restaurants, which worked well...even though with the time difference it was only 9:45am when we started our "lunch". 😅 We were all starving though! We got on our next flight, then found out we were being delayed from takeoff because the stinking president was at the airport. It set us back 20 minutes and we already had a SUPER short window of time to get to our next flight. We spent...

We didn't hang out with Chelsea and Frank at all today. Our plan was to meet them for dinner, but Ben was awake all night feeling terrible, so I cancelled dinner. We went down to the pool for the first half of the day and hung out there for a few hours. Ben joined us off and on. After that, we went to Los Kioskos for some souvenir shopping. Very expensive! Like, not more expensive than other beaches or anything, but souvenirs for six people is just expensive. I think we spent $100. 😓 Ben was feeling bad, but he suggested we walk around to some of the restaurants and see what they had. I said no, because I didn't want to buy $100 worth of smoothies and fried stuff for the kids on top of what we already spent! We went back home and hung out at the beach for a couple of hours, then back to the pool again. With all this relaxing, I'm finally about done with my book! It's a weird one because I can tell it's kind of a knock off of the SJ Maas books, but it's still an...

We met Chelsea and Frank at El Yunque National Rainforest this morning. The drive wasn't very long, but it was a tough one! At one point, the WHOLE ROAD was collapsed about a foot down! It was wild. When we got to the spot where we were meeting them, the side of the road was SUPER muddy. I tried to park and started to get stuck. That's when we got our first inkling that this might be a little tough. I mean, it is a rainforest, so we expected it to be wet, but apparently there was another heavy rain shower last night so it was MUCH muddier than usual. We basically slid down the side of the mountain to the waterfall. It was scary and messy and we all had our moments of 'should we be doing this???', but we made it down! Normally, Chels would have led us further down to other falls and pools, but it was just too muddy, so we couldn't go any further.  We hung out at the pool and waterfall for a couple of hours, just exploring the rocks and getting wet and making rock tow...

Today was our beach day! We (I) drove about 45 minutes and met Chels and Frank at this MAGNIFICENT beach called Seven Seas in Fajardo. It wasn't busy, there was a breathtaking view, and there was natural shade and a nice breeze. Oh, my gosh. It was amazing. We spent about 5 hours there, relaxing and swimming. We got some very expensive food and drinks from the beachside stand and Ben was too intimidated language-barrier-wise to clarify exactly how much these drinks cost. Somehow, the total was $100 and they totally forgot about him for about 35 minutes. So...that was not a great part of the time! But the drinks were yummy.  It was nearly dinner time by the time we got back to the house, so we ate some leftovers and then I took the girls to the pool for over an hour in the dark. They loved it! I ended up chatting with an old guy from Michigan for the whole time. He seems to have led a very interesting life. I regretted not getting to read, but always cool to learn about people!...

Good morning, Puerto Rico! We all headed to bed early last night, understandably. And today, we're well rested (except for Ben, who slept badly and is not well rested). We met with Chels and Frank around 10 and followed them to Charco el Hippie. I decided to drive because following people drives Ben crazy in America, let alone PR!  The driving here is definitely different. It's not like it's bad or even aggressive, but people just pull over everywhere, no matter who is behind them. And when someone wants to pull onto the road, they just put the nose of their car out 3-4 feet until someone stops for them. It's kind of crazy. The potholes are wild and people will just swerve around you whenever they feel like it. On the upside, nobody has been driving fast at all and nobody is rude so far. It's not too bad! Just different. After the hour drive to Charco el Hippie, we got some bad news. It rained so much last night that the waterfall was rough and the river was moving ...

Dude. I wrote out all of my posts during the trip and somehow deleted them all! So, these next six days worth of posts will all be from memory. This will be a test! 😓 We woke up today at 3AM. It was AWFUL!!! Actually, I woke up at 1 and couldn't fall back asleep and the girls all woke up at 2:20. But Ben and Jonas got up at 3! We got out of the house by 3:30am and headed to the airport. We parked and got to security without a hitch. We had a little bit of an issue when our home-printed boarding passes wouldn't scan, so we had to go back to the American Airlines counter and iron that out before going BACK THROUGH SECURITY AGAIN. I got a little snappy with the security person who was being pushy with me. But we got through! And our flights both went smoothly.  By the time we got to Puerto Rico, it was about 2pm. We headed to Enterprise in the heat and humidity and Ben was being a jerk, unsurprisingly. He was pissed that there were lines everywhere we went, but I think it was rea...

Tomorrow!!! It really kind of feels like we’re leaving today though, since we’re getting up at 3. I put the finishing touches on packing today and got the bags out to the car. We all showered and I cleaned and mopped the whole house. I got the fridge emptied and did pet prep. It was a busy day! It’s a little after 7 and I just got Ollie and Ruby down. I’m going to bed now!!! Again, some photos from the archives. It's cute to see the girls in these swimsuits, knowing that they're all being worn by different girls now!

We are so close to leaving, I can almost taste the ocean air! We got the week’s curriculum finished up today and then finished packing everything. In the evening, the stinking power went out, so we sat and I read books aloud and I played games with the kids, as we huddled under blankets and felt the house get colder and colder! It came back on a little after 9 and the house heated back up fine. I wish Ben could have had a better attitude about the whole thing, rather than freaking out and scaring the kids repeatedly, but alas. He is who he is, I guess. Another day of taking no pictures at all. I feel guilty! But at the same time, I've had a lot going on, and I can give myself some grace for that. 

Ben had off today, and he went to meet Alex in the morning for breakfast. He was with him for a couple of hours and it did seem to go pretty well, thank God. When he got back, we decided we’d all go over to the Popesco’s for the Championship game in the evening. I was excited so I made buffalo chicken dip, Rice Krispies treats, and banana cake! It was nice to have a purpose for the evening. I always love making food for people who enjoy it. We stayed for the first half of the game, and I was worried the whole time that Ben was going to get upset. He sat in a place where nobody was near him except Jonas, so he had barely any conversations. He didn’t complain though. I doubt he had fun, but who am I to say? This memory came up for me today: Me and Brit taking the kids to Park of Roses for a tea party themed photo shoot and it ended up being unbearably hot and the kids were not cooperating. Look how cute they are though!

We went to church today, but didn’t do too much else. As soon as it was over, I gathered the kids to leave. I just didn’t feel like waiting for Ben to rush me out this time. It gets embarrassing, so I just did it myself. I did talk to him at home about it a little. He agrees that it’s embarrassing and can see how it’s frustrating for me, but at the same time, his heart is just not in it still. He doesn’t want to see people or be involved in a church community. He wants to want it though, which he says is part of why he keeps coming to stuff anyway. I told him it feels like he’s turning it into doing favors for me or something and if that’s the case, DON’T! I’m happier without his dead weight dragging along beside me all the time. But he asked me to try and be patient with him and give him grace. He deserves that from me, but I don’t feel like giving it.

We were invited to TWO birthday parties today…one with each of the church communities that Ben still feels uncomfortable with! I tried to encourage him to just stay home, but of course he insisted on coming….and complained the whole time. To top it off, at Mark’s party, he left early to go sit in the car!! He said, “I don’t want to rush you, but nobody will talk to me here so I’m going out to the car.” He literally hadn't moved from the table the whole time and people WERE trying to talk to him! He just wouldn’t engage. It was really frustrating. So, he went outside, and I hung out for a little while longer, but it got to be too much pressure eventually, so I got the girls and left too.

We did school again today, even though we're all a little burnt out from the week, because I wanted us to get next week's curriculum done, but still take off Wednesday so I can finish prepping for the trip without feeling overwhelmed (which, let's face it, I'll probably feel anyway). Ruby had quite a few tantrums, but pulled it together by the end, thankfully.  After school, I finally painted the dang trim! It's done!! It took a couple of hours, but it looks great. We got Clemi's new nightstand and rug in place and moved her furniture in from her sister's room, finally, and much to Ruby's relief! She has been very annoyed at her flow being thrown off this last month and a half. I am really proud of myself for getting this room done, from start to finish. I packed it up, moved out the furniture, filled all the nail holes in the walls and then sanded, pulled off all the trim, ripped up the carpet and padding, cut it into strips, and prepped it for bulk pic...

We were back at our CACH co-op today and I have missed it so much! I love being there. It's just such a friendly atmosphere and I love so many of the mamas. It was good to catch up with a couple of people, but really just to see people's faces, since I didn't have a lot of catch up time. I finally ran out to pick up the caulk from Home Depot in the afternoon. I am dragging my feet on the end of this project, but I'm *so close* to being done finally. I think tomorrow maybe? Anyway, I spent a while caulking the trim in the bedroom and, even though I could have painted, I just wasn't in the mood to. We watched a Call the Midwife then got ready for pizza and a movie night and watched The Karate Kid 2. Not a great movie! I think Wild Robot will be out by our next pizza and a movie night and I am so excited to watch it again! It was so darn good.  I made a nice, long to-pack list for Puerto Rico today. I was feeling a little frazzled and I think this helped. I also ordere...

This is the only picture I've taken since Sunday, to accuse Ben of eating my special Damask chocolate-covered pretzels that I love so much. He says he's not eating them. I'm suspicious.  School has gone amazingly well all week. We got our whole weeks' curriculum done in three days and I didn't even get any talkback or tantrums. It's been great. I've been spending afternoons relaxing some and working in Clem's room some. It's just been absolutely freezing cold. So, while we did go get the trim for her room (finally) on Monday evening, it's been so frigid that it's hard for me to be in the garage cutting for too long. I finished putting it all up today, but I still need to caulk and paint it. Really, really hoping I finish those two steps tomorrow or Friday! Then we can get her rug and her nightstand and move her dresser into her room...and it'll be done! Except for the closet. I did decide to do everyone's closets too. They're pret...

Me and Ruby went to church today, while everyone else stayed home and stared at the tv. I felt really sad that she's the only one who wanted to go, but it feels hypocritical to make all the kids go when Ben isn't going to go. When is he going to get back to be committed to fellowship? He's just waffling. And I don't want him to go because he feels like he has to. I could tell him I really want him there and then he'll come. I want him to come back because he misses being around like-minded, God-loving people. He acts like it doesn't matter at all if he's ever around other Christians. I should be praying about this more often, but I just never remember to. I should also try to talk to him about it at some point, but I'm not eager to get my head chewed off about how he's spiritually healthy and I'm one to talk and blah blah blah. 

The morning was pretty relaxing and then Ben and I went on a lunch date. It was a nice time. We went to Fado, which we haven't been to in quite a few months. Afterwards, we went to Target and we expected to run to Home Depot to get trim too, but neither of us wanted to do that at all. The rest of the day was spent relaxing! I'm finally starting to feel like I'm ok again. Like I can maybe start getting out into the world again and handle doing stuff. December was such an overwhelming month and I just needed some time. I wish depression hadn't crept in and tainted the time that I gave myself, but depression or not, I'm ready to get school started again and see people and do stuff. I'm going to be ok. 

We had co-op this morning and I foolishly invited Jonas's friends over afterwards. It's not like it was bad, but it was just a lot. I was desperate for them to leave by the time they actually left. Several hours of chaos and pre-teens wanting to play video games, while I blocked them from screens! Jonas was excited to have them over though.  I played a board game with Ruby and Ollie tonight. Ollie was really getting it! BUT she won and it really made Ruby upset. I'm so used to playing with Jonas and Clem that I've kind of forgotten how hard it is to assuage hurt feelings when kids lose. What I mean is, they're used to it by now. But we don't play with the younger girls very often, so they're not used to it at all. I'm sure Ollie would have been just as sore if she hadn't won. 

My mood is slightly better today and I decided to take the kids to COSI, since this is technically our last day of winter break.  [I thought I'd come back and write more later, but I didn't and now I forget if I did anything else of note this day.]