The Ranch

Hello! We are alive and well. Just getting into a routine. We are moved into our room which is about 300 sq ft. It has its own bathroom and shower but no hot water. The Padre (priest) has been kind enough to let me use his washing machine which is a life saver. Previous to that, Margarita and I washed underwear and socks one day and it took about an hour.

I now have a laptop and Shannon (ex-volunteer and current volunteer) and I share a decent size office. We have temporary furniture in the office but will be going out next week to buy desks because the wood tables that are in there now are infested with termites. The Ranch (were we live) now has satellite internet and cells phones do work so I feel much more connected than my time here before.

Margarita is handling the changes so well. I am very impressed with her ability to adapt. She is enrolled in vacation courses at the Ranch school which are from 8 am to 1 pm. She has painting, theater and ballet. At 1pm one of my girls brings her up to my office and then we have lunch (food from the kitchen) which has been pretty decent and I haven’t gotten sick yet. Oh expect for the chicken feet soup….uggghhh, gross!

I went to court last week so that I could become the guardian of Chris’s son Gregory in order for her to complete her adoption. It was no big deal, we just had to show our residency cards. Oscar, my lawyer who is also Chris’s lawyer told me that Margarita’s abandonment decree paperwork was turned into the family court on Dec 12, 2005, so we just have to wait until we have that in our hands to file the adoption paperwork. I hope within the next 3 months.

The Ranch is having the international annual meeting in Feb so we will have about 500 visitors from other NPH homes, offices, godparents, etc. So, lots to do. I helped Shannon finish the annual report and now I’m designing business cards for the directors.

You can still email me at monica.gery@revolutionagency.com
Or at
hchn@nph.org
Love and miss you all!