Introduction/ Homes in PR

*WARNING- AVISO: This blog may contain strong opinion, heartache, adventure, and the grind of daily life. 

By Emily:

I will start with an introduction of ourselves. My husband Adam has served in the Army for 10 years and is currently serving. Many of our ups and downs, learning, and life experiences are because of this occupation. We had been married 5 years when he was talking about seeing an army recruiter and a small town street festival. He said, "Before we were married I had thoughts of serving in the Army." The look in his eyes was wistful and thoughtful. Then after a moment he added, "But I would hate to leave you and the kids and it would be hard for us all." I didn't hesitate - I had always wanted my husband to be happy in his profession. "Don't let us stop you. If that is what you want to do, I will support you." From there I let him decide. After thought and prayer, we were quickly on the Army team. I say we because it is a profession that truly affects all of us... for better or worse... for good times and bad.

I am a professional wife and mother, I wouldn't have it any other way at this point in my life. Before I was married and the birth of our children, I worked in labor and delivery at the local hospital. I loved the job. I am an active person and can't sit for long. I loved working with new moms and babies, I also worked as a home health assistant for a time and loved meeting many different people there. Even earlier in life I was a live-in nanny and loved the family I was with.

          We have six children. As of this writing, Kaylee is 14, Caleb and Justin are 13 year old twins, Daisy is 12- yes that is four kids in 2 years! Let's just say God loves us and has an amazing amount of trust in us. Then we have a 7-year gap and next comes Kyle 5, and Vivian 3.

Besides the Army the other big shaping factor of our life is our Christian belief. We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons. The church, Army, family, and friends are the biggest shaping factors in our lives.

          Now as for the present, we are currently living in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.  After saying this we usually get asked, “Were you there for the hurricane?” The answer to that is, “Yes.”  We were here for both hurricane Irma and Maria. We will have lived here a year this May (2018). 

          Living in an area with different cultures and language has been a neat learning experience and has its challenges for sure. There are times I am confident, having fun, and loving all the new experiences.  Then there are other times I get frustrated, I want to give up and go back to things I know and I am comfortable with. 

So to start with I am going to list some of the things that are quite different about homes here to me.  Here the homes tend to be pretty simple, it is not common to have storage sheds or garages, even the closets in the homes are much smaller or non-existent.  Some homes don’t have water heaters.  Our home has an instant water heater, it is about the size of a toaster and it heats the water as you use it. It is not common to have a dishwasher. Before we moved here we bought a small portable dishwasher to bring along. With 8 of us I didn’t want to hand wash all the dishes. I do way more hand washing than I used to, since it is a smaller dishwasher. Although, it kind of makes me feel spoiled to have a dishwasher. Some people do not own a dryer, they will wash clothes in a washing machine then hang the clothes to dry. 

Vivian peeking through the louvers

Windows have louvers that you can control from in the home, some will have screens and some will not and it will be open to the outside (can let bugs in).  There are also things called air conditioning screens, (it’s like a plastic wrap window.)  We put a bunch of the air conditioning screens in our home, so we could open the louvers and let natural light in and see out, but not let the air-conditioned, cool air out.  We also have some louvers that just open directly to outside, no screens.  As for air conditioning, it is very uncommon (and expensive) to have central air conditioning.  Here the best option is to have air conditioner inverters in each room.  We only turn the main air on when we are in the room.  The bedroom units are only used at night.  Electricity is VERY expensive, so we are pretty conservative on the air condition use.  Luckily in the home we live in there are ceiling fans in all the rooms, those really help.  I can tolerate warmth and heat better than some.  Our house (in the day) is usually from 80 to 86.  I usually turn the air on when it hits 85.  We keep our rooms cooler at night about 74. 

Coqui Frog

We fall asleep to the sounds of coquis, other frogs and toads, and crickets.  Sounds from outside can be heard inside the home better than with a sealed glass window.  I like the feeling of connection with nature, I like to camp and hearing the sounds of nature so well is calming to me.  The area we live in is a smaller town and we live by the ocean, so it is a quiet place.  We don’t even have annoying barking dogs (that is a personal pet peeve of mine.  I am unable to tune the constant sound of a dog barking and it becomes very annoying to me if it is a continuous bark).  In the morning I wake to the sounds of mocking birds, parakeets, and other birds singing. I absolutely love falling asleep and waking to the quiet, calming sounds of nature. 

Millipede visiting the house

Also, about the homes here, most are constructed of cement for many reasons, one is that there are tons of termites and ants that will damage wood. Another is that the moisture levels would ruin wood and it would rot pretty quick.  Another reason is that it is much sturdier for hurricane season.  The homes here are often painted brightly or any random color- ours is a nice neutral color. Our home also has gaps under the door that bugs and lizards can come and go as they please.  One night while standing in the kitchen all of a sudden a large (6 inch) millipede came crawling right past my feet (I go around bare feet most of the time).   It gave me quite a start!

I am quite a curious soul and like to see new things. Another night a few months after moving in, it was night and I was sitting in our living room and I heard a very slow scratching sound against the glass and metal of our back door.  Sounded quite creepy!  I was at full alert.  I listened closely and there it was again, the sound of either long hard fingers or nails scratching the metal.  Something was trying to come in!  I had to put aside any scary movie scene that was playing in my head.  I was thinking, ‘I have to see what wants in.’ I grabbed a flashlight and quickly opened the door and saw a huge blue crab (its body was about the size of a grapefruit) Whew! That also startled me.  After that for a few months every once in a while the blue crabs would come by (they have a season), I don’t know why they wanted in our home (maybe they smelled food).  

We also have a YouTube channel in which we post many of our adventures. Sometimes it takes a little while to get them edited and posted. We have one in the works that shows our home and talks about the different things in the homes here. The channel is called Hess Family Adventures (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSZMwMFfsTpiGRDm4QagVQg). We post videos of snorkeling, food, and other adventures. We will be posting more videos too.