Here is a look at our family life during the month of November.
The month began with a planning meeting for this year's Indigenous
Conference. David and Bro. Apolinario made a quick round trip drive to
Quetzaltenango to join a few others to help plan the conference.
Here is David with Pastor Julio. David preached a Sunday morning service at his church. He is a lot of fun, and we always enjoy getting to be around him.
We enjoyed a date night to a local Greek restaurant. It is currently on my list of favorite places in town. I love their chicken gyro!
Our IMB logistics team was in town on business. We enjoyed getting to host them for an afternoon and evening in Antigua. Here we are having supper at Pappy's BBQ.
We had friends from South Carolina visit us. Their visit fell during the annual Flower Festival. We enjoyed getting to experience it this year with them. While they were here, we had a wonderful time catching up. We enjoyed some great meals and card games around our table. They are a precious couple who we are thankful to call our friends.
lunch with the Masons at Hector's Bistro
Coffee with the Masons at Serve Hope Cafe
Ben taking a break from walking around town.
the Masons and our boys
We spent time transitioning the boys from a shared bedroom to their own rooms. They have always shared a room but decided it was time to have their own space. We sold the bunk beds that they have had since they were two and four. That was a little hard for me. I am very sentimental.
Ben took our guest room and only wanted a twin bed in his room. Cruz kept their original room and just wanted a full size bed.
Cruz is a big fan of Ole Miss and LSU football. My brother was also a LSU football fan. When he passed away earlier this year, my sister in law gave Cruz that LSU banner that belonged to my brother. He loves it and has currently made that the theme of his bedroom.
So far they love having their own rooms and the transition has been very smooth. It is another sign of just how fast they are growing up.
And, just because I love to reminisce, here is a look at them on the day we purchased their bunk beds back in August 2014 and set them up in their bedroom. At the time, we were living in Camotan, Guatemala.
We were doing a Tonka theme bedroom for them. It is by far my favorite themed room they have ever had. We all loved it!!! It was so fun and colorful!
The boys attended a Friendsgiving with their youth group. The middle school students took side dishes and the high school students took desserts. They enjoyed a delicious meal and fellowship time together. They love their youth group!!
During Thanksgiving break David took the boys on an afternoon outing to Tacaná Climbing Gym. It is a new facility that opened a few months ago in town. It was Ben's second time to go there. They both love it, and I am sure we'll be back again soon.
Cruz climbing.
Ben climbing.
November was the month of extra credit activities for Cruz's live online classes. He did several extra credit papers for his Biology class. He also did an animal cell project for Biology. His grades are good, but it never hurts to earn extra credit. I make him do all that are offered.
Biology cell project
In his geography class, he had to choose a recipe from a country that he had studied. He had to prepare the recipe and write a report about it. He chose a Tanzanian recipe called chipsi mayai.
Chipsi mayai (Swahili for "chips and eggs") is the most popular street food found all over Tanzania. We called it a French fry omelet. It was easy, delicious, and probably something we would eat again.
I did a lot of baking. Making pies is my favorite! Here I was making a crust for my Thanksgiving pecan pie.
a pumpkin pie
chocolate chip pumpkin bread
a blueberry cream cheese dessert
I also made one of these with cherries.
We made a visit to Miraflores Mall during our Thanksgiving break and enjoyed seeing their Christmas decorations.
I went poinsettia shopping with my friend Katie.
This motivated me to transition my house from fall to Christmas. I spent a whole day of Thanksgiving break taking down one theme and putting up the other. Fall is my favorite season, and I never really want to pack it away. I was glad that I pushed through and got it done early in the week. When we returned from our Thanksgiving travel I was happy that my house was ready for the Christmas holiday.
Cruz and I attended the annual Tea Festival.
We enjoyed the Central Park Kite Expo.
We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving in Quetzaltenango.
Thanksgiving 2024
We ended the month with the boys attending their annual Youth Group Day Camp. It is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving and something they look forward to.
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