Pre-Thanksgiving Travels 2014

We've been on the go this week.  We left home on Monday afternoon driving into Guatemala City.  We had a few things to do in the Capital before heading to our Thanksgiving gathering with our Baptist mission family in Panajachel.  Here's a look at our week in pictures so far.

A quick photo before we got on the road to begin our Thanksgiving week travel.  Road trips with those two little back seat riders is always an adventure!

 

We planned to leave in the afternoon so the boys would nap most of the way.  WELL, wouldn't you know we would encounter problems in the road that caused us a delay and caused them to wake up after only being asleep for around 40 minutes.  UGH!  just ugh, ugh, ugh!

We were stopped while some road workers were trying to remove a landslide.  Landslides are very common here.

What road trip would not be complete without a fun gas station stop.  Here's the boys enjoying a snack and leg stretch break along the way.  They both picked out Cheetos and a strawberry yogurt drink for their snack.  Ben is showing me his very orange fingers from his chips.

After arriving and dropping our things off at our mission house we headed to a local mall for haircuts.  All three guys got a trim and then we enjoyed supper at Pizza Hut before calling it a night.

 I think what my boys like best about getting their haircut is the sucker and balloon they always get when it's over.  They love suckers!

Tuesday morning we got an early start to get across town to a few doctor appointments for the boys.  Cruz had to see the dentist and Ben needed a booster vaccine.

Here they are walking hand in hand to the dental clinic.

my sweet boys 

 

After lunch, a little shopping, and naptime we headed over to the Guatemala Baptist Seminary to visit with a dear, sweet friend.  We first met Kathy Kelly back in July 2008 when she was still serving as an IMB Trustee and made a visit to Guatemala.  We hosted her and another Trustee and spouse for several days in Coban and took them out to visit several Kekchi villages.  You can see photos of our time together HERE.  We loved her from day one and have stayed in regular contact with her ever since.  She is one of our faithful prayer warriors and encouragers.  We will always be thankful that God placed her in our lives.  She has been a blessing to us! 

David, Kathy, and me

It was wonderful to get to spend a little time with her and hug her sweet neck in person. 

The reason she is in Guatemala this week is to teach at a women's conference that Southwestern Seminary is putting on at the Guatemala Baptist Seminary.  Here's a photo of some of the ladies gathered for a session.

My boys enjoyed petting a rabbit at the seminary before we left. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere we go!  Here's my boys before supper on Tuesday night.

After breakfast on Wednesday morning we loaded our things again and continued on to Panajachel for our Thanksgiving gathering. 

here's the boys before we left our mission house on Wednesday morning (Thanksgiving Eve)

We made a stop along the way at this restaurant for a mid-morning meal.  All the Baptist missionaries like to eat here.

Cruz about to enjoy his watermelon milkshake.

The boys playing games while we waited on our food.  Notice our jackets.  It is COLD here!!!  It was in the 90's when we left our house, but not in this part of the country.  Brrrr.....

cheese omelet, black beans, and a fruit platter

Ben's favorite thing about the meal was the tortillas.  He loved them (and the red jelly too as you can see by his dirty face). ha

One of my Thanksgiving traditions is stopping at the mirador (lookout) to take a family picture overlooking Lake Attitlan and the three volcanoes that surround it.  This year it almost didn't happen because when we got out of the car to do it we nearly froze to death.  The winds were terrible!  In spite of it though we still took photos.  It was like a ghost town at the shops and we saw no-one moving around.  The only person I could find to take our picture was an eight year old looking little boy.  So, I didn't get very good shots but I still have the photos for memory.  What I think I'll remember most is the cold this year.

I love my little family!

(and I also love that they are most always easy going when it comes to me wanting to take photos) 

Another tradition is letting the boys pick out a homemade toy at the market before we leave.  It's always fun to see what they choose and it gives them something new to play with over the holiday.

The next few shots are of the lake and volcanoes as we drove down the mountain between Solola and Panajachel.  It is amazingly beautiful and most definitely one of my favorite views in all of Guatemala.

Here's a short video I took of the drive down.  It gives you a little idea of the beauty of this place.

We got settled into our mission house in Pana and waited for all the other missionary families to arrive before going out to eat supper together that night. 

Here's the beautiful sunset and volcano view we saw as we walked to a local restaurant.

Thanksgiving Eve supper at the Circus Bar Restaurant in Panajachel is a Baptist mission family tradition.  They have delicious pizzas!  Here's the adults (and Cruz and Ben).  The older MK's sat together at another table.  What a fun time we had laughing around the table together!  We are blessed with a wonderful mission family.
 

Do you see those smiles?   You think those two are having a great time?  You bet!  They are loving being around all these English speaking North Americans and all the love and attention they are getting from them.  They are not going to want to leave! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  My next post will be about our Thanksgiving day celebration.