Life Lately February 2023

David and I began the month in Lima, Peru attending a work meeting.  Our volunteer, Terrie, stayed with the boys while we were away. The quarterly field trip with Encounter Academy fell during that time so Terrie went along to chaperone.  They went to Sky Zone in Guatemala City.

 

Terrie with some of the kids on the van to Sky Zone. We are very thankful for her servant heart! While here she spent several days at the school helping out and really enjoyed her time with the kids.

 

Sky Zone group photo

 

lunch time at Sky Zone

 

friends

 

The only homeschool photos I took during the whole month of February was of a Science experiment that David and Cruz did.  I really need to get back on track with my homeschool posts.

 

They made an edible ocean layer model.

 

It included chocolate and vanilla pudding, crushed cookies, and whipped cream.

 

 

We started Valentine's Day with a heart-shaped pancake breakfast. 

 

David and the boys gave me flowers.

 

I also got a new coffee mug from San Martin.  I love collecting cups from there.

 

That evening we enjoyed a date night to Pasta Nostra.  It is a favorite of ours.

 

We helped kick off a new thirteen week Bible study at the Baptist church in Parramos.

 

The boys ready for the program to start.

 

They will be meeting every Saturday afternoon for the next thirteen weeks.

 

 

singing during the program

 

 

David preached and shared his testimony at the Baptist church in San Andres Itzapa the following night.

 

 

worship in San Andres Itzapa

 

 

beautiful church flowers

 

 

We had some cool nights which allowed us to enjoy a few fires.

 

Game night by the fire.  Ben is a fierce checker player!

 

I look forward to our Friday afternoon coffee dates all week long.  On this particular outing we went to Patsy's.  They were advertising a piña colada cheesecake.  It was delicious! We also enjoyed their frozen coffee drinks.

 

I am continuing to host a mom's group on Wednesday afternoons while our kids are taking P.E. class at Encounter Academy.  Terrie was able to join us while she was here and share some wisdom with us.  This group of ladies brings joy to my heart.  I am thankful for each of them.

 

 

This semester we are going through this study by Gather Moms.  It has been wonderful so far.  In addition to the book there are videos on Right Now Media that go along with each lesson.   I am excited that they will be coming out with a Spanish version soon. 

 

 

A family photo with Terrie before we drove her to the airport to fly back home. We miss having her around. Her two months went by quickly.

 

After dropping Terrie off at the airport we stopped by Burger King in Guatemala City.   While eating, the boys noticed the WiFi sign on the wall.  Cruz pronounced it as "free whiff" and they posed like this.  It gave us a good laugh.

Also during the month of February, we attended the 37th Kekchi Annual Assembly.  We gathered together with our mission family for a Super Bowl party. We attended the annual Intermissions Conference, and I celebrated my birthday. You can click on these links to see blog posts about those activities.

 

Lastly, in my personal study time, I'm ending the month starting this new study by First 5 on the book of Ruth. I love doing their book studies.  We just finished Deuteronomy last week.  I am looking forward to diving into this new one.

February was a full month.  We look forward to seeing what March holds.  

 

Life Lately January 2023

 We started back to school on Monday, January 2.  Not everyone was excited about beginning the second semester. I have not done a good job lately of posting about our homeschool days.   Things are going well.  We are currently on week 25 of 36. Yay!  January and February are typically hard months  of school.  Everyone is just in a slump. We are looking forward to getting over the hump and sliding into spring with a lighter load.

 

We attended a Three King's Day celebration in Guatemala City with friends and their church.  We played basketball, baseball, and had a typical meal together.  It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon/ evening.

 

Everyone brought a coffee mug and played the white elephant game.  This was the mug Cruz came home with.

 

Our volunteer, Terrie, joined us to watch the college football championship game.  She is from Georgia and was cheering on the Bulldogs.  We had pizza, popcorn, and cake for our meal.

 

I make this football cake every year for the championship game.

 

We got to spend an afternoon at a local coffee shop visiting with a family who was visiting Guatemala and talking with them about their call to missions.  We had been emailing each other for months and it was nice to get to chat in person.

 

While the parents talked, the kids played ping pong.

 

Terrie and I attended the first WMU meeting of the year at the Baptist church in Parramos.  They will begin meeting every Saturday afternoon and I look forward to joining them when I can.

 

At the end of the service they served everyone tamales and coffee.

 

 

my plate

 

Terrie, Cruz, and I spent an afternoon at the market.  Afterwards we enjoyed a coffee break at a shop in town.

 

Sunset view from the coffee shop.

 

I started this new study of the book of Deuteronomy on the First 5 app.

 

I also started this great study with a group of moms on Wednesday afternoons.

 

A view of Agua volcano from our house.

 

David and I are continuing to enjoy our Friday afternoon coffee dates while the boys are at Awana class.  On this particular week we had chocolate churros.

 

Cruz got invited to spend the day at a water park.

 

Cruz and Canon

 

 

Cruz going down the water slide.

On the same day, Ben got invited on a separate outing with his tennis friend Josue. They spent the afternoon at Earth Lodge.  We are all thankful for friends!

 

 

David attended a pastor's meeting.

 

We made a weekend trip to Quetzaltenango to visit with the Stones and Lauren. You can read about that trip HERE.

 

Terrie, Shireen, and I made a visit to a local organic farm that my friend Amy has.

 

We enjoyed learning about all the things they grow.

 

At the end of the month David and I had a work trip to Lima, Peru.  It was our first trip under our new roles.  It was also our first trip to take ever without the boys.  That really stretched me!  We all did fine and I am hoping that it will get much easier as time goes on. 

 

volcano view as we left Guatemala City

 

A delicious Peruvian meal we had for lunch one day.

 

Cruz sent me this photo one evening showing me how far apart we were.  

 

We left them in the great care of our volunteer Terrie. In addition to doing school with them, they did other fun activities like baking cookies together, going to play basketball, playing board games and cards, and playing mini-golf. 

 

Lastly, we bought them the perfect souvenirs at a market in Lima.  They both love hoodies!