Our Weekend In Pictures

So how was your weekend?  Great, we hope.  It was our first weekend to be living in our new place and it was fun.  If you read our blog much you'll know that it was our normal habit to drive into town on Friday nights for supper.  Well now that we live closer to town I am not sure if we will keep that same habit or not.  This weekend we did not.  We started off our weekend instead with an afternoon trip to the grocery store to pick up some supplies for our upcoming medical team.

We had some good "help" picking up our team supplies

We then came back home and while David got everything unloaded and sorted away I took the kids for a walk and some playtime outside.  The boys loved seeing our shadows on the road.  Cruz said "we look BIG mama". ha

We stopped by the playland that is shared with our neighborhood and let the boys play.  We have made daily trips there so far since moving and my boys have played for hours there.  They have already made friends with two other boys that you can see here.  They are 10 and 7 and attend the same school where Cruz will be going. 

David came to join us and brought the boys an old fishing pole to play with.    They pretended to catch lots of fish and sharks off of the playhouse.

 

We ate supper at home and after the boys bath time we played a few rounds of Dominos.  I LOVE games and have looked forward to our boys getting big enough to start having game nights.  Cruz is getting there and it's fun.  Notice my temporary "curtains" in the background.  I have white sheets hanging on the ends and an old shower curtain hanging in the middle (hooks and all, ha).   One of my regrets is never learning how to sew.  Oh how I wish I had that talent so I could make a few things for our house.  sigh.

He may be young but that boy was pretty good at Dominos!  He did NOT want us to help him and amazed me how he could play each turn.  He even won a round.  He loved it.

Here's what Ben did most of the time while we played- he sat on the couch and watched cartoons.

Saturday morning while I cooked our normal biscuit breakfast Cruz got out another game and had his daddy and brother play with him.

After eating we headed to our backyard to play.  Did I say backyard???  Well, yes I did.  Look what we now have!  It's a yard...with grass!!!  Oh y'all, it's the little things that have me smiling the biggest these days. 

 

Empty boxes have provided my boys with lots of entertainment lately too.  Here's Cruz blasting off in his "rocketship".

It was then out front for some bicycle time.  Here's David racing the boys to the end of the road and back.  Notice the construction workers off to the side stopping to watch (and laugh). 

 

 on your mark, get set, go! 

 

We had contacted a company about home internet service and they came by on Thursday to share with us their plan options.  We told them what we wanted and they said they would be back on Saturday at 11:00.  Normally you do not give much thought to what people tell you here because they rarely keep their word (for whatever reason).  So we hoped that they would show up sometime on Saturday to install our internet but didn't expect them until later that day.  Much to our surprise, they arrived at 10:50- ten minutes early.  ha We were impressed!  It took them a little over an hour to get it installed and we now have home service again.  The break from internet was really nice but I am glad to be back connected again.

 

While David was busy with the internet guys I took the boys to play in the construction dirt.  They took a few trucks and played for two hours.  They had a blast and I just sat still in a chair nearby and watched them. (which made it a blast for me too, ha) 

 

At one point they took turns burying each other in the sand.  They were filthy by the time we returned home so I showered them off and changed their clothes before lunchtime.

Here they are "reading" books in their room while I prepared their lunch.

After their naptime we headed back to the playground.  David had hung their knotted rope and new handles that they got for Christmas on the swing area for all the kids to enjoy.

wheee....

They even found a few trees to climb.  So far my boys love living here.  They have so much to explore and keep them busy.

Here's Ben picking grass and filling his dump truck with it.

Our Saturday evening sunset view.   Just beautiful!

 

For supper I cooked a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  We ate and then I surprised the boys with ring pops before we took an evening walk around the block.  While out walking Cruz told me "mama, I just love our evening walks!".  I told him that I did too.  It's becoming a fun bonding time for our family.

my little guys love ring pops!

We took this picture on Sunday morning before going to church.   David had planned to teach in the village of Nearar but they called about 6:30 that morning saying they needed to cancel.  Instead we took the opportunity to visit a local Baptist church in Chiquimula.   We are hoping to get to become a part of a local Guatemalan Baptist church now that we live in town and attend when we are not out in the mountains teaching.  It will be good for our family and our boys.  It sure was fun to get to "go to church" as a family and be a part of a worship service.

Rivers of Living Water Baptist Church

The kids got to go to their own Sunday school class and children's church.  They LOVED it.  During the worship service the little ones came out and shared about their Sunday school lesson, recited their memory verse, and sang a song.  You know I was smiling big to see my little ones up there.  On a funny note, when Cruz woke up from his nap on Saturday afternoon he told us that he had a dream and God told him to change his name to Josue.  Well, when we went to pick him up after church everyone was calling him Josue because that's what he told them his name was.  He also told them he was five years old.  That boy is a mess!

Here's a video of part of their song.

Afterwards we went out for Sunday lunch at McDonald's.  That was fun!

 

Later that day we welcomed a volunteer medical team from First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, SC.  Here's a team photo after supper on Sunday night.  We are excited about the week ahead getting to work alongside them doing a medical clinic in the village of Chanco.  Would you be in prayer for us this week as we minister there?  Pray specifically that the love of Christ would shine brightly through each of us in all we say and do. 

 

Happy Monday everyone!  Let's make it count for the Kingdom.

Moving

It's been two weeks since I have updated our blog.  So much has happened in those two weeks that I don't even know where to start giving an update.  First of all I haven't taken many photos at all (can you believe that, ha).  Packing and preparing to move and then moving and unpacking can take it's toll quick on an already tired mama.  Most days I didn't even know where my camera was even if I wanted to take a picture.

 

We registered Cruz for school, ordered his uniforms, bought his (very expensive) books, and have purchased most all of his arm long list of school supplies.  The school year here began on the 16th of January but he will not be starting until the first Monday in February.  I thought it would be best to wait until we got moved and settled before he began.  He is very eager to go and asks almost daily if it is school time yet.  I hope he loves it as much as he thinks he will.  We did all of that without one single photo, yikes. 

 

Speaking of the move we signed our contract on the 15th and then spent the next 2.5 days cleaning our new place.  It was a dusty mess!  I scrubbed and mopped and scrubbed and mopped until I thought my arms would fall off. 

This is our new street.  There is a lot of construction going on around us as you can see from the house on the corner.  The construction is the reason for most all of the dust.

 

While we cleaned the boys had a blast playing outside in the construction stuff.  They love this big rock pile and also a sand pile at the end of our road.  Since moving they have played for hours with their trucks outside. 

One night while working at the new house we put them on a movie in their soon to be new room and they sat still and watched it.  Don't you love our set-up, ha.  And those yellow walls that I mentioned not being so crazy about in a previous post?  Well, since moving in with all of our stuff I have actually started to like them and think they look pretty good. 

And this is proof that I have a great husband.  He's a hard worker and is more OCD than I am about keeping things neat, clean, and orderly.  He's a keeper!  ha  Do you notice the dusty floors in this picture?  I bet we mopped them four times before we moved in, and because they are so dark I've had to mop them daily ever since.  They are pretty and I love them but keeping them clean is going to drive me nuts.  This is my dining room area and my table is now sitting where David is standing in this picture.

It was three years ago this week that this big truck pulled into our yard in Sayaxche, Guatemala.  Several workers were there to load all of our things and then we all traveled seven hours to our new home in Camotan, Guatemala.

 

The workers unloading our things into our Camotan house January 2012.

Then this past Sunday that same truck returned to load our things again and travel them to our new house near Chiquimula, Guatemala.  It doesn't seem like we have been in this part of the country for three years already.  The last time we moved I was six months pregnant with Ben and Cruz was 20 months old!  My babies are growing up fast.

 

And here's all of our things loaded and on their way to town.  I worried all the way as we followed behind that something would fall out.

The workers arrived at our house at 7:15 a.m. and began loading our things.  We had it all moved and unloaded before noon that day.  What a blessing that was! But, then the hard part of getting everything unpacked and arranged began.  We worked hard for the next several days getting it done.

Here are the boys riding their bikes that evening.  One of the things I worried about with us moving was them having sufficient play space.  So far I have not been disappointed.  Already they have spent hours riding their bikes up and down the road and around the block.  There is very little traffic where we are so it's a great place for them to ride.  We have also taken daily walks around the neighborhood and sometimes several times a day and even at night with the boys holding flashlights.  It seems to be a very family friendly place.

more bike riding 

You can see a basketball court at the end of this street.  They love to go there and play also. 

First breakfast at our new house.  I made blueberry muffins and scrambled eggs. 

You can imagine my surprise when I opened the kitchen windows one morning and saw four peacocks outside.  During our years here we have seen cows, chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs in our yard but never peacocks.  ha  The boys loved watching them walk around.

And this is the only other photo I took while moving.  It's Cruz one afternoon watching Scooby Doo while Ben napped.  He found these earphones in a box we had stored and has loved getting to use them with his portable DVD player.  I like the quietness they provide the most. 

 

Overall it has been a very smooth move.  In less than a week we have our whole house up and running.  Most everything is unpacked or stored away.  The only thing I am lacking is curtains and I plan to look for material on our next trip into Guatemala City.  We have been blessed with an easy transition so far and consider that an answer to prayer.  I'll post more photos in the days ahead. 

The Weekend

We made our regular Friday evening trip into town for supper.  This week we went a little early to go by our soon-to-be new house to see how much closer we were getting to being move in ready.  We were quite surprised to see that most everything we had asked the landlord to do was done except for one thing and there were workers present trying hard to get it completed.  We hope to begin moving by the end of the week. 

Here's Cruz in his soon to be new room.  The boys will still share a room after we move.  He was pretty excited to see it as you can see from him jumping up and down in the photo. ha.  You'll notice the color scheme on the back walls.  Every room in the house is painted like this.  Three out of the four walls are painted the darker yellow and one wall is painted a cream color.  I am not crazy at all about it but the landlord had just painted it before we decided to move in so we hate to repaint freshly (although not done well at all) painted walls.  Down the road we'll see about making changes.  Cruz has already asked if we'll paint his room blue.  I think one of the hardest things about deciding to move was leaving their cute Tonka bedroom that I just decorated.  I'm so sad about that!!!

Afterwards we headed to the mall food court for supper.  We all shared this yummy delicious banana split after our meal. 

On Saturday morning we made a visit to the village of Muyurco.  It was the first time for the boys and me to go.  David did not really give me many details about the trip there and he really held out on saying what a fun adventure it was (as you will see from the photos below).

the mountain road to the village of Muyurco

It's about a 40 minute car ride up the mountain and then a 15 minute hike to get to the house where we were going.

my little guys love riding in the mountains!

 

Once arriving in the village we had to drive down a creek to get to the spot where we needed to leave our vehicle.  We then exited the car and began our hike.  The trail we took had us cross back and forth over that creek three more times before arriving at the house.  The trail was mostly flat so the boys were both able to hike it all by themselves.  That was a blessing and will make it very easy for us to all be able to return again in the future.

David and the boys as we began our hike

I am pretty sure my boys thought this hike was the coolest thing they have done to date.  They loved it!  Cruz especially thought it was fun and asked if we could "come back here everyday".  The weather there was nice.  The breezes were blowing and the soothing sound of the water trickling down the creek made for a nice morning outing.

Ben was constantly looking back at me and saying "be careful mama", "don't fall mama", "are you okay mama?".  It was precious.  My boys are always making sure that I'm alright and it blesses my heart.

We had a great visit in the home and just felt very warm and welcomed.  Our kids played together like they had known each other for years.  I look forward to getting a chance to work in this village and meet other families that live there.

our boys making friends in the village of Muyurco

David and Ben on the hike back to the car

me and my sweet boys

We stopped on the way back down the mountain to take a family photo and to enjoy the beautiful views.

 That afternoon after naptime Cruz helped me bake some chocolate chip cookies. 

Once the cookies were cooled the boys enjoyed eating them from the comfort of their inflatable pool, ha.

 

We had BBQ chicken, fettuccine alfredo, and black beans for supper and then watched "All Dogs Go To Heaven" before calling it a night.

 

Sunday morning David led Bible study in the village of Nearar and then we spent the afternoon watching football. 

He let the boys help him wash our vehicle which was terribly dusty from traveling up and down the mountain roads lately.  It is definitely becoming dry season in our part of the country already.

That evening we made a visit to the Chinese restaurant for supper and finished watching the Colts vs. Broncos game on their television.  

Our family in Guatemala eating Chinese food while watching American football.  Not a bad way to end the weekend, huh. 

So there you have it- a small glimpse into the life of a normal missionary family.  It's a fun life and one that I have to stop regularly and thank God for allowing me to live.