Our Week in a Nutshell

Since returning home last Friday we have been overrun with the neighbors coming by.  It's been nice to visit and catch up, but at the same time we had a lot of unpacking, cleaning up, and getting settled back in to do.  That is kind of hard when you have a house full of kids.  We took one day and didn't allow any visits so we could get it all done (most of it anyway).  That was a nice day.

Last Sunday we visited Templo Bautista Cristo es la Roca in Linterna 1.  We had a great time of worship with the believers there.  After being gone for a few weeks we were looking forward to getting back among the K'ekchi' people. 

David and Cruz before we left the house

After church it turned in to a little photo shoot with a few of the pastor's family members that all wanted a picture with Cruz.  He was hot, tired, and hungry but let us take a couple with him.

I can't believe he is standing already!

Cruz and I walking the trail back to the car 

This past Wednesday David helped do another recording for the "Institute of the Air".  They got twelve stories recorded and they should begin airing sometime this month on the K'ekchi' radio stations.  Please continue to pray God's anointing on this ministry.  Many hear these stories aired over the radio and call in to the radio stations to request someone to go visit them and share with them more.  Many K'ekchi' churches have been planted as a result of this ministry. 

Abilino, Manuel, Victoriano, and Adilio 

We were happy to have the Stamps drive up to visit with us on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.  We enjoyed their fellowship very much. (I forgot to take a photo)

On Friday we headed up north to run some errands and buy some groceries.  It was a hectic day as not much of anything that we had planned went as we had planned it to.  It was "one of those days".  We returned home to find that our water tank was out of water.  It's been near 100 degress here everyday this week and we don't have a/c so we have been enjoying our evening showers (and needing them too, haha).   So, instead we took turns pouring bottled water over ourselves so we could at least rinse off.  You can buy a five gallon jug of bottled water for around $2.00 so it wasn't much of a waste and it sure made me feel better.  We hope the town turns the water on today so we can fill our tank back up!

Today we will be attending a picnic with some other missionary families that live around here.  Can't wait to experience that!

Tomorrow we will be back at the mission in La Libertad.  We are anxious to see how they are doing and if they have a new pastor yet.  Please pray for the services we will be having there.

A Little of This and That

I think this will be the last post from our trip to the States.  I am going to just mix it all up into one post.  We did have a wonderful time on our visit there, but it was tiring.  Cruz was sick with a head cold most all of the trip which meant he was sleeping very little at night.  All of our days were very full and our nights were long and sleepless.  It was an exhausting trip, but one we are glad we got to take.  We were able to spend much of the trip with family.  There were a lot of friends we would have loved to visit with, but we just didn't have time this trip.  Going to the beach took up a lot of the time we could have used to do more local visiting.  We are planning another trip home in October and maybe we'll get to see more folks then.  Anyway, here are a few more pics from our trip-

David's grandmother and Cruz

David, Cruz, and Ms. Farmer 

We got to spend an evening with David's dad.  We enjoyed eating out and just visting and talking with them. 

David's dad, Mr. Harold

Mr. Harold, Cruz, and Jodi

Larsen (our niece) riding Cruz on the train

Cruz trying to ride it himself

We were happy to get to attend our home church, Harmony Baptist, in Crystal Springs.  There we got to see lots of familiar faces, and got lots of hugs too.  It was the first time for Cruz to get to visit a church nursery.  I mentioned this on his 10 month update that I had a lot of anxiety about leaving him.  It was not because I didn't think he would be taken care of, but more about the fact that he is never apart from us.  I knew he would be fine, but I was a little sad.  The worker told us he did great and had a fun time playing.  We all got to meet Jett that day too.  He is the son of Ben and Shellie and was born on the same day as Cruz.  We missed seeing him on our trip last October.  I am glad they got to spend a little time playing together.

Jett and Cruz

We also got to see Nannie Roberts at church.  She is one of the sweetest ladies we know!

And lastly, we visited our local bank and opened Cruz a savings account.  We tried to do this last fall, but couldn't because we didn't have his S.S. card yet.  We wanted to do it so that on birthday's, holiday's, and special occasions our families can deposit money for him to either take out and purchase something now or save for the future.  One day we'll show him this photo and tell him this was the day we started saving for him.

He's Going to Love Birthday's

My mama cooked us dinner before we returned to Guatemala. She always cooks me a meal of whatever I want while we are home, and it's always delicious.   She got Cruz a birthday cake and we celebrated his birthday with her, my dad, my Aunt Nita, and Ms. Marzell. 

listening to us sing to him 

getting ready to blow out his candle

our family

I have been trying to plan for his party that we will have here in Guatemala for his original birthday in May (it will be his third).  I picked up a few things while in the States to use for it.  I can't believe he is fast approaching one year old! 

Happy "Early" Birthday Cruz

Cruz got to celebrate an early birthday twice while we were in the States.  Here are some photos of his party with David's family-

the birthday boy

They gave him a monkey themed party and I loved it.  It looked like something I would have picked out myself.  It was all very cute.

David's cousin Tiffany made the cake.

Cruz getting ready to open his gifts

he received several toys and many gave him money 

We are happy to have this little boy to celebrate with!

singing and blowing out his candle 

I was not excited about letting him eat cake.  I was wanting to wait until his actual birthday for him to experience that, but I gave in and let him have the cake only with no icing. 

He had a fun time playing with it.

Afterward many of us visited the local park and played on the playground equipment, walked on the nature trails, and watched the ducks.  It was a fun way to end a fun day. 

Special occasions such as that make it hard to be away from family.  We are thankful that we had the opportunity to celebrate Cruz's birthday with them even if it was a little early. 

Spring Break Beach Trip 2011

During our trip to the States we took a vacation within our vacation and visited Gulf Shores, Alabama with David's family for a few days.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time!  We stayed at the same beach condo as last year when we went as a last family trip before we returned to Guatemala.  I was 29 weeks pregnant then.  

This was the view from our bedroom.  We miss that view!

We enjoyed eating (as usual).  This was a few of us having lunch at Sea n Suds. 

We all enjoyed the indoor pool.  This is David, Cruz, and Larsen, our niece.

We walked on the beach and enjoyed putting Cruz's feet in the water. 

A few of us taking a morning stroll

Cruz and I

We played Phase 10, shopped at the local outlet mall, watched t.v., and rested.

But, the thing I did most of all was take photos.  Here are a few of our family at the beach- 

It was a great trip within our trip and we really enjoyed ourselves.  To see the complete album from our beach trip that I posted on facebook click HERE.