Clowning Around

This past Saturday was Cruz's birthday party.  We had it here in Sayaxche at the Yaxkin Restaurant on the property where we live.  Our landlord and his family did a great job of hosting it and wanted to make it special for Cruz. 

Here is a group photo of most everyone that was there.  We had a couple more show up after we took the photo.  It was a great turnout!

I had brought stuff back from the States to decorate with and had in mind all I wanted to do for the party.  His party was at 3:00.  Well, about 9:00 that morning our landlord came over and told David he had something to show him.  David walked next door to the restaurant and found this-

They had been busy all morning decorating the tables and putting balloons out.  We had not asked them to do this.  David came home to get me, knowing my reaction might not be good.  I have to admit my first thoughts were disappointing.  All I could think about was the blue didn't match a thing!  Then I quickly got over it and realized what a sweet gesture they were doing.  They really wanted to do it for Cruz and how could I not be happy about that. 

The party began by playing pin the tail on the donkey.  The kids acted very shy and you had to almost beg them to do it.  I was quite surprised to see them be so timid. 

Afterwards we moved on to the pinata.  Our neighbors daughter makes pinatas and has a shop in La Libertad.   She made the pinata for us.  We think it turned out cute.

We picked it up on Friday and Cruz was terribly afraid of it.  He was afraid of all the pinatas in the shop.   We kept it in our office and he would not go near that room.  Once the party began he warmed up to it.  He actually shook it's hand before we tore it up.  Here he is getting the first chance to hit it with a stick- 

I took several video clips of the kids hitting the pinata.  Here are a few of them-

We had the restaurant fix tamales for our meal.  That is tradition for birthday's.  They were delicious!  They served a tostada with it and we had horchata to drink.  I wanted it to be traditional Guatemalan food for his party here.   I think it turned out great.

A few of the guests enjoying their meal.  The kids were quiet and very behaved while we ate. 

A missionary friend of mine was going to make Cruz's cake.   I was really looking forward to it because she makes beautiful cakes.  Well, the day before the party she called to say they were having car trouble and they were not going to be able to make the trip.  They live a few hours away.  I was very disappointed, but I understood.  I then had to regroup and come up with a quick Plan B.  I didn't have much to make a cake with.  I researched clown cakes on-line and quickly learned that I was in trouble.  I did find a clown cupcake that gave me an idea so I ran to a local store here in town and picked up a few things and went home to start baking.  In the mean time another missionary friend who found out wrote to say she would be happy to make a simple cake for me and I was happy for her help.  I ended up making two bundt cakes, some cupcakes, and a smash cake for Cruz.   

This is the "simple" cake my friend Keturah made.  It doesn't look very simple to me, haha and I cried when I saw it.  I was very grateful to her.  What a sweet friend she is!

These are my throw together cupcakes.  They look a little scary but turned out a lot better than I thought they would. 

We sang to Cruz in English and Spanish and helped him blow out his candle.

He then got to play in his cake.

At one point he dumped it all over and made such a huge mess.

In all the party turned out perfect.  We were very pleased with everything.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves and that's all that matters.  Birthday's are fun, but a lot of hard work.  I am glad they only come around once a year, haha.

Here are a few of the sweet people that made the day a lot of fun-

K'ekchi' Baptist Women

Last Thursday I attended an all day meeting to celebrate the K'ekchi' Baptist women.  It took place at the study center in Sayaxche'.  The church was packed with several hundred women from churches and missions all over the Peten department of Guatemala.  In addition to the women, there were several men leaders and pastors there as well to show their support and it seemed as though each lady brought at least one child each, haha.  It.was.full and loud.  There was a morning session, and afternoon session, and an evening session. With the exception of an hour lunch break and an hour supper break, I was there for twelve long hot hours. 

They invited the President of the Guatemala WMU from the Guatemala National Convention, Sandra, to come up from Guatemala City and do their Bible Study sessions.  She did a great job. 

I loved spending the day with the ladies, getting to know them more, and the churches they represent.  The work among the K'ekchi' Baptist women is very strong and we are proud of all they do and accomplish!

Here are a few photos from the day-

Every group picks a song and a scripture that they study for the year.  At the meeting they each had a time to share, sing their song, and recite their scripture.  Many of the groups wore matching blouses.  It looked pretty.

This is the group from Rosa Jamaica.  Their pastor, Bro. Martin, played the instrument for them.

 I love the colorful dress of the K'ekchi' ladies.

These next few were taken during one of the break times- 

   

I love this one of two pastors during break time.  This is how we were all feeling.  haha

Mixing Business With Pleasure

We returned home to Sayaxche last Saturday from the missions conference in Coban.  Our supervisors followed us home and spent the weekend in Sayaxche with us.  We arrived in time to eat lunch at The Oasis and then took them to a local hotel.  We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, getting settled in, and I cooked everyone supper.  They joined us later that afternoon, and in addition to eating, we spent some time talking about our current job assignment and our future goals.  It is nice to have others check on you to see how you are doing, where you are struggling, what is and is not working in your ministry, and offer advice as to how to continue on and be effective.  We appreciate the organization that we work for!

Sunday morning we visited the village of Quetzalito to attend their anniversary service.  This village is about 2 hours away. 

 Keith, Alan, and David on the road to Quetzalito

 this is the mission church there

We all gathered in the pastors house after the service for lunch.  We were served grilled beef, cole slaw, black beans, tortillas, and limon lime soda.  I enjoyed it.  It is always nice when we are served something other than caldo (although we do love caldo).

a photo of the men after lunch

They cooked caldo, and a few other things for the rest of the guests.  This is a photo of the outside of the kitchen.  Everyone else was served under that make-shift tent.

Inside the kitchen. 

This is a pot of caldo cooking over an open fire.  You can see the grilled beef in the bottom corner.  That is what we ate.

They had many pieces of meat piled high on a table in the corner.

We returned to our house in Sayaxche that afternoon and stopped just long enough to have a cup of coffee and some of us had frappuccinos.  We then loaded back up and headed down to the river to ask about a tour.  We didn't want to go anywhere specific, but just wanted a leisure ride down the river.  We found a guy willing to take us and we got ready to board.

 These were our boat options.  They are typical taxi boats here.

Alan and Cruz

He was excited about cruisin' with Cruz

our boat and driver

 Alan, David, Cruz, Keith, and Penny

Cruz's first ride down the Passion River

We all loved it!  It was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

When we returned we then headed north to Flores for dinner.  We enjoyed a sunset meal overlooking the lake there.  That is one of my favorite things to do.  We also visited Sarita's for ice cream before driving back to Sayaxche.  It was a long day, but a fun one!  They traveled back to Guatemala City on Monday morning. 

Our Living Room- Before and After

Here are a few before and after photos of our living room-

It is hard to remember our house looking this way.  The new ceiling made a huge improvement! 

The living room area is a lot larger than these pictures show.  We love the large open space that we have.  I cleaned up for these photos, but this room is usually covered with toys.  It is a great place for Cruz to play.

  

This is a view from our front door looking out our backdoor.  You can see our outside bathroom and pila through the screen.

view from the kitchen

We also saved money by not buying or having an entertainment center built (even though I really wanted one).  Instead we used two more metal shelves that we crated from the States to hold our tv and things.  We do not have any cable or satellite service so we only use our tv to watch dvd's.  Some days I am glad we don't have it and some days it miss it terribly!

To see other posts of our house, before and after, click on the "Sayaxche house" label below.

It's Been A Circus Trying to See The Circus

For the past week there has been a circus in our town.  It's just around the block from where we live.  I started wanting to go since the first day we noticed it was there.  I knew it wouldn't be much but I really wanted to take Cruz.  When we found out that it didn't start until 8:00 p.m. we put off going for several days because that is just late for Cruz.  He is usually in bed before then.  But, after passing it everyday and hearing the neighbor kids talk about it everyday, I knew we just had to go.  We first tried to visit it last Tuesday night.  We arrived about 7:50.  At the time there were only 4 other people there.  We waited, and waited.  People slowing trickled in, and the show did not begin until 8:42.  Yes, I was watching my watch constantly and getting more agitated by the minute.  WELL, just as they were about to begin, at 8:44 (no kidding), the power goes off.   Our whole side of town was completely dark.  They canceled and returned everyone's money and we walked home in the dark.  A wind storm was coming through.  The kids are still talking about the hurricane that we had, haha.  It was pretty strong and the power stayed out for two hours. 

The next night we had a rain storm that caused them to cancel.  By then David was over the idea of going to the circus and wanted no part of it.  I began early on Friday asking him to go that night.  He was not excited but went anyway.  We enjoyed the clowns the most, but our favorite part was just watching it through Cruz's eyes.  He was asleep when we left home, but woke up when we got there.  He stayed awake the whole time and laughed, clapped, and was amazed by it all.  It was so fun to watch him!  It is a joy to have a child to experience things like the circus with.  It was a fun family outing.

the front of the circus

side view

inside views

Admission was Q10 for adults and Q5 for children.  That's around 1.30 and .65 in U.S.  They had a few dance routines, a few clown acts, women performing on the rings and bar, and some skits.  They also had an intermission and sold drinks, popcorn, chips, candy, etc.  The kids all loved it and many around here went several nights.  Once was enough for us.

David and Cruz

David, Cruz, and Enoc