Life Lately April 2026

 Here are some photos from the month of April. 

 

We began the month celebrating Easter.  Here we are on Easter Sunday at an early morning service up at the cross above our town.  If you'd like to see more photos from our Easter celebration, click  Easter 2026.

 

 

David led a few sessions at a leadership development training for a church in Guatemala City.  The event took place at Lake Amatitlan, which is on the other side of Guatemala City. 

 

 

We celebrated Ben's 14th birthday.  You can read about his fun day HERE. 

 

 

The boys attended a one day Youth Day Camp with their youth group.  They had worship, Bible study, water games, competition games, food, and fellowship.  It was a fun day for everyone! 

 

The boys were gone all day which gave us time to get some things done around the house.  In addition, David spent time answering emails and also trying to complete an online leadership development course he is taking.  That afternoon we drove up the mountain for coffee and dessert.  Here is mine.  

 

 

Before leaving we walked around the beautiful property and I videoed a few of the fountains they have there.  I love hearing the water as it falls!  

 

 

I have been making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast most every Friday morning since getting this super easy recipe at our recent homeschool conference. They are so soft and delicious!

 

 

On this particular morning I made a coffee flavored glaze to pour over them.  It was really good!  

 

Sadly, I took down all of our cheerful Easter decorations and stored them away.  I now just have generic spring things around the house.  I love bringing flowers in from the yard.  Seeing the pops of color makes me happy. 

 

I took this volcano view photo on a recent Friday afternoon drive to the grocery store.  I write out a menu plan for the upcoming week and go buy groceries every Friday afternoon.  Having my meals planned, prepped, and organized makes my school weeks go much smoother.  Anyway, views of the volcanoes around us never get old! 

 

Every year around Easter our grocery store (La Torre) has purple bags.  I love purple so getting these always makes me smile.  Like many people, we use them for garbage bags.  I love seeing the purple in our bathrooms.  Normally, they are orange.  It's great for fall but not so much the rest of the year.

 

The bougainvillea above our gate is in full bloom!  It is so pretty to look out the windows and see.  

 

 

As the petals fall, they fill our yard with color. 

 

 

Here's a photo of Ben I took at Luna de Miel on a recent Sunday lunch outing after church.  We had great views of the volcanoes in the background from our seats.  He especially loves eating there because they have delicious crepes.  He always gets the Chapin which is refried black beans, mozzarella cheese, and cream.

  

 

Lastly, we ended the month spending a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. It was an incredible trip!  I'll try to start posting about that soon. 

 

 

Two more weeks of school and then summer break!!!

A Look at Ben's Birthday Over the Years

I normally add these photos to their birthday posts, but since Ben's 13th birthday post was already long enough, I just decided to give them their own post.  I love looking back at these each year and reminiscing his birthday celebrations over the years.  We have had a lot of fun celebrating him!

 

Welcome to Our World

Benjamin Miller White

April 16, 2012 

Hospital Esperanza

Guatemala City, Guatemala

 

I have made his cakes every year with the exception of his 12th birthday when he wanted me to make a lemon pie instead.

 

We also take family photos on the boy's birthdays.  He are our family photos celebrating Ben over the years.

 

 

 

 

Officially a teenager!!!

 

 

his birth video

 

We are thankful for this precious gift that God gave to us!  We have loved watching him grow.  We look forward to the years ahead and seeing him become the person that God created him to be.

First Day of School 5th and 7th Grade

 We started back to school on Friday, July 29.  Here is a look at how we kicked off the new school year.

 

Our dining room was decorated with balloons and streamers.

 

me and my boys on our first day of school

 

Cruz is starting 7th grade.

 

Ben is starting 5th grade.

 

We had our traditional pancake breakfast.

 

a few more photos before class began

 

 

 

I made this countdown for our school year.  The boys love it!!  

 

more classroom decorations

 

We did our first day of school questionnaires and memory pages. We have done these since kindergarten and I keep them all in a folder for each boy.  They are fun to look back at.

 

We had a full day of class.  We had some introduction to new curriculum we will be using.  It will take us a little while to get in a rhythm but once we do our days should flow well.  I will try to do a post soon on what curriculum we are using this school year.

 

For lunch we met a volunteer team in town and in addition to great fellowship we had a wonderful meal together.  Their church had learned about us through VBS this summer and wanted to meet us while they were here serving.  They brought us cards that the kids had made for us.  What a blessing and encouragement that was!

One of our favorite things to do in the evenings is go into town to wander around.  We don't always have an agenda.  We just walk leisurely and make plans as we go.  That is what we did that evening and it was a lot of fun. 

 

For supper we had chili fries and pizza fries at Patata Frites.

 

The boys love the playground they have.  It is good for older kids as well as younger ones.

 

 

 

After more walking and exploring, we made a stop by Cafe Estudio for coffee and dessert.  It was our first time to visit there and we loved it.  They have a wonderful rooftop with great views. We will definitely go back again. 

 

 

 

Cruz clowning around.

 

He asked, "What is this???"  I had to explain about the phone system we grew up using.  I had him dial my old home phone number and he could not believe that is how we used to make calls. He said it was a lot of work.  

 

Enjoying a family night out in Antigua.  It really is a fun place to live!

 

It was a little chilly that evening but in spite of it we all ordered iced coffee.  Cruz has become a big fan of iced caramel lattes.  David had mint and I had white chocolate.  Ben is not on board with coffee yet. We also shared a slice of carrot cheesecake.   It was not our favorite but I'm glad we tried it.

 

My boys are growing up fast!  We are just trying to soak in all we can.

 

I look forward to the new school year and seeing the boys learn new and exciting things.  It should be an adventure for all of us.