Hello 43

It's been a pretty fun week around our house.  I celebrated a birthday which meant I got some special treatment from my guys.  Sometimes it's not so bad being the only female in the house, ha.

I love to bake so on Tuesday morning while Cruz was at school and David was in the village I baked a cake for us to enjoy for my birthday.  A few weeks ago a friend had posted a recipe on facebook for an Old Fashioned Butter Cake with homemade Hershey's chocolate icing.  I thought it sounded yummy so I wrote the recipe down and made plans to bake it for my birthday cake.  It turned out pretty good.

my birthday cake

The candles are from Cruz's 3rd and 4th birthdays.  I love to reuse them for all of our birthdays.  I'll use that #3 again in April for Ben.  Oh my, is my baby really about to turn three!!!

That afternoon when the boys got up from their naps David took them shopping to pick me out a gift.  David and I do not normally buy each other gifts but Cruz insisted that I have a present to open.  I think from now on it will be our tradition to take the kids shopping and let them pick something out for us.  Regardless of gifts I always get flowers for every special occasion.  I love flowers!

I heard them drive up so I knew to grab my camera.  Here they are coming in the door with my flowers.  This year I got two bouquets- one from each boy.

I think they get just as excited as I do.

my little loves!

aren't they pretty!

my flowers and my birthday banner

these two make every day fun but especially my birthday

I cooked supper on Tuesday evening and afterwards we ate cake.  I knew Wednesday (my original birthday) would be busy so we started celebrating a little early.

me with my birthday cake

the boys singing "Happy Birthday" to me before helping me blow out my candles

My birthday morning got started early as in a 5:30 a.m. alarm going off.  We had a busy morning and had to get an early start.  I made banana pancakes for our breakfast.

My birthday breakfast on our Celebration Plate and my birthday gift waiting to be opened.

 opening my presents

(I didn't notice until I loaded these photos that I am wearing very similar shirts on both days.  I did change clothes y'all, ha)

my gifts

The boys always make us homemade cards for special occasions.  Here is Cruz's card to me for my birthday.  He wrote the letters but it made me laugh that he wrote his M's upside down and they look like W's.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY WAWA, ha. The green letters he said were his jokes.  I was supposed to laugh at them.

After eating and getting dressed we headed out for a morning adventure.  We had plans to pick up Mrs. Diana Lubeck in Camotan and then travel on to the village of Tunuco Arriba.   We were starting a new Bible class in the village school that day.  We have been given permission to have class there in the school every Wednesday morning.  

Our family on my birthday morning on our way to the village of Tunuco Arriba.  It's an hour and 40 minutes from our house to get there.  That's 30 minutes on pavement and an hour and ten minutes up the mountain road.

me and my boys after we arrived in the village

We have an hour long class with the K-5 and first graders and then an hour long class with the 2nd- 6th graders.  We had 24 in the first class and 27 in the second class. 

Since the children there all speak and understand Chorti Mrs. Diana is doing the teaching in the Mayan language.  Here she is sharing the Bible story with the kids.

They did a song, story, and memory verse.  Afterwards they got a coloring sheet to color.   Mrs. Diana is putting their sheets into a folder and will make a booklet for them the receive at the end of the school year.

some of the 2nd- 6th graders

The first day went very well.   We had a fun time and look forward to getting to return each week and teach again.

When we returned to the Lubeck's house they asked us to get out for a minute.  She surprised me with a birthday cake and we took some time to eat and fellowship together.

Me and Mrs. Diana on my birthday.  She is a precious lady and I am thankful to call her my friend.  I also love that I am getting to work alongside her with this Bible study..  God has always been faithful to place others in our path while on the mission field to help us along the way.   I had Miss Fran Eachus and Mrs. Jane Parker when we worked with the Kekchi and now Mrs. Diana has been my helpmate since moving to this area.  She's a gem (they all are)! 

 my birthday cake from the Lubeck's

 Here's Mr. John showing the boys around his work shop.  They were fascinated with all of his tools.

We returned home for a little time to catch our breath before heading out again.  For our late afternoon/ evening entertainment we headed out to the bowling alley for some family fun.  We love bowling and it's a fun thing to do on special occasions.

Here's my boys singing "Happy Birthday" to me in the car on the way to the bowling alley.  It's a tradition to video them singing to me on my birthday.  These will be precious to me in the years to come.

me and my boys ready to bowl

We had fun!  And, I beat David.  We are very competitive with each other so anytime I can beat him at something it is a good day, ha.

We let the boys play a few games before leaving which included mine and Cruz's favorite- air hockey.

We enjoyed some pizza and cheese fries for our supper before returning home.  While driving back home I saw this gorgeous sunset in the distance. 

What a beautiful way to end my day!!!

The boys were in bed asleep before 8:00 and we were not far behind them.  It had been a long day for all of us but was one that I enjoyed thoroughly!  Birthdays are my favorite days of the year.

Last Weekend

Is is really Thursday and I am just now posting about our weekend? It's been a crazy week around here with Cruz's school activities. I'm a little tired, and stressed, and looking forward to the three day weekend ahead. Here are some photos from lately-

I took this photo last week on our trip home from Guatemala City.  We stopped at a McDonald's on the edge of town and before we went inside Cruz jumped up on the bench and said "take my picture with Ronald , mama".  So I did.  I love how he has his shoes on the wrong feet, ha.  Aren't Crocs the greatest with small kids!  I love for him to wear them when we travel because they slip off and on so easily.

Here he is after working his Elmo foam puzzle.  He took the face out, stuck his face in, and walked into our office and said "Look!".  He's a funny boy.

Saturday morning we made a trip to the village of Lagunetas.  I was looking forward to meeting the new baby where we have our Bible study.  He was one week old.  He is the eighth child in that family.  He was precious! 

There is just nothing sweeter than a newborn baby!  He doesn't have a name yet which is very common here for them to wait to give a name.  I'll be interested to see what they come up with.

While I was inside holding the baby Cruz had fun climbing the trees with the other kids.  I think he is part monkey.

I expect a broken bone post to come at any time.

Before we left the family gave us this chicken.  We tried to decline but they insisted we take it.  We felt really bad knowing this family of 10 needs this chicken a lot more than we do but we took it.  I am praying that the Lord blesses them ten fold for their generosity.  David spread out a tarp and we put the chicken on it in the back of our vehicle.  My boys were on cloud nine!  It was all we could do to strap them in their seats for the ride home.  They just wanted to ride with the chicken. 

About five minutes into our trip down the mountain we encountered this overturned truck in the road.  His brakes had gone out and he flipped trying to stop.  Thankfully he was not transporting people in the back at the moment.  We are also thankful there was no one coming up the mountain (especially ourselves) to encounter him head on.  David was able to tie a strap to his truck and pull him back over.  Cruz thought this whole process was the coolest thing he had ever seen.  He thinks his daddy is now like a Superman in his little eyes.  He has talked about what his daddy did all week.  He has also overturned many of his trucks and cars and pretended to flip them back over.   I just love how little kids think their parents can do anything and know everything.  Lord knows that will change soon once the teenage years start. 

We got home, unloaded the car, and let the chicken loose.  The rest of the day was spent trying to protect her from our two overly excited little boys.  They drove that poor chicken crazy!

We do not have any grass or dirt where we live.  Our whole "yard" is a concrete patio.  That is not good for a chicken.   She spent about 24 hours with us and then we took her to our neighbors to hang out.  They have a yard and other chickens so it is a better set up.  She'll maybe be back when it's time to set her on the table (if you know what I mean).

Here are a few short videos I took of the boys when we first let the chicken loose-

I'll end with this photo of Ben.  He loves to look in the oven and see what's cooking.  He also loves to scream because I won't pull it out and give him a bite. 

What's for dinner?  Chicken pot pie (not with our new chicken though)

Cowboy Cruz

We were happy to get to spend Sunday afternoon and evening with several special people who mean a lot to our little family.  Wendall and Jane Parker, Fran Eachus, Jim McGriff, and David McGowin all flew into Guatemala City on Sunday morning.  They will be doing leadership training with the Kekchi pastors over the next several days.  Please pray for them as they will be teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday in Las Casas.  They will spend Thursday and Friday teaching in Sayaxche, and next Monday and Tuesday in Coban.    We were able to visit with them at our mission house in Guatemala City.

I intended to get photos of each of them with both boys, but only ended up getting a photo of the Parker's with Ben.  I am sad I did not take more pictures!

Mr. Wendall and Mrs. Jane holding Ben

They brought Cruz an early birthday present- his very own cowboy hat.  He loves it, and we cannot wait to take him riding horses again and let him wear it.  They also brought Ben a cute little outfit.

We had a great time catching up with all of them and look forward to the day we can all visit again.

On another note, Ben turns 3 weeks old today!  I am having a hard time believing that, haha.

Dinner Guests at the White House

Sunday evening we were happy to host the Groff's for a meal in our home.  They are also missionaries to the K'ekchi' but live outside of Coban.  We got to know them well during our first term when we lived closer to them.  They were overnight here in Sayaxche on their way to visit Flores and Tikal.  A special treat was getting to meet their daughter, Cindy, and her family who are here visiting from Canada.  We have heard so much about them and were glad to finally meet them.  They have a son, Daniel, who is 16 months old and I really enjoyed Cruz getting to play with him.  Rarely does Cruz get to play with kids his own age.  We had a wonderful meal together and then spent some time in fellowship.  It was a lovely evening!

Galen, Phylis, Cindy, Jonathan, Daniel, David, Cruz, and I

Cindy brought us this maple syrup from Canada.  We can't wait to try it on some hot biscuits.

Our Weekend

We were very excited about getting to see our good friends, the Stoudenmire's, over the weekend.  They have been in Guatemala for two weeks hosting volunteer teams and were getting ready to fly back to the States when we visited with them in Guatemala City.  We always enjoy getting to see them even if it's for a short time.  In addition to a few teething toys, Laurelle made Cruz this beautiful quilt.

 He loves the bright colors 

In addition to liking the colors of the blanket, he thought it tasted pretty good too, ha.  Everything goes in his mouth these days! 

We also got to visit with Mrs. Louise and Mr. Douglas again.  We first met them when they came down with the Stoudenmire's back in August.  Click HERE to read about that weekend visit.

They brought Cruz (and me) this Babycook machine.  I can't wait to use it!  I'll be making all of Cruz's babyfood from scratch so this is going to be a big help to me.  It was very sweet of them! 

Cruz with Mrs. Louise and Mr. Douglas

Jeffrey, Allen, Jimmy, and Laurelle

Allen and Laurelle were very happy to have their two sons on the team with them.  We met Jeffery when we visited them at their home back in February.  It was the first time to meet Jimmy.   

 Us with Allen and Laurelle

We love them and have since the first day we met.  We can't wait for them to come back down soon to visit again!

After joining them all for breakfast on Saturday morning we traveled back to Coban.  We spent the afternoon washing and packing.  We drove on to Sayaxche' earlier today to begin moving in and fixing up our new home.  We'll have several loads to move from Coban, but will do them a little at a time.  We start painting tomorrow.  We'll post photos and updates of our progress soon.