Re-entry back into home and North American life is tough. More on that later, too. I have lots of Guatemala stories now that I have access to my computer and reliable internet.
However.............today I'm headed back to work. :-)
.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Happy Tummies Site
I wish I had a computer to type on instead of just my phone because I'd love to write so much about yesterday while it's still fresh in my mind! Instead, I'll keep it short and save the longer stories in my notebook for sharing later.
Yesterday was amazing! We spent the day at the happy tummies site. We met and interacted with the abolitos (older people), worked construction on the new learning center and got to help feed the kids and play and interact with them.
Three years ago, this site was just a vision for Pastor Louis and the Impacto team. Back then, they walked us through a site that was trash & trees and was located in a very poor neighborhood.
Now, there is a beautiful building to feed and mentor children. There are currently 45 children being fed in the program every day but Pastor Louis is already envisioning serving 75 by the end of the year.
The second picture is the neighborhood around the Happy Tummies site.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Sunday
This morning we'll be worshipping with the local Impacto team. They have been/are our coordinators for the trip.
Then we'll pile back on the bus and go shopping. Of course, there's a story behind the shopping trip! There is a couple here for 3 months from Canada. They do a lot of things but they are currently helping to create a new Happy Tummies.
Happy. Tummies is a program that Impacto created a few years ago. Some of the neediest children are nominated by local teachers and pastors to be in the program. The children go to their local school in the morning and the come to the Happy Tummies site to have a nutritious lunch, tutoring, games, crafts and love. The parents contribute, either through a minimal monetary contribution or by volunteering their time.
The program was so successful and the need was so great that Impacto is opening another Happy Tummies site. Last Monday, they had home visits with prospective families, who are some of the poorest in the area.
One family, who has 5 children, already lost two of their children to malnutrition. The mother is so malnourished that her body can't even produce milk for their new baby. They're feeding the baby a bit of sugar dipped in water.
Someone from the Canadian couple's home church donated money specifically to be used for food for the new Happy Tummies families. So our team gets to go to a local store and get groceries for these 15 families and then deliver them. We'll have time to visit and connect with each kid & their family.
I already know that it's going to be a very emotional day, both for us and the families. We aren't really any different than these families. We all want to do the best for our families. Just because we were born into a prosperous country, we sometimes think we're entitled and that tends to make us condescending. Pray that we connect with these people on a much deeper level than just handing over food.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Guatemala
We made it to Guatemala!!! We're enjoying fellowship and authentic Guatemalan coffee this morning while preparing for a day of traveling mountain roads to our missions destination.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Dallas Airport
Played quelf in the airport in Dallas, TX for a few hours. Now we're on the plane almost ready for our 3.5 hr flight to Guatemala. :-)
SF Airport
We started the day by meeting at the church at 4am. The icy roads to Sioux Falls were awful and we passed a few vehicles in the ditch but Kent got us safely to the airport in spite of the bad weather
We practiced patience while trying to get checked in at the Sioux Falls airport. The computer kept crashing and we weren't sure we would even make our 7:15am flight.
Eventually, all 18 people in our group boarded the plane............where we sat and waited and waited and waited. First, we waited for the plane in front of us to be de-iced. Then we waited for that plane to move out of our way. Next, we had to be de-iced. After almost two hours in the plane, the pilot informed us that our runway had closed. The snowplows couldn't keep up. Did I mention that it was incredibly hot because they couldn't turn the engines on to run the air through the cabin?!?
We taxied back to the gate, got off the plane, took a bathroom break and circled around to pray.
Within a half an hour, they had us board again. Then they de-iced us again. Our original departure time was 7:15am and we ended up taking off about 10:15am.
I'm happy to report that the first flight was uneventful, except for my singing of the "have patience" song to the back end of the airplane while we were sitting on the runway!
Plane
We're currently a little over an hour behind schedule. The plane is being de-iced now.
The bucket on the truck has a picture of a super hero in a cape and says "D-ice man"!
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Two Loads of Laundry
We spent most of the morning moving rooms/beds around. Since we put an alarm on a bedroom door, it's been less stressful and I decided to make the new room arrangements permanent. Another bonus is that we're going back to a very minimal existence for two of our boys. We're narrowing their world again. By having very little in the room, I can easily check for things that they shouldn't have. I'm not naïve. I know they'll still steal/hoard but at least it won't take me hours to go through their rooms and for the most part, I can just look around quickly.
Anyway, in the midst of moving beds and clothing, I wanted Zeke's laundry done so he would be ready for school tomorrow. A certain someone offered to take it downstairs and put it in the washing machine. I told him it would take two loads.
Fast forward to this afternoon. I took Zeke's first load out of the dryer and put it in a basket. I noticed a white sock had snuck into the load with the jeans and t-shirts. It happens to the best of us. Then I noticed three more. ???
I took a hard look at all the laundry I was grabbing. My eyebrows raised as I realized that he had done exactly what I instructed. He had separated the laundry into two loads. HOWEVER, neither of the loads had been sorted into lights and darks. I guess he just grabbed the top half and shoved it in. I just sighed and moved on to the next load of laundry :-/
Due to possible repercussions, I'm not naming any names in this post. (It was someone over 20 :-)
Anyway, in the midst of moving beds and clothing, I wanted Zeke's laundry done so he would be ready for school tomorrow. A certain someone offered to take it downstairs and put it in the washing machine. I told him it would take two loads.
Fast forward to this afternoon. I took Zeke's first load out of the dryer and put it in a basket. I noticed a white sock had snuck into the load with the jeans and t-shirts. It happens to the best of us. Then I noticed three more. ???
I took a hard look at all the laundry I was grabbing. My eyebrows raised as I realized that he had done exactly what I instructed. He had separated the laundry into two loads. HOWEVER, neither of the loads had been sorted into lights and darks. I guess he just grabbed the top half and shoved it in. I just sighed and moved on to the next load of laundry :-/
Due to possible repercussions, I'm not naming any names in this post. (It was someone over 20 :-)
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Perspective
Here is a thought on perspective:
A while ago, I was driving some of the kids to the Middle school. We didn't have a lot of time and traffic is always awful around the schools in the morning. I just happened to get behind a pickup. The speed limit is 25 and then changes to 15 near the school. The pickup was going 20 and then long before the school sign, slowed to just under 10mph. I was getting really frustrated! I started mumbling.
When we finally made it to the school driveway where we all needed to turn across traffic, the pickup stopped in the road instead of turning in to the parking lot. My mumbling became a lot louder. No. I did not actually swear but I was getting close to wanting to! I looked in the distance and saw a car slowing coming toward us in the opposite lane at the appropriate speed of a whopping 15pmh. The pickup seemed to be waiting for that car before turning! Seriously!!! I was fuming!
The pickup had tons of room and ten cars probably could've driven in during the time we were all waiting in a line in the street. After the car eventually drove by, the pickup finally turned. It was then that we could see that the driver was very young. Riley said it was a boy in his 8th grade class who had just gotten his license.
Suddenly, the perspective of the situation changed completely. Instead of being frustrated with a slow idiot driver, I was proud of the fact that the kid took his time and was learning and behaving in an overly cautious manner. I had empathy and even patience for him and his situation.
I've done a lot of soul searching over the past few months. Mostly involving trying to parent well and keep everyone afloat, both emotionally and financially. In doing so, I let myself be dragged down. I believe we're currently on the upswing, not because circumstances have changed significantly but because my perspective seems to be changing.
At the risk of sounding selfish, I think I'm finally realizing that there are steps I need to take that ensure that I have the emotional and physical energy to help keep everyone else where they need to be. Part of that is realizing that I cannot be everything for everyone. Part is figuring out how to safely have some time for myself. We finally have a very loud door alarm on one of the bedroom doors and I can't even tell you the amount stress that has taken off of me. Maybe more on the reasoning behind that later.
One of the things I miss is writing. It seems to help to get thoughts out of my head and into words. A number of people have told me that they miss reading the blog. I think that was just the encouragement I needed to start up again.
A while ago, I was driving some of the kids to the Middle school. We didn't have a lot of time and traffic is always awful around the schools in the morning. I just happened to get behind a pickup. The speed limit is 25 and then changes to 15 near the school. The pickup was going 20 and then long before the school sign, slowed to just under 10mph. I was getting really frustrated! I started mumbling.
When we finally made it to the school driveway where we all needed to turn across traffic, the pickup stopped in the road instead of turning in to the parking lot. My mumbling became a lot louder. No. I did not actually swear but I was getting close to wanting to! I looked in the distance and saw a car slowing coming toward us in the opposite lane at the appropriate speed of a whopping 15pmh. The pickup seemed to be waiting for that car before turning! Seriously!!! I was fuming!
The pickup had tons of room and ten cars probably could've driven in during the time we were all waiting in a line in the street. After the car eventually drove by, the pickup finally turned. It was then that we could see that the driver was very young. Riley said it was a boy in his 8th grade class who had just gotten his license.
Suddenly, the perspective of the situation changed completely. Instead of being frustrated with a slow idiot driver, I was proud of the fact that the kid took his time and was learning and behaving in an overly cautious manner. I had empathy and even patience for him and his situation.
I've done a lot of soul searching over the past few months. Mostly involving trying to parent well and keep everyone afloat, both emotionally and financially. In doing so, I let myself be dragged down. I believe we're currently on the upswing, not because circumstances have changed significantly but because my perspective seems to be changing.
At the risk of sounding selfish, I think I'm finally realizing that there are steps I need to take that ensure that I have the emotional and physical energy to help keep everyone else where they need to be. Part of that is realizing that I cannot be everything for everyone. Part is figuring out how to safely have some time for myself. We finally have a very loud door alarm on one of the bedroom doors and I can't even tell you the amount stress that has taken off of me. Maybe more on the reasoning behind that later.
One of the things I miss is writing. It seems to help to get thoughts out of my head and into words. A number of people have told me that they miss reading the blog. I think that was just the encouragement I needed to start up again.
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