Christmas Quote

Ok... words from the mouth of Abigail...

But first to set the scene: Ed and Joy on the couch... we're getting ready to head out for our top secret special day. Joy and Ed are talking in code about today's events and location. Joy states that Ed is having difficulty talking in code. Abigail says, "Maybe it's because of his age."

Love it... wonderful.  :9)

Christmas Break! Woot!

Well we're back! We arrived at Logan International at midnight last night (Sunday AM). We had an excellent trip. Our hats off to Continental/United (no, we're not getting any sort of kick-back for that) for the service and everything.

We had an excellent time at Dover Baptist this morning. I figure I recognized 1/3rd of the congregation - God is moving in that church. It was nice to see the familiar faces.

To one and all - Merry Christmas (Feliz Navidad)!

... Delay...

Oh my goodness, seriously? We haven't posted since October...SO SORRY!

I am sure there is a lot that has happened since then, but we'll do the major highlights.
Sara learned to walk, and showed her Chapina (Guatemalan) skills


We carved ayotes - which are sort of like pumpkins, except the are green inside (the goo) and out. Can't tell here though! Abigail's pirate is on the left, Emma's monster in the middle, and Sara's baby (designed by her sisters) on the right.
We can buy regular imported pumpkins here - at $12 each, or ayotes at $1.20 each....hmmmm, not a hard decision.

We designed and created our own costumes for the annual Harvest Fair at CAG. This year's theme was pirates and under the sea. Emma was the "queen of the blunt nosed feather fish," and Abigail won first prize for her treasure chest.

More info to come.

Bye September, hello October

Well, September came... September went... and now we're almost half way through October. September was a comparatively quite month... as I write this I'm really stretching to find something to write about. Joy just reminded me that Sara learned to walk. She also has developed quite the appetite for "real" food. Oh yeah, we had to let our gardner go. It was time for a change. We decided to bring Maribel's husband, Edy, on as a replacement. On his first day of work he cleared out twelve (12) bags of "trash". Our old gardner had let the garden grow up so much. It is so much clearer now. We're excited to be able to give Edy this chance. On his second day he was asked by three other families in our Colonia if he could do gardening-like work. When we checked for airfare back in August and September we were discouraged with what we found. But in the first week of October we acted on a tip from friends at CAG and checked again. Prices had dropped by about 25% making tickets possible. After much prayer we finally settled on buying tickets! We will arrive in New Hampshire in the wee hours of Sunday, 18 December. We will return to Guatemala on 8 January. We're all very excited to be back for Christmas! We Canadian Thanksgiving on 8 October! Much turkey was consumed by everyone. We're thankful to be able to share these sorts of holidays with close friends when we're not near our family. Now, in closing I'll write about the current weather situation - we're wet. Very wet. Tropical Depression 12-E has been soaking us for the past three days. The CONRED (Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres) has declared "condition RED" due to current conditions. There have been reports of numerous mudslides and flooding. A new sink-hole opened up in a highway down town - which has caused a lot of extra traffic. The government has closed all public schools for tomorrow (Thursday). But - we're fine. Just a bit wet. -knme

Two weeks in... wowzers...

Ok, so we're two weeks into the new school year and well... wowzers... where has the time gone? The first couple weeks have been pretty nuts but that is normal. Emma has been doing a "non-official" pre-k. This was something that Rick, the new director, has been working on as a way to help the faculty with kids in that age group. There are, I believe, three kids in Emma's "class". She has pretty much mastered her primary and secondary colours. I believe Joy said they were learning to spell their names yesterday/today. This week marked the start of an evaluation of a new thing for Abigail. Before the year started we had Abigail "academically tested" by Kelli (the head of the NILD department). Two weeks ago we sat with Kelli and she explained the results. Abigail is ahead in reading and other parts of language arts. To help her they devised a play where she will do 3rd grade LA and all the other 2nd grade work. She is quite excited about this. She earned a 100% on her first 3rd grade spelling test! Joy and I continue to be busy but much less busy than the first week of school. Joy's 5th grade music class are all excited about having band and the other students are loving learning the recorder. One of her students from last year, who had to return to the States this year, wrote to her and talked about his experiences with the choir in his new school. Tomorrow after church we're going to do some grocery shopping then have a cooking date with the Agrellas family. Should be a good day. Until next time. -knme

Ahhh...it starts again

We've decided, teaching at CAG is sort of like being at youth group on steroids. Our house has been so quiet this summer...remarkable considering our children...without the discipleship girls around. Tonight we had a welcome back party for the 11th grade girls. The moment they arrived the house was loud, and it stayed that way until they left. It was fabulous. Sara, just like the other girls, was able to sleep through a house of giggling (OK screaming) girls. Maybe it wasn't so fabulous for Ken, who hid downstairs with the girls..but Joy LOVED it!

Tomorrow is new student orientation. I hope to meet the rest of the new 11th grade girls then. Then school starts on Wednesday. Yay!

The "final" weekend...

At first thought today's title might seem ominous or depressing... but really that is not how I am intending it.

We're on our final weekend before classes start for the 2011/2012 academic year. I can say that this coming year has more interesting challenges than years past. Joy will be picking up three elementary music classes in addition to her theory class and her choral classes. This is because we lost our elementary music teacher who is returning to the States to raise more support.

Also tied to that is that I (Ken) will be taking on his technical responsibilities in high school chapel, elementary chapel and worship team. Due to the time these events are scheduled I will have to step out of the class advisor job I was doing the last two years.

Today, Sunday, we are not going to church because last night during bath time we ran out of gas and have no more hot water. After spending the day at the school painting (Joy's class room) and playing with friends (recently returned to Guatemala) we're all pretty dirty. Abigail has another loose tooth... at this rate she will not have any left to chew her food.

Emma has spent time with her "teacher" this last week and seems to be enjoying herself. Last week they spent time learning the primary colours.

Updating on Joy: she is feeling better than she has felt since early May. It has been good to see her with energy again.

That is all for now... Please continue to pray for us as the regular school year starts on Wednesday.

-knme

Update - 20110801

Hi there everyone,

Last Tuesday Joy went back in to have her x-ray read -- it was a good result. They told her to return on Monday to have the cathoder removed. Richard took her into the hospital at 5:30 this morning. She called me around 8am to say she was away and was feeling great. As of 1pm she is still awaiting her discharge orders.

The Larimer, Malczewski's, Agrellas', and Brown and Wilson families are back in town which makes the area feel a whole lot less empty.

New teacher workshops start this week and all teachers start next week... so much yet to do.

Oh -- the van is back on the road with many, many thanks to Richard and Jose.

-knme

Prayer Request for our Dear Friends

Sometimes this world makes very little sense, we sort of live that all the time here in this non-sensical country. Praise God that He is in control of everything, even when we don't see the good.

Last night, the 23 year old niece of our dear friends was shot and killed on her way home from the gym. Please hold the Rosales family (Luis, Melonie, Melissa, Christopher, and Ashley) up in your prayers.

Maribel

Maribel announced today that she would be looking for another job which pays more than working for us. We are, of course, sad about this, but we understand. She has the degree to get a higher paying job and needs the money. We pay the correct rate for the work she does, but she just needs a different job.
Thankfully the situation this time is not problems with her husband.

We are not going to be actively looking for someone until we know for sure that she is leaving though, because last time she changed her mind after a little bit. It shouldn't be too difficult for the girls as they will all be at CAG with the new childcare program. The adjustment will be difficult for the adults as our already full work load will increase greatly. One advantage - this should save us a little bit of money. (Silver linings - we have gotten quite good at finding them.)

Our Update

It's been a while since we've update you all.

Things have been better... considering where we've been that is saying something.

Joy returns for an xray tomorrow then needs to take the films to the doctor to see if they managed to get all the kidney stone. If not then we may need to repeat the whole process... a joy which we're not looking forward to... Please pray for her and her appointments tomorrow.

We will have to lay up the van for a while... Last Thursday we both noticed an odd sound in the front driver side wheel. Well today our good friend Richard helped me (Ken) put it up and remove the wheel. We noticed that the inside brake pad was gone and the calibre was digging into the router. This was quite the education for me (Ken) as I've not had much experience with automotive components.

We will find a way to get by with the car for now as we do not have the funds for this car repair. Please be in prayer for us on this matter.

We are anxiously awaiting the return of many of our friends this week. Both the Malczewski and Agrellas families return and we're very excited to have them back among us. The summer has been long and, at times, trying but we have enjoyed the relative quiet.

That brings up another interesting comment... our little Sara has a larger-than-life voice. I'm sure no one will argue with me (Ken) when I say that comes from the Wilson side of things :9)

Well, that is all for now. Please do keep both Joy (medical) and our entire family (financial) in your prayers. Thanks very much.

-knme

Prayer Needed

Please pray for the Hernandez family. Their children went, and are still going, to CAG and they are in charge of a huge orphanage here. Their Dad is dying of liver failure, and is now in the end stages. Right now the biggest prayer request is that he will be able to come off the respirator and go home, so he can go home from there. Thank you.

6:20pm and we're home

Hmmm... that about sums it up.

The hospital was very nice. We had a room, which we were not expecting -- but it was a nice bonus. The nurses were nice and polite. I (Ken) had something which resembled chicken for lunch... passible, at best but it was hospital food so, honestly, what can be expected.

Joy is home and is heavily medicated. My hope is that the drool comes out evenly... :0)

Off to bed.

-knme

5:56am And We're Out of Bed?!

Here we are... very early on a Friday morning. My coffee is brewed and I'm enjoying a slice of banana bread.

In the next twenty minutes, or so (knowing the history of our family it is likely closer to the "or so"), Joy and I will start our trip into the city to an unknown hospital. Can't think of a better way to start a Friday. :o|

In all honesty this is hopefully going to help Joy feel better than she has felt in a long time. That in itself makes it all worth it.

We did not receive word of the hospital authorization until about 5:45pm last night... about 15 minutes before the company closed for the weekend (Friday is a holiday). I think we both had given up hope yesterday about that time. But at the eleventh hour God pulled out the miracle... as He usually does.

I was about 1/4 of the way through Sara's second bottle of supper when I heard a very excited, "wahoooo" (Ken's translation and spelling of Joy's exclamation) erupt from the den.

The procedure is scheduled for about 10am. It is same-day so hopefully we'll be home sometime in the later part of the afternoon.

Please be praying.

-knme

Trying to Stay Thankful

So, I (Joy) am trying to just be thankful that we have health care, and not really frustrated. My procedure which was scheduled for tomorrow, which would allow me to be comfortable for the first time in six weeks, will not be happening. It's really my own fault. The doctor told me I had to call the insurance company and make sure that they pre-authorized the procedure. This little step I forgot, I'm not accustomed to needing to do that. Geesh, in the States when I needed this done they just did it. So tonight I called our insurance rep, she had no clue what I was talking about. It seems the authorization form was emailed to the main company and not to her, and of course the company was closed for the night, and won't open until 8 tomorrow. So, there goes that procedure. And wouldn't you know it Friday is a holiday. Thankfully my doctor will still be in the city for the morning and is willing to do the procedure early that morning, if I get the authorization tomorrow. I, personally, would rather get the authorization at 8 am and have the procedure at 10 tomorrow, but that wasn't presented to me as an option. Lovely.

Please pray that I will get some sleep tonight, I can't seem to get comfortable enough to sleep for very long. Also, pray that we will find someone to stay at the house with the kids so they don't all have to go to the hospital. Above all, pray that I will remember to be thankful - and maybe find a way to even be thankful for the pain.

Joy Update #4

Joy had her follow-up appointment this afternoon. We settled on Thursday morning to do the next procedure (Lithotripsy). It should be a same-day appointment so she should be home that afternoon.

Since this will be done at a different hospital we did a drive-by so that we knew where we'll be going that morning.

Thanks to all who continue to pray.

-knme

Joy Update #3

Joy is home (6:30pm ish).

Tired, sore, and home.

-knme

Joy Update #2

Joy should be home today.

When she called I was able to clear up some points of confusion:
1.) the hospital she is currently at cannot do the lithotripsy
2.) no lithotripsy can be done until the infection is cleared up
3.) lithotripsy will need to be done at a different facility next sometime week

Beyond that I do not know much more.

-knme

Joy Update

Hello everyone,

For those who were not aware, Joy has been suffering from kidney stone related problems for the last six or seven weeks (maybe longer).

Yesterday in the late morning the pain became unbearable and Joy finally agreed to go to the hospital. She was admitted to the hospital overnight. Some of the other details are sketchy but this is what I have interpreted from various phone calls with her since yesterday afternoon:
1.) kidney stone is about 2cm in size
2.) the current hospital cannot do the standard sound wave treatment (forget the name) so she may have to go to a different hospital for that treatment
3.) she has a catheter to drain one of her kidneys
4.) she has a bad kidney infection in one of her kidneys and is on medicine to take care of it

We were to be taking care of Aiden and Alli (our close friends from Chichi) this weekend. We've worked out with Don and Heather to swap weekends so Abigail and Emma will be heading to Chichi today and later in the summer we'll take Aiden and Alli again.

Praise the Lord for this: Sara has been taking the baby formula (so far).

I will try to keep the blog updated (instead of Facebook) as I am not sure we're connected with everyone on Facebook.

Thanks very much to Rick, Millys, Julia, and Chris and Mike for coming to the rescue yesterday. We very much appreciate all that you all have done for us.

In Christ,

-knme

Year Two In the Books - and family matter (UPDATED)

First and foremost, I am asking that you lift up Kenneth's cousin, Krista, in prayer as she is struggling with some things.

Second... our second year is now officially done. We will be saying goodbye to some very close and dear friends over the next week. Some of these friends are only furloughing for the summer and some are moving on to new opportunities. God has called them to move on so we pray God open the doors and they will walk through (with God).

Summer plans? That is yet to come... and be determined. We will be remaining in Guatemala and will do some small family traveling (Chichi and Antigua).

-knme

May Update - Finish Line in sight

Our last post said that Emma was sick. Well, that was quite a week. Noon on Saturday Emma started a 24 hour period of not being able to keep any food down. By Noon on Sunday she was right as rain.

Wednesday we saw Joy and Sara off for a trip to see her niece's graduation from Cedarville University. That night, at some point, Emma threw up in her bed. But she did not discover it until about 5:30 Thursday morning when she woke up. Needless to say that was fun.

The weekend was very low-key here. I believe we had two consecutive PJ days!

Wednesday night we welcomed Joy and Sara back.

Yesterday, Joy and the CAG Choir sang at the Baccalaureate Ceremony. It marked, what I believe was, the final time when Joy and Jordan (Underwood) would collaborate on a piece. Joy and Jordan have worked together on "The Life We Knew" (2010), "Charlie Brown" (2010), and numerous Choral presentations. Jordan and Rachel will be returning to the States in just a few short weeks.

Some of you may still be curious what we're doing this summer. Well, here it is: we'll be staying in Guatemala. A couple of factors have led to this: unexpected automotive repairs, drop in support levels, and (drum roll please) dramatic increase in airfare. We are going to aim -- tentatively -- for a Christmas return.

For now, that is it.

-knme

Emma is sick...

Please join us in prayer for Emma who has an upset stomach. She started throwing up about noon yesterday and has not been able to keep anything down since.

Please pray that whatever it is does not spread to the rest of us.

-knme

Why Hello Semana Santa

Day one of our spring break... stayed in bed until 7:45am... check...
10:43am ...still in jammies...check...

The last two Friday nights have been quite busy for us. Last Friday, 8 April, was the elementary spring concert. Last night was the high & middle school Vocal Explosion. They were both amazing nights.

We're looking forward to having some rest this week.

Bummer of a Change

I had a student
He tried so hard in my class
But to no avail

Music is his goal
The theory is just so hard
He dropped to not fail

A plan had been made
With me alone to study
To help with college

But now that has changed
His fam-ly is furloughing
In the States next year

I can't imagine
How hard grade 12 would have been
Done in a new place

Please pray for Roman
That he would transition well
his needs would be met

A school with theory
friends that will understand him
success with hard work

Thank you for reading
this reality Haiku
Yup I need some sleep

Praise, but keep praying...

Leah made it through surgery all right late Friday night. Now we are praying that she will have a speedy recovery without any setbacks. Thanks for praying!

Prayer Needed Now!

Please pray for one of our students, and daughter of our friends. She is being taken in for emergency neuro surgery in 30 minutes (10 p.m our time - 2 hours behind NH.) I know many of you will read this later, but those of you who might still be awake, please start praying. Her name is Leah and she is having the shunt in her brain (or coming from it, wherever shunts go) replaced. We knew after school when she was led out of the building incoherent that something was wrong, but had no idea it was this bad. Please pray for Leah (4th grade) and the whole Soderling family. We will post more as we know it. Joy

Residency Update

Sorry for the delay in issuing an update.

Last Friday we had our residency appointment at the Guatemalan immigration office. All went well... for the most part. We left the school at 8:05 and arrived at the office at 8:30. Rock on!

At 8:50 we hit a hiccup. Jose, the school's messenger who accompanied us, was doing the final-final check. At this time we discovered we did not have our pictures. Now-- we had our pictures but did not have them with us. The day before I had given them a friend at school who had handled these types of things in the past -- to be sure the pictures were satisfactory. He had put them on his desk, right next to the passports which he was going to copy. Jose did not know our pictures were there so when he went into grab the passports he missed them -- honest mistake. We neglected to check before leaving -- our bad.

In the end Jose rushed back to school to get them. By the time he returned we were just getting through the preliminary interview. The process was pretty painless but since there were four of us (Joy, me, Abigail, Emma) they had to do four separate applications.

Now we're back to a waiting game -- they say eight days to the next step (not entirely sure what that is).

On a side note: I (Ken) "taught" my first official class last week. Don't get too excited -- I merely subbed for the 6th grade science teacher, who was away at an ACSI conference. We did review for a chapter test so it wasn't too stressful. The kids were awesome... can't complain, really.

Well, that is all for now...

-knme

Passport, Check! Permanent Residency, Check!

So, we have two good pieces of information: we have a passport for Sara in hand! w00t!

Secondly, we received a late night call (typically not good things) from the director of CAG who was happy to tell us that he had just received an e-mail from the new school lawyer saying that our permanent residency had been approved -- w00t!

We are apparently missing some paper work but tentatively have a residency appointment setup for Friday, 11 March. More details to come, I'm sure.

-knme

Hello and Goodbye Intermissions

We're home!

Last week was a short week. We had Monday off (Mid-Winter Break) and then 1/2 day on Friday due to Intermissions. "What is Intermissions?" you ask. Well, Intermissions is a conference for any and all missionaries in Guatemala. It is a time of spiritual recharging. There is a worship band and a guest speaker.

Also, servant teams fly in from the States to pamper us missionaries for a two day period. These pamperings take the form of manicure, pedicure, massage (body or cranial), hair cutting 101, and child care. They have ministries for couples and singles. They have various short seminars on a wide range of topics. They have child care (can't say this too many times). And the food... food, food and more food.

Well, we had a wonderful time. This year, like last year, Intermissions was held in Panajachel - AKA "The Lake". The drive up (with Richard, Jean, Jordan and Rachel) took a little over three hours with a stop at Charlie and Pats for "cleanup, isle 'E'" as poor Emma threw up in Chimaltenango. The ride back was slightly less exciting as, thankfully, no one threw up but Sara screamed for a good portion of Mud-slide-ville.

This Intermissions marked the one year anniversary of our family hooking up with the Logan family. This family-relationship-dynamic has been wonderful for Joy and I and (of course) Abigail and Emma. The kids play so very well together and us Adults... well, we just enjoy getting into trouble. Enough said...

-knme

January Down...

Looking back on January is what we're doing now. One down, eleven to go (in 2011). Where did it go? Well, let me tell you.

The transition from one to two was a challenge. The transition from two to three has not been horrible -- except when one of them is cranky. When more than one is cranky -- look out.

Sara has settled into a few new routines... eating at 3, 6, 9, 12... and pooping every four or five days. The latter has been much more difficult to adjust to due to her discomfort on days four and five. We've been to two different pediatricians and both have prescribed different "baby laxatives". Neither have worked...

Sara is generally happiest between the hours of 7 and 8 in the morning, much to her mother's delight. Lately Sara has taken to eating at 8pm, 2/3am, and then again at 6/7am.

Abigail has settled back into school with ease. She has taken to reading small chapter books. Over the Christmas break she read the "young reader version" of Alice in Wonderland -- in five days. She continues to devour her collection of Magic Tree House and Box Car Children.

Emma continues to talk. Talk, talk, talk. Just recently Joy was discussing with her that one of her gifts from God was to make people laugh. This has helped Emma understand it is ok when people laugh at some of the things she says and does. Even more recently Emma declared to Joy that God had given her the gift of "stop talking" -- which she uses sparingly.

Joy has been suffering lately with some sort of stomach discomfort. She is considering a trip to the doctor this week.

Ken has been continuing his efforts to complete a computer systems change-over he started in August. This continues to progress.

This month we did have a scare of sorts when Maribel, our "nanny" and maid since August 2009, told us on a Friday that she and her daughter were moving back to Chimaltenango to live with her family because her husband had been drinking and had become violent. Sadly, here this is all too common. What is different is that Maribel was determined to not fit the mold of wife who just took this in stride (as part of her life). She is a very intelligent person. She did not want that for her life or the life of her daughter.

We sat and explained the situation to Abigail and Emma and then prayed with them. The next day Maribel came to work and told us that her and Edy, her husband, had talked and he has made a commitment to change. Evidently he did not realize just how close he had come to losing his family. We continue to pray for them as relapse is easy.

As we begin to look forward to the summer we have had early discouragement at the anticipated cost of airline fares. We ask you join us in praying for direction as we make summer plans.

-knme

First Day Back

Well, today is our first day back at school. An alumni asked as Joy and the younger girls were getting ready to leave - "Are you ready to be back in school?" The answer - "Ready, yes...prepared, no." Somehow the vacation got away with us, well actually Joy actually treated it as a vacation and didn't do any work after finals were all graded. That, of course, leaves her with a lot of planning to do - and quickly.

Sara went to her first class this morning and did quite well. Thankfully Joy can play some things on the piano one handed while holding her. The students either are all from big families, or already know our girls, and aren't really distracted by her presence. Thankfully there is a nursery at school when we are ready to put her in, and it is free of charge.

Emma hung out in Daddy's office, scratching his head. It's a real hardship to have to take your own head scratcher to work with you. She did have a good fall on the way to the van though and had to quickly be taken to the nurse to mend up some scratched knees.

Abigail is very excited to have a new friend in her class - from New Hampshire! Until today she was the ONLY student from NH on campus. Praise God the Wilson family, who have been raising support since before us, have finally arrived here in Guatemala. When Joy was out at recess Abigail and Claire were playing together on the see-saw. We are hoping that they will be able to build a great friendship, since that is one that can travel home with us in the summers too.

Please pray for us as we adjust back to our busy ministry schedule. Pray especially that we won't lose our focus on God - the whole reason we are ministering anyway.

We would like to ask special prayer for some former youth groupers of ours, who are now raising their own TCKs. We don't have all the details (in fact some of you know far more than we do,) but wish to bring this to your attention. Our youthgroupers, and friends, Ainsley and Ben are a military family - which means their children are TCKs because of all the moving around they do - even if they never actually leave the USA they will develop some of those qualities. Anyway, late last fall they were transferred to Hawaii. They received their shipment on December 3 and no doubt went into heavy unpacking mode just before the holiday season. Well, right around Christmas doctors found a mass in Ben's chest. The family has been transferred back to NH so that Ben can receive treatment in Boston. Praise God their children are young, but still all the moving has got to be hard on them, and the whole family. Stability is one thing that TCKs crave the most, and the constant moving many of them experience can really mess with that. So - all that to say - please join us in praying for Ainsley and Ben, Ariel and Gideon that they will be able to find peace and stability even in this rough time. Thank you! (And while you're at it you can remember to pray for all the TCKs that we minister to here in Guatemala as well.)

God's blessings to you this day!