Don't Blink or the "Break" will be gone!

I continue to marvel at just how fast "break" can pass.

I believe that for the first time we did not have anything "big" planned for break. Normally we'll try to do this, or do that - get away for the first couple of days to some economical place. Not this year. Sure, we had some small plans - like, for example, to go see Rio 2 and to play games with some of our friends. Yet, at the mid point of the week work almost got in the way. We had some hard and long conversations and made some hard decisions - I ended up working some of the time but we decided to leave work alone over the final weekend and just enjoy the last couple of days of vacation. We feel God honoured that decision and gave us rest to wrap up the break.

For those of you who have never attempted to watch a movie in a foreign language (without subtitles) let me tell you it is both a fulfilling yet maddening experience. At the end of the movie my Spanish enabled me to understand the "jist" of the movie while leaving most of the finer dialog open for, shall we say, interpretation. I'll be honest - even though it was a kids movie some of the vocabulary used was still difficult to figure out and some of the characters talk so fast... But we enjoyed it.

This year Joy lead worship for the Sunrise Easter service while I provided sound tech. Our girls are not "morning" people, as is evident by this picture near the start of the service.

2014 Sunrise Service at C.A.G.

Another cool part of Semana Santa (Holy Week) are the amazing decorative carpets they make from coloured saw dust. Here is a picture of one from inside the new SanKris mall.

Semana Santa Carpet at SanKris Mall

We did get to enjoy a games with Claudia, Pedro, Peter and Gabby and Mark, Kim, Eric and Kalia - which were fun and relaxing.

This week C.A.G. is doing their spring "Spiritual Emphasis Week" with the secondary students (grades 6+.) It kicked off yesterday and seemed to go very well. We are all looking forward to what God will do for these students this week.

Well, speaking of the children I must go wake them for school. We continue to be thankful for everyone who supports us - both in prayer and with their finances. Both enable us to be here working for the Lord.

Blessings to all,

-knme for the whole family

Ps - whilst downloading pictures from my Guatemalan phone I found this treasure from March 2013, right before I became stuck in the USA - I took Abigail out for a birthday meal, just the two of us, at San Martin. The staff treated her to a "birthday surprise." Hopefully she'll forgive me some day ;9)

Happy birthday Abigail (2013-9th)

Semana Santa Right Around the Corner

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is right around the corner. It is the week leading up to Easter and is a big deal here in Guatemala. I'll be honest, I'm excited for it because it is a week in which, in theory, I can sleep in. Selfish? Yep - probably. Realistic? Hopefully.

The past couple of weeks have been a blur. Joy's father left on the 25th of March. That was rough for us. We really enjoyed having him around. Right around that same time C.A.G. started their spring testing window for Measures of Annual Progress (MAP.) This was big for me as I handle the majority of the proctoring. That should wrap up tomorrow morning.

Joy's new elementary choir program has been quite the hit. They sang in elementary chapel last week - purely awesome! Have a listen:

We have decided not to return the kids to gymnastics for the rest of this school year. We may reconsider it over the summer but for now the choir, piano and ballet is keeping them active and busy enough.

On a personally exciting note: C.A.G. has approved the purchase of some street hockey equipment! Now, this may not seem overly exciting to some, however to me - a "Canuck", this is is very exciting.

Also, C.A.G. is seriously evaluating the addition of some "Computer Science" courses to its elective curriculum. It is too early to know exactly what this will shape up to look like but it is also exciting.

We have completed Abigail's registration for summer Camp Guamiski. She attended this two years ago and had a wonderful time. She is super excited to be returning this summer.

Well - that is all for now. We continue to thank God for all of you who have continued to support us: both financially and in prayer. Our being here and our work would not be possible if it were not for all of you.

Blessings,

-knm/jr/ac/eb/sje