Abigail's Update

Joy told me that she forgot to post an update on Abigail... and as I have the computer now I thought I'd do it.

Abs, and Emma, both slept very well last night.  In fact Abigail did not complain once about her bites.  And, to boot, Emma slept soundly between 11p and 5a.  Woot!

Finished my third day of Spanish.  I might get to take the Grado 'A' test either late tomorrow or, more likely, Friday.  I am a bit behind where I wanted to be but I feel that I am retaining more this time.

That is it for now.  Missing everyone!

-knme

Luis Angel Update

This is a picture of Luis a couple of years ago with a member of the DBC team that was here. Thanks Karen!

As of this morning there were various choices for the treatment of Luis. Becky and Glenda, the school's technical director, went to the capital this morning to visit the National Orthopedic Hospital. The decision has since been made, mostly due to the quality of care he will receive, to move Luis Angel to the capital city. The move will be done tomorrow early in the morning, which means that Ken and I will have to transport ourselves around the city. Time to learn how to drive like the crazy drivers they are down here.

Ken and I will be learning the ropes from Becky this afternoon, please pray that we are safe and that we have no accidents. Also, please pray for Luis - this is a big move for him, far from his family and friends. Pray that God will provide him with new friends in the hospital and that even at his young age he will understand that this is the best for him.

Luis Angel News

Since yesterday not much has happened with Luis Angel. The hospital has lost his X-rays but there has been no movement yet on his treatment. Please continue to pray for him. We are certainly thankful that he is in a hospital, but we are still annoyed at the classist/racist treatment he is receiving.

You want us to eat what?

OK - for anyone that is under the impression that we are vacationing, we had the "luxury" of eating pig head today. Ken didn't mind it nearly as much as Joy (and Becky.) It was quite the joke of the office amongst both Americans and Guatemalans. They are trying to run the food program by donations, and well, someone donated 5 pig heads. The taste was wonderful, Joy is not so sure she wants to know what the crunchy pieces were.

Yesterday when I (Joy) got home from working at the school the kids were out taking a walk with the helpers. I was shocked when Emma literally could have cared less that I was home. She made absolutely no motion of wanting to come to me instead of staying in Marisela's arms. As traumatized as I was this is actually really good because it means she is adjusting well. She has also started walking even more, though we didn't think she would have any need to with her three caretakers. Abigail and the boys play together very well and don't need much watching since the yard is totally enclosed, thusly Emma gets A LOT of attention and she is very much loving it.

Abigail did her homeschooling with Marisela yesterday and began learning the Spanish alphabet. I was very impressed with Marisela's teaching and would easily let her do it every day so that Abs learns even more Spanish. She came here to the school today and went to the kindergarten class. She lasted about an hour, until her bug bites started to hurt and she got frustrated not being able to explain this to her teacher. She did dive right in though, and I was saddened as I watched her walking away to her classroom holding the principals hand.

When I went home to pick up the kids for school Emma very distinctively said Hola to me, that was exciting. I am very pleased with how well both the girls are adapting.

I began the process of picture taking today and so far it is going well. There is a lot of translation work to be done, but it has been a very good way for me to learn some Guatemalan phrases. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for confidence in my Spanish, I am certain it is helping. Please continue to pray that we will make the time for both our family and our time with God. Please continue to pray that God will reveal to both us and the Lovealls if this is the place that He wants us to continue to serve Him.

We miss you all, but we sure are enjoying the nice weather, grass, and outdoor flowers.

Abigail Update

Greetings from Guatemala. Today I am writing to let everyone know that during the first couple of nights while Abigail was sleeping she was bitten by a couple mosquitoes. She has a number of bug bites on her legs, only her legs and did not have a very good night last night. We have switched from treating her with standard anti-itch cream with something a bit stronger and will also use some cortezone cream tonight.

Andrew and Becky say that this is fairly normal and is likely because of the type of jammies she was wearing (open at the ankles) and the way she moves around at night.

It is nothing to really worry about but please pray that she has a better night tonight... so we all can have a better night.


-knme

Happy Monday

Greetings from sunny and warm Guatemala. All is good.

The girls let us sleep in this morning (6:15am).

Yesterday we decided we needed to relax so in the morning we went to a water park and had some wet fun. It was our family, and the Loveall family and the Dempster family. The Dempster family is from Tennessee and is down here while they're going through the hoops of adopting a new baby girl. They're a very nice family.

When we returned from the park we went to a school football (soccer) match. That was a hoot. Afterward we went to the local grocery store to stock up on food and other essentials.

From Ken: Today I did my first morning at CSA (Spanish school). Tested into Grado 'A'. They're going to do a couple days of review and then let me take the test. If I pass then I'll do some work in the next grade level. Definitely had Spanish overload.

Had chance to look at some of the computers they want me to work on and surveyed the school and their current setup. Is going to be a challenge but should be fun at the same time.

Tonight we're going to go out and celebrate Nancy's birthday. Nancy is one of the other American missionaries working with the Loveall's.

Well, that is all I have to say so far... oh yeah, Emma took three steps for me today!!

From Joy: I have spent the day at the school with Becky. There have been a lot of people speaking very fast Spanish, but my brain is adjusting quickly. There is a 9 year old boy from the school named Luis Angel who is in the hospital recovering from an operation. He was born with a birth defect where his femur was outside of the hip socket, so the school paid for him to have an operation. This is very risky at his age, but Luis could barely walk. The operation he had put a pin into his hip and then he was casted. Unfortunately when the doctor took off the cast he also took out the pin, and come to find out, dislocated Luis' hip. Now he has an infection, and the doctors are basically giving the gringos the run-around. We went to the hospital this morning to get an update, but all they would say is that they have to wait for the infection to go away. Apparently then they will start thinking of a plan to help him. They blame the infection on the fact that he lives in a house with a dirt floor, but we think that the dislocation is what started the whole problem. They could have given him a preventative antibiotic, since they knew his living situation, but they didn't. Becky tried to help keep the wound clean at the house, but could not even touch him because he was in so much pain. They put him back in the hospital, where at least he has meals and a TV, but not the best medical care. After blaming all his problems on not keeping the wound clean, they called a few minutes ago to say that they couldn't clean it because he was screaming in pain. Apparently it is not customary to give a child a shot to help with the pain before such a procedure. So now, everyone in the office here is scrambling around trying to come up with a better plan to help Luis.

Please pray that things will happen quickly and that poor little Luis will be feeling better soon.

On our way to visit Luis this morning there was a young boy waiting at the door of the school to talk to Becky. He desperately wanted to study here, but they don't have any room, and his family didn't bring him in to register before the school year started. I was very close to tears as I watched Becky tell this child that he would have to wait to go to school yet another year (he is probably 7 years old.) This happens a lot down here. It is such a blessing to have Escuela Integrada here to help the 287 kids that they can.

I have started coming up with a plan for the music classroom, though I will have less time than I thought, as of today. Tomorrow I will be taking school pictures to be used for the new prayer cards and when I post this blog I will begin translating all their life stories. Pray that God would help this process to go quickly and that I would not feel pressured to get everything done. Pray that He will show Becky and I what are truly the most important things for us to accomplish while we are here.

The girls were great when I left the house this morning, Abigail really could have cared less and Emma was falling asleep. I am going to go home for the day, but will do another post if I learn anything new about Luis Angel.

Safe Arrival

Greetings from Antigua, Guatemala! We made it safe and sound.

Our plane was delayed in Boston by 35 minutes due to de-icing. This cut our change-over in Charlotte down from an hour to practically nothing. We basically deplaned and brisk-walked to the other gate and got on our connecting plane.

Through it all we are all doing well.

Everyone slept pretty good last night. The girls had us up at 6am (Central Time). Remarkably Joy was out of bed before me.

Abigail is in her own little piece of Heaven playing with Robert and Jonathan.

Well, that is all for now.

Missing everyone back home.

-knm/jr/ac/ebe