Seven weeks - where'd they go?

So my jaw nearly hit the floor when I realized seven weeks had passed since our last post (whooops). Thing of it is - yes, we've been very busy at school but I would not count it as post-worthy material.

Abigail: has continued along nicely in school. She continues to practice violin and continues scheming how she can take ballet lessons. She has a part in the upcoming "Wizard of Oz" musical, which she is excited about. She also gave the "Bible-less Peoples" presentation in Elementary Chapel (she did awesome!)

Emma: has started practicing the piano on a more regular basis and, according to Joy, is quite good for her age. She also loves her "pre-K" group. I have increased hope that she will succeed in Kindergarten without the need for a "talking/detention room". Now, before anyone calls me out for such a comment you first have to understand that it has long been a joke of ours that Emma would not be able t start school until either A) she learned to control her talker or B) CAG built a talking room for her. If I had to pick a future job for her it would be simply whatever job would allow her to talk the most.

Sara: continues to grow into herself and change daily. She has upgraded from walking to fast-walking to nearly running. She may have a tad of OCD because she likes to turn on/off lights in each room she enters. She knows that when mommy comes to the nursery it is time to leave - so she goes and opens the cupboard to get her lunch bag then proceeds to walk to the door where she bangs on it saying, "ma-ma, ma-ma." Whenever the girls comb their hair, she has to get a brush and do the same.

Joy: continues to feverishly work on "Wizard of Oz" preparations. She has done a much better job at delegating. She is also trying to get lesson plans ready and homework graded - you all know, the life of a teacher. We are actively looking for ways to reduce her workload for next year. The best way we've found so far is to eliminate her elementary classes - but for that to really happen CAG will need to find another elementary music teacher (prayer request!)

Ken: uh, me. I've spent the previous three weeks either in preparation or administering of the MAP tests for K-10. This week I've tried to play catchup for what I did not get done the previous three weeks. We've had some exciting power outages and some failed equipment which has kept me busy. I can continue to honestly say, "I love my job." I've also picked up some website design/maintenance work with our local church, Union Church.

We've renewed our attempts to get together with the Logan family (Chichi). We were to Chichi in January and early February and then hosted the Logan twins last weekend.

I'm sure there is more which I'm forgetting... if so I'll catch it up next time.

-knme

Guatemalan Return

It was a very long day... but it ended well.

Saturday night, during her birthday dinner at Newicks, Joy's mom decided to be taken to the hospital. Turns out she has pneumonia. She was admitted.

Started out Sunday morning with the last minute packing then a trip to seem Joy's mom in the hospital. After the farewells there Jon and Dad took us to the airport. We were checked in and through security in under fifty minutes - I think that is some sort of record (considering three small children).

First flight was nearly 4 1/2 hours... (loooonnnnggg)... We had some delicious BBQ at the Houston airport as part of our 2 1/2 hour layover. We chatted a bit with Alan and Jen Velesquez.

Our flight was delayed while they waited for more fuel. We took off at nearly 7:45pm (instead of 7:05) and arrived at 10:25pm. We cleared immigration and collected our bags - by the way, if you're travelling to Guatemala with checked bags you need to keep your bag claim tickets handy b/c they might verify you're taking the bags which match your tickets.

Richard and Jean picked us up at curb side and took us home. As I recall we were home for 11:30pm. Long day...

Joy's mom is still in the hospital but is improving well. Please keep her in your prayers.

-knme

Update Night Planned

To any and all who are able to come - we will be having an update night at Dover Baptist Church during their "First Wednesday" event on 4 January at 6:00pm. If you are able to go please call the church office to let them know (for food preparation).

-knme

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