Guatemala, continued

(I'm still playing blog-catch up.  I just keep getting further behind!  Still blogging about a trip I took LAST MONTH to Guatemala...)

Our little traveling group was in Guatemala over the weekend, so on Saturday we played tourist for a little bit and traveled to Antigua to do a little shopping.  We stopped off at a lookout point to catch a view of the beautiful city. 

The volcano in the background is usually covered in clouds, but we caught a brief glimpse of the top.  

The volcano behind us in this picture near Antigua spewed ash and dust all over the place about a week before we went, but it was clear and beautiful on our Saturday.

We spent a few hours in Antigua, shopped for soccer jerseys, scarves, purses, and just supported the local economy in general.

On Sunday we checked out the local market in the morning, a three-story parking garage that on the weekends transforms into a market place selling everything from raw organ meats to lingerie.  Sort of an open-air Guatemalan Wal-Mart, if you will.

Sunday afternoon we loaded up and headed out to church, where I realized I have even less 'clap while singing' ability than I do when the songs are in English.  It's sad how little rhythm I have.  Sad.  

During "sermon time", our little group headed outside to help with the kids' lessons.  

For the past year, the kids at our church have been raising money to help build a shelter for the kids church here in Guatemala.  We enjoyed the "open air" portion of church while the storm clouds rolled in.  

This time of year it rains many afternoons here, and children's church frequently gets rained out.  

I'm sure one particular motorcycle owner will be very happy when the kids have their own building to color in.

Monday morning we packed up and headed on home, already counting the weeks till our next trip to visit our new friends in Guatemala!

So I Went to Guatemala...

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but last month I had the opportunity, along with three other ladies from church, to go to Guatemala for a few days.  Our church has connections with a couple of missionaries in a village in Guatemala, who each run schools in a village.  Julie, Vicki, Gina, and I (and baby Julia)went to spend time encouraging these missionaries, and visiting the schools.  Our quilting ministry at church quilted 52 quilts for us to take and gift to the teachers and staff of these schools, as sort of a "thank you for all of the hard work you do everyday" sort of thing. 

Um, it was the funnest trip ever.  I mean, it was horribly hard and taxing and with great sacrifice I boarded that plane to Guatemala.  Not exactly.  I went on a four night trip with three good friends, where we spent time hugging children and eating and talking and shopping and talking and laughing and giving people presents and going to church and (hopefully) encouraging and eating and talking.  GREAT SACRIFICE.  Clearly I was born for mission trips. :)

Families at our church sponser about 100 children at one of the schools, contributing monthly towards the cost of tuition and supplies.  This is my little Alex that we sponser:

He's still talking about the huggy white lady.

And wondering what the heck this logo is on his new teddy bear.

One of the schools has a marching band consisting of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, and wouldn't you know, it was picture day on the morning we visited.  

I had visions of my father and memories of many picture days, as I watched the staff assemble the kids in their bright and shiny uniforms.

I have no idea who this kid is, but I almost brought him home with me.  Seriously.  If for no other reason than to watch him squirt yogurt through that gap in his teeth.  

Never mind.  I don't know any kids who squirt yogurt through the gap in their teeth.

We brought with us pictures of kids from our church to pass out to the kids in Guatemala, and they LOVED them.  At one point, we turned around and the girls were swapping cards like trading cards.  It was pretty fun.

I desperately wish we had a copy of this poster on the wall to use in the ER to help us diagnose illnesses.

Excuse me, sir.  I see you are lying on a bed with a blanket over your lap.  You must have la hepatitis. 

Passing out the quilts to the hard working teachers and staff at the school was very rewarding.

The Sunday before we left, our church prayed over the quilts, and prayed for their recipients.

The boys LOVED their "guy quilts".  Some of the quilts were less flowery and girly, so we gave them to the guys, who promptly turned them into Super-hero capes.  Because some things transcend cultures.

This is Gina with Lori, who runs one of the schools we were visiting.  Gina first went on a mission trip with Lori in the early 1980s, and it was a sweet, sweet reunion for them.

At the second school we visited, we were escorted classroom-to-classroom, and had a chance to hug every single student at the school that day.

And again, we got to pass out quilts to all of the teachers and watch them swap with each other for their favorites :)

(I have a few more pictures from our trip, but it will have to wait till later.  I am tired of blogging tonight...)

Not Your Average Fall Festival

I hate it when I look at the calendar and realize it's almost the middle of November and I still haven't blogged about half the stuff we did in October.

So lets just take a quick stroll down memory lane. Not too far, just back a couple of weeks.

The Sunday before Halloween, our church had a HUGE "Party in the Park". Brandon was heavily involved in the planning process, which explains why we were the only fall festival in the area with this:

Yes, that is an axe-throwing station.

When we got to the event, the crowd was still somewhat small (1000-1500 people ended up coming), so the boys took advantage of short lines to participate in this:

They climbed into these giant inflated beach balls, then prepared to do their best hamster impersonation.

At one point, someone sat around their house and thought, "I have this great idea. Let's stick kids in giant transparent beach balls, then watch with glee as they run around on a pool filled with water, trying hopelessly to catch their balance while their orange hairspray rubs all over the inside of the beach ball, making them look less like Ron Weasley and more like some sort of tye-dyed Beanie Baby."

Goes without saying that the boys LOVED this. And throughout the night, a sizable crowd formed, watching the kids run around their hamster wheels.

It was almost as good entertainment as this:

Emerson smiling for pictures while strapped into a velcro suit and thrown up onto the wall? Funny every time.

All of the pastors took their shift in the dunk tank:

After getting dunked a couple dozen times, Brandon changed into his costume for the evening.

Of course my husband has a head-to-toe Thor costume that he's had more than one occasion to wear.

Of course some of our high school students had some of these super-creepy "morph suits".

Another activity making our fall festival a bit, um, unique?

Paintball the Pastors.

Thor costume optional.

All in all, when I wasn't doing frantic head counts, making sure no one had wandered off unnoticed, and cleaning cotton candy off Harry Potter robes, and searching high and low for Aidan's lost scarf, and briefly losing Emerson, we had an unforgettable time at Party in the Park.

And Brandon's keeping that Thor costume.

Fishin' In The Dark

Our church has a lovely little fishing pond. A little fishing pond, that, like every other body of water in Texas lately, is much lower than it has ever been. For the first time in several years, the church leadership informed us that it was our CONGREGATIONAL DUTY to catch the catfish and tilapia, take 'em home, fry 'em up, and eat 'em. Before they all die a slow, miserable death related to low pond levels. Or cold weather. Or spawning season. Or something else "fish related". I have no idea why, really. But they were all about to DIE if we didn't catch them.

Though I never had any intention of eating anything we caught (I'm pretty sure that would involve touching dead fish at some point, and, um, no thanks), we decided to enjoy the decent weather while it lasted and take the kids to do a little fishing.

The professional fishermen that we are, we loaded up our Sponge Bob fishing rod and hot dog bait, and settled in for a lovely evening at the church.

We weren't out there long before Dane and Aidan started reeling in some cute little fish. Nothing big enough to keep (thank goodness), just the right size for a little boy to reel in alone and to be pretty proud of himself.

They were pretty excited about their catches.

The trick to taking Harper anywhere is just to continuously feed her. Sandwiches. Apples. Pickles. It doesn't really matter, she'll stay out of the water and out of trouble if she's got a snack in hand.

Princess Eyelashes was not about to smile for her mommy.
I feel I should discuss my husband's hair situation at some point. I don't think I'm quite ready yet. But yes, Hot Brandon's hair is looking unusually long and luxurious lately. He's cut it once this year, and I'm not exactly sure what his hair-related goals are right now.
I'm getting a little sidetracked. The luxurious blond locks are distracting. We had a great time fishing. Fishing is fun. The hair is very long. And it blows in the wind and is sometimes worn in a ponytail. Like mine, except mine is much less blond and flowing and much more stringy and flat. But no, I'm not missing his short hair at all. I IN NO WAY have hair envy of my HUSBAND.

And clearly I'm just not ready to discuss the hair situation yet. Fishing. I was talking about fishing. Fishing is fun. We didn't keep any of them. Hallelujah.

Smore Smores Please

I may have mentioned this a time or 12, but I love our church. I mean, really love it. And not just because my husband works there and they pay us. Even if he didn't work there, and had some "normal" job, and we were just a family who went to church, we would still love it. My friends there feel like family, in the best possible way. They are my people, and there's a lot of them.

This past Sunday evening we enjoyed a campfire out at the church property with our friends, and just had the best time. Our kids are at a magical age right now, and it was just the right environment for them.

And our friends had this awesome two-pronged hot dog holder that we borrowed, that was way better than the coat hangers that we left at home.

The boys both did their own thing after scarfing down some hot dogs and Smores. A football game had broken out amongst the boys, and Dane was quick to jump in. Aidan found his "best fwiend Bwian" (actual name: Ryan) and they were thick as thieves the whole night. Harper sat contentedly in her stroller, and us girls enjoyed fellow-shipping around the campfire while Emerson spent approximately two hours eating a single hot dog and a Smores. Girl is a SLOW eater.

(Sidenote: My spell-checker is freaking out over "fellow-shipping". It does not recognize! Cannot compute! Clearly spell-checker did not spend a significant amount of his upbringing at potlucks and devos and baby showers and luncheons.)

Harper was happy as long as we continually supplied her with food. I'm pretty sure she ate about 9 marshmallows that night, and at one point spilled half of a can of Sprite down her shirt.

I cannot describe the disgustingness that was Harper girl and her stroller after the night was over. There may have been some marshmallow in some places.

We had a great time visiting friends, a lot of who had not seen much of Emerson yet. She was her usual charming little self, and made a few fast friends, including this little guy from her Bible class:

A couple of our little kindergarten friends talked to Emerson and me for a bit, and were so cute and interested in how she talked and what words she knew. They had a great time saying "Ni Hao" to each other, and I'm so glad Emerson will grow up knowing so many sweet little friends.

We finished the night off on the hayride, admiring the views of the church property. I snapped this cute picture of Aidan's fwiend Bwian (actual name: Ryan), Aidan, and Emerson, with a tattooed mystery arm making a guest appearance. Aidan and Emerson are pretty good friends.

We had a great night, and I hope we make this a tradition for many years to come!