our kitchen sink has a window that overlooks the front yard.
last week i was washing dishes with the window open. norton, townsend and ellory were out front playing football when i heard first a shriek and then, "daddy! i'm going to die!" i quickly looked out to see ellory lying on her side clutching her left knee.
for some reason, i seemed frozen to the spot as i watched norton run over to her. he assured her that she wasn't going to die and then proceeded to very methodically calm her down and assess the damage. it was a pretty amazing sight to see.
"lay back, ellory"
"put your head down"
"breathe, ellory"
"townsend, go get mommy-quick!"
"wiggle your toes on your right foot-good"
"straighten out your right leg-good"
"turn over onto your back-good"
we tried to peek under her knee to see if a bone was sticking out or if there was a big lump. everything seemed ok.
"can you wiggle your toes on your left foot? good"
"let's see if you can straighten out your leg. slowly-good"
norton gently moved her leg around a little and then helped her up.
"put your toes on the ground-good"
"take a little step-good"
she hobbled and hopped with appropriate pain noises all the way to the house where marin took over care. blankets and stuffed animals were brought to the couch. ice packs were placed on the leg and ellory enjoyed being the queen for a bit.
and once again i was thankful for a husband and daddy whose engineer/analytical mind kicked in with such calm and control in a scary situation.
it was a good view.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Sunday, November 18, 2012
marin turns 4!
today marin is 4 years old-amazing! ( i wrote this almost a year ago and just now publishing it. thus, the incorrect date at the top)
i've never written about her birth story so i thought i'd do that this year.
it was january 28, 2008. i went in for my 38 week checkup. my blood pressure was a bit high and i was measuring a little "small." the midwife told me that she wanted me to go to the hospital and get monitored. she said that i would probably be there for a couple of hours and then they would send me home. like maybe i was dehydrated or something. no biggie. i remember that i had forgotten my cell phone at home and had to use the office phone to call norton. he was in a meeting and i don't think he answered the first time i called so i just kept calling until he answered. we met at home so we could just take one car and headed to the labor and delivery. it took a little while to check in but they finally took us to an area where i put on a gown and got hooked up to monitors.
fortunately, i was the only woman there so i got all the attention. the nurse took my blood pressure and sure enough, it was still high. she had me lay on my side for awhile and then started to take the pressure again. she said, "think of a wonderful place you would love to go on vacation. " my blood pressure was even higher! "where did you imagine yourself, for goodness sake???"
at this point they were trying to get someone in there who could do an ultrasound but it was taking awhile. so we waited. i think my blood pressure eventually started to come down. the gal finally got there to do the ultrasound and afterwards she said that i had "low fluid." meaning that the fluid that kept the baby floating around and the cord from being squished was at a low level. about two minutes after she left, the midwife came back in and said, "you aren't going home. you are having a baby tomorrow. we'll induce in the morning." kinda exciting!
we got sent to a room and again, i was hooked up to monitors to make sure baby girl was doing alright. i had packed my bags but i think they were still at home. also, we had townsend and ellory to think about. norton called our friends, steve and bianca, who picked up the kids from preschool and took care of them that night. i still remember wishing i had cleaned our bathroom! we also called norton's parents, who came the next day to take care of the kids while we were in the hospital.
i don't remember alot about being in the hospital that afternoon/evening. i wasn't very comfortable in the hospital bed. and i just kept looking at that monitor praying that baby girl would be safe in there until the next day when she would be born. i call her "baby girl" because we still didn't have a name for her! we finally broke down and started going through a baby names book. i would throw out a name but norton would reject it. then he would throw out a name and i would reject it. i had really wanted something symbolic for her name. like a cool hebrew word for "surprise!" but none of those types of names worked. finally norton just blurted out, "how about marin?" i liked it! done! then we talked about middle names. i wanted to combine our sister's names into one name-susann. but norton didn't like it. then he said, "how about we use your middle name-ann?" sounded good to me. so we had her name. we tried some different spellings and liked it as MARIN ANN.
even though it didn't have a particular story behind it, at least it was unique. there wouldn't be other "marins" in her classes growing up. OR SO WE THOUGHT! that same year a mom from townsend's preschool class had a daughter and named her "marin anne" and last year there were two other marins at her preschool and this year she is in class with a marin. i really find it hard to believe.
but i digress. back to the hospital. i don't think i slept much at all that night. i was so intent on watching that monitor! i continued to be scared that her little heart would just stop beating. not a fun night for me. however, norton took an ambien and had a fabulous sleep. :)
the next morning at 6am, the nurses came in and started getting me ready for the induction. they gave me something to "clean me out" and then i started getting the pitocin injected. i started to have contractions. they hurt! the labor nurse and my midwife were wonderful. they told me that i could have an epidural at any time. just let them know. i decided i would go as long as possible without drugs, just to keep the labor progressing as fast as possible. that lasted about three and a half hours. "epidural, please!" i was still only about 2 centimeters dilated so it really hadn't gotten too far. but the pain was not nice so i got the wonder drug. so nice. weird feeling but no pain. i could still tell when i was contracting but it didn't hurt.
about six hours later i was 10 cm dilated and they said i could start pushing. really strange sensation. the midwife offered a mirror so i could see what was happening but i said no. now, i wish i had looked. oh well. i remember at one point norton saying, " the head is almost out!" then the midwife said, "umm. not really. keep pushing."
i think i only pushed around 30 minutes and then marin ann popped out at 5:07pm on january 29, 2008. the first thing the labor nurse said was, "she looks just like her daddy!" she still does. in a beautiful way, of course. they laid her on my tummy. i wish i could really remember everything. it is such a blur. but we were so happy and thankful that she had been born healthy. they cleaned her up and we tried to b-feed. alas, that did not work. never did, unfortunately. we then got sent to a different room and life with marin ann began. :)
i've never written about her birth story so i thought i'd do that this year.
it was january 28, 2008. i went in for my 38 week checkup. my blood pressure was a bit high and i was measuring a little "small." the midwife told me that she wanted me to go to the hospital and get monitored. she said that i would probably be there for a couple of hours and then they would send me home. like maybe i was dehydrated or something. no biggie. i remember that i had forgotten my cell phone at home and had to use the office phone to call norton. he was in a meeting and i don't think he answered the first time i called so i just kept calling until he answered. we met at home so we could just take one car and headed to the labor and delivery. it took a little while to check in but they finally took us to an area where i put on a gown and got hooked up to monitors.
fortunately, i was the only woman there so i got all the attention. the nurse took my blood pressure and sure enough, it was still high. she had me lay on my side for awhile and then started to take the pressure again. she said, "think of a wonderful place you would love to go on vacation. " my blood pressure was even higher! "where did you imagine yourself, for goodness sake???"
at this point they were trying to get someone in there who could do an ultrasound but it was taking awhile. so we waited. i think my blood pressure eventually started to come down. the gal finally got there to do the ultrasound and afterwards she said that i had "low fluid." meaning that the fluid that kept the baby floating around and the cord from being squished was at a low level. about two minutes after she left, the midwife came back in and said, "you aren't going home. you are having a baby tomorrow. we'll induce in the morning." kinda exciting!
we got sent to a room and again, i was hooked up to monitors to make sure baby girl was doing alright. i had packed my bags but i think they were still at home. also, we had townsend and ellory to think about. norton called our friends, steve and bianca, who picked up the kids from preschool and took care of them that night. i still remember wishing i had cleaned our bathroom! we also called norton's parents, who came the next day to take care of the kids while we were in the hospital.
i don't remember alot about being in the hospital that afternoon/evening. i wasn't very comfortable in the hospital bed. and i just kept looking at that monitor praying that baby girl would be safe in there until the next day when she would be born. i call her "baby girl" because we still didn't have a name for her! we finally broke down and started going through a baby names book. i would throw out a name but norton would reject it. then he would throw out a name and i would reject it. i had really wanted something symbolic for her name. like a cool hebrew word for "surprise!" but none of those types of names worked. finally norton just blurted out, "how about marin?" i liked it! done! then we talked about middle names. i wanted to combine our sister's names into one name-susann. but norton didn't like it. then he said, "how about we use your middle name-ann?" sounded good to me. so we had her name. we tried some different spellings and liked it as MARIN ANN.
even though it didn't have a particular story behind it, at least it was unique. there wouldn't be other "marins" in her classes growing up. OR SO WE THOUGHT! that same year a mom from townsend's preschool class had a daughter and named her "marin anne" and last year there were two other marins at her preschool and this year she is in class with a marin. i really find it hard to believe.
but i digress. back to the hospital. i don't think i slept much at all that night. i was so intent on watching that monitor! i continued to be scared that her little heart would just stop beating. not a fun night for me. however, norton took an ambien and had a fabulous sleep. :)
the next morning at 6am, the nurses came in and started getting me ready for the induction. they gave me something to "clean me out" and then i started getting the pitocin injected. i started to have contractions. they hurt! the labor nurse and my midwife were wonderful. they told me that i could have an epidural at any time. just let them know. i decided i would go as long as possible without drugs, just to keep the labor progressing as fast as possible. that lasted about three and a half hours. "epidural, please!" i was still only about 2 centimeters dilated so it really hadn't gotten too far. but the pain was not nice so i got the wonder drug. so nice. weird feeling but no pain. i could still tell when i was contracting but it didn't hurt.
about six hours later i was 10 cm dilated and they said i could start pushing. really strange sensation. the midwife offered a mirror so i could see what was happening but i said no. now, i wish i had looked. oh well. i remember at one point norton saying, " the head is almost out!" then the midwife said, "umm. not really. keep pushing."
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
the things that come out of her mouth
a marin moment-we were driving home last night and i was reminding the kids about a time we went to the mountains in the summer and went on a chair lift. marin kept asking me what a chair lift was and my brain was tired and i couldn't think of how to explain it to her. i finally said, "we'll look up a picture on the computer." she waited a few seconds and then asked, "mommy, are you talking about a zamboni???"
Saturday, January 28, 2012
brush with fame
so this isn't about the kids. but it was too fun a story to not document. alas, there are no photos to prove the following story but there are about 16 guys at new denver church who will attest to it...
actually, norton just said i can't blog about this, but let's just say that they had a fun visitor to their flag football game this morning...
actually, norton just said i can't blog about this, but let's just say that they had a fun visitor to their flag football game this morning...
Friday, January 27, 2012
decisions, decisions
marin is turning 4 years old in a couple of days. norton just asked her what kind of "sweet" she would like. he said, "you can choose a cake, cupcakes, pie or ice cream." she just started grinning and said that she was thinking. we waited and waited. she finally said, "it's hard because i feel like i want ALL of them!" that's my girl!
Friday, December 23, 2011
her many faces
ahhhh. sisterly love.
daddy took the girls camping back in october. he has taken townsend several times but never the girls by themselves. they were thrilled.
i haven't read any books on birth order but i seem to recall that a third child is the comedian? that would make sense.
she usually says something like, "i see two mommies," when she does this.
oh marin. thank you for making us laugh so hard.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
fyi
overheard just now:
lots of singing in the kids bedrooms. then pitter patter feet going into the bathroom.
marin: townsend, do you have to go poopoo? i have to go poopoo. sometimes when you sing alot you have to go poopoo.
now you know.
lots of singing in the kids bedrooms. then pitter patter feet going into the bathroom.
marin: townsend, do you have to go poopoo? i have to go poopoo. sometimes when you sing alot you have to go poopoo.
now you know.
Monday, August 1, 2011
the last week in san pedro
well. we're back at home and guatemala seems kinda far away. i'm going to try to remember things about our last week. wish me luck.
friday, july 22- that morning, norton went to spanish class with ana maria, and found out that her husband, eduardo, had been in a bus accident. eduardo teaches in another village around the lake. he takes a bus there every morning around 6am. usually their oldest son, erik, goes too. this morning, erik did not go with his dad. i didn't really get the whole story but apparently something happened which caused the bus to swerve and roll over on it's side off the side of the road. noone had life threatening injuries-i don't think. but lots of bones were broken. eduardo thought he had broken his arm but it turns out that he just had a really bad laceration. but he says that if erik had been sitting where he normally sits, he would have been killed. the whole family praises God for this miracle.
that afternoon our team from church arrived. it was great to see everyone. our family moved out of antonio's house down the hill to the gringo area. into a hotel right on the lake. with a balcony with hammocks! the kids were in heaven. i was a little sad to leave our home where we had started to know people. all locals. now we were in a part of town where all you see are foreigners. we spent the rest of the day/night introducing the team to san pedro and antonio and getting ready for our first day working in san pablo.
saturday, july 23rd-we headed over to the church in san pablo after breakfast and started work. cleaning rocks. then hauling the rocks up to the second story. we made cement and helped to pour a part of one of the walls. the kids and i actually stayed down below and played and colored. kids would stop by and come join us. after a group of three boys were walking away i happened to look over at where they had been coloring. all of the pens were gone. i walked out onto the street and saw one of the boys and called his name. as soon as he heard me he took off running down the street. funny and sad at the same time. this particular boy came back a couple of days later and i asked where my pens were-he just shrugged his shoulders.
sunday, july 24th-since we would be going to church at 5pm we decided to take the morning as a tourist day across the lake in panajachel. norton and i took everyone to crossroads cafe where we had ordered some coffee beans. they aren't open on sundays but mike let us in to pick up the order. he then was gracious enough to share his story with our group. a great guy. aubren, townsend and i went to the "big' supermarket afterwards. i love looking at grocery stores and aubren does too. as we walked inside, a clown came up to townsend and started talking to him. of course townsend had no idea what he was saying. apparently this was some promotional thing and there was a guy with a camera who took their picture and the clown made a balloon sword for towney. i think aubren took a picture too so i'll post when i get that. the other mission group was at church that night. they did some testimonies and sang and since antonio's church didn't cut anything from their service it ended up being two hours long. the kids were so tired.
monday, july 25th-tuesday, july 26th-in some ways these days were pretty much the same. working on the church for the adults and the kids and i played, colored and hung out with the kids who showed up at the church. the other mission group did a medical clinic so we watched that going on and then in the afternoon they did a vacation bible school so our kids participated in parts of that too. overall i was really proud of the three. they adapted to our simple lifestyle and although there were the usual fights and arguments, they didn't complain about missing their toys or having a nice couch in an air conditioned house to relax on or really anything.
wednesday, july 27th-we spent the morning with antonio. he took us to see the village of san marcos. it is the next village past san pedro. many years ago some new age type people started hanging out in this village and opening up "centers" and "spas." there are many big beautiful vacation homes built on the lake and these foreigners support the village as i understand it. we walked up the hill where the locals live and saw "world vision" handing out sheets of aluminum to women for use in their homes. i think on this day jessica and i went to see my teacher, ana maria. we got to hear the whole story about eduardo. she also invited us to stay with her when we were in san pedro again. i sure do like her. i got pretty teary-eyed having to say goodbye.
thursday, july 28th-this was our last day in san pedro/san pablo. we did more work on the church and walked around the village praying for the people there. it was a bit sad to drive away. but knowing that we'll be back was a good thing. this was also our last dinner with cata and antonio. cata told us that her heart hurt and she was going to miss us. especially the children. so sweet.
medical crisis-i don't remember which day this happened but one afternoon ellory came up to norton and me and said, "marin has been eating all the gummy vitamins!" i went to the room and it looked like she had eaten half the bag. maybe 20ish? we have been using these vitamins for at least two years and the kids know they can only have one a day. who knows what goes on in that little mind of hers?? fortunately, the other mission team was staying below us in the hotel and they had two nurses. i went right down and asked about this. they said the only concern would be getting too much iron possibly. since i didn't have the bottle i didn't know how much iron was in each vitamin. (turns out there isn't any iron in these) they said marin would probably be fine and just pee everything out. but to watch her and let them know if she starts acting strange. interestingly enough, the nurses said they had been having the same problem with the vitamins they had been giving the children in san pablo. i had seen kids walk out of the medical clinic with little bags of vitamins. apparently some of the kids were just eating all of the vitamins at one time. i guess kids are kids wherever you go. :)
friday, july 29th-we loaded onto a van and started the long drive to antigua at 8am. our family was in the very back. it was a long, windy, bumpy ride. really not fun at all. 4 hours at least. norton and i both were feeling a little queasy. the kids did fine though. whew! the van dropped us off a few blocks from our hotel and so by the time we walked there i was feeling much better. we stayed at posada la merced. this was the 4th time we had stayed there. right next door to our favorite cafe in antigua-fernandos cafe. but first up was lunch-pollo campero. the kfc of guatemala. but maybe even more popular. and tasty. after lunch we went to a market and did some shopping and then our family went to meet townsend's foster family. it wasn't quite as emotional as last year but we could tell that sara and erwin were so very glad to see townsend. townsend barely said a word the whole time. but after they left, the first thing he told me was that he was so happy to see his foster family and how much he liked them. we took the family to fernandos for coffee/snack/lunch. erwin's english continues to improve and since our spanish was better, we were able to communicate with sara a bit more. their daughter, karin, is also getting better at english so it was a really fun time to hear about their family and to ask questions about what townsend was like as a baby.
saturday, july 30th-up bright and early to get to the airport in guatemala city. everything went really smoothly. we ate breakfast at the airport. flight was on time. smooth flying. made it through customs in dallas and got to the next gate with 20 minutes to spare. another smooth flight to denver where our friend, laura, was waiting. so thankful for a nice day of travel. good to be back and yet i kinda miss our friends back in guatemala. can't wait to go back!
friday, july 22- that morning, norton went to spanish class with ana maria, and found out that her husband, eduardo, had been in a bus accident. eduardo teaches in another village around the lake. he takes a bus there every morning around 6am. usually their oldest son, erik, goes too. this morning, erik did not go with his dad. i didn't really get the whole story but apparently something happened which caused the bus to swerve and roll over on it's side off the side of the road. noone had life threatening injuries-i don't think. but lots of bones were broken. eduardo thought he had broken his arm but it turns out that he just had a really bad laceration. but he says that if erik had been sitting where he normally sits, he would have been killed. the whole family praises God for this miracle.
that afternoon our team from church arrived. it was great to see everyone. our family moved out of antonio's house down the hill to the gringo area. into a hotel right on the lake. with a balcony with hammocks! the kids were in heaven. i was a little sad to leave our home where we had started to know people. all locals. now we were in a part of town where all you see are foreigners. we spent the rest of the day/night introducing the team to san pedro and antonio and getting ready for our first day working in san pablo.
saturday, july 23rd-we headed over to the church in san pablo after breakfast and started work. cleaning rocks. then hauling the rocks up to the second story. we made cement and helped to pour a part of one of the walls. the kids and i actually stayed down below and played and colored. kids would stop by and come join us. after a group of three boys were walking away i happened to look over at where they had been coloring. all of the pens were gone. i walked out onto the street and saw one of the boys and called his name. as soon as he heard me he took off running down the street. funny and sad at the same time. this particular boy came back a couple of days later and i asked where my pens were-he just shrugged his shoulders.
sunday, july 24th-since we would be going to church at 5pm we decided to take the morning as a tourist day across the lake in panajachel. norton and i took everyone to crossroads cafe where we had ordered some coffee beans. they aren't open on sundays but mike let us in to pick up the order. he then was gracious enough to share his story with our group. a great guy. aubren, townsend and i went to the "big' supermarket afterwards. i love looking at grocery stores and aubren does too. as we walked inside, a clown came up to townsend and started talking to him. of course townsend had no idea what he was saying. apparently this was some promotional thing and there was a guy with a camera who took their picture and the clown made a balloon sword for towney. i think aubren took a picture too so i'll post when i get that. the other mission group was at church that night. they did some testimonies and sang and since antonio's church didn't cut anything from their service it ended up being two hours long. the kids were so tired.
monday, july 25th-tuesday, july 26th-in some ways these days were pretty much the same. working on the church for the adults and the kids and i played, colored and hung out with the kids who showed up at the church. the other mission group did a medical clinic so we watched that going on and then in the afternoon they did a vacation bible school so our kids participated in parts of that too. overall i was really proud of the three. they adapted to our simple lifestyle and although there were the usual fights and arguments, they didn't complain about missing their toys or having a nice couch in an air conditioned house to relax on or really anything.
wednesday, july 27th-we spent the morning with antonio. he took us to see the village of san marcos. it is the next village past san pedro. many years ago some new age type people started hanging out in this village and opening up "centers" and "spas." there are many big beautiful vacation homes built on the lake and these foreigners support the village as i understand it. we walked up the hill where the locals live and saw "world vision" handing out sheets of aluminum to women for use in their homes. i think on this day jessica and i went to see my teacher, ana maria. we got to hear the whole story about eduardo. she also invited us to stay with her when we were in san pedro again. i sure do like her. i got pretty teary-eyed having to say goodbye.
thursday, july 28th-this was our last day in san pedro/san pablo. we did more work on the church and walked around the village praying for the people there. it was a bit sad to drive away. but knowing that we'll be back was a good thing. this was also our last dinner with cata and antonio. cata told us that her heart hurt and she was going to miss us. especially the children. so sweet.
medical crisis-i don't remember which day this happened but one afternoon ellory came up to norton and me and said, "marin has been eating all the gummy vitamins!" i went to the room and it looked like she had eaten half the bag. maybe 20ish? we have been using these vitamins for at least two years and the kids know they can only have one a day. who knows what goes on in that little mind of hers?? fortunately, the other mission team was staying below us in the hotel and they had two nurses. i went right down and asked about this. they said the only concern would be getting too much iron possibly. since i didn't have the bottle i didn't know how much iron was in each vitamin. (turns out there isn't any iron in these) they said marin would probably be fine and just pee everything out. but to watch her and let them know if she starts acting strange. interestingly enough, the nurses said they had been having the same problem with the vitamins they had been giving the children in san pablo. i had seen kids walk out of the medical clinic with little bags of vitamins. apparently some of the kids were just eating all of the vitamins at one time. i guess kids are kids wherever you go. :)
friday, july 29th-we loaded onto a van and started the long drive to antigua at 8am. our family was in the very back. it was a long, windy, bumpy ride. really not fun at all. 4 hours at least. norton and i both were feeling a little queasy. the kids did fine though. whew! the van dropped us off a few blocks from our hotel and so by the time we walked there i was feeling much better. we stayed at posada la merced. this was the 4th time we had stayed there. right next door to our favorite cafe in antigua-fernandos cafe. but first up was lunch-pollo campero. the kfc of guatemala. but maybe even more popular. and tasty. after lunch we went to a market and did some shopping and then our family went to meet townsend's foster family. it wasn't quite as emotional as last year but we could tell that sara and erwin were so very glad to see townsend. townsend barely said a word the whole time. but after they left, the first thing he told me was that he was so happy to see his foster family and how much he liked them. we took the family to fernandos for coffee/snack/lunch. erwin's english continues to improve and since our spanish was better, we were able to communicate with sara a bit more. their daughter, karin, is also getting better at english so it was a really fun time to hear about their family and to ask questions about what townsend was like as a baby.
saturday, july 30th-up bright and early to get to the airport in guatemala city. everything went really smoothly. we ate breakfast at the airport. flight was on time. smooth flying. made it through customs in dallas and got to the next gate with 20 minutes to spare. another smooth flight to denver where our friend, laura, was waiting. so thankful for a nice day of travel. good to be back and yet i kinda miss our friends back in guatemala. can't wait to go back!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Quick Update
From Norton:
We're still here down in Guatemala. Just been super-busy the last week. A team of six more people from our church in Denver arrived last Friday. We've done lots of construction work (mixing cement is fun!), attended two church services (our group sang and I preached at one last night...an interesting experience), and just spent time hanging out with the people here. We have two more days in the Lake Atitlan area, then to Antigua for a day, then home on Saturday. If we get a chance, we'll write more soon about our past week. But overall, it's been amazing and we are encouraged on so many levels about what is happening here and what God has called us to do. Thanks so much for your prayers.
We're still here down in Guatemala. Just been super-busy the last week. A team of six more people from our church in Denver arrived last Friday. We've done lots of construction work (mixing cement is fun!), attended two church services (our group sang and I preached at one last night...an interesting experience), and just spent time hanging out with the people here. We have two more days in the Lake Atitlan area, then to Antigua for a day, then home on Saturday. If we get a chance, we'll write more soon about our past week. But overall, it's been amazing and we are encouraged on so many levels about what is happening here and what God has called us to do. Thanks so much for your prayers.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Poverty here.
From Norton: The UN estimates that in the two villages where we are living and working 80% of families live in poverty or extreme poverty and 80% of the children are malnourished. Guatemalan government figures have estimated the specific village where we work is the 4th poorest village in the country. All of the homes are made of cinderblock and tin roofs with mud floors. All of the cooking is done over open fires, which is horrible for your lungs if the ventilation in the kitchen isn't perfectly designed. Years ago, many of the people were given filters to clean their water, but no one changes the filters (it's expensive) and they don't clean the water containers anyway. So, the filters aren't really doing anything and they are drinking bad water. As a result, everyone suffers from dysentery. Add to that: 50% of the homes don't even have toilets. Wastewater runs openly down drainage ditches on the sides of the road. The mayor (who basically runs the town) is corrupt and mean. Consequently, all humanitarian organizations have decided to avoid the village because the cause seems worthless. In fact, there is only one humanitarian organization that has decided to help the people of this village. It was started about 5 years ago by an Australian woman who has simply done some amazing things. We met her last week. I do not think she is a religious person, but she is certainly taking Jesus' command to love "the least of these among you" seriously, even if she doesn't know it. But even this incredible woman has thrown her hands up and decided to close her organization. She told us that she's simply "tired" and can't pour any more of her money, time, and life into this village. She went back to Australia for good last weekend (and I don't blame her at all). So starting this month, there will be no one in the outside world doing anything significant to help this village with education, health and hygiene, clean water, business plans and loans, empowerment, oppression, malnourishment, etc.
As our church in Denver begins a partnership with a small church in this impoverished village, we don't pretend to think we have ANY good answers for all their problems. We feel a bit overwhelmed. We know our American efforts to help them could actually hinder progress. We know that we can easily become proud of ourselves because we came to Guatemala to help all the poor people. Even in sharing this on a blog, it's easy to objectify people--turn them into statistics or objects to be examined and diagnosed and solved. But they are people, every one of them, whom God made in his image. So, with all that in mind, we're simply praying for God to show us what to do down here. To forgive us when we don't listen to him, or puff up with pride, or miss an opportunity to be agents of his love. And to give us the strength and courage and perseverance to do what he's called us to do. And doing is the most important thing. If our faith doesn't compel us to do something, then it's pretty much dead and worthless faith. May our faith never be dead and worthless, but living and breathing and risk-taking and doing.
As our church in Denver begins a partnership with a small church in this impoverished village, we don't pretend to think we have ANY good answers for all their problems. We feel a bit overwhelmed. We know our American efforts to help them could actually hinder progress. We know that we can easily become proud of ourselves because we came to Guatemala to help all the poor people. Even in sharing this on a blog, it's easy to objectify people--turn them into statistics or objects to be examined and diagnosed and solved. But they are people, every one of them, whom God made in his image. So, with all that in mind, we're simply praying for God to show us what to do down here. To forgive us when we don't listen to him, or puff up with pride, or miss an opportunity to be agents of his love. And to give us the strength and courage and perseverance to do what he's called us to do. And doing is the most important thing. If our faith doesn't compel us to do something, then it's pretty much dead and worthless faith. May our faith never be dead and worthless, but living and breathing and risk-taking and doing.
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