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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

townsend turns 5!

15 july, 2011 day 15

today is townsend's fifth birthday. i can't believe it. five years ago, norton and i were waiting for the referral of a baby from guatemala. we came to san pedro to learn spanish and were actually here in this village when townsend was born. we didn't know that until we got his referral the next month but i thought it was kinda fun that we were in his birth country for his birth. townsend has really gotten into the "cars" thing. a couple of days before we came to guatemala, norton took townsend to see the "cars 2" movie. towney's first experience in a movie theater. i decided not to buy presents at home and bring them in our luggage. i figured i could buy some things here. the first time we walked to the market townsend saw some dvds hanging in one of the stalls. there were some with a picture of "cars" on it. of course, townsend started asking for one every time we would pass by. yesterday i went by myself and bought one of the dvds. i didn't notice until i was back at the house that it was the "cars 2" movie. hmm. interesting. this movie has only been out for two weeks. it's probably made by some guy filming in the theater. :) so anyway-this morning after townsend woke up we gave him a bag with some little presents-a "cars" ball and wallet, a toy car, and some stickers. one funny thing-after he woke up he said, "now that i'm five i can read!" wouldn't it be nice if that's the way it happened? we gave him the dvd at quiet time so the kids could watch that while i was at spanish class. apparently it was truly the movie. in spanish, of course! the girls fell asleep but townsend watched the whole thing. i ordered a chocolate cake from a pasteleria (bakery). townsend was so excited to see it and have the group sing "happy birthday." tonight after the group had left, townsend told me that he had really liked his birthday and his presents. he told the same thing to norton. it is so nice to see him be grateful and thankful.

some things about townsend's year:
1. we went for his five year checkup a couple of weeks before we came to guatemala. he is in the 30% for weight and height. still a little guy.
2. he continues to be very orderly when building/creating. and he doesn't like to dismantle his creations. thus, his room is a big mess!
3. still loves paper and i have to wait until he is at preschool before i can take a bunch and put it in the recycle bin. everywhere we go, if there is a brochure, calling card, pamphlet, flyer, etc., he takes a stack. and if i try to throw anything away, he pitches a fit.
4. is starting to be a bit more social. there have been a couple of older boys here that he has latched onto.
5. he seems to love learning. i bought some workbooks to bring to guatemala and he loves doing “school” here. he knows all his capital letters and many lowercase ones. and he is getting better each day at writing his letters.
6. to be honest, he can be a bit selfish. (i guess we all are, aren’t we?) he is very clingy with his toys and has a hard time letting his sisters play with them. of course, if they have a toy, townsend is very quick to say, “god wants us to share our toys, right?”
7. he still loves, loves, loves all his stuffed animals. he sleeps with about fifteen of them. if he is misbehaving, all we usually have to say is, “if you keep this up we will take away your _(insert name of animal)___.”

townsend, we are so thankful that you were born here in guatemala five years ago. and we are so thankful that we got to spend your birthday in your birth country. you are our very favorite little boy. we love you towney.

Notes from Norton

A few random notes about our time down here:

1. Elevation. Each day I walk about a half-mile to school (Spanish language school) around 7 am, then back to the house around noon. It's not too far length-wise, but our village is built on a hill and Antonio's house (where we are staying) is at the top of the hill and the school is at the bottom. It's 400 ft elevation change on my short walk. I have an altimeter and have measured it. If that doesn't mean much to you, just think about being on the top level of a 40-story building and walking down the stairs each morning to the ground floor, then back up 4 hours later. I'm not complaining...it's great exercise and I love walking through the village. But it's life here. And we (the whole family) actually walk about halfway down (200 ft.) to another house for breakfast, then Janis and the kids walk back up, then back down for dinner and back up to the house. And sometimes in the pouring rain. Surprisingly, the kids have done pretty well. They don't complain too much about the walk and seem to have settled into this way of life.

You know what's crazy? In Denver, we live 2 flat blocks (literally) from King Soopers, Rite-Aid, Sunflower Market, the public library, Starbucks, the park, etc. And how often do we walk? Practically never. It's amazing how enculturated we are in Denver. Driving is just what we do.

2. The big city. When I told Rosa, my Spanish teacher, how big Denver was, her first comment was "Muchos banditos?" Because of the large amount of gangs, thugs, and crime that happens in Guatemala City, in her mind, big city = violence.

3. Getting the word right. I don't know why I keep doing it, but it seems like every other time I mention Janis to my Spanish teacher, I call her "mi esposo". That means "my husband". "Esposa" with an "a" is the feminine form of the word spouse, meaning wife. I should say "mi esposa" not "mi esposo". It's just a slip-up, but I wonder if my teacher is beginning to think that I actually have an "alternative lifestyle."

4. LLuvia (rain). I love the dry climate of Denver. I don't miss the humidity of the south (NC, GA, or TX) at all. But there is something attractive about the weather here. It's rainy season, and that means it rains (lluvia) almost every day. I think we've had 2 non-rain days in the last 15. Most mornings it's sunny or partly cloudy and beautiful: a crisp 55 degrees. Sometimes it will start raining by noon and set in all day long. But oftentimes, it gets to a perfect 75 degrees during the afternoon while clouds gather over the lake; then by 4, 5, or 6 pm, the rain starts falling in buckets. And frequently, all night long. I guess it could put you in a melancholy mood if you lean that way. But it's a welcome change from Colorado and there's nothing like sleeping with the windows open while it's pouring rain.

great pic

our camera was stolen (see previous post about no-fear ninja). so we don't have many pics. but here's a great pic of the kids on the road from our house to the village. san pedro and lake atitlan in the background.

tuk-tuks

in the last few years san pedro has established a very fun, cheap way to get around town. it is called the tuk tuk. there are three wheels. no doors. the driver sits up front and the passengers sit on a back seat. it is covered which is the most important thing. and red. they just go around the village and pick up people to take them where they need to go. most people walk and i love to get the exercise but right now is the rainy season and there have been several times where the kids and i have hailed a tuk tuk to get a ride up the huge hill instead of getting drenched. no matter how far you travel the cost is 5q. about $0.60. kids are free. yippee!

gt updates july 11-13

july 11, 2011, monday, day 11
marin-i don't think i had many expectations of how the kids would transition to living here but i think that marin has exceeded any that i did have. she is having such a great time. maybe it's the age. she hasn't complained about bugs, dirt, not having her toys, not being able to understand people. pretty much just goes with the flow. she talks to everyone in english and when they talk back in spanish, she just says, "what?!" and smiles a really cute smile. she is learning some spanish words and will use them often. the funniest thing is how people react to her. everywhere we go, kids and adults will either stare, reach out and touch her hair or face, call her "cancha" which I think means blonde. they are just mesmerized by her presence. our friends here say that it's because she is different-skin, hair and eye color. townsend and ellory just kind of blend in. (unlike in the US where everyone comments about them and ignores marin) she's a little oblivious to it, too. as we have walked around the village i haven't seen another little blonde girl around. not many families with young kids come here i guess. anyway. i'm really proud of her. she has adjusted well and i think will have good memories of our time here.


july 13, 2011, wednesday, day 13
norton finally seems to be on the mend. hallelujah! today as we walked down the hill to go to dinner, i once again had thoughts such as, "wow. what a beautiful place we are in. i can't believe we are in guatemala, living with a mayan family and experiencing this culture as a family. thank you god." when norton was so sick, all i could think about was how isolated i felt and how scary it was to have an illness and not feel confident in the medical care. no fun.

mosquitoes

i don't remember there being so many mosquitoes in guatemala. five years ago we were here in the same month. maybe i just forgot. norton doesn't have any mosquito bites. typical. marin seems to have her father's smell/blood because she doesn't really have many either. i have around fifteen, but they haven't been that itchy and are just some red spots on my arms and legs. then there's townsend and ellory. if we had our camera i would take pictures. they have bites all over their bodies. ellory even has one on her little tushy. and they aren't just little red spots. both kids have huge whelps. every single bite. and when townsend or ellory scratch them, the skin breaks and puss builds up and there are big bubbles all over them. it's a sad situation.

no fear ninja

this is my tribute to aubren. tributes are for the living, aren't they? maybe i have the wrong word. saturday, the group took a boat to a village across the lake, panajachel. norton and i have been there many times. one of aubren's friends is working there so aubren, the kids and i hopped on the boat with the group and went across. our kids loved it. i took the group to our favorite coffee shop there called crossroads cafe. it is run by a family who see their business as a ministry to the many foreigners in that town. and they make truly awesome coffee. after lunch aubren, the kids and i went back down to the dock to find a boat-ride home. we needed to get back before the group. the afternoon water is much choppier than the morning. but once again, the kids laughed and shrieked with glee as our boat skipped across the lake. after getting to san pedro we found a tuk tuk and headed up the hill to antonio's house. we were dropped off right at the soccer field which was filled with guys playing the sport. i paid the guy. we hopped off and he started back down the hill. it was then that i realized that i had left my backpack in the back of the tuk tuk. i started running down yelling, "alto! alto!" (all the stop signs say that. it was the only thing i could think of) there was a guy standing by us watching the game and he started yelling too but the tuk tuk guy kept going. the helpful guy then went to his motorcycle and offered to give me a ride to go catch the tuk tuk. while i was quickly contemplating this, aubren immediately said, "i'll get on!" and off she went with the hopefully nice, honest, trustworthy man. the kids and i sat on the bleachers. they watched the game. i prayed for aubren. after about fifteen minutes, the tuk tuk guy came back up, waving his hand. i grabbed my bag and was so grateful. "gracias! gracias!" then i continued to pray for aubren. about five minutes after that, she came back on the motorcycle. safe and sound. as she got off, i told her to wait because i wanted to take a picture of her and the nice man. alas, there was no camera in my bag. i guess i can't say for sure that tuk tuk guy took it, but i don't know what else could have happened. big bummer. that was aubren's first superhero action.

when we finally got back to the house, norton was looking really bad. cata offered to call their doctor to come by the house. i don't like that my first thought was, "is he knowledgeable? equipped?" but that's what i thought. but we didn't really have any alternative. so he came by, diagnosed norton with tonsillitis and gave us a prescription for an antibiotic and an antihistamine. nancy said that the pharmacy was open so aubren, nancy and i hopped on a tuk tuk and went down to pick up the medicine. on the way back to the house there is a huge hill. i mean huge. as we got about 1/4 of the way up the tuk tuk wouldn't move and we started going backwards. down, down, down. we got a good start and started up again. this time we got around 1/3 of the way up before it started to slow down. that's when aubren jumped out and started pushing from the side and running along with us. the tuk tuk got some momentum, aubren jumped back on and we made it back to the house. superhero action number two. thank you, aubren.

july 10 (past due)

july 10, 2011, sunday, day 10

well. it's been a doozy of the past few days. seems longer. i was just starting to get a little routine started with working with each kiddo on workbook type stuff and going to my spanish class when norton started going downhill again. aubren (a friend of ours from church) got here on thursday night and i am so grateful for her presence. she has helped out a ton and has the most awesome attitude. my next post is dedicated to her. but beyond that our days ave been pretty similar. eat breakfast with the high school group. either walk around the market area/gringo area which is downhill another 200ft and tires out the kids. make pbj sandwiches back at the house. "quiet time" while janis goes to spanish class on the weekday afternoons. play around the house. go eat dinner with the high schoolers. get ready for bed and lights out.

ANOTHER HEALTH UPDATE

From Norton: Okay, so I spoke too soon. Literally, I posted the last update on Saturday around noon, began walking home from my school and started feeling horrible again. I was coughing like crazy (felt like I was going to keel over in some coffee bushes on several occasions) and by Saturday night my fever was back up to 103.2. My head, jaw, and throat felt like they were going to explode from the pain and coughing. We knew I had to see a doctor. It was probably something serious. Someone said Dengue fever and that made us worried.

Doctors are notoriously bad in this region. Americans are told to stay away from them. In fact, before we came, one family who had stayed in our village for six months last year told us to bring our own suture kit because when their son needed stitches and they went to the local clinic, the staff didn't even have any sutures, needles, etc. There is only one real hospital in the area across the lake and up the mountain in a town called Solola and it has a really bad reputation. Westerners are urged to avoid it at all costs. Remember that fact. Bottom line: if you really need a doctor or any kind of medical attention, you need to go to Antigua or Guatemala City 4 hours away.

Before making a long trip to Antigua, we asked an American friend who runs a local humanitarian organization and has lived nearby for a few years if she knew of a local doctor that was good. She did...his name was Francisco and he was in our village and he was familiar with Westerners! Awesome! But unfortunately it was Saturday night at 7 pm and he wasn't available until Monday. Cata (the woman we are staying with) said she would call her doctor to come see me--her doctor works at the hospital in Solola and would come by after work around 8 or 9 pm. Ugh, against all the advice we had received, this is where we just had to trust Cata and trust God was taking care of us. I was getting worse by the hour and we decided to take whatever help we could.

The doctor Miguel arrived about 9 pm. He was wonderful. I told him my symptoms in broken Spanish and he agreed that he didn't think it was just the flu. He took my blood pressure, listened to me breathing (and coughing) and then looked down my throat, after which he immediately said I had an infection in my tonsils, or tonsillitis (or some other kind of infection and my tonsils were inflamed). At first it was puzzling. Then I was a bit scared because I thought that most people that had tonsillitis had to have their tonsils taken out and I certainly did not want to do that in Guatemala. But then it started to make sense. My throat wasn't sore in the typical "sore throat" kind of way, but it was painful and tonsillitus explained many of the symptoms. And after looking down my throat, he seemed pretty darn sure. He prescribed an antibiotic and said it should clear up the infection in a few days; he also prescribed a liquid specifically for the pain/inflammation in my throat. He was so nice. When I asked him how much we could pay him (you just pay doctors on the spot in Guatemala), he said not to worry about it. Turns out he isn't just Cata's doctor, but a cousin of hers and he wanted to do a favor. So Janis gave him a bag of chocolates instead.

The pharmacy was still open so Janis, Aubren, and Nancy went down there, got the medicine and I started taking it Saturday night.

So...now it's Tuesday around 1 pm. I've been taking drugs for 3 full days and honestly, I haven't felt a lot better yet. Just today, I'm getting a little bit of energy back and coughing a little less and getting around a little more and we're hoping that the antibiotics are now having their full effect and I'll feel a lot better in the next few days. Thanks for praying for us. We do have other updates about more "positive" things. We'll post those soon.

gt update july 3-6

july 3, 2011, Sunday, day 3 continued

We hopped on the back of antonio’s truck around 4pm and headed to san Pablo for church. Their church starts at 5pm just like our church. Cata motioned for us to sit in the front row and at some point during the service Antonio talked about us and then everyone clapped. Who knows what he said. :) we sang a couple of songs all together and then a group of kids got up and sang. Then a group of women. Then a group of men. Don’t know if they always do that. One thing I noticed. Guatemalans may be quiet in general but not during a worship service! Those women sang sooo loud. Even the one using the microphone. They really belt it out. And Antonio preached pretty loudly also. Marin kept asking, “why is Antonio yelling?” about halfway through, marin needed to go to the potty. We walked out the back and there were a bunch of kids playing there. They just stared at marin and then came up and were touching her hair and skin. Marin was like a statue. I don’t think she knew what to do. I told her that they probably didn’t see children with blonde hair and fair skin too much. It was kinda cute. After the service we headed back home where cata made dinner and then it was almost 9pm! I thought for sure the kids would sleep later the next morning after all the activity during the day and no nap.

July 4, 2011, Monday, day 4

Guess how late the kids slept in?? 6am! Why was I not too surprised? We got up and took showers and ate mosh again for breakfast and were basically into our day before 8am. Kinda makes for a long day. Norton left for his first day of Spanish classes and I helped cata clean dishes and did some “school work” with the kids. I got a call from Norton around 8:15am saying that the school had too many students and not enough teachers so he was going to have to wait until tomorrow to start. So this week he’ll go Tuesday thru Saturday. He came on home and we piddled around a bit and then left to go walk down to the “gringo” part of san pedro to have lunch and meet with a lady we’ve been in contact with who does work in san Pablo. Antonio and cata live at the very top of san pedro and the gringo part is all the way near the edge of the lake. Nice to walk down. We weren’t sure how the kids would do coming back up. We ate at the place where Norton had been before. Three tacos for 10 quetzales (a little over a dollar) it was pretty yummy. Then we got the kids some ice cream and found a coffee shop to wait for our friend. the kids had colors and paper and really did pretty well considering they had to stay put for so long. Marin fell asleep on norton’s shoulder during the whole meeting. She was so tired. Afterwards we started the long walk up to the house. The kids kept wanting to ride a tuk tuk again but we encouraged them and they made it back. So proud of our little guy and gals. They have transitioned pretty well overall. Some fighting but also using their imaginations to make up games. Although I sometimes feel so out of place, they have not complained about how different it is or anything. Today when townsend asked me a question, I answered, “si” (yes). He said, “say yes!” I think he was tired of the whole Spanish thing at that moment. :)

July 5, 2011, Tuesday, day 5

just some highlights-there's a group of high schoolers who are here to do some work with Antonio in San Pablo. we met them this morning at breakfast. we will be having breakfast and dinner with them for the next few weeks. Cata is cooking. I'm helping. Or at least trying to. :) after breakfast this morning i took the kids to a "park" where there is a fountain with some big fish and turtles swimming around. while we were there i noticed the back of a woman who looked like my spanish teacher, ana maria. from five years ago. it was! we talked for a bit and then made plans for me to go to her house for an hour in the afternoons for spanish lessons. she was ready to start today so i went up to her house around 3pm and we began. she is such a great teacher for me. her sense of humor fits mine and we have a great time. it ended up being more like two hours. i'm so glad we could work out for me to get a little bit of classes in. norton signed townsend up for classes at his school during the third week that we are here. there was a family with a five year old daughter who was taking classes and they told norton that it was going well so we decided to let townsend give it a shot.


July 6, 2011, Wednesday, day 6

pretty routine day. breakfast with the mission group. marin has latched on to one girl who is from boulder, colorado. they were both coloring away this morning. i don't think marin will leave her alone now. after breakfast i took the kids back to antonio's house. (we've been doing the meals at cata's parents house) i spent some one on one time with each kid doing some workbooks that i brought. norton came home for lunch and then i left for my spanish class. when i got back norton had a headache and fever. i gave him some advil and then the kids and i walked down to dinner. right after everyone had finished, the power went out. i think it's pretty typical. it had been raining alot today. we walked back to the house where i am now. fortunately the power just came back on. i don't like that norton is sick. we seem so far removed from everything. no internet to find out what he might have. or to email the doctor. and i think about how these people have lived like this always. the last couple of days antonio had a headache but he just went about this business. no laying down to rest. or at least i didn't see him do that. kinda different. norton and i are a bit concerned about ellory. she just seems so anxious or something. she always wants to be right by mommy. this morning i got some bottles of bubbles and we went to play with some kids next door. townsend and marin ended up running around with the kids but ellory just stayed on the porch blowing bubbles with me and the other mom. it doesn't necessarily surprise us, but we want her to enjoy this trip and are trying to think about how we can help her have more fun.

pics to come soon...

103.4 degrees

Quick update from Norton. Wednesday night I had a temperature of 103.4. Lots of chills and a terrible head-ache, and whole body-ache. I've been taking fever-reducers, but it took a while for them to do anything. On Thursday morning, I couldn't move. Hadn't slept at all the night before and the fever was still around 102. On one hand, it's pretty clear that I've probably got the flu. I'll just keep resting, drink lots of liquids, and try to keep the fever down. On the other hand, we're in the middle of nowhere. The only "good" hospital/clinic for foreigners is 3 hours away. And there really isn't any counting on 911 in this part of the country if you need it. So it's natural to start thinking, "what if I have pneumonia or typhoid fever or malaria?" Highly doubtful, but when good medical help isn't readily available, it certainly changes the way you think about things.

Update: It's early Saturday afternoon and my fever has come down to about 99/100 and I feel much better (thanks to Ambien and Ibuprofen!) I'm still pretty worn out and my body is achy and I have a really bad cough (which I think is allegies since it started 1 hour after we got of the plane and seems unrelated to the sickness.) But overall, I'm feeling a lot better. The elders of Antonio's church prayed for me, and all the kids were praying too. Thanks for any of you who happened to be joining them.

guatemala update days 1-3

note: the following updates are from our trip to guatemala. pics to come when available.

july 1, 2011, friday, getting to Guatemala

Although the kids were up a bit past bedtime on Thursday night, they were wide awake at 5:30am Friday morning! That’s even earlier than usual. I think they were excited about our trip. Fortunately, our flight wasn’t until noon so we didn’t have to rush around or anything. Our friend, Laura Peters, came over to drive us to the airport and we got there at 10am. Checking in and security went faster than usual it seemed and we were heading to our gate by 10:20am. About 15 minutes into the waiting the kids were ready to get on a plane. “be patient” was our mantra. We finally got on board and were headed to Dallas. Marin doesn’t remember her first plane ride and she was very interested in what was happening. “are we flying yet?” “what’s that sound?” I don’t think she went one minute without asking me a question. I hope she enjoys flying and doesn’t take after her worrywart mommy. :) at the Dallas airport we ate some popeye’s chicken and then got on the plane to Guatemala city. Marin and I sat together again and she went from reading to coloring to watching a dvd and then the cycle would start again. Mommy was getting tired. The kids did really well. They were getting so tired on the last flight, yet we really didn’t want them to go to sleep because we wanted them to sleep that night. Once in Guatemala, we found our friends Julio and Oscar and they took us to the mission compound where Julio lives and hosts groups. He set us up in the apartment and it was really nice. The grounds there are gorgeous. Just full of lush plants and flowers. Courtyards and big doors. We weren’t too surprised that the newness of the place seemed to wake the kids up and they were running around with no thoughts of sleep anymore. Eventually we got everyone in bed. Marin woke up screaming a couple of times. Poor thing. The other two did fine.

july 2, 2011, saturday, day 2

Even with all the travelling and late night, the kids were awake at their usual 6:15am. Can we not get a break?? :) after everyone was up and dressed we heading to the dining area where we had pancakes with crema and strawberry sauce, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, pan dulce (sweet breads) mosh (kinda like cream of wheat but oh so much better!) and fresh squeezed pineapple and papaya juice. The kids must have had 5 glasses of that juice-it was awesome! We chatted with Julio, his wife Jodi and their kids. Such a wonderful family. Love Jesus and love people. Townsend and Marin eventually got up from the table to run around the courtyard area. The courtyard where there is a fountain. Filled with water. The one that we had told them the night before that they were not to put their hands in. one of Julio’s daughters came in to the dining room and said, “ I think you need to go see the kids.” There they stood. With not just a hand in the water. No. they were in the fountain. Fully clothed. their only pair of tennis shoes on their feet. And they didn’t seem to think that what they were doing was wrong in any way. Sigh. Anyway-Julio’s daughter, Deborah, took us to buy some cell phones so Norton and I can keep in contact while we’re here. The other daughter, Linda, took care of the kids so we could go run errands. We finally got in the van, driven by Javier, and headed to San Pedro. It ended up being a pretty long trip. We had to go through Antigua to drop off a couple of men. We also stopped for lunch and went to see some ruins in ixmiche. The craziest part was being flagged over two times by the policia. Not for speeding or anything. Just so they could talk with Javier, look really mean, and make him give them money for lunch. Javier didn’t know much English but I had my dictionary and the words he kept using were, “swindling, fraud.” Pretty sad. The second time the policeman even opened the van doors and asked us questions about where we were going. I was a little nervous. Especially with having two Guatemalan kids. But I guess it could have looked like they belonged to Javier so that wasn’t even an issue. Praise God. We finally made it to Antonio’s house. it’s a lovely house built around a courtyard. With coffee plants and an avocado tree right outside. But it’s still pretty rustic. And Nancy, the daughter, is the only one who speaks English. And she’s not fluent or anything. And there are steps going up to where we are living. With no rails. Hard cement. I am praying extra hard for protection for us and the kids. As the adults were trying to have a conversation, Antonio and Cata, his wife, asked us what we were doing for dinner. Awkward. Well, we just got here. We have no transportation. It’s raining and they don’t live near a store. We said, “don’t worry about us. We brought some food.” But in the end, they said that we could eat with them. Black beans, tortillas-just what I wanted. Townsend was a little overwhelmed at one point last night. We were really tired but needed to eat and with all the Spanish conversation going on I guess it just hit him. He told me he wanted to go home. Poor little guy. Then Pedro, the thirteen year old son, started watching Disney channel and Townsend and the girls were just fine. :) the girls are in one room in the same bed and Townsend is with us. We’ll see how that goes.

july 3, 2011, sunday, day 3

The kids slept so well! I would have never thought that the girls would be able to sleep right next to each other. They were up around 6:30am and we got dressed and then went to eat breakfast-pancakes-with Cata and Antonio. Their kids were still asleep somehow. Even with our kids making lots of racket. After breakfast, Cata, Nancy, the girls and I walked to the Mercado(market). Sunday is a big market day in san pedro. We bought some pineapple, mango, plantains, bananas and a melon. I just couldn’t pass up all the fresh fruit. Then we went to find ground beef. You see, last night, Cata told me that she wanted me to make lunch American style. The main challenge is that they don’t have an oven so everything has to be made on the stove. Norton suggested hamburgers, thus the search for ground beef. We went to a butcher who basically cut off a hunk of some meat and put it through a grinder. I guess it’s similar to what they do in the states but in Guatemala it’s all done in the open air. Interesting. We went into one very small store to buy some chips and I saw some containers of nutella! Ironically, I had brought the family some and had given it to them in the morning to eat on our pancakes. They didn’t seem to recognize it so it was almost shocking to see it in the store. It would have cost them around $10 to buy it at their store. And the container wasn’t as big as my Costco huge container which cost about $4. I don’t know who would be able to afford it there. Maybe some desperate Americans/Europeans? The purchases were getting heavy so we took a tuk tuk back to the house. The girls loved the ride. During part of our adventure through the market Ellory seemed to hit a wall. She just started crying and after a bit told me that she wanted to go home. It’s interesting. Townsend and ellory have both missed home and Marin has been having the time of her life. She talks nonstop, per usual. And will try to speak Spanish. Or just talk in English to someone even if they don’t understand her.

drive.me.wild

will i never learn?? just a few blog posts ago i talked about the last time i let marin and townsend do "quiet time" together. disaster. why did i think a month's worth of time would effect any positive change???
the pictures above aren't overexposed. that haze is baby powder. i didn't even know we still HAD baby powder in the cabinet. they must have climbed on the counter to get to the top shelf.
so baby powder all over the bathroom. and just for fun they added some water to make it kinda pasty. oh wait! that's not quite fun enough. how about some diaper rash ointment to make it pasty AND greasy. did i mention that the floors are a ceramic tile with lots of crevices and ridges? a simple swipe with the mop would not make a dent in this mess. are we having fun yet???
when i originally walked in the bathroom, townsend looked up and immediately said, "marin started this." but that was about the most remorse either one of them showed. neither one seemed remotely aware of the seriousness of this crime. in fact, as i walked in and out of the bathroom trying to decide between screaming at the top of my lungs, getting the camera, or pulling all of my hair out, marin continued to sprinkle powder on the floor.
i was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the little culprits. they ended up on towels in their rooms for a looooong time out. marin sat there singing every song she knew and at one point asked me, "mommy, do you like when i sing?"
the "good" that came from this incident was that the entire bathroom floor got spic and span. i think the last time i scrubbed that floor was the last time the kids made a mess. maybe if i clean in there more often the kids won't feel the need to go to such extremes in order to have a clean bathroom. i'll give it a try.

truth

last night at dinner townsend looked at me and said, "mommy, i love everything you cook for dinner."
ellory quickly followed that up by saying, "mommy, i love everything you cook for dinner."
so far so good.
then townsend said, "marin, you haven't said anything."
marin waited a few seconds and then said, "mommy, i love YOU!"

say what?

aunt susu is here. and she is always ready with an M&M, gummy bear, mint, tic tac, etc. this morning ellory started asking her for some, "squiggles." townsend came over and very smartly said, "ellory, they aren't called squiggles! they're called squiggles!"
about 7 seconds later he quietly said, "i mean skittles."

snow day

sometimes i just get tired. it's quiet time and although townsend is pretty good at staying in his room and playing by himself, marin makes it a battle every.single.day. there is never, i repeat, never, a day that she just goes in her room and plays by herself. i try to be consistent and just keep putting her back in without emotion. but like i said, sometimes i just get tired. and when i do, i usually regret it. like this particular day. marin had come out and ran to her brother's room and slammed the door-like i wouldn't figure out that she was in there. and i just gave up and let her stay in there. they weren't being too loud or anything so i let it go. should have known. townsend and marin had started breaking apart one of townsend's creations from preschool. a big styrofoam square glued onto a board along with a bunch of other stuff. and as you can see, it looked like we were having a blizzard in the house. for some reason, i didn't get mad. just got the camera to document. :)
and where was ellory during all of this? sweetly sleeping in the back room. like she always does. every day. so grateful for at least one child who loves sleep.

happy 4th birthday, ellory!

the birthday day begins-the kids were out of bed right at 7am. they came downstairs and ellory opened her presents and cards. a new green comforter for her bed. dora dvd, and a laurie berkner cd. plus some college money from gran and pawpaw. more gifts will be trickling in. we decided to go to gunther toody's for a birthday breakfast. (the best we could do that would qualify as a "party." )
the kids had M & M pancakes-yummy!
family shot try #1
family shot try #2 (please be assured-no child was actually choked during this photo session)
family shot try #3- we're done.
the wait staff gave ellory a hat and sang happy birthday.
that night after dinner we had birthday cupcakes. cute smile.
we love to see ellory laugh. daddy was acting silly behind me as i took the picture.
ellory loves that she is now the same age as townsend.
couldn't snap the shot before marin had already taken a bite. the girl loves her food.

dear ellory,
four years ago a 26 year old woman in guatemala, maria, gave birth to YOU! i think she is probably thinking of you today. wondering where you are. who you are. it is bittersweet for me to think about. what was probably a painful decision for her allowed us to have a beautiful daughter. we are so grateful for you elly bell. you continue to both delight and confound us. one minute you have your lower lip sticking out in a huge pout. the next minute you are sweet as pie. and we still haven't figured out what triggers either. sigh.
some things about this past year:
1. we saw dr. moser a few days ago. you are in the 90% for weight and height. he said that you were perfectly healthy.
2. you are in the big "crocodile" class this year at preschool. i am so glad to hear you talk about some of your friends-parker, hope, joey, luke.
3. you went to your first birthday party without your brother and sister. we went to natalie's 5th birthday party where you saw "toy story 3." or at least part of it. the party was at night and you had to go to bed. :)
4. we got you and marin bunk beds and you sleep on top!
5. you still have a blankie that a neighbor made in alpharetta. i call it your pepperoni blanket. you put it up to your nose and just seem to breathe through it. like you're smelling it.
6. you have started enjoying coloring and writing. i think your fine motor skills are getting better. and you usually take your time instead of just scribbling.
7. you continue to be the slowest eater of the family. i'm sure you've just read that it is better for digestion to eat slower and thus are taking good care of your body. :)
8. you are still cautious when new people come around. but once you warm up to someone it's a different story.
9. you took swimming lessons for the first time this year. you were pretty scared but each day you overcame your fears and got in the water and had a great time.
10. you love to dribble and play basketball.
11. mommy was kind of bummed when you started having opinions on your wardrobe. basically you want to wear jeans and three shirts. that's it. tears/whining/crying/refusing happen when i make you wear something different.
12. you had xrays taken at the dentist last month and we found out that you have two extra teeth on top with your permanent ones. you will have to have surgery later this year to take them out. good thing you can't read this post yet!

we love you so much ellory!

a little treat?

norton was out of town at a conference this week. so mommy decided to relax a few of the "rules" around here. i let them all drink their milk in sippy cups on the couch in the morning. i let them eat their breakfast on the couch while they watched "dinosaur train." just a few little things like that. and i always prefaced everything with, "this is a little treat for you!"
this next part might seem a little off topic, but keep reading.
about a month ago i finally decided to buy some of those disposable wipes to use on the kids when they go number two. too many times, the kids would be getting red bottoms because they would wipe themselves and not do a good job. so the rule was, "tell mommy when you go poo-poo so i can wipe your bottom." a couple of days ago townsend was in the bathroom going number two. i tried to wait for him to finish-sometimes he's on there quite awhile-to wipe his bottom but suddenly i had to go too! so i told him that i was just going to give him the wipe and he could do it himself. he replied, "kinda like a treat for me?" maybe you had to be there. but it was funny. :)

a look into the future??

the other day the girls and i were in the family room playing. townsend walked in with a huge pile of papers and announced, " everyone, sit down. i am going to preach!" then he proceeded to shuffle the papers, (it was a stack of at least 30 pages-that's some sermon!) and told us that "God wants us to love each other."
with norton being a "preacher" and all, maybe this shouldn't have come as a surprise to me. but i don't think we ever use the term, "preacher." and townsend hasn't ever been in a service to see norton preach and use papers and such. so we don't know where this came from. but it was sure cute. marin, of course, decided she wanted to "creech" too. so she went and got a pile of papers and started "creeching." then townsend and marin started fighting about the papers and all the "love" went out the door. :)

3 or 13?

marin has gotten into a bad habit. a very bad habit.
she has started calling me "mom" and norton "dad."
i thought we had another ten years or so before this started!
i don't like it. not one bit.
marin, you are our BABY. hear me??
love, MOMMY AND DADDY

oh, the questions

the kids have recently started this little "game" with me. here's an example.
them- "what do we do tomorrow morning?"
me-"breakfast"
them- "what's after breakfast?"
me- "preschool"
them- "what's after preschool?"
me- "quiet time"
them- "what's after quiet time?"
on and on they go. you get the picture.
tonight marin asked, "where are we going tonight?"
me- "nowhere."
marin- "what's after nowhere?"
for some reason, it just cracked me up. :)

tennis shoes aren't just for your feet

marin has had a runny nose for the past couple of days. so she constantly asks for a "tennis shoe." we laugh every time. i get it, though. tennis shoe-tissue. say both real fast and it's perfectly understandable. :)

overheard tonight

i was giving ellory a bath tonight. marin had already had her bath and was in her pj's. townsend had disrobed and was waiting for his turn. i heard him ask marin, "do you want to play naked dancer?" then he proceeded to run around the house yelling, "i'm a naked dancer!" i was grateful and actually pretty surprised that marin did not join in.
now this being a family blog and all, there are no pictures posted to document the event. :)

booooring!

i guess mommy should come up with more exciting snacks, huh?

don't go breaking my....

COLLARBONE! i mean CLAVICLE! (pawpaw the MD corrected me-thank you)
the first broken bone in our family. townsend was painting at the table in late november when he stood up on the chair. he was wearing socks and suddenly slipped off and landed on his shoulder. he didn't seem to be in that much pain and he could move his arm. we gave him some tylenol and put him to bed. he woke up a couple of times during the night crying. he said he couldn't move and was in pain. the next morning i took him to the doctor. they did xrays and found that he had completely broken his collarbone. the doctor said that if you had to break a bone, the collarbone was the one to break. there was no setting it back into place. we just received a sling and were told it would heal on its own. by the next day, you wouldn't even know townsend had hurt himself. he was back to running, jumping, etc. i think that i was more anxious than he was!

marin turns 3!

dear mare-bear,
i think out of all the kids, you have changed the most over the last twelve months. everyone who met you this past year couldn't believe you were only 2 years old. i'm sure having two slightly older siblings has encouraged you to try to keep up with them. and you have done a pretty good job at it too!
some highlights of your year:
1. you pottytrained!!! a couple of months after you turned two, you decided you wanted to wear big girl panties. we were so glad.
2. you got a big girl bed! we moved ellory back into the girl's room after buying a bunkbed. i was hoping that the nice, comfy larger bed would keep you asleep longer. nope. still up by 6:15am.
3. you love to memorize God's Word and amaze us with how much you can remember. even the references!
4. you have such high energy. you talk and bounce around from the moment you get up-6:15am-until you go to bed-7pm. wh0 do you get this from? daddy and i cannot figure it out. we get tired just watching you.
5. you are sooooo compassionate. when you hear anything remotely like a cry, you are immediately concerned and trying to help whoever is upset. "there, there, it's ok!"
6. you love most foods. except carrots. and broccoli. and cheese. (unless it's spicy-then you love it.)
7. you can sit for long periods of time reading books with whomever will read to you.
8. you continue to show your balance and coordination on the skuut bike.
9. you LOVE caillou! (pbs kid's show)
10. you have started becoming more huggy and snuggly.
11. you have pretty much dropped your nap. every once in awhile you'll fall asleep but not usually. again, how can you keep going on only 11 hours of sleep a day?
12. you have a will. a strong one. mommy and daddy are tired. sometimes you win.
13. you get so excited for things. like your third birthday. i don't remember the other two talking so much about their birthdays. but you were convinced that there was going to be a big party with all your friends. we didn't have a party but we did take you roller skating and paige and taylor came with a present.
14. you say things like, " i love ellory. she's my sister." "townsend, you're my big brother."
15. your hair has grown enough now that no one asks, "what's HIS name?" anymore. :)
16. you are in the 90% for weight! and the 75% for height. i was concerned about the weight but the doctor said that with the height being what it is, he wasn't worried. and the fact that you jump around from morning till night. :)

marin, you are one of a kind. so special. we love you baby girl.