Monday, May 19, 2008

A little look at Guatemala

Well, we are home. This is my first morning at our house without my mom here. I miss her incredibly. There are still so many things to get done, as everything here takes longer.

I am sitting here drinking my instant decaf with international delights hazelnut creamer, with the cable TV on in the living room on wireless Internet. Doesn't really sound like Guatemala, does it? (We need Internet for Brandon's work, and cable and Internet only comes packaged together in our neighborhood...you can't just have Internet!) I honestly enjoy life here better without the cable, and I guess if I really wanted to, I could just unplug the cable. sigh.

Today, we are going to take the dog to get groomed (any idea how often you should wash a lab, I have heard everything from once a week to only twice a year?) I have mountains of laundry to wash and hang on the line before the rains begin (around 1pm). We have a layer of dust that collects on everything that must be cleaned off, and sometime this week we have to find someone to work for us here in the house.

This whole post started because I wanted to share something that I saw in Guatemala City yesterday. There was a motorcycle with 4 people on it. A man driving, a toddler behind him, and behind them, a woman holding a baby in her arms. And the only one wearing a helmet was the woman on the back. That is not an uncommon site here in Guatemala. One of my friends here has a baby the same age as Madeline and has a car but no car seat. And one of her good friends just lost her 8 month old son and father in a car wreck because her baby was in her arms. In her case, it's not because she can't afford it (although I know that that is often the case) . I can only pray that the Lord protects the little ones here. The little ones that don't have basic hygiene, car seats, helmets, health care, vaccines, clean water, or even 2 parents.

Anyway, I guess I better get started on the laundry. God bless!