Fuentes de Georgines

This is our trip to Fuentes de Georgines. It is a hot spring about 45 minutes outside of Xela. They have 4 different pools, bungalows for camping, a restaurant, picnic areas, and hiking trails. The water is fed from a volcano and it has a lot of sulfur and other minerals so it has no amoebas or parasites and it needs no chlorine b/c the water is constantly filling and spilling over into the other pools.



It is always foggy up there b/c it is in a cloud forest. It was sort of a mini vacation for us, as it is so incredibly relaxing. Today it was so busy but when we go during the week, there are often times only like 10 people there. The Guatemalans in the photos are our friends Hortencia, her daughter Carla, and Carla's son Alejandro who was born on the same day as BabyM.

Just so you know, if you come to visit us, we will take you here. SO COME TO VISIT! :) It cost about $3.00 to get in, plus another $3 for parking and you can bring in your own food. The water is normally the temperature of a hot bath in the first pool (the other pools are consecutively cooler) but today, we could not even put BabyM down in the water b/c it was too hot. I think they cleaned the spring or something and so more water is coming out making it much hotter. The other pools weren't too hot, but they are much shallower and you can't really swim. Anyway, it is incredibly beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves.

First day of "School"

Well, Deacon started his first day of school today. We are only taking him for 2 days a week, but normally it is 5. This school is really cool to let us bring him 2 days a week for half the price. It is called Colegio El Pilar (Colegio is just a private school) and its Catholic. We can walk to it from our house. Its Catholic, but there are no nuns, priests, religion classes, or anything other than a statue of Mary that would suggest that it is Catholic. Most likely we can't keep him there when he gets older b/c of the ministry that we have with Evangelicals. They don't get along so well. So sad. Anyway, I am attaching some pictures. Like I said, he goes twice a week from 9am to 12:30pm. I am thinking that he will have a lot of fun and for 1 hour every day they do lessons in English. Knowing that at least some of the teachers speak English makes me feel better. Deacon is speaking Spanish like a pro, but we wanted him to learn some more and to have some friends here, and this is the fastest way to accomplish this. Anyway, enjoy the photos!Deacon getting ready for his big day.He likes the way he looks! This is his uniform more or less. He wears jeans, a white collared shirt, and a gray sweater that the school gives him that we don't yet have.Here we are getting ready to walk to school.

This is the outside of the school. It is totally enclosed with a door that is locked from the inside with a key so the kids can't leave with out the guard letting them out. It sounds incredibly harsh, but outside the school is just a street. (And I can go in when every I want, the kids just can't "escape")











This is the inside patio area (directly behind the doors in the previous photos). The ground is all dirt, but they have some good playground equipment and a beautiful garden.
Deacon inside his classroom getting situated and meeting his companeros (friends). When we walked in, he just started walking around the room looking at the toys, etc. All the other little children were seated quietly at their desks. We'll see how that goes. I go to get him at 12:30pm and will post later how everything went. Finally, here is a photo of the walk back from the school to our house. Don't we live in a beautiful country?

This is a video of the kids playing together a little bit. BoyD is enjoying her much more now that she can laugh at him and interact with him. You may think this is boring, but we LOVE it!

The next two photos are of BabyM while we are getting her ready for church. You might be able to see her earrings! Yes, we pierced her ears. It wasn't cruel or awful or torture for her. She cried for all of about 10 seconds, and as soon as they were finished, she was in my arms and happy as a lark. We have gotten a bit of backlash from the american side saying that this was paramount to abuse, and how dare we torture our baby....in parenting 101 it says to NEVER cause your child unneccesary harm....etc, etc. Well, it is what Guatemalans do, and I will post another blog another time explaining exactly why we chose to do it.

Anyway, we put on a little t-shirt underneath her dress b/c when I don't, EVERYONE comments about how cold it is and how she is still so young, and how she really should be wearing a t-shirt under her dress. I was even called a "mala mama" (bad mommy) to my face by a teenager b/c Madi was outside in 65 degree weather with a sweater on but with out a t-shirt under her dress. Sigh. So, we bought these little camisoles for $1 each and we put them on under her dresses when we go out. Being Greek to the Greeks so to speak. It's all Greek to me.

Another look at life here.

Here is a quick video of our pila. (And a photo of someone else's pila!) A pila is like a guatemalan washer and kitchen sink in one. It is concrete (although more recently plastic for those who have their pila on the 2nd floor or higher) and normally painted a bright color. In some communities, there are large fountian looking things that serve as the communal pila. Here in Xela, most everyone has a kitchen sink, but they still use the pila to wash their clothes. You can see in the photo that most pilas have 3 compartments, one for washing dishes (usually flat), one in the middle for holding "clean" water, and a third for washing clothes (usually a washboard style with ridges.) It is important not to contaminate the "clean" water. Even though is is full of bacteria, amoebas and parasites, you are not to get any dirt in the water. You use a little bowl to retrieve water out of the middle to wash and rinse.

You don't have to go very rural to see people use these for their sink. If someone is very poor, they either use the community's pila, or they go down to a stream or river to wash clothes. Some churches in rural areas have a pila like this one for their members to use.

B/c we have a normal kitchen, our pila is just a half pila, for washing clothes. We also have a washer and dryer, but we use the pila for washing out diapers, shoes, and towels and rags that get used everyday. It is THE BEST at getting out stains. Enjoy the little video.

Let the Work Begin!

Well...after over a month of praying, I will be beginning my work with the orphans on August 20th.

The process was a little discouraging, but the Lord is good, and opened the right doors.

When I first decided that I wanted to work with orphans, it seemed easy. I would just call the orphanage (or my language school would b/c they know the number and the appropriate persons) and tell them that I wanted to volunteer, and they would say: "sure! Thanks so much for wanting to help! Come on by whenever you want!" That was a little bit unrealistic.

The school did call on my behalf, and they were told that I could only work/volunteer if I could commit for 2 months of 4 hours a day 5 days a week. If not, then not at all. Well, there is no way that I could do that seeing as I have a full time job with my 2 kids, Spanish school, and now DTS studies. I was so upset, b/c there is only 1 orphanage now in Xela (after the other one closed when the director molested the children.)

I prayed and really struggled with that. I finally determined to go and talk to them face to face. It didn't make sense that I had to work 20hrs a week or none at all!

Well, a fellow CAM missionary (a Guatemalan) said that she would love to accompany me and help me explain my situation. We prayed right before we rang the bell to announce our arrival at the orphanage that God would open appropriate doors if this is what he desired for me to do.

We went in and Nelly did explain that we are missionaries and that I feel that God had led me to work/volunteer with the orphans in the Xela area. The woman who helped us was so encouraging and welcoming. She basically said..."When do you want to work? For how long? With what age group? What do you want to do?" When asked if I could teach about God, and Jesus, the reply was, "Claro que si!" (or well, sure! of course!) Anyway, they want me to present a "plan" of what I am going to do, with what age group, and if I am going to crafts, songs, etc along with what topics that I will cover each week. Basically a mini-curriculum. HOW COOL IS THAT! I will be working on that this week.

Right now the orphanage has 98 children from 0-12 years old. Most of whom are in there on a temporary basis , meaning that they do have families, just not families that can take care of them. Possibly their parents are in prison, or severe alcoholics, or abusive. Possibly they were abandoned. Some of them are just waiting for a judge to tell them who they will live with. There are still many children who are actually orphans and are there on a permanent basis. Those children go to an internal school.

I will begin working with 6-9 year olds and I will do a little class on "Who is Jesus Christ" and we are going to make salvation bracelets. (you know...the leather bracelets with the colored beads signifying the path of salvation) Well, I am so pumped. I am hoping that many of you will be praying for us as we use this time to freely minister to so many children. Can you imagine just having free reign to teach the gospel to 98 children? A captive audience! We are responsible to gather any craft supplies/ideas. If you have any ideas...I would love to hear them. Any good websites that you know of? Maybe a few of you could come for a visit and help me! I will be working basically alone so I can only handle like 20-25 kids at once (fewer for the younger ones) so if you could pray for some fellow workers. I am just going to be helping there every Wednesday for 2 hours. Maybe sometime in the future I can increase that amount.

Anyway, I am just so excited!

Ok....Here is a video of Deacon making tortillas. I hope he learns how to do this as well as Gladys (the woman who works for us) b/c her tortillas are incredible!

The next step!

Well, it is official! I am a Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) student! I found out that I got accepted at the end of last week and we are so pumped.

CAM (our mission) requires that I have 30 hours of Bible training and I have 5 years to complete it. I am not sure what happens if I don't, but that isn't the point. DTS has a Certificate of Graduate Studies program that is entirely on-line, and it is 30 hours! How perfect is that! And if I ever wanted to, I could apply those 30 hours to a degree later! I am so excited and a little nervous. Please pray for me that I can manage 2 kids, ministry, Spanish language school, and now 3 hours of masters level work.

The really cool thing is that it is the same classes that I would take if I were in Dallas, only on-line, so I don't have to miss out on too much. My first class begins at the end of August, and it is Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics. I audited this class when Brandon was in school and I loved it, so I am looking forward to doing it for real (for credit, that is).

Oh, BabyM and I went to a women's conference at our church last Saturday. It was really cool and I understood most of what was being said. That was a little victory, and I got into a good discussion with a friend of mine who went with me. She doesn't attend my church, but she is a believer. We were discussing the appropriateness of demonstrative worship (raising hands, clapping, swaying while singing, etc). She told me very plainly that God is the author of order, not disorder, and how it is very important to God that we come into His presence with reverence, not like we are listening to the radio. She finds the drums and guitar very distracting and irreverent. It was an interesting discussion. She said "You don't need to clap your hands and move around to show thankfulness and adoration to God". It was a good discussion, no one was angry or frustrated, but I could tell that she felt very strongly about it. We I brought up what David did in 2 Samuel chapter 6 (He danced like crazy, rejoicing at the returning of the Ark, and his wife was appalled at his behavior) He said " I become even more undignified than this"....

she told me that just because he did that, doesn't mean that that is what pleased God, or that he should have done it. Hmmm..It was interesting. I love to hear your thoughts on this.

Then Sunday, we skipped church b/c BoyD had a pretty high fever (104 in the afternoon). Instead we went to the Zoo for a little distraction and some fresh air. There is the photo of BabyM getting ready for her first trip to the Xela Zoo, the next photo below is of Brandon and BoyD looking at some sort of horned animal. The last photo is of a little Mayan girl that was at the zoo. Her clothes are the typical Mayan dress, and you even see babies in this type of clothing. It is very expensive and very pretty. All of it is hand woven. Pretty cool. Anyway, you can see in BoyD's eyes that he really isn't feeling up to par.

Ok, I'll type more later....BabyM is hollering for me in her crib.

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I miss my daddy.

I was getting ready for bed tonight and found a photo of me and my grandfather when I was like 4-5 months old. It is a really great picture and I looked at it with such joy that we got to meet and that I have one or two memories of the man. He was apparently a great man. He died when I was 2, but at least I have pictures.

Then I realized that Madeline will have no photos of her with my dad. Deacon will have very few, but at least my dad got to meet him. I am heartsick that he never got to meet my beautiful daughter. He would have enjoyed her so much. I was his baby girl and a daddy's girl, and he would have just loved to meet his baby girl's baby girl. I am so saddened by this. he didn't get to live to a ripe old age with a full life, knowing all of his grandchildren and even his great grandchildren. I feel like we got cheated. We all got cheated big time. Most of you didn't know my dad, but he was so cool. He was ornery, but super cool.

Madeline never got to sit in his lap, never got to hear his voice, and my dad never got to see his own face and his own curly hair on our little girl. Que tristesa. How incredibly sad.

Sorry to be a little depressing. I am still grieving this. Maybe I will always. This evening was incredible difficult. I know that the Lord is lord of all of this, and that my daddy is with Him right now, but I can't help but feel like he shouldn't be. He should be here, getting to know my children better. He should be here getting photos taken with them. He should get to see Deacon dance on skype like the other grandparents. Madeline should get to ride around on his wheelchair when she gets older. He should have gotten to teach them his funny phrases and silly jokes. But that is gone. At least until Christ brings us all home to be together again. I'm sad. I want my daddy back. I want to pray to God to please turn back the clock a while so that I could take better care of the time that we did have. And it is so frustrating that I can feel it in my bones that I can't have him back again.

I am so tired, so I have to go to sleep, but I hope that I dream of him. Here are a couple of cool pictures of my dad and Deacon. The sad thing is, these two of VERY few photos I have of my dad with my child. Please, all of you that still have parents alive, please take lots of photos.

I like it a lot.

Pure Genius! Watch the attached video to see a really cool Guatemalan thing. This could be in other parts of the world, but I have never seen it in the US. Tell me what you think!

Un Dia con La Familia Lopez

We had lunch today with a Guatemalan family in their home. They are Rene and Nelly, and their three children: Rene, Daniella, and Pablo. They had a very large home that was laid out very interestingly.

We ate a delicious typical Guatemalan meal: Chicken in a sauce of blended tomatillos (little green tomatoes), cilantro, green pepper, and green onion with potatoes and zucchinis with a side of rice cooked with veggies. This along with tomalitos (tamales w/o any meat...so just steamed corn mush). All this took Nelly all day to make for us. She also made us sweet empanadas for dessert. They are little fried bread pouches filled with a homemade fruit jelly, made with papaya, peaches and apples. And to drink, we had atol de fruitas, or fresh squeezed juice of papaya, peaches and apple. Everything was so delicious, and we ate it in the traditional manner of the town of Salcaja (where they live). We sit down at the table, and they serve us bowls of the rice and chicken and soup mixture.

We know them b/c they are working with a CAM missionary couple (the Ekstroms) who have been in Guatemala since 1952 and are currently working in another town about 2 hours away on a project called the mega-voice. It is a little audio device thing that is solar powered, and has the entire Bible on it. There are buttons to go from book to book, buttons to skip chapter by chapter, and buttons for verse by verse. Go to the website for more info...it is super cool and they are working to get the Bible in the native Mayan languages on the cool device.

Anyway, they have become some of our good friends here (the only other Christian couple that we know). Nelly was telling us about the over 1,700 children who live in the communities that they work in. Most of the children are so poor that they can die from a fever b/c they can't afford a dose of Tylenol or Advil or some other medicine to get their fevers down. It is difficult to imagine this kind of intense poverty this close to our home. We see lots of poverty, but there is no one in that community that has any kind of wealth. Everyone is so poor.

They are getting ready in a few months to move to the town that they minister in. Evangelism in Salcaja is so incredibly difficult, b/c it is a relatively wealthy community. Most everyone has work of some kind and so they don't have particularly great needs. Sound familiar?

Brandon gave a little Bible study in Spanish in Psalm 100. They have another machine that has the music for all of the hymns in their hymnal and we sang 3 hymns in Spanish with a digital accompanyment. (Mighty Fortress is Our God, Holy Holy Holy, and some other one that I can't remember.) Then we read the Psalm, made some observations, and did a little interpretation and application. Those of you that were in the college ministry while we were there would have felt rifght at home! It was great

It was a fun day. Don't you just all want to come and join our little adventure? Come on down! We have plenty of fun for everyone.

A Re-Post - Guatemalan Orphan Video

This is the video that I wanted to put on my blog last week. SUCCESS! Watch it and please pray for these little ones. It may take a bit to load, but it is worth it.

A day in Guatemala

Well, we went to church this morning. Acutally just Sunday school b/c Brandon didn't sleep much last night, and he was just to tired to translate a church service in his head. Every Sunday after class, they sell "refracciones" or little snacks for 2 quetzales ($0.25). They are SOOO good. Today it was enchiladas: tostado shells with a tomato salsa on top with minced cooked veggies (carrots, celery, onions, peppers) and a sprinkling of dry white cheese. YUMMY!

When we went to lunch, we went to the famous Pollo Campero (the KFC of Guatemala with the popularity of McDonald's) and this very old lady stopped us to tell us how handsome Deacon is and she said (in Spanish of course) : "Look at my fingernails! Look at my red fingernails! I'm 80!!" It was really funny, and really odd, and Deacon was so sweet to her. He just said "Hola" and smiled as she presented her very long, bright red fingernails to our son. He-He.

Then, tonight as I was nursing Madeline in her room, and right before I put her down, we heard 5 very loud, quick gunshots. It wasn't on our street (we live in a gated condominium with 24 hour guard) but it wasn't far away. This is why we don't go out at night.
Note: Parents, don't get freaked out...we are very safe here, as safe as anyone is in their homes.

All in all, a pretty cool day, some good food, funny ladies, and a little adventure.

James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...

I have been trying to load this video onto my blog for almost 3 days, and it won't load. Please go to the link and watch it. These are real photos of Guatemalan orphans. The video was made as a petition for prayers for these little ones.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4744696279395710845&hl=en

There was an orphanage here in Xela several months ago that our language school did some work with. The name was Jerusalem. It was run by an evangelical pastor. Our school sent groups there to volunteer and to play with some of the children. Last year we bought some toys to take there for Christmas (we didn't go, just sent the toys).

Anyway, the orphanage has now closed because there was some concern when the boys and girls were heard crying loudly during the nights. At one point, the police went to find out what was going on, and discovered that the pastor has been sexually abusing both the little girls and the little boys. That is raw, and gross, and so incredibly sad. The saddest part is that it is a true story that really happened to real children, just like Deacon, and Madeline. Anyway, I can't go see those exact children, because the orphanage has since closed and the children dispersed among other locations. I just can't help but think about all that those children have gone through without anyone to love them and care for them. Some of them disabled, mentally and physically, some with parents who can't care for them, some without any family at all.

I am going to begin (hopefully this week or next) going to visit an orphanage to love on the children there. I can not let my desire to have routines, be rested, get my to-do list done, have "personal time" get in the way of ministering to these people.

Please pray for them as this video says. Please pray for me that I can be the hands of our Lord in the lives of these children and in the lives of those that work with them.

Great News....and I'm un poco triste.

I wanted to first thank all of you who have been praying for us and the situation with the abandoned baby girl. Something extraordinary happened. Very abnormal.

The baby's mother and family came forward. The mother was underage (probably 14-15) and hid the pregnancy from her family. Somehow the facts came to light and they grandparents of the baby, as well as the baby's uncle want her. That is such incredible news. They only just came forward, but there is significant interest by the family to take care of her. A permanent home is going to be so good for her.

We finally had to go to a lawyer to get the information, and he knew the judge and called him on our behalf to get the whole scoop. I am so glad that the family came forward now instead of months or even years from now.

I have to admit, that although I am extremely relieved that she will be with her family, and also a little bit relieved that I won't be taking care of two tiny babies at the same time (not to mention Deacon and our 1 year old lab) and trying to be in language school, I am a touch sad. We had prepared our hearts to take in this little girl, and in doing so, I had began to imagine what life would be like with her in our lives. I began to love her and I haven't even met her.

All in all, we are so pleased with the results of all of this, and we feel like a little chapter in our lives has closed. We also realized that most likely we will try to adopt some little baby sometime in the future.

Thank you again for all of our prayers. We believe that God answered them faithfully.

An Update

I wanted to post a quick update on the status of the baby girl. We found out that the judge assigned the case typically prefers orphanages to foster homes. Even so much that he has recently removed children from current foster homes and placed them in orphanages. This justs sounds so incredible to us, but it is what we were told by the case work office. The health and human services has an attorney who has gone to the city to plead the case to the adoption agency of Guatemala in order to basically return and convince this judge that foster homes are better places for these children than orphanages.

So...we are supposed to call the case worker Friday to check on the status. PLEASE PRAY! We need the Lord to intervene. He know the best place for this little baby. This judge will get to decide what he wants. I will write more on Friday after we talk to the case worker. Hopefully we will know something by then, as this waiting is very difficult.

Then there is the question of when to potty train Deacon and when to put him in a big boy bed if we are just looking at another major life change coming up with a new baby in the house. I am interested in opinions in this matter!

Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns. It is so encouraging to find out how many people are praying for this situation. The voices of the saints of God do not go unheard!

I am challenged.

We had a missionary couple over for lunch today. They told us they would come early, but we weren't expecting 8am, and I was in my pajamas with a messy house when they called at the entrance to our neighborhood. Um...I got ready pretty quick and things were ordered enough 3 minutes later when they arrived. It was such a blessing to have them here. They have been missionaries here for 57 years. Geez!(This is a photo of the Ekstroms: the couple mentioned above)

Anyway, I have been really challenged over the last month as to what kind of ministry the Lord has for me here. I of course am going to be ministering to my family and children. I wanted to write a bit about some ideas that I have.

1 - I want to get some sort of ministry going with the children in our neighborhood. Most (if not all) of them are Catholic and so we may begin a weekly craft and Bible story hour in our home with them. I will need to talk with their parents first, and I don't even know them all yet.
2 - I want to have a movie night over at our house once or twice a month with some university students. We only know a couple right now, but they have friends, and they might come to watch a movie (we have ton with Spanish sub-titles) and free snacks.
3 - A friend of mine attends a very small church in her community and has asked me to help with a children's program on Sunday mornings. We can't do that, because we want to get involved in a church closer to home on Sunday mornings, but I do want to maybe get some people together and maybe do some kind of training with them so that they can do some of the things that I would do. (I have a million craft ideas, etc)
4 - I met with a Guatemalan couple who live in a little town near us and they are working with CAM churches in the area, especially with young people. We are going to try to get together with them soon to get more information from them on the current needs among these churches. (I want to write more about this later, but I have to go give the kids a bath!)

We have quite a bit more language learning to do before I will start anything that will take up too much of my time, but there are plenty of things that we can do to get more involved in the community without interfering with our language learning.

Please pray for us that we could begin to get involved and have appropriate boundaries, and that the Lord would continue to challenge us!

An abandoned little girl

Well - We were waiting to find out more before we make it totally public. Right now it is looking 95% sure that we will have a new baby girl in our home for a time.

Exactly one week ago a newborn baby girl was abandoned here in Xela. A microbus found her at 5am with hypothermia, ants in her umbilical cord, an infection in her umbilical cord, and her cord had been torn, not cut (so the mother probably birthed alone). After some prayer and some thought, we have decided to be foster parents for this little girl.

When I read about her in the newspaper, I literally cried at the thought of a tiny baby being so alone and scared and sick. My friend was with me and we went to the hospital to get some more information about her. The social work office was closed so we had to go back the next Monday (This last Monday) They directed us to the child services judge and that office directed us to health and human services, but ultimately we found out that she will go to an orphanage. Our hearts can't handle that. We are the only people who have asked about her! After one week, not one person has inquired about taking care of this baby. It has been in the papers almost everyday and still no one is interested!

I am going on Monday to take a copy of my residence status to the office and after that I think we will become foster parents. Now, it still may be several weeks before we actually take her home from the hospital. I am going to try to nurse her, and if she can't latch on then I will pump as much as I can so that she can have breast milk.

there are so many things going through my mind right now. 1st is when am I going to sleep? I am already a little tired most days. 2nd is am I going to be able to make enough milk for both babies? 3rd, we have many things to get before welcoming another baby in our home: clothes, another car seat, maybe a nanny to help me deal with 2 babies...who knows? 4th What happens if we take care of her for a very long time and then some other family adopts her? Can I deal with that loss? 5th Can we travel to and from the states with her? 6th What things might be wrong with her...fetal alcohol syndrome, any number of things that can go wrong with poor prenatal care? 7th WHAT ARE WE GOING TO CALL HER? She doesn't have a name right now.

So many of these things are unknown, but none of the unknowns mean that we can let this little girl go to an orphanage with so many other children and so few laborers. It is not very often in ones life that they get to do something that has such a significance. How blessed we will be to get to sacrifice for the life of a baby.

Please pray for us. Please pray that the Lord leads us as we try to figure out the best things to do. The Lord knows where this baby belongs. We will keep everyone updated.

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!

We have met some dear friends here at CIT. So dear that we let them throw our son around. They guy on the left is Paul, an engineer going to serve in Kazakhstan and Brian is going with his wife to Peru. Actually, they are like Big Brothers to him (actually changed a nasty diaper) and helped him do boy things like find caterpillars and beetles. Grandmothers - don't get upset. Everyone is fine.

A cute laugh.

This is our sweet Madeline being so cute! This is her second time to laugh. It is amazing what parents will do to get their babies laughing! Maybe you will think this is as cute as we do. (Notice she gets poked in the eye at the end!)

Fun at Grammy's

This is the kind of thing that goes on at Grammy's. Deacon had as much fun with Madeline riding it at he did while he was riding!

For those of you that remember the walker on the incline at the guest house in Guatemala will be glad to know that Brandon never took his hands off of Madeline the entire time.

Man, are we thrill seekers or what?

What a Beauty!

This is a little slide show of our Beautiful Madeline. We are really enjoying her! Let us know what you think! If you want to see them individually, just click on "View All Images" and it will redirect you. We're a little proud.

Oh, They are So Different!

The one on the top is Madeline, and the one on the bottom is Deacon. Now, in these pictures it is not as evident as in others, but these two babies look alike! I mean, she doesn't look like Deacon does now, but she looks like Deacon did when he was a couple of days old! It is strange. Deacon was 24% larger at birth than Madeline, and his head was MUCH larger, so that is a major difference, and Deacon was broad chested while Madeline isn't. They just look so much alike to me.

But they are nothing alike. I have been amazed at how different these two kids are, even in the 6 days that I've known Madeline. Let me list the differences that I have noticed so far:

1) Deacon was huge, Madeline is small
2) Deacon would only sleep and wake in 45 min. bursts, while Madeline sleeps 6 hours, is awake for 2....waking to eat of course.
3) Deacon would burp after eating, only to then projectile spit up. Every time he would eat, he would spit up copious amounts of milk large distances. Madeline hardly ever spits up, and when she does, it just sort of dribbles down her cheek.
4) at 2 days old, Deacon would stand up in you lap (his legs were ridiculously strong) and lift his head for short bursts. Madeline only picks her head up for milliseconds.
5) Deacon HATED being on his tummy. Madeline would sleep on her tummy if we let her.
6) Deacon was a spaz....he was constantly in motion unless he was swaddled. Madeline will just sit and stare without moving her limbs for minutes at a time
7) Deacon had to be swaddled...very tight....to sleep. Madeline gets upset if she's swaddled and wants her arms free.
8) Deacon was fussy...he had reflux and so cried and boy-hydee it was loud. Madeline hardly ever cries and is generally pretty quiet...as far as babies go that is.
9) Deacon had (has) very fat, thick feet, while Madeline has skinny, narrow feet.

It is really amazing. She was calmer in the womb, and she is calmer out. I am sure some of it is boy/girl stuff, and some is just personality.

I can't wait to get to know her better. I can't wait for all of you to get to know her. Praise God for individuality. It is interesting how much I had assumed about her based on my experience with Deacon. I never thought about what life would be like with a little, calm, easy baby girl. How fun! I'm going to go to sleep pretty soon. Madeline is in an awake time now. Thanks Brandon for entertaining our baby for a few minutes so I could sacrifice some sleep to blog a bit.

Guess what happened

This time yesterday....


at 9:56 am

January 6 2007

7 lb 3oz Madeline Lea came into our world. Welcome, little one.




Everyone is doing fine. We're a little tired. Or a lot. Everyone is healthy and good. And Deacon is excited about his baby sister. Like she's a puppy. Jenny's water broke at 12:45 am, Sunday and things moved along normally. Thank you for all your prayers.

Here's a few more pics:

Too much cake? NEVER!

I felt this same way, I think.


There are so many things that I want to blog about. I wanted to blog on my son's birthday about him. I wanted to blog on my birthday about life. I wanted to blog about Christmas. I wanted to blog about the New Year and all that jazz. I wanted to blog about my incredible husband on our anniversary. I wanted to blog about passing my due date and still carrying this baby (as of now I am still pregnant). I just don't get much time on the computer!

So for now, this will have to do, until I can get caught up. I am going to try to blog tomorrow about at least a few of those things previously mentioned. I am also going to catch up on reading everyone's blogs. I just get updated from Brandon, but that just isn't the same.

A Month Away

In one month (give or take a couple of weeks) I will be having a baby! Yippee! I am feeling pretty good...just the normal pregnancy aches and pains and interrupted sleep complaints. Aside from that, all is going very well.
We are planning on having this baby at my mom's house. That is of course assuming that all continues to go well with the pregnancy. With one month to go, it is looking like we are doing all right, but we haven't stopped praying.
I have other things to blog about, but my sick baby (102.7 temperature) is now awake from his nap. Gotta go do some nurturing.

A Remembrance

Here is the Obituary for my daddy. Thank you Brandon for your wonderful words. Thank you daddy for being a Family Man. Thank you Lord for finally healing him.

Robert Ross Moore

Robert Ross Moore, 56, of Lubbock passed into glory and into true life Nov., 14, 2007 in Lubbock. He was born Feb., 1, 1951 to Burton Ross Moore and Wardine Clearman Moore in Seminole, Texas In 1974, he married his beautiful bride Debbie Hooker in Amarillo, Texas. Mr. Moore attended Texas Tech University, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor's in Finance. He worked for Texas Instruments as a Corporate Credit Manager until his retirement in 2001. He was a member of Lakeridge United Methodist Church in Lubbock.

Those left to cherish his memory are his beloved wife; one son, Jason Moore and wife Denise of Lubbock; one daughter, Jennifer Moore Scott and her husband Brandon of Guatemala; his mother, Wardine; one brother, Richard Moore and wife Pam of Tyler, Texas; and three grandchildren, Avery, Garret, Deacon, and one on the way.

Robert fiercely loved his Lord, wife and children and no person knew a better friend. Our heavenly Father freed Robert from the pain of this world into His arms where Rob will soar with wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint.

Until we see you face to face: peace love dove groovy baby. 1-4-3. Graveside services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 at Resthaven Memorial Park. Memorial services will follow at 10:30 a.m., at the Lakeridge United Methodist Church with Reverend Bill Couch officiating.

Arrangements are under the personal care of White Funeral Home of Lubbock.

New House

I wanted to post a few pictures of the house because I said I would. I want to say that houses here are SO MUCH CHEAPER to rent than in the states. Buying a house is similar, but we are paying less here than we paid for a 1 bedroom apartment in Lewisville, TX! Praise God with us for His provision!

The photos are of the outside of the house (that photo is of across the street - the houses are duplexes - so that's not our house, but that's what our house looks like), the upstairs living area, and Deacon playing in his new room. When we ask him if he wants to go see the new house, he says "new house? Thank you." It is sooo cute!

We're moving!

This may be a surprise to some, but WE'RE MOVING! AGAIN! The new house is so cool. God's provision with it is so great and we are just ready to get in it. We found it by accident, and it turned out to be exactly what we have been looking for. We are hoping to be totally moved in in about a week, although we will be doing some unpacking for quite a while I imagine.

Not sure how much time we will have to blog over the next couple of days, but check back b/c I will be posting photos of the new house soon. (the camera is in the car and I am too lazy to walk into the garage right now to retrieve the pictures on in. Sad, huh. :)

Keep us in your prayers please at moving is always difficult, especially when you are 6 months pregnant and can't help lift hardly anything! More details soon.

And so it began.

I am doing a little personal study on how to be a suitable helper to my husband. It started in the beginning with Adam and Eve.

Gen 2:18 States that "it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him."

Before this, God gave Adam instructions and responsibilities (not to eat from a certain tree for example). So what did Adam need help with? Reading on in verse 22 we find out that the Lord made Eve from the rib he took out of the man. She is made from a missing piece of him. It makes sense that this helper that God created for Adam is to help "fill in the gaps" so to speak. But at this point, Adam is without sin, and yet he still needed a helper. Boy if I could remember that. Adam just needed a helper to help him accomplish and to be all that God had planned for him to be! To help raise him up.

Ok...In Gen. 3:6 "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. "

CRAP! Now where did Eve fail? What could she have done differently?
Who was the original instruction given to? Why did she not defer this decision to Adam?
She also introduced something to Adam that was essentially poison. (Spiritual poison) She ignored God (not asking what He thought about it) and trusted in her own logic and wisdom ("she saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom") and then took the lead with it and then offered it to Adam!

How many times do I offer bits and pieces of poison to my husband: A little piece of gossip, a critical opinion, etc?

How many times do I rush to give my opinion on an issue that is facing our family, w/o first consulting the Creator of our family? Or even worse, I rush and just make decisions on behalf of my family with out deferring to my husband. I BECOME EVE!

I become the leader, and/or the hindrance instead of the helper. Do we know if it would have turned out differently if Eve had done the "right" thing? We have no idea. But I can learn from her mistakes:

To sum up what she "should" have done (and what I should do)
1. Deferred the decision to Adam in the first place. It was to him that God gave the instructions!
2. Ask God immediately for wisdom and for aid in facing the serpent.
3. Given Godly (not earthly) wisdom to Adam as his helper.

Easy as pie!
Sigh.

Walk a Mile or Two?

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." Matthew 5:41

Someone is trying to force us to go one mile. I am going to be speaking metaphorically for a while, so bear with me. Our situation isn't a perfect metaphor.

My first reaction to this mile forcer is "Wait, you have no right to force us to walk that mile. We are individuals with certain wants and needs, and you can not force us. It is not right."

Then my next reaction is " Wait, we just can't possibly walk that first mile (especially not the extra) because we have a family: a toddler, a baby on the way in Jan, and we are leaving the country in 6 weeks! We just don't logistically have the option of walking at all! There just isn't time. I personally just can not handle it." Then I wonder if I just don't have the faith to walk that mile or two and trust that God will handle the details.

Next comes "Jesus says to not only go that one mile, but go with him two. WHAT? Now that would be much easier, if we were really talking about walking miles, but we aren't, are we? We all know that Jesus was giving broader instructions than just feet to the pavement for 5,280 feet. So where does that leave us??"

Ok...I have gone back and forth between these three things over and over and over...and I have no conclusions. I also keep coming back to the question: Who is more important...us or him? And does that even really play into this? And the me or him question is easier to answer than the us or him when you bear responsibility for two children. I read this morning in Psalm 143:10 "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

Here are the questions that I desire your responses to: 1. What would you do? Walk the mile or no...walk the two? How do you justify your answer?

2. How do you apply this verse in Matthew? Where is the line for you as to what is a reasonable time to say..."No. You can't force me to walk this mile, so I won't, or I just can't" if there ever is a reasonable time to say that.

3. I want to know your general feelings about what I have written. I am looking for clarity, and I am waiting for the Lord to teach me to do His will. Most likely it looks different than the World's answers to these same questions.

That Psalm is my prayer because I, in my limited vision can not see tomorrow. I can't undertsand other people's motives. I can't be the judge. I can't see what is best. And most of all, I don't know how to apply the Word of God here. I must be taught. I must trust Him to lead our family through Brandon. I must trust God in ways that I have not before. I must trust Him to solve a problem in the immediate that is to us, unsolvable. Please pray for us as you respond. And please respond.

Strange Country

Ok...I want to tell you about two things.

1st. I was walking our dog at like 6:20 this morning. There are always other dogs around. They don't really do animal control in the typical sense. If I go early enough, most of the dogs are on people's roofs. Houses here are concrete block (or adobe) with flat roofs. People keep their dogs on their roofs at night time. While I am walking Bella, there are always loud barks coming from up above me as dogs are going crazy on the roofs of the houses that I pass.

This particular morning, one of the puppies that was on a 2 story roof, leaped off and landed right next to me on the street. This poor puppy had to be like 6 months old, and was laying, yelping/crying in the street after a two story fall. Oh, my gosh! I had Bella so I had to steer pretty clear, but I rang the bell and knocked on the door to the owner's house for several minutes until I woke them up. I only hope that they take the poor dog to a vet to either be repaired or put to sleep. It was so tragic and weird at the same time.

2nd. Today is election day here in Guatemala. (there will be a run off in month or so) Basically, all of our Guatemalan friends as well as the US embassy has told us to stay indoors for the next couple of days. Really only to get out if it is necessary. Violence skyrockets over the next couple of days as parties are voted in and out. Rumor has it that if this one guy gets elected (he is in the lead right now) that it will be like the war all over again. Genocide will occur as he states that the way to get rid of crime is to imprison and kill the very poor (a.k.a. Mayan people), as they are the ones desperate enough to commit violent crimes. This is totally speculative but this is what the Guatemalans that we know are convinced will happen. So all that to say, please pray for this country. Especially over the next couple of days, that violence would be curbed and people would stay safe. Please pray that the Lord would intervene according to His will to protect the defenseless poor of Guatemala. The Lord sets up and removes kings according to Daniel, and so we are praying for His divine will to be done. And please pray for us as we might get a little stir crazy!

A Little Homesick

Saturdays here are no different than Saturdays in the states. We aren't "working" today , although we have a to-do list that we want to work on. We woke up late (7:20) and Deacon slept in a bit (7:45). We just finished breakfast at 9:15...a breakfast of waffles with fruit topping, sausage, and coffee. The weather here is gorgeous in the mornings...in the 60's and mostly sunny. In the afternoon we will have rain.

But there is a difference. I don't know what it is...maybe I'm just pregnant and hormonal and nostalgic, but...

For example, there are no Sat. morning cartoons (at least in English). There is no college football on TV. There are no noise restrictions here so there is a constant state of window rattling Spanish music playing on the street. We don't have a yard for Deacon to run around in. It still just doesn't "feel" right. I miss going to the mall on a Saturday and just walking around. (there is a mall here, but it is 85% shoe stores) I miss the Saturday environment of Home Depot runs and matinée movies, and...I don't know.

Right now it just feels like something is wrong here. I don't feel very at home today. At the same time, the thought of leaving our home here to go back to the states for possibly 5 months sounds terrible too. We really are between cultures, between homes, between, between, between.

The good news is that this is just my state of emotions right now. This will pass. Tomorrow or the next day.

Tell me about your Saturday. What did you do? I want to hear about what all is going on in America today.

Some cool news!

Well...we have some news!

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!
(at least we are 90-95% sure we are having a girl according to the tech who read the sonogram)

Right now we are deciding on names. We are in between two favorites right now. If you want you can go to the kid's website at http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=49922
and vote on which name you like the best. (by the way, if you disable your pop-up blocker the website is cuter!)
Madeline Lea Scott (Baby Madi)
or
Macauley Ruth Scott (Baby Mac)