NLCH Christmas 2007

It's tough trying to find where to start in describing what Christmas is like here. It's certainly different than anywhere else and our memories of Christmases here will always be very special to us. This post would be too long if we tried to talk about everything that goes on here... from getting all of the presents ready, to all of the activities of Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning. Our friends and coworkers, Lee and Staci, did a good job of giving a summary of everything on their blog here. Rather than try and do that again, I'll just talk about a few of the highlights. Then, Kara may want to fill in more details later.

Our first highlight and one of the things that will make this Christmas so memorable for us was being able to watch the three of our boys who celebrated Christmas for the first time with us: Juan David is the little guy in the picture above, and in the pictures below to the left, Javier and his brother Eliseo. On Christmas Eve, I was giving Juan David a piggy back ride and asked him what he had done for Christmas in the past. His answer was, "They gave me a little motorcycle toy and we ate cookies." It's good to know that he celebrated Christmas with his family before coming here, yet it was also exciting to know that he'd never seen anything on this scale before.

Javier's and Eliseo's story is different. They'd probably never had much of any kind of Christmas before. They were both really excited in the days leading up to the 24th, especially as they saw presents start showing up under the tree. I stood near these boys as presents started being handed out so that I could see their reactions as they got their first gifts. I expected pure excitement, like in the picture of Juan David at the top. They were excited allright, and Eliseo's reaction was similar to Juan David's. He was so excited about his presents that he took them back to his room, laid them out on his bed and slept with them there all night! Javier's reaction, however, made me just about lose it right there in the middle of more than 40 kids opening their presents at the same time.

His first present came to him and he took forever to open it. I thought it was just because, having never done it before, he didn't know it was okay to just tear into it. After seeing him be so careful with other presents as they came, though, we started to realize that he was doing that because he even liked the wrapping paper so much that he wanted to keep pieces of it. Staci said that as he sat on the floor unwrapping one of his gifts (really slowly) that she saw him tearing up because he was so overwhelmed and happy.

As I watched these little guys be so excited about some simple presents, I couldn't help but think of Jesus' saying, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Sure, we can say that Christmas is about Jesus and not about the presents; but watching these boys' faces as they got some new clothes and toys... there wasn't much doubt that Jesus was heavily involved in the process and pleased with the result.

Another highlight was that Kara's parents brought down all of the gifts to fill the kids' stockings to open on Christmas morning. The two of them packed their own things in one small carry-on, while bringing about 240 lbs. worth of luggage full of things from people in their church to fill the stockings. It was a ton of work on their part and from their church, but the kids got some really good stuff.

Obviously things fell into place for the church to be able to help in this way this year- with us being here and Tim & Linda coming down to visit and being able to bring all of the things with them. But thanks to their willingness to help out and lavish these kids with gifts from people whom they'll probably never even meet, just in the effort to reassure these kids that they're not forgotten or rejected but children of the King... again, I just can't help but to believe that Jesus is pleased with that church's Christmas offering this year.


In case you want to see more NLCH Christmas pictures, we've uploaded a bunch of them here.

¡Feliz Navidad, Amigos! 2007

Please enjoy this year's version of Christmas greetings from some of our kids. And just for fun, if you want to see last year's video, click here.

Daniel's Shoes

The kids love trying on Daniel's shoes and clomping around in them. Below are a few of the pictures that I have of kids in Daniel's shoes. Even though they are all of little ones, kids of all ages seem to enjoy Daniel's shoes. Several of the teens and young adults who attend our weekly discipleship groups haven't been able to resist trying them on when Daniel has left them by the front door.

Jans and Emely.

Eliseo and Angie.

Juan David

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas?

Stockings

Kendon 's email in the post below mentioned that my parents' church, Mid-Rivers Baptist Chapel, is providing Christmas stockings for all of the kids here this year. We are very excited about this and thankful for their help! Here is a picture that my parents' sent of the tree in their church lobby with all of the stockings. My parents made beautiful paper stockings with each child's picture, age and name. Each child was "adopted" by a church member and a gallon-sized bag was filled with all kinds of treats for Christmas morning. I can't wait to see the kids open them!

What I am even more excited about is that my parents are spending Christmas here with us this year! They arrive on the 23rd and will be here for a week. This is an incredible place to be at Christmas, watching all of the children open their gifts and celebrate together, but it will be even more special this year sharing the traditions with my parents.

Message from Kendon

I was getting ready to put a post on here about Juan and then received an email that Kendon sent out letting people know about Juan's situation. His message also had a good update on Christmas, so I thought I would just put his email on here for those of you who haven't seen it.

"Dear Ones,

We wanted to get a quick prayer request out for Juan, Jose Angel's brother. He went home for a Christmas visit with his mom.

She has been suffering and grieving pretty badly with the death of Chepe and has been wanting Juan to come home to live with her. She finally talked him into it. However Wendy talked to Juan on Friday to try to find out what "he" wanted rather than what his mother wanted him to do, and he admitted that he really didn't want to leave the Home. When Wendy suggested that he go for Christmas and come back in time for the new school year in January, his face lit up and he said, yes, that is what he really wanted to do.

Even though Juan will be back on January 3, it was sure hard to say goodbye to him this morning. We got all the kids together and staff to pray with him and give him hugs.

Pray that God will use this time in his life and pray for his mom. She recently committed her life to the Lord. We are praying that she will hear directly from the Holy Spirit concerning His will for Juan.

Preparations for Christmas are in full swing but we sure do miss Greg and Marquette Garvick (have you all bought your tickets for next year?). Greg and Marquette have been coming down for a number of years to help us get ready but were not able to come this year. But we are thankful for Daniel and Kara, Lee and Staci, and our interns, Katie and Danelle. What would we do without them?!

The guest dorm has been turned into "Santa's workshop" and all the gifts that we have received from different churches and friends are waiting to be organized and assigned to the kids. Kara's parents are bringing the stocking stuffers, thanks to a special drive at their church in Missouri so we'll take care of that just in time for Christmas Eve.

Year after year, we wonder what God is going to do for the kids for Christmas and it is always truly amazing and overwhelming! Some of our staff today were commenting how this will be the first Christmas celebration for two of our new little boys, Javier and Eliseo. Whenever the topic comes up, their little eyes begin to sparkle with excitement.

Pray that our kids will experience the love of Jesus as never before, that the reason for celebrating is not lost in the materialism of the age in which we live.

God bless you...thank you for your prayers.

Our love,

Kendon, Wendy and Ian...for all of us at NLCH"

Intern Retreat at Lake Atitlán

Last weekend we enjoyed the chance to be back at Lake Atitlán again for a closing retreat for our three interns who are wrapping up their time here, Anna, Katie, and Danelle. It was a nice time, and we always like being back there at the lake.

I wanted to get pictures of the sunset one night, but we had been running around and got back to where we were staying a little late, so I had to settle for taking them from inside the compound there. Ended up, though, that it's pretty true to the experience of being there.

Oops!

Daniel and I bought a clipper set at the grocery store last week so that I could start cutting his hair. He was tired of trying to find somewhere to get his hair cut and/or trying to time it right so that he would be here when all of the boys from the home get their hair cut.

Well.... the good news is he won't need another haircut for awhile. The bad news, as you can see in the picture above, I am going to need a lot of practice and unfortunately for Daniel, that practice will be on his head for all the world to see.

In my defense, he picked out which guard to use, saying "I think this is the size that they usually use." Obviously, that was not right. With one swipe that became glaringly clear as a huge chunk of hair fell to the ground as if in slow motion, which triggered my jaw to drop as I gasped and stared at his then visible scalp. Daniel, knowing something hadn't gone quite as planned but still in the dark as to what it was said, "what??"

At that point, there was no turning back. Other than glue, there was no other option so we had to continue with the super short cut. Actually, I left him with more a "mangy dog" (not quite the adjective any man wants for their hair style) look because I couldn't bear to cut it all that same short length.

Hopefully, if there is a next time, I will do much better. Thankfully hair grows!

Pancake Breakfast

Last night, the interns had a sleepover for the little boys. They had a great time watching movies and eating special snacks.

This morning, the sleepover came to a close with breakfast at our apartment. The little guys were pretty cute showing up at our door in their pjs.

A few lessons were learned from this breakfast: (1) little boys and syrup are a bad combination, (2) when serving pancakes to little boys, you should not allow them to put on their own syrup, (3) little boys get into everything, (4) Daniel and I do not want to have eight children (especially 8 boys!), and (5) this may have been a one-time only event.

I used place cards at the table to try to separate some of the ones who seem to pick on each other. Who knew that they would actually like this... I am sure it helped that each name card had a Spiderman sticker! They asked if they could take their name cards with them. Then Josue asked me if he could take our Christmas tree with him.

When I was little, I used to love it when my grandpa would make me a "K" pancake. Therefore, I made a chocolate chip letter pancake for each boy, or rather I should say that I "attempted" to make a letter pancake for each boy. I have a new found respect for my grandpa. Those letters are hard to make and especially hard to flip without breaking!

It was a crazy and very messy morning. I think our apartment is permanently sticky, but it was worth it... I think.

Happy Birthday Yami

One of the things that we disliked about being in the States for four weeks was missing several of the kids' birthdays. While we were gone, Alex, Angie, Eliseo, Ramsis, and Maria all had birthdays. We especially wanted to be here for Eliseo's, since it was his first at NLCH and he had probably never had much of any kind of birthday celebration before.

But we didn't have to wait long after we got back to get some cake because the day we came back was Yami's 14th birthday. "Ya queremos pastel..."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Daniel and I just got back from a day of Thanksgiving fun and it is 11:28 pm. I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This is our second year to celebrate Thanksgiving in Guatemala. It was nice to know what to expect this year. We don't celebrate with the children at NLCH since it is an American holiday. Instead, other American missionaries come to the children's home and we eat a potluck style feast together. This year there were about 25 people. Several people have asked us what we eat for Thanksgiving here... typical Thanksgiving stuff -- no black beans today! Below is a picture of my plate complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc.
After lunch, we played games, talked, and ate a second round.... and a third... of food.

Last night, Edgar, a seventeen year-old boy from the Home who is attending chef school, came over to our apartment and helped me to prepare sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, cranberry jello salad, and green chile casserole. He was such a big help! Notice in the picture below how strange the sweet potatoes look here. They taste a little different too, but thanks to Harris Ranch pecans which make any dish better, the casserole was a hit.

Georgia...again & the return to Guatemala

On Saturday, November 1oth, we flew back to Georgia and stayed our three remaining nights in the U.S. with Daniel's brother, Jason, his wife, Robyn, and their children, Sarah Kate and Ben. We loved getting to spend time with them and had a great visit.

On Tuesday, the 13th, Jason was kind enough to take us to the airport at the crack of dawn for our flight back to Guatemala. Daniel already did a post about how we were surprised by the kids gathered around our apartment, holding signs and setting off fireworks. What a welcome! The three interns that are here now helped some of the children blow up balloons to put in our apartment but by the time we came through the door, the younger boys had popped all of them, making an incredible amount of noise and leaving little balloons remnants everywhere. I don't think that is quite what the interns had planned!

Kentucky

We flew stand-by to Lexington, Kentucky on Monday the 5th. Flying stand-by is always an adventure. We didn't make it on the first two flights but finally made it on the third, after spending about six hours sitting at the airport. Since we arrived into Lexington pretty late, I am assuming most of the rental cars were already taken and that is why we ended up with the smallest car that I have ever seen -- a Chevy Aveo. Had we not been worn out from a day of travel and also freezing from the dramatic temperature change, it would have been pretty funny watching Daniel wrestle four large suitcases into that tiny car and then trying to get in himself.

We stayed the week with Matt and Emily Coy, our friends from college. We had a great time with them! We went to a UK basketball game on Tuesday night and they won! We drove our rental car to the game and Matt asked the parking attendant if we could pay half price since we only had half a car. Too bad the attendant didn't go for that.

During our week in Kentucky we visited our college campus (Asbury College), looked at Asbury Seminary as a possibility for Daniel sometime in the future, looked at a program at the University of Kentucky, and visited several friends. It was a fun week!

We had dinner one night with Beth Rogers (pictured above), one of the NLCH interns from last summer

Georgia

On Thursday, November 1st, we flew to Atlanta where we were met at the airport by our good friends, Tim and Katie Plumley and their daughter, Maura. Maura was not yet talking when we left Georgia last year, so we were surprised when we got in the car and she said, "you are Daniel and Kara." I guess her parents had given her a little coaching on who they were meeting at the airport! She is an outgoing and adorable little girl and we had so much fun getting to hear her talk. We also had a great time getting to catch up with Tim and Katie over lunch at Chick-fil-A (hooray for Georgia sweet tea!). During our time in Georgia, our friends Bob and Nancy Reynolds graciously let us stay in their home and use their car. Thank you!

We were able to see many friends over the next four days and once again had some wonderful and long-anticipated American meals (not one black bean!). We were even able to take part in a very special event -- "Bad Movie Friday" at Kim & Cliff Daniel's house where we watched "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" and ate red food (spaghetti, Twizzlers, etc.).

On Sunday we were able to share about the children's home at both morning services at our former church, Bright Star UMC. Since many people there have been to NLCH on mission trips, it made it extra special to show pictures and tell stories. The new pastor was very welcoming to us and let us help him serve communion at the close of both services. That was a neat time, especially when we served all of children.

As a side note, we take communion at our church by dipping a small piece of bread into a large goblet of juice. I was holding the juice and I thought that it was funny how many of the children dunked their entire hand into the juice. Thinking that maybe this was because they couldn't see the inside of the glass well, I lowered it, only to discover that this allowed them to plunge their hand even further into the juice. An interesting observation! That made me glad that the children are served last.

Following the last service, we had a delicious covered dish lunch and of course, more sweet tea!

The picture to the right is the only picture that I have from our time in Georgia (thanks for sending it to me, B!). We were so busy that we forgot to get the camera out.

Texas

We love being at NLCH, but 14 months without seeing my parents, being on the ranch, eating any of the 9,000 things my Mom can make with green chile, or getting fajitas at Rosa's Cafe... it had been way too long.

My brother, Adam, and his family came up for a few days to visit. I was so thankful that they made the long drive so that we could see them during our time in the States. I had quite a bit of a cough during our time in Texas, so I didn't get to wrestle around with my nephew, Jack, like I would have liked to do, but it was still great to see them.

While in Midland, we were able to share about the ministry at NLCH at St. Paul's UMC, St. Mark's UMC, and a group of Christians who meet for lunch each week. It was a pretty full week in that sense, but life is never too very fast-paced out there, which is part of why I'm always looking forward to the next time we get to go back.

One of the highlights of the trip was that my parents took us to Lubbock to go to the Texas Tech vs. Colorado game. Kara had never been to a college game before, so even though Tech didn't play too well that day, we still had a lot of fun.

Missouri

We are having a hard time getting back into blogging again, mainly because there is just too much to write about from our month back in the States! Therefore, I thought it might be easier to do a separate post about each place we visited during our time there and hopefully that will help us to get caught up.

We flew into St. Louis on Tuesday, October 16th. We had a busy but fun week that included attending my three year-old nephew Kyle's preschool fall party, a few games nights with my family and lots of wonderful food! On Sunday, we showed a video that Daniel had put together of our time so far in Guatemala to the congregation at my home church, Mid-Rivers Baptist Chapel. We also had the opportunity to share about some of our experiences. It was so good to see a lot of friends that day and it was a very encouraging morning for us. I was so thankful that many of my family members and my friend Amy also came that morning.

On Monday night, my home church hosted a fundraiser night for us at McAllister's Deli. We were overwhelmed by the turnout that night. Thank you to each of you who came! Unfortunately, I was not able to attend that night because I had been diagnosed with pneumonia that morning! My lungs had been hurting and I hadn't been feeling that great so I thought I should have it checked out since we were going to fly to Texas the following day. I was shocked to learn that I had pneumonia though. The doctor told me that I should delay flying, so Daniel went on to Texas on Tuesday and I rested at my parents' house until I could join him on Friday.

Here are a few pictures of our time in Missouri:

We were greeted at the airport by my sister (Krista), niece (Kaedyn), and nephew (Kyle) -- complete with welcome banner and balloons! What a nice welcome!

Kyle helped us with our luggage, even though my suitcase was almost as big as him!

Trying out Kaitlyn and Kaedyn's new bunk beds.

Kyle at his fall party.

My friend, Amy, and her daughter, Disa.

Daniel, my grandpa and me. We missed the family reunion this summer, but my grandpa gave us these t-shirts to help us feel a part of it. We all wore them on Saturday during our Missouri visit.

We're Back...

We made it back to Guatemala yesterday afternoon to a welcome of balloons, firecrackers, and a bunch of kids that we missed a lot. We've got a lot to tell about our trip and will get it up soon...

No Problems

We made it to St. Louis without any problems traveling (and no fines!), and we're enjoying our time with Kara's family...

426, but not 427

Today is my 426th consecutive day in Guatemala, and therefore outside of the United States. I know that's not much compared to a lot of missionaries, soldiers, and other folks, but considering that my longest period of time out of the U.S. previously was 7 days... it's going to be really nice to see that flag flying in St. Louis tomorrow.

We leave the children's home at 5 a.m. for 4 weeks of travel in the States, beginning in St. Louis, then on to Midland, then Atlanta, then Lexington and Wilmore, KY. We're counting on seeing many of you along the way.

Although not many of you will read this between now and then- One specific thing we'll ask you to pray for... obtaining our visas has been quite a process (of nothing happening for almost a complete year now). Since we still do not have them, we're not sure what we may run into at the airport in the morning... hopefully nothing, but if a Guatemalan migration officer wanted to use it to give us a hard time they certainly could. (We've been told that it's possible we could be fined up to $700, even though we completed everything that the law asks for a year ago.)

We appreciate your prayers during our entire trip. The blog may not be quite as active as usual while we are away, but we will do our best to keep it updated.

Cemetery Visit

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the cemetery to see Chepe's grave stone that had been put in. All of the children went, several of the home mothers, a few staff members, and a team of five visiting from the U.S. It was an emotional time, but once again a tender time of drawing together as family and remembering how much we miss Chepe. Here are a few pictures.

The verse is a segment of Matthew 25:21. It says, "His Lord responded to him, 'You have done well good and faithful servant, come and share in the happiness of your God." Under the dates it says, "We love you, Chepe."

The children's home logo.

The children helping to plant two yellow rose bushes and flowering ground cover.Emely cleaning the grave stone with her hands. Please pray for her. She is having an especially difficult time with Chepe's loss.

Tricks

You may wonder what I am doing in the above picture. Am I preparing a meal for a baby? No, I am tricking the teens in our discipleship group into eating green beans! While I love green beans, I quickly discovered that the kids here won't eat them. That lesson was easily learned as the bowl sat untouched through a discipleship group dinner. I was so disappointed.

However, I learned from Wendy that for some unknown reason, while the kids will not eat them in their usual form, they will eat them if you cut them up in small pieces. I tried it and it works! I served them last night and as I passed the bowl around the table, one of the teen boys next to me said, "Oh, I love these and piled them on his plate!" Hooray! Victory!

I wish I knew why cutting them in tiny pieces makes such a difference. Perhaps it is because green beans are not very common here (I get cans from a store that imports things from the U.S.). So, maybe in the small form they resemble some vegetable here? Who knows! I am just glad they will eat them now.

(Lisa if you are reading this, my experiment reminded me of the tricks you use to get your girls to eat healthy things and your Deceptively Delicious cookbook recommendation. I am all for tricking kids if it gets them to eat good stuff!)

Jenifer's "15 Años"

In the Latin American culture, a girl's fifteenth birthday is a very big deal. Often a ceremony is held in a church, almost like a wedding, complete with attendants, a big dress, and a grand entrance. While we are unable to do something on that grand of a scale, Kendon and Wendy work very hard to make the fifteenth birthday very special for the girls here.

Jenifer turned fifteen on September 2nd but we had her celebration this past Saturday, October 6th. She selected the color and style of a dress that was made for her. She also got new shoes and jewelry to wear. She received the full beauty treatment: Vivian, the NLCH secretary, took her to get her hair done. I painted her fingernails and toenails. Wendy did her makeup.

Jenifer was allowed to invite ten guests and we were so honored to receive an invitation! The celebration was held in a beautiful private room in a fancy restaurant in Guatemala City. We had a delicious steak dinner. A very special part of the evening was that one of Jenifer's supporters from the United States flew in to surprise her (she is pictured on the right).

After dinner, each person around the table offered a blessing to Jenifer and/or shared a special memory of her. Kendon and Wendy presented her with a beautiful ring (the traditional 15th birthday gift) and prayed for her. We ended the night with a delicious peach birthday cake.

It was a very special evening! Jenifer is a beautiful, loving girl and we pray that this is only the beginning of many years of joy and blessing for her as she grows to walk even more closely with the Lord.

Here are a few more pictures from the evening:

Kendon escorted Jenifer into the room as we all stood and applauded.A huge candle chandelier in the lobby of the restaurant.I told Jenifer that she looks like a princess here, posing in the balcony of our private dining room.Kendon & Wendy praying with Jenifer after placing her ring on her finger.

Yami, Estela and Debora

Jenifer and her two younger sisters: Karla and Yessica

KarlaJenifer trying out the cool sinks in the bathroom. Notice how it is full of stones and the water comes out of a pipe by raising a lever. Very impressive!