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...