Not Your Normal-Sized People

Being stared at because I'm tall is not a new experience for me. Even in the States, if I had to go to Wal-Mart, I could expect a little kid or two to look at me for a second, say, "Whoa," then turn around and keep going. (Or if it happened to be at the Wal-Mart in Kentucky or Georgia, it was probably more like, "Daaanng! How tall are ya?"- even from adults!)

The situation is certainly magnified here in Guatemala since the average height is significantly shorter than in the States. For some reason it was worse than ever before when I went to our Wal-Mart type store on Wednesday. First I was pushing around my cart and there were two middle-school age girls in front of me. The first one turned around and saw me and her eyes got big. Then she turned around again, I guess to make sure she saw me right. Then she commented to her sister, and they both turned around to look. This continued for nearly a full minute- the more times they looked, the more they began to laugh, and the more anxious I was to find an aisle to turn into.

The best was when I got to the check-out line. There was a family in front of me- a boy (about 5) riding in the shopping cart with his mother and grandmother. The grandmother was the first to spot me. She, like everyone here who comments rather than just stares, said, "muy alto" (very tall). She then called the attention of the boy's mother, who looked at me and said, "muy alto." Then they had the boy get out of the cart and come stand next to me for height comparison.

I thought that it was over, but then the boy's aunt returned from the restroom with her daughter. The aunt looked at me and said, "muy alto." Then the whole process started over again with the aunt's daughter coming to stand next to me. After all of this, the grandmother starts imploring me to talk to the kids about how they need to eat more. "They don't eat anything. You can get them to eat more."

As in all situations like this, I used my privilege of looking like a gringo: just smiled acted like I really didn't understand much of what they were saying, and then their checkout was done.

I think the oddity of my size in the country is one of the reasons I like Michelle so much. She gets it. We could win an award for biggest and smallest buddies in the country.

Good Taste

We have enjoyed discovering that Michelle has great taste in music. First it was Johnny Cash. Then her theme song became "Roly Poly" by Bob Wills. (Most of you probably aren't familiar with that one... it's the country classic that says, "He can eat an apple pie and never even bat an eye. He likes everything from soup to hay..." It's Michelle's theme song to inspire her to eat.)

The most recent discovery of her great taste in music is David Crowder Band, as you'll see in the video below...


As cute as that is, it may not be quite as cute as the similar video Kendon posted on his blog. Michelle gets exposed to different music at their house. Wendy says she likes classical, but I think she just passes the time with it until she comes back to our house.

Sunday

I know that the blog is a little biased toward Michelle lately, but what can I say? She is cute and we have been spending a lot of time with her. I will try to provide a better balance in future posts.

Here are a few recent pictures of her from this past Sunday:

Enjoying the music with Kendon
With Luis at his birthday lunch at Friday's.
Guatemalans always bundle their babies, so since we were going out in public Wendy followed the culture and had Michelle all bundled up for the activities on Sunday.

More Pictures of Michelle

Trying on Daniel's shoes

I think she looks like she is gaining weight, don't you? At her appointment on Friday she is up to 6 pounds 3 ounces. (She turned 9 months on the 16th)
This was Daniel and my attempt to give her cereal. We got much more on her body than in her mouth.

Baby or Hundley?

If you are not familiar with the program Skype, it is a wonderful invention! It has allowed us to do video phone calls free through the computer to family and friends back in the States. I love it! I used it on Saturday to show the ultrasound photo to my sister's children.

My six year-old niece, Kaitlyn's reaction was, "it looks like a little baby Hundley!" I didn't know what that meant, but later found out that Hundley is the dachshund dog on Curious George. Since the baby flipped over right before the doctor took the ultrasound photo and therefore was face and tummy down with arms and legs tucked under the body, it really does look like a dachshund! Kaitlyn has a great imagination!

Sick again

I have been battling stomach sickness (awful nausea and vomiting) for the past seven weeks. Seven weeks!.... you may think that's terrible and that I must be pretty upset about it. No, not this time. This time it is not the result of some parasite, amoeba, or other crazy Guatemalan bug. This time it's a BABY!!!

Daniel and I found out the news on New Year's Day. That was a great way to start 2008! I had my 12 week appointment yesterday and we were thrilled to hear a strong heart beat and to see the baby moving its arms and legs. How amazing!

After losing our first pregnancy, it is hard not to constantly be in fear of losing this one. I have to continually give this little life over to the Lord and remember that He is in control and that no matter what happens, I can trust Him. It is a hard battle though since we want so badly to be parents and I am such a natural worrier!

We ask for your prayers for this little life and for decisions that lay ahead about timing to return to the U.S.

Astrid, Esdras, Damaris & Nancy

Please pray for this group of siblings. Here is a message that Kendon sent out by email yesterday -- "Astrid, Esdras, Damaris and Nancy are spending a couple of weeks with an aunt and uncle. They are really struggling with living at the Home, but we feel it doesn't have so much to do with where they are living as with life in general. They could really use your prayer. They are still grieving the loss of their mom and so much need a Home. We are praying that they will come back and want to live in our Home."

Juan's Back!

Great news- Juan is now back living at NLCH again! He came Tuesday and talked to Wendy, saying that he wanted to return, because life with his mother wasn't what he thought it would be and he missed his friends here. So yesterday he moved back!

Welcome, Jorge!

We have another new child at NLCH! Four year old Jorge has now been here for a little over a week. He is the nephew of two of the older boys at the Home, Eduardo and Herbert.

"Ring of Fire"

Usually Michelle has a huge grin on her face when Daniel does this with her. This time however, she was distracted by the camera. It is still pretty cute though!

Overnight Guest

We were thrilled that Michelle was able to spend the night with us last night since Kendon and Wendy had an event at their son's school and would be returning late. We had a fun evening with her -- playing, giving her a bath and putting her in her pjs.

Because of her tiny size, Michelle eats every two hours during the day and every three hours at night (midnight, 3 am and 6 am). This was not bad because she easily fell back to sleep after her bottles. The hard part was keeping her awake to drink them.

Daniel and I quickly discovered that we are greatly lacking in baby skills. We didn't know how to lay her down in the crib. She didn't sleep well on her back, but we worried about her breathing so we didn't want to place her on her stomach or side. Wendy had told us how to put her on her side and support her back with a rolled up blanket. We worried that we didn't place her right. Therefore, both of us woke up repeatedly throughout the night just to check to make sure we could see her little tummy rising and falling. I expected this kind of behavior from myself, a natural worrier, but waking up several times to find Daniel standing over her crib surprised me. Wow, parenting is rough! :)

Here are a few pictures: