Staying Connected

Our time in Guatemala would not have been possible without the financial support of a large number of people. We are overwhelmingly thankful for the provision that gave us this opportunity.

We're working on getting out our final newletters with this information as well, but I wanted to go ahead and address it on the blog so that it's accessible now. Several of our donors have asked us when to make their final donations. Although we are now back in the States, we are considering July to be our last month on staff with New Life Advance International, since we will be traveling and speaking at churches regarding the children's home until I start my new job at Midland First UMC on July 15. Therefore (for those who have asked), we continue to have ministry expenses for NLCH into July.

Changing gears a little bit- Kara and I are so proud of the ministries of New Life Children's Home, and we have seen them to be so effective and of such high quality that we want to continue to be a support to them even though we're no longer living and working there. One way that we feel we can do that is by giving good information to those who have supported us about different means through which they can continue to invest in the lives of the kids at NLCH. Kara and I have chosen three avenues, in each of which we have been personally involved and can recommend with the highest confidence:

1. The College Scholarship Fund
We spent a lot of time with the high school and college-aged young people at NLCH, and came to love them dearly. Through the ministries of NLCH, God has delivered them from terribly painful pasts, and we want to see the best for each one of them in their futures. This is why we are so supportive of NLCH's recently-created College Scholarship Fund.

In a country where only 1 of every 8 girls who begin 1st grade finish 6th grade, and less than 7% of the total population receive a college education, the kids of NLCH have been blessed to know that they will have the opportunity to get an education. For years, the kids who have finished high school have begun to work full-time jobs while studying in the university on weekends. Now that we have more of the kids entering college, as a way of honoring José Angel's memory the CSF was created with the hope of taking the kids' educational opportunities a step farther.

Since the university system in Guatemala functions differently than in the States, some careers are only possible if one studies as a full-time student. For example, Luis is one of our boys who graduated high school last year, and he wants to become an architect. He worked very hard to finish his high school studies that would prepare him to study architecture in the university, and is currently working for an architect and gaining valuable experience. However, he cannot complete his studies unless he is able to study full-time. The same is true for those who want to study medicine, law, and some other careers.

The College Scholarship fund will make these opportunities possible to the kids of NLCH, and will expand the impact that they are able to make upon their own country. To make a donation, you can use one of the means listed here, and mark the donation "College Scholarship Fund."

2. Child Sponsorships
For NLCH's budget to be met, each child needs 12 sponsors at $25 each per month. You will form a relationship with the child, being able to communicate with each other, send birthday/Christmas cards, etc. We have personally seen how much difference an involved sponsor can make in one of the kids' lives and character.

You can become a sponsor by clicking here and sending your information to NLCH.

3. Construction Funds
NLCH is currently involved in a large construction project, which includes a new housing unit for the girls (Casa Elisabeth, completed in 2006), one for the boys (Casa Anthony, currently under construction), and a future unit for babies and toddlers (Casa Kevin). The project also includes housing for staff, and new offices/library/dining hall.

You can help move these projects toward completion by clicking here and marking your donation "Construction."

Just so that you know, NLCH has not asked us to raise another penny for them. We simply want to pass this information along because we love these ministries so much and know that some who have supported us would want to know a way to continue helping those precious kids.

Back in the USA

We arrived in St. Louis last night after a long day a flying. We finished packing at 12:30 a.m., woke up at 3:30 a.m. to leave for the airport and catch our flight. It's nice to be back and be with family.

In some ways, I feel like I'm in shock- the feeling that this is a dream, and that I'll wake up pretty soon back in our apartment at NLCH with all of those kids we love so much nearby. Getting readjusted to life in the States (like actually stopping when we see stop signs) and settling in to life away from the kids at NLCH is going to take a while.

This was a lot of fun

As could be imagined, we're having a tough time saying goodbye to Michelle. She changed a lot since she came, and we loved being able to spend so much time with her.

This picture is from the first time we kept her:
And I know Kara already posted a similar one, but this is her playing peek-a-boo on our last day of keeping her:

A few more pictures of Michelle

Today we had to give Michelle back to Kendon and Wendy. We miss her already! However, our productivity level has definitely gone way up which is good since we only have a day left at NLCH. I think that I am going to be very sad tomorrow morning when I don't wake up to her crazy morning hair and big grin.

Here are a few more pictures that we took during her stay with us:

Cheerios face.

Michelle's feet in comparison with Daniel's.

Playing peek-a-boo with me over the closet door.

Saying Goodbye

I think I am still in denial about the fact that tomorrow is our last day here. We will leave for the airport around 4 AM on Friday morning. This week has been bittersweet, as we knew it would be. In the midst of the chaos of packing and trying to finish up things around here, we have enjoyed some special times (pictures below). However, these times have also been difficult because they mark the beginning of inevitable official goodbye that we must say tomorrow.

The office staff prepared breakfast for us on Tuesday morning. It was delicious! Below is a close up of the food: breakfast sandwiches, plantains, black beans (of course!), chips, bread, orange juice and coffee.

(Left to right -- Daniel, me, Estela, Sandra, Michele, Jon, Alex and Gladys.)
Tonight our Thursday night discipleship group took us out to dinner (above picture). This meant so much to us and we had a great time. Sandra (Michele's mother and also the coordinator of the NLCH home parents) went with us.

Remembering Chepe

Tuesday would have been Jose Angel's (Chepe) 18th birthday. Chepe is the teenager who passed away during a trip to the beach last September on Guatemala's Independence Day. We took whichever children wanted to go to the cemetery where we placed stones that the children had made to decorate the grave.Above -- some of the children decorating stones.

The stones turned out really well. The kids put a lot of thought into them and were very creative and personal with how they decorated each one.

The children gathered around the grave site. We had prayer thanking God for Chepe's life and the great memories that we have of him. This was a difficult time for many of the children, especially for Chepe's brother, Juan.

One of the stones decorated with a guitar since Chepe loved to sing and play his guitar.

Emily arranging the stones in a line.

Crunch Time

Man, we have a lot to get done before Friday morning.

Scooter

Michelle is getting more mobile. She's still not crawling yet, but getting pretty close. It was months after she came to live at NLCH until she could stay sitting up without someone holding her. Then, she could do that, but with the constant threat of a hard head-flop onto the floor. Now the head-flops are very rare occurrences, and she can sit by herself for as long as she wants to, so she's working on being able to get places.

Among her long list of nicknames is now "Scooter" because of her successful determination to no longer be limited to one spot where she can play. We used to be able to set her in the middle of our small living room carpet, knowing that she would play right there and not be able to get anywhere else. A few days ago, she successfully scooted off the edge of the carpet for the first time: we saw her laying superman-style on her belly reaching under the couch for a lost cheerio. Today she scooted quite a way off of the carpet onto the tile, so I took a little bit of video so that everyone could see her method of scooting. (So far, it's still always in reverse.) In the video below, she's trying to reach under the carpet for a card that she pushed under there. The more she reaches, the more she scoots herself backward.

The picture above could be my favorite that we've taken of her. She scooted to Kara's mirror and played with it for a long time. As she played with it, she figured out that she could see me in it, and the result was one cute picture.

We leave Friday morning. I got a bit sad in church this morning as I thought about actually having to say goodbye to this little girl.

Guatemala Zoo

Sunday afternoon, we went to the zoo in Guatemala City with our friends and coworkers Lee and Staci Jarvis. I had always wanted to visit the zoo here so I am so glad that we got the opportunity. It was a beautiful and rain free day (unusual during rainy season!). We had a great time! Michelle loved the animals and was much more excited about them than I thought she would be. She would flap her arms and squeal at them. She especially like the birds, I think because they made the same squawking noises as her!

Here are a few pictures from the day (as you can see, we have many more pictures of Michelle than of animals):

Watching something intently. I like her hair in this picture.In front of the zebra exhibit.

Looking at the birds.

We could have all been a separate exhibit at the zoo. We were the only four white people there, plus with Daniel being so tall and Michelle so small, we attracted A LOT of attention. People kept making comments about Michelle and wanted to touch her. Good thing for Daniel's height, he kept her out of arms reach! Also, when I was carrying her, you could see the confused look on peoples' faces as they stared at us, wondering how such a pregnant woman could have another infant. Daniel said he felt like we were walking around in our underwear with the way people kept staring at us.

Michelle with the bears.

Daniel, Michelle and an elephant's rear.

Life with Michelle

Michelle has now been staying with us for over a week. We are definitely getting a lot of parenting practice! We are learning some new skills that I am sure will come in handy later. After several unsuccessful attempts (she cried and moved too much) to trim her fingernails with baby clippers after she scratched her own face and our faces several times, I finally bit all her fingernails off. Surprisingly, she liked this and kept putting her fingers back up to my mouth. I don't even bite my own fingernails so that was pretty gross, but we are learning that a lot of gross things are possible out of love. I have yet to bite her toenails but that may need to come soon! Another example in that category is when we had to use the suction bulb to extract boogers. It took both of us to hold her down and attempt that. Michelle was not very happy but was breathing much better afterwards. Daniel, however, did not appreciate the fact that I wiped the bulb off on his jeans in between suctions.

Michelle is such a joy to have around and we love getting to spend so much time with her. She is funny and we love to see her little personality emerging. We have also learned to appreciate even more the work that Kendon and Wendy do for her daily care! She is now up to 7 pounds, 6 ounces which is definitely a gain since she arrived at NLCH, but not so great for a 1 year old. Therefore, we are still having to feed her every two hours during the day and every three hours at night. Her bottles are an interesting mixture of special formula, a few drops of vanilla to disguise the yucky flavor of the special formula, Karo syrup, and boiled bottled water. Also, she gets one bottle a day with medicine, one with an iron supplement, and one with a special vitamin mixture.

Probably the most difficult part of her care is that she receives a nightly injection of growth hormone. I had never before given anyone a shot and especially did not want to give one to such a little person. I practiced with Wendy the week before she and Kendon left for the U.S. On my first attempt, I didn't break the skin, freaked out and handed the shot back to Wendy. On my second attempt, I was determined to get it in. Wendy was very encouraging and supportive and told me that she was proud of me but next time I didn't need to use so much force. Oops, that explains why she was crying so much! I guess I was treating the needle a bit too much like a dart!

So far, the shots have been going okay but I still hate giving them. Daniel holds her arms and leg straight while I give the shot. I hold my breath each time and pray that I won't hurt her too much. She begins crying as soon as she sees the shot. A few nights ago, I was holding her leg and giving the shot and she kicked her leg right as the needle went in. She kicked the shot right out of my hand and there was the needle dangling from her leg as she was screaming her head off! I had to pull it out and stick her again. Yuck! I didn't want to have to give it again the next night, but it had to be done. I am counting down.... only eight more until Kendon and Wendy get back!

I could write a lot more about life with Michelle, but this has already become a much longer post than I intended. Here are a few pictures with captions below each one:

She had fun riding back in the laundry basket after we took the clothes down from the line behind our apartment.

Enjoying attention from all the boys on Saturday night when we had the older boys over to our apartment to watch the movie "Rudy"

All dressed up for church on Sunday.

Progress Reports

Since we have fallen quite a ways behind on our blog recently, these pictures are a couple of weeks old. They are from a McDonald's breakfast on June 7th that was a reward for all of the kids who are currently passing all of their classes. These breakfasts are held four times a school year when the progress reports are issued. I love going with the kids to these breakfasts. They are so excited and proud of themselves.

Here are a few pictures with captions below each photo:

Emily and Juan David.

Eliseo enjoying his hashbrown.

Josue with his pancake Happy Meal.

Kevin, Sammy, Juan David and Javier showing off their Happy Meal toys.

Two Weeks With Michelle

Our directors (Kendon and Wendy) are in the States for two weeks, so we get to keep Michelle... woohoo! The challenge is going to be to get all of the necessary things done before we leave here, rather than spending all day playing with her.

Happy Birthday Miguel, Samy, Kevin, and Josué

We've had several of our boys with birthdays recently:

Samy turned 9 on May 31.

Miguel turned 14 on June 1.Kevin turned 12 on June 6.

And Josué turned 8 on June 8.
(Wendy lets the kids pick what flavor of birthday cake they want. Josué told her, "It doesn't matter. All of the cakes you make are good." The next day he came back and said, "Actually, what I want for my cake is to have my name on it in M&M's.")

Kara also had a birthday, but that's another post...

Our Peace Offering

As an apology for such a long hiatus from our blog, we offer the following pictures and video of Michelle:

In her blue bonnet (she's got a lot of Texas spirit):

With her buddy, Jon:

I'm not real sure what was going on here:

With Bethany (who we're very excited to have back with us for a little while):

And just look at this grin...