Trick Candles

On Wednesday evenings, we have been studying the book of John with our discipleship group. Last week's lesson was on John 3 and the story of Nicodemus. At the end of the lesson, we gave each youth a piece of cake with two candles -- one to represent their physical birth and one their spiritual birth. The point was to thank God for each and blow out the candles. Unfortunately, Daniel and I bought birthday candles from the local grocery store and did not realize that they were trick candles. So, after they gave thanks and blew out the candles, the candles re-lit automatically.... over and over again. We couldn't get them to go out and our apartment was filled with smoke. Finally, we had to bring over a bowl of water to toss the candles in. It ruined the mood of the lesson and the kids seemed confused as to if that was what we had planned, but it did make for a funny memory.

Happy 1st Birthday, Michelle!

Michelle's long-awaited first birthday was on Friday. We set a table in the middle of the dining hall with Michelle as the centerpiece and her brothers and sister joining her. Then everyone got a cupcake, including Michelle for the first time. She didn't care for eating it very much, but had fun smushing it in her hands.

We are very thankful that God has had His hand on this little girl and that she has made it through a tough first year. Getting to birthday number one really was a reason to celebrate. We also pray that her second year can be less tough, more fun.

Giggling Michelle... with teeth!

Happy Birthday Estela and Giovani

Our two most recent birthdays were Estela (25) and Giovani (10).



Tomorrow is a big one as Michelle turns 1!

Baptism Service

Twelve of our kids recently expressed interest in getting baptized, so they all participated in a baptism service together at our church, which was a really neat experience. Enjoy the video below. (Their order in the video is Eslin, Rebeca, Brenda, Marta, Delia, Jenifer, María, Daniel, Salomón, Elías, Rubén, Alex).

Michelle's teeth

Michelle is growing and changing in so many ways. She now has teeth! They have come in so quickly in the past few weeks -- two on the bottom, then two on the top, and now we can see two more on the top starting to come in.... just in time for her to eat a piece of cake when she celebrates her first birthday this Friday!

Happy Birthday, Eduardo

Thursday was Eduardo's 22nd birthday. It was also Labor Day in Guatemala, which meant that all of the kids had the day off of school. There is a team of college students here from Florida State University right now so they did fun activities with the kids that day. We also had a picnic lunch in the garden. During the picnic, we sang and had cake for Eduardo. One of the little guys who was standing next to him apparently became concerned that it wouldn't be as special for Eduardo if the lights weren't out while his birthday candles were lit. I saw him raise his face toward heaven and ask quietly, "Jesus, can you turn out the lights for just a minute?"