Do you ever have a day when if doesn't go as planned but you can tell God has a btter plan? I wanted to write about my day Saturday before the details start to slip my mind. I will not post it right away since I would like to share with Dan some of these things first but I will have it written and ready when I feel the Lord’s timing.

Dan left for the lake very early and I was left home alone on the campus for the entire day. I had told Eby earlier in the week that I would come to see her Saturday and she promised to be there. When I was getting ready to leave the house I prayed. “God I would really like a ride to town so I don’t have to take the bus with the 4 kids.” I just knew God would bring me something. We walked out our door and there was Carmen’s husband, daughter and Granddaughter getting ready to leave for town an they offered to take us. Another answer to prayer we can add to our prayer list. When we got to the market Eby was not there. I tried calling and no answer. I thought maybe she was running really late so I walked to another part of town and came back. While I was walking. I started to think, “ God I should give my stroller away to someone.” 15 seconds later I walked by a store where inside people were looking at buying a stroller like mine for 1000Q. Yikes. I said, “I have a stroller that you can have if you come and get it.” I also told I felt God had just told me to give my stroller away. Jessica took me up on my offer and I got the sense from her she was no a believer. She is here trying to adopt a baby but the whole adoption process in Guatemala is a mess. That whole story is for another blog.

When I got back to the Market Eby still was not there. I was very disappointed since I had plans to take her out for lunch and spend the day with her but she wasn’t there and I got no answer on her phone or Juan’s. So the kids and I sat and discussed what we should do and it was decided to eat at Burger King and have Ice Cream after at McDonald’s. When we finished eating and playing on the play ground I walked out of McDonalds fully intending to go catch the bus but there was a tuk tuk right there and although I never take them since they cost 3 times as much I just flagged him down and hopped in. The whole time thinking I was being lazy and should of done the bus. Then the driver went some really odd back way to my house making me scared for a few moments but I got home safely. I wasn’t home more then 5 minutes when I got a knock at the door. It was Luis Carlos, his wife and twin daughters. They had come to visit for 2 reason. I have been trying to help them find a house to rent here in San Pedro and his wife wanted to look at the one house that Luis and I had seen a few weeks early. It is the home Danny and Daphne Foote are renting. I called them to see if they were home for us to come take a quick peak. They were just about the leave so we hurried over. Luis and his wife loved the house and have decided to rent it in July when the Foote’s leave. Also while Luis was there he gave Danny his business card. On the card it said in Spanish that he was a legal English to Spanish translator. Danny didn’t think much of it but that afternoon he was told from a friend that he would need a legal English to Spanish translator to apply for their long term visas. Danny knew right away that Luis was the Man for that job.

The other reasons for them coming to visit was to invite Dan and I to come work with Luis in his ministry here in Guatemala. Luis works with Mission Impact

After Luis left Jessica came to pick the stroller up. I made sure to tell her God has told me to give her my stroller and that I prayed it would be a blessing to her. Come to find out she is from the same town as Jeff Sprecher the director of Missions Impact. They plan on having her over for dinner next week and I am praying God will use them to speak the truth of Gods word to her as well.

Come to find out Eby did come to the market Saturday at 12:30pm. I left at 12:15 but for reasons only God knows He had me go home so I could be there for Luis and family, the Foote’s and Jessica. I would of missed all those great things if my day had gone according to plan.

I am not sure where to start since I could write so much. Today was very special to me but I need to back up a few days. I said in my last entry that someone had asked Dan and I if we would allow Alicia to be in a Christian music video. Personally as she was asking I was thinking, “ I do not have the time for this.” but for some reason Dan and I felt we should allow Alicia to do it. We would be there with her the entire time and it was only for 3 hours one day. I really felt a connection with the Gloria the girl organizing it. She informed me it was a “Christian music video, but I am not a Christian.” She explained. She is in college and this video is a project for her class. Monday everything was going great and they were about to video Alicia walking down the street when it started to rain. It did stop raining but not in time to do the entire video shoot in one day so we had to come back again today. Because of the rain Gloria and I talked a lot, while waiting she shared her life story with me. By the way she speaks really good English. Through her sharing I started to point out to her the purpose God had in her life and how some bad things that happened God had a purpose. One purpose was she had a strained relationship with her father and so she was sent to NY City for high school and that is how she learned English. I pointed out to her if she hadn’t had this in her life she wouldn’t speak English and I most likely wouldn’t have even met her. She was amazed by that, When I knew I was going to go back again today I prayed God would give me more time to talk with her about God, Jesus and how he loves her. God answered my prayers above and beyond all I could ask or think. I found out from Gloria she is looking into Buddhist. She wants to believe in something and her catholic family ties are not enough. She is searching but she is not sure what she is searching for. She told me she loved to read so I asked her if she read the bible. When she said “no not really.” I encouraged her to read the book of John so she could understand what I believe and how I can believe whole heartedly and know it is truth! She promised she would. I shared so many great things with her that I don’t have the time and energy to write but I know God used me and I am praying that “The word of God will not return void in Gloria’s life.” Please pray for her.

On a side note they have promised to put the video to U-Tube when it is finished so I will place a link on my blog for you so see. The song was very good that the video was too. It will be a few month before it is done.

Gloria really loved our family and she has offered to give us free Spanish lesson when we return to Guatemala.

 So much more I could write.

Wow only 2 more weeks left. I can hardly believe it.

Today was our kids last day of school.. We pulled them out one week early since we didn’t have transportation for them any longer. We took them this week and most days it was very tricky, either we had to catch a ride with someone and come home via a taxi or we had to take the bus. We have 3 groups here right now so everyone is going here and there. We are going to go back to the school Wednesday for a goodbye party. When we finally for home today from school Faith started crying. She doesn’t want to be done school. She likes it and has friends there. Even Eli and Alicia were a little sad.

When I picked up the kids from school today I was met by a women who spoke perfect English. She gave me a special letter she had written asking our permission for Alicia to be in a Christian music video she was organizing for Monday and Tuesday. She went to the school to get 7^th-10^th graders but noticed Alicia while there and said she was perfect for s certain part they wanted. So now Dan and I have to decide if we will allow her to do this. I doubt we will. She was going to get back to us today with more information.

Things are super busy for me now so I just don’t have more time to write. Justin leaves Sunday. We all love having him here. It will be sad to see him leave again.

Last night we had a big surprise for our students. Justin who got sick and went home the first week of March was able to come back for a week visit. He asked us to try and keep it a surprise and so we did. At 10:15pm Dan came back from the Airport with him. I ran down and rounded up our students telling them “Don’t ask question but we need to have a meeting right now. Come as quickly as you can.” Of course they all thought something terrible was wrong and within 4 minutes they were all there. I even got some of them out of bed. Imagine their surprise as they are all sitting in our “No Shoe Area.” and in walks Justin. There was screams and lots of smiles. Not one of them had any idea. It was such a special time. I decorated brownies that said "Welcome Home Justin."  We are so thankful to have him here again. We all missed him. God is good by allowing him the chance to come visit.

Please pray for us as a family. We found out last night the family that our kids were going to school with every day have decided to pull their kids out of school 2 weeks early. We knew they were considering this and we understand why. I don’t want to go into the details but that leaves us with a choice, either pull ours as well 2 weeks early or try so manage getting them back and forth to school each day without a car. Dan and I are praying about it. Our kids are learning Spanish and 2 more weeks I think would help them a lot. But we are praying to see if God wants them to be done as well.

Well like I said before with there being only a few days left I just don’t have the time to devote to detailed blogging. Thank you to all of you who read this blog.

I know you are all wondering why I haven’t written. Crysten has been gone now for 3 days but I just put so many things off while she was here I have been playing catch up since.

There is less then 3 weeks left the school will be over. To say I am sad would be an understatement. I told Carmen the cook yesterday, “Carmen we go back to the United States 3 week from today.” Carmen just started crying, telling me she loved my family and especially Emma and Alicia so much and didn’t want to see us leave. She came over today to give the girls gifts just because. She is such a blessing to us.

Since there is a such a short time left before we leave I doubt I will be blogging. I am already feeling the pressure of leaving and I am not liking it one bit. Pray for us as we will be talking with Bob and Shirley about Fuego coming back and our future with them here in Guatemala. The kids are getting very anxious to see their cousins again. I myself am looking forward to cooking again. Although I am very thankful for the cooks who work hard each day to feed us I feel like my right arm has been cut off not being able to cook more. I love cooking and hospitality and am looking forward to doing that again when I go home.

As I write I am feel very tired. My legs feel like they are going to fall off. We went and climb Pacaya the volcano today. We left to 2 youngest with one student . Dan, myself and the 2 oldest went with our students and the new Students we have for the month of May. I must say it was not a hard climb but for me who is very out of shape it was stretching. I was in last place the whole time and had no problem with that. Eli did really well going up but was fairly tired coming back down. When we got to the top I saw a Guatemalan man from a distance walking away, Dan said “I think that is Mario.” Since I couldn’t see him well I just figured if it was Mario he would turn around when I called his name. “Mario!” I said and sure enough it was him. I always love to see him. He was there with a group from Bethel college. When I first met Mario 11 years ago he was a new Christian and his wife and family were catholic. Now his family is born again, he is a pastor of a church in his village and helps lead short term teams in ministry here in Guatemala.

I am glad I went on the hike. We all really enjoyed it and the views from the top are great. It only takes 3 hours to climb up and back.

Having Crysten visit was fun. I got to do a lot of fun things I don’ normally get to do but my favorite part was all the friends from years past we got to visit and see. God has been so good to give us wonderful Guatemalan friends here through out the years.

Dan has been sick this past week and he went to the DR but the DR said it was just a virus and the past day he is doing a little better.

The kids have 2 more weeks of school and then they are done. I have decided that sending them to school does no save me any time. I you chained to a schedule and then there is home work after 5 hours of school it is crazy. Are the kids learning Spanish? Yes! I am amazed sometimes what they know. They still have a long ways to go but they are learning. Will I do it again? I am not sure we will. I miss home schooling for the fact I spend more time with my kids otherwise I get so busy with stuff that sometimes I loose sight of that. I really struggle finding the balance of What god has called me to do as a wife and mother and the rest of life. I love to be involved in everything, I am very social but that is not always a good thing. I am praying God shows me more balance in this.

I could write more but like I said before I am very tired from my hike today. Our students have been living in their Guatemalan homes for 2 weeks and they came back today. I am always glad when they are back. I miss them. The May group is going to live in Guate homes for a week and tomorrow night w get another team who will be staying here for a week. Busy times but good.

Crysten has been here for over a week and we have been busy doing many things. I will try and give a brief recap since I really don’t have a ton of time. I was supposed to go to Santa Marie De Jesus today but Alicia and Dan have both been under the weather and I have been off doing something each day I decided I should stay home. Crysten went without me which is fine. By the way she is feeling much better.

We had a jewelry making day. It was fun but we only got the jade polished so Fransico is going to finish our rings for us. Rings are very time consuming. We all went out for lunch after then we went to Deb’s for a game of hand and foot.

Sunday we went to church and then out for lunch. After lunch Crysten and I met up with an old friend from 11 years ago, Douglas. He used to come with his brother, Gustavo, to the SI house. They were young, 15 and 1 at the time. Now they are grown men, Douglas has a wife and new baby and Gustavo is getting married next month. We took them out for ice cream and food to Dona Luisa’s. We just so enjoyed seeing them again. Crysten lived with them for 2 weeks a few years ago when she came for a missions trip. The whole Family holds a special place in her heart. We took pictures and on Monday we got them developed and walked up to their Parents house to see their mother. She remembered Crysten right away and we enjoyed our visit with her.

We also went and saw Jamie who ised to work with SI on Thursday. I see him often but Crysten hadn't seen him in years. Crysten also met Marryenella at the hospital Friday. I want to see her and Fernado (Her Husband and Daighters.) myself some day soon.

Monday afternoon we spent with Eby and her family at her house. She fed us lunch and showed Crysten how jewelry was made. Crysten asked them to make her a special silver bracelet and so Eby had them make her one right then in front of her. 3 hours later is was done. Crysten paid $25 for it but over half of that cost was the silver itself. Pretty cheap for a custom made all silver bracelet. I love going to Eby’s house. Uncle Dean came with us. Dan stayed home with the 2 youngest because of sickness.

I could write so much more but I have some one coming for lunch to talk about coffee and taking our students on a tour, and another lady coming to get my pack ‘n play. I am giving it to her because she needs one. One less thing to have to bring home. Wow speaking of coming home less then 4 weeks I can hardly believe it. Time if flying by.

Just got back from Antigua with Crysten. I know I haven’t been writing and you know I just don’t have the energy or brain space to write all that has happened the past few days with Crysten. In Short it has been fun. I do want to write about today because I love Guatemala and t is times like today make me want to be here and share the love of Jesus with the great people of Guatemala. Life can be hard and what seems like unfair but God is all knowing and loving and cares for everyone and a poor Guatemalan is no exception. We decided to take the kids to school today even thought we didn’t have a ride for them. So that meant we needed to take the bus home after school was over and since it was going to be at least 2pm by the time they got home we decided to have a picnic lunch in the park. When we finished eating and woman came up to try and sell us something. (This is illegal in the park but happens frequently.) This lady was so nice and I started asking about her baby and how old and then I asked how many children she had, she went on to tell me she had 7 kids, all boys, and she was very sad because her husband had died 4 months earlier and she has trying to sell things to help feed her 7 boys. Her oldest is 11 and the youngest is 6 months. I went on to tell her about how I lived here for 6 months and had one month left before I went back. She asked me why she had never seen me before since she is in the park each day. Since I rarely sit in the park I am not surprised I haven’t met her. I rarely give people money unless. God tells me too but I knew I had to give her something. Even now I want to go back and give her some more so she can put food on the table for her 7 small boys. I really didn’t catch how to pronounce her name maybe if I meet her again I will. Of course Dan sent a seed of doubt asking me if I thought this lady might be lying just so I would give her money but I want to trust everyone first unless they give me reasons not too. I am the one that started asking about her family she didn’t just come begging for money. I could of bought something from her but since I really didn’t need another Guatemalan bracelet I chose to just bless her.

Pray for Crysten, she is sick with a bad sore throat and slight fever. I think she picked something up on the plane. I am pushing the coconut oil with her and she seems to be doing a little better today. She is napping at the moment.

Tomorrow is our jewelry making day, we have been planning this since February. Should be fun.

Well I just don’t have the time to devote to write about the events of the past few days. Today is Alicia’s birthday and Crysten is coming along with 13 other people. It is a very busy day.

Dan is home and they had a good trip ministry wise but there were some issues that arose for Leah especially. First she got her I-pod Camera and 500Q’s stolen out of the van. They only took this stuff out of her purse and left the rest. Then she blew her knee out twice and the second time was so bad that Dan and Yuan Carlos had to carry her 1\2 mile to the van and in the confusion of it all she left her purse and with the rest of her valuables that hadn’t been stolen like bank cards and so forth. It is 45 minutes down the road she realized and by then it was getting dark and unsafe to be traveling the roads so they could turn around. Then the next day her and another girl fell into a bush that gives you this terrible burning rash for hours. Once Leah came home her only thing left of value her computer was smelling like smoke and she was afraid that was breaking down. Poor thing. She has really handle this so well but we all feel for her. We had a special time of prayer last night for her and we all encouraged her and prayed for her.

With Crysten visiting I am warning you faithful readers that I will not be blogging very much.

Tonight we are having a Party for Alicia. She is easy to please. She wanted to go pick flowers for her birthday and have whoopie pies. Easy enough. We have lots of flowers on the campus so we went and got some.

I have a few minutes before I am leaving to pick the kids up so I thought I would at least start a blog. Funny thing is I have been super busy the past couple of days, which is good and not good. I just sort of always am busy and I know it is because I can always find things to do. Dan has been gone for 4 nights so we are over half way. just 2 more sleeps.

I have heard form Dan a couple o times since he left and it he says all is going good. Our students got to visit their sponsor children which I know was a highlight for them. They had gone and bought backpacks and filled them with goodies and gifts for them.

The kids were very wired the first few days Dan was gone but they seem to be settled down now. We will see how today goes. It is one of those days in Guatemala, the temperature is perfect, the sun is shining and there is a slight breeze. I know I say this often but I love this place. Not only for the great weather though. Tuesday night just as we were cleaning up supper we lost our electricity for 3 or 4 hours. If we lose the electricity for any length of time it is always at this time of night. Not sure why. So the kids and I told stories by candlelight. It was fun.

Well Didn’t get much written before I had to leave. Just got done lunch. I bought some corn tortillas with cheese for Lunch. Very yummy and typical Guatemalan. All the kids loved it and wanted more so next time I will buy more.

The kids don’t have school tomorrow (Friday.) They are painting to the school. Since Crysten is coming Monday and it is Alicia’s birthday we are going to skip school. The kids won’t be back to school till Tuesday. We will still just do all their home work this afternoon and then we don’t have to worry about it for 5 days.

Tuesday I treated Daphne for her Birthday for Breakfast at the Hotel Santo Domingo. It cost me less then $10 for both of us. It was a great time of fellowship as well. God has really blessed me with her friendship and she is so down to earth. She really had been an answer to pray as a friend and before I met her I didn’t know I needed such a friend but “Thank You God.”

After we finished Breakfast we went to the market where they sell used new and clothes from the states. It is something like a huge yard sale. I found some great bargains and we had a blast just looking through stuff. Daphne found some really great shoes so I bought them for her a birthday gift. We didn’t buy out the place but we came home with a far amount of great stuff really cheap.

I spent Wednesday at home the entire day. I figured I would get tons of stuff done but why I ever think that is beyond me. I decided I would make dipped whoppie pies and freeze them for Alicia’s birthday. They are time consuming but I figured if I worked at them for the morning I would have them done before the kids got home. Half way through them I realized I was out of sugar and had to wait till the afternoon to finish. I really wasn’t done and the kitchen cleaned till 3:30 so there went most of my day. Oh well. The kids had their friends over after school and when they are here I never see or here them since they just play so well together.

Faith was so cute for supper. She wanted to set the table and surprise me. She kept the door close till I was completely ready to eat. When I did come in she had placed everything in a design on the table and it was very cute. The kids were so good last night working hard to help me get supper ready and cleaned up.

Well, now that I have written this maybe I can get some things on my list done, like study Spanish, write emails and other things. Not sure what we will do tomorrow since the kids now have the day off. I doubt much but maybe a trip to see Eby is an order since we want to go to her house next week with Crysten and maybe Uncle Dean!!!!

Wow, The days fly by and then I realize I need to blog and get some of our events of the past few days down before I forget the details.

Dan is gone for the week with 6 of our students for Tactic. 2 of our students went home for the week for various reasons but they will be back next Monday.

I know many of you are wondering how our feeding the homeless nigh went. And all I can say is the feeding part went well but after we had a major conflict in our group and if I could ask you to pray for our school, it’s leaders and our hearts. We need God more then ever. I really can’t disclose any more so please just pray.

The kids are in school and this morning I am playing catch up and will drive and pick them up at 12:30 just to give Daphne a break.

Yesterday The kids and I bid farewell to Dan and the group ad headed to church. The pastor had one of the best sermon illustrations for Salvation being free I have ever seen. He put 10, 20Q bills on a string and was explaining how a gift is only a gift it is it free and not earned. Then he said that he was going to give this money out to the first 10 people who would come up and take one. Well within 1 minute they were all gone. Then he explained how his gift wasn’t like God’s salvation, it is temporal, it was only for 10 people not everyone, and so forth. Then he explained how it was like God’s gift of Salvation, it didn’t have to be earned, all you had to do and go up and take it. And so forth. Our pastor is teaching through the church doctrinal statement and so this week as you guessed it was on Salvation.

I came home right after church since I had plenty of food I really didn’t want to go out for lunch. After talking with my parents for an hour , the kids and I walked over to the foots to barrow a few movies. When Dan is gone I always let the kids watch one movie at night before bed. One of their highlights of the day. As usual I had one child sleep with me last night and it was Alicia. I think she fell asleep before I finished reading her one chapter in the bible.

I would love to hear form you all, this will be a quiet week for me. After this past week, I need a week of prayer and seeking God more then ever.

Today was a special day. First we as a group have been study Spiritual Disciplines, one of the topics was fasting. Since we had arrange for us to go to the homeless shelter tonight and feed them I felt God calling me to fast for the day from all food. Especially supper, since anything I didn’t eat would go to feed those at the shelter. We really didn’t know how many people would be there so we made enough to feed 30 people, if there are 60 people then God will have to do a loaves and fishes. He didn’t that once for our group which I will tell later. I told the students if they wanted to join me in the fast for 1 or all 3 meals I would pray during the meal time. Half the students joined me and it was a special time of praying and seeking God together. I decided to do this yesterday of course thinking, “This will be easy.” Wouldn’t you know it I got really sick yesterday night and I knew it was a test. I felt better when I got up this morning but still weak but I knew God had asked me so I was determined to fast the entire day sickness or not. So the students are off with Dan and Bob with Beans, Rice and Tortillas. I am anxious to hear about there time when they come home.

Yesterday we went with the Students to Eby’s house and watched how they make jewelry. They made 2 pendants for us. I bought one of them to give to a friend at home. That way I can say to her, “I watched them make this special just for you.” I was starting to feel ill while we were there but still I always enjoy myself when I am with Eby.

Sunday Dan and the Students leave for Tactic for a week missions trip. They went once before 2 months ago. They all love it there and are excited to go back. Last time they were there they made up diaper bags to give away at a hospitals they were visiting. When they got there the nurse told them there were 24 new mothers they would be visiting, they had only made 20 bags. As God would have it they went to each mother and when they got to the last mother they had their last bag. Either God took 4 mothers away or God multiplied our bags so they had enough. I call it our "Loaves and fishes story."

Things are going good this week for school and the kids. Alicia’s teacher sends home a note everyday it seems asking us to buy something. 2 different days Dan or I had to run to town to purchase something for her to bring the next day. Hopefully that will stop. One thing was a drum so she can participate in music class each Wednesday. All the kids in her class have one so we wanted her to have one as well. Eli’s teacher give him lots of home work, she has askd Eli to make a small house just like his house to bring in a week. I am hoping Dan and him can do it since I am not crafty at all.  Faith’s teacher has been really good just working with teaching Faith Grammar and Spanish and no homework.. Dan and I are coming along in Spanish but still “Poco a Poco.” (Little by little.)The notes the teachers send are good for us since we have to figure out what they wrote!!!!!

It is a cooler morning then normal. The sun is trying to break through the clouds and once it does I am sure it will warm up. It is Tuesday which is a laundry day for me. I had a lot more laundry then normal and not sure why but so it is.

I had some good news, Eli came home yesterday with his pencil sharpener that had been stolen by his fellow classmate. I guess the teacher had everyone empty their backpacks Friday and when no one was found with the pencil sharpener she assumed that he little boy that Eli said took really had. She called the mother of the little boy and on Monday the mother and boy brought back the sharpener and gave it to Eli. The teacher apologized for this. Really we weren’t concerned so much about the sharpener but about this little boy thinking stealing is OK. Anyways it was a good lesson by all of us.

Really not much has happened in the past 2 days. The kids are off to school and I am going to study my Spanish, do my laundry and catch up on some things. This afternoon we are going to the Hospital to visit with the handicap as a school. Tomorrow we are going to visit Eby and see her house and how they make Jewelry. April is Ministry month so we are doing various things as a school.

It’s Sunday Morning, Dan is giving the kids showers since our traditional Saturday night Shower times had to be postponed because of a huge thunderstorm that rolled through and lasted for hours. It is hard to believe it is Sunday again, this past week has been a whirlwind of commotion with the kids trying to settle in school and all the things that went along with that. Trust me I would have had more time to do things if they had been home schooled this past week. So for those of you who might think this will free myself and Dan up with more time, think again! We had some major issue that arose form sending them to school this week but still it was a good week. The kids all still love it. Faith and Alicia both had to take a day off from school because of sickness, Eli had a boy steal something from him and when he asked for it back the boy said he didn’t have it. The school gave our de-worming pills to the kids without asking us first. Some of this stuff is cultural. Like the pills, in the states anything you give the kids needs parents permission. For Guatemala they treat these de-worming pills like part of their first aid with the kids, they play in the dirt so they need it. We have now asked the school to please ask us parents before giving out any type of medicine. As for the boy who stole Eli’s pencil sharpener, who knows if it will be given back. We have told the teacher and are going to allow her to take what ever action she deems correct.

Thursday night we had a big Un-birthday party for our students. Any student who doesn’t have a birthday while here was celebrated. We had pizza, cake, ice cream and games. We played pin the tail on the donkey, bobbing for apples and musical chairs. It was so much fun. Special memories for all. I had picked Thursday night to celebrate since the students were supposed to have their Spanish final Thursday afternoon. All the students felt the pressure to finish all their Spanish written exams and take their final. They asked me Wednesday, “would it be wrong to pray the final doesn’t come.” I told them they could pray and if God wanted them to take the test later it wouldn’t come. The exam was supposed to come Wednesday but that day came and went so on Thursday morning the students were getting excited knowing God had answered their prayers. They sat down with Bob and they all decided that IF the test didn’t arrive before Noon then they would postpone the Final until Friday night. Well at 12:30 the test arrived and I was quick to remind the students, “God answers our prayers and cares about the little things even Spanish finals.” So they all got another full day of study and so forth in.

I am not sure I blogged about Wednesday night. They students and Dan went out on the streets of Antigua and feed people on the streets. Before they left we prayed they would be lead by God to the people He wanted them to minister too. As they were walking the streets feed people they found they found 2 Guatemalan friends from Church who started helping them. When they couldn’t find more people on the streets these friends took them to the homeless shelter where they could give them the rest of their food. This homeless shelter invited them back next week to come earlier and feed the people who come in for the night. So be praying for us Thursday night as we do this again. It was amazing how God brought those friends along at just the right time to help our group find people to feed. Antigua police have really cracked down on people sleeping on the streets so it is harder to find them. 10 years ago they were everywhere but now they are few and far between. Being able to go to the homeless shelter they will be able to feed the people as they come in for the night.

Friday night Faith and attended a girls camp out at our church here. Lets just say girls and camp outs are not always a good fit. We were supposed to roast hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire but after 2 hours of trying with out luck to start a fire we had to go use the gas stove top and roast them over the open propane flame. Then we were going to have Karaoke but angina girls and electronics don’t mix and we couldn’t get the machine to change songs. But they night was a success, The girls camped out on the roof top of the church, I was the brave adult who offered to sleep with them. I figured it would be a long night on the concrete roof top but since the girls didn’t go to bed till 2:00am I was so tired it didn’t matter how hard the ground was I was out like a light. It was a great night and fun for Faith and I to get to know some people more from the church. I wasn’t the only mother who spent the night there were 5 adults ladies and 7 girls.

Saturday was spent doing odds and ends. I spent hours sending e-mails to possible students for next year. We are offering a scholarship to any student who applies and is excepted before June 30^th. Do you know anyone who might enjoy a semester abroad in Guatemala. Check out the website at

Our students all left early Saturday morning for El Salvador, since there was no one to cook for but our family we decided to have a typical Guatemalan supper, Tamales and corn tortillas fresh and hot. We walked down and got them. And for $2.30 we feed our whole family. Your couldn’t cook a meal for 6 that cheap. On our campus we don’t get a lot of Guatemalan dishes, once a week we have beans and rice for dinner but mostly we have American dishes.

There are times when living here really touches my heart. One such instance happened yesterday while I was at a bank in town waiting for my friend Daphne. I love to be friendly and talk with people, even though my Spanish speaking skills are lacking in so many ways. There was this cute little girl about 10 years old sitting next to me. I started talking with her asking her about her family. How many brother and sisters do you have? Where do you live? What is your Mom and Dads name? That one question opened up a little girl to me that was full of pain and sorrow. She explained to me that her mother had died 3 years ago. Her youngest sister, who is 3 lives in the States with a great-grandmother. As she was telling me about her family she started crying, something Guatemalans rarely do, show their true feelings. I felt for her. In this moment I didn’t know enough Spanish and all I wanted to do is speak words of comfort to her. Her name was Anna Gabriella, and at 10 years old she has had to endure much hardship and pain. Please pray for her, I didn’t get a chance to even talk with her spiritual things, church, God, his love for her and so forth since my time ran out. Even if I had more time I just don’t speak well enough Spanish, even talking with her I know she told me why her mother died and why her sister lives in the states but I didn’t understand. I pray I will meet her again and that my Spanish will be improved enough so I can talk with her more.

I took much of Monday and Tuesday of running around town to get all the kids school supplies and so forth. Just when I thought I was gaining in my understanding of Spanish I took a big step back at the Paper Store (You don’t have a wal-mart where you can go buy everything you need, you have the paper store, Photo Store, Craft store and so forth.) The man waiting on me would ask me something and 9 times out of 10 I had no idea what he was asking. I just have so much to learn. Although I had trouble understanding what he was saying to me I did manage to get all the supplies I needed. I just gave him my list and he got it all for me. I was able to get all the paper supplies for the kids at this store but I had to go buy Alicia a craft apron at another store.

The kids are doing pretty good with school so far, Faith got up this morning and said, “Mom I don’t feel good I want to stay home.” Faith loves school so I knew she was sick and she spent the rest of the day in bed or on the couch. I think she has the same thing Emma had, a cold with a slight fever. I hope she is better by tomorrow so she can go back to school. Eli and Alicia were in the same class because Eli’s teacher wasn’t there. So their grades were combined. No homework for them which was a good thing since yesterday I was so lost on Alicia’s coloring homework I had to call Daphne to explain it for me. I was hung up on this one word that ended up being “Markers.” I think the kids will be speaking better Spanish then Dan or I in no time.

Dan just left with our students. April we are calling ministry month, so we all prayed and discussed different ministry we wanted to do during this Month. One thing that came up was going and feeding the people on the streets, homeless and beggars. So tonight we cooked up lots of extra food, kept it warm and at 9:00pm they set out to find people to give it too. We had a time of prayer asking God to use us and bring us to people who need nourishing food. Antigua used to have many people sleeping on the streets but in the past few years they have cracked down of squatters and you can’t find them easily so I am praying that God will lead them to the right people. Going out late like this helps since they will wait for the city to quite down before they come out to find a place for the night.

Dan and I have prayerfully considered and decided to place the kids in school starting this Monday. We both feel a peace about it but if you would of asked us 6 months ago if we would of even considered this as an option we would of said “No Way.” What changed? You might ask, well a alot of things I won’t go into details at the present but we are doing this knowing that for any reason if we find this isn’t working we can pull them out. God has given us some conformation about this one thing being, someone gave us $100 towards putting them in school and today when I signed them I paid $130 for their first month of school and the enrollment fee. Now I have to go purchase a few school supplies once their teachers give me a list. The second conformation is, our friends are taking the kids to school each day and bringing them home for us which is a huge blessing since we don’t have a car of our own, not to mention the responsibilties at the school we have during the day. Plus they are helping us with the language barrier between us the teachers. Today The Principle was telling me stuff and I thought she was telling me she was going to make copies of the agreement form I signed but what she was really telling me is she needed copies of the kids birth certificate. Good thing Daphne was there to catch my mistake. Of course I am making many of those mistakes but my Spanish is coming slowly but surely. I am understanding more each day but I still struggle putting sentences together. After I signed the kids up for school I met Dan in town and the kids and I went shopping for snacks. They will be in school from 7:30 to 12:30 each day so they won’t need lunch just a snack for recess. That was fun for them picking out stuff and so forth. I am praying their excitement last. Eli we are the most worried about, he tends to get a bad attitude fast when I doesn’t understand something or he does it wrong, since at first he won’t be understanding the teacher I think he will struggle but we are praying God will give him the grace and ability to handle this. Please pay this all goes well.

Dan comes home today. Having him gone is never my idea of a good time but I must say God has been good and providing the next 4 hours go as smoothly as the last 3 days all is good. The first day (Saturday) was my most trying. The kids all seemed to have attitude and Emma took all her clothes off twice. The second time she got up from her nap, took her clothes off and peed all over her bedroom floor. Good times for me cleaning it up.

As I did the last time Dan was away I took turns having each child sleep with me. Again like last time I read the bible to them as they fell asleep. I have been studying the life of Gideon so that is what I read each night.

I was worried how Sunday would go me alone with the four kids but God was good. I awoke that morning and prayed the Lord would provide me a ride home other then the bus or taxi. Shirley decided she wanted to visit our church since she had never been and offered to go with me, driving there and back home. Thank you Jesus! The only problem I had was at the restaurant and it was my fault. I asked for the check and it took them 15 minutes to bring it. Then they took as long to bring the change and between trips to the bathroom and so forth I just left without my 80Q’s. I didn’t even realize until yesterday that I had walked away before he brought it back. I am not sure if I will even see the money again but I did speak to the manager today and he was going to talk with our server this afternoon. God knows and if I don’t get my money back then I hope it goes for a good cause. It is roughly $11.00 worth.

Monday went really smoothly. I wanted to take and walk and the kids favorite is going to the town square. So as much as I didn’t want to attempt it with all 4 kids a thought I would try it. It is difficult with more then 2 kids because the sidewalks are not always there and the cars drive past rather quickly. The kids did excellent, we bought drinks, chips fresh, corn tortillas and avocado for lunch. Yum Yum. The hardest art of the walk was the heat, it was very warm out and we all got hot walking home. The kids were excited to see the sprinklers going when we got back so put their swimsuits to cool off.

Monday night I got to sit in on a talk from

So that brings me to today. After breakfast we took a field trip for the day into town. We had some things that needed to be dropped off into town and Yuan Carlos and Liz were going in so we hitched a ride. We went out for Breakfast, although we had already eaten I got the kids a little snack. Now it is the afternoon and I wanted to blog and then I am going to study some Spanish. Good times. Does anyone know anything about Rosetta Stone Language program. Someone has suggested we buy this to help Dan and I learn Spanish and I am looking into it and wondering if anyone had used it? Let me know if you have.