Life, as we know it

"Here we are, a week later, and it seems as though the rain will never come.  The boys are enjoying the swimming pool, for lack of  a better term.  The sun has been hot, and with little breeze, we all took a dip together this afternoon to cool off."

I wrote this a few days ago, and now... Last night we had a little rain and the valley is cool and dreary today. I feel like baking and wearing slippers, but duty calls. I have been hearing about the cold weather and all the snow for everyone at home.  It sure makes me home sick.     Every time I talk of how I miss Illinois, Ryan reminds me of how he had to fight during the winter months, to keep things in our lives functioning and maintained.

Ryan has hired 6 men to work his fields in between the rows, to control the weeds, and work in some fertilizer. He has been calling it his six row cultivator, witch is also the name for of piece of equipment, pulled behind a tractor, to function the same way, control the weeds.  This time of year, in Guatemala, there is not much work in agriculture, in places where there is no water.  To find work, many men and boys travel to the cost to work on sugar cane fields, leaving their wives and children home alone, working long hours of hard labor in dangerous conditions.  Ryan and I feel like the men who are here working for us will be blessed with some income form working, and we would much rather give them a job to earn money, rather than giving them money, for doing nothing, perpetuating their doing nothing. 

I, Katie Ann, had my first medical emergency experience in town last week. Normally, when some one knocks on our door, saying they need help, there is someone more qualified to help them, or at least tell them no one is here who can.  I ended up taking my first ride in the local hospital's ambulance, and for the first time since we have been in Guatemala, fearing for my life. I performed a quick ultrasound on a women in labor to determine the position of the baby.  When the local Doctors learned that the baby was breach, but first, they decided to send her onto another center, where they could offer her some assistance in turning the baby.  Our western medicine is more streamlined, and uniform, where here, practically anything goes, and almost everything does. We hope to reach out to the community of expectant mothers, and provide a birthing center in the future.  For now, until more doors open, we will continue to help where we can.

Thy Truck Runith Over

Life here has been plugging away, at our steady pace of suddle chaos. Ryan's crops are doing well, and watering the 5 acres of corn and beans has become our third child.  We remain hopeful that farming can open more doors for our future here in Guatemala, and the future of the ministry.

David and Juan made a trip to the city this week with a load of scrap metal to recycle. We were hopeful that the load would be able to finance a building project.  David did a great job of loading the Dodge almost to the rubber, and then inspecting the tie down job from all angles.  I only wish I had a picture of what the truck looked like when they got home, loaded with metal beams and a water tank.

The boys are doing well and are enjoying all the puppies that are running around the yard, and the puddles in between.

We are excited to share that we will be coming back for two weeks, at the end of March, and would love the opportunity to catch up with friends and family, and flaunt our tans.

Merry Christmas!

I know it is the 25th of December, but it fees nothing like Christmas today. 

Everything that I remember about Christmas as a child, or even as a parent, is so different from the Christmas we are experiencing this year.  We are happy, together, and enjoying Christmas for what it is, but without all the expensive decorations and fancy parties.  We are sad to be away from all our family back home, but glad to be with the family here as well.  I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas, for those in St.Louis, a white Christmas, and taking a day to relax and spend with family and friends. 

I was able to spend some time in the garden this morning. How strange! The tomatoes are green, the sweet potatoes are blooming, and the peas are climbing like crazy.  We had our first few green beans today, and there should be plenty more to come. 

This is our little tree. It really makes our home feel merrier.

 It might give Charlie Brown a run for his money.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Three, going on an on....

Things have been hectic around here. After thanksgiving, we have st started our Agriculture project full force, and keeping everything else under control.  Jacob is now potty trained, and doing an amazing job.  The first day he went with dry pants all day long, we took him into town to celebrate, and had a party, complete with  chips, soda, yogurt and candy.  All of his favorite things.  Jacob is getting so big, and today is turning Three! I can't believe it!

 It has been a while since we have posted, and I wanted to get you all up to speed, but it seems impossible to write everything that happens.  The boys are doing fine, and enjoying the busyness of the season. Jacob's request for his birthday was a bonfire with hot dogs and marsh mellows, and a green cake.  I will have to post more pictures again soon. 

Joshua is definitely growing and getting into more trouble each day.  He is now crawling and saying mama and dada.  It is so funny how they boys seem to push each other along.  Now that Joshua is pulling himself up in his crib, he has gotten himself stuck between the slats.

Last week there was a Motorcycle race in Canilla, where we live. David and Joseph both raced and placed int he top three. It was a good time for the whole family, as we were all involved and helped hold things together.

You can see a video of the race on YouTube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht7zLOYxjnY

 
Ryan has been busy planting his fields, and hopes to finish today. After a week of watering, we had a few days before Ryan would be able to get into the ground to work it, and went to Guatemala city to renew our visas, and take some time off. We stayed at the Tikal Futura hotel which has a pool, and it's own mall.  We really enjoyed the time away, and posted a small video of our trip onto youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkm4dwmQpjk

The video is short, and only viewable through the link.
 
 
 
 
 
This is a quick look at what Ryan has been up to with the property he is renting. 


Water the first piece of ground with sprinklers before planting.



Jacob testing the sprinkler radius.



Jacob helping haul away the water tubing.




Manually applying the fertilizer and lime.



Soaking the black bean seeds in milk as a natural inoculate.



Planting bean seeds on piece two.




Overlapped rows, to use the planter that is designed for corn, to plant the beans witch need closer spacing.



Sweet.....Potatoes!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! Or here as we call it,

 'Dia de Gracias'.  We are getting all the lunch preparations under way and the Turkey is in the oven, thanks to Leslie.  We will be having sweet potatoes with our turkey today thanks to whoever planted a starter in my garden. I was so excited yesterday, when it was time to harvest, we only planted one plant, but we got about 10 pounds of potatoes out of it. I have a dozen more growing, and they should be ready in about four months.

Thelma's puppies are doing well. They are eating food, and lots of it.  The boys enjoy playing with all of them, and the puppies like to lick and chase the boys around.

Joshua is trying desperately to crawl, but can't seem to get his stomach off of the ground. He ends up sliding across the floor to get into whatever he wants.   

 

 Jacob is enjoying the weather, and playing outside. He enjoys playing in water and mud.  Jacob is just learning to count. We hear him counting to  himself...'1, 2, 5, 9, 14, 3, 10.'  He always ends on ten. It is so funny listening to him. He is enjoying watching the sesame street Christmas eve show, and seems to be completely oblivious to any holiday today, or anytime in the future.

Ryan is continuing to work with his rental property, and with the John Deere planter ready and adjusted for the beans here, we are awaiting one more trip to the city for fertilizer, and hopefully the beans will be in the ground. 

Clinics were consistently busy this week with children who had respiratory infections, were dehydrated, and miserable. 

This little girl cam in sick, but we were shocked by her size. She is three years old, and only weighs about 20 pounds. We added her to our nutrition program, and will continue to monitor her growth and health for the next few years.

We hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving. We wish we could spend it with everyone, but we are thankful for our time here, and looking forward to seeing everyone again soon. 

rel qk

I just wanted to update you:  the 'verry sick child' that came last week to our clinic in Chiminisujaun on Tuesday, returned this week.  We were so excited to see him doing much better.  The week before we spent several hours with him, and he barely cried or whimpered. He was too tired to even blink.  This week he was squirming and squawking, and giving his mama a run for her money.  We are so glad to see that he is feeling better, and I wanted you to know that your prayers and support came through for this little boy.  Thanks again.

We have enjoyed a few quite days to re plan and rethink our goals and strategies.  Last week Ryan began plowing and dicing a three acre piece of property that he will be leasing. The hope is to plant beans on the property to either sell or use for our own feeding program.  The boys have enjoyed the extra time with their dad on the tractor, and I know Ryan hasn't minded it either.

Our dog Thelma had her pups as well last week.  She had nine puppies, 5 males, 4 females, and all healthy. 

We are thankful to have the month of October behind us as it always bring a very depressing mood over our valley and the rest of the country, especially during the local "Day of the Dead" festivities.  We retreated to Chiminisujuan again on Tuesday as normal, just as the parties were getting under way, and due to a very sick child needing IV fluids, we weren't able to return home again until latter in the afternoon. Coincidentally, after all the holiday traffic and hoopla had died down.