smile...

Joshua sitting on the porch.

Mommy and the boys.

                                                                               Jacob playing in the rain.

Three month check up.

Here we are it's July, and I can't believe how fast time has flown by.  Granted, we have had our moments, but overall, it has been a smooth transition.  In the last three months we have managed to complete several projects, and along the way we have realized the need for more help, or at the least more time.
Ryan was able to help load corn into the grain bin, and unloads some every week to disperse to families enrolled in the corn project.  Jacob has started speaking Spanish, and loves to greet the workers in the morning with a 'bueanos dias' and every time we pas someone on the four wheeler, they get an 'adios'.  Joshua is enjoying his hammock time and being held almost constantly.  My garden is beginning to bear fruit as I continually fight the bugs to keep the plants alive.  We are enjoying our time here with family, and the visits from friends. Ryan's good friend Scott will be down soon, and we are really looking forward to having some company of our own.  We can't wait to see everyone this fall, as we will be in St.Louis for about a month, following Hannah's wedding in Houston. With one trip to the city in the past three months, I am looking forward to all the perks of living near a big city, or any city at that.  We plan on having an open house in Marine at some point, and hope to be an easy time for friends and family to stop by, and catch up.

After our trip to the states we plan on coming back down to Guatemala and staying through the winter, into next year, and playing it by ear. Ryan is fascinated by the opportunity for farmers here to improve their crops and hopes to teach by example and demonstrate the possibilities of some fine tuning in their planting and harvesting techniques. The people here are very independent, stuck in their ways, and reluctant to change. We hope we can open their eyes to possibilities in agriculture, industry, and lead them to know God. As the days fly by, it is hard to imagine not living here to help in the future, but even harder to imagine never coming home. 

Reaching Out

We have seen mothers day come and go, Ryan's birthday, and a couple of friends do the same.  We are glad to be able to get into a routine here, to help and enable everyone else to accomplish more under the light of the sun. 

Ryan has become more involved with dispensing corn to families who are enrolled in the 'corn project'. Every Sunday he travels to the town North West of here, San Andreas, and in front of the orphanage where the Ficker family first served in Guatemala, he gives out 100 lb. bags of corn to families who are suffering from the drought. 

The corn truck is finally licenced after another fight here with the Guatemalan government. We were hoping to have all the final touches completed to make a trip to the coast for corn, but unfortunately, things are progressing slowly.

     There are some repairs that need to be made on the font end of the Peterbilt corn truck before it is ready to haul, but as those wrap up this week, we are ready to get the corn hauling under way. We are realizing we might need to wait until next week for more time and resources.  Every week Ryan sees at least 25 people in San Andreas, and with over 400 enrolled in the feeding program or corn project, we are lucky to have enough to go around.  Often, having to turn away a dozen families because he does not have corn to give them. As I write this, Jacob is eating his cereal for breakfast. He is asking for more, a regular occurrence for anyone who has raised a boy with an appetite. I can't imagine telling him, "Sorry Jacob, but today we will not be eating breakfast.... lunch.... or dinner, and I honestly don't know how or when our next meal will come." How hard that would be on a parent and a family.   

We are very blessed to have food on our table, and so many great cooks here to prepare that food.  We enjoyed another volleyball game down at the river yesterday on our day off. Jacob enjoyed playing in the sand and riding the four wheeler up and down the mountain.  

Ryan has been focusing on getting the grain bin up and running.  After many wild goose chases in the city, Duane was able to find the paint and hardware we needed to finish cleaning all the pieces and get all the motors running.  The Guys have been able to get all the rings up, and all that remains is the roof, which I am told will be a challenge.  Tuesday night after lunch, all the guys came back and help with the last ring.  By the end of the day they had their own method streamlined down to a science. 

The roof shouldn't take too long, and I don't expect them to put it up until the corn is paid for and David is hauling it back to the house.

God willing this will all happen next week.

We miss you all.

24 on 25

As we approach three weeks here in Guatemala, we are starting to realize why it is so hard to finish a project that you have started that same day.  The hours of the day just fly by. 
The weather was pleasant for our first week here, and the last week has been extremely hot.  Monday morning at 10 AM we were at 100 degrees F. I didn't ask how hot it got, I honestly didn't want to know.  We were blessed to get some rain last night, and as I am typing this I can hear thunder just over the mountain ridge. Hopefully tonight we will see some more rain and cool weather.  I can't imagine the hardship for the people here if they see another drought this year, so we are greatful for every drop of rain.

Jacob learing to ride a bicycle.

The boys are adjusting to life here. Joshua loves not being cold and seeing his daddy all the time. We are enjoying hi smiles an talking every day.

Jacob has become a little fish, and enjoys playing in the water.

Our house is slowly turning into a home as we invest time into it.  It has been slow, for Guatemala, we are moving right along. By this time next week we might be able to fix our own meals there and eat them there too.

Our family pulled out all the stops in the construction of our house. There is no denying that they are trying to entice us to stick around by giving us a beautiful place to stay.

I am hopefull to get some seeds in the garden this week as I wait for my starts to get a little hardier and start constucting a tent to shade the lettuce and cool weather veggies.  I will be relived when the plants are growing and bearing fruit. I have had a hard time managing the fire ants, as they are relutant to give up there hills without a fight. They are extremely painful and uniterested in comprimise. I am told they will destroy anything i plant, so they must go. 

Ryan has taken over constructing the grain bin, and is almost half way. 
Tomorrow is our sabbath (day off) so I hope we can relax a little, or atleast work slowly and enjoy it. 

I enjoyed my 24th birthday here on Sunday the 25th. I was given fresh  flowers , and birthday cake for breakfast and dinner.
Everyone in the family wished me a happy birthday, and evan some friends and family from back home.

We hope to go shopping next week, maybe find some furishings for our home, take some time off from cooking and all hustle that goes on around here.

Here are some pictures of our house, just imagine it decorated, furnished, and comfortably messy.

Front Door/ Patio

Master bedroom  on left, nursrey on right

Living Room

Front door

Kitchen

Front porch

Ceiling

Our First Day on the Job

We are here!  Guatemala is just as we remember it, dry smokey and dusty. We had three relatively smooth flights yesterday and are glad to be grounded again for a little while.  Our family was so excited to see us, (mostly Jacob and Josh) as they all waited at the runway for our smoothest landing of the day.  The boys were great in the airport and on the planes. They were both sleeping in my arms as we landed here, in Canilla (con-ee-yah). We had a great lunch with every one as soon as we got back to the house. Leslie made Ryan's favorite, lasagna and apple pie.
They had a very large suprise waiting for us when we arrived.  We knew our living quarters would be cramped for a while, but we were looking forward to knocking a doorway through the wall seperating our two bedrooms, but instead they decided to practically build us a house.  The small room we had discussed adding back in December has become a very large and spacious, vaulted ceiling retreat where I will someday be able to feed thousands, ok maybe not thousands, but a lot of hungry people.  We are so greatful for all of their hard work and hope to help them finish it quickly so we can all enjoy it together.

Jacob has a slight cold, we think maybe from traveling, and has been running around non stop, playing with his aunts and uncles.  Joshua is enjoying all the attention and the warmer weather.  We will be celebrating easter tomorrow and will enjoy a family scavenger hunt, as it is the family tradition. 

We are happy to be here, and we are slowly getting settled.  I hope to have some pictures soon, but our camer is still in our suitcases that have not arrived yet. We miss everyone back home, and are still thinking of the friends and family we will not see for a while, but we are glad to know you are all thinking of us while we serve here, as a family, in guatemala.

Catching Up and Eating Out

Well, it's Sunday night. We had a nice long weekend. Our last American weekend for a while. Ryan's last day of work is Wednesday, so after that all of our days here will just fall in to preparing for our trip.

We had the opportunity to visit with some friends of ours Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night.

It sounds crazy to list it off like that, but we have really enjoyed spending time catching up with people we have missed over the last few years of our lives.

Friday night we went to Barry and Joan's for dinner. I was so nervous before we got there. I spent so much time ridding horses, giving bathes, eating lunch and cleaning stalls with Barry for a few years, I was worried I wouldn't fall in like I used to and it would be awkward. But, Barry and Joan are as nice as ever, and I was so glad to be back in there home.

Saturday night we got to go to Destiny Church in St.Louis and see Craig. He just came back from Guatemala this week, and really enjoyed seeing him. We got to take him out to dinner again after church to Bandanna's. This is an old tradition for us that we like to rekindle when we can. We don't need menus any more, if that tells you anything. We enjoyed catching up with Craig and hearing from him how the next few month might pan out and where he feels he need to head in life.

Saturday morning we met some friends from Ryan's work for breakfast, Cory and Carrie. The are a nice young christian couple with a young son, kind of like us. They will hopefully be sowing in our garden while we are gone, to help keep the weeds down for next year, at least.

Saturday night we caught up with Scott and Angie Paul and their two kiddos (pictured above with Josh). Ryan went to visit them in the Hospital when their daughter was born, and it is neat to see them talk (Scott and Ryan) about when Ryan was single and didn't much care for girls, and now he has two kids. Scott was really excited to hear about our plans, and maybe will come to visit us in a few months. We are already excited to get to see him again, and show him Guatemala.

It is great to see friends again, that were we not leaving, we might not have seen for a while. We are glad to see them, and we are sad to leave, but it is the people who want to get every last visit in, are encouraging and excited for us, that we will really miss.

Reaching the masses

Well, we are happy to hear from every one who got our letters. If you are finding yourself here for the first time because of them, welcome. Thank you for taking the time to look up our blog. If you would like to get a better picture of the current situation in Guatemala, you can click on one of the links to the right and you will be taken to the coresponding blog written by another family member.

If you ever have any questions or would like to get involved, please don't hesitate to contact us.

We are glad you are here (to watch us go there).