Ruby Slippers



Well, we made it. Home. We had a relatively smooth trip from the city, until we reached the last stretch. After Zacualpa, we ran into some muddy spots. With the new tires, the 4Runner did great in all the mud.  It was amazing to see how the water had changed the roads, making them muddy,  deeply rutted, or in some places completely relocated or non existent. It is extremely different here, with how this country is completely at the mercy of the rains and weather.  In the States, we have some control on the roads, or at least we think we do.   Here, if it rains too much... your stuck.



It started raining a little on our way home yesterday, and it has not stoped since. Aparently, the rains are really heavy in September and October. Last yaer we saw a drought, so the rain is a welcomed change.



Thelma, our family dog, made it here to Canilla without any trouble. After traveling for 5 days couped up in the car, she did manage to bail out the window or door a couple times, once at the airport.  She is enjoying the attention, and is a great reminder that our lives, though taking a different path then we had planned, can still be what they were.     



The boys are doing fine. Jacob is enjoting getting dirty again, and playing with toys and his aunts.

We are glad to be home, and still thinking of all of you, back home.

A year in a month.

Here we are, after a little over a month of traveling, and we are all exhausted.

Duane and Leslie are already home in Canilla, and catching up on clinics and work. 

We will return home to Canilla tomorrow after another long car ride.  I know that the boys, as well as Thelma, are looking forward to getting loose.

We had a smooth flight this morning from Houston,TX. We were able to visit Hannah and Matt (the newly weds) for a few hours and spend som time with friends at a Catahoula Dog trial in DeKalb, TX.

We are planning on running a few errands in the morning and having the wheels alligned on the car before we head home,  hopefully before noon.

Here, in Guatemala city, it is hard to find a hotel with a bathtub. Jacob wanted to take a bath in the sink, like his brother. 

We are so glad we had time to visit with so many friends and family back home. I wish we would have had more time with everyone.

If we missed you this trip we will look foreward to seeing you next year, hopefully in March or sooner.  

As always thanks for reading. 

As we gather..

Our trip home to the states is quickly approaching. With less than two weeks left, we are pushing hard to tie up loose ends, and we still seem to be starting projects as we go.

Just last night Ryan and Aaron returned home with a group of 12 people from the states here for about a week.

They will build a  home from a woman that we have gotten to know.

Amoung other various trips to local schools and other outreaches, this week should prove to be very busy.

We are looking forward to seeing friendly faces when we return to the states, in Texas and in St. Louis. 

We are so excited to visit with everyone,

and would like to invite you to our open house,

on September 5, from 2-5 pm at Destiny Church, Town and Country, MO.

We will be there with the rest of the family, and it will be a great opportunity to catch up and make dinner plans to spend more time together.

As we gather together, we hope to find everyone well.

As always, here are some pics.

Joshua

Jacob & Mr. Scott

Jacob at Applebee's

Ryan and Joshua naping

Jacob and a turkey

Joshua in his makeshift boppy

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