A 6th Love Language?

"The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman is a popular book. It speaks about how we communicate love is 5 basic ways: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. In our 8 months of being here in Guatemala we have discovered that Mr. Chapman missed one important love language: the string of blackcat firecrackers.

You see - Christmas Eve, the country blew up at midnight. Seriously, it was much like a scene out of a war movie. New Year's Eve was a repeat - many firecrackers at midnight then again at 6am, 12noon, and 6pm. Mother's Day we began to hear firecracker's at 4:30. Really? The one day each year to celebrate mom's and we do that by waking them up at 4:30 with a string of blackcats. Then there are birthdays...... everyday their are birthdays, and every day we hear a string or 2 of blackcats.

This past Wednesday was by birthday, my first Guatemalan birthday. I woke up to find that Lee had left a cupcake cookbook for me to find. I love to bake. During the 6am hour our friend and coworker went through the apartment across from us, lit a string of blackcats and then threw is onto our balcony. (We live on the third floor) About the time the smoke cleared the girls set off a string downstairs. We spent the day with the group from Texas Tech Wesley & Trinity Church in Lubbock in Antigua. We were back in plenty of time for supper, and Kendon & Wendy took our duties for the evening so that we could go out to eat. Wendy called and said that before we left we needed to drive by the dining room so that she could give me some instructions about some medicine that she needed us to buy. Poor Lee, knowing the whole situation tried his best to get me to move a little quicker - after deciding that I could check email a little later we went. We showed up to a dining hall full of kids (waiting on me) with cakes (all decorated, with candles & plenty for everyone). After they sang the Guatemalan birthday songs, 2 more strings of blackcats were lit, and the candles were blown out, I was handed a whole stack of homemade birthday cards from the kiddos.

To top all of that, we got to eat Pizza Hut that night!

What a great birthday.

Here are a few pics from the day:


This is the blackcat "leftovers" on our balcony with the smoke from the second string.


This is what was left of the second string as we left for the day.

Thank you Florida State Wesley

This past Tuesday we said goodbye to a group from The Wesley Foundation at Florida State. We enjoyed having them here for just over a week. They all were so great to do whatever we needed them to do at any moment. They helped us with tree trimming, painting, building picnic tables, and running down lots of kids energy.

We realize that we've been back for a couple of weeks with little blogging, so we'll help to fill you in a bit....

The latest in Guatemala news was the possible strike by gasoline/diesel trucks. From what we understand there are specific hours that these trucks cannot drive in the capital city because of the heavy traffic. They blocked two entrances to the city one night in efforts to have their voices heard. The president sent the army out to take care of the situation. Today - there are no lines at the gas stations - everything seems to be normal.

Also, the temperatures have been a little warmer than usual - probably in the upper 80's. (We know, we know, most of you are gearing up for a hot summer, we shouldn't be complaining...) The rainy season is a bit late this year in making itself known. While it's been nice to not have to deal with the rain (and mud) we're ready for cooler afternoon temperatures & less dust.

This past Monday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It seems much longer than just a year, as lots has changed in the past year. We moved countless times (including moving countries), learned a new language, started new jobs, and started a marriage. That's a lot to put in one sentence, much less in one year. :) We are thankful to be settled into life here at the children's home and are very much looking forward to the next year having fewer big changes.

Tonight we'll leave you with the latest story about Sammy...

Sammy wanted to know why the group was cutting branches off the trees. I (Staci) said "well, Sammy, you get your haircut once a month, don't you? It's the same with the trees, once a year we cut their branches." Sammy said, "the trees must be sad." I asked him why so. He said, "because I don't like getting my haircut."

We're back in Guatemala

Thursday night we arrived back to Guatemala. We had such a good three weeks in the states. Thanks to everyone who made time in their schedule so that we could see you.

We are enjoying a slower Saturday morning, and taking care of some business so that we will be ready to receive a group of college students from Florida State tomorrow.

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We're pansies when it comes to cold weather!

Yesterday we arrived to Missouri to spend a couple of days with good friends here. We've learned a lot being in another culture for 7 months - and yesterday we learned that we don't deal with cold weather very well any more.

At any rate, we're enjoying being with Kendall & Amy, and their cute kiddos.

We'll be back in Texas this coming Monday. For all of you in the Canyon area, we'll be at First Methodist Church in Canyon this Wednesday evening. We'll share our experiences of the past 7 months in the Searcher's classroom begining at 6:30. After that we are heading over to the Wesley Foundation to hang out for a bit.

Also, we're going to the Sunday (April 20) evening service at First Baptist Church in Canyon. We'll also stick around afterwards to hang out for a while that evening.

News from the lands much farther south..

We received an email tonight from Guatemala. Over the weekend theives stole their phone lines. 1500 users are out of phone lines, which also means internet.

We rely heavily on the internet for lots of communication, including telephone services that allow us to connect with friends & family in the states.

Of course, the cell phones are still in service, so they still have communication available.

They have been told that it will take 1 week to 3 months to replace the lines. Would you join in praying with us that those lines would be retuned in one week - and that the added stress of having to go off site to check email & such (something we all rely on) wouldn't be an issue that they have to deal with?

On another note - today we had a great time seeing some of Staci's extended family. What a joy it is to see and reconnect with family and friends.

The stars at night are big and bright ... deep in the heart of Texas!

This past Wednesday we flew into Amarillo, TX - we were met at the airport by Lee's dad. We left the airport and drove to one of our favorite mexican food restaurants - it was yummy.

We changed our original plans a bit and drove to Dallas on Thursday. Lee's Grandma Jean passed away Thursday afternoon. We stayed in Dallas for a couple of days to be with family and to celebrate Jean's life at her funeral.

Last night we drove to central Texas to spend a few days with Staci's parents.

We've enjoyed seeing friends and family, wide open spaces, driving 70 miles per hour, and even spent a little time fishing this evening after a Sunday afternoon nap.

We were thankful to get to spend a morning with Staci's parent's church and share with several people in their congregation our experiences from the past 7 months. This congregation has supported us faithfully, and we are thankful for them.

This week we're spending time in central Texas, as well as, an afternoon and evening in the Dallas area.

Thank You, La Croix UMC

This past week we had a team of 17 from La Croix UMC. They built school desks, repaired a glass cabinet, painted, lead school devotionals, repaired the food prep table in the main kitchen, and painted some more. We're thankful for all of their hardwork.

We dropped them off at the airport early this morning and found out a bit later that they are in fact still in the city. Their flight was cancelled and will be going home on various flights over the next two days. Would you join with us praying that the new iteneraries would see them home safely?

We were also blessed to have Mollie & Emily from Oregon spend their spring break here. They joined in on the work projects with the La Croix team.

Here's a picture of all 19



Lee helps to oversee all of the work projects with teams - and often helps out. This week, he was the welder.

Holy Week Continues

We promised pictures, we know, however, we haven't taken one this week. We'll steal a few from coworkers and post them when we can.

We had a sleepover in our apartment the other night. I think we both appreciate our parents and our friends' parents even more that did such things for us at that age. It went really well, but it still seemed to take quite a bit of energy to host 11 little boys. We were surprised when they all went to sleep by 11:30 - and even more suprised that they were up and ready to go at 6am!

Tomorrow will be our last afternoon of games - today's highlight was the tug-of-war in a mud pit. All members of each team were in the ditch.

During the evenings the kids are going through the "Journey to the Cross". There are 12 different stations set up that follow the gospel's account of Jesus during what we now call Holy Week. They seem to be enjoying it - you could join with us in praying that this time would be spiritually impacting.

Pictures to come....

Holy Week begins....

Yesterday at church instead of the "normal" service, they put on a production of the "Via Dolorosa" or what translates into "the painful way" It was a production that depicted the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was a great way to begin Holy Week.

The kids do not have school this week, as with every other Holy Week. Today, thanks to the team from Lubbock that is visiting, the kids who rank well in the behavior system, about half the group, a few homeparents, and the two of us went to Auto Mariscos, a small waterpark. We had a great time, and we're very excited to report that we have no accidents of any kind. Just a few eyes that look very tired.

It's a tradition here at the children's home to have Holy Week Olympics. Each afternoon there will be a couple of hours of various games like a basketball shootout, various water relays, crab soccer tournament, 3 legged soccer, dodgeball tournament, and so on. We promise to be better about pictures so that you too can enjoy the festivities.

We mentioned having a team from Lubbock, TX earlier in the email. We are enjoying getting to know the 12 on the team, and are thankful for the help that have been and continue to be for us.

What are we doing?

So a few have asked, "now that you're at the children's home, what are you doing?"

We are learning more and more of how this children's home works and how our gifts and talents can be used here. Lee is helping to coordinate some work projects for upcoming teams, and helping to plan upcoming events for the kids. I (Staci) am helping with short term teams that are coming. specifically with the communication with team leaders - getting them the paperwork that they need and being sure that we have everything that we need on this end for teams. I'm also helping to plan a few upcoming events for the kids.

Next week, as you know, is Holy Week. The kids will not have school at all that week. It is a tradition here, to have "Holy Week Olympics" during the afternoons & sleep overs at night. What more could a kid want? So, recently we've met with small groups of kids who want to help us in dreaming up games & planning certain days. For instance, one day will be the day of food games. Ever tried make a plate of nachos by dropping the ingredients off the second floor to the plate that your team member is holding below? Or tried to eat an apple that is hanging in the air without using your hands? We'll post pictures next week.

Of course we are still adjusting to our 3rd place to live in 10 months. We are really enjoying our apartment here - it's quickly becoming our home. We'd ask that you'd continue to pray with us - not only for the adjustment of living in our new place, but the adjustment of working here as well.

A few of you already heard that we will be in the states in April. This is true - for various reasons we are making a short trip to Texas. We will post a schedule of places that we'll be on the blog in a week or so in hopes of seeing as many of you as possible.