Guatemala: Day 2

Our 2nd full day in Guatemala was a Saturday, so that meant we actually got to spend the entire day at Fundaniños. Hooray! This guy and his friends woke us up:

No bueno! They were ridiculously loud each morning, and we woke up plotting ways to kill them. (Side note: they were cooked for lunch about a week ago. Trust me, they had it coming.)

Clockwise: Fundaniños "mountain", baby/pre-K house, the cabaña + the volunteer house, the comedor, and the playground.

I spent most of this day in the baby/peke (pre-K) house, and I loved it! Alejandro spent the most time with me, and he's quite the cutie! See for yourself:

While we were there, Fundaniños had 5 pekes, 3 toddlers, and one baby, so they definitely have their hands full!

Please keep these sweet kiddos in your prayers. Due to various laws and family issues, many of them remain unadoptable. :(

"Father to the fatherless, defender of widows ̶ this is God, whose dwelling is holy." -Psalm 68:5

Guatemala: Day 1

The first half of our first full day in Guatemala was spent at an awesome children's museum with several kids from Compassion International. A few people in our group actually sponsor children in Guatemala themselves, and a few more had friends who do, so they were able to meet up with those kids. The rest of us just played with all of them. This opportunity was such a blessing for me and a huge reminder of the role I play in the lives of my 3 Compassion kids.

After the museum and a fun lunch at Pollo Campero, we said goodbye to our sweet new friends and set off for a local Compassion International site. We had hoped to visit the site of one of our sponsored kids, but none of them lived close enough. We visited on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders' after school day. They come to the site after school for a snack, some supervision, and activities that center around Christ and the Bible. We rolled in to this awesome welcome banner:

Sadly, we only got to stay for about an hour or so. It was definitely too quick! We had fun getting to meet the kids, producing an impromptu skit, and singing a silly song with them about the fruits of the Spirit. They were so funny when we left, crowding around us like we were celebrities and asking us to write our names for them!

Once we left, it was time to head to Walmart to buy fruit for the Fundaniños kids and supplies and snacks for us.

We FINALLY made it back to Fundaniños around dinner time. Some of us played with the kids and others cut fruit, then we all sat down to dinner with the kids around 6:00 or 6:30. I was on dish-drying duty that night after dinner and made my first new friend, Mischel. We got along so well that she even took off her bracelet and gave it to me to wear. Precious!

Guatemala Bound! - Part 2

Because of some internet issues at Fundaniños, I wasn't able to blog regularly like I had hoped. Since I'm home, have nothing better to do, and am constantly thinking about Guatemala anyway, I'm going to go back and blog each day of the trip. Here we go!

Deanna and Daniella took me to Chick-Fil-A for my farewell lunch:

Then they dropped me off to my team at the DFW Airport:

Once we made it through security, we had about a two hour wait at our gate. We sat faithfully at gate 40-something for most of the time, and I went to the restroom about 20 minutes before we were supposed to takeoff. While washing my hands, I hear the FINAL CALL for boarding for our flight at a totally different gate. I flew out of the restroom to find my group sitting undisturbed right where I'd left them. I thought maybe I misheard the announcement, so I went to check the arrival/departure board to be sure. I ran over to my team and told them it was time to move! We ran all the way to gate 20-something and made it just before they closed the door. Thank the Lord! :)

We had a good flight to Guatemala City, picked up our luggage, and made it through customs with no problems. Unfortunately, our first meal "in country" had to be Wendy's! We made the best of it, though. :) We arrived at Fundaniños after the kids had gone to bed, so we settled in and read our chapter in Proverbs for the day. As a team we decided to read the chapter that corresponded with the date while we were there (for example: on the 16th, we read Proverbs 16). Some of the team played Signs before bed, and that was our first day!

Guatemala Bound!

I managed to fit everything I need for my ten day trip in the regular size suitcase and my backpack. The carry-on suitcase is full of team supplies. :) I will have lunch with Deanna and Daniella and then head to the airport. I have to be there by 1:30 to get checked in and through security.

We are scheduled to spend tomorrow at the children's museum with several Compassion kids, so please pray that we don't have any delays today! Hopefully I'll be able to post tomorrow or Saturday.

Love y'all!

Compassion International

Did you know that I sponsor three children through Compassion International?

Well, now you do. :) Their names are Miriam, Stifani, and Gabriel. And I don't write them nearly as often as I should.

To be honest, I just don't think about it. Or I'm really busy. Or I'm lazy. And then I receive one of their letters in the mail and remember why I signed up to sponsor them in the first place.

Last week, one of the bloggers I follow traveled to the Philippines with Compassion International. She and others on the trip committed to blog about what they saw and heard and felt while they were there. I've been reading their posts for the last thirty minutes or so and just finished this one. It's about the kids without sponsors.

Please read it. You have time.

So...I suck at blogging.

What else is new? :)

Too much has happened since my last post to record it all here. I may be sneaky in the next few weeks and past-date some posts, so they will appear on the blog in the order they happened instead of a month or two later.

Anyway, I'm currently busy trying to survive the last few weeks of school. I am SO DONE with this year! It seems like everything has been made to be more difficult than necessary. The students have been checked out since, I don't know, March or April?! I found out last week that my BFF here at school has been transferred to another campus. :( AND to top it all off, we've basically been told to expect a more difficult year next year because of budget cuts. Please pray for me and every teacher you know. Yes, we get summers "off," but you really have no idea what's expected of us during the school year. Just FYI, it's not only teaching! :)

Heart Attack

I missed updating last week because I made an unexpected trip home to Mississippi. My dad had a heart attack Wednesday night but didn't decide to go to the hospital until 3:00 the next morning. I don't know what he was thinking! Anyway, the doctor put a stent into the offending artery immediately; however, he also found three more blockages to be dealt with later. When I decided to fly home, we didn't know yet if Dad we need bypass surgery ASAP or not. It turned out that his heart was not strong enough for more surgery right away, so they will monitor him for about six months and then check again. In the mean time, he is supposed to eat healthier, exercise more, and stop smoking 3 packs a day! So far he seems to be making better food choices, can walk a little over a mile, and is down to 5 or 6 cigarettes a day (instead of 50). Yay for progress! :)

Thanks again to all of you who prayed for him and my family. Please continue! :)