Naomi's 1st Birthday

Naomi had her first Birthday! She was not real sure about all of us singing to her. I don’t think she liked the whole candle thing. She can blow, but we don’t know where all the air goes? I cannot believe she is already one year old.

Before the cake

During

& After


She is so much fun, she keeps us all laughing. She can walk very well, and says mama, dada, Dog dog, & bye bye, there seems to be a pattern here. The boys taught her how to growl. Pastor Gary would be proud. She is such a pleasant baby & is always smiling. We are so thankful to the Lord to have Naomi in our family.

Time for School

After much prayer and consideration we decided to put the 3 older kids in school. We have always home schooled and will continue to do so once we get to Santiago. They were learning Spanish just fine but at a slow pace. Once we get to Santiago we will focus on learning T'zutujil so to speed up the process. What better way than FULL immersion right. Yikes! poor kids. I think it is harder on me than them.

We have been attending a CAM church and they have a small school of about 130 students. The kids were very excited and even more nervous. The school is completely in Spanish, they do have an English class!! I told them they should make an A in at least that class.

As I sit here trying to catch up on E-mails & blog buddies I am a little overwhelmed. How I miss so many of you. I love keeping up with you through your blogs. As I sit here with tears running down my face remembering all the wonderful people God has allowed me to have as friends I am so thankful for you and your prayers but selfishly want to be there with you.

Goose I lost it when I read your last blog. We too would love to be there with you all. Give those babies a big hug for me.

Our visit with Mom & Daddy

Our visit with Mom & Daddy was so much fun. We had lunch at the Calle de la Fonda real. We sat at the same table Titus lost his tooth! He enjoyed sharing that story with Mimi & Grandsir. We had some delicious cheese fondu.

The Philippis had us over for lunch. It was good for Mom & Daddy to catch up with them. We always have a great time with together.

I especially enjoyed taking pictures of her gorgeous flowers.

You all know me I cannot resist a good photo opportunity with the kids! Hee hee

Titus is 10, Isaac 7, Chloe Ann 5 & Naomi 1

That week-end we went out to the lake for a couple of nights. We stayed at Las Buenas Nuevas in Panajachel. It was absolutely beautiful!

Pedro & Ana were also at LBN one of the nights we were there. The boys & G’sir taught them how to play Monopoly. I think they got the hang of it pretty quick.

On Sunday we crosed the lake “on the fast boat” as Chloe Ann says. It takes about 30 minutes on the small boat. The view from the middle of the lake is Awesome. You are in a bowl of mountains and a few volcanoes, on this gorgeous blue lake. God is an Awesome creator.

Once we got to Santiago we went by the church and met with Pastor Abraham. There were some ladies there who could not believe Naomi could walk so well. They were so excited we were coming to live and work with them so soon.

We got to meet Pedro’s Mother. She could not speak one word of Spanish. Mom & I said “Hola” and she just started speaking in Tzutujil!! We did a lot of smiling & nodding, and sign language.

One of the highlights for the kids was shooting fireworks with Grandsir & Danny. On December 31st we had a blast, they put on quite the show.

We loved every minute of the week we had together.

Thank you for coming Mimi & Grandsir!!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with the Samuc family. It was so special to be invited into the home of Pedro & Ana. We arrived around 9 and went to buy a few fireworks with Pedro. Ana also invited her cousins so after they arrived we ate dinner at 10. It was so much fun to help Ana and the girls in the kitchen. We had turkey, vegetable rice, homemade bread, potatoes & ponche (hot fruit drink with chunks of fruit, hot fruit cocktail). We had a fun time getting to know each other. We learned one or two words of T’zutujil.

Then we went out to shoot the fireworks at 11:45. Let me tell you it was quite the show!!! The boys loved it. Chloe Ann slept through the whole thing and Naomi woke up when the all noise started.

Traditionally the Guatemalans have tamales and do not eat dinner until after midnight!! The Samucs said they get too hungry so we ate at 10. We were glad about that!