Danny has started blogging (again)!!

After much teasing and harassing Danny has decided to join us blogers and actually blog!! So put him on your list of blogs to check. danielwfoote.blogspot.com

My Trilingual Toddler...

We have been here in Guatemala for about a year and a half. We were in Antigua learning Spanish, now we are here in Santiago learning Tz'utujil. We are all picking up Tz'utujil little by little. Naomi is the one who is a bit confused!! She speaks mainly English,but knows quite a bit of Spanish and is learning Tz'utujil now.

She was in her high chair and I said 'will some one please tell Daddy it's time for dinner'. Naomi Said "Ho' papi eat!" (Ho' is Tz'utujil for -let's go, papi is Spanish for-Daddy and of course eat is English!!!) Well there you have it, our little trilingual toddler. She is so much fun to be around and everyone loves to talk to her and we never know what language she will speak but surprisingly enough she usually gets the right language with the right person!!

My Kiddos...

So many times I step back and look at my kids in amazement. I know every parent does but we have really pulled our kids out of their comfort zone and they have done extremely well. I praise God for his faithfulness to our family, when we are so far away from everything we know.

TITUS-11
A couple of weeks ago Titus had a major project due in school, he had to research 32 inventions, find the inventor and the date it was invented, write a description about them, & draw a picture of each one. (IN SPANISH DON'T FORGET!!) We were proud of his work... then he came home and he had the second best grade in the whole class. Yeah we were thrilled. Titus likes school and enjoys the friends he has there.

Isaac-8
Isaac likes school, and he does well. He came home the other day and told us that he won the prize for finishing all his work the fastest. He loves a challenge. Both Titus & Isaac are learning to use a Cayuco(wooden canoe). They borrow our gardeners as much as they can. Titus stands in the back and rows while Isaac sits in the front and rows. They have been into town and back a couple of times but usually I just like them to stay close.


Chloe Ann-6
Chloe Ann is our social butterfly and really enjoys her friends at school. She is learning to read and wrtie. Her favorite thing to do is write words down as I say them to her, she usually has a Spanish list and an English list so I can call out both and she will spell it and put it in the right list.
She reminds me of 'me' always ready to have a good time :)

Naomi-2
Naomi is our little laugher. She loves to laugh and has this deep belly laugh that is very contageous. Last week she woke up and said "no please diaper' I said OK but you cannot go on my floor...well she didn't!!!! And up until yesterday had not had an accident. She was running for the bathroom and just didn't make it. Happens to the best of us :) She loves to wear her corte(the typical dress here), When we go to Market the ladies all ask me if I will give her to them.. Naomis says 'no Gracias' and frowns at them.

The Guatemalan ZOO!!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Zoo. We went with Pedro & Ana Samuc and one of their daughters Heldi. We had a great time together. It was Naomi's first time to the Zoo. She loved seeing all the animals but was vary scared of the elephants. I guess because they were sooo big!!



We went in the late afternoon and a lot of the animals were up and running around. The monkeys were jumping and playing chase. The leopards were pacing back and forth, then started wrestling. It was neat to see so much activity at the Zoo.

Little did Naomi and I know we had some wild Tz'utujiles behind us!!


The last thing we did before we left the Zoo was get a snack, the kids went straight for the cotton candy. We also enjoyed grilled corn on the cob with lime and salt on it.




It was a good little Zoo, we all had fun and it was good to spend time with Pedro, Ana & Heldi Titus wanted to see was a Quetzal bird, but they did not have one in the Zoo. It is the national bird of Guatemala. Titus said "Seems to me if it was the national bird it would be in the Zoo, I guess I'll have to find it in the wild".

Cornerstone Community 2009

One of our supporting churches Cornerstone Community Church came down last week. It was so good to see familiar smiling faces. This year we were able to visit 3 different schools in the mornings. We went in and had a gift for each student and teacher. We told them this was a gift from the team but we wanted to tell them about the best gift ever. We explained to them that God sent his Son Jesus to earth to live a perfect life and took the penalty of sin and died for each one of them. There were 3 elders from our church 'Alpha & Omega' who went with us every day. They told us before we entered the schools that most of these children had probably never heard the gospel before. We were able to share the love Christ has for them. You could have heard a pin drop in most of the classes. In the end we were able to share with about 1000 students and their teachers. Praise the Lord!!

In the Afternoons we had the privilege of joining a few visiting teams from Alpha & Omega. The men went together and the women split up into two different groups. We were able to go and pray for families in the church who had needs or were very sick. It was awesome to see what prayer warriors these brothers and sisters are. I think we all learned a lot from visiting with the Tz'utujil people. My team went to visit a lady who was diabetic and really suffering. We prayed for her and her family that God would comfort & heal her. Two of the people that our teams visited passed away the next day. It was such a reminder of how our days are numbered. We were all praising the Lord that they were no longer in pain and with their Savior!!

One afternoon we had the team over for lunch and introduced them to Patin (home made tomato sauce with meat wrapped in banana leaves) the most typical dish here in Santiago. We had Patin, with(hand made) tortillas, guacamole, cheese dip, rice and beans. We also go to hear the testimony of one of the deacons from Alpha & Omega. It was incredible what the Lord has done in his life.

I don't want to tell you all too much.. I want you to come for yourselves :)

pictures 'our time in the states'

We literally hit the ground running, we signed the kids up for school two days after we got back, which meant getting uniforms, book supplies, new shoes for those who had grown, ect....Danny was studying as much as he could on Genesis, from the time we got home he had exactly two weeks before he had to teach the 17 translators.



As I was going through some pictures of our time in the states I decided to post some in a

slide-show. Enjoy!!

School has Started Again

Here in Guatemala the school year is from January to October. Last year our kids got to attend the church school here in Santiago 'Colegio Alpha Y Omega' for about one month. We decided to send them again this year so they could really perfect their Spanish and meet more friends.

My kids are not the only blonde kids in school right now! We have a few Doctors who are volunteering at the Hospitalito who have decided to send their kids too.