42 crates!

I wasn't sure if I should call this post, "42 crates!" or, "My clothes are finally out of my suitcase!"  Either way, it was exciting.

We ordered 42 crates from a local saw mill.  They came full of sawdust, so our maid, Micaela, and I swept them out.

The wood slats came in different thicknesses, which made them wobbly to stack on their sides for shelves.  We had to put in little pieces of wood to stabilize the stacks.  But oh, how nice it is to have two "closet" walls in our bedroom and finally move out of my suitcase.  

Due to limited space (our upstairs apartment is only about 400 sq. ft.!), we donated some of the crates in our bedroom to Barbies so the girls could have a place to play.  Their room is filled with bunkbeds and crates with clothes and books, so there is only a tiny bit of walking space left.

Some of the crates went to the kitchen to use as "cabinets."  You can also see the table and chairs that our carpenter made and the curtains for the windows that I sewed.  I also made some fabric covers for the crates with local Guatemalan fabric.  It is finally starting to look a bit more organized.

Some of the crates went to the living room.

And only a few crates were left over for the storage room.  It is so nice to have a place to put things!

But even having only rough crates instead of nicely finished shelving is a blessing compared to our neighbors in a one-room shack with a dirt floor and only a fire pit inside to cook on.  Something to think about.

Work or Play?

We are into week 6 of homeschooling this year, with Carrie in 7th grade, Elena in 5th grade, and Andrea in 3rd grade.  Veronica apparently wanted to get a head start on math, so she climbed up to watch the video on negative numbers with Carrie!

"I'm glad my big sister Carrie understands all this stuff!"

One Thursday, Elena went over to ASELSI to help at their free weekly medical clinic.  (Carrie had planned to go, too, but she was sick with a cold that day.)  Elena spent three hours there, taking patients to the pharmacy or lab after they had seen one of the doctors or nurses.  Most of the time was spent sitting and waiting, but Elena said she liked being helpful when she was able to lead patients.

You can look up ASELSI's ministry on their website, www.aselsi.org.  Our house is just down the street from their location.

Carrie enjoys tending a few beans we planted alongside our apartment.  There isn't much space, and our landlord already has a beautiful flower garden planted, but they gave Carrie permission to try out her green thumb.

Heather (Erica) had the pleasure of baking two cakes for our maid Micaela's grandson's first birthday.  They paid for the ingredients, but Heather went further and had fun decorating the cakes as a surprise.

Speaking of birthdays, August 12 was Elena's 10th birthday!  We invited our church members over to a covered area at ASELSI for party games and cake and ice cream.

We all had fun with relay races, the Hokey Pokey, building towers out of cups, eating, and visiting.  The Guatemalan kids in the photo are our maid's children.
Elena's favorite event at the party was when one of the missionaries brought her dog, Teddy.

Also in August, we took a road trip to Mexico.  After the first 90 days in Guatemala, we had to either renew our visas in Guatemala City or leave the country and return.  We opted to drive to the Mexican border at La Mesilla and then drive another couple of hours to the town of Comitán, Mexico.  We stayed two nights there, with a day of shopping at Walmart and eating at Burger King and Domino's Pizza in between.  The drive was absolutely beautiful, but there were some rather large obstacles to go around!

We had a nice trip, but we were glad to make it back safely to Chichicastenango!

Groups of People

Outside of our house, there are a lot of pedestrians, and they are always carrying things... usually big loads wrapped in brightly colored fabric on their backs.

This particular group of ladies caused Michael to come inside and announce, "You've got to come see the Mayan ladies with loads on their heads!"  We are amazed that they can balance heavy loads while walking on bumpy dirt roads.



One Saturday, the three older girls and I went to shop in thrift shops with another missionary, Jennifer, in the nearby bigger town of Quiché.  On the way, we were stopped for a while by a large gathering of people in the road.  They were there to listen to a campaign speech, and since it was a quiet group, we waited rather than turning around and going home. 

Eventually, somehow, the people parted so the vehicles could pass through.  Guatemala is having presidential elections Sept. 11, so there are banners everywhere, loud speakers blaring, and large billboards announcing the 20 or more different candidates one should vote for.


Another Saturday, there was a marching band exhibition in Chichi.  There was a parade, and then the bands went to a local soccer field to perform one at a time, school by school.  There aren't many organized sports teams here, but many schools have a marching band.  There is a high school near our house, so we hear them practicing and practicing and practicing... loudly!  (And in our opinion, they need some more practice... especially the tubas.)

The girls and I walked into town that day.  We had missed the parade, and we weren't sure what was going on at the soccer field, but we could hear band music.  So we paid the entrance fee of 65 cents each, and this is what we found: there must have been 20 or more marching bands!   (We were thinking of GrandMary!)   The stands to the left were filled with people, and there were concession stands with ice cream and cotton candy.  It was quite festive!

We watched a couple of bands play and then flagged down a tuk-tuk to take us home.  It was only a 10-minute walk, but the girls love to ride in tuk-tuks!

It was a fun outing and a fun ride home!


One more group of people we often see, and are grateful for, is our English-speaking Missionary Community Church.  The local missionaries meet on Sunday mornings for church, and there are often short-term groups visiting.

This particular Sunday there were several large teams visiting, so we met in a larger conference room at the hotel where we normally meet.