Care package

Our friends and supporters, Bernie and Sally Boudreaux in Austin, Texas, sent a care package to Veronica.

They mailed it to another missionary who is our neighbor here in Chichicastenango but was temporarily in the United States visiting her family.  She brought the package back with her in her luggage to hand-deliver it to Veronica, who was super excited!

Thank you, Grandee Bernie and Grandmother Sally!

Leading worship with kids

Elena and I have been invited to lead worship a few times at our local church.  I love to use the opportunity to invite the children at our church to sing a few songs on stage with me at the beginning.

Birthday celebrations

Veronica just turned 7!  She had several birthday celebrations:

Opening gifts...

Pizza and games with family...

Tamales from a local restaurant...
They are made of mushed rice, tomato sauce,
a chunk of chicken, a slice of red bell pepper,
and a prune, steamed inside a big leaf.

Birthday party games and cake before
dance practice...

Friends playing at our house...

And a nice lunch and another cake with
a missionary friend, Carol.

Carolyn and Grandma

Our daughter, Carolyn, and my mom, Karen, came for a three-week visit!  It was sooooooo good to see them in person.  We do appreciate video-chatting on the Internet, but there's no comparison to a real hug!!!

From left to right:  Heather/Erica, Andrea
Veronica, Grandma, Elena, José Luis (Carolyn's
boyfriend), Carolyn, and Michael.

We went to check out the construction!
All the sisters together again:  Andrea (14),
Carolyn (17), Elena (15), and Veronica (7)

Funny billboard

Right outside our neighborhood on the main highway, this funny billboard appeared:

It says, "Coco-Cochino (Little Piggy) doesn't have a bathroom...
how embarrassing!  You are contaminating the environment!  Don't be like him, build your bathroom!"

Border and steps

They put a border, like a mini-sidewalk, around the classroom building to help keep the siding panels clean and make it easier to mow the grass.

We also now have steps leading up into the classroom from the other side.

We were surprised that our idea of using blocks was new to the builders.  Here, they usually make steps by building forms out of wooden boards, but they aren't good at making things level, square, or equally-sized.  Now we know why the steps in rural Guatemala are almost all different heights and sizes...  within one set of stairs!  Hopefully our builders are gleaning some better ideas from working on our project, where squareness and exactness is important to us.

Swinging

Veronica has a new and improved swing now.  The first one was made of wood which wasn't treated (since no wood here is), and the seat cracked.  We brought coated chain down from the United States, and our builder used leftover metal beam pieces to make a seat.  Now she has a sturdy place to wait while Dad and Mom discuss construction on site!