Learning to knit

I have more free time living here than I ever imagined.  This has been both a blessing and also a struggle for me (more on the struggle in a later post)...but it has caused me to pick up a new hobby...knitting.  I have been a novice knitter for years, but with the arrival of one new niece a month ago and another arriving a month from now, I decided baby blankets need to be made.  It has also given me opportunity to get to know one of my housemates, Flori.  She is the nurse who lives and works here, but she only speaks Spanish & Q'chi, so it's been challenging to get to know her.  She wants to learn how to knit, so I've begun to teach her.    Knitting has also been a great thing to do when ladies come up to our house just to sit and talk.  Since we can't really talk because they all speak Q'chi, it at least provides some entertainment for them to sit and watch me knit.  I am thankful for knitting because it has been one thing that has given me joy while here.

The Corn Grows Ripe

It is harvest time in the valley.  Everywhere you look people are harvesting their corn.  They have massive corn fields and they break the stalk in half, tear off the cob, and hurl it through the air into a pile.  Once they have their pile large enough, they gather all the cobs in bags that are about 200 pounds each and carry them on their heads back to their house where they dry the corn and will use it throughout the year to feed their families.  They primarily use the corn for making tortillas and they dry it by hanging it in the roof of their house, lighting a fire, and letting the smoke dry it out.  This is obviously a bit dangerous and we have already heard of one house burning down in a village near us.  But at this point, it is the only way they have to preserve the food they have for their family for the year.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to help our neighbors with their harvest.  We were really not extremely helpful, but we bagged a bit of corn and helped carry a very small amount (no where close to 200 pounds) over to their house.  They are our closest  neighbors and they also have four children....one boy and three girls: Don Juan, Dona Helena, Olga, Susannah, Selbin, and Sandra.   I would like to get to know them better, but it has been difficult to spend time with them so far because they have been so busy with their harvest.  The kids, however, have enjoyed playing together a bit.

Also, if you are interested in learning a bit more about the culture where we find ourselves, there is a fabulous children's novel called, "The Corn Grows Ripe".  Little Man read it to kick off his school year and it was highly educational.  What we are currently watching, with the harvest, is exactly as it's described in the book.  The descriptions in the book about believing in all the different gods of nature and appealing to them for a bountiful harvest are very true.  The people here very much believe in such things and we are trying to help our children understand what we can learn from them such as appreciating and respecting nature, diligently caring for their families, and living a simple life that we busy Americans can certainly.  At the same time, we are trying to teach our children that we also have a responsibility, given by God, to care for and steward the resources this earth has given us.

Dona Helena shows us a small part of their harvest.

Little Man carrying a bag of corn on his head.

 

Oh, the laundry!

There's really not much to say here except that I will never again complain about doing laundry in the states with a washer & dryer....at least I certainly hope I will never complain...you can hold me to that.  6 people, lots of wet beds, lots of clothes, it's just a lot.  The picture below shows how my house generally looks.  And this is why sunny days are really important for us.  Sunday morning, I was woken up by Mark saying, "Bad news is...we have another wet bed.  Good news is...we are going to Coban today, so we get to throw it into a garbage bag and take it to a laundromat!!!"  We delivered two huge plastic boxes to first thing Monday morning and we are now on our way to pick them up...washed, dried, and folded all for about $25!!

Nina & I washing, and washing, and washing.  When we have a full "load" of laundry, it generally takes one person about 3 hours to wash it all... and depending on the sun, the drying could take 2-3 days.

Our internal clothes line when it is raining... and generally the way our house looks all the time.

A visit from Papa!!!!

We had a visit from Papa McKinney these last few days.  I'm sitting here in Coban (with the delightful invention of high-speed internet...which is why your inbox may be full of posts from me), while Mark drives him back to Guatemala City to catch a plane in the morning (please pray for safe travels for all involved).  A big thank you to all those who sent sweet notes, pictures for the kids, and supplies we requested/needed...you all are awesome and our kids felt very loved with your treasures.

We have had a wonderful time with him including:  hiking, games with the kids, stories with the kids, lots of talking about teeth, speaking lots of Spanish, and eating plenty of delicious food.  We even got to celebrate his birthday while he was here...not bad for this Honduran-born man to get to have black beans & rice, fried platanos, corn tortillas, and key lime pie for his birthday dinner.  There have been tears since we said goodbye, but we are so incredibly thankful he was able to come.  We look forward to more visits from family and friends.  Thanks for coming, Papa!!!

Under the Weather

Miraculously, I am not referring to anyone being sick.  I can only count it as a miracle that aside from a few sniffles, sore throats and rumbly tummies, we have not had any sickness since Shirley Temple had pneumonia the first week we were in the country.  So, we're going on almost 3 months with no sickness.... Dr. Glover's records will show you that this is the Lord because I know I've been to see him more often living in Knoxville.  Keep the prayers coming....they are working!!!

What my post title refers to is literally, the weather....we are under it!!

The view from my bedroom door on a typical day

The view from the exact same place on a clear day!!...the banana tree in the previous picture just got cut down before I had a clear day to take this picture.

The other day, our science lesson was to research and journal about a cloud forest.  So, what is a cloud forest?

Dancing Beauty:  A really foggy place that has lots of rain.  We have lots of rain here because we are in a cloud forest. 

Little Man:  A moist forest.  It's really wet and cool.

But then, we do have the occasional unbelievably beautiful picture like this:
I have an even better one as the rainbow got closer to us as the rain moved in, but it's not on my computer yet.  I'll try to post it another time.  Pretty, huh??

Milestones

This is a special post dedicated to the grand and great grands that we have left back in the states.  Now that we are living in the boon-docks, we are not able to video skype nearly as often, so I thought I would send a post giving everyone an update on the kiddos and some of the milestones they are hitting...

Little Monkey continues to be just that.  She is now running everywhere, talking up a storm and into everything.  We call her houdini as she has figured out how to crawl out of her pack & play and open the gate onto our porch since we have been in Guatemala.  Her new words are "na-nu" (her own name), "ma-na" (her biggest sister), "ola" (hola), and "tee-ya" (tortilla).   I think she will be speaking a lot of Spanish before we come home.  I do believe we are going to end up potty training her in a 5-gallon bucket before this is all said & done...she is showing many signs that she is ready for this!  She is also growing quite the mane, as you can see!!

Shirley Temple continues to be as sweet as ever, but she has definitely hit the age of three...going on 13!!   She keeps us laughing and is always good for a snuggle, but she also will give you the occasional sass and eye-roll if you're not careful.  She enjoys playing here with anyone who will play with her (which is just about everyone) and she is great about making everyone feel very welcome.  She is getting excited about learning and loves to sit and "do school" with her big brother & sister.

Dancing Beauty is really starting to mature and is taking off with reading!!  This is a huge answer to prayer.  She is excited about school and we are having a great year of "pre-first".  She is happy and can certainly hang with the boys around here.  Most of the girls are in skirts all the time, but this princess kicks around (literally) with her pants and rubber boots.  She still loves to play "baby" with her little sisters & of course, she is always the mommy!  She has also lost a few things since we moved here, as you can see from her picture!  Did you know in Guatemala, the tooth fairy brings quetzales??

Little Man is doing much better than I had hoped.  He is happy here and was able to join Daddy for a hike earlier this week.  He is making friends, a few of whom have come to stay at our house (whose father & grandfather work on the project here) and really loved having a few boys his own age around.  He has also enjoyed playing with the neighbors down the hill from us, who have a son a year younger than him.  He's working hard through school, though, this is certainly not his favorite part of the day.  He got a sling-shot at a local market a few weeks ago, so he, Daddy & Kris have been having some shooting contests with empty plastic bottles!

The kids made a terrarium using banana leaves for a lizard they caught in their room....but I don't think we were good enough bug-hunters to suit him, so he found a way out of the terrarium in order to survive.

So....that's the update from the kid-front.  If you have any questions for the kids about life here, I'm sure they would love to answer them....

Generator's On!

This what happens when someone turns the generator on when you live with no grid power:

What you don't see is the deep cell 12-volt battery also connected directly to the generator.  Needless to say we haven't exactly unplugged from our electronic gadgets.

Mark