Sunday, December 27, 2009

How many photos does it take for a Christmas card ????


Let the photo caos begin...whoo hoooo.....


Jacob ....


Cooper.....


Grayson......

Grayson again.......

moving on...just the guys


the girls....


can you tell who the class clowns are??......

no words....

can we get a serious shot PLEASE....

moving on...again..mom and the guys... LOVE IT!!!!




Daddy and his girls.....PRECIOUS...


FINALLY....Merry Christmas from the Evans !!! a little goofy but I'll take it ! (Wish you could have seen the trafic driving by as we took all 200 (aprox) of these photos... we were standing on the sidewalk by our house ....tooo funny !! )

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas with Papa and Nana



our fearless leaders for the 9 days ... David and Papa Sam


It was so great to see family for the holidays... huge hugs for everyone !

Ahhh.....Nana !



Let Christmas begin.... it's been to long since we've hugged family !

We were able to have a Christmas morning with Papa and Nana .... these are the "early birds"...some dressed and some still in PJ's ..Jacob was given the award for spending the LONGEST time on his hair.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Great news.. update on Cooper

Cooper is back and was given a very good report. Turns out that whatever he had (Typhoid...maybe mono) has left his body and now he just has to heal. His body had gone that far downhill with whatever "it " was that any time he would get up and about he was having major "issues" ...enough that it warrented a trip away with dad and a doctor. Now he has to stay resting.... yikes! Cooper resting! Anyway, please continue to pray and praise with us. We are so glad that although he has a long way to go... he's in a very good place ...no more cooties !

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Day of the Devil

We have been seeing these pinate looking things around town. In hind sight I should have taken a picture of them so that you could see what they look like. If you can imagine a mexican santa with a handlebar mustache  ... Anyway, that has been my impression of them. HOWEVER, it turns out that they are DEVILS. (Who would have known?) ... what? Christmas is coming ... devil pinates???  When I picked Jacob up from school today he told me that we should get home before dark because people are burning "devils"....ahhhhh.... so that is what they do ... they don't hit them for candy ...they are burning him...them.... Anyway, my neighbors put their "devil" on a concrete block and lit him up. I was so curious that I begged Grace (who is very  non confrontational ) to go with me for better translation. She did end up going but cracked me up with her initial response... she looked at me very seriously and said," mom... do I have to .. what if they get angry....they ARE BURNING HIM... I THINK THEY'RE WITH US...tooo funny... but my begging won her over and she finally obliged my curiosity... turns out that the devils being burned is a way to clean out their old sins and clutter ti make way for Jesus in their homes. By burning him they are saying that he no longer has a place in their home ...at least for this season.. this is called the day of the devil.

FYI..

Just a super quick note to ask for prayer for Cooper and David today. They are traveling to a town about 2 hours from here to have medical testing done on Cooper. After researching records we discovered that Cooper has had a Typhoid vacine not only once but TWICE. Most likely his sickness is not Typhoid and not we are desperately needing to discover what is causing him to be sick. Through a TOTAL provision of the Lord and under circumstances that only he could orchestrate we met an American surgeon who is housing them and running test. They will be gone for about 4 days and prayerfully we will have a direction . As you can imagine Cooper is becoming very tired of being tired and sick. We are petitioning the Lord for answers. Our next step will be to fly him home to the states for medical treatment and don't want to do that unless we are left with no other option. I know that may sound crazy but we are on the verge of reaching "normal" .. not quite but we can see it coming... and a trip home will only upset the apple cart in regards to that ... Not all of us can travel home...Christmas apart... well, you can see how great it would be to get to a place of medical attention here and I believe it is completely possible. Guatemala is very equipped to handle even crews with issues much larger than ours ! ( honestly ! )

Grateful for you all...
Melinda

Friday, December 4, 2009

No Wasted Days

I have gotten sooo far behind ! I am going to make  an an intentional effort to get caught up...one day at a time..smile.... bear with me.

The night before thanksgiving I was sitting in my den...all of the sudden very aware of the fact that this Thanksgiving would be VERY different for us. Hmmmm....WHAT am I thankful for? What could I NOT be thankful for? So, I started to jot some things down.  I feel very compelled to share this with you ..not to upset or cause anyone to be nervous ...only to inform you that our lives are different and we are given so many gifts that look different than they ever have...actually ...well, here it is....


Psalm 27:13
I am confident of this : I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Why have you called us here Lord? What gifts do we poses to make even one difference in this place? Are our days wasted or lost on the stumbling and shocking sights that we encounter often? Will you carry us all- each one of us to America to begin a "new life" in the future or will our last days be here in Centeral America? What is this stirring that goes on in my soul at that thought? What is it that could only be from you that causes my husband and I to go to bed at night feeling discouraged at our work here and yet we rise and except a new day ...a new opportunity? How do I find freedom in tinted windows and and constant locked doors? Freedom in guards and walls at the childrens school , the inability to walk down the street by my home, the responsibility of distracting small children in my car as we approach a random group of people for fear of the ugliness of a harsh life taken and the messiness of violence in or beside the roads that we drive on everyday? I cannot resist the temptation to often ask why Lord ? Today, after sifting through my own superficial junk, I have come to the conclusion of this on thing that I am most thankful for today... Psalm 27: 13 ... I WILL see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  And in your goodness and divinitity alone, you Lord, have apppointed me, my family , here in Guatemala for such a time as this. A time of violence and confusion, a time of oppression and yet a great time of opportunity. If I speak into the life of one on your behalf ...who speaks into the life of another hoping and waiting on your goodness Lord...then in THIS land of the living I will have truely lived, my confidence is retained...no days wasted ....and for that Lord, I am VERY thankful .


As you consider our lives and our days here in Guatemala ...please consider not our plight of adjustment but the beautiful lives that are so harshly effected by culture. We count it a rare priveldge ...only extended to few..who are called to look a  "cannon" square in the eye at times. We would not exchange these days or our lives here for all of the gold in the world...unless we could use it to improve the lives of those we serve in hopes of seaping the gospel of Jesus Christ DEEP into the souls of those we are coming to love here in Guatemala. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us.