Let the baking begin....

last years goodness minus the chocolate chips... as divine as these were , I must say that chocolate makes "goodness" heavenly ... 

Living in a country where gift giving can be a little limited... there is only so much indigenous material one home can hold. Actually, I LOVE the material from here and as touristy as it can be at times my home is full of it too. And so.... with the holidays here ...what better gift to give than the inevitable gift of pounds ..( no one wants to come away from the holidays being the only dieters in January ) and so , as we did last year, we (I ) mostly , will commence to bake our 40+ loaves for gift giving. My absolute favorite topping is a combo of chocolate chip and roasted walnuts..... divine.... and so, let the baking begin !

Happy baking !
M

Pumpkins, fireplaces and travel .... beinvenido Novembre(welcome November)

I feel like I should start off saying... " Good morning America !"...why? I have NO idea. It just feels like it should be a chilly day, leaves on the ground, smell of a fire in the fireplace, pumpkins, fall festivals, oh...the list goes on and on and my "Fall feelings of home in America are pungent today. BUT today it's a sunny 80-ish day, no signs of pumpkins and for sure , NO leaves ! Too funny ! Therefore, I am demonstrating with my own protest to lack of fall weather and listening to Christmas music ALL day ! It's just Grace, myself and the "little guys" here anyway and they all love Christmas music as much as I do and so it won't be a violent protest, just my own to say that I 'm so thankful to be here but pumpkins and leaves and a little chilly weather will always have a place in the Southern girls heart at the first part of November..nothin' wrong with that right?

Speaking of those of us here in Guatemala listening to Christmas music... the rest of my crew , plus my father in law and (according to  Tyler's prayer the other night) the "grey headed people" (I'm sure they would love that..I'll leave their names out to protect the innocent. They ARE from our home town) ...anyway, they are headed home today from installing 50 homes with water filters. Some of the homes were as much as a 5 mile hike up into the woods of the mountain. I can't wait to hear their stories. For now and today I just wanted to see if while I am "protesting" with music celebrating Jesus's birthday (with GREAT JOY) I wanted to see if anyone who stops by here today would pray for travel safety for the team as they drive back. They are in our family car and while the brakes definetly work they are also definetly not the best . They ended up having to take our family car literally at the last minute and therefore, it had not been tuned up. Those of you who have made that trip are probably between shocked, fearful and cracking up......between animals, people, bicycles, motos, tuk-tuks all driving amongst each other ..and I do mean "amongst" in an each man for himself style unique to Latin America, they could use, and I would so love you standing in the gap with me for their safety today !

Muchas gracias de Guatemala !
Mel
* please graciously overlook my spelling ... my spell check is apparently on the fritz and possibly protesting with me today (smile) ...it doesn't appear to be clocking in for duty! 

This morning I woke up at the VERY early hour of 4:45 -ish. This has become a regular thing for me for about the past 8 or 9 months. I get up every morning drink coffee, read the Bible , journal, pray and generally get my brain collected before my 3 " tornados " rise (smile) .... Usually, I have my water that I drink before my coffee (FYI : it takes 2 cups of water to hydrate yourself for every 1 cup of coffee..important info for us high altitude gals addicted to coffee) and I didn't do that last night. So , this morning I wondered down stairs , in the dark, eyes VERY much still closed... took a mason jar (couldn't find my water bottle in the dark) and filled it with water...in theory it should have been clean... it was sitting with the clean dishes anyway.... Slowly, I am drinking my water, sitting under my comfy quilt, warming myself by my lamp (smile..it's cold here in the morning) , my eyes are opening.... i've drank all but the last inch of water in my little jar and YIKES ...there is a WORM IN MY WATER ! YUCK!!!!!!! That'll start your day off weird... I was rushed with thoughts of....was he alone in there? what kind of worm is he? We generally have to deworm ourselves from the food here but we NEVER have to see the worm ! ... YUCK!!! Well, tornado #1 wakes up , aka Tyler, I told him about my worm.. he checks it out....(long pause)..... hummm..... long pause again.... " i think your okay mom for 2 reasons.... he's just a baby and i think he's only sleeping" .... oh!!! okay..... boy, i wish i'd spent the last 2 hours thinking of it like that Tyler.... my stomach would have settled long ago....

No wonder God ask his children to walk in faith like that of a child... if a worm in your glass can be justified because of size and stillness... just think what our REALLY BIG issues in life would look like if we just took a long pause and saw them through the eyes of a child.... we'd probably end up with a really DIFFERENT perspective....

Here's to" baby" worms and only "sleeping" insects in a jar full of potential for your day ,

aks.... the 3 tornados... they appear very calm don't they ? 

Mel

Touching base... we're having a blast and staying busy !

Just wanted to touch base for a quick second. This past Thurs. our family welcomed two different groups of people staying in our home.

Anna is a precious new friend that we picked up at the airport on Thurs. We had met her this past summer on a team trip with Food for the Hungry and she has returned to Antigua for a term of language study . We were blessed to have her in our home over the weekend which at last minute turned out to be a girls weekend... very quiet and lots of chocolate and salsa... David was traveling in the community with our friends Matt and Eli. Since Eli was our boys age , Dave loaded up our two little guys and they headed out with the "big boys" to Nebaj. Although a little nervous ... they were hiking up the mountain to look at a future water filtration project , the future of David being able to work with our boys more often kept me smilin'. (Pics coming )

Today, we are off to check out a childrens museum and a wood oven pizza place in the city. Tommorow Matt and Eli travel home to the states . What a joy to have been able to host them in our home... wanna come?

Just a quick fly by to tell anyone who reads this that you are SO loved by me today ! Honestly.. i just love you ...don't need to know you. Everyone needs to hear that first thing in the morning... in my opinion... Have a great day .... ours is incredibly busy today and should be filled with much joy and i hope that yours is too....

Love and sunshine from Guatemala !
m

Yes ! Here Comes the Sun....

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting( the mud is finally drying and damaged highways are being repaired) 
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right.. 

That's right... it's a little bit o' Beatles this morning here in Guatemala. Celebrating the beginning of summer here.. yep, that's right .. schools are out for summer break this Friday. Just in time to celebrate "All Saints Day" ( story for another blog) , Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years .... kinda weird huh for those of us who are used to fireplaces, winter coats and the flu shot about right now.... Unashamedly , I leave you with this song in your head for the rest of the day to please remember our country as we recover from our "rain season". We have had the worst season in the recorded history of Guatemala. SO MANY have lost their home, lively hood, hope, etc. David was telling me over the weekend that it has been so damaging that Food for the Hungry is looking into restructuring our outreach to the communities because SO MANY of our families simply will not be able to provide food to sustain their families,...ie, children and elderly will suffer the quickest and most tragically. 

So... coming to the Lord with great JOY for what has been done here in Guatemala, what he is doing in Guatemala, and what is to come here in Guatemala... I leave you with a little diddy from the eight track days... if you don't know what an 8 track is ....well, find it on I Tunes and enjoy! 

* pink is my paraphrase in attempt for it to apply to Guatemala* all in fun....

Sunbathing in Guate (spiritually speaking anyway...i'm actually fixing to start a little CRAZY LOVE Bible study with my older guys... it's gonna be a great day ! )~ M

Welcome to Paradise......

ok... so, we're probably NOT in paradise (that , in my opinion actually will come after life here has fleeted) and every hour is NOT all happy BUT it is with great wonder, joy and awe that TODAY this sign felt appropriate . When I found this sign in a little quiet spot in the middle of nowhere, life to me at the moment was far from paradise and every hour felt like 10 on a treadmill going much faster than my legs could ever move. Today, is exciting! We have nothing going on (that's exciting) ... it's FRIDAY( that's exciting) ... Cooper is no longer in the city but instead only a mile or so from our house now with friends who love Jesus (that's exciting) ... Cooper loves to be independent and loves Jesus (that's exciting )... Jacob is training and stretching his body to lift and be incredibly fit before he leaves for school very soon. He looks great and his dicipline with food and training has left me speechless at times PLUS he loves Jesus (that's exciting ) ... I dyed Graces hair a redish -brown color the other day. This was my first time to even crack open the box of hair color and I didn't ruin it.. her hair looks amazing. She loves Jesus (that's exciting) .... David is dying to have a moto here in Guatemala and I was able to lean over in church this past Sunday and in an instant share with him that I no longer held that in fear.. If he wanted a moto (motorcycle) have at it ..with JOY (that's exciting).... and so , as usual, it is in the little things that God is moving like rushing water in our lives... his grace and vision for our family comes down the river and hits the rocks of doubts , splashes and flies up into the air with a great hushing sound and when it comes down it lands on our lives with a resounding crash of accuracy and intention...... we serve no small God amen? ! And so I leave you with this cozy little sign that I found in the middle of nowhere .... WELCOME TO PARADISE..WHERE IT'S ALWAYS HAPPY HOUR ~ at least in the perspective of eternity and isn't that what this is all for anyway ? !