The Whitney Family Blog: 5/30/10-6/5/10

Sunday 5/30/10

We had a little bit of a break from the rain today! There are now tons of mushrooms though. There was no church today even though the rain has let up. There was another storm that was supposed to hit us but went north.

Monday 5/31/10

The day was so nice this morning. Everything is so green now with the crops growing tall. The kids and I packed up a picnic and went to the park for lunch. While we were out, one of our security guards was cutting grass at one of the houses. I didn't even recognize him without his uniform on. He also had two of his sons with him to help. They are 10 and 12. I told them they needed to come over and play with Cole. We were shocked to find out that "Smiley Guy" (Alberto) had kids that young!

The afternoon brought more rain and I finally found out that the storm that hit us was Tropical Storm Agatha. We learned a little more about the effects that it had around the country. There was a crazy sinkhole in Guatemala City. There is flooding and landslides all over. Between the volcano Pacaya erupting and this storm, there are a lot of people that are struggling to survive!!

Tuesday 6/1/10

For school, Alysa is learning about how scientists work. She's learning about observation and the scientific method. So, today she did a little experiment to find out what snails eat. We collected a couple of jars of snails (they are quite plentiful in our yard!!) and filled them with leaves, tomatoes, and Nerds. She had so much fun watching them.

Wednesday 6/2/10

The kids are still getting up every morning to run laps. It was especially nice this morning with the sun. It is a great start to the day!

Thursday 6/3/10

While Alysa and Laina were at Teacher Lily's, Morgan, Cole, and I went to the market. We hadn't been in a while so it was fun to see all the people. On our way back to the car, we ran into our friend, Sully. Every time I see her, I am more impressed with her. We were talking about the storm and how everybody was doing. She told me that there were 40 people from another stake that lost their homes, as well as everything in them. It was about 5 or 6 families. Sully called the stake president to see what she could do and ended up making/serving meals to take to these families three times a day for a week. She asked if we could help her for breakfast on Saturday. We made plans to get together tomorrow to make muffins at her house. It has been so hard for me knowing that people need help, but not know how to help or how to find out how to help!! I am so grateful that we ran into Sully. She always seems to be in the right place at the right time!

After dropping off all the groceries and before we had to pick up the girls, I took Cole to get his haircut. He wouldn't let me take him before because he didn't think I could communicate enough. And, to be honest, I was a little relieved that I didn't have to go!! Well, today he decided that we were ready to try it on our own without Chris. It is one of my friends so at least she knows us and knows what I do/don't understand. Afterwards, Cole told me that I did pretty good. Wow, what a compliment from him!!

Friday 6/4/10

This afternoon the kids and I went to visit our friend, Sully, to make muffins. When we got there, she informed us that the stake has provided food for the families in need so we will not be serving any more meals. I was a little disappointed that we don't get to serve. Instead we made cinnamon rolls. I have been very spoiled with my Bosch mixer!! Here they throw the ingredients on the table and mix it all up by hand. I've never made dough on a counter top!! I usually use a bowl at least!

Sully absolutely loves making American food. Her two favorite cookbooks at the moment are the Lion House cookbook and the LDS Women around the World (Brittany brought it for her!). She wants to make all sorts of new things. She's been making pies all week to try out the recipes! I can't wait to look for great cookbooks for her when I am back in Alaska!

She told me a few stories about the families that she met while serving food. Here's a couple of examples of the things that these people are going through right now:

The bomberos (firefighters) had to rescue a lady from her house by using a canoe. When they got her, she had a 4 day old baby that was only covered with some plastic.

Somebody brought a teddy bear to the church one day and all the kids were trying to get it because they had lost all of their toys in the flood.

My heart just aches for these people. I have truly grown to love the people here in Guatemala and wish that I could do more. The kids are starting to feel the spirit also and have been collecting some of their toys, clothes, and other items to take to the families. We have a big box by the front door. Each time I go by, I see something new that the kids have added. It brings me so much joy that my children are wanting to help others!! We have been soooo blessed during our life. It has been so evident since we have been here in Guatemala. I have such an appreciation for the things that we have been given including the many opportunities to learn and grow.

Saturday 6/5/10

This morning we were woken by helicopters. We never have airplanes fly over us and it is pretty rare to even see a helicopter. There must have been at least 5 separate helicopters that flew over throughout the morning. They looked like big rescue helicopters. I really hope that it hasn't taken that long for help to get to some of the small towns!! The airport was closed down for a while and I knew that that had delayed some of the rescue efforts, but an entire week???? That gives me a little more desire to always have 72 hour emergency kits prepared!!

As a family we ventured out to our favorite store to get souvenirs. While we were there, a lady came in and was so loud!! It was hilarious to listen to her try to speak Spanish! She's been here attending one of the Spanish Schools. At one point, Alysa whispered to one of the other kids, "That lady's Spanish is worse than Mom." In a weird sort of way that made me feel so good!!

We also got to visit the temple site. There is a security guard at the front gate that the kids have named, "Smiley Guy 2." There are some people that just have that personality that makes you happy to be there. Smiley Guy and Smiley Guy 2 are both like that. Just genuinely happy people. I keep telling Chris that I need to make some cookies to take to Smiley Guy 2.

While we were at the temple, it was amazing to see where each of the different rooms are going to be in the temple. The frame for the steeple is up also. I think my favorite was seeing the base for the baptismal font. It is becoming very 'real' now that we can see it coming together!