Sunday, December 5, 2010
Cole was still sick this morning, so Chris stayed home with him. They did their church by reading the Friend magazines together! To be honest, they probably got more out of it than going to three hours of church!!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Is it my turn to get sick, or am I just needing an excuse to take it easy?
Well, not too easy. I was asked to go visit a nonmember's house to give her a Book Of Mormon. Awkward. I really didn't want to go but it turned out to be a very nice visit. The lady is a single mom with a 15 year old daughter. They have been coming to the quilting class a couple of times. The mom, Judi, is the boss of the teachers at many schools and just happens to be my visiting teaching companion, Vilma's boss. Vilma has brought so many nonmembers to various activity. She has no inhibition with sharing the gospel and she is a great example to me.
While we were visiting, Judi was showing us around her neighborhood and house. She saw me smell one of her roses and went to get some scissors to cut it off for me. How thoughtful!! There is so much that I continue to learn from the amazing people here in Guatemala!!
After returning home, I spent most of the rest of the day in bed. Just me, a few good books, a huge stomachache, and four happy kids watching t.v.!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Since I did take it easy yesterday afternoon, I didn't get much homework taken care of. So, lucky me, I get to play catch up today. I also had 5 piano lessons to do and it was the last day of school at Lily's.
On the way to Lily's, I had to pull over and take a picture of this guy. These people have some serious strength!
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| I'm sure he was praying that the wind didn't blow too hard!! |
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Everybody was freezing today. It was so cold that we were wearing gloves, hats, scarves, extra blankets, 5 layers, etc. Alysa asked me if she could take a break from Math before her nose dripped on her books!
About 1/2 hour after the quilting class was supposed to start, I was beginning to think that nobody was going to show up. Vilma finally made it and let me know that the security guard wouldn't let them anybody through. Apparently our little incident a couple weeks ago has made the guards extra cautious to the point of refusing entry to people who are coming for my class. Great! I had to send the kids down with notes telling the guard to let them in. Apparently it was just in time because he was in the process of sending other people away. I wonder if anybody showed up earlier and then went home because they couldn't get in!
The class was short and to the point. We now have 10 completely finished blankets! We had to end the class early so that I could get to the church to play the piano for a baptism. I showed up 15 minutes early to start the prelude. 45 minutes later, they decided to start. The mom had promised me they were starting right on time because I had another piano lesson to do at 5:00! Luckily the piano lesson was at the church so I was able to do the lesson while all of my kids participated in the pinata and party afterwards. The kids are officially hooked on pinatas! I have a feeling we might have to continue using pinatas even after we get back to the states.....whenever that might be!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Apparently I haven't been to many church activities lately because I seem to have forgotten how late everything always starts. The Relief Society was having a candle making class today. I showed up about 10 minutes late only to find the president leaving for something and nobody else around. Of course I had my piano music so the kids and I practiced their Christmas song for a little while. The Bottemas came also so they sang while we waited. Well, after 1 hour of waiting, a few others had shown up but no class starting. So, we left! We headed over to the country club to let the kids play instead!
If anybody knows me, I have a weakness for Doritos. The crazier the flavor, the better. My all time favorite is Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch. The Doritos here are different and just not as good. Well, today at the club, Morgan found a new flavor of Doritos here....Taco. Not great but definitely different!
After we left the club, the kids begged us to let them go to the tienda. Here in Guatemala, anybody can have a store, restaurant, etc in their house. They actually make special garage type areas for their stores. There will be several such stores on one street. So, anyway, my kids love to walk to the closest tienda to buy bags of cheap chips. They wanted to show the tienda to Carson and Taylor so we let them head over. I sent my kids in with the equivalent of a quarter each. They came out with three bags of chips each! It is such a cheap reward for them.
Friday, December 10, 2010
We woke up to another freezing morning....literally!! When I was sitting in bed yawning, I could see my breath! All of the fields were covered in frost. The kids were so excited. It is the closest thing to snow here. They all got their warmest clothes and ran outside to play. I figured we'd call is a "snow day" and not stress about doing school. The kids played from about 7:00-9:00! They even took the garbage can lid to use as a sled. They collected big pinecones for some Christmas craft projects, sang Christmas songs, and then came home to drink some hot chocolate. They were all so happy and kept saying that they hope that tomorrow is the same!
When Chris left for work, his thermometer in the car said 1 degree celsius after the sun had been up for two hours! I can only imagine how cold it actually got!
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| The empty corn fields behind our house. |
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| Morgan, Cole, and Laina enjoying the wintery scene. After thawing out the kids, we decided to do some homework. The kids actually started their work without me ever mentioning it. They are so excited to get back on schedule with the schools in the states. |
For date night, Chris and I went to watch the young men and young women of our stake perform different dances. Each ward made up a dance. Our ward is so large that they got to do two dances! Each stake is doing the same thing and the best dances are going to be chosen to be performed during the cultural presentations before the temple dedication. They also had a video showing the history of the church in Guatemala and Quetzaltenango. It was great when it came to the present day and there was a picture with a couple of tall blond kids in the back row. It was hilarious how much our kids stuck out! They also showed the progress of the temple construction. It was like watching the last two years of our life flash before us. It is incredible to see the changes that have occurred in our family over that time! The whole night was very uplifting and the spirit was very strong. Some of the wards had very extravagant costumes. I loved seeing all of the traditional dresses and dances. It was even more special to see the youth in our ward and to realize how close we have gotten to these people! I was so proud of them! Chris kept saying how very pleased he is to be a part of an organization that encourages their youth to participate in these activities.
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| Backdrop for the presentations. |
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| The pictures didn't turn out but you can see a little bit of the costumes. |
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| One group from our ward. There were about 36 youth from our ward that participated in the dances! |
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| All of the youth sang together at the end. The dance that is selected for the dedication will be danced by 300 youth! |
Saturday, December 11, 2010
We were able to drop all of the kids off at the church for a primary activity this morning. While the kids were busy, Chris and I got to go shopping by ourselves. We ran into Sully at the market and she helped us find a couple of things....including fireworks. I think that's the thing Chris has been most excited about!
A year ago, we ate some really yummy coconut treats. I asked Sully if she would teach me how to make them. Just as I was asking her, the "expert" on them walked up. So, they are both coming over next week to teach me how to make them. I don't know who is more excited, me or Morgan! YEAH!!
We met the family that moved in a couple weeks ago. They brought us some goodies. I feel so bad that we haven't made the effort to welcome them to the development. I have/had great plans but it is so intimidating with the whole language barrier! Excuses, excuses!! We do have them on our ever growing list of goody plates for Christmas though!!
All of our hard work paid off tonight. We had our ward Christmas program. Six of my piano students played their Christmas songs, the primary sang, the choir did four numbers, and all the gringo kids sang a song. During the Primary song, they had a little nativity scene. Alysa was asked to be Mary and Laina a sheep. At the last minute, Alysa freaked out and wouldn't be Mary so Laina had to change into Alysa's costume at the last minute. I think Laina enjoyed herself much more than she would have being a sheep!
It was a great program but what a relief it is to have it done!
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| The Whitney and Bottema kids singing "The Shepherd's Carol" |
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