Thursday - Update

Well, hello to all! We´re here in Guatemala City, and the ¨kiddos¨are getting ready for bed as we speak. We´re all tired, though most were able to get some sleep on the flights. We´ve got a group of troopers. They´ve been great to travel with. I can´t explain, but there´s a real ¨relaxed¨feeling with this group of kids - they´re very well behaved, they pay attention, are quick to help out, and it makes our jobs as leaders FAR easier. Some trips it seems as if we´re herding cats, but not this team - they´ve been great so far. Thanks parents! You play a big role in that!

All our flights went well - not one glitch. Gracias a Dios! Seems God really made the way for us... When going to customs here in Guatemala City, they liked us so much that they even stamped Scott and my passports with a tax exempt stamp so we don´t have to pay their tax for bringing supplies into the country.

Well, I can´t think of anything else that exciting to pass on. Thankfully, our travels were quite uneventful. So... with that, we´re off to bed! We have an early morning tomorrow - up, showered, and ready to go at 730am. Then it´s a 4 hour bus ride to our 1 hour boat ride, and THEN... then we reach San Pedro. So, please keep us in your prayers! We´ve got a special week ahead of us!

Okay..... Good night! Let´s hope the bed bugs don´t bite!
- Liz

All Quiet on the Northern Front

I think it’s funny how there are different kinds of quiet… It’s not like Rian has never left me at home alone…. He does so fairly often, so why is it that it feels so different today????? It just seems….well… extra quiet I guess…..

We’re so proud of Rian…. After months of planning, letter writing, fund raising activities, and giving a huge chunk of his own money toward the cause… he and 10 students, 5 adult chaperones and 4 ‘DeSpain’s” (a family from our church that are tagging along) finally boarded a flight last night bound for Guatemala City, Guatemala. They will spend the next 8 days visiting with Mayan families around the city of San Pedro de Laguna, visiting an Orphanage and building brick stoves in the homes of several families before returning home on the 14th.

Although I doubt it’s possible to put your ‘baby’ on a plane bound for a foreign country without some concern, the coordination and excitement of this group was amazing and made that task almost enjoyable! (Sadly, I forgot my camera last night so I can’t share that picture with you.) I’m so excited to hear about what God is going to do not only through them, but IN each of them over the next 10 days! I am expecting great things!

The Guatemala Team

If I’ve done my math right, they should be in the air on the last leg of their trip as we ‘speak’ and should be landing in Guatemala in about 3 hours. I’ll do my best to keep you all informed of his journey as I get updates. Your continued prayers for their safety (of course) but also for God’s will to be done in their lives and in the lives they touch are greatly appreciated!

Rian (center) with his good friend Tanner on the left

My How Time Flies.....

My how time flies when you're having fun...

I have no idea where the last two months have gone.... between hanging out waiting for Josiah to arrive, his birth, the holiday season, flu season, and getting back to real life again, I guess my life has been kind of busy...

The "orderly" part of me thinks I should catalog my life from the date of the last post, and make sure that you get every last detail.... (the women of faith conference, the day/night of Josiah's birth, the day he came home, the quilt I made for him, the day we came home, Gerad's arrival home from school, Christmas, tubing with friends, cross country skiing and everything else including the blue moon) but the realistic part of me says to sum it up quickly and get on with blogging!!! So.... in a nutshell....

Once in a Blue Moon

Josiah arrived on Dec 8th.... he was, and is beautiful!!! Rick and I have found it incredibly hard to be away from him (and his mama & daddy) and have no idea what we'd do without the internet. Facebook and Skype make being so far away almost bearable! The three of them are doing well, and have fallen in to a routine quite easily. He is mostly an easy baby, although Rachel says he can be a bit like her... especially when he thinks it's time to eat!

We had a quiet, but lovely Christmas despite getting back from California with nothing ready for the holidays, and if that wasn't enough I got the flu, so Rick did most of the shopping and preparations! (Can I blame no Christmas cards on him???) We really just enjoyed being with Gerad, skyping with the other kids, and relaxing. We tried to get out an enjoy the beauty of Alaska, while Gerad was here. Thankfully we have had a fairly mild winter, which makes that a bit easier.

Today is Rian's 16th birthday... so hard to believe! We had a quiet day until about 7:30p.m.... and we are now in various stages of a night filled with teenage boys, video games, pizza and birthday cake oh... and Mountain Dew... Needless to say, we might not get to sleep any time soon, however I will say that I'd take 10 teenage boys playing video games all night over 3 teenage girls giggling all night any day!!! If I had a dollar for every time I had to tell those girls to quiet down....

"various stages" just ended as the latest arrivals just pulled up... there goes the neighborhood!!! :o) Actually, I do have to be a bit 'real' and just say how thankful I am that Rian has a good group of friends, who are happy to be hanging out here on a Friday night... We are truly blessed....

Okay....PARTY TIME.....