This beautiful street and the flowers on it

I LOVE our street! Every morning when I head out with Luke for our walk into town, I just get overwhelmed at how beautiful it is ... rainy season is in full swing, so everything is just so GREEN! I love it! Once I round the curve up ahead, I can catch glimpses of the lake and the volcanoes across. It makes me so happy, I feel breathless. Granted since my foot is still gimpy, the mile+ walk is not quite as pleasant as it used to be, but I'm managing it s-l-o-w-l-y. Hurrah for that!

Along with all the wonderful greenery, the flowers here are stunning -- here are a few of my favorites:

 

 

 
 

Baby vaccinations in Panajachel {with cats & dogs!!?!!?}

Ever since Luke passed his six month birthday, I have known I really needed to figure out when/where to get him his immunizations.  We started asking around and had a few false starts, meanwhile time was ticking by.  We finally got given some straight information about a free clinic that operates in Pana called Centro de Salud and were promised that Luke would be able to get his shots there.

On the day I decided to take him, I of course went to the wrong place first -- thinking that where I was going would be a place with the word "clinic" on the outside ... not true.  The Centro de Salud looks more like a school than a clinic due to the playground in the front yard.

Once inside, I got sent around to various people and kept repeating the Spanish sentences I'd memorized ahead of time to explain what I was doing.  While I waited I noticed this sign:

Which says something to the effect that you can bring your cats & dogs to this same place on Wednesday's for their vaccinations.  Ahhh, that made me laugh!  I am getting my baby vaccinated in the same place as cats and dogs :)  Love it!

After some time and also getting someone who was bilingual to assist, Luke was finally able to get his shot and this spiffy immunization record.  He was also weighed & measured which was fun -- just over 50th percentile for both ... although by Guatemalan standards he's HUGE :)

Trying again ... house hunters international - Panajachel

This weekend, we attempted again to move into a permanent home here in Pana. All went just as smoothly as it could go which I'll admit I was a little surprised by.  Call me skeptical.  But, we were completely packed by 9 am Saturday morning and a co-worker from Jason's school came by -- everything was loaded into his vehicle and moved in one trip.  Awesome!

Prior to finding our new place, we'd had a few options that were just okay:

- this one in a pretty setting and near the fruit/vegetable market and within our budget; but it was literally just a bedroom with a tiny kitchen that you had to go outside and thru another door to access.

- this small studio which was WAY under budget and very tempting due to that; but was only partially furnished when we saw it and shared a thin wall with the compound's guardian/gardener whose baby was screaming when we were there. (we didn't think we needed to listen to two of those!)

This one was by far the best option, with the only real drawback being that it is a 20 minute walk to town (& Jason's school).  When we found it, we paid the deposit quickly not wanting to lose the only decent option we'd come up with.

Our new home ... where we will {hopefully} get to stay for the rest of our time here.  More pictures to follow.

Six months & Feria week

Last week was an interesting week.

First, I'll admit that we were excited to have made it to the six month mark as parents ... sometimes we wonder what in the world we are doing trying to raise a person??!!?  I don't feel like I'm grown up enough to really be in charge of another person's well-being.  But, here I am with a child :)  Poor kid!  Here are some pictures of Luke on his half-birthday.

Second to that, we passed our six week mark of living in Guatemala which was celebrated by Pana's Fair (Feria) Week.  Wow, am I glad it is over!  It was a WILD week.  Since we arrived, we've been surprised by the amount of artillery shell fireworks being set off at all hours of the day and night ... most nights we are startled awake to what seems like a full-on bombing - until we remember that it's just someone have "fun" at 3 am.  These bombings ramped up last week to the point that sleep was pretty illusive.  Top that with another unexpected sound -- marching bands practicing constantly.  I love that the kids here are involved in a healthy/productive activity, but is practicing into the middle of the night really the best?

We got to see all that practicing in action during the town parade -- with the bands out in full force and all the school's dressing up with a theme.

A man thoughtfully setting off some fireworks between each of the school groups --

A woman and man in traditional Mayan dress -- the men wear wrap-around skirts over their pants.  Jason made the tactful observation that he thought maybe some of the women may use their tops to carry small items.  I've seen a woman dig her entire purse out of her shirt, so he was certainly correct! ;-)

A man walked up and down the parade route selling scoops of ice cream with a balloon vendor in the background.









































AMA's theme was China -- with all the students in costume.  Lucky teachers -- they got to try to corral their students for over three hours on the parade route!

A new month (finally!)

I am REALLY excited that this is the first day of a new month!  I generally try to be content in this present moment, instead of continually looking ahead to what is next to make me happier or somehow make my life better; but I'll admit, last month was a challenge. It was our first month of spending more time apart than together and Jason's first month of teaching at a new school with a very challenging class (topped with the school losing two teachers in the first month), plus the unsettling events: the earthquake, a terrible murder of a local woman, then getting flooded out of our home; and the exhaustion of moving THREE times in one week.

But, through it all I have been reminded that God provides and protects.

After getting flooded and moving back into our original apartment, we were given an unexpected gift. A young Israeli woman who had been living in the same complex as us while she volunteered at AMA left early.  Her apartment was paid for and empty, so after three nights at our original place we were able to move into her apartment and got the gift of 10 free days of housing while we looked for a permanent place.  Pretty awesome, right?  Unfortunately, our permanent place is being very illusive. We've now paid for another month here while we keep looking -- several people have asked why we don't just stay in this spot. It is a beautiful spot, but besides being over our budget, it is expensive for this area for what you actually get inside the place...so the hunt continues.

As we go through this unexpected process I am reminded how God wants me to be heaven focused, remembering that my home is really not on this earth.  As much as I want to feel settled and secure wherever I am, being unsettled makes me rely on Him more and look with great anticipation toward my heavenly home.

That doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to see what God has in store for us this month -- it feels like we have a fresh, clean start.  Plus, Jason got his first paycheck yesterday - our first paycheck in six months which is quite a thrill.  This Friday is a Panajachel holiday (sort of like carnival for this town) so Jason gets a day off of school. Woo-hoo! We'll see what adventuring we can get up to.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the beauty and culture of where we get to live -- here are some of my favorite photos from the past week.

A beautiful evening at the lake --

How people get to nearby villages -- taxi-trucks.  A tarp goes over the top when it rains.




























A piñata shop -- they look just a tad creepy to me...


















What every historic, beautiful church needs - a Ferris wheel!




























Some of the local children preparing for the holiday festivities.

 


In Guatemala, the men carry the horses -not the other way around.

Calle Xecumuc - Flood aftermath

Yesterday, as I took Luke out for his morning walk, my feet couldn't help but take me back to the flood area.  Jason was hoping to get off school early so we could go together and decide what to do with our stuff and possibly figure out where we should live, but I just couldn't help going to have a look ... as I got close my heart started pounding in my chest and my stomach felt sick thinking about what had happened.

The road looked pretty good, with most the boulders and loose asphalt moved to the side.  Our apartment building looked surprisingly good (it's the two story, with the red satellite dish). I was honestly just glad it was still there, so beyond that anything else was awesome!

From just past it - our building is on the left, our landlord's is on the right. The channel between the buildings is where the small waterfall stream usually runs.

The building and retaining wall seemed to be pretty good in spite of everything.




























Our landlord's house did not fair as well since the flood waters were cutting across his lot, his whole house got undercut and is dangling over the edge.




























Inside, the building's entry way had been cleaned up and our apartment basically looked as it had when we originally saw it.

Further up the road where the water first jumped the banks of the stream --

Backhoes have been hard at work; clearing debris and trying to reinforce the banks so this doesn't happen again.




























We still aren't sure what we will do, where we will live. For now, we have a place to stay for a few more days which is a huge blessing!  We are inquiring with locals and others on what they think about the safety of our building.  From what we gather, this is the first time anyone can remember that this has happened with this waterfall.  I'm a fan of statistics which would probably support that nothing like this would happen again here for a very long time.  I also spoke with a geologist who lives in the same building.  He is the man who helped me the day of the flood and he plans to continue to stay.  That seemed like a good sign, but ultimately I know we need to make a good decision for Luke and ourselves. Rainy season will last for six more weeks and we don't want to feel worried everytime it rains.  So, we'll see.  Please keep us in your prayers.