Fall

I've started writing this post several times, but it has taken weeks to find the time and/or energy to actually finish it.

Yes, we are busy, but it feels like that's not an anomaly. The America Dream, or something?

Ellie's has been playing soccer, with practices 1-2x per week, and a game every Saturday. And Michael is the coach.

Hazel is in a co-op preschool which means I volunteer 2x/month to be at her school from 9-12, helping in her class. It's a fun chance for me to watch Hazel interact with friends. I'm also the Secretary of the Board which means, at the least, monthly board meetings.

I'm attending two different MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) groups. I know how hard it is to find friends, and how important Mom friends are in this stage of my life, so I knew I wanted to find ways to connect and hopefully make some friends and be encouraged. One meets once per month, the other one meets twice a month.

I'm also training for a half-marathon. My race is this weekend. I'm looking forward to the race, and also to taking a break from training. I've stayed on a training schedule virtually for 12 weeks, up until last week where I haven't done much besides my long run of 11 miles. But, I feel ready to run 13.2 on Sunday. I really never thought I'd get there!

We have been attending a church in Portland and joined a Home Group that meets every Sunday night.

In the remaining free time that I have, usually 1-2 times per week, I am working as a substitute teacher, when jobs are available. Thankfully, in the last month, I've been able to work every single day that I've been available. We are really thankful my Mom is able to help with the girls when I work. Living near family has been a significant and welcome change for us.

We've had multiple fundraisers in the first month or so of school. We've collected Box Tops, Ellie had a Fun Run at her school, I sold pies for MOPS, Ellie sold First Aid kits for her soccer team, and now we are supposed to be selling wreaths and poinsettias for Hazel's preschool. This is a new world for us!

This all means we have a full calendar. There is so much nitty gritty going on. We celebrated Ellie's 6th birthday this week. Ruby moved into a big girl bed this week, and after a couple days of staying in her bed it's been a bit of a battle.

Birthday pancakes!

Visiting Ellie's class on her birthday.

Days are long but time is flying. We've been back in the States for more than three months. We still miss Guatemala and still wonder, in moments, if we did the right thing.

I went to Ellie's teacher conference this week. Her teacher told me that Ellie is probably the best Spanish speaker in the class. She does even better than the native speakers. How? Apparently she conjugates her verbs and has a wider vocabulary. So, this was a huge encouragement that we are in a good place. I share this because, of course, I'm a super proud Mama, but also, to remind myself that our time in Guatemala has been a building block to this stage in our lives. Ellie is thriving in her Kindergarten class. Hazel is thriving in her preschool. Ruby thrives wherever we go. At church or MOPS she walks right into her little class and doesn't look back. She plays at a friend's house on the mornings I work at Hazel's school, and she walks right in there, too. She loves to sit on my lap and read books for an hour at a time. She is thriving both at home with me and around other people.

Every time I start working in the kitchen this girl pushes her stool right over so she can help.

There is so much to be thankful for. I get to have quality time with all of my girls. We still have stress in our lives, but work and home stressors have changed since we moved back to the States. And we are enjoying time as a family. Also, we're glad to be back in Oregon, despite the rain.

Happy Fall!

Summer's Over!

It's been a busy summer.

We've been back to the States for 2 1/2 months.

We've done a lot of living over the past several weeks. This is one of many reasons I haven't blogged. We are often asked about our transition process. We continue to feel settled and also miss Guatemala. It's an interesting place to be.

We were gifted with a pantry party to stock up on basics. It was a blessing to be welcomed back to Oregon in this way.

I traveled to Idaho with the girls to visit cousins and grandparents. We had a family reunion and the girls had almost two weeks straight of cousin and grandparent time. I will have to probably post more pictures of that in its own post.

The five girl cousins

An attempt to take a picture of all 7 cousins.
This was the first time all 7 have been together at the same time.

We spent time with friends "camping" in their backyard. (New summer tradition!)

We went to the Oregon coast.

We've gone to parks and the library.

We've played and relaxed and read books.

"Queen Ruby" enjoying playing with her big sisters.

Ellie is on a soccer team and Michael is the coach. That will keep us busy every Saturday this Fall.

Every day that goes by puts us one day further from life in Guatemala, and we become more entrenched with this "new normal."

Today marks a turning point. A blog-worthy one, apparently.

Ellie's First Practice Day of School

Ellie is at her first official day of Kindergarten. She had two half-days of "practice" a few weeks ago, and last week we went in for an hour to meet her teacher and she was assessed. (The assessment was fun for me to watch because the teacher did it all in Spanish. I was really proud of Ellie).

Not to be overly dramatic, except that I will be dramatic to say that this is the first day of the rest of our lives.

Grandma was here to hang out with Ruby during preschool and to see Ellie on her first day!

It was special for Daddy to come see her school too!

Yes, you bet I cried!

Today Hazel had an Open House at her preschool where I accompanied her to her school and we got to check out all the fun activities. Wednesday she starts 3 hours a day, 3 days per week.

In front of Hazel's preschool.

I have no doubt this girl is going to love all the fun to be had. She never wants to leave.

I signed up for my first half-marathon for October, which is a goal I made at the beginning of this year. I've been running and training for that. Yesterday I ran 7 miles, and it actually felt good. In fact, I felt like I could have kept going! It's amazing how our bodies can adjust and increase endurance.

Now that we're in a bit of a routine, I'm hoping to get back to writing/blogging. Happy Fall!

Happy Easter!

"Mommy, what do we do on Easter?" My three year-old asked me this morning.

All this talk of Happy Easter and she wanted to know what the big deal was/is.

It's about Jesus. And how he loves us. And sometimes we hide Easter eggs for fun too.

It's about getting a family photo, right?

This morning on Facebook there was a combination of "He is risen!" posts, and fancy Facebook-worthy Easter baskets. 

Last year on Easter weekend I had the inspiration to make Easter baskets for the girls. I went to Walmart, the one place I assumed would have candies or things to color eggs, but there was nothing. I was surprised and a bit disappointed they didn't have anything. So we didn't do anything.

A few weeks ago I went to Walmart and they had an entire section of Easter stuff.  Chocolate bunnies and candy and baskets and bunny ears. Maybe I just missed it last year? This weekend, once again last minute, I thought about making Easter baskets. We went to Walmart, and it was all gone. The day before Easter. I missed the boat.

We bought a few candies as an afterthought.

This morning I was feeling badly that we didn't do fancy baskets, or dye Easter eggs (Mommy, we need white eggs to color, not brown). All Ellie has been asking for is to hunt for Easter eggs. Luckily this morning I remembered we have a bag of plastic eggs in our Christmas decorations box. Michael filled them with the candy he bought, but them in a container the girls already had, and voila, Easter "baskets." 

The girls have been hiding the plastic eggs and looking for them since we got home from church. "I'm having so much fun," says my 5 year-old.

We weren't sure what time church started this morning. We thought 8am. Or maybe 7. We showed up at 8:45 and we caught the last 10 minutes, just in time for tamales afterwards.

At the kids table eating Easter tamales

And some pictures, because, cute dresses.

Happy Easter from Guatemala!

March is Marching on by

I was doing well blogging in January and February. And then March came along.

I was so busy this week I didn't realize I wasn't part of my weekly FitBit Challenge group until someone emailed me on Thursday and asked me where I had been all week. I just didn't even have time to click one simple button to join the group. It's been that kind of week. On the flip side, I've gotten a whole bunch of steps for not doing any intentional exercising, even more than most days when I go for a run. Also, I'm on antibiotics again for yet another sinus infection.

Sick day at home on Sunday. 

To make this post more cheery, here are some fun photos of my cute kids from this week.

I love these sister moments.

Ellie was the "Niña de la Semana," so on Thursday we got to bring her favorite snack to school to share with her classmates. Pancakes with peanut butter and syrup was this year's choice. Ellie loved every second of it.

Hung up in her classroom this week.

Pancakes in her class.

Ellie was insistent that we needed a picture of her whole class, and that all the boys had to stand up behind, and all the girls were below in front. I'm not exactly sure why this is a thing...

Having a cute baby sister is sometimes really fun.

This week we spent a couple days with some members of our team and representatives from our local partners from Guatemala and El Salvador. We partner with a Catholic Diocese, Indigenous Mayan organizations, local Mennonite church conferences, other church denominations, and local NGOs.

We signed MOUs for the next year, and heard from partners about their current projects.

While we had meetings, the girls got their homework done.

Next week is Semana Santa (Holy Week), and we're looking forward to some time off as a family to rest and connect, hopefully without a lot of internet.

Weeks

Life has been, well, full.

There's the busyness. Conferences, hosting people, planning meetings, another conference next week with our partners from all over Guatemala and El Salvador. Meetings over Skype. Meetings in person. Planning and emails and deadlines and finances and the usual work week, but amplified.

One of the most intense parts of our jobs is the responsibility we carry over our staff. We currently have 11 staff spread between Guatemala and El Salvador. They are all living in different contexts and facing unique challenges. We are responsible for "worker care," making sure they are being supported physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. It's a huge job, and this week has been extra tough. It's difficult to do these things in a context that is unpredictable, dangerous, and with limited resources. It's like somehow playing a parenting role (some more literally than others) for 11 people from several hours away, while also dealing with 3 girls age 5 and under at home. It's one of the most rewarding parts of the job, but also can be the most challenging.

Cumulatively, I'd venture to say it's been one of the most stressful months we've had here in Guatemala.

We decided we need to rest and have some family time during Holy Week in a couple weeks. We planned a trip and then the plans fell through. I was bummed. Super bummed. I realized I was over-stressed and extra disappointed when this happened and I took it out on my kids, yelling and screaming and super impatient. Don't worry, I made it up to them by buying them ice cream. Mom Guilt at its finest.

Then we realized we have some pending visa issues and we have to travel to either Belize or Mexico to renew a couple of our family visas. Another complication. Fortunately, we figured out new plans, and with a bit of travel we still get to rest for a bit and we will get our visas renewed. I'm counting down the hours.

During such a messy, full, tense month, obviously Ellie would come home from school yesterday with an excited glow. She was chosen to be "niña de la semana" (girl of the week) next week. This is a big deal for her. Like, she's been talking about when this week will happen since last year. Every week the girls come home with reports of whose week it is, what treats they brought to school, etc. This entails us making a large posterboard with pictures of Ellie. It means she gets to share her favorite book with her classmates this week. It means her parents are invited to bring a snack on Thursday (good thing we decided to cut our partner meeting short by a day next week!). It means we need to come up with a sorpresa, usually a fancy version of a birthday party gift bag. Last week one of the girls brought home a brand new water bottle filled with candy and bubbles, for example. Those over-achieving parents sure can ruin it for the rest of us.

Last year's posterboards:

Of course she would be the "niña de la semana" in one of our busiest weeks of the year. Michael and I could only laugh at the timing.

Oh, and then I found another little paper in her backpack that told me that this Tuesday she has a presentation on panthers, in English, Gracias a Dios. This includes another posterboard or visual aid. For her last presentation we just let her draw some pictures on paper to share, and I couldn't help but notice all the fancy books and posters that the other kids rolled into school with. Darn over-achievers.

I started the week off with a couple days of running. I even got a 4-mile run in one night. But by the end of the week I'm so fried I sat on the couch last night and couldn't move. I had the fleeting thought to exercise, but after a day sitting in front of the computer on video calls and answering emails, I was done. I couldn't even make dinner due to the whiny, fussy, sick baby who insisted on being held AT ALL TIMES. Gracias a Dios for Chinese delivery.

I will spend my weekend finding and printing pictures to help Ellie make her posterboard. And learning about panthers. This morning she was singing to herself, "I'm the chica de la semana." She's thrilled, and I want to let her be, and set aside the busy week ahead and let her feel special.

Boxbol and a Mayan Ceremony

Last Sunday we headed to Nebaj with our team. Two of our projects and two of our staff are in Nebaj, so it was a good opportunity for most of our team to see and learn about another part of Guatemala.

On the road to Nebaj, there are always interesting things to see...

...like lots of watermelons.

We like to make our team do ice breakers, because we're the bosses and we can. :)

While the neighbors watch from afar, curious as to what the heck we're doing.

We learned to make Boxbol, a traditional Quiche dish. (We tried it the last time we were here, which I wrote about).

The corn dough is stuffed inside green leaves, rolled, and cooked.

It's served with a variety of sauces, usually a red tomato or a nutty one. It's super delicious.

Ruby thought so, too.

Cooking on the fire.

A few of the guys, learning how to make tortillas.

We celebrated birthdays since our last time together as a group.

We happened to be in Nebaj at the beginning of what is a sacred time of year for the Mayan culture. The 5 days of the New Year were beginning. We heard from some Mayan spiritual leaders about some of the traditions.

Meanwhile, Hazel made a friend. At first, this little girl was watching Hazel from afar as she colored. I suggested to Hazel maybe the girl would like to join her. 

Though a bit shy, Hazel handed the girl a crayon without saying much, and the girls colored together for a long time.

Breakfast one morning was "atol blanco," a white corn-based gruel. With BBQ corn chips on top.

On our last morning, we attended a Mayan "cleansing" ceremony. Our friend gave us a demonstration before we went (I, unfortunately, got food poisoning and was sick in the van while the rest of the team was participating in the ceremony). 

With 5 branches, the spiritual leaders whack each person on the head, hands, and legs, to help cleanse each person from their sins (this is how I understood it). 

Our boss, Cesar, who joined us for our retreat from Honduras, volunteered to serve as an example for us.

As always, I'm always thankful for the team and their ability to just hang out with our girls. It's a special part of the memories we are making, these team retreats. It's often humbling to be parenting in all of our impatience and stress in front of our team, but they have a lot of grace.