Mother's Day x 4

Mother's Day stretched out all week. Last Thursday Ruby and I went to a breakfast at church. It was fun to spend time with my Littlest. 

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Since Ruby was in the preschool for a few weeks, she had made this present for me, minus the handprints, name, or date. It was cute, but I'm not as into presents the teachers paint and make. I'd prefer something less perfect that she painted herself, or with her little handprints. So, we modified her gift a little, and I love it. My necklaces are hanging on it.

At church on Sunday we celebrated Moms. The kiddos sang a couple songs.

Mother's Day photo, 2016

May 10th is an official holiday in Guatemala and most Moms have the day off. I went to see Hazel's dance she's been practicing for weeks with her classmates. It's hard not to watch her and remember her first "act" here in Guatemala when she balled her eyes out during the entire song. She's grown up a lot. 

Ellie's Act was yesterday, so I got to see her dance and sing. She was so comfortable on stage. For weeks she's been keeping this "surprise" from me, not wanting me to know that she's been practicing a song and dance. She loved the idea of not telling me her secret, and kept it well. I hope I don't have to be worried that she's so good at keeping secrets from me.

(Yes, she has two different shoes on. That was intentional, her choice. One of her shoes broke and she wanted one of each. Sure, kid. Whatever you want.)

Flashback: My first Mother's Day in Guatemala.

Feliz Dia De Madre!

Easter Monday

Some friends from church saw my blog about not dying Easter eggs, so they offered to come over and dye eggs with the girls yesterday, since Monday was still a holiday with no school.

Ruby had fun watching.

The girls loved it, and they really had no idea that it was after Easter.

Thanks, Friends!

Simple Saturday

We are enjoying being home with a little pool our neighbor gave us. It's been really warm since we got home, so we are relaxing outside.

A few more pictures from our trip this week while waiting at customs in Belize.

Why not collect beer bottle caps?

Another stamp in the Little One's passport

Chapmancitas

Chillin' with Mama

A rare photo time with me and my girls

Ruby is doing much better since yesterday. I wouldn't say she's 100%. She's still a bit clingy and not always sure, but she is taking steps and able to put weight on her leg, with caution. Gracias a Dios. 

Semana Santa 2016

We went on a trip.

We had to take a boat to deal with some visa issues. 

We got really wet. Soaked. I laughed so hard watching Michael drip with salty sea water. He looked like a dripping wet dog. The girls cuddled and fell asleep. 

Ruby fell asleep on the boat, which is pretty miraculous considering the huge waves and choppy bumps for an hour. I felt like I needed a chiropractic adjustment after that ride.

After giving us some trouble due to Customs making a mistake in the girls' passports 2 years ago at the same border crossing, it all worked out, and we headed to Honduras to meet up with some friends for a bit.

Waiting at the border, under a sign that says "Firearms."

The first night was pleasant, though I learned that Hondurans love their music really, really loud. Like, deafening. Even after midnight when we went to bed, the music was still thumping. Another reason I appreciate the noise machine app on my phone.

It was a place that was supposed to be warm, extra warm, and humid. I packed exactly zero pairs of pants for me (a pair of capris), and one pair of pants and a light sweatshirt for the girls. The rest of the suitcase was full of shorts and swimsuits and flip flops. Instead, a cold front dropped in and it rained and drizzled almost the whole time we were there.

Ruby's first time playing in the sand.

After the first day, it kind of felt like the Oregon coast, as the storm took away the sand and left behind a rocky beach. So we felt at home. And the girls didn't seem to notice the cold air. They love the beach and the ocean.

Hazel took to gathering rocks for her "collection."

Besides eating dinner in the dark one night due to no electricity (and the place having no candles on hand) and the water going out for several hours, and the lack of hot water when there was water, besides the scorpion I found in our bathroom in the middle of the night, and the mosquitos that feasted on my ankles and on the girls, and the crazy eye infection that crusted Michael's eyes shut, besides all that, we had a good trip. 

The girls played with some other kids, we relaxed and stayed dry and played a lot of cards with our friends. That was really great. It was memorable, for sure. We were disconnected from the internet, we were together as a family, the girls and Michael got to go kayaking one slightly less wet morning, and we rested.

And then...

On the way home we were happy we were going against all the holiday traffic. When we got to the border there was a super long line. I stayed behind with the girls in the truck, who quickly got fussy and were fighting over the Ipad. While Ruby was hanging out in the driver's seat, I walked around to the back door and decided the girls should get out and we'd go find Michael. Thinking Ruby was further inside, I quickly opened the front driver's side door, and in a quick blur I realized Ruby was hanging on to the door, and suddenly on the ground on her back. I don't really remember how she fell, I just know it was super fast and it totally shocked me.

I scooped her up, and it took an extra long time for her to calm down. When I finally tried to put her on the ground to walk, she flipped out. She was whimpering and fussy, but there were no bodily signs of injury.

We got back in the car and headed home. Ruby slept and was a bit fussy but nothing out of the ordinary. At one quick stop she clung to Michael, and when he tried to stand her up, her legs buckled. After 8 hours of driving, we pulled in front of our house. I put Ruby on the ground and her leg immediately buckled. We realized she hadn't wanted to put any weight on her leg since she had fallen. We unloaded our suitcases, loaded ourselves back in the truck and headed to the ER. My fear was a broken leg. 

At the ER, mostly all smiles.

Thankfully, her x-rays were clear. They gave her medicine for the pain as it was obvious she still doesn't want to put any weight on that leg.

This morning is more of the same. She's pretty clingy, and she wants to walk, but every time she does, her leg seems to give way. So we're resting and monitoring it. Maybe it's bruised or a sprained knee. Since it's a holiday weekend we will keep watching her and hope it gets better. 

Prayers that she heals quickly would be appreciated. This Mama feels so badly for letting her fall. Her spirits are high and she is still her smiley self, she just doesn't want to walk.

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.