Happenings of Last Week

I really enjoyed reading the comments you left here and e-mailed to me. :) If you leave a comment, I'd love to know what your name is - or at least initials. ;)  Thank you for taking time to leave a comment.  Most of these pictures you will see on our missions FB page, but some of you have emailed and said you don't have FB, so these are for you. ;)

Life has been busy, but good since I last posted. Megan has taken up a liking to picture taking like her momma and big sister.  She really enjoys the flowers that grow here and taking pictures of them.  Here is one of her favorites.



These loud beauties have been hanging out in our back yard for the last few weeks.  Aren't they gorgeous?

Sundays are one of our hardest days we have here.  We love worshiping with others and being in church, but with not understanding much Spanish, sitting for hours at a time in church can be draining.  And to do that twice a day on Sunday's it can be doubly draining, *but* it is such a special thing when we go to church and God's presence is there and we feel Him so close.  God's presence knows no boundaries and I'm so thankful for that!

Last week was the first week of school here and I made cinnamon rolls for all the teachers for their first day of school (65 cinnamon rolls). Ashlyn and her sweet friend, Kati, were my helpers. :)

Last week, Br. Hight, President of Evangelistic Faith Missions, and Br. Crosley, a board member, stayed with us for a visit and it was such a nice time.  They were such an encouragement to us and many great memories were made. I'm so thankful that these important men aren't so high and lofty that they can't spend time with kids!  Our kids *loved* having the times of games, reading and hiking with them.

Our girls got Calico Critters for Christmas and have been loving them. :)  Ashlyn got a house for her birthday, but they have more "critters" than houses, so we had a building day for a new house. 

I think it turned out pretty good.

I'm *thoroughly* enjoying my Poinsettia tree in our back yard.

Watermelon anyone?

We went hiking up the mountain with Br. Crosley one day while he was here....it was a fun and we all came back a little more red than when we went. :)

We like to drive up to the mountains when we're needing to just get away from all the walls of the city and we usually always buy roasted corn from these girls.  The girl in the front of the picture roasts the corn, then the girl in the back wraps the roasted corn in the husks, and rubs salt and lime on it. Yummmm.....

There are about 120 Emanuel churches in Guatemala. They were started years ago and many EFM missionaries served these churches. Now these churches are all governed and pastored by Guatemalans and doing a great job of it.  We were so happy to find one of these churches, way up in the mountains.  I can't wait to go back on a Sunday to worship with them.  This is the pastor, Marvin Lopez.

I think it was laundry day when we drove up into the mountains.

One of God's beautiful creations!

Our sweet little people that call us Momma and Daddy!

We were driving the other day and drove through the cemetery (because they are so interesting here) and saw these precious, little girls were drinking (full face in the water) out of run-off water that had collected in a concrete pad.  I can't even imagine what is in that water.  The other little girl (blue shirt) was washing out her little shirt and skirt.  Later after we drove back through we saw them walking up the hill to the city dump and that's where they live.  Can you imagine living in the dump..all your food and clothes coming from someone else's trash?

Also, last week Br. Crosley's school sent money for him to take us out to eat.  We enjoyed a nice supper and stopped by the grocery store on our way home.  Pretty soon three little boys came up to our window and asked if we had any food or money.  I didn't have any money and Keith was in the store, but I told him I had some food from the place we just ate at which he gladly took.  As you can see, he scarfed it right down.  His two brothers were already done eating by the time I took the picture.  We take so much for granted!

Sunday we got to visit a different Emanuel church in a nearby town.  It was a fun experience and a beautiful drive. :)

That sums up our week, I think.  Thank you for coming along with us and enjoying our life here in Guatemala!

Thank you for those that take time to comment and let us know you enjoy our blog.  

Have a blessed week!

~Crystal 

Just Some Thoughts......

Disclaimer: This is a very long post - it's very random with random thoughts and words jumbled together probably not even making sense.  I hope you will not just read it (if you get that far) but know my heart while you read it - it's not a complaining post!


It's the tenth of January 2016 and I've decided this year to dust off my blog and enjoy it again!  I do love blogging, and I noticed last year that writing was really an outlet for me and I didn't do very much of it. So I'm hoping to change that this year. :)

When we first started this blog in  2008, we named it "Our Life Through The Lens" because we wanted it to be mostly a picture blog and not very "wordy".  I still want that for our blog, but I think the "wordy" part might change some.  There are times that I am just wordy...times that I need to get things out and declutter my thoughts.

I'm not sure what direction this blog will take this year and I may change it to "private" I'm not sure yet, because it is a lot more personal for me......but we will see what happens.  If you enjoy our blog, please let us know in the comments, that way if I do change it to private, I'll be sure to add your name to the list. ;)

We took the bottom picture today.  When you look at these pictures you might see that the kids have grown, you might notice that Kristyn has different glasses, you may see that Keith and I aren't packing so much weight (big smile), or that Keith has less hair... but when I look at these pictures I see something different.

These pictures tell a story.......a story in progress that is not finished yet. A story that only God can write!

In the first picture (2015) I see a family that is happy, nervously excited, kind of fearful and completely thrilled to be in the place where God has called them to serve.

Fast forward a year and in the second picture I see a family that is still happy, not as nervous, but still kind of nervously excited about what the year will hold, not really fearful anymore at all and yes, still completely thrilled to be in the place where God has called them.

It's amazing how these two pictures can be so similar and yet so different at the same time.

When we first came a year ago, we were all of the emotions listed above and then some. We didn't know what to expect, we couldn't see all the things we would face, we didn't know all the hard times that lay around the corner that would knock us to our knees, we couldn't see the hurt and confusion that the year would bring......BUT we did know that we were right where God wanted us to be!

This week starts another year for us here.  It's hard to believe it's only been one year. We've been through hard times, many of them......and we know that this year will hold some of those same things (plus more) and yet, somehow it's easier this time.  

It may seem weird to think that even knowing what all we faced last year and knowing we're in the same place this year and very likely will face some of the same things again....it's easier?

Yes, it's easier this time and here is the reason why.

It's easier because even though we've been throughs some of our deepest valley's here in Jalapa, we've also experienced God like we never have before here.  Even though we thought the hurt couldn't go deeper, God's love and comfort did go deeper. Even though we thought we couldn't be stretched, mentally, emotionally or spiritually any more than we had been, God's grace and mercy extended further! Even though we felt like we couldn't take another step, God's arms were always waiting to carry us through.

We knew all of this a year ago - in our heads - but we really didn't *know* it, or experience it until last year.

So in a way it's easier coming into this year, because we know that God is big,  God is faithful and God is good.  He was all of that last year and He has promised to be that this year, too.

We have also experienced so much love from a people that are a different color than us, speak a different language, do things entirely differently that we do, but God has allowed love to flow between these beautiful Guatemalan people and our family that no words are needed to be able to understand it.  When we came, we knew how to say "hello" and "where's the bathroom" in Spanish, yet, the day we arrived we could feel love!  God opened that door from their hearts to ours and let love flow freely to our children and to us!  That has carried us through so many times!  They have truly been God's hands extended!

I know that this post portrays our time here as pretty bleak and I don't mean it that way at all. It has not been a bed of roses, more like a patch of thorns, but the roses that have bloomed from that patch of thorns are like no other.

The ramblings of this post is not to say how bad we've had it, but rather how BIG our God is and has been for us.  We have had so much good this last year and I'll tell you about those things, too, but the thoughts on my heart today as I looked at those two pictures were just......God is amazing!  He has brought us so far last year and I can't wait to see what He'll do this year! 

God gave me two words for this year!  I decided they needed to wait for another post.

My thoughts are empty now - my heart is full.  Our dear, old blog has been a good place for me again today to rest my weary thoughts!   Even if you don't read all of them, they have done me good.

This is Ashlyn and her best friend Kati!  This sums up how we feel about living here in Jalapa - thrilled to pieces! 

I like our blog.  Usually, people that come to a blog, come for a reason. They come because they want to or have a purpose to, they come because they are interested. I don't link our blog to Facebook for many reasons.  This is a very personal place for me and for our family and I don't want it to just "run across" someones newsfeed - I want them to purposefully care to read it. :)

Thank you for taking time to read this - if you did. :)  All of my posts this year won't be like this, I promise ( I hope ).  I look forward to reconnecting with you on our blog so you can see a different side of our life here.   I'd love to hear from you, too.

Love,
Crystal

Happy Birthday, Kristyn!!

It's so hard to believe that eleven years ago, our sweet, little black-haired baby was born!  Kristyn has been such a huge blessing to our family!!

Out of all our children, she has struggled most with moving to Guatemala, but over time, she has allowed God to really use her in different ways and in turn she has blossomed SO much!  We are so thankful for the ways that we see her allowing God to guide her steps.  She told us the other day that she wants to be a missionary teacher when she grows up.....a FAR cry from a few months ago, when all she wanted to do was "go home" with nightly buckets of tears.

Her birthday was on Sunday and I think she smiled the whole day long.  She said it was her best day ever.  I asked her what her favorite thing was in the last year and she said, "Youth Camp". Then I asked what she thought would be her favorite thing this coming year and she said "Helping in the school"

All the kids wanted to get her a gift, so she had a nice little stash.

"Aunt Mikah" (the missionary young lady here with us) gave her a water bottle.

Owen made her a card and gave her socks.....he was very proud of his card. ;)

Megan and Ashlyn made her a card and gave her a "free foot massage ticket"

She also got a box of pens, note pad, and sticky notes.  She was VERY happy with this gift.

She also got a pillow that she wanted.

This is how she spent the afternoon with her new pillow. :)

She wanted pudding with oreos instead of a cake.

We are so thankful for our girl and so happy she's part of our family!!

Thank you for helping us celebrate!!  :)

This and That...

This post has LOTS of pictures. :)  I thought I'd just post random things about how part of our life is here.

The kids love their Sunday School class. Of course it's all in Spanish and I usually can figure out what the story is about and then I tell it to Jeren and Ashlyn (quietly) while they are telling it in Spanish.  But they just love their little class and the other kids seem to like having our kids in there, too.

Coloring their papers - aren't they just the sweetest little people ever?

This beautiful bird likes to sit outside of our back wall.  I love taking pictures of him.

 On Friday's the school kids will come over to our yard for their recess, because we have the school play-set in our back yard. Our kids love it when they come over.  Megan can't talk to these girls and they can't talk to her, but they still have so much fun and laugh the entire time.  I'm so thankful that our kids aren't intimidated by not knowing Spanish - they are learning and making progress.

Love these precious girls!!!

A few weeks ago, we decided to wash the truck. The kids were so excited to get into their swimming clothes and "wash the truck" :)

Serious stuff!

Ashlyn having fun washing the moto

He really took he job seriously.

Jeren (H-eren...they call him here) and Ashlyn's Sunday School Teachers.  The middle teacher has since had a sweet baby boy!

The first-grade teacher has asked Owen to come over 3 days a week during their reading time to read to them. It's so sweet to watch and hear - Owen will read and word and they will all repeat word for word until the end of the story. :)  This helps them with their pronunciation of the English words.

Keith goes over 2 days a week for their reading

Kristyn helps almost every day (when her school work at home is done) in the Kindergarten class with their reading and pronunciation.  She has struggled the most with being here and away from "home" but since she has started doing this, she has completely blossomed and we are so thankful for that. She LOVES going to help them and the kids lover her in return (15 students in that class). The teachers have all expresses how much she is a help and we appreciate that.  (The teachers are all taking English classes that Keith gives 3 days a week.)

God knew my love for flowers and has provided some beautiful ones here. :)

Every once in a while, the teacher will decided to play soccer after school. It's always a fun time!

This is Helen - she is tiny and hilarious!!

Krlos is one of the Kindergarten teachers and one of the most sincere men I have ever met. I can't wait to see what God has for him.

Alijandra (Alexandra) is one of the first-grade teachers. She is just a happy girl to be around.

Jonathan is the third-grade teacher. He's is a great young man that loves God and loves to have fun!

Wilmer teaches the upper grades with Keith.  He is a fine young man that loves God and is a joy to be around.

Claudia is one of the Kindergarten teachers and has been one of our biggest helpers. She is fluent in English and is willing to help us out with anything we need.  She is a wonderful young lady!

One day last week all the kids in the fourth-grade class made cards for each of our kids and me. That was so special. They brought them over to our house and told us how much they loved our family....so sweet!!!

Last week, we had a Teacher Night at our house!  We had lasagna, corn, brownies and ice cream!  We played games, laughed, talked, practiced our Spanish and they practiced their English and we all had a wonderful time.  It felt so nice to have friends in our home!

This is outside of our back wall and down the 32 steps from our back yard. :)

The door way is to our back yard.

Climbing the wall to get the ball that went over.

So, so thankful for friends!!!

This is Leonel. His wife was the director of the school that passed away suddenly last year. He is a faithful, sincere, Godly man that we have a lot of love and respect for.

Sonya, Kimberly and Claudia

Silly Jonathan - he loves chocolate.

Ashlyn loves her buddy Krlos

Karen and Gleny - precious girls.

Most of the staff...some could not come.

This describes our evening. :D

Thanks for dropping by to check on us!!!!  We love hearing from you.