Guatemala

Hi friends. This is Mark writing. I just returned from Guatemala last weekend and thought I'd share a little about the experience. I went with a group of people from our church here in Houston, under the auspices of the global mission organization Living Water International. If you've never heard of them, it's definitely worth some time checking out their website, www.water.cc. In short, they install water wells all over the world for people who don't have access to clean water. They are a Christian organization and their motto sums up their mission well: "Providing a cup of water in Jesus' name." I know many reading this blog are not Christians, and I sincerely thank you for indulging me in sharing a few thoughts related to my faith.

Why did I want to participate in something like this? Truth is, I've wanted to for a number of years now, but there's never been an opportunity when a mission trip has been organized at the same time as me being off from work. So when this lined up with the orchestra's break, it was an easy decision. To answer the above question, I hoped to experience being part of God's work in a focused manner, away from all the demands of regular life. I often find myself ruled by the to-do list, unable to see past whatever needs attention at the moment. This makes it difficult to discern what God might want to teach me, or how I could grow in faith, or other spiritual things. I hoped that stepping away from everything and participating in this trip might be like taking off a pair of dirty glasses, enabling me to see clearly even if just for those 8 days, but hopefully longer.

Here's a recap of all that went down. We flew down on a Friday morning and arrived in the city of Antigua by about 2pm. Antigua is where the local drilling expert lives and where they base all the operations in Guatemala. His house is set up to accommodate 12 people visiting on trips like this. It's a nice little city (used to be the capitol), nestled up in the mountains so the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We spent two days there doing touristy type things and getting to know each other. Although the group was all from our church, most of us did not know each other yet. On Sunday afternoon, we drove four hours down to the western coast (near a city called Champerico for you map lovers). We stayed in a motel there, which was decent by the local standards, but really a dump by U.S. standards. Let's just say shower shoes were pretty important. We were set to start work on the well on Monday morning, and there was a real tangible excitement the night before - knowing very little about this process except that we were likely to be very sore in 24 hours.

We were on the road to the site by 6:15am. The village where we were drilling was called "La Surena." When we pulled in with a van and a truck hauling a funky looking trailer (the drill rig), the kids came out and looked inquisitively but cautiously. This was actually very rewarding, in that by the end of the process, they were running out to greet us when we arrived in the morning. We had been warned that the next few days would be hard work, but it was even more difficult than I expected. That first day we hauled dozens of 20lb pipes, a few 50 pounders, mixed hundreds of gallons of mud, hauled 50lb bags of mud mix, used shovels to move a very large mound of sand when the first hole failed, and moved a VERY heavy drill rig by hand, in mud, to the new hole location. Conditions were rough - heat and humidity about like Houston's and mud absolutely everywhere. After being splashed in the face and mouth with muddy water, we joked about how all the diarrhea bugs were excited to get to work. We were very fortunate to have shade at the site for at least half the day.

I'll write another post about the specifics of the drilling process, so I'll skip those details here. We spent the next two days drilling and developing the well so that the water was clean and flowed freely. Each day was a whole lot of hard work, but was extremely rewarding. It was very encouraging that our second hole seemed to be a good one and by the end of the third day we were treated to a wonderful sight. By this point we were using compressed air to flush out the well and get things flowing. We could see tons of water coming out the end of the attached tube at 100 gallons/minute, clear as can be. Our leader even drank some at that point. This was a very special moment for me - all that hard work coming to fruition, knowing what that water was going to mean for the people in the village, and feeling that I'd contributed to the Bible's instruction to meet people's physical needs. I confess I shed a few tears just watching water flowing out of a pipe.

The final day in the village, we finished up the well by putting on the hand operated pump and participated in a dedication ceremony. It was a little sad to go. We'd gotten to know some of the folks there including some of the men that helped with the well, and lots of kids who had an amazing amount of energy. We rotated in and out of positions with the drilling, so during the "off-shift" we'd often play football or frisbee with the kids. There was one particular boy who tugged on the heartstrings. He was about 8 years old, but couldn't speak. Not that I could have understood his Spanish even if he could, but sad nonetheless. When trying to get someone's attention, he would do this odd sounding yell. He was my long distance frisbee partner. The other kids were content to throw the frisbee short distances, but he liked to throw across the entire yard - a good 75 feet.

That afternoon we drove four hours back to the wonderfully cool town of Antigua. We spent Friday doing tourist things, then flew back early Saturday morning. My alarm went off at 2:50am. Yikes!

Now that the trip is over, what did I learn? There's been a pretty big emotional load to sort through, but there's one thing that sticks out. It comes from this experience being somewhat of a microcosm of spiritual life in general, particularly in how our team developed and worked together. Many principles in the Bible came to life in this way, particularly unity, the individual parts working together harmoniously much like in our human bodies, and the notion of being consumed by seeking God and working tirelessly for his goals rather than our own. It would have been pretty cool just to see these concepts played out in a clear manner as we did - in a way like "practicing" the way we should live. But the thing I'll really hang on to is the immense, indescribable joy that came from living this way. I simply hope that taste of joy, which was so overwhelming and wonderful, will lead me to live like that as everyday life continues.

Here's a few photos. We haven't shared all the photos yet, so I don't have any with me in them. Hopefully soon.

A nice shot of Antigua set among the mountains.



Mixing up some mud, not too dirty yet.


Nice shot of the drill rig.


They had some nasty looking turkeys there. The locals fed us lunch each day we were there, and I was thankful to not see one of these on the table.


I really like this picture taken in Antigua.

Weekend with Grandpa

We had a fun-packed weekend with Grandpa (yes, this is post is a few days delayed).

On Saturday, we went to check out the Bellaire Pool. I had heard it was great for small children, and we were certainly not disappointed!

The biggest hit was the "big duck" slide into the pool. This section of the pool was only 2' deep.





Ben also liked the turtles painted on the floor of the pool.


Ben also had a lot of fun leaping off the edge of the deeper part of the pool into grandpa's arms. We had to work on "toes at the edge" before jumping, because he sort of just falls forward into the pool.




Swimming laps with Grandpa:




On Sunday morning, we went to the zoo. Ben was very excited about this. On the schedule, we noticed that the elephants were scheduled to receive a bath --- that's what Ben and Grandpa are watching below. He still talks about wanting to go to the zoo to see the elephants take another bath.


Ben also got to ride the carousal twice. First, he rode a panda with mommy, and then a gorilla with Grandpa.




Brushing a goat at the petting zoo. He wanted to brush each goat with each type of brush!



Every evening during Grandpa's visit, we went to the park after dinner. Ben walked/rode to the park in his push trike.





Ben was especially into the swings. He liked playing "bonk" with Grandpa and me, which is a game where you pretend to get kicked by Ben during his upswing. As you can see from Grandpa's flailing arms, it's a bit tiring.





Finally, we stopped in the library to do puzzles and read books. Ben is very particular about choosing the right puzzle, and deciding whether to do the puzzle at a table, or on the floor. And if he chooses floor, he then has to choose a particular animal to sit on to do the puzzle. The choice below was a dinosaur puzzle sitting on the cat. :)

Games with Ben and a visit with Grandpa

Mark is in Guatemala this week on a mission trip with the organization Living Water (perhaps he'll blog about this trip on his return)? So Grandpa Howard generously offered to come and help me out with Benjamin for a few days! The pictures below are from his visit so far --- and he's only been here a couple of days. (btw, yes I am blogging this at 6 AM --- I woke up unable to sleep any more --- I'm sure by the time everyone else wakes up, I'll be tired again) :)

GAMES

A popular game in our house is "Night, night (insert name)." What I love about this game, is that it is different for every person. These are games invented with/by Benjamin.

The first game is "Night, night little baby." I don't have pictures of this one, but it consists of tucking Benjamin under the covers in our bed, saying "night, night little baby." His response is "Goo Gaa."

The next game invented is "Night, night daddy." This game is anything but restful. It involves Mark lying on his back in the middle of our bed. Ben stands up on Mark's belly or rib cage, and then leaps off and lands on his butt on the bed besides Mark. Sometimes he leaps straight up and lands back on Mark. Ben LOVES this game, but it makes me nervous that he is going to get hurt (although, realistically, it's more often Mark that gets hurt), so I often have to leave when they play this game, or I sit there gasping. :)

Benjamin originally tried to request "Night, night Mommy" to get me to play the game above, but I've insisted that this is a Daddy-only game. So, instead, he gave a new name and a new twist to a game we already play...

Ben's always enjoyed being surprised, so one of the games we often play is where I hide, Ben tries to find me, and as he approaches, I jump out and shout "Boo." Yes, I know, not a typical game for a two-year old, but this one's a daredevil.

So Night, night mommy is this game. But now, he likes to tell me where to hide. He then leaves me in my hiding spot, goes to our room, climbs on the bed, then comes back to find me. Once I shout "boo," I ask him where I am supposed to hide next, and follow him to my next location.

The newest game is "Night, night Grandpa." This involves Grandpa pretending to take a nap on the couch, with Benjamin "sneaking up" (which in reality, is just walking up) to Grandpa and shouting "boo", to which Grandpa shrieks. We've learned that Ben does NOT like Grandpa to be the one to shout boo. This is a one-sided only game.

And finally, another popular game in our house: Baby launch (pictured below). Here, you grab Ben by his thighs, he straightens his body, and you "launch" him into the middle of the bed.

And finally, a few more recent pictures:

Grandpa doing puzzles with Ben:

Ben in his new "Blue Elephant" T-shirt from Aunt Sarah (we love it, thank you Sarah!). He's eating a prune in this picture --- he's a little backed up... :)

Up next: pictures from our trip to the pool yesterday.

Okay, time to try to catch a few more minutes of sleep before monkey-boy wakes up...

Catchin' Up with Pictures

Seems like our "real" blog entries these days are few and far between. So here are a few fun bits from the last few months with the photos we finally downloaded from our camera...

Our "sticker boy" is slowing down a bit, but only after a couple of solid months of sticker-OBSESSION. Here he is enjoying some stickers in the laundry basket. No, this is not his normal sticker location. But when the mail arrived with these stickers from Grandma Claudia, Ben was playing in the laundry basket. So I let him open the envelope with his present, and after asking for some paper, he settled right down to get to work.



For his birthday, I bought Benjamin a life-like mini vacuum. But it's still definitely not as good as the real thing.



My memory is short. I don't even remember the details regarding the illness below, which was only a couple of months ago -- it must have been short and un-impressive (good thing!). We got through it with lots of snuggle and our "Bookaneers" Sesame Street DVD (pirates who love to read). This is the ONLY DVD that Ben wanted to watch for the last couple of months. We held off from any TV until he turned two, and within a couple of weeks, we were barraged with "I want TV." But he's learning the rules of the house.

Ben: "I want TV."
Mom or Dad: "When do we watch TV, Ben?"
Ben: "After school" (or on weekends, "after nap."
Mom or Dad: "That's right."

a few minutes later...

Ben: "I want TV."
and repeat...

Just yesterday, though, he began to diversify --- and the last two days we've watched Sesame Street Dinosaurs.

I have to admit the 45 minutes of quiet that ensues from allowing him to watch TV has been WONDERFUL...particularly if he's had too short of a nap on the weekend. And it's what is allowing me to type this blog!



Ben is so sweet when he's sick!



Summer is definitely in full swing! Ben's school has a special summer program that they call "splash days." After a short work time inside and snack, they spend most of the morning outside with sprinklers and water play materials. This means that our daily morning routine requires slathering on sunscreen. None of us are particularly fond of this routine. Particularly Ben, who you can see objecting to the application in the picture below.

This picture is actually from a weekend, as we prepared to play outside / clean out our garage and shed a few weeks ago. I thought Ben and Mark looked especially cute in their baseball hats!



MUFFINS! I have found something nutritious that I can make that Ben actually asks for (versus his usual request for animal crackers, mac&cheese or ice cream). So far we've made blueberry and zucchini which he devours. Next up: Pumpkin.

(and another thing I recently tried that he liked: Baked Oatmeal! Thanks Lara, for this winner!)



Our new evening routine (which replaces naked rolling time). Right after bath, we bundle Ben up in his towel (per his request: "Towel snuggles") and then proceed to the kitchen where we slather on the lotion (you can see the white on his arms below). Ben recently had a rough bout of Eczema, so we had to lotion, lotion, lotion him up for a while. Following lotion, Ben enjoys his ice cream wrapped in his towel. His favorite is mint ice cream.



Here is a non-sick Ben enjoying TV. He typically asks for it on his way home from school (if not immediately when woken up to go home at school). Snack on the couch while watching the Bookaneers. Not a bad life, eh?



Ben's favorite outside activity: spraying water from his spray bottle.



Making popsicles with mom. He liked these, but the size/shape of the popsicles made with dixie cups proved a bit hard for him to eat. We got new small-sized popsicle molds - and he had his first one from it this morning: a chocolate milk popsicle, which he LOVED.



Somewhere around his second birthday, we removed Ben's booster seat and began letting him eat (knees or bottom) from a regular chair. Like the big boy bed, it wasn't a conscious decision. He started asking to sit in mommy or daddy's chair, and fussed about getting into his booster seat, so now it's gone. Makes clean-up at least a bit easier.



That's it for this photo essay. More to come!