My posts have grown more sparse, I admit, and I am wondering if it is because we are feeling more at home here. The more comfortable we become, the less interesting things begin to seem, and I would not bore any of you with our daily office. However, Kristin has told me I should not give up on this little blog project just yet.
Some more general reportage is in order then.
First off, the kids are adapting famously to life in Guatemala. Placing Mallory in the missionary school (
The Christian Academy of Guatemala) has proved to be a good decision. Her teacher is fantastic, and she has made some good friends there. Kristin has been volunteering to watch the kids during the teacher’s lunch break a couple days a week, which gives them a much needed break. They are all very grateful for this, and thank Kristin every time she shows up.
Cristian has lost much of his Spanish since we took him out of Las Abejitas, but we’re on the lookout for a new school to send him to. He loves the new dog, but tends to abuse her by yanking on either of her two left ears, or squeezing her hind quarters in a kind of neanderthal hug. I’ve caught him several times flat out whacking her with a shoe or toy or whatever happens to be laying around. I am not sure where kids get their violent streak. Fortunately, Maya is passive (so far), and lets him have his way with her.
Kristin is still on the lookout for a more permanent ministry. She has been asked by All God’s Children to work one or two mornings a week, giving adoptive families tours of the facility, and handing off their kids. This was one of her favorite things to do when she was working at Hannah’s Hope full-time, so she’s happy for now to get plugged in again in this way. She has also lined up a couple trips to other orphanages next week, which she’s looking forward to. Stay tuned.
Kristin spent last weekend in Antigua helping out with a youth retreat. On Saturday the kids divided up into 10 teams, one of which Kristin was on, and they did “The Amazing Race” modeled after the reality TV show, which took them from one end of the city, on foot, to the other, and back again. Kristin's team, as you might have guessed, cheated as much as possible, and still didn’t finish. That’s my girl!
I have been able to work without too much trouble, though our Internet connection seems to be getting worse by the day. I have placed countless calls to Toema, the Convergence Internet supervisor, who has made countless promises about taking care of the problem. Just a few days ago, I put in an order for ADSL from another provider, Telgua, which is notoriously bankrupt on customer service (an oxymoron in Guatemala, except in the hotels and restaurants). Anyway, Toema is tired of hearing from me. Hopefully Telgua’s connection will be more stable. I’ve been told theirs is the best, but on the downside, they can take up to six weeks to install your modem. We’ll see.
I’ve also been helping out the youth pastor at our church by researching some of the topics he teaches on. It’s a good fit for me because I get to read up on interesting subjects, come up with a few ideas of my own, and yet not have to stand and deliver them in front of forty-something missionary kids, who know and have heard it all. It’s a good sort of challenge for me.
The weather has remained very nice, low to mid 70s and sunny, and at night dropping to the high 50s. The only difference is the haze. Most days we can barely see the city from our house, and the volcanoes are almost always missing from the horizon, or if they do appear, are like fuzzy mounds across the sky. I hate to think of what the air quality is doing to us! The haze, I’ve been told, is mostly due to the burning of vacant lots, which is common this time of year. I wish I had the courage to burn all the trash wrappers and dog shite outside our wall. It could use a good clearing in the worst way. I took the time once to pick it all up, but two days later it looked exactly the same, maybe worse. We're looking into concocting some kind of hellfire pepper mix and soaking the grass to drive off all the strays. But the garbage is another hurdle. I will never understand litter.
Soul Coughing, that great threesome of a band that lit up so many late night drives through Chicago, has a great line that I think of whenever my vision gets fouled by road waste:
"I could be condemned to hell for every sin but littering." (Mike Doughty)
