Title: I can't think of one!

I guess I've been in a little of a funk lately. Katie, who fostered in Antigua before described it as like in the movie Groundhog Day were everyday was the same. I've gotten to that point. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have this opportunity and trying to be open to how I can serve while down here. I'm just missing home, family, and friends. Thank you Lord, though, for the friends I have here and for Emily and I being able to live together! That part has been great (the girl speaks amazing Spanish, too--not that we would use her for that :).

And Erick is wonderful. I love pulling him out of his packnplay in the mornings and plopping him on the bed to squirm around and play. He's very curious and loves to touch my face and feel my closed eyes. Not always such a good thing, though, as that translates into wanting to poke all the other kids in the eyes! He is very loving, too, and comes at the other babies with hugs of good intention, but barrels into them, knocking them over. He's turning into the kid who comes into the room and all the moms get on guard.

The two pics are of our trip to the macacamia nut farm. The tour guide is showing us a sheller that drops the nuts down, the wheel turns and crushes the soft outer shell and spits out the nut back into a pile to let the hard inner shell dry and later be cracked. Such a simple piece of equipment and they are teaching farmers to make these even out of bicycle tires. There's your nut tip for the day. We are trying to plan weekly outings like this to help stay sane! :0)

May 13

Had a great day. Emily and I met up with two super-cool fostering moms, Melissa and Kim, who have been here quite awhile for their adoption processes. Melissa has volunteered alot at Hermano Pedro, a local hospital and care facility, that houses mostly(?) cerebral palsy residents. We all took our kids and went to the children's wing to hang out with them. I wasn't sure about Erick, if I'd have to really watch him or carry him alot, but he had a ball and wasn't a problem at all.

The gut-wrenching part was seeing the kids in the condition they are in and, like at many institutions and orphanages, the lack of staff. They had mosquito nets draped over kids to keep flies, etc away as the kids have a lack of mobility with their limbs. One boy was sitting in his wheelchair with his face in the hot sun, not being able to move. The staff rotates the kids around as they can get to them, but sometimes it takes awhile. It was great just to be able to be there and love on them. You can tell they so long for someone to hold their hand or give them a hug. We plan to make this a regular visit.

Yesterday Emily mentioned reading something in Psalms so when I had a few minutes I went there, too. It was SO uplifting. I was going to jot a few verses down to look at over the week and just kept writing and writing. With some adoption process news being shaky lately, it's been easy to get a little down here and long to be home. I've had to make myself "snap out of it" and to get back to reading God's word and to get out and serve!

Lastly, if I had to be honest, I'd say that I'm really not a blogger at heart. I'm just not organized or energized enough to get this together at the end of the day! I want to keep everyone updated with news and pictures, though, and will shoot for blogging weekly. The good news is that Emily has a great blog! The address is http://www.armstrongfamilyadventure.blogspot.com/ So, if you get tired of waiting to hear from me, check out her site! :-) Please know that I greatly appreciate all of your prayers and comments! Lee Anne

1st Mother's Day

Wow, I was wondering if this day would ever come come! Had a nice but bittersweet Mother's Day as several moms here got together for brunch and a day of swimming and being on the playground with the kids. The downside was that Pat, his parents, and Emily's husband, Jimmy, all left this morning. Emily and I were both so badly wanting to fly home with them! We're ready to come home!!

Had a great week with Ann and Glade being here. Erick took to them right away and had so much fun. Yesterday we took a tour of the city that explained about many of the ruins and churches in Antigua. Most of the ruins here are left as they are from earthquake damage over the years. Our tour ended in a jade factory (jade is the national stone of Guatemala). Yesterday was Mother's Day in Guatemala so Ann and I were each treated to a piece of jade jewelry by our best-husbands-ever. :-)

I'm still working on getting pictures downloaded and organized. Will post some later in the week.

This is the day that the Lord has made!

Another beautiful day in Antigua! If you have to be somewhere for several months, Antigua isn't a bad choice. Tomorrow I will have been here 3 months. I admit, some days get a little long and I'm starting to miss home more, but I'm thrilled to be able to be here! Each day is truly a gift from God.

We had an earthquake tremor over a week ago. I would have guessed it lasted about 15 seconds, but the official report was around 40 seconds. It woke us all up, we grabbed the babies, and ran outside. Very eery rolling sensation. It wasn't one of the more fun gifts from God, but part of life, huh? It was difficult to get back to sleep as we all waiting for an aftershock. The quake was a 6.1 and off the coast of Guatemala (we're ~2 hours from the coast). Apparently tremors are not uncommon here. The US Geological Society has a fascinating website that posts every earthquake around the world for the past week.

Erick's new "fun things to do" are banging on tables and other babies' heads, testing out his big set of lungs, and spitting out green vegetables that I try to give him. He's happiest playing in the dirt outside with a rock in one hand and a stick in the other. I guess that's what boys do!!

Pictures: Lake Atitlan outing, Guatemalan man in traditional Mayan dress, Erick and Samuel (Armstrong), "our kids" of the house and friends (try getting 8 toddlers to sit AND smile!), Uncle Jay tossing Erick.

Family Visit

My mom and brother were here this past week and we had a great time. Erick really clung to his Uncle Jay and mom finally got to spend time with her first grandchild!

Jay and I hiked up Volcano Pacaya one afternoon. Not completely to the top crater, but close enough to the flowing lava! This is a calm volcano that just oozes, and is a 1 or 2 on a scale of 5. Mt. St. Helen is a 5. We roasted marshmallows over the hot spots. The volcano in the sunset picture isn't the one we went up, just in our view. To it's left is a smaller volcano "poofing."

The last picture is of Erick and Kylee playing in the garden and eating dirt. Kylee is quite the ring-leader and Erick is eager to follow! Kylee's family, Heather and Grady are finished with their adoption process and heading back to Colorado with little Eli in the morning. We will miss them!

As far as our process, we just got pre-approval into PGN which is the next big step. PGN's adoption department consists of 3 reviewers who go over our case in extreme detail and can give a "kick-out" for the most insignificant thing. If I had to guess, I'd say we have 2 1/2 to 3 months left in our process. Really, just a guess though.

Things are moving!!

Heather and Grady's process is almost complete and she could go home April 19!! She will be the second of our housemates to leave since I've been here. Angie is with the 3rd and last reviewer in PGN, the body that governs adoptions in Guatemala. Once a person has cleared PGN they should have 5-6 weeks left. So, we have not yet made it to PGN, but are moving in that direction as well. It's very exciting for Heather! She and her biological daughter, little blonde Kylee, and soon-to-be son, Elijah, have been here since August. We will miss them, but how wonderful that they are almost home!

Speaking of moving, we had a little earthquake tremor last week. It really jolted my bed and I saw the curtains swaying. Only lasted about 2 seconds, but it was memorable. The earthquake was like a 4.5 and was 70 miles SW of Guat City (not too far from us!).The US Geological Society has a website that gives a daily listing of every earthquake all over the world and info about it. Pretty interesting.

It's fun to watch the kids in our house interact with each other. They are each in awe of the ones older than themselves and they try to love on the younger ones. Erick thinks Kylee is pretty cool as she can ride the tricycle and pull heavy toys off the toyshelves. He is slowly learning to be gentle with younger Eli and Milo instead of giving a friendly whacks in the face.

This hasn't been my best time of reading or study as most waking moments are spent with Erick around my leg or waist, so I've at least tried to work on scripture memory. Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" has been on my mind alot the past few weeks. It's been a long process, but God has truly blessed us. I so look forward to Pat being able to be around Erick more.

Mom and my brother, Jay, will be here tomorrow for the week! Yeah!

Sorry for the sideways pictures again. Proof that I shouldn't do anything after 9pm! The pics are of Erick finally getting a plastic Easter egg open and chomping the peep before I could get to it, a lady cruising through the streets with a box on her head (it's normal to see the large fabric bundle on their head, but a box takes more talent!), the produce market, 8th bday party for Katerin (sister Cindy with short hair--both being adopted by the Embrey family from KC), and lastly, Milo with a carefully crafted cup on his hand. He reached into a scalding bowl of tomato soup served at a restaurant and got a second degree burn. The cup is to let it dry without bumping into things. Would have been a lawsuit at home for sure!! The cup reminded me of the cone that the Harris's cat had to wear around it's head in order not to lick itself. :-)