Sad Goodbye

Today we took a team of 20 youth (from our home church, Pathways) to the Malnutrition Center. It's located about an hour north of Antigua, has between 35 and 40 children under the age of eight, and has attracted our attention because it has become neglected in recent years because of its out-of-the-way location.

As several of us were working with the children, the director of the clinic came in and invited me to meet a family that was admitting their daughter. As I entered the room, I saw a mother crying for her two year old child as she said her goodbyes. One of the assistants came in a minute later to take the child to what would be her new home for the next five or six years. I stood there awkwardly as the director asked a few questions from the family in order to update their records. It went something like this....

- How many children do you have? Five.
- One of them is already here, correct? Yes.
- So, you will now have three children at home and two here? Yes.
- Are there any illnesses? For the father, one kidney does not function, and he was admitted to the hospital last week to have his lung drained of fluid. (On his arm was also a very large growth of some kind).
- Actually, how about the child you are admitting? For the child, just a cough.
- Only a cough? Any stomach problems? Yes, she also has frequent diarrhea.
- Are you pregnant? Yes.
- You're pregnant? Yes, (embarrassed glances at each other)... and four months along.
- So this will be your sixth child? Yes.
- Are you breastfeeding any longer? No.
- So, what are you giving the child to drink...milk? No, she doesn't like milk.
- Ok then, some kind of nutritional drink? No, just coffee.
- Coffee? That's all she drinks? Yes, we can't afford nutritional drinks and she won't drink regular milk.
- Ok, tell me about your home...how many rooms, etc? Two rooms, no kitchen, no electricity.
- What type of work do you do? Laborer in a coffee plantation.
- How much do you earn to support your family? Q25 each day (about $3 daily).
- Only Q25 ($3) each day to support a family of eight? Yes.
- How old are you? 35, and my wife is also the same age.

After the questions, the director politely dismissed the couple. As they walked away, the wife patiently waited while the man hobbled with great effort next to her. I stood in stunned silence for a while. Here was a couple my age, looking twenty to thirty years older as the years of hard labor, poor nutrition, and no hope had etched their faces and wrecked their bodies. The child they left behind weighed half of what she should have for her age.

I asked the director if this was typical, and she said yes, since this is such a poor village. An entire village in this same condition is too much to digest, too much to take in. What's harder to grasp is that the pain of poverty and hunger is only a faint shadow of the spiritual darkness and emptiness that is the root of all of this. Where does one begin to help?

Two Weeks in Pictures

We had a special 2 weeks having family here. On their second day here, we had a 5th birthday party for Jackson. Jack likes to combine the words "fiesta" and "pinata" and just call it a "piesta!"





We took them shopping at our Publix, the market...


We celebrated Christmas early...



We celebrated 12 baptisms...


We experienced a Mayan village...




The boys got to experience the zipline at Finka Filadelphia...




We visited the Malnutrition Center and loved on the kids there...







It was a great reminder that family is special, that I am thankful for people who have known us for years, who know our history, our faults and triumphs and who love us just because. Thank you for coming, Mom and Dad O.!

Family Days

Steve's parents are here for 2 weeks, and we're having fun taking a break from the routine and spending time as a family. On Sunday, Nancy, Manolo, Nan and I ran in a 10K in Antigua. Near the finish line, Steve and the kids "ran me in" like they did in the marathon. Our local race website, runguate.com, got some great shots of the fam!

  




  

How Many Words is a Picture Worth?

  


  


Nate and Shelby loving on some children at a Malnutrition Center.

At the Doctor

Hi. It's Shelby here. Yesterday Bubby and I went to the doctor. At the doctor I sat down and was quiet while Bubby was( well, loud). Then it was time for my checkup while Bubby played. When it was his turn he said to the doctor,"is this going to hurt"? Then( before the doctor) we went to the Epicure. In the car Bubby and I played with Nate, Bub's crab, and Jack,Bub's lepord( these are toys, so you know). It's October 22 today, so you know. Well, that's it. By!

Because I Needed a Challenge

There aren't enough challenges here, so I thought I'd artificially create one. Let's see, one part pushing my body to its limits, one part running up massive hills, add 2 parts being chased by chicken buses, oh, and one part high altitude. Add a sprinkle of "the race people just ran out of water," and a big scoop of running hard with your friends and what do you get? The Maya Marathon.

Slice of Life

Last week, our Leadership Council from our home church, Pathways Community in Largo, FL, was here for a visit, and I got the chance to hang out with the ladies in the group.
We went to a small village near another small village called San Antonio de Agua Calientes, and we were welcomed into the home of a lady named Victoria. She described to us how she saw a need in her town for the women to be able to earn some money for their families. They were weaving beautiful textiles, but other people were buying them and taking them to the Mercado (market) in Antigua, and the women weren't making much profit.
So, Victoria started a co-op. Each lady had to contribute a piece of aluminum, and together, these pieces formed a roof for a small shelter. On this dirt floor, every day, the group sits and weaves. This is their tradition.
Victoria described their daily life to us, from grinding rice into milk for a drink called Horchata, to how they balance baskets on their heads so they can carry a lunch into the field for their husbands, to the weaving process, to cooking tortillas.
She taught us about their Mayan traditions, and we acted out a Mayan wedding ceremony (I was the groom!). Then, we all made our own tortillas on their small stove, and sat down to a Guatemalan lunch that had taken these ladies hours to prepare for us.
As I listened to the descriptions and ate the amazing food, I felt so humbled. These ladies were kind, generous, and treated us as honored guests. They answered all of our questions, were so loving and hospitable. I felt shallow for my grumbling about my small kitchen and lack of dishwasher when I saw their tiny shack of a kitchen.
I need these reminders more often. It is like jumping into a vat of cold water. I wake up to what's real and true, and the pieces of my life shift back into the proper places.