April 20, 2013

• A Little Description of our Life Right Now

  We are really enjoying living in Guatemala. Our mornings consist of homeschooling, studying Spanish, and still trying to get some logistic stuff done that would probably take a week in the States, but takes a lot longer here for a number of reasons. In the afternoons we have language school, and evenings are made up of dinner and de-compressing our brains. For real! Our teachers talk to us in 95% Spanish so it is intense. The focus that is required to constantly try to understand what they are saying is exhausting. But we are both loving it! It is exciting to realize our progression. Our short spurts of conversation with the guys who are in charge of security in our complex is becoming a little more than just “buenos dias.” Blake and I had short conversations with them last night and this morning and we are on “Spanish speaking” highs because of it.

  We honestly don’t feel very missionary-like at this point, but know that these weeks of study will help us to be more effective in the long run. The better we are at communicating, the deeper we can build our relationships. We will do language school next week, then take a week off, and then do three more weeks. After that we will take the summer to work. Summers with Students International are very busy and we are excited to experience it for the first time! We won’t officially be in charge of teams until next summer, so we don’t know what this summer will look like for us exactly, but we’re considering that as an added reason for excitement! We will return to language school in September for 6-8 weeks.

  The week we are taking off, the week after next, we will be having an international social worker come to update our home study so that we can be put back on the waiting list for our adoption. Our agency has told us that once we are back on the list we will be put immediately on, “on deck” status which is *supposed* to mean we will get a referral in 1-3 months. We are going to request a girl 0-3 years old. The kids rooms are very small, and with Camden having a hard time adjusting to Guatemala, we feel like having him share a small room/full size bed with a new much younger brother might be just a little much for him. Hope is dying for a little sister, and loves having someone with her every minute of the day so I feel confident that she is (for the most part) going to do very well with a little sister. We are hoping and praying to have her home by the first of the year.

  This past week Camden spent most of Wednesday with a 9 year boy and his family. They are missionaries with a different organization. He had a great time, and we are hopeful that this new friendship will help him feel happier here. Today we have two girls at our house playing with Hope. They are also missionary kids, and at the moment we can hear them all outside, Camden included, talking and laughing. A wonderful sound to this mama’s ears.

  Here are some pictures of us on our way to language school and at language school. The roof of our language school has beautiful views of the city of Antigua and the mountains. Because of it being the last month of dry season there is a lot of dust which makes it hard to see the mountains right now. These pics were all taken with the iPad too which doesn’t help the quality. My plan is to take my camera the first clear day and get better pictures up on the roof as well as pictures of Blake and I with our tutors.

  
  
  
  
  

  • 4:25 pm
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