A Promise Kept

Our visit with Daniel and his family was too short (like all of our visits with him are!), but we end today feeling like we did what we came here to do.  Daniel’s uniform is ordered. and he’s enrolled in a seemingly great school (run by compassionate nuns) that will send us emails and updates. How cool is that?! Even more importantly, we made good on our promise to Daniel to search for and find him again.  Orphans naturally have trust issues. And making good on a promise is a really big deal.  With Toni’s help, we reminded him, once again, that our faithfulness is nothing compared to God’s commitment to him.

If we’re completely honest, we’ll admit that these trips aren’t easy for us.  The planning, packing, and unpacking is such a hassle. We’ve sacrificed money, sleep, comfort,  paid and unpaid vacation days, our health, and marital peace.  (You and I both know that traveling lends itself to conflict. And traveling with a baby? Whew! Exhausting! However, in case you’re wondering, the travel portion of this trip has been surprisingly easy and conflict-free.) We have to ask ourselves and God if these trips are worth their cost. And God continues to affirm that they are.  While we may never know exactly what our persistence has meant to Daniel, we do know that our friendship is important to him.  He said today that he was worried that we were dead or lost or we had forgotten about him.  It’s a great feeling to watch him smile as we tell him how much we love him and show him by our presence that we are over-the-moon crazy for him.  We hope we’ve offered some stability to Daniel’s roller coaster ride and given him a taste of our heavenly father’s faithfulness and love.

We have an open invitation from Daniel’s aunt to call or visit anytime. I was worried that our interactions with the family would be awkward. Wouldn’t you feel weird if  foreigners with a strong connection to your son flew down to visit you?   But no. Daniel’s aunt is secure,  easy-going, and accepting of our place in Daniel’s life and story. She didn’t mind when he sat on our laps in the car or gave him big bear hugs. She welcomed us into her life as family, not friends.  We are all so shocked and amazed to be a part of this story together.  It just seems so….unreal? Unlikely? Impossible?

The mental image of us sitting around the table together at lunch today is one I won’t forget. Daniel was next to me holding my hand. An exhausted Abilene was walking around the restaurant in her bare feel.  Nate was feeding Abilene, asking the aunt questions, and speaking words of wisdom and encouragement to Daniel. Tonilynn was translating and filling in the gaps when we lost our words and didn’t know how to explain how much we love Daniel or how we feel like God has called us to continue to pursue Daniel. And Daniel’s aunt was there in her beautiful native outfit.  With tears and smiles, she poured our her heart and shared her story.  She is good for Daniel.  Her commitment to him is both sincere and realistic.  She is a Christ-follower who will teach Daniel about the Lord, her business, and (hopefully) how to be a good, Guatemalan man.

We could spend all day tomorrow in Xela, but we think it’s best to head back early in the day.  Again, we feel like we’ve wrapped up the tasks we needed to accomplish, and we’ve spent an appropriate amount of time loving on Daniel and getting to know his family.  We want to respect their family time, and we don’t want to interrupt another day of work for the aunt. Besides, there’s no good time to leave. Goodbyes are hard. We hate saying goodbye to our sweet Daniel.

Right now, Abilene is asleep between us. Today’s schedule kept her from falling asleep for her first nap of the day until 4:00pm our time.  I’m surprised we didn’t have a total meltdown complete with inconsolable screams and fits.  But she finally conked out after busting her lip on a water bottler at the lunch table. (Poor baby!) As soon as I picked her up, wiped away the blood, and rocked her, she went right to sleep.

Tomorrow we have the long ride back to Guate City. Abilene did fantastic on the way here. Let’s hope and pray for more of the same tomorrow!

The Dump and a Field Trip–Final Day in Guate

This morning we had a new and interesting experience: we went to the dump.  The big dump in the middle of the city is a pseudo-city that supports 11,000 people and is the size of twenty seven football fields.  Our wonderful friend, Berta, now works for a ministry that serves the dump scavengers.  Her ministry, Potter’s House, has been working for the past 25 years to help the children and adults who live off of what they find in the garbage.

We didn’t actually go INTO the dump.  I’m not sure we’d want to normally, but definitely not with the baby. Instead we went to the only cemetery in Guatemala City.  It sits on a high hill and overlooks the dump.  We watched buzzards or crows circle the trash and crowds of people swarm towards the dump trucks as they poured out their garbage.  Even from high on the hill, the smell was oppressive.

At one point, the police asked us to move.  Apparently, the area where we were standing was considered dangerous not only because of loose rocks, but also because two bodies had been found there last week.  It certainly didn’t feel unsafe, but we moved to a different lookout spot.  From the new spot, our driver (William) told us some interesting info about the cemetery. In Guatemala, bodies aren’t buried.  The “graves” are holes cut into tall walls.  Some rows are ten layers high and 100 graves across. It’s a space issue.  You can fit more bodies in if you stack upwards. When you die, you pay $7 or $8 dollars per year to have your coffin kept there.  My dad noticed that there were a lot of empty spaces in random places in the walls.  My guess was that they were new graves.  But, no, William said that if you don’t pay, your body is thrown out.  He showed us a coffin that had been recently thrown over the hill and the pants and belt of the dead man that were mixed in with the rocks and dirt that came out when they removed the body and coffin.

Next, we checked out some apartments where we might stay on future trips.  Just for the record, they’re beautiful and significantly less expensive than the hotel.  There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms in each apartment. Who’s up for joining us on our next trip?

We were back with the kids from Casa Samuel this afternoon. Our group of 27 spent the afternoon eating pizza at Pizza Hut and playing at a play place called LOOPS. Loops is kind of like Bogeys but cooler.  The kids got bracelets for unlimited activities for one hour.  There were inflatables to jump in and slide down, go carts, and bumper boats with squirt guns to soak people in the other boats.

When we left, we got to tell all of the kids that we love them and that we pray for them.  We know that God has a plan for their lives, and we look forward to watching them grow into the people God created them to be.  The kids gave us big hugs and told us thank you.  One little boy gave a speech thanking us for thinking of them and sharing our time with them!

At the end, the kids we sponsor wanted to know when we’re coming back.  July? June? May? Saturday?  I wish. I guess it’s time to start planning the next trip!

Baby A in Guatemala

Today was our day to relax and let my parents be tourists.  We took a break from Casa Bernabe and spent some time in Antigua.  Later, we stopped by to see the other child we sponsor, a girl named Alejandra who lives in a place called New Life Children’s Home. Because we were able to step  back and relax, my mind was free to think about what it’s been like to travel to Guatemala with a baby.

As a (hyper-vigilant, slightly paranoid) new mom, I dealt with a lot of worry and stress as we prepared to take a seven-month old baby out of the country. Many of you have prayed for peace for me, and your prayers have been answered! For the most part.  I thought I’d share a few of the experiences we’ve had so far.

With two days to go, this trip has been way easier than we expected. She hasn’t been a distraction like I expected. Her grandparents are always eager to hold and comfort our busy baby.  She has bonded with my parents in a special way, which will hopefully make date nights at home easier!

Of course, these final two days could make or break the trip.  The final two days are when we’ll be most tired.  The final two days are when we’re most likely to get sick. The final two days we’ll be more relaxed and less vigilant about stealing her away when we see someone letting her try to eat small magnets off the refrigerator.

You know all those good sleep habits we’ve been working on for the past seven months? Naps in her crib rather than in our arms or the carseat, an early bedtime, a consistent schedule, not sleeping in our bed, not sleeping on her stomach… yeah, well, I’ve broken every single one of my self-imposed rules.  Sara (from Casa Bernabe) shared similar experiences that she had with her daughter Bella (now 16 months) when they’ve traveled back and forth to the states. Like me, she worried she’d ruin everything by relaxing the rules while traveling.  But as many of your not-so-new moms probably know, Bella quickly adapted and fell back into her normal routines and behaviors. I’m hoping the same will go for Abilene!

Countless people have told us she looks like Nate. No one has said that she looks like me.

If you thought I freaked out about germs before, you should see me down here with the baby. Our hands are about to bleed because they’re so dry from the hand sanitizer.  I’ve gone through multiple packages of cleansing wipes.  It kills me to watch her putting her hands into other people’s mouths.  Come on, people! Don’t let her do that when you’re holding her! Ahh! And when kids at the orphanages want to hold her, I drag my feet.  Sometimes I tell them she’s not happy, or she’s tired.  Other times I pass her over and then immediately wipe her down when I get her back.  Like I said, I freak out.

Guatemalans are very comfortable with breastfeeding.  I’m the rarity in that I use a cover. Of course, I tend to nurse in slightly conspicuous places–like the middle of an outdoor patio display in the Guatemalan equivalent of Walmart. (Where else was I supposed to go?!)

A lot of the kids are clueless about breastfeeding.  Today, the kids thought she was sleeping.  We had to explain that she was getting milk from me. After that, the girls tried repeatedly to lift my cover to watch the baby eat.

She’s not peeing enough.  A part of me could be happy that we’re using less diapers, but what if something’s wrong? What if she’s dehydrated?! What if something’s wrong with my milk?! We made a long-distance call to the states today and asked Nate’s mom when we should (legitimately) start to worry.

Other than that, the baby has been great.  She’s happy to be lugged wherever her mommy and daddy take her.  Please pray that the next few days continue to go well and that this act of stepping out of our comfort zone to serve as a family becomes our normal.