Reparando

Kevin and I and his parents went tonight to see the premiere of the documentary film "Reparando," which in English means "repairing."  God is in the business of repairing brokenness, and there is a lot of brokenness in the people of Guatemala.  They are still living in the aftermath of a 36 year civil war that ended in 1996.  It tore the country apart, ravaged families, and displaced thousands upon thousands of people who tried to escape the violence.  Now 75% of Guatemalans live below the poverty line, which according to the film means not having enough food and resources for the day.  Some of the largest slums in Latin America can be found in Guatemala.  One of them is named La Limonada, in Guatemala City.  It is one mile long and half a mile wide, and sits on the outskirts of the city dump (24+ football fields in size.)  Gangs and drugs and violence permeate it.  Most of the 60,000 people who live there are what are called scavengers; they work 10-14 hours a day scavenging through the trash, collecting anything that may be of value in order to sell it.  This is how they and their families survive day in and day out.   

But amongst all of this, there is a hope that is rising.  This film shares with us the stories of two individuals, Tita and Shorty, who have been restored by God from pasts of abuse and drugs and gangs.  They are now working with the people of La Limonada, "to repair the next generation."  Not wanting to give too much away, I'll just say that this is a powerful, moving, haunting, and beautiful film that shows the power of God's redemption in a person's life. 

http://www.reparandomovie.com/

We've been so focused on Colombia this year, it felt really good tonight to come home feeling more connected to Guatemala, to have a renewed passion for this beautiful country where our son was born.

Maria's Third Birthday! October 8, 2010

Our little Ia turned three years old last Friday!  Ia is the name she calls herself, said like the last part of Maria, and we all think it's so cute that it's stuck as our nickname for her. :)  (So as of right now our kids call each other Arlo and Ia!)

Maria's birthday was a good day.  I had been practicing with her all week on how to answer the question, "How old are you?" and to hold up three fingers.  She gets so proud of herself when she does this.  She gets this determined little look on her face as she carefully touches her thumb to her pinky and then with concentrated effort puts up her three other fingers.  I love it!

On birthday mornings I like to make that person's favorite breakfast.  For Kevin that's scrambled eggs with some sauteed veggies and cheese mixed in, toast with butter, and a sausage (now soy).  For Carlos it's pancakes with maple syrup and strawberry jam.  For Maria, it's huevos (eggs.)  She loves to eat scrambled eggs and can eat three easily!  So that meal was easy: huevos, check.  For lunch and dinner?  Not so easy.  I should have planned ahead better and made a soup for lunch and Colombian lentils for dinner maybe.  But with ArtPrize going on (more about that in a later post) and our friend from NJ in town, it just didn't happen.  She did not love her next two meals that day, but thankfully she's young enough that she doesn't really understand birthdays yet anyway!  I did make birthday cupcakes though, and they were enjoyed by all!

As I was thinking about her special day and how to celebrate it, I realized that we do not know many of her favorite things.  She's in between languages right now.  She now understands English more than she does Spanish and speaks more English than Spanish, but she doesn't understand enough English or remember enough Spanish to comprehend everything we're saying or to communicate her thoughts.  She shows no signs of frustration about this though, so that's good, but I was a bit saddened when I thought about how I don't know her like I know Carlos.  If I wanted to buy some balloons, what color should I get?  She's shown no interest in a particular color over another, so I don't know what her favorite is.  What dessert should I make for her?  I don't know her favorite.  Etc.  I know that knowledge of these things will come with time.  So instead of focusing on what I don't know, I'm going to focus on (and share with you) what I do know!

Maria really enjoys riding her bike as well as riding in the carrier on the back of Kevin's bike.  We think she would do this for hours if we let her!  She loves to do puzzles, play with cars, and "play" with board games.  She's interested in anything that Carlos has that he doesn't want her to touch.  She loves pushing buttons on anything she can reach (whether or not she's allowed to!): phones, remotes, CD players, the washer and dryer, toys, etc.  She wants to be held around the house when we want her to walk around freely, and she wants to walk around freely when we're out in public and we want her to be held!  She is shy around those she first meets, and is very quiet.  At home she talks all the time and is very loud!  (A good sign that she's comfortable at home with us, right?!)  And something we discovered while at Plan B during ArtPrize: she loves to play musical instruments!

Although we've been having a hard time with her lately (Maria can be naughty!!  Another sign that she's now comfortable with us?), we love her to pieces!  Her smile and laugh can brighten up a room.  She is a gift from God, precious in His sight (and in ours!) 

The Days of Summer 2010

I was planning on updating photos at the end of every month, but then it was the end of July and I still hadn’t posted photos from May or June yet. So I thought that I might as well wait and just post photos from the entire summer. And now suddenly it’s October. Can anyone relate?!?  :)

We got a cat!  His name is Alex and Carlos is enamored with him!

 

 We picked black raspberries from our backyard and made jam.  Delicious!

We went to the beach more this summer than we had in the past several summers combined.  Both of the kids absolutely love to play in the sand! 

 We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City with Kevin's parents, sisters, and their kids. 
We all had a blast!

Kevin's grandparents with all of their great grandkids!