...Happy birthday you two...

HEAR YE HEAR YE...
The girls are 5!


They actually turned 5 during their time back in the states but their party was rescheduled and we had a great time. They had a princess party and all the guests came in royal attire. The domain of their castle and kingdom was shown from our couch being made into a castle to the castle piñata and of course the cake of this year was a purple and pink castle. All the kids were either dubbed 'lady' or 'knighted' and presented with a sword or princess hat. we had games and cookies. Heather's 'childrens director' nature came out and we had stations for the kids to rotate through to break them up into smaller groups. Everyone had a blast. There was even an appearance from Jacque the french chef.

Goodbye Poppy...

Heather was able to have a great two weeks with her grandfather. Eli, Abi and Zoe were able to play games with him and celebrate their 5th birthday with him. He passed away about a week after Heather and the kids returned home to Guatemala. Heather was able to share Christ with Poppy many times and tell him that he cannot "ride the fence" when it comes to God. Unfortunately his response was one of "well if I haven't done enough to get to heaven yet then I won't be going because I can't do more." He couldn't understand that he didn't need to do anything to recieve eternal life from God. It is his free gift to us through faith in Jesus so we can be reconciled to Him through Christ's payment. We pray that during his final moments he was able to understand God's grace and acknowledge that there is nothing he could do to earn God's love. We place him in the loving hands of God knowing that He loved Poppy even more than we did. He was a kind old man who was liked by all who met him and loved by all who knew him.

Heather was also able to see her best friend Holly and visit with her dad and grandmother (GG) on her father's side.

Lava flows...

While Heather, Eli, Abi and Zoe were away Anzo and I were able to spend a lot of time together. He was very quiet and unsure of the whole thing having almost everyone gone but him. One evening we decided to take a trip up the volcano Pacaya at night to see the lava glowing. We went up with a few people from eMi and made our way to the top in the dark. Anzo enjoyed being carried up while I sucked wind. At the top we were able to see several lava flows and walk right up to them (about 5 or 6 feet) because of their orientation. I forgot my camera but we did get this one picture.

During our time alone we were able to make dinner together (and cookies), sleep together, play just the two of us, and do special things that are difficult to do with 6 people (like the volcano). But even still he was very glad to see eveyone come back!

Poppy...

Heather's grandfather Skeet (affectionately called Poppy) has cancer and was given 6-9mo to live. We were planning on spending lots of time with him at Christmas. Yesterday, we learned that after falling and hitting his head, and having a gran mal seizure, the doctor said that if he is bleeding in his brain he only has a day to a week to live. Tomorrow early morning, Heather, Eli, Abi and Zoe are flying to see him. Anzo and I will stay here because he is not fully adopted and cannot get a visa in time. While we lived in Roseville we saw Poppy 3 to 4 days each week. He has been a large part of the children's life and they still talk of him often. We are unsure about his spiritual state and a saving relationship with Jesus although he has lately been saying that he believes in Jesus. Be praying that Heather can arrive in time to see him, that he will be receptive to the gospel and that the kids will handle the goodbye well. We do still pray that the Lord would give him more time just as he gave Hezekiah 15 more years while on his deathbed. Please be praying.

Bob the lizard...

We had some good Guatemalan friends from San Lucas over for dinner. It was great to see them, they are amazing Christian people. They brought their two daughters Jael and Ianina and pet iguana. We asked them the iguana's name but it still had none. They wanted to name it a common american name and I suggested "Bob"! Me and Bob

A visit to San Juan Bautista...

Each time that I visit San Juan Bautista the women there ask about Heather and the kids. I made a visit there that you can read about on the EricEMI.blogspot.com site.

Our family is always the center of attention there as they are all blond and can speak Spanish. One of the families we built a home for is having a baby. Luky had received bad news that there were complications with her pregnancy. Heather shared the burden with Luky during the VBS week in June by praying with her and talking with her of God's faithfulness. Heather has been praying for Luky and she has been anxious to talk with Heather about her progress asking me about her next visit each time I went to San Juan. Finally they were able to get together to talk.

a fresh change...

The two main developments this month are our move to the new house and the kiddos starting school.

August was our first month in our new house. It has been very rewarding for the kids. We are safe in our neighborhood which has no walls around the individual homes but around the whole neighborhood instead. We have a slew of kids come through the house each day as several of our neighbors have kids the same age (particularly next door with Camden and Cambria). Because of the kids’ interaction, the adults come by much more often as well. It is nice to have neighbors out from behind walls that you can walk up to and talk to.
Eli is always out and about with the neighbor boys on their bikes.

There does seem to be a social grouping of the foreigners and the Guatemalans. I guess this has a lot to do with language. Heather and I are trying to be more social with the Guatemalans but the Guatemalans in this neighborhood tend to be more wealthy and to themselves. They are friendly enough but seem to want to run in their own circles. Be praying that they will be more open to integrating.

Heather span instarted this years home school. The kids have been learning lots. Anzo has seen the most improvement as his attention increases and he can focus more. Each of the kids were able to pick a country to learn more about and Anzo picked the "States". He is eager to go and visit.

Along with the school Heather put the kids in soccer for PE. They have had lots of fun running around kicking the ball. They go 3 days a week.


At our church, one of the helpers in Sunday school had a baby. She is young and still in school. Her mother wanted to keep the baby but must work so she doesn't have time to care for the baby every day. Heather agreed to bring the baby here on Thursdays to care for little Daniella. Heather is enjoying her baby fix and the kids all love having the baby around!

On an interesting side note, we have had some severe thunder storms. Not days of rain on end like Stan but short severe storms and one day we got large marble sized hail!