Give what has been given

We were given a gift of groceries from some Guatemalan friends of ours here as a thank you for all the work Heather has done at the school and with storytime. At dinner we read a story of a poor family that recieved a lot of gifts for Christmas and were found the next day wrapping them back up. When asked they said they were giving much of the stuff to their neighbors because, "how can we take all this when our neighbors are still poor." This spurned us to take half of the food given to us and "share" it with some people living in a champa (tin shack) just down the street from us. I hope we all are more willing to share generously and freely without the "wet-blanket" of fearing how they will use it getting in the way. We have been given freely, so should we freely give.

Bok Bok eggs!!

Our chicken is finally laying eggs. As I was making room to lay out the pool I moved her coop and there I found three eggs. She has been laying eggs about one every day. so this Saturday we were able to have "Bok Bok" pancakes. Finally we have a chicken that lays eggs!! And all we have to do is let her eat TKO's dog food that we leave out. TKO isn't so thrilled about that idea. He bites at her to keep her away from his ffod but she is just too persistant!

Happy Resurrection Day!

In typical easter fashion, one of our kids was sick. This year it was Abi. After church we hunted for eggs in our house with an egg hidden for each child in each room. Jonathan was able to join us in the celebration.

Team Haddox vs the volcano...

We finally climbed Volcan Pacaya as a family. Two other families wanted to climb Pacaya so we decided to do it together.
The climb is too long and steep for kids so we got horses for them and we trekked up. The kids had a blast on the horses. Once we reached the picnic area at the top we stopped and had some dinner before climbing the sea of lava rock to see lava.

The walk over the lava rocks was difficult but we made it to a great lookout right at the base and on the side of the lava flows. Eric proceeded to climb up in between the flows with two other dads. We all were able to watch the lava grow bright as it got darker and then roast hot dogs over the lava.

The walk back to the car wasn't much fun in the dark but we made it safe and everyone had a great time!

See the kids writing about the trip here
and see the pics here

the girls 5...1/2 birthday

I always look for an extra opportunity to celebrate people especially the kiddos. So enter the half birthday!. The girls were able to celebrate their half birthday first at the Zoo with the "storytime" group that Heather leads and then the next day at the waterpark.

The zoo was packed with schoolkids on field trip but there was still plenty of room to see all the animals. We had the typical zoo fun looking at the elephants and such, and then we did the "only in Guatemala" things like hold the howler monkey's hand and pet an Ocelot (small leapord thing) through the cages.

The next day was the true celebration. At the waterpark, which also has some animals, we found a new addition...an elephant wandering in the parking area. We walked over to it and pet its trunk. We were able to enjoy the pools and slides, ride horses, hold hands with the spider monkeys and let the baby racoons try to remove my rings. All unsupervised in true "only in Guate" fashion.

The girls had their friends over to share their "half" birthday cake (a round cake cut in half). All around a fun day!

See more photos

March fun

I don't have time for a full post but here are just a couple highlights of family moments in March. go here to see all the pictures of march. Don't forget to check out the new layout of collections on our photo site (flickr.com)

The kids love to ride around the block on the motorcycle with me

Abi and BokBok the chicken

Anzo on a bouncy waterslide

Daddy and the boys have dirt wars

Zoe on the trampoline

1st service in Tabacal...

I have turned over the ministry to the Mayan people of Tabacal to Carlos Fernandez, a guatemalan american missionary who attends our church. He is now the pastor of missions for our church in San Lucas. The church that was initially constructed by Sierra Bible Church in Reno, NV has now almost been completed and we held the first service in the "completed" building. Carlos brought a team down from the states and we had a lunch in the church for the children, gave food out to the families, and some toys and clothes out to the children. It was a good time of service. Carlos will continue the work there with a children's program for nutrition and spiritual education. We are looking together at options for more permanent houseing in a Habitat for Humanity style setup.

During the event Heather and the kids all come for the celebration and the kids were able to help with the distribution of the food. Heather read Bible stories to the children of Tabacal and helped organize the distribution of food and gifts. We prayed for the people all together and told of the hope found in the gospel.

With the fields for crops in place (even though some crops are failing due to weather), the water system in place and working wonderfully, and the church built, the majority of my job there is complete and it is time for me to hand the ministry over to a guatemalan that can minister to them on a deeper spiritual level and one that will be there for years to come. We thank God for the Fernandez family and their commitment to furthering God's kingdom in Tabacal. We will still be involved there to some level but more and more as volunteers.
To see the rest of the pictures of this event click here (or search for Tabacal Feb 2007 in our Flickr account)