Another adoptive victory!

Heather has been helping the Pittman family, some people having trouble with their adoption, with their difficult situation for the past several months. This past week she was able to help them through the final embassy process where they finally obtained the visas they needed to bring their two adopted children home to the US.

Several months ago we were contacted by some people who were asking for some help in a difficult situation. They had finished the adoption process but due to some bureaucratic red tape they couldn't get visas for their children to come home with them. Heather knew that some other friends (Juan Pablo and Julissa)of ours here in Guatemala could use some financial assistance and were great candidates for caring for the two babies until the process could be resolved. Since then and over the past 5 months or so, Heather has been involved each step of the way. With the difficulties and knowledge of the adoption process we went through to adopt Anzo, Heather was able to bring a very real and tangible comfort and assistance to the Pittman family. She was also able to be a source of encouragement for Juan Pablo and family as they were in a difficult time of transition also.

Heather has been able to bless many different people and families here. I may work full time with eMi while Heather spends most of her time schooling the kids but she is also daily touching the lives of those around her through church, story time, as Principal of the English Academy, counselor... the list goes on and on.

Megan comes Eric goes...

Eric left to attend the eMi 25th Ann World Conference in Jackson Hole WY. (read here) While he was gone Megan, the daughter of some friends of ours in MN, came down for a week to help Heather with the kids and experience Guatemala on a much more personal level living with a missionary family. Heather and Megan did a 2 day VBS for children at a new feeding center in Chimaltenango run by our friends Rafael and Evelin. Their week was packed with VBS, going to the beach, embassy visits and much more.

Anzo turns 6...

Anzo turned 6 on June 24th. He had a "Space" birthday. Heather wanted a rocket ship piñata but the lady at the piñata shop didn't know what a "rocket" looked like. Heather drew a picture and the lady said, "oh a firecracker". Either way she made a piñata that looked just like Heather's picture. We hung it like it was flying over the table with aluminum foil stars hanging around and "space guy" floating by a coat hanger (Anzo's fireman wrapped in foil).

All the kinds swam for the most part (not sure what that has to do with space) and then after smacking the piñata we ate the cake, which was a vertical rocket cake ready for take off.

Anzo also lost his first tooth on his birthday!

Happy Birthday Anzo!!

see more pictures here

Jordan?!?

Unbeknownst to most, Jordan has been lingering in the back of our minds the past several months. eMi hopes to open an office there to service the Middle East and north Africa. I just returned from a project trip to Jordan to advise Habitat for Humanity Jordan on construction management issues to make their construction process "better, faster, cheaper..."

Heather and the kids remained in the states (see previous post) while I traveled to Jordan. The trip with Habitat was amazing (read the technical details here in EricEMI.blogspot.com). We finished the construction of the roof system of a house outside of Amman. I found Jordan to be very different, much more different from the States than Guatemala. I quickly found this out during a early conversation with the brother of the woman for whom we were building the house. He asked the typical question about the ages of my kids. I told him I had a 7 yr old and 3 5 yr olds. after I told him they were not triplets he assumed I had two wives just like him. I quickly realized I was "not in Kansas anymore" The cultural differences abound in a culture based in Islam instead of Christianity. About 2% of the population are "Christian" and only 0.2% are "evangelical" (1% Catholic and about 1% Coptic).

I have always been drawn to those who are against the gospel. In Guatemala the gospel is evident and culturally accepted as a base of society. Jordan, on the other hand, is one of the most Islamic of the Middle Eastern countries by percentage. It is relativley safe for Christians to live there though it is still illegal to "convert" muslims.

Randy, while working in the eMi Guatemala office, encouraged me to go with him to start the Middle East office but it looks like they will not be openning the office for a significant amount of time. When the EMI project trip to advise Habitat came up I was excited for the opportunity. Habitat was asking for construction suggestions and then requesting someone to return for a 1.5 to 2 year commitment to implement the suggestions. This peaked my interest. While we were praying about Jordan the news came up about the possibility of the eMi Guatemala office moving. As this option was investigated by eMi they decided to move the office to Costa Rica. At the end of last year Heather and I had roughly decided on leaving Guatemala at the end of the summer 07 because our original 3 year commitment was just about up and the summer was a good time. Ironically the office will be moving to Costa Rica in September.

Heather and I always pray that the Lord narrows our options down to only one that we feel is right. I think that if eMi were to stay in Guatemala it would be much harder to move to Jordan because we are so happy with the work here. We don't feel drawn to move to Costa Rica nor would we want to switch organizations in order to stay in Guatemala. Well that certified our thoughts of leaving at the end of summer but neither of us are ready to leave the mission field.

When going on the project trip to Jordan I was unsure exactly how much help I would be. I have never been a professional construction manager nor a practiced structural engineer but I found that my experience with building low cost, masonry single family homes in a 3rd world context for the past year and rebuilding homes in the "Stan" project proved to be invaluble. I was able to engage myself in the discussions and be a valuable asset to the assessment team as we quickly found several ways to improve the current designs as well as alternate design technologies to improve the process altogether.

For a while Heather and I have had a desire to understand the muslim culture and the thought process of the Middle East altogether because we want to understand the mindset of Jesus and the authors of the scriptures better. Jordan allows us these cultural insights as well as being right next to the Holy Land to explore and understand. One cannot come to Jordan as a "missionary", you have to come as a professional in some other field and live your life as a missionary. God has made a way for me through engineering.

We have made no definitive plans yet but we do see an obvious trend and leading. There are still many talks to have regarding specific job description and location. Much prayer to be done in ensuring God's leading. There are still other options that still remain possibilities and we will wait until the option is clear before proclaiming our path but we wanted everyone to know that Jordan is a very real possibility that is becoming more and more likely.

Pray for us as we seek the Lord in this time of change.

US visit...

Many people were unaware that we were back in the states. We really only had time to visit family. This was the first time in 2 1/2 years that we all could travel as a family because Anzo's adoption has been completed. We passed through immigration at about 2am on May 14 and Anzo became a citizen of the United States. This was the highlight that glimmered among an otherwise difficult travel.

Beyond the kids being so tired they were throwing up in the airport in line at immigration, we managed to have our laptop stolen somewhere between immigration and the shuttle stop in front of the airport. We realized this en route to the car rental place. As I went back to look for it, unsuccessfully I might add, Heather went on to rent the car. The car we had asked for was not available so we got a minivan at the "bargain" of the same rate (the minivan should have been cheaper). The people gave Heather the key and told her to press the alarm button to see the lights flash to let her know which van was hers. She proceeded to load all the luggage and the 4 sick kids by herself. When I arrived she was ready to go but my GPS wasn't working and it was the middle of the night in LA. We found our way to the highway and later realized that the minivan had a GPS system but Advantage failed to let us know that or how to work it. Down the road Abi needed to vomit again and I rushed outside and wretled with the automatic side door to open and the sliding door fell off the track! I managed to get it closed and we continued. Later we even managed to get a flat and the spare was under the middle of the car inbetween the driver and passenger seats! Even the people at the tire shop had to triple team it for and hour to get it back in shape.

We did manage to get to Heather's uncle Dale's house and visit with his family as well as her grandmother Betty who has been bedridden for several years but still is quite fiesty. The journey continued on to my brother's house where we were able to visit for two days. It was really good to be with my brother and his family. Our kids had lots of fun playing with cousins and it was a relaxing couple days after hectic travel.

Next on the list was my parents house in Reno. We stayed there for a couple days and I enjoyed having extended conversations with both mom and dad. We were able to be there for Dad's angiogram and explore new health needs for him. We were also able to spend some time with Holly (Heather's virtual sister) and Darren and their baby girl Addy. During the weekend we travelled to Heather's mom's house in Paradise and spent most of our time outside at the lovely park down the street. The kids enjoyed her new Chihuahua "Chloe". We returned to Reno where I left for Jordan (read seperate post) and Heather continued to the beach in Brookings, OR and see her brother Bryce. She and the kids also spent time with her dad and Cathy in Lake Almanor. All in all it was wonderful to see everyone but it is good to be back home in Guatemala and have things settle down a little. I am back in the office and getting back to finishing the work left in the office before the office moves to Costa Rica in September. I am the only one in the office until Tom returns on July 17.

Adoption Complete!!! (almost)

Yesterday we had our final interview at the embassy. They approved our I-600 petition to clasify orphan as an immediate relative. That means that the US government recognizes our guatemalan adoption and he is classified as being our child! They also approved his IR3 visa which means that we will all be able to travel to the US and when we land and go through customs, Anzo will become a US citizen!! I pick up his visa at 3:30 today.

We had purchased tickets for the whole family at the beginning of April for us to travel May 13, hoping that the adoption would be done. God is faithful and we will receive Anzo's visa on the last possible day before our flight (the embassy is closed Fri-Sun). Now he will be a citizen, Heather can be in the states with family while I visit Jordan on a project trip, and we can travel back to Guatemala together!

God is Good!

P.S. the reason I say (almost) complete is that I do still have to pick up the visa and then travel to the states before the process is complete but those are just formalities. Also when we move back to the States we will have to "re-adopt" him in our state but that is a short and simple process that some people don't even choose to do for years after the adoption.

Bok Bok diet

Abi loves to carry our chicken Bok Bok around and play with her just like a doll. Bok Bok loves to eat shiney things. When both of these are together, what do you get? Bok Bok ate Abi's earring right out of her ear!

Abi came running into the house saying that she lost her earring (something that happens on way too regular a basis). The thing that made this so different was that the cicken had pecked it right out of here ear. She was just fine with only a couple peck marks on here ear.

The next day Bok Bok laid her usual egg and Anzo came running inside proclaiming, "I think the earring is inside"