Dear Daddy,

Dear Daddy,

I’m thrilled you came to see us over Spring Break. There’s something about how you light up around the kids that makes me so happy and so proud!





The trip to the lake was fantastic and breathtaking. The kids loved it, too, and Sam has continued to talk about how he liked having a “roommate” for the week. Did you know that Lake Atitlan was listed as one of the top ten destinations for 2011? (Google “Worlds Top Destinations 2011” and then check out the first article.)
Here’s my favorite quote from that CNN article: “Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places in the world.” I’d agree, wouldn’t you? I know we couldn’t be extreme adventurists like you an Erik on the African Safari, but I think with two little ones we did alright. Sorry about all that vomiting in the car on the way there and back.



Not only did you help create an “M &M” monster, but you’ve also now created a Croc-monster. Ruth adores those shoes you got her. Also, her new word of the day is “Walkie Talkie” (no kidding) and she pretends like she’s really using it. Mostly she just shouts “Bubba! Bubba!” as she holds it up to her mouth. I know you saw for yourself, but she is a JOY! Her brother is an amazing gift, too!

(I couldn't find a picture of the crocs or walkie-talkies, but this was cute anyway.)

Ruth and I are so happy we can be with Mom in May and I’m praying that we are both a good help. I seriously think Ruth will bring just the smile Mom will need after such a difficult surgery. I know we mentioned it last week, but Mom has been seriously strong and amazing through all of this. What an inspiration!

Love you, Daddy. Hopefully you can come again…maybe sometime in November. What do you think? ;)
Love,
Meg

Spanglish

This afternoon Sam was playing with his blocks and proudly showed me a pattern he created in his block tower.
"Look, Mommy, my pattern! Blue, Gleen, Blue, Gleen."
"Great pattern! But are you saying 'Gleen?' You know how to pronounce 'Green.'"
"No, Mom, that's how they say it at my school."
Although my main motivation for sending Samuel to school is so that he learns some Spanish, his school prides itself in teaching English to their students. Unfortunately for us, it has caused a little confusion at home because the English is taught with a very pronounced accent. One day a few weeks ago, we had a big discussion that "Weensdayy" is an English word, NOT a Spanish word. He gets a little tripped up, I think, because he distinguishes the languages according to the pronunciation of the words...so when you pronounce English words with Spanish accentuation, he gets a little confused.
But what do I know, that's just a guess. He also told me recently that the teacher wants them to say: "May I go to the bathroom?" when they have to go so that they can practice their French.

Cutest Kids on the Block

Sam hasn’t been around much lately. Instead, our family has been hanging out intermittently with Floor, Zipper, Cold, and TV. On Friday, Samuel came home a bit sad because his friends and his teacher wouldn’t call him by his new name.
“You should just tell them your new name, then,” I suggested.
“I told them: ‘Me llamo Frío,’ but they just don’t listen.”
Ruth’s speech has exploded in just a few weeks time. (Sam reminded me tonight that “Ruth’s speech has exploded” is just a figure of speech. Ruth didn’t really explode, friends; she just has a lot of new words.) She is literally repeating everything she hears and it’s very endearing. She has even learned to repeat/tell a good knock-knock joke. Our favorite Ruthie knock-knock joke goes something like this:
Ruth: Knock-Knock
Us: Who’s there?
Ruth: Agua
Us: Agua, who?
Ruth: Agua Car!! And then lots of giggles. We’re pretty sure she came up with that herself.
She also has started to excitedly tell others about things she has experienced long after the event occurred. You should hear her talk about her vacation last week when Grandpa was here. It’s a beautiful mix of excited babble and words like “agua, boat, pool, Mommy, Daddy, Bubba, Papa, Ree.” (Ree is how she pronounces her own name and it’s starting to stick as a nickname.) This evening she excitedly told her Daddy all about visiting her friend Maddie in the afternoon. It went something like this: “Ree, Maddie, play, Maddie school Bubba.” Which is true, Maddie goes to school with Samuel.
When my Dad came to visit, he bought Ruth a brand new pair of knock-off Crock shoes in the market. She. Loves. Them. She cries when she has to take them off. She begs to have them in her bed with her. She wake up and asks for her “zapatos.” The girl loves her shoes.
And finally, Ruth is getting so big that this weekend was the “quit-the-paci-cold-turkey” weekend. It’s been a rough ride for everyone. But she is just so big.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good...
* I’ll go ahead and state the obvious first. I really like having a maid/nanny five days a week.
* I like the fact that my milk doesn’t expire until September. Ultra High Temperature pasteurization is cool. The only reason I can figure as to why you can’t buy milk like this in the US is because Americans think it’s creepy to buy warm milk on the shelf. It’s not (creepy, that is) and it sure does prevent the milk-going-bad problem.
* I like that my cookies come packaged within the package. At first I thought this was such a waste of packaging, but then I realized that when you live in a country where it rains six months out of the year, the extra packaging is necessary or things go stale fast. An added bonus is that it limits my cookie consumption at each sitting.
* I enjoy hanging my clothes on the clothes line to dry in the sun. There’s just something about it that feels so warm and good. Whenever we are back in the US, I want a clothes line in my backyard!
* I like sunshine and shorts in January.

The Bad...
* I’ll go ahead and state the obvious first. I miss my family and friends. While we’ve been SO blessed to have visitors while we’ve been here, not everyone can just come on down to Guatemala for the weekend, ya know?
* Skype is great, but it’s not always reliable.
* Have I mentioned before that the cobble-stoned streets are annoying? They are. Thanks to the cobblestones, our most recent car problem is that our “stabilizer” broke (whatever that is, but “stabilizing” sounds important…).
* I do not like the market experience. It’s crowded, dirty, and very anxiety-inducing for me, but necessary if we want to eat produce. I also don’t like Bodegona, which is the local answer to a grocery store. I’ve actually had day dreams about hugging the baskets and produce and groceries at HEB and then stretching my arms wide in the aisles just because I can.
* Sometimes it’s weird to have so much sunshine and shorts in January.

The Ugly...
* Ugly? I live in Antigua, Guatemala. There's really no such thing there.

Schoo, Schoo, Schoo

Yesterday Ruth and I dropped Sam off at school. As we were pulling away, Ruth keep saying, “Schoo, schoo, schoo.”
So I asked her, “Ruth, do you want to go to school?”
“Nooooo,” she said.
“Oh, you want to be with Leyda?” (Leyda is her babysitter every morning while I work.)
“Nooooo,” she said.
Feeling good about myself, I asked… “Oh, you want to be with Mommy??"
“Nooooo,” she said, not feeling so good about myself now.
“What is it that you want to do, Ruth?” I asked.
“PLAY!!!!”
I love it! Forever our simplest, greatest desire - just to play!

Big Trip, Big Changes

The title of our story this month is, “Big Trip, Big Changes.” We just returned to Guatemala after visiting family in Mississippi for ten days, from February 10 – 20. These ten days were marked by multiple major events. I invite you to read excerpts from the following chapters:

Chapter 1 – Race for the Cure

On February 15 my mom went in for a biopsy after an irregular mammogram and was diagnosed with ductile breast cancer. I’m still in a bit of shock from this news and am wishing I could be with her right now. She is strong and I know she will win the battle. But still, it’s a battle. Battles are hard and leave scars. We rally around her to fight it.

Chapter 2 – Happy Birthday, Dear Sam

We celebrated Sam’s fourth birthday on February 12. Stephen’s family threw an amazing party. We were blessed to celebrate with both sides of the family because my mom and dad flew in from SA and my brother drove in from New Orleans. It was a blast of a weekend and although he doesn’t turn four until February 22, he "officially" turned four when he blew out his candles at the party. J Since he’s four now, he’s started using mouthwash, of course, and even asked Stephen recently if some four year olds know how to read. “Yes,” Stephen responded, “Some do.” “Well,” Sam said, “We better work on that.”

Chapter 3 – A Little Bit Closer Now

Stephen and I made a trip to the University of Mississippi to visit with a professor there who is also on Stephen’s dissertation committee. It was a wonderful meeting and incited a lot of cool conversations about Stephen’s future career. In approximately 18 months, Stephen will be Dr. Dove with a legit university job (hopefully) and we will be settling in for the next phase of our family’s journey.

Chapter 4 – She’s Getting so Old

My sweet cousin, Kate Aten, is a senior this year and put Millsaps College (in Jackson, Mississippi) on the top of her list for possible options after graduation. We both planned our trips to Mississippi individually and then realized we were going to be there all at the same time. On February 18 – 19, we spent precious time with Kate, my aunt Laura, and my uncle Donald. Kate has built-in family if she chooses Millsaps and I smile when I imagine her there.

Chapter 5 – The Estate on the Lake

Five years ago, Stephen’s parents built their dream home. They did an incredible job, because the house really is a dream. It’s a beautiful lake-front home with beautiful views, and great big porches to sit on and enjoy it. During our ten days, Sam and Ruth went canoeing on the lake, rode lots of rides up and down the hill on the Gator, threw rocks and sticks into the water, enjoyed time with their grandparents, and even got to play in the snow.

Chapter 6 – The Sappy Conclusion

In just ten days alone... My mom has breast cancer. My baby boy isn’t a baby anymore. My cousin is going off to college soon. My best friend is officially a licensed Foster parent. Stephen’s best friend is moving and starting a brand new job. My husband comes closer to reaching his goal. Ruth keeps cutting teeth and breaking our hearts because she’s so darn cute. Erik shaved his mustache. Big trip. Big changes.

I realized on this trip that even though I have loved Guatemala, I really miss home, too. I too easily forgot how much I love the go-to-the-library (which we did), go-to-the-park (which we did), go-to-the-children’s-museum (which the kids did with their grandparents), go-to-Chik-Fil-a (which we did), speak-lots-of-English (which we did) kind of lifestyle.

The Cold Side

I wanted to close the day by writing some of this down – today is one of those days that I simply treasured Sam’s words and actions, but I know I will all too quickly forget them if I don’t make a point not to.

After school and rest time today, we went over to the home of some new friends. The family has two little girls, ages 5 and 6 who speak French and Spanish, but no English. No problem for my little man, of course. The girls apparently like to play dress up and decided that they were the queens and that Sam was the bad Black Knight. Sam was disturbed by this and clearly told the girls that he was NOT the Caballero Negro, he was the REY! Ha!

Once we got home and started to eat dinner, Ruthie would have none of it. She’s been super fussy today and at this age I pretty much chalk any fussy behavior up to teeth (she must be cutting teeth, right? Right!?) Sam likes to help feed Ruthie, and once again he got the only few bites down her tonight. He also decided to capitalize on Ruthie’s “bad” behavior by pointing out, “It’s good that I’m having such great behavior.” And by saying things like, “I’m eating all my bites. Can I have a kiss for that?”

After dinner, we read a story about the Supreme Court and its nine justices. We talked about “good” and “bad” laws and tried to brainstorm some. Sam decided that requiring kids to go to school was a really good law, because we should all learn about God and painting. Hmmm…so that’s what he learns in school!

When I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight he asked me, “Can you turn the pillow over? I like the cold side.” Fascinating! Perhaps appreciation for the good things in life, like the cold side of the pillow, is just innate.