So you had a bad day

What constitutes a bad day in your world? No coffee? A foiled snow day? A sick toddler?

For me here in Guatemala it is usually something like running out of milk and knowing I can't get the kind I like for days, or the internet going in and out, maybe it is firecrackers at midnight when I am really tired.

Well, we know a dear older man who is always smiling. He works as a guard at our gate and he serves us faithfully. If he sees me in the market, he waves and smiles like he's seeing a friend.

He lives right outside of Antigua in a tin "house" with no water. This is the amazing view from his house.

The other day he had a bad day. Apparently, the town was cutting down a tree and it fell on his house!! Here is the current state of his house:

Here is his kitchen:

and here is his bedroom:

OK, so here is the problem, the government says they are going to fix it, but how long does he wait to see if that is true? We could build him a new house. We could even use cinderblock, but we can't verify if he owns the property. If he doesn't own it, then as soon as it is built the landlord may decide to take it. That would leave our friend homeless. So, please pray with us as we decided how and when to move forward.

The interesting thing is that many people in all of our lives have houses that are crashing down. Maybe not on the outside, but on the inside. Their exterior house may look beautiful, but their marriage, or finances, or hearts may be collapsing.

So, pray that God shows you who in your life is having a bad day and I'll pray with you that you too, to know how to move forward.

Our Super Hero

Tonight, after our friends left, we searched high and low for our cat. She's a little like a dog in that she comes when we call her, but she was no where to be found. Even though Todd told me he checked the balcony, I went out there just one more time. And that's when I heard it. This faint meow.
Turns out Casper was stuck in a tree behind our house in a gated lot. So at 11:00 at night Todd climbed the fence, had the kids help pass him a ladder, climbed two stories with the ladder not secure against the tree, to save our cat.
If we are willing to do that for a cat, what are we willing to do for the hurting and lonely people around us?
I am pondering this question as a go to sleep tonight, with my cat sound asleep on my bed.

Homeschooling 101

Teaching is not new to me, I've been doing it my whole adult life. Homeschooling, however, is.
I have had the most fun looking at curriculum. I am a nerd like that. It hit me the other day that Emily was the only one of my kids who had to go to full time day care at the age of 2 because I had to go back to work. I feel so blessed that God is redeeming that time away from me as I get to be with her one on one now. How cool is that.
Anyway, I have no idea if any one cares what curricula I am using, and I could change my mind on some of them by next year BUT for now I am pretty stoked about my choices. (Thanks to Angel Radford, who gave me some great recommendations!)

Let me share them with you....

Bible: Well, that one is not in stone yet but I am 95% sure I am going to use one of Kay Arthur's Inductive Bible Study for Kids

Math: Horizon Math

Science: I am pretty excited about this because it is really deep and Bible based and we already did an experiment!! For Science, we are using Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

History: I thought hands on would be best, so we are finishing American History with a whole set of History Pockets. We are starting with Explorers of North America.

We are also covering Geography

Shurley English - I used this at my last school and the first year I did not like it, but year 2-8 every year I loved it more.  Shurley English

Literature- We will use various novels, as this was my area of speciality at my last school. I am also using a workbook for short articles and more focus on reading skills.
We are also doing handwriting, spelling, and daily language review, vocabulary and more. I am picking and choosing for these subjects so I don't have a single website.

Emily is currently reading Otherwise Known and Sheila the Great. One idea, I google all book titles and find cool info, vocabulary, questions etc. for each book. I also google the author, many of them have blogs that are geared toward kids.
What kids books do you and your children love?

Already we have covered so much, I am learning new things and we can run to the computer or kitchen to check on or test anything. I am excited to see how this year unfolds.

Here is a Quick Review of the Past 2 Weeks...(Guest Blogger:Katey Erickson)

I am sorry that I haven't blogged in a little while...I have been busy. And I want to tell you all about it so here is a bunch of pictures and explanations of how I spent my last two weeks :)

On the 22nd of December we went with some friends to Oakland Mall in the city to see the new Narnia movie. It was tons of fun! It was really nice to go see a movie in the theaters and it was such a great movie...so spiritual! And we even got our pictures with Santa :) It was a great day with friends!

And then on Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Forrest and Carols house and then went to the candle light Christmas Eve service put on by our church. It was a good Christmas Eve!

But thats not all, at midnight the sky lit up with fireworks from EVERY direction to celebrate Christmas Day! It was like nothing I had ever seen, heard, or smelt! And its definitely a tradition that I will enjoy (:

Then Christmas morning we had a normal Christmas morning. But then once we opened gifts and ate breakfast, we went to the airport to pick up the Oesterblads!

And with them came more gifts! It was like a second Christmas morning. Thank you so much to everyone who sent stuff down with the Oesterblads! And thank you to everyone who signed my shirt! You guys are AWESOME!!!

(in the picture above I am reading all the signatures on a shirt that a lot of my friends from school and church signed!!)

Then we spent the week with the Oesterblads! It was a great week. We...

Sifted (first picture) and cleaned (second picture) sand for a water filter!

Went to a village where we played with kids and the guys built a new stove for a family.

The second picture is me with two little girls who braided my hair (:

The last picture is the Oesterblad guys with the family that got the new stove!

Went to some ruins in Antigua!

Hiked the volcano Pacaya. And while we were there I talked to our guide from the last time we hiked Pacaya and I gave him a picture of himself that I had taken last time. He loved it and he said that he didnt have a picture of himself. It was so cool!

And we celebrated New Years Eve with food, movies, and of course...Fireworks!! We set off some of our own and then watched them light up the sky at midnight just like Christmas Eve! It's so cool to watch!

So thats how I spent the last two weeks!! It has been a really fun last two weeks. Thanks for reading...sorry for the excessive amount of pictures :)

-Katey!!