Have You Ever Used Someone to Get What You Wanted?

There is a baby that we buy formula and medicine for.
Some people have said we are being used.
May they are just jealous.
Or maybe we are being used.

Does it matter?

Yes, I think as I lay in my bed unable to sleep. How could she.

And then God ever so gently knocks me off my high horse with two simple questions.
"Maureen, have you ever used someone to get what you wanted?"
"Have you ever manipulated a situation to get what you needed?"
I am silent.


Then I hear Him say, "Whose money do you use to buy the formula?
And what if the mother in the cornstalk house with no money IS using you for formula and medicine?
Does it matter?
Is the baby getting healthier?
Does visiting her give you an opportunity to talk about Me?"

In Christ, I surrender my rights.

And as soon as I think I know what someone needs, outside of Jesus, I am the one in need.
As soon as I get to choose who I serve and who I don't serve, I am no longer serving.
As soon as I think I have something to offer, I have nothing.

So, I hope she is using me for all that Jesus can give her and I hope I never stop giving her Jesus.

Birthday Celebrations

I love birthdays.
And since I found out that Fernando's family had never celebrated any of their birthdays, I have made it my mission to help them celebrate.
On Monday we celebrated Isma turning 14.

She is growing into the sweetest young lady.

She wanted Pollo Campero for lunch.

Emily made her cake.

There were plenty of people around to help celebrate. 

Afterwards we washed the dishes in the pilla.

And my favorite part of this whole birthday crusade of mine is little Engli's response. Her mom, Rubidia,  said last week when their neighbor had a birthday with no party or fanfare, Engli told her, "Don't feel sad, I'll tell Maureen it is your birthday, she LOVES to celebrate them!"

Deby and Engli

A Mother's Heart

I had a "mom"moment yesterday.

We went to visit a family unannounced and when we got their Sergio was on his bed sobbing, his face soaking wet. When I asked what was wrong, his mom and sisters were quick to tell me that he cannot be in the Independence Day Parade with his school band because they don't have the money for the quite expensive uniform, and he was heart broken.

I had just gotten done having a conversation with someone about how living in a very poor family is not the child's fault, and yet they are often the ones who suffer most.

I asked him what he played and he told me the drums.
I asked him how much the uniform cost and he told me.
And then I leapt with my heart and not my head and said that I wanted to pay for his uniform.

I do not tell you this to brag, in fact some of you may realize how this might not have been the smartest move. But my "mom" heart was breaking. I told him that I thought God heard his tears and cared for what was important to him and that I wanted him to know the uniform was not a gift from me but from God. I told him God sees him and cares for him and cares about what is important to him.

By the time we left he was smiling and drumming on every surface in the house.  And, well, he may not be the best drummer in the world, but at that moment he sure was the happiest.

My Special Girl, Emily

This is my precious Emily quite a few years ago. 

This is my Emily now.

Emily is my side kick. You rarely see me without her. For 8 years I taught school and every day she went with me. We have special restuarants, songs, words, jokes, secrets, and stories.

So today, I felt like I should be sleeping in the dog house when she came to me in tears. It seems I wrote a special blog for Clay and Katey on their birthday. But i didn't write one on hers. That led to the old "there aren't as many pictures of me as there are of them either".

Now if you are a mom and have more than one kid, you know that life happens and the last kid gets the shaft in some ways. But in other ways, life is good. I was the oldest of three and found the position quite restrictive. Let's face it, parents lighten up as time goes on.

Emily is way cooler than either of them were at 12. She speaks spanish, is comfortable in many more situations than I am even today. She loves Jesus and has a heart of compassion. She is genuine, sweet, beautiful, talented and funny. So even though there are less pictures of her and this blog is a month late, her and I have way more secrets. I mean, I know that ever since she read the book Junie B First Grader Aloha-ha-ha!

she has wanted to go to Hawaii. So we have a plan, when the other two are finally out of the house, we are going!! And I promise to blog about it and take tons of pictures!!

Fashion Sense

I panicked today. We take Katey to college in 2 and 1/2 weeks. I didn't panic for the reason you are thinking, I panicked because I only own crocs and flip flops. I only own old capris. I own t-shirts and Gautemalan jade jewelry. I don't even wear a wedding ring. On a normal day these things don't bother me, but today it hit me. I am going to a weekend orientation with my daughter at her new college and I am going to look like a missionary.

This might sound silly to some, and shallow to others, but it was terrifying to me. I spent the evening trying to figure out how I can buy myself a pair of shoes on Zappos and send them to her school before she even moves in, so I can get them as soon as we arrive and put them on before meeting anybody new.

Really. That is how I spent my evening.

Then I thought, I will google a Godly woman devotional to calm my craziness. And up pops a beautiful young woman with a professionally taken picture, professionally done hair and beautiful nails. She happened to have gone on a mission trip this summer for a week building chicken coops. And yet she didn't want to blog about any of her stories because she is planning on writing them in a book.

Really? After one week? A book?

So, here I am, unable to sleep and God meets me where I should have turned first, in my favorite book. Philippians.

"Let your gentleness be evident to all." 
Not your shoes, or your nails, or your new book that you wrote on your one week mission trip..... your gentleness. I know I have that. I have to find it, but it is here somewhere. 

It goes on to say,  "The Lord is near."  Do not be anxious about anything" 
Wow. As if it were written for me at this very moment. 

So I am going to pack my gentleness in my carry on and rejoice in the fact that He is near and I am going to choose to not be anxious about anything. 

I will be ok,  but it sure would help a lot if someone could just meet me at the airport with a pair of cute sandals.

What do you need to pack in your carry on?

There was a death in the family

Yesterday one of our scholarship student's grandfather died.
We got the call today asking if we could please come over, so Todd, Wendy and I did just that. Somehow I got the message that it was the grandmother who had passed.  So imagine my surprise when I walked in and there she was, greeting people. 

I guess I thought it would just be us and the family. Instead, each of the grandkids' classes and their teachers came by. As a class. Wow!!

The abuelo and abuela lived in a small, three room house made out of a thin sheet metal.
To my surprise, they had taken the sheet metal down to make room for all the people. It was big and open and spacious. The family cooked and as a visitor you are expected to stay and eat.

Each of Alejandra's siblings hugged us, sat with us and introduced us to others. We got an opportunity to comfort the family. It was a cultural learning experience and a chance to see God working. It was also a privilege.

What new experiences have you seen God in recently?

A Gift of the Heart

This is my dear friend Engli.
This is her first weaving project and she wanted me to have it as a gift.
I was moved to tears.

Women in Guatemala learn to weave at a young age and then sell their goods to help provide for their family. So, even though it was a gift, I told Engli I wanted to pay her for it.
She asked for 5Q, which is less than a dollar.

A table runner in the market would sell for about 75Q.
"It is worth much more than 5Q!  On Saturday when you come to my house I want you to give me a price more than 5Q", I told her.

Can you see where this is going?

When she came over on Saturday, she asked for 6Q.

I paid her 25Q. But, in my heart it is worth so much more!!

My gym membership ain't what it used to be....

When I started going to the gym, Melinda would meet me at my house, I'd wait for her, she'd wait for me. We'd walk to the gym, talking and laughing, or crying, the whole way. We'd work out next to each other, encourage each other, and then walk home. Talking even more. But Melinda is moving. So now I go with Todd Erickson and Clay Erickson who tell me if they have to wait more than 2 minutes they are leaving me, who walk in front of me because I walk too slow and who have asked me not to speak to them, because I interrupt their "gym" time. Then, if I don't want to get left at the gym, I need to leave when they do. So today, I am feeling kinda blue, as I realize that I'm not getting as much out of my gym membership as I used to!

When is being called fat a compliment? A change in perspective.

My sister, Eileen, came to visit. She is tall, thin and beautiful.



I took her to meet the two Godly sister in Santiago, Zamora. I was so excited for them to meet my sister.



"Maureen," they said, "You are fat and your sister is thin."
Wow, in the US that could end a friendship.



I have lived here in Guatemala long enough to know that saying someone is "gorda" or asking their age is not rude. However, it still catches me off guard. But it was their next line that changed my perspective.
"Todd is able to provide food for you. You are blessed to never go hungry."
I assured them that my sister's husband provided plenty of food too, my sister just eats less and exercises more.

What a paradigm shift. Next time you look in the mirror and are about to complain that you think you look fat, use it as an opportunity to thank God that you have enough food to eat.

I have been working on losing weight because it is a better witness and much healthier. I just hope it doesn't reflect badly on Todd.

All In A Week

This week Emily made marshmallow hearts


and visited a church celebrating a prayer group that has not missed a week of praying in 20 years!!




















Katey redesigned her TOMS that had holes in them


















And delivered money that she raised to Pedro for his therapy.

























Clay pretended to go to the beach



and helped lead three kids to the Lord while helping translate for a team with our church.



I'm not going to pretend we have it all figured out. Just spend more than five minutes with us and that will be painfully obvious. But we are learning daily how to live out the verse
1 Thessalonians 2:8 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. "

Resolutions

I love New Years and the days that follow.
I love getting a new journal.
I love making resolutions.
I love it all.
I feel like it is a time to start fresh. It motivates me to take stock in my life and it spurs me on to make goals.

This year I want to continue to eat gluten free and eat as many raw foods as possible. I want to keep exercising and continue in my quest to get healthy. I want to have more sex with my husband. (Yeah, I said it)

I want to be a student of the Holy Spirit and actively listen more and to read The Word with fresh eyes. I am going to read thru the whole Bible writing notes in the margins and pass it on to my oldest daughter, so she has a Bible that I've studied to spur her on in her walk with the Lord (thank you Melinda Evans for spurring me on).

I want to watch all 7 seasons of the Gilmore Girls.

I want to read more.

In 2011 I read
The whole Hunger Games series
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
The Cross and the Switchblade
Keeping aBreast
Decision Points
Me Myself and Bob
Fool-proofing your life
The 100 Top Picks for Home School Curriculum.
(and I am sure I am missing a few more)

On my current list for 2012 is
Unveiled by Alan Smith --heard him in person, can't recommend it enough.
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets
Think Differently Live Differently, by Bob Hamp,
The Essential Guide to Healing by Bill Johnson and Randy Clark. This book is out of my norm for types of books I read. Excited.
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Fasting by Jentezen Franklin
gluten-free girl by Shauna James Ahern

Still deciding on my fiction.

So what are your goals for 2012?

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.......

Warning: this blog is not appropriate for small children.

Tonight on CBS was the TV show Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus based on the letter written by Virginia O'Hanlon to the New York Sun in 1897. The topic of Santa comes up every year around this time. Last week I saw a story on Fox News where some parents wanted a teacher punished for telling the class there was no Santa Claus. I get it, I have kids and I was a teacher.

This same topic comes up here in Guatemala. While having a conversation with a Guatemalan friend, she relayed a story about her childhood. She asked her older brother if Santa was real. He said only in rich families. She then asked if they were rich, he told her no.

We work closely with a family in the village of Santiago Zamora. Last year just before Christmas the dad was riding back to his village on his bicycle, his only form of transportation, with cereal and milk for Christmas Day (a treat they can't normally afford.) Half way up his road he was robbed. They tied him up and took his bike, the cereal, milk and a few other gifts he had bought. This family can't afford to believe in Santa.

But that is where the good news comes in. This same family loves Jesus. This same family shares testimony after testimony of how good God is to them. They may not have gifts but they have joy. They may have no hope of filled stockings but they do have the hope of a God who is not just for the rich, but who offers a new life for all.

So, I get it, go ahead, tell your kids about Santa, but make sure you tell them about Jesus too, because He is real.

This same family has a son who, without a scholarship, will have to quit school. Please consider giving to our Servants 4Him scholarship fund. Education is a great gift, even if your teacher says there is no Santa.

Gluten Free or as they say in Spanish...Sin Gluten

So, I’ve gone gluten free; in reality 3 out of 5 of us have gone gluten free. I know it’s the new bandwagon in the U.S. but let me assure you, it is not trendy here in Guatemala.

So, why in the world would I choose to go gluten free? Well, my stomach has bothered me my whole life. And for the last few years I knew I should probably try going Gluten free but in reality, I LOVE GLUTEN. In fact, I even believe I was addicted to it.

After going home to the states and eating at every restaurant I have missed, I returned to Guatemala feeling quite sick. I was happy mind you, just sick. So I decided to “cleanse” for a few days. We’ve all done it, the post vacation diet of fruits and veggies, but I was craving bread like a chain smoker craves a cigarette. I needed motivation to stay with my healthy foods for just a few days. Mind you, this was not going to be permanent. So I bought the book (on my iPad of course, I have yet to find a bookstore) Wheat Belly by William Davis

Wow, It offered the motivation I needed. He said, the first few days you will crave bread like a chain smoker craves a cigarette!

So, I stuck with my “temporary” healthy eating for a few more days. And something that I never expected happened, I stopped craving bread and I felt better than I had felt in years!! I had mixed emotions. Obviously I was happy to feel so good, but I was sad, because I realized that the very food I craved and ate often was the very food making me sick. I could not turn back.

Todd and Emily have joined me on this lifestyle change. Todd has not noticed much difference, but Emily who has always been skinny but had a little protruding belly, came to me just yesterday and said, mommy my big tummy is gone. After reading wheat belly I believe she was bloated from gluten.

Why am I sharing all this with you? Well, not to over spiritualize this but I was refusing to give up the one thing I loved not realizing it was the very thing hurting me. I see this in my spiritual life too. I tend to want to hold on to the very thought, action, or sin that I think I need in my life; not realizing it is the very thing holding me back.

This whole journey has been quite eye opening.

What are you holding on to that is really hurting you?

Happy 15th Birthday Clay!!

Clay has done things his own way since he was born. He was 10 days early, spent 5 days in NICU and could jump before he could talk. He's been a leader since he was in preschool.



He makes me laugh


















And has always been handsome.
















He likes the Redskins.
















And is a hard worker!!














He loves his dad.













and liked playing lacrosse.



















He adds joy to each day.
















And has already had memorials named after him!!


















He loves music, like Toby Mac













He's becoming a great musician in his own right and speaks great spanish. He has a large heart for ministry.
I watch in awe the man of God he is becoming.

I love you, Clay.
Mom

Sisters

Sisters have been on my mind a lot lately. I know two older sisters here in Guatemala, never been married...buying one cinder block at a time and praying for three years that some one would build them a house, and we have teams helping to build a house for them. I love these ladies.

Then the other day I met 2 more sisters, 15 and 17. They live alone since both their parents died. They live in a 1/2 finished block house with no bathroom ( they use their aunt's bathroom) and a piece of lamana leaning up against the wall as a make shift roof to cover the open flame they cook over. They have a bedroom, the only real room in the house, with a small, old bed that they share.

We took the young sisters up to see the older sisters. The older sisters have Jesus, and a house. The younger girls have neither. I can offer them Jesus but I can't build them a house because they aren't the official owners of the land. I stood and cried, my heart breaking, as I talked with the older sisters about the younger sisters.

Tears that I could not live how they live, tears that they don't know Jesus, tears that I dont kow how to fix their physical living situation, tears that God led my Katey to meet the older sister, tears that my kids don't have to live that way, tears that these young girls do. Tears that I didn't take them home with me, and more tears that they probably would not have come. So many tears.

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed." Psalm 34:18

A "Normal" Saturday in Guatemala...

I had someone tell me recently that the things which I now consider "normal" would probably be very interesting to people who do not live here in Guatemala. Today, as we were running errands in the city, I started looking at my day with that mind set.

Here is just a small snap shot of my day which was so close to my old normal and yet so far.....

Katey, Todd and I went into the city to run some errands. We decided that we could do one stop shopping if we went to Eskala Mall. It has a newly renamed store....Walmart.

I could not find the makeup I needed so I bought a different brand and hoped it would work. They also don't have bottled water by the case, so we grabbed an arm full of individual bottles and hoped to make it to the cart without dropping them.

I could not find a few of the items I needed, but I made a mental note of the items I saw that they had not carried before.

We spoke spanish in the checkout line, payed in quetzals and headed out of the store. The store opens up to the inside hallways of the mall, just like in the US, but we now had our Walmart cart. We left the mall and headed for our car, passing a security guard with a very large gun in his hands.



After loading up the car, we decided that we were hungry and it was well past lunch time, so we decided to grab a quick lunch at the mall Pizza Hut. This is not the food court Pizza Hut but the sit down kind and it was cleaner than any Pizza Hut I've been in.

The manager asked us in spanish (of course) if we wanted to be able to see the TV and we said yes. It seemed the whole restaurant was there to see the TV. Barcelona was playing Manchester United in soccer.

Now imagine the whole US being either a Redskin or Baltimore fan. No other teams even come close.... that is what it is like here. Just about everyone is either a Real Madrid or Barcelona fan and today only Barcelona was playing. Since leaving our house earlier in the day we lost count on how many Barcelona shirts we had seen. Every TV in Walmart , every radio that had a plug, was on the game.

As I headed to the Pizza Hut bathroom, Barcelona scored and the whole restaurant (including Todd) went nuts. Even the kitchen staff was out of the kitchen watching the TV (which made me wonder how long it would take to get our pizza, but it came quite quickly).

I ordered pepsi light (diet pepsi) and it almost always comes in a can. This time it was a fountain drink....I was so excited. Do you have free refills, I asked? No.

Since moving here I have found 1 resturant that had free refills. Todd and Katey ordered a bottle of water, which they call agua pura (like your going to order agua unpura..) which also does not come with refills, so the old trick of ordering water to cut down on your tab does not work here.

I have not had Pizza Hut since moving here, so we decided to splurge and get the stuffed crust. It was good, the crust was stuffed, but on the outside of the crust was cheddar cheese.

We enjoyed our meal, our non refillable drinks, and the game (Barcelona won in case you missed it) and we headed home.

Then, this evening, a mom and four of her 7 kids stopped by to say they did not have enough food to eat.

This is such a struggle for us. We know the concept behind the saying, "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day but if you teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime", but when they are standing on your door step at 6:30 pm in the dark and the rain with 4 of their kids, ranging from ages 12 to 3 months, there is not time to teach fishing. We invited them in, introduced the little ones to our cat, fed them popcorn, chatted in spanish, and then I packed up a lot of food (some that I had just bought at Walmart) and we hugged them and prayed with them and the mom cried and we gave them bus money and sent them on their way.
And as the evening was coming to an end, I thought, what a "normal" Saturday.

I am not always content with the new normal, but the Lord is working on me, which brings to mind the part of Philippians 4:12 that says, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation," ......That is my prayer.

Have you ever had to adjust to a new normal?

Before and After Photos... A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

These are our smaller stoves being put in houses in San Pablo... across the lake from Panajachel.

After:

The women are believers of Jesus, the father is a witchdoctor

Before:


After:

This sweet lady has terrible pain in her legs. I got a chance to lay hands on them and pray for healing for her.

Before:

It's The End Of the Day As We Know It

The World was supposed to end today, according to some. For us, in a lot of ways, it is just beginning.

Have you ever have one of those days when God just sends people to your door? Well, I had no intentions of having one of those days. We were going to head to the city, but boy did God have other plans.

This was our day:

5:00 am.Todd drives family to airport

8:00 I get out of bed because men are coming to work on the roof

10:00 Guatemalan friend from the city comes by with her mom and dad so we could meet them

10:30 A mom we minister to, from El Tizate, comes by with her oldest daughter and newest baby (see last news letter to get the story about baby Carolina). The daughter needed to use a computer for a school project. I fed them lasagna for lunch. Mom shared how she does not have enough food for her children. I pack her a grocery bag full of food.
Mom brought me a plant from her garden as a gift.

11:00 The gardener, who comes every saturday morning, plants the gift for me with Emily's help. We feed him every week, this week he got lasagna.

11:30 Todd, accompanied by 2 of our kids, drive the mom and 2 kids to pick of medicine for the grandma and then drive them home.

1:00pm One of Clay's friends comes by

2:00 A Gautemalan friend, Fernando, and three of his kids (that I tutor in Santiago Zamora...see last news letter) come by to visit and talk. I give them medicine for a sick family member.

4:30- 6:00 many missionary friends come by

6:30 Our ministry driver (that we use for teams) comes by to tell us about a car accident he was just in where God spared his life. We feed him dinner and give him medicine.

7:00 Clay and friends come back from the central park, where a young man that we connected with at the lake this week, has called to tell clay he is in town to visit. We feed him dinner. He is now sleeping on our couch.

The story that God was writing in my home this Saturday is better than any movie I was going to see in the theaters. What did you do today when the world didn't end?

Where There's a Will, There's a Coke

Ever wonder why we can't get people clean drinking water or why we can't get enough food and medicine to rural parts of the world..and yet, no matter where you go in the world you can get a coke?
Well, Melinda Gates wondered the same thing. Here is a short (20 minutes) video on what NGO's could learn from Coke.
I watched it and was fascinated. And then my mind went wild, the same concepts work for sharing the Gospel.

i encourage you to watch this video. The principles are priceless.

Melinda French Gates: What nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola | Video on TED.com

Family Devotions- It's A Zoo Out There!

Not for one minute am I going to pretend that finding time for family devotions is easy. It is not. But that is all the more reason to make it a priority and fight for a time that works.
When living in the states, the few times that really worked for us were times when we were naturally together. Time in the car on the way to school or at the dinner table.
The second hurdle we faces was what to do. Our kids range in ages from 10 to 17 so that posed a small challenge.
We have had some great success with the book "Voices of the Faithful" You just read a page a day and the focus is on missions.
I also like The One Year Devotions series. They have One Year Devotions for Boys, for GIrls, for Kids, Teens and Preschoolers.

But now that we are homeschooling we have devotions 5 mornings a week, at the beginning of the school day and though I could not be more thrilled with this, I have struggled to find something that they wanted to listen to daily.



Thanks to a friend I used to teach with, we have found the perfect book. I have used it in the classroom and now with my kids and in both settings the kids request it!!! "Are we going to read the zoo book today?"

The stories are true, some funny and some sad. They are a few pages long and tell of the adventures that Gary Richmond had while working for many years in a California zoo. At the end of each story he ties it into a story or lesson from the Bible. My whole family loves these, they are not just for kids!!

So whether family devotions are new to you or you have mastered the art, this book is sure not to disappoint. Grab a copy (you can get it on amazon) and start reading it at the dinner table tonight.