In The Words of Mother Teresa....

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. 
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. 
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. 
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. 
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. 
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." 
— Mother Teresa

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!!

"My Power is Made Perfect in Weakness"

Do you know a doctor who has gotten sick and had to be the patient?  How about a physical therapist with an injury? It is very hard going from being the one with the knowledge and control to being the one needing the services. This is the situation I find myself in right now. 


In the states, I was a teacher. I liked what I did, was good at it, parents and students liked me, I was creative and I felt smart and confident. 
I was also a Northern Virginia mom. I chauffeured my kids around and got theme where they needed to be all while driving in my Honda Pilot. Without me they were often trapped to the confines of our own neighborhood. 


But then I moved to Guatemala. 


I've gone from being a teacher to a student. I am finding spanish school difficult and am often questioning my intellect. I talk childish spanish and often get my verb tenses wrong. The other day my teacher was calling out large numbers in spanish and I had to write them.  I got a few of them wrong! This is an activity I did with my 5th grade students while teaching place value, and here I am, like a 10 yr. old student, writing out my numbers and not fully succeeding. It is humbling at best.


In Guatemala, I do not drive and I never go anywhere alone. I have been stripped of my independence. 


These are not bad things in and of themselves as I am liking my life in Guatemala. These feelings are also not unique to me, as I have talked with many amazing women here who feel the same way I do. But I am finding that God is using these experiences to strip me of everything that I clung to as my identity. 


So, as God peals away, layer by layer, the "Self" I am full of,  I am encouraged by 2 Corin. 12:8
"But he [Christ] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."


This is what God is working on in me, what is He working on in you? I would love to hear! 

I've Learned A Lot These Past 17 Years

Katey visiting Heather in California

17 years ago, on December 2nd, my first born child, Kate Elizabeth (Katey) was born.
I can't believe it has been 17 years. Of course, as her mom I have taught her a lot of things in those years, but that will never come close to how much she has taught me.

"Miranda" and "Lizzy"

It took years and many doctors visits to get pregnant, so before she ever was born I learned how to wait on God's perfect plan.

Rachel and Amanda "protesting"
on our front lawn

She has taught me how not to be so self centered, not just when she was a baby who needed me to meet her every need, but also as a young woman who often thinks of others above herself (except when it comes to Reese's... LOL)

Joy, Taylor and Katey
Best Friends since 3rd grade

She taught me what a devoted friend looks like, as she is the most faithful person to her friends that I know.

I learned early on that if she threw a tantrum, it was NOT all about me and how embarrassed I was.
I was so concerned about how I looked when she refused to go into her favorite ballet class, that I missed the fact that she was running a fever!

I learned how to rely on God as I saw her do so faithfully when she was in third grade and I was sick with breast cancer. From when I had cancer till a few years ago she would not spend the night away from home, but when she finally left home for a week it was to go to Guatemala on a mission trip. And when I anxiously recieved her call, I was floored when she said she did not want to come home, ever!

Katey helping with a camp in Guatemala

I have seen her live with integrity and she has taught me to do the same, now if she could only get me to stop cussing.... (just kidding, I have not been cussing in Guatemala)
She has displayed a servants heart serving our home church in so many ways, I couldn't begin to count them or even match them.

Katey and Rachel...enough said

She has a creative eye and computer skills that surpass me by miles.
In her, I see a strong quiet confidence and security in the Lord.
She has listened to more sermons on line than I have heard in a life time.

She swims faster than me, grew taller than me, comprehends more spanish than me, she's a great babysitter and an even better big sister.

My kids eating at MonoLoco in Guatemala, where we now live

She is not perfect, but is amazing.  Many may say that behind every good kid is a good parent, (ok, maybe nobody says it but they should) but I know the truth, so much of who she turned out to be had little to do with me. So as I reflect on these past 17 years, I am happy with how much I've grown. Ok, so maybe I still need to grow in the area of it not being all about me.

Katey and I