Our Journey So Far in Raising 3rd Culture Kids

I have mentioned before about my fears involved in raising missionary kids. I pray constantly for God to help my kids thrive. Our largest hurdle for a while was my boys learning Spanish since all the kids their age around the institute and church speak Kekchi. I still was surprised they weren't picking it up. Other than us, they weren't really around other English speakers all that often. I had asked God to lead me to a solution. We were doing homeschool Spanish and were struggling trying to get private tutors to show up outside of that. Their 4th tutor was the one God used to lead us to that solution. She is a missionary kid who is currently attending college in the States. 

During the boys' first class with her, she shared that she picked up Spanish by her parents putting her in elementary school here for a while. I had thought about this option before, but I wasn't comfortable with it academically. I knew we would have to homeschool in order for my boys to be prepared for college in the States. I talked it over with Jimmy again. We hadn't considered them doing both before, English homeschool and Spanish regular school, all at the same time. There is actually an Assembly of God school in our town. They offer kindergarten for 3 hours each afternoon. The school year starts at the end of January, and it was only the beginning of February at the time. Could they do both? Would it burn them out? Was this the solution God was giving me?

Jimmy drove to the school when he finished classes at the institute that afternoon. He enrolled them.  Soon I had them at the school introducing them to their new teacher. 

They started Spanish kindergarten the very next day! They were excited and nervous... I was excited and nervous! These boys had been out of my presence very few times during their 6 years of life. I'm so glad they are twins, I don't think I could have dropped off one all by himself that day. 

Jonah sums it up perfectly here:

Look how little they look:

My boys are SO brave! God blessed them with a wonderful teacher. She is a Christian and has been so kind to our family. She texts us all the time and catches us as we are picking up the boys to keep us updated with how they are doing.

After their first day of class:

Their teacher told us the other day that they sound just like all the other kids. The students at the farm keep talking about how much they speak now. They say, "And they don't talk with accents either!" I love listening to their little Spanish voices.

This is one of the best decisions we have made for our family. They have some great friendships now with kids in our town, kids whose parents are really invested into their kids lives. 

They have school uniforms that a tailor in town made. They wear them every day but Tuesday, P.E. day. Jonah calls them "sweat pants"! 

 They also have ID badges that they wear. Do you know how excited they were when they came home with these!!!

Jonah developed this coping mechanism, where he asks us to wave one more time at one of the 2 gated fences, depending on which way we drive off. He is such a cutiepie! Now Silas runs there too, it's our little tradition!

 They are currently in Spanish kindergarten and English 1st grade. In January we will start Eden in Spanish kindergarten and they will promote to 1st. Eden is only in English K-4, on an American school year schedule. It is kind of tricky, getting everything done. We can't lollygag, because we have to finish before lunch, in order to get them dressed and to school, with their Spanish homework done by 2:00. It is really laid back though. Sometimes we get a text the day of, that school is canceled. (I love those texts, don't tell!) 

Spanish homework takes some time! I'm kind of embarrassed to admit how much I have learned from Spanish kindergarten... so much terminology for different ways to manipulate tissue paper haha!

I was kind of worried that Jonah and Silas would get confused learning to read in 2 languages with such similar alphabets. When we started 1st grade this year I asked them what were the 5 vowels. Jonah said, "Well... I can tell you in Spanish!" It all works out! 

They get to participate in activities, like field day:

They were in a Day of the Bible parade! 

They had an Independence Day parade. 

That one kind of got rained out!

They are going to have so many experiences that will help them relate to their peers here. We asked them the other day if they ever get called gringo. Silas said, "No, but Rodrigo calls me vos". That's an informal tense that you would only use with a close friend. That melted my heart!  

My truck has been in the shops since Titus' was born, so we take a lot of tuktuk's to school. We have been making this new adventure work for our family!

Jimmy usually picks them up... and sometimes choco bananos and licuados too! 

 So their childhood looks pretty different from Jimmy and mine's, but it's still an awesome one! That was an expectation that I didn't realize I had. It's changing. So that is where we are at on this journey of raising 3rd culture kids! My boys are currently fluent and thriving. I'm sure there will be lots of adjustments along the way, but God got us this far, so I will have to trust Him with the rest!

Roosters, Grammar, & Yummy Food

Our new place is beautiful! It has just as many non-functional issues as the other, but I think it is better since it is cheaper, there is a lot more room for all of us, and tons of spots for my boys to run around in.

{Silas & Jonah our first morning there, on the porch outside of our rooms.}

The house comes with a pet rooster! Jonah and Silas noticed him right away!

We have a couple staying with us right now. The Yoders, James and Marietta, called us up several months ago and offered to come down for a couple weeks when we had time to tutor us in Kekchi. Why? Because they love Kekchi people. They were missionaries in Belize for many years and actually lived in a Kekchi village. James has been down here before to teach a KBI module. The Kekchi pastors still go on and on about how good Brother James' Kekchi is and how it is pure Kekchi and even better than theirs since he doesn't mix in any Spanish words.

Their offer to come help us learn this language is a wonderful gift! We were very excited to hear about their willingness to do this. We feel like there have been so many setbacks, especially trying to find accurate grammar books and dictionaries that use the new alphabet. The more books we find and people we ask questions, the more different answers we get. I feel like we are constantly learning and then relearning things that were written down incorrectly.

Yesterday we all went to the country's headquarters for indigenous languages. They are supposed to have all of the textbooks that are used in the schools. It was kind of disorganized.

We had to rummage through piles of books in all the Mayan languages to find Kekchi textbooks. We bought 2 of everything they had that included the Spanish in it.

{Some of the books we found}

Once we got home we were pretty disappointed. It looks like they must have started with a Spanish textbook and then had that one translated to all the Mayan languages to use as a grammar book for those languages whether the languages were similar or not. Lots of words don't exist I guess in all of the languages or the thoughts weren't clear to the ones translating, because the books are kind of a mess. The sentences don't even make sense. The charts are off. I feel bad for the Kekchi children who are using these textbooks to learn how to write their own tongue. They have a beautiful language, but these books might make them doubt that.

So our plan now is to continue with James over skype and Tutor #4 in person, writing down as much as we can get and organizing it in a usable fashion. Please pray for us, we need this language to move on with our Kekchi work.

Beyond the language, the Yoders know so much about Kekchi culture. We are constantly learning valuable things from them just in casual conversation. Jimmy has already made several adjustments to the seminary just from discussions with James. Beyond language and culture, we really enjoy their friendship. We come from such different backgrounds, but there is just such good fellowship there. They have had so many experiences, and we get to reap wisdom from all of them.

They are great with our boys. Jonah and Silas are fascinated with James' iPad, so he won them over quick!

Marietta is a great cook, so I have really enjoyed being around her in the kitchen. I am writing down all kinds of new recipes.

We are having the best time with them!

Marietta took pregnancy photos for us yesterday, so I will try and post them soon. Eden is staying put for now. Jimmy went out and bought newborn diapers today and a pack n play, so I'd say we are officially ready... as ready as you can be! I probably should pack a hospital bag I guess.

The Kekchi Language

We started Kekchi classes again as soon as we got back in June. We had been having a real problem with finding a tutor who would come more than 3 times. There was always just some kind of scheduling conflict on their part. Domingo and José are very good friends with a pastor in Dolores, a town 45 minutes from us. He has since turned his church over to another pastor since he was brought in just to help save a dying church. He is also a full time elementary school teacher. He speaks fluent Spanish, but is Kekchi. His name on the blog will be Tutor #4. He is the best tutor we have had... and he has been showing up regularly for over 2 months!

{Tutor #4}

We have our classes at 8:30 after the boys go to sleep, which makes for no interruptions. We are thankful that Tutor #4 is willing to come so late. We have class twice a week and go over a chapter each time. It is a lot of material, but the days in between give us time to really memorize it... or at least try to.

Our classes are a little different this time. The following is what I understand from several conversations, so it is as accurate as word of mouth across 3 languages can be: In 2001 the government decided that since over a million people spoke Kekchi it was time to legalize the language. They unified the Mayan alphabet for at least 4 of the 23 indigenous languages spoken in Guatemala. This was supposed to make it standardized with rules that everyone could follow. With the new alphabet it meant that the spelling of most of the words changed. (So everything we learned in the past we need to forget?) Very few adults read and write the language anyway, but if they do they read the "old" way. Everyone who has learned to read since 2001 and will learn to read in the future will be with the "new" alphabet and spelling. So which one do we learn? Which alphabet anyone should use is a very touchy subject in some circles.

Well... we chose the "new, standardized" way. So it is almost like starting from scratch, only more confusing! Kekchi is no longer Kekchi, it is Q'eqchi'. (For the record I don't think that looks easier.)

Since the government legalized the language they also developed grammar books. These books are extremely hard to find around here. It took us over a month and a couple hundred photocopies of Tutor #4's book before Jimmy finally found 2 in a town an hour from here. Unfortunately there are a lot of typos in the book and not a lot of explanation, so we are figuring it out as we go along. If the book states a rule then at least half of the examples below it don't even follow the rule... I just don't get it. Are they irregular? Is there more to the rule that we need to figure out? If it wasn't for my sharp high school French teacher I don't think I would ever be able to organize all of this information in a usable way for me to learn it. I'm so thankful for her!

{Our textbooks}

Beyond the book, in our circles I have met 1 person since being here that understands grammar... as in, they really understood what a noun or a preposition was, it was my Spanish tutor back in Xela. It isn't really emphasized here. They just memorize rote things without many rules. This makes it very difficult to ask questions.

Jimmy thrives in this environment. He just memorizes entire sentences, or random conjugated verbs without ever learning the infinitives. I don't want to learn a conjugated verb until I learn the infinitive and then I want to learn a tense and how to conjugate all the verbs in that tense... is that too much to ask! I'm sure many missionaries have to learn indigenous languages without any books at all, so I shouldn't complain.

I would argue that Jimmy has to be one of the most annoying people to ever learn a language with because he picks stuff up so easily. Our teacher knows it and keeps giving him imaginary gold stars during class when he shows off. The two of them think they're cute. This is my learning environment!

KEKCHI FUN FACTS:

*There are 33 letters in the Kekchi alphabet and they don't use "d", "f", "g", or "v".

*The Kekchi language itself is really very beautiful... as long as an "x" doesn't fall next to a "q", then something crazy happens in your throat, that only a little phlegm could help resolve.

*Question marks are not used.

*It is very descriptive and gives a lot of insight into their culture. Like the word for a big truck, "teken ch'iich". It literally means a large metal ant.

*"Paabank", which means both to believe and to obey. I thought that was really a neat way to describe your faith. They are one in the same.

*The verb "utz'uk" means both to smell and to kiss!

*The word "kaxlan" means stranger. So bread, like we eat, that Kekchi people would not normally eat is called "kaxlan wa" which means the stranger's tortilla. The same way with a light (in a house). It is called "kaxlan xaml", or the stranger's flame and a soda is "kaxlan ha' ", the stranger's water.

*James Yoder is the one who explained to us that Kekchi people are not very publicly affectionate, so they don't say "my husband" or "my wife". Instead they use other words like "the person I travel with" or "my partner in words" since it is the person you discuss everything with.

Kekchi is tough, but we are very motivated to communicate better with our friends and all the people that we want to personally share Christ with. Please pray that it will stick in our minds and especially pray for our pronunciation!

Lao Yoco Chi Tzoloc Li Kekchi

That means "We are studying Kekchi!" Last year we tried to start learning Kekchi, but we couldn't find a tutor that would show up on a regular basis. It is very difficult to find someone who speaks Kekchi, is fluent in Spanish, reads and writes well, and understands how to teach a language. A friend introduced us to Fabian. He is Kekchi, but married a Latina, so he is fluent in Spanish. He also has taught several other people Kekchi before. He ALSO shows up... and on time!

He is very careful to make sure both of us understand everything before he moves on. He is very positive and makes learning fun. He's a huge blessing!

We have classes 3 times a week during the boys' first nap. The boys have been sick lately (we think we have narrowed it down to amoebas) so twice now they have woken up during our class with double diarrhea! He has been very understanding. And we found out why, he has 5-year-old twin boys! With a smile on his face he said, "I have already survived this!" It made me laugh! His boys' names are Joseph Elisha and Joseph Stephen (but in Spanish). He was surprised our boys didn't have the same name. He told me about all of his kids and I counted and said, "So you have 10." He replied, "No, 9." He counts the twins as one! It is interesting to me to learn about things having to do with twins in other cultures.

Our book is in Spanish, but the Spanish is sort of funny, like it was translated from English into Spanish, I don't know, but it's tricky. The book was written 30 years ago, so some of the Kekchi has changed and it is Coban Kekchi, so we are constantly penciling in things. Still the book is the only one of it's kind and is a lifesaver! We are also discovering that you sort of make the spelling up as you go. Most people don't usually write it, so not everyone who speaks it knows the correct spelling for things. Anyway, it is very phonetical so I like that!

Since we are learning it out of our second language, my notes are a mess. I guess that is a representation of my brain. I didn't realize just how jumbled up the thoughts inside my head were until I tried to write them down, they are in Spanglish. I was going to write all my notes in Spanish, but then English words kept popping out. Then I decided I would write them all in English, but Spanish words kept popping out. So then I decided I would try to at least pick one language for an entire sentence... that didn't work either. So as I was using up the last part of the eraser on my pencil I decided to just embrace the Spanglish. It's a mess, but it makes sense to me!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY:

Do you notice anything strange about this photo... other than the fact there has been a Cheerio shortage for a month now so my boys are eating Cornflakes.

We were grocery shopping in Santa Elena and stopped in Pizza Hut for some lunch. Someone else must have been doing the same, but they just decided to bring in their cart with them!

No More Grammar!

Today was my last day of new grammar. No more new material, I have heard everything at least once (I hope), now I just need to put it into practice. For the next 2.5 months I will be reviewing, reading the newspaper, national geographic in spanish... yuck!, translating music, and writing compositions. Jimmy has started making me translate all of my blog entrees into spanish. I learn a lot of practical vocabulary that way. I am so thankful for Linda she was sent by God. Please keep praying for my spanish and for Linda’s faith.

Jimmy was calling churches Monday and Tuesday to give them updates and asked a couple to help us with our move to the Petén. Jimmy is so cute, he hates talking about money, so I think he only ending up asking 2 for help with our startup cost and I think that is because they asked Jimmy straight up. One of the first pastors he called did not want to here an update. He said, “Brother, we saw a picture of you as a clown on your prayer letter and we dropped you.” That photo was back in September, so I think they were a couple prayer letters behind. This was a little tough because we are getting ready to move, but God will take care of us. It also is a little frustrating because we have so many churches that support us and there is no way that all of us could have the same preferences. I could go on, but that is all I am going to say about that! There were 2 pastors that promised to help and so many secretaries said to tell Shelley hello... that means they knew our names. I do not think anyone realizes what it means when people remember our names. We are thankful for the churches that support us. The rest of the pastors Jimmy spoke to were awesome and were very excited about the doors God has been opening.

We were driving behind this bus on the way back from Huehue. Each time it would take a curve one of the back tires would come way off the ground.

Odds & Ends

Tuesday, Lucha was barking in our backyard. Our dogs never bark unless there is a problem. Jimmy looked out the window and there was a man on top of our wall getting down. We did not recognize him, so I do not think he lives next door. Our house is surrounded by fields otherwise, so we really do not know why he would be up there. Lucha is a good guard dog. Please pray that God keeps us safe. This has made us be even more careful.

Yesterday Jimmy made virgin Piña Coladas... they were yummy. I made some no bakes and some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I could not find any brown sugar, but they taste good anyway. Jimmy took some no bakes for his class this morning. It is hard to find a lot of things here, but we have figured out how to make all kinds of new things since we have been here. If anybody has some great recipes for meals that do not require anything prepackaged we would love to try them. We can buy beef anyway it would come in the States and we can buy boneless chicken breast. Turkey is very expensive. Other than that we cannot find any other meat that we feel safe eating yet. If you have any good recipes please email them to us.

Jimmy always fusses at me when I let Lucha on the couch or bed. I went upstairs during my class to ask Jimmy what something was in English... Lucha was sitting on the bed with him. There is a double standard here!

You probably heard that Bush was in Guatemala on Monday. There is a large population here of liberal hippie gringos, they are the ones that were protesting. On top of that, the only news Guatemalans hear about the US is through CNN International and that is just propaganda. It is really sad. Linda says things that she hears about the States all the time, and they are just not true. It seems as though Mexico is causing all types of problems for which the US gets blamed.

Please continue to pray for my spanish. I am learning subjunctive right now and then afterwards I will have 2 and a half months of just practicing. I would really like to translate for the medical team that is coming in the middle of May. I study three hours with Linda every day covering new material and only speaking in spanish. I try to practice with Jimmy for several hours too (only using spanish). Please pray that I will be diligent. When you’re in the middle of everything it is hard to see progress especially when there is so much new material everyday. I was encouraged when my parents were here because I realized that there was a big difference in my spanish from when Jimmy’s parents were here a month earlier.

The Last Day With My Parents

We have been having some internet problems. There are several projects that we are working on with different churches in the States and and we are having a hard time communicating with them because of our internet, so please pray that this gets resolved soon. Thanks!

Fixing computer problems.

Eating lunch in Panajachel.

This is where our pizzas were cooked.

The evolution of a power line in Guatemala!

Crossroads Café in Panajachel.

This is a Christian coffee shop.

Mike and my dad talking about coffee roasting.

Eating dinner over Lake Atitlan.

Me and my mom in Pana.

My parents playing the marimba!

Driving to Guatemala City.

The scorpion we found in our hotel room.

Jimmy hunting for the scorpion.

Yuck!

Here is a praise. Linda has been a great blessing to us. She watches our dogs for us while we travel. She has been very trustworthy. Yesterday she asked again when we were going to move to the Petén. I said that I hope by the first of June. She said that I would definitely be able to finish my Spanish by then. Before she was not so optimistic, so this was very encouraging!