Moments With Our Farm Family

When Jimmy and I talk about the institute with each other, we always call it "the farm". So if I say farm and it sounds confusing, I really mean institute. It is a working farm though. Right now there are lots of agricultural projects, plus bees, fish, meat chickens, doves, pigs, goats, and turkeys. There is also all kinds of construction going on, more students houses, water and electricity being installed still to the last couple homes, Juan has a new house waiting for a floor, fence is constantly going up, repairs and improvement are constantly being made. Petén is a high maintenance place to live (rats, termites, humidity)! 

 Our friends, Jim and Bonnie, that I mentioned in the last post, are bringing a work team to the farm Tuesday! They gave over $2,000 for supplies already to help with the church building being built and other paint projects. It is a concrete base with wood walls. They are nailing/screwing up the walls and painting as many student houses as they have time. The oil based paint makes the boards last longer. We are very thankful for their investment of heart, time, sweat, and money into the farm. Please pray for their team! 

So, this is a hopping place! In between all the classes and work, we do share lots of time together celebrating special moments in each others lives!

 

This was Pedro's birthday. Paul (missionary pilot) had brought a team of 3 guys that day to help with the little stone walkways being laid to each house. 

 This was when we got back from our last furlough. We brought presents! That was a fun day.

{Mateo and Silas}

This was Juan's birthday!

Jimmy introduced helium to everyone who is from Petén!

As you can tell it was a big hit! Afterwards they wanted to release all the balloons and watch them fly away.

 

Then there was the birth of Shelley Eunice! Could she be any more beautiful?!

That was pretty stressful. It was the first pregnancy at the farm. There was a month long window where Jimmy had to answer every single phone call from the farm no matter what time of night (haha!) just in case Natividad was in labor. He got lots of phone calls after 10pm about chicken feed or other supplies they needed that could have waited 'til morning. 

Just about the time Shelita was due, their doctor in Santa Elena went out of town. They went to a clinic here in town the week of her due date where they were told their dates were off because she was measuring small. We were worried so Jimmy took them to another doctor in Santa Elena a couple days later who said she was measuring small because there wasn't hardly any amniotic fluid left. Natividad ended up having an emergency C-section. Then the hospital did a crummy job of checking on the baby until she was ready to be discharged and ended up wanting to keep the baby for 4 days after they discharged Natividad. Her only option would have been to sit in a plastic chair outside in front of the hospital for 4 days, while she was healing from a C-section, so that she could nurse her baby every 3 hours. Newborn babies want to be nursed a lot more often than every 3 hours. RIDICULOUS! There are many mothers who have to do that. Go look in front of any public hospital here and you will see them. Can you imagine? Why doesn't someone protest that! A shelter walking distance from public hospitals for new moms would be a great social project! I wish someone would do something like that which would actually really affect people. Jimmy basically refused to let the hospital keep the baby and took the 3 of them (Pedro, Nati, & Shelita) to a private clinic and paid for a private room for them for the next 3 days.  

 Jimmy, Henry, and my 3 kiddos flew with Paul to the department south of ours to recruit students. I will share more in another post.

 We celebrated Nidia's first birthday! She is a cutie. I am working hard to win her over. She loves Jimmy, but is still kind of afraid of me, but 2 Sundays ago she came over to shake my hand on her own for the first time. I was thrilled! I think the pink cake helped.

 

Henry turned 20. We are on the hunt for a wife for him, haha! I already picked one out. I am planning their meeting pretty soon! This was his layered cake. Cooking cakes in a 90+ degree kitchen and then driving them 10 min down a bumpy dirt road doesn't always end well.

 Nacho turned 5! His parents planned a large birthday party. Jimmy preached the service. Formal Kekchi birthday parties are kind of like church services where you eat afterwards. It is really sweet. They are acknowledging God's blessings and also that they need His guidance.

 This was his cake. I am running out of cake ideas, always on the search for more!

 

We had a baby dedication for Shelley and her parents. 

 

There was also a wedding in December. I will do a whole separate post on that since I love pictures!  

Sometimes, like the last couple of days since the semester has started, the farm can be overwhelmingly stressful and frustrating. (Maybe a lot of the time.) But, there are so many good moments we must remember to be thankful for, when we should pause and tell God thank you!  Men/families are preparing for ministry... for battle! The devil is constantly busy. Please keep our farm family in your prayers!