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| Beautiful view of volcanos and Lake Atitlan. |
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| Fearless Young Men's leader, taking the boys jumping off a cliff into the water below:) |
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| Thinking of going off backwards.... |
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| Weeeee! |
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| A group of girls from Guatemala City wanted to take their picture with the tall gringo boys. The other young men weren't too thrilled that they didn't ask for a picture with them: |
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| New style of martial arts with life jackets (Angel and Juanito) |
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| Gabriel is about 5 years old and deaf. I came to Eagle's Nest a few times and worked with the special ed teachers, teaching some words in ASL (deaf people use Guatemalan sign, but I don't know that). They were so enthusiastic and eager to learn! We had a blast:) I also used the "what's in my purse?"game to teach some signs. Though he had never seen sign before, Gabriel learned a ton of words! It was so fun seeing the light literally go on in his eyes when I showed him a picture, and the corresponding sign. He learned well over 20 words in a short time. Very smart boy, trapped in a silent world because of lack of communication skills. |
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| I taught many of the emotion words like "tired". Those are fundamental in helping a child identify and express how he feels. |
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| "I'm fine" |
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| I just love Jenny! She's concentrating hard on what I was teaching Gabriel. |
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| "learn" |
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| "smart" |
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| Meeka loves holding the babies! |
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| We had some friends we just met come with us. Katie's friend, Ocean, was outside with the kids, playing frisbee (he visits many orphanages with frisbees he makes, and plays with the kids). |
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| This little sweetheart didn't let Emily put her down. Finally she gave her to the main caretaker and we were able to leave:) |
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| This cutie loved my Mayan Treasure jewelry. I always wear a necklace like this when we go to Eagle's Nest, because I love to hold the babies, and they love to play with my shiny stone necklaces. If they're scared of me at first, they seem to adjust quickly if they have something to occupy themselves with:) |
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| I don't know how long she had been at the orphanage, but she didn't want any of us to get near her! Lots of tears with new people, bless her heart! |
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| Lots of the kids had face paint on, so it must have been an art project they were doing that day. |
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| Cute little guy! Sadly, this is the condition of so many teeth among little children. Dental hygiene is ignored by many, and soda pop is the drink of choice, even for infants. |
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| Colin and Em took Clyde Porter and Jennifer to the Nature Reserves, and had a blast! |
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| Weeeeeee! |
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| Our lovely living room! This is the first time we've had such nice couches here. I love this cozy room, and the huge windows which add more light and beauty from outside. This room is where we play/sing music (keyboard, guitar, ukelele), the kids do computer learning games, we read scriptures, do Family Home Evening, and watch movies with the projector on the wall. |
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| This is where Ty, Calvin, and Devon sleep. We might be turning 2 of the beds into bunk beds and getting a desk, so the boys have a studying space. Currently they are reading self-development books, books by church leaders, and lots of scripture study! Calvin has also been learning Portuguese. Spanish continues to be a language they study. Devon has his "lab" in the corner where he makes fireworks. He has an immense knowledge of the elements and what they do! Devon also has an interest in plants and their different properties. |
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| Nicest bathroom we've had here! And a large bathtub too!! |
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| This is upstairs from the living room into the girls' room. The family/friends pictures on the wall used to be our Christmas tree ornaments, and will remain on the wall all year! |
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| This is where Tameeka and Tiffany sleep. Up high is where they threw some stuffed animals for some strange reason (I keep forgetting to get those down!). |
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| Yeah, closets! |
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| Loft above the girls' bed where we keep food (and other) storage. The T's also like to play house up here. |
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| Emily's bed is just on the other side of the steps up to the loft. Keta sleeps right outside her window:) |
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| Steps up to our bedroom. |
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| Nice that we have room for both the massage table and the inverter table! |
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| This is our deck where we do homeschool, and where we will put our garden boxes! |
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| This is the tree that grows through our roof! I love looking at it each day:) |
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| I'm so glad I brought some pictures from our storage unit! There's so many more I wish I would have brought. Next time! |
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| It's so nice to have such a pretty shower with great hot water pressure! And it's not a widow-maker shower either which is always nice:) The ones we've had in the past we had to be careful not to touch the top part where there's exposed wires. |
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| Notice the beautiful jewelry display I have thanks to Devon! He made it for me while in the states. |
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| This is our closet and our office! Very functional. |
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| Beautiful view from our roof. |
