We loaded the pick up at the airport, thankful that all the bags had made it and started for the office where we will be staying for a few days.  The boys of course thought they needed to ride in the back of the pick up with the luggage.  So...with the pick up hanging about 6 inches off the ground off they went.  I guess it was quite an experience according to there stories later.  They said it was probably not the smartest thing they had ever done. At one point they said they had stopped at a stop light in a pretty bad section of the city and Miguel hunkered down in the suitcases and said, "Be quiet and don't say anything".  Since they survived the experience it will be good for lots of stories.

Monday morning we all loaded up in the van and started off for the day about 9:00.  Our first stop was at a family in Esperanza.  This is the home of the "Sisters".  Some of you have heard of them before.  This is a family with 4 sisters. Their ages are 29, 27, 20 and 17.  The 3 oldest have a degenerative genetic disease and are incapable of walking, talking and need constant care.  The 17 year old Rose Mary does not have the disease.  The family lives in a 4 room house.  Right now they also have 2 younger children that they are taking care of because their parents are in the US. The house is very small with a tin roof that is rusty and leaks. The 3 girls sit on a mat on the cement floor in the kitchen, living area. 

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Casper Wyoming has been helping us sponsor this family for quite a few years.  They pay for the diapers and the milk formula for the girls, plus provide the medical, dental and eye care for them.  Rose Mary has a sponsor in New York who has generously helped her with her education.  Without this help she would not be able to go to school.  She is a beautiful young woman who is doing very well. We brought gifts for the family and spent some time with the girls.  Our children were very good with them.  Immediately when we got there our daughter Stephanie sat on the floor next to one of the girls and started putting a foam puzzle together. (She is a school psychologist and gravitates to situations like that.) 

We had a wonderful visit and when we asked the mom what else the family needed she said, "Sharing the Dream and the sponsors have done so much already, she didn't need anything else". We will make sure the girls will have diapers and milk and they all need a medical check up again.  I think they eventually need to have the tin on their roof replaced but they are a very proud family and we need to make sure we are not infringing on their pride.  The father works very hard to provide for them.

Hi, Ed here,

Had a great time at the Cuxil family fiesta yesterday.  After eating we went to the cemetery to visit the mother's grave.  Miguel wanted to have a service and everyone say something.  I led off with a prayer thanking God for the lady who had given birth to some wonderful people.  Everyone spoke which was quite emotional, but a wholesome thing, it seems.  As we left we passed by a burial procession.  An ice cream vendor was standing among the mourners, slowly but steadily ringing his bell!!

Miguel and Irma

The family-- Sister, cousins, aunt, nieces, nephews, etc. etc. etc.

We returned to the office in the City, which is really quite pleasant.  The boys headed off for video games and a movie.  The rest of us chilled and snacked.  The boys then left this a.m. about 5 to catch a bus to the orphanage in the eastern part of the country.  It is about a 5 hour trip. We are currently waiting for the Casa Guat. Staff to show up to take a small trainload of toys for the kids for Christmas.  Then we are leaving in a van with a medium sized trainload of gifts for Santiago, that go to the elders, the beaders and of course 15 gift baskets for the families of the scholarship children.  I figure to have at least one family member and several baskets on my lap to make this all work.  Oh, well, it's only a 3 hour ride!!  Hope all of you are well.  Ed

Diane again:

Seth, Miguel and BJ left for the orphanage early and we packed up for our trip to Santiago.  As Ed said in our previous e-mail we were really loaded down.  We had baskets all over.  Ruth had packed them up for the scholarship students.  We had gotten money from various people and used it to buy food baskets for the families of the children.  Our first stop was the orphanage clinic in zone 1.  This is where Ana had spent some time as an infant and small child.   I didn't know how she would react, but she loved the babies.  We all played with them for a little while.  We have a photo of Ana when she was 3 standing in front of the door, so we took another photo of her doing that.

After that we started for Santiago. It is a long hot ride, as we have to go through the coastal region.  We did make one stop though for a very nice lunch.  We got to Santiago in the afternoon and went to my friend Chonita's.  This is where the big fiesta was going to be held for the elders on the 24th.  We unloaded our baskets and bags.  We counted all the towels, flashlights and gifts for the beaders to make sure we had enough of every thing;  I was sure we did but with packing and unpacking one never knows.  Chonita looked very tired. She had packed all the food bags for the elders, (54) had cleaned the place where we were going to have the fiesta and had started preparing and buying the food.  We stayed until we got that done and then headed for San Lucas Toliman.  This is where we buy coffee and I wanted to get some for the store and also for LaCasa Latina for a fund raiser.  The coffee project is part of a parish project there in San Lucas.  We bought the coffee and headed for Panajchel.  I had never been on this road so it was quite the experience.  It is very crooked and it had started to get dark. We were traveling quite fast around the hairpin curves and our driver Mynor is usually such a good driver that I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Ruth said there are a lot of robberies on this road so he was going fast so that the robbers couldn't stop us.  Now I was glad to be going that fast.  We arrived in Pana after dark and went to my friend Jane's house where we rented a couple of bungalows.  This is a very nice secluded spot, out of the hubbub of the market.  Ed and I had a bungalow with a kitchenette, bathroom, an area for the beds and a fireplace.  Steph and Ana had a bungalow with beds, bathroom and a fireplace.  We had another building, the Sala to use for a kitchen and living room.  There was lots of room for all of us to spread out.  We were pretty tired after the trip so just cut up a big pineapple to eat and had toast and jam. Went to bed fairly early.

Ed and Diane's bungalow

Sala that we used for cooking and visiting

Ana and Steph's bungalow