In the muck and a sky of fire

 Life continues to press on here, as I am sure it does everywhere else. The crew has completed digging and prepping almost half the hospital footings, and we have begin pouring the concrete one level at a time. We have completed the entire west perimeter wall footings and hope to pour the stem walls over a portion of these this coming week.

 The process is intense and requires many hands on deck. They are able to pour about 16 cubic yard of concrete per day into the prepared footings if all the raw materials are ready and waiting. Ever step takes time, and there are always details that require tweaking from the time before and rethinking from what we have expected.


All in all, the progress has been good, and has shown us all just exactly what we have gotten 
 ourselves into.

The progress we have made so far has given us a better idea of what to expect, and we are able to estimate the timeline for the next year. We have had interest from churches and individuals to come down and pitch in, and we are excited by this, because it is confirmation for us that we have not been asked to bear this burden alone.

We were able to move over to the 'new' house last Sunday, and have completely vacated our previous residence. We started the move in the morning, and Ryan sealed our fate, with deciding to move all the beds first. I cant say I look forward to relocating again any time soon, but this move was much shorter and with no sad goodbyes. We are all enjoying the new house, in its almost kind-of done stage.

I am enjoying a fence around the house, for the first time in motherhood.  The gates remain latched, but without locks at this time. We only have a few escapees a day, and we are working on that.


The dust has been brutal on our house cleaning schedule. I have never been one to keep an immaculate home, but sweeping twice a day, and needing a scoop shovel (ok, not really) to take out the dirt, seems a little crazy!  

 We spent a little time yesterday on our day off, and cleaned out the horse through for a makeshift swimming hole for the kids.
There were a myriad of little swimming critters and not so nice smelling goop at the bottom. Of course, we found the drain after the fact.

Tomorrow, we will be hosting, as a ministry, an Open House/Groundbreaking/Dedication ceremony for the Hospital. We hope to have a large turnout of municipal officials as well as local and Nation supports of the project. We will cater and feed all who attend with the hope of spreading the word as to the intentions of the hospital as well as the purpose for the project as a whole. 

I hope to have some good pictures from the ceremony tomorrow. And what it looks like from here as we continue to traverse the gap between our native culture, and the native culture with Jesus and Love at the center.

Almost, again.

We started last week with digging footings and setting re-bar cages into the trenches. The guys are enjoying the work for now, and everyone is pitching in. We can hardly drag them out of the dirt, and our only savings grace is not having lights... yet!

 

 

 

Last week we welcomed the first family of this year’s annual rotation of Physicians thanks to DOCs for Hope. We are enjoying the developing community, as well as the encouragement and motivation we have seen and felt form this growing group of short and long term missionaries. We have felt a sense of renewed focus, and responsibility as we embark on the next phase for our ministry. We continue to see the great need for quality, reliable, and accessible medical care and cannot deny the opportunity to shower the love of Jesus on all the patients as they are able to receive healing medical care and the message of the gospel.

Our house is coming along nicely, and we hope to be living there in a week ( I have been saying that for about three weeks now). The ceiling will remain half completed for a month or so, but we have water and electric all done, with the septic system up and running. We worked on the bathroom, and we are hopeful to (somewhat) complete the kitchen this week. I am ready for the move, but not before we have a fence up.

With the construction moving forward, full steam, we are surrounded by heavy equipment, loads of sand and rock, and soon, a well drilling rig. The progress is great to see, but I am reminded that we will live on a construction site, immersed in all the elements that go with it. I am considering placing padlocks at each of the gates of the fence surrounding the house, to ensure no one will sneak out of the yard.

Through this, I am once again reminded that the safely of our children is no more in our hands now than it has ever been. We strive each day to rely on Gods protection over our family. All of this while we try to find the balance between using the knowledge and wisdom that we are equipped with, to be good parents, and being completely reliant on Him.

 Thank you, again, for faithfully supporting us in this ministry, and enabling us to serve here in Guatemala. We are reminded daily that we can not be here without your love and support.







The boys 'fishing'



'This is the Hospit'

Where the sky is not clouded all day, very often.

 Happy New Year to all! It is hard to believe it is a New Year!
IT is even harder to believe that we are HERE!

We saw a few days of overcast skies and some rain. It was a nice difference. The last few months have been very dry, so we welcomed some sprinkles and clouds.

Ryan and I were able to complete the butchering process last month, with lots of help from the family. We now have a freezer of beef and a willing audience to try our new menu on.

 




Jacob having fun at the dirt pile!

 The mixing process to pour the pad for the patio at our new-to-us house.

The pouring went rather smooth, and gave us some good practice with all the equipment. We tried tinting the pad to see if this may be an alternative to 20,000 sq. ft. of tile for the Hospital. I will have to show you the finished product, in a few weeks.

 

As the new year has descended, it has brought new visitors, and the hospital plans are starting to unravel into a days work and conversations.

 

The first of the years family DOCs rotation has begun, and we are so grateful to have help at clinic again for Leslie (mom). More help will come in a few weeks, and then we will have months go by, before we are without help and someone to share the burden.

Thank you for your help with sharing our burden, and stating connected with the craziness we call life.