Progress being made!!!!

It is Wednesday evening and we just made it back from the orphanage.  Wow, lots of progress being made.  The Laundromat is almost finished, just need to dig trenches for water!  Craig has his crew working hard.  The Paint crew has also been working very hard!!  Living Waters House has been officially repainted for its remodel and they are still working on cabinets.  Ivan says children should be back in there by next week!  The Harvest House has been finished being painted on the outside and maybe one more coat of paint on the inside!!  The Iowans are smiling!!!  And another house has also been started with painting!!  Way to go Foreman Chad!!!  The new barbeque pit was finished today and chicken was enjoyed by all the children today!  It was a fun site to see!  Lots of eye exams have been done the past couple of days for both the children and some of the villagers.  Jodie and Michelle have been working hard!  Kathy was able to get into the clinic today and clean some teeth for the children at the orphanage, especially those who are fairly new!  We have been working very hard and when we see the smiles on the faces of those special children, well, we know all that hard work is worth it! 

First Day at the Orphange

Well, the first day at the orphanage is complete!  It was a beautiful day, lots of sun and lots of gorgeous scenery.  Here in Guatemala, flexibility is a must, and despite a later start this morning, lots of work was accomplished and we got to play with the children!  For those of us that were here for the first time or for those that have been gone a while, they gave us a tour of the orphanage and after lunch took us into the village to visit some of the widows that Casa Angelina is helping to support and also the widow who is getting a new house this week!  What an eye opener!  Lots has been accomplished at the orphanage even since last July, and this week we get the opportunity to contribute to that!   Tomorrow EVERYONE will get the chance to start working and serving those amazing kids.... hopefully pics to follow soon!  Thank you all for your continued prayers!!

First Day - Feb. 16, 2014

We had a great first day in Guatemala.  We started our day off taking a trip to the Cross on the Hill.... the view was spectacular.  After some photo ops, we attended church and worshiped with Pastor Ronnie.  It was an experience we will never forget.  Following church we were treated to an amazing lunch by our good friend Bindy's family.... chicken, black beans, rice, tortillas, and the most amazing guacamole!!  We are so thankful for our good friends here in Guatemala.  We then spent the rest of the day touring Antigua guided by Alejandro..... did some shopping in the market, admired some beautiful authentic Jade jewelry, and treated ourselves to delicious chocolate!!  After arriving back at Lydia's we were able to get some rest... we didn't get much sleep from a later flight and early morning!  Lydia threw us a BIRTHDAY party for those celebrating their birthdays this week with cake and piñatas!  We are not going hungry here, the food is first class and we so appreciate the cook, Jorge.....  Chad and Jodie led us in some devotions, with some awesome music led by Preston and Michaela.  We are enjoying getting to know each other and looking forward to our first day at Casa Angelina tomorrow! 

On our way!!!

We are sitting at the Sioux Falls airport waiting for our first plane.  We stop in Chicago and Houston and then Guatemala City.  We are full of excited anticipation for what God has in store for us.  Please pray for safe travels today with little to no delays, other than the one we are now experiencing!  :)




Will blog again once we are in Guatemala! 

Wrap Up Post

We are currently sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport waiting for our connection home to Sioux Falls.  It is definitely a bittersweet moment.  It will be nice to get back home and see family and friends, but is very hard to leave Casa Angelina and Guatemala.

Yesterday we traveled to the ocean and got to spend a little time on a black sand beach and swim in the ocean.  After we left, we went to Saritos for lunch and then made our way into Guatemala City to the Barcello where  we all got a little much needed rest.  We were up early this morning to fly out of Guatemala City at 8:40. We will be heading out of Dallas at 8:15PM and landing in Sioux Falls around 10:20PM tonight. Thank you everyone for reading the blog and praying for us while we were gone.

Orphanage Last Day

Well we have come the that point in our trip again.  Today was our last day out at the orphanage and you could tell that many people were not ready to leave when the buses pulled out of that gate for the last time this trip.  It is amazing when you look back and see what our group has accomplished in this short week while we were here.  The ditch digging crew got over a 1/4 mile of drainage ditch dug and 60 tons of rock moved into the trenches.  The painting crew got 57 panels painted that bolster the orphanage's security in the future.  The carpenter team built 4 new storage cabinets for several different houses and did a lot of repair work on some of the existing cabinets.  The block laying group got four layers of block laid on Harvest House, which doesn't seem like a lot, but in the end the progress speaks for itself.  Goodbyes are always the hardest part of this trip.  Saying goodbye to the kids, the staff, and the amigos is very tough, but I know I will be back soon so it makes it a little easier.  Each and every person at the orphanage touches your heart in some way or another. Tomorrow will hold another difficult goodbye when we leave the hotel and have to say goodbye to the staff that has been absolutely amazing to us and catered to our every need.  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for this group.  Every single person on this trip has been absolutely amazing.  I'll leave you with a couple pictures that I took today.  We all send our love and thoughts home and will be seeing everyone shortly.

Harvest House after our week of

Leaving the orphanage

Orphanage Day 4

It is hard to believe we are at this point already.  Tomorrow is our last day at the orphanage and it feels like we just got here.  Today was a great day of work out at the orphanage.  Everyone was in high spirits and was working hard to accomplish what we set out to do this week.  The block crew got several more layers of block laid today and are set up to get a bunch more done tomorrow.  The other crews did a lot of work today as well, but did not get around to really see what they were doing today.  We did get some rain today for the first time this week which hindered a little bit of progress over the lunch hour.  After lunch, the rain subsided for almost the rest of the day, but started again at about 4:00pm causing us to have to quit early because the mortar was too wet.  Despite the minor setback, we are making amazing progress and are all ready to get back to work tomorrow and finish the week on a strong note.  Thanks everyone for you thoughts and prayers.  Please let me know if there is something you would like shared with the group and I would be more than happy to do so.