More Saturday Pictures

A few extra picts for those of you who are curious of the country & area. This is the road going up to San Pedro.

Farming up in the "flat" lands. These are cornfields. Not too many tractors about.
In San Pedro, this is the bus stop near the market, where all the tuk-tuks (took-tooks) gather. This picture does no justice to how narrow these streets are.
A vendor along the road.
The end of the road for us...We parked along the right and walked the rest of the way up the hill. And it is even steeper than it looks.
Looking back from the top of the hill.
Beautiful flowers. Bloom all year here!
Washing our hands at the typical concrete wash basins. "Fresh" water is stored in the middle part and dipped out. Then hands are washed over the drain in the outside parts.
Maria Jose is in the blue on the left and Mildred is in the red. These are some of Maria Jose's friends from school.
Maria Luisa & her friend Raquel...the great cooks of the delicious food, pepian, Guatemalan rice, & tortillas...yum!
Yeah...cake! The two circular ones on the right were the best carrot cake I've ever had in my life...delicioso. Sitting at the end of the table in green is Maria Luisa's sister Estella who baked the cakes.
Here is Dulce who was giving us a demonstration of the fastest way to draw water. She has it down to a science.
Looking down their well. That is a long way down folks!
Lily playing Kitchen with Andrea and one of their neighbors. Lots of fun was had!
Many people still cook on open fires and this is the most common form of purchasing the vital wood needed. This picture was taken on our walk back to the main road. Hope this helps you see a little more of what the area is like.

Semana Santa Part 1

It certainly has been an eventful Semana Santa so far for the Klandermans. We began the break attending Maria Luisa's daughter's quinsenera (not sure if I spelled that correctly, it translates into her 15th birthday party, a big event in Guatemalan culture). A very cool afternoon up at Maria Luisa's house in San Pedro.

Maya and Maria Jose at the party.

We had a wonderful meal called Pepian, which is a stew with vegetables and chicken. It is one of my (Aaron's) favorite Guatemalan dishes. As you can see above Lily loves it too! Awesome stuff! Above Caden in the photo is Maria Luisa's youngest daughters Dulce & Andrea.

A great view from her home (the town of San Pedro). We also had a couple earthquakes while we were there. Both registered in the 4.5 region on the Richter Scale. Things wobbled but nothing fell over. The kids hardly even noticed since they were running and playing.

Maria Luisa and Maria Jose

Lily thought it was pretty fun pulling water up from their well. The kids basically argued over who got to pull the water up next. I thought it was pretty funny since Maria Louisa said her kids argue about NOT having to do it.

Don't worry folks this is only installment #1 of the Semana Santa week for the Klanderman's much more to come.

Aaron

The Fluoride is almost gone...

Our kids each night before they go to bed take a fluoride supplement that their dentist prescribed for them. Before we left we ordered over 900 of this little vitamins for our kids for our year away. And last night as I was dispensing them I looked into the bottom of each bottle and saw how few were left and thought...this is it...we are really leaving. A visual picture of the days God has planned for us here in Guatemala. Each one, one last opportunity to treasure this place where God has blessed us so abundantly. It just made our leaving so real to me. What if God had a little bottle filled with markers for each of our days for the rest of our life...would you live differently? Would I? When we see it getting down there would we live better, or smarter, or more worthy of our creator? My prayer this morning is that each of us look in our little bottles and realize that our days to serve here are numbered. And I pray that this gives us the courage to live out his will for our lives today, because it is what he promise we would have...Today. Thanks God for reminders of your love and ways!

Sports Day!

Each year at CAG, the school's Phys Ed department puts on a "Sports Day" for the elementary kids and this year the Seniors helped lead it. Here are some photos...
Miss Houskamp is very excited for Sports Day...as we all are!
Starting off our day with a prayer...by our principal Mr. Agrellas.
Coach Villeda and Seniors Casey & Becca were the fearless leaders for the younger elementary students (Grades Kdg-2nd).
Coach (Coach Haesecke) & Seniors Steven & Eric lead the activities for the upper elementary kids (3rd -5th Graders)
And Mrs. Malczewski was every ready with the camara for yearbook photo opportunities.
Caden's first event was the 500 m run. Two times around the field...look at him go!
Maya was on the red team. She sits in anticipation of her first event...the dodge ball competition.
On your mark, get set...go!
About 2 minutes later....a cheerer from the side lines but enthusiastic none the less. Senior coach Alyne as a good example of encouragement!
Go Casey, Go Casey, Go Casey!
Caden & his buddies cheering on the Yellow team!
Most of the red team waiting their turn on the bleachers in the gym.
Caden in the final event before break...the pass the wet sponge over your head game....always fun! And very soggy! It was a great day!

The Birthday Shopping Weekend!

God has blessed us with 3 wonderful children who all have their birthdays between March 15 and April 7. So immediately following the Christmas season we start saving up for "Birthday Month." And each year Aaron and I try to get away for one day to make all the birthday purchases for the year. This year our wonderful friends the Millers (Thanks Kevin & Becky, Hannah, Joseph and Moriah) took our kids overnight (Friday to Saturday, Mar. 6-7th) and we headed out on our shopping adventure.

The first stop for the weekend (after fighting rush hour and weekend traffic) was the restaurant Portal del Angel where we had gift certificates from the parents of the students in Beauty & the Beast. This restaurant is on the road to El Salvador (the opposite side of Guatemala City from where we live) and the view as you can see from above is spectacular! This is Guatemala City and we live on the mountains that the sun is setting behind. Just amazing watching the city come alive at night! Special shout out to my Drama Kids and their parents...you all rock!

The following morning we headed up to Antigua...trying to get a picture of the grade of this road...but the pictures just don't do it justice. We're talking...road up to Denver steep. Takes us about 25-30 minutes to get to Antigua from our home. We have to go up over a pass and then back down to the city. Quite a beautiful drive. Always makes you nervous when the runaway ramps all have deep tire tracks in them.
This is the road entering Antigua. The volcanoes in the back are Fuego (Fuego is the most active volcano in Central America and goes "off" regularly...but can't see it from our house because it is behind Agua) &....actually I'm not sure what the one in the front is called. I'll get back to you on that.
Aaron standing on a typical Antigua street with Volcan de Agua in the back ground...makes a great back drop doesn't it!
This is the central park of Antigua...I love the beautiful purple trees in bloom right now! Beautiful!
Aaron enjoying a sit in the beautiful park while I'm taking pictures.
Here I am sitting by a fountain in a little garden in the restaurante we ate in for breakfast. You never know what you are going to find when you go through a gate or doorway in Antigua.
The picture from above was taken just to the right here. But through the arch and then another, we sat in a garden at a lovely concrete table with canopy and had a fantastic Guatemalan breakfast. Eggs, beans, & other lovely things. Yum!
Here is a fountain in the Artisans market with Agua in the background. We got most of our kids presents here. Authentic Guatemala things. A birthday to remember.
This is a little street market for the tourists, next to some of the ruins there. The perfect ending picture to another lovely morning in Antigua.

Tuesday Night-March 3

On Tuesday night, March 3, the entire Klanderman clan packed in the van to head to the mall for a very special request of our wonderful daddy. So we enjoyed the wonderful rush hour traffic (rush hour beginning about 4pm).
But you never know what you are going to see in Guatemala. Here for instance, is a guy holding a coffee table on the back of a motorcycle...weaving in and out of traffic like nothing!
So we got to the mall and found a store for Daddy's purchase. The new U2 album. Look how happy he is! Once a year CD for this much joy...priceless!

Thought you might like this...it's a video from the food court of the three story mall about 15 minutes (more like 45 during rush hour) from our home. Like a little piece of home...but with great burritos.
Celebrating a great night out with the family (and hanging out at the mall until the crazy rush of traffic is over at about 7ish).

Random Picts from Monday, March 2

I was going to publish this cute little Day in the Life of the Klandermans blog but I didn't do well taking pictures. Maybe next week. But here are a few random photos of a few moments during our day last week Monday.
Lily enjoying her breakfast of grape juice and toast with peanut butter!
Maya finishing her juice and homework before school Monday morning.Caden brushing his teeth the Guatemalan way...we have to use a sports drink bottle to rinse our toothbrush because we can't drink the water out of the faucet.
After we drop Caden & Maya off at school we come back home to work. Lily's project was to get "food" ready for a party with her pretend friends.After school we enjoyed the beauty of the great outdoors and watched the final boys soccer match of the year. Maya sporting her lack of front teeth.Caden enjoying the view and hoping to play soccer soon. Rosie, Abby & Nicco (sitting) chatting during a break in the action. These are three of Amy's amazing drama students (and Lily's buddies).A little soccer action...our favorite goalie, Spencer (who played Gaston in Beauty & the Beast) ready to defend the goal.Praying during the half time break. Go God....& go Cougars.
Jumping ahead to the end of our day. A little hot cocoa & God's word at the end of a good day. Life is very good. Hope you enjoyed the picts.