Oscar had his third birthday on the 4th of February and we celebrated with a party in our apartment.
Joining Oscar were his playmates, Ana and Maria, Claudia and Onoria, staff of Ana, Vicenta and
Maria, and guests from California, Chris Brent and her children, Tyler and Elisa. It was special too because we connected with Oscar's parents, Dwayne and Laura Horst in PA on skype during the celebration. But the real celebration was two weeks later when the Horsts came to take Oscar home after three years of waiting!
Oscar was ready to go!Construction activity continued all month; principally on the security building as the team to install the security systems is due in mid-March. They poured the roof in one morning, using 13 men to mix and place the cement. The other major project here is the iglesia (church). Also, we hope one of the teams coming in the next month will work on completing the bathrooms and storage room for the playfield. It gets alot of play but needs the bathrooms finished.
Our road is a constant source of conversation. They finished working at the end of January, but kept the road closed to the public. They did give keys to the neighbors so we could get in and out. We did that for most of the month waiting for them to finish "negotiating" with the neighbors to finance the last 200 feet and with the hospital to finish the short stretch between the hospital and the seminary. Every week they said they were going to start on finishing the road the next week. Finally last week, they announced that while the contractor was ready and the neighbors had agreed on what was to be paid, the City didn't have enough resources to do the work for a couple of months.We thought that was great because in two months, we would be gone. However, the neighbors put more pressure on and now the word is that they will start to finish the road next week and it will take two to four weeks. In other words, the hassle with the road and getting in and out will continue all the time we are here. The newly paved road is a blessing but the process is otherwise.
We had a joint birthday party this last week for Linda Marie who turned three and Onoria who had her ninth birthday. They were joined by their playmates, Ana, Maria, Claudia and Onoria. Adults included visitors,Dr Phil Mitchell and his son Calab and daughter Molly, Don and Diane Froese, plus Larry and Claire and staff, Vicenta and Rosie. All the children got presents. Onoria and Claudia received new bicycles. The twins got new backpacks with tea sets and other toys. Linda Marie got lots of toys, dolls. And as a first time appearence on skype she got to interact with her adoptive parents and the rest of the family. Lots of cake and ice cream too. The birthday was very festive! Dr Phil, Molly and Caleb helped the girls on the bicycles the next day.Besides having several families come to visit, we had a large group from Wichita here for two weeks. They had an ambitious program wherein they took spanish language classes every day for four hours and then worked on projects here, worked with the children at the Christian school, Nuevo Dia and visited numerous cultural sites about as well as Vinya Studios. They generously bought supplies for the teachers and a computer for the teachers to use to keep their records on. They had a full agenda while they were here and looked tired when they left.
The last photo is of Rosie and the older children. Rosie graduated last winter and now teaches as well as helping here teaching and caring for the children. In the foreground is Linda Marie. She is very close to leaving, probably in the next two months. Besides Rosie are (from left to right) Claudia, Oscar, Maria, Ana and Onoria. Oscar has already gone to his home. The others in the photo are increasingly not likely to leave Guatemala. Nido del Aguila plans to continue as a childrens home. So please continue your prayers for the children and the staff. C heck the "official blog" for Nido del Aguila at www. eaglesnestint.org .
We are returning home after Easter.
Ron and Beverly
