Always "normal"? Hardly!!

There are just some things here in Guate that you never quite get used to/don’t get old… allow me to explain.

The views

I don’t know how often we have been driving around, whether it is down into the city or from the store to our house, and we comment about the volcanoes.  I mean, driving down the road, we look around and we can see up to three volcanoes around us, two of which are often smoking!!  And then, to add to that even more, I can look out my window and see the top of Agua, one of the dormant volcanoes, sitting off in the distance, guarding her country.  It’s just downright beautiful!!!

Guatemala City

Lake Atitlan

Lake Amatitlan

Having guests

This past week we had a family visiting and it struck me how having visitors never gets old!!  Granted, these guests are all but family to us and they had lived down here, but still, it was fun to take them around again and just be tourists!  So, if anyone wants to visit…  (HINT, HINT!!)  ;) 

The goodbyes

Unfortunately, Guate is also filled with goodbyes.  Saying goodbye to teams that come down and that we connect with.  Saying goodbye to kids that we have come to love and that are going back to potentially dangerous situations, or even good situations for that matter.  Saying goodbye to volunteers that we have come to love and that have become family.  Whatever it may be, the goodbyes just don’t get old!!! 

The “missing-ness”

In relation to the goodbyes, there is also the “missing-ness”.  Sometimes there are kids that leave that, no matter how hard you may try not to think about them, it’s impossible not to miss them.  Period. 

The painful pasts (and presents) of the kids

I think to some extent you have to become a little calloused to some of the situations that many of the have come from and are in, but the situations still break your heart.  To hold a newborn and to know that he had been left in a dump because his mother could not care for him.  To hug a little girl that had seen more in her short 8 years of life than I will probably ever see.  To hear about a little boy that went “home”, only to find out that he was recently found back on the streets, begging and dirty.  To see the burns and bruises on a little guy from where his parents tied him up and beat him.  To give a little one a hug and wonder where they found to sleep last night; the dump, the bus terminal, the street?? 

What has she seen?

How can he still smile?

Where did he sleep?

God’s Provision

Even though there are many “bad” things that we don’t get used to, the most amazing thing that never gets old is God’s provision.  I don’t know how many times we have been doing deliveries and the directors of the orphanages were THRILLED because they had just prayed for whatever we had brought.  Or there are times when, even though there seems like nothing good could come out of a situation, the hand of God becomes so evident that it’s impossible to deny that He is working!!  The weekly, daily, and hourly confirmations that God is in control are humbling and, at times, are what keep us going, but they sure don’t get old!!  J