Since I Last Posted

. . . there have been a few things that have happened.

Our Agency
First, we talked with our agency and actually have a phone conference set up tomorrow afternoon to talk about some of the political situation in Guatemala. We're hoping to find out some information about possible outcomes and the consequent plans that would happen should Guatemala vote one way as opposed to another. We'll keep you posted on what we find out.

Secondly, we found out that our agency is trying to get our paperwork resubmitted to PGN this week. Should we get in, and our process in Guatemala continue uninterrupted, we might be able to be out by the beginning of February. (That still leaves 4 - 6 weeks of paperwork with the Embassy and mean the boys would be home around the start of March).

The Mail Today (My new shirt came).

Christmas
In light of the delay in bringing the boys home, we've decided to go visit them again. We've bought our plane tickets and will be flying out of Dulles December 28, and return December 31. We're really excited about being able to see the boys again and I've been planning ways to make the visit festive. I definitely am taking Christmas lights to hang around the hotel room, and have ideas for other Christmas goodies.

(On a side note, it's amazing how difficult it is to get tickets this time of year. This flight has a 15-hour layover, that flight has no seats available on the plane, this flight costs $300 dollars more than all the others, etc. It was AMAZING to find the deal from Dulles and actually end up paying $200 less than we did on our last visit in September!)

Navidad
It was fun looking into some of the Guatemalan Christmas traditions online. Here are some fun facts that I've discovered.

1. The Christmas traditional dinner is a tamale (having never eaten one, I imagine it to be similar to an egg role, only the outside is made of processed rice, and it's filled with vegetables). You can actually help provide this traditional meal -- enough for 12 people! -- for only $30. You can do that here. And for my family, if you would like to do this and count it as my Christmas present, I would be honored. :)
2. Guatemalans place a very intricately crafted nativity scene underneath the Christmas tree as they consider that a place of honor. (We put ours there this year, too!)
3. Guatemalans celebrate on Christmas Eve with fireworks to ring in Christmas with a bang!
4. The first sign of Christmas actually starts a couple weeks early with the have posadas. This is when everyone celebrates Joseph and Mary searching for the inn in Bethlehem. Guatemalans travel through town, knocking on doors, to be turned away. Then, at the end, they are welcomed in somewhere for a party.

Very fun.

Gift from Cat Our friend brought us a gift to cheer us up this week, as she was there in my meltdown when I heard we were kicked out of PGN just in time for the political upheaval of Jan. 1. Anyway, she brought us some chips that are not made of potato, but of plantains!! They are really good.

How we're doing
We're praying a lot. I think we're doing better in some ways. The shock of everything has settled, but I think internally we're pretty exhausted. The wear comes out when we get frustrated about routine things. I think some good news and a lot of rest would go a long ways right now. Maybe we'll have some more to share tomorrow.
Thanks for being there for us.