More info about conditions in Guatemala

Imagine living through so much loss without outside help--one week has now passed since tropical storm Agatha hit and caused such destruction.  Panajachel and the surrounding villages are on their own for now.  There is no Red Cross, no large church groups, no government aid coming in, nothing.


http://mayanfamiliesconnectionguatemala.blogspot.com/2010/06/crisis-in-guatemala-update-from-sharon.html

Terrible effects of rain in Guatemala

I just got this info from the Guatemalan charity that we support:

I have just spoken to Sharon and she has asked me to post an update of the
situation here in Panajachel.

Sharon has lost her back bathroom and storage area into the river. We have
evacuated her house and the office. The rest of the office is still intact but
we are concerned the building foundations have been compromised.

We will need to rent office space ASAP, as we will be inundated immediately
with requests for help from desperate people who have lost their homes and
possessions.

All the Mayan Families staff are safe, however a few have lost their homes and
others are in danger of losing theirs.

There are many people in emergency shelters, lots of people have lost
everything.

There is desperate need for food and shelter. Any financial help no matter how
small which will help feed and shelter people would be greatly appreciated.

You may remember young Glendy who works for Mayan Families, who lost her mother
last year has now lost her home as well. She and her 5 brothers are now
homeless.

Mayan Families needs your support more than ever, as our offices have been
damaged and are not functional.

Please, if you were considering donating this our hour of Need!!

Please send donations via general fund, so we can get our new office operational
as soon as possible.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

http://www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow

Best wishes,

Susie
MAYAN FAMILIES
Panajachel, Guatemala C.A.

Here is a blog with pictures:

http://mayanfamiliesconnectionguatemala.blogspot.com/

And another:

http://www.expatmom.info/

And news coverage:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/americas/31guatemala.html?scp=1&sq=agatha%20rain%20guatemala&st=cse

Ever more uncertainty

Our adoption plans are completely on hold once again.  We had identified a local facilitator that we would love to work with and interviewed with them in April.  But at about the same time, I found out that my disability benefits had run out.  I tried working a bit more, but my arms got much worse.  So in early May I accepted the inevitable fact that I had to stop working.  Not only that, but it makes more financial sense for me to close the practice completely, because of overhead costs.  So, as of June 1st, it's gone.  For various reasons there isn't anyone to take it over.

Still, I held out hopes that we could swing an adoption this year.  This facilitator requires very little money up front, and they had very few families waiting who would accept a child of any race, so our profile would be shown right away and frequently to birthmothers.  Sounded like a fabulous opportunity! 

But wait--when I told them that Kit is applying for a better job in Oregon, and we might move this year, they told me they can't do interstate adoptions.  They are not an agency, and are not set up for that.  They are not comfortable starting the process with us if we might move soon.

Something will surely happen in the next few months, but I really have no idea what that will be.

"That was fun!"

This is Gabriel's newest phrase.  This week he has used it to describe going to the doctor as well as going to the park.

The doctor happened yesterday.  We were both at work, and the school called, trying to find a parent.  I was in with a patient, so the receptionist took a message that "he is OK, but..."  Meanwhile, they did reach Kit and he went over to school.  Seems that Gabriel fell while playing and was crying and holding his arm.  I have said more than once that I am just waiting for our first trip to the ER, because of all his acrobatic moves.  I told Kit I would call our family doctor's office because I didn't want either one of us to have to sit in the ER waiting room if it wasn't necessary.  They agreed to take a quick peek at him.  While I was working and waiting to hear the outcome, I had a whole mental plan going about how we were going to cope with a broken arm at home, etc.  But half an hour later, Kit said that the doctor was sure that it wasn't broken and Gabriel stopped crying and wanted to go home and play trains.  But he had to go to daycare for the afternoon anyway, and when I picked him up I asked him about going to the doctor with Daddy.  He said, "yes, that was fun!"  For him, maybe!

You may wonder why I didn't just have Kit bring him to my office.  The answer is that I don't feel it's a good idea to take care of my own family when it could involve prescription medications or other treatment.  You cannot maintain objectivity with your own family, and that means being less than a good doctor.  For example, yesterday I would have been tempted to assume that it wasn't broken just because I didn't want to leave work and go sit in the ER.  Luckily, I didn't have to anyway.

The park happened on Saturday, and it really was fun for all of us.  We were out doing errands and not really planning anything.  As we drove by a large and wonderful city park, we heard the train whistle blowing.  So of course Gabriel begged us for a ride.  We ended up spending two very delightful hours there, riding the train, having snow cones, and taking a paddle boat out on the lake for an hour.  The weather was perfect and it was very relaxing.  It was just a great spontaneous family outing.  As we left, Gabriel said, "Bye-bye choo choo, bye-bye boat.  That was fun!"

We decided to call it our Mother's Day celebration because on Sunday it poured down rain all day and I came down with a cold.  I did get to lie on the sofa and cuddle with Gabriel, so all in all it was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend for me.

First roses in my yard this year

They are two different buds that opened on the same bush.  It's a large old rose bush in my front yard, about 8 feet tall.  It must not be a hybrid, because the flowers smell like real roses and the plant thrives on neglect.  I don't think I've fertilized it in about 5 years, but it puts out great flowers every year anyway!

Gabriel went on a train ride yesterday

I think this will work--click on the arrow in the upper left corner to see a video!

A long update post

I just haven't had the desire to write much on the blog lately.  I think it's because we are still so uncertain about how everything will shake out this year.  My arm is still healing slowly, and I am looking around for different work.  I have one interview scheduled on April 22nd for a faculty position at an osteopathic medical school about an hour away.  I really don't want to commute, but I need to pursue the opportunity and see what happens.  I have also heard about an even better academic opportunity at a new osteopathic medical school in Washington state.  I'll write more about that when and if I get an interview.  Yes, it would be worth moving to another state for.

I think most of you who read my blog don't know that I was a professor before I went to medical school.  I have a Ph.D. in History, specializing in Latin America.  I taught for 5 years in Ohio before I went back to school.  I feel like I've gotten enough clinical experience and I can move on now.  It would be nice to combine my experiences in a new career path.

Meanwhile, we are hanging on to the idea of another adoption.  We have an appointment on April 28th to talk to a small local adoption facilitator.  The up-front costs are low, and they only work with a limited number of families each year, so average waits are not long.  I have been thinking we needed all our adoption funds set aside before we even started, but Kit thinks we should just get moving and see what happens.

Gabriel turned 4 on March 16th and he is doing great!  His speech is coming along.  I don't think he'll ever have a "language explosion", but he does have little spurts in which he moves forward a bit faster.  He can say and repeat a lot more words, and he's starting to use a few adjectives.  He counts "1, 2, 9, 9, 9" and he can identify and write the letter X.

Our dog Havi turned 13 on the 20th.  We are just astonished at how well she is doing.  She has severe hip dysplasia, so we can't do walks and all that, but she is otherwise healthy.  She has gotten a lot of her spunk back since she became our only dog.  I guess getting all the attention really helps.  Here's a picture of her from last year:

And here are some pictures from our Springtime yard and Mr. G himself in the past month:

And here is my little April Fool!