Wishing all of you a Blessed Christmas and New Year

We want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.  May God richly bless each one of you and that we will always remember how He sent His Son into this world in order that He could rescue us from all our sins.
We spent our Christmas and New Years in Cubulco.  Lia and the kids spent most of their time making cake and selling it to people who came by the door.  The kids wanted money in order to buy certain things so Lia told them they could do so by selling cake.  The kids really enjoyed doing this and they did quite well for Guatemalan standards.   They would spend several hours each day in front of a little table by the front door selling different kinds of cupcakes.  It was amazing how many people came by to buy.  Nico spent most of his time working with the church and the other projects of the mission.   

Superman?

We really enjoyed our time in Cubulco.    We did have one mishap though.  This happened to our accident prone son Jesse (sporting a Superman shirt) who was jumping backwards on the trampoline and fell off.  He landed heavily on his left arm and  unlike Superman he was in a lot of pain.  We took him to the mission hospital in town where they confirmed that the arm was fractured close to the part of the bone where it grows.  The doctor put a temporary cast on and told us that we needed to see a specialist in order to get a second opinion.  We tried to call his office but he was not answering his phone so a few days later we decided to drive to Salama (a one hour drive) to see the specialist.  However, when we got to his office there was sign on the door stating that he was out and would not be back until the first week of January.  So our trip there was basically for nothing.  A week after the accident Nico drove with Jesse and lil' Nico to the city to see a specialist there.  He looked at the x-ray and thankfully said that the break was common and will not affect the growth of the bone.  He placed a full cast on Jesse's arm and told us to come back in two weeks.  While we were in his office we took advantage of this doctor's expertise and got him to look at Jesse's legs which are not straight and lil' Nico's protruding chest.  With Jesse things are normal for his age.  Now lil' Nico's case is a little different.  He has a small curve in his spine and his body is not symmetrical.  The specialist sent us to have x-rays done of his back to determine what the problem is.  He believes it is not serious and something that can be treated with exercise.  We hope and pray that this is the case.  Please pray for our family and for our children as well, that they will grow up to be healthy and strong and also follow the Lord with all their hearts.