We are sad to announce that we are leaving the river. We have loved living in Rio Dulce and the property has been very tranquil and beautiful. We have been able to adjust and relax and get geared up for the next part of our adventure.
Our guatemalan friend in Virginia has offered to let us live in his house near Quatzaltenango (Xela) while we get a Pizzeria up and running. We are really excited about this and will keep you all up to date on how it is going. Nathan will still dabble in the car business, but it hasn't developed like we had hoped. Either there just isn't enough people living in this area or our competition can beat our prices because they don't have to make as big a profit. We don't know, but we are excited about the Pizzeria. It will be called "El Gringo Loco Pizzaria". We have a lot of great ideas as far as marketing that should help launch us pretty quickly. Any ideas or recipes will be welcome! It will also really help the kids education in Spanish, Business Developement, Communication, Success Skills and Mathmatics. They will only be up at the restaurant for a few hours a day, but it will help them in all areas.
We will miss the Rio Dulce lifestyle but it will be really nice for me to be independent again and be able to go and do without being dependent on Nathan. My Spanish is getting better, (Grammar is still a mess, but I can get my thoughts across half the time and can understand at least half of the conversations around me. I still get details confused in a funny way but I don't have the paralyzing fear anymore) and I have been driving a little. Just being able to run to the store or the park with the kids will be wonderful. Quatzaltenango has a huge store very similiar to Walmart and has MCD, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and a huge hospital. Don't worry there will still be plenty of great things to do near where we will be living for our visitors. We will be near the Feutas Georginias, my favorite place to visit here in Guatmala. It is the hotspring pools shown in the photos above, and we will be a few hours from the Pacific Coast and a few hours from Lake Atitlan and a few hours from some great ruins. Also less than an hour is a water park and amusement park. So when you visit you will have a blast. I promise.
The part of Guatemala is called "La Tierra Fria" or the land of cold. It is quite a bit colder than here. We will have to actually wear socks and shoes at night and jackets instead of flip flops all the time, but the days are warm and sunny, and we will be just a few hours from the tropical weather of the coast.
I expect our posts will be quite a bit different now because we are leaving the life of leisure, but we are excited. Pray for us and our new business adventure.
The pictures above are from the Primary Activity Day celebrating the birthday of the Primary. It was a talent show where Brigham and Xela played piano, and Gabby got to hit her first Pinata. So fun. The talent show was super cute. We had two boys do dance and sing to "Billy Jean". They love Michael here. Good thing they didn't understand the words. :)))) Xela was partners for one of the games with a boy that has a big crush on her. We got a big laugh out of that.
I also included pictures from our last visit to Xela. We went with Monkey's family. There are two pics of the fam overlooking Lake Atitlan. We also stayed at the Feutas Georginias in the bungalows there.
There are more pics of the kids swimming in the Rio. Gabby just got brave enough to jump in. She does a little football stance and countdown before she jumps.
Mama,I am so glad to hear that Grandma is getting to see the pics. Crissy! Thank you so much.
Joanne, Keep posting comments cause I love to hear from you. I always look for you to leave a comment.
Robin, I agree about the bugs and critters. Aiyi! I am starting to get used to it a little. Hopefully in the La Tierra Fria they won't be soooo big. Samantha is getting so big. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday she was 1 taking off her clothes and climbing out of the playpen. She has really become such a great young lady. Please tell her high and give Karen a hug for me and tell her I hope she is feeling better.
Kim, Aaron and Grace are soo cute. I love to hear what they are up to. I hope Aaron enjoys school and has a great teacher.
Tina, I answered your ?'s on facebook. Did you get it?
Mel
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