NAVIDAD 2013 AT THE GLICK'S!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We were not sure what to expect for Christmas 2013 at the Glick's.

Last year Sandi & I talked about the coming year. It would be the first year without any of our own children at home. We were thinking we may pass Christmas with just the two of us.

WRONG!

9, yes NINE, stockings full!

 Early in 2013 Luis joined our family, then late in the year Evelyn came to stay with us.

Then we invited Luis' brothers and sisters, David, Erika and Elizabeth & Sonia, to stay for Christmas with us, and Martina was alone so we asked her....and, that is how we had NINE full stockings without any of our own children here!

Elizabeth was excited that Santa had come!

 To have our nieta Elizabeth here was a huge joy! She is a great age to watch her take in the excitement of Christmas.

It was fun to watch them all experience Christmas North American style! 

They loved it!

Sonia with her gift

 After the stockings, Luis passed out the gifts and it was so much fun to watch them all. 

Everyone got a few things and watched each other and the house was full of laughter and smiles!

Sandi impressed with my wrapping job

 The nena, Elizabeth, of course was spoiled rotten and received more than anyone, yet with all the things she got she just wanted MY Tigger that Erika gave me.

Elizabeth wanted MY Tigger!

 While the traditional Christmas mess was being cleaned up I went and started breakfast for everyone.

I must say it was pretty good!

Making breakfast for the tribe

 After breakfast we all headed out to the backyard to share with the 9 people waiting there!

Out in the backyard

 Ernesto, Susana & their boys, nephews, cousins etc!

So much fun to have so many people to share a special day with!

Inside & outside total of 18 people at the house!

 Finally in the afternoon, things had settled down some and I was working on pictures etc from Nochebuena. 

I kept hear a faint tapping, but ignored it as it is usually for someone out back.

After a while I realized there was still an occasional tapping.

So went out the side door to see. From the distance I could see through the front gate there was a very pretty young señorita out front. Susana often has people visit so I assumed it was for her, but I called to her in Spanish "who do you want?"

She answered something I didn't really listen to, then all of a sudden it dawned on me she had spoken in ENGLISH. She had said "open the gate, PAPA!"

Our Christmas surprise!

 Sandi had been looking out the window thinking, "that's a pretty girl, I wonder who she is looking for?"

When she heard her reply to me she came running out and I was just standing there speechless, unable to move.

It was our daughter Felicita!

We had absolutely no idea she was coming!

Christmas dinner

What a blessed Christmas it was!

We were so worried about our first Christmas without our own children, and God blessed us beyond our wildest imagination surrounding us with so much love!
We miss tremendously Jacob, Kimberly & Sergey and Maria, but God put so much love in our home it was bearable.

Christmas dinner was so special for me. The Canil kids are just like my own in my heart and to have Felicita arrive was more than I could have asked for..

I began to give thanks to God for the dinner and as I said my heart was filled with joy, I choked up, began to cry and couldn't speak. After a few moments of silence, Elizabeth said "AMÉN"!

It was a wonderful dinner Sandi prepared, and I thank God for a truly wonderful blessed Christmas!

"AMÉN"

NOCHEBUENA 2013!

We did it!

We completed another Nochebuena at Casita Benjamín!

I want to give glory to God and share that it was a great success!

Although I must admit that leading up to the event I had some uncertainties.

Sharol & Sonia on the bus with a few baskets overhead

 This year, more than any before, I had more things 'unconfirmed' and uncertain all the way up until the 24th.

Maybe I am becoming more and more "Guatemalan" in how I do things, waiting until the last moment, just saying "Primero Dios", which means "Lord willing".

It is very common here when asking someone for a commitment, to have them say "Primero Dios". This covers everyone's behind if you just don't show up.

The band warming up!

 This year we were having a new preacher, new band (although a couple of them helped last year) and a new person directing a children's program.

My communication with all of them beforehand was, well, let's just say....lacking.

Partly on my end, partly on theirs.

A few of the neighbors trying to stay warm

 But, the Lord brought it all together as we just continued forward, our youth team was amazing! you can see in the previous posts how hard they worked to help prepare everything.

Then the morning of the 24th, I began with a couple of our youth at Las Aldeas Children's Home passing out baskets of goods to each of the houses there!

Then we went to our house and they helped us load everything on our bus to head to Casita Benjamin!

Best worship band in Guatemala!

 We went to Las Aldeas to pick up the rest of our youth team, then stopped at our church to pick up some sound equipment and some instruments!

We arrived at Casita Benjamin a little before 2 in the afternoon and the kids all unloaded the bus and began decorating the Casita.

The crowd continued growing

I was a bit worried that we would have a small crowd, as the day was cloudy, breezy and chilly.

Many people don't want to take their kids out in weather like that.

 The band began setting up outside on the sidewalk and everything started coming together.

In between a thousand questions I went a few blocks away, right by a side entrance to the dump, to pick up 225 Tamales from the woman who makes them for us each year. She cooks over wood fire which makes them even better!

Pastor Carlos speaking in the street

 A small crowd began to form out in the street as the band played and by 4 or so we had a pretty good crowd considering the weather.

After the band played our Pastor Carlos gave a short message out in the street.

It was fantastic, he had everyones attention, the kids and the adults were just captivated by his message!

Pastor Carlos preaching inside

 Then we welcomed the families that had tickets to enter and brought them all inside, where the adults went inside the main building and the kids were out in the patio. 

Pastor Carlos then had another message to share with the adults and we had a program for the kids including a puppet show!

We had a new gal directing the kids program this year, Jassiel Cholima, and she was awesome!

The kids were spellbound.

Part of the kids program

 The kids were so entertained that it allowed us to serve dinner to the adults first after Pastor Carlos finished his message.

Then we were able to serve the kids their tamale dinner!

TAMALES!

 After dinner it was starting to get dark so we wanted to finish up.

We raffled off the 9 snowmen Erika had made for table centerpieces, and then we gave out the baskets of goods to each family!

Passing out gifts to the kids

 Then as all the families exited, our youth were in the hallway to pass out gifts to all the kids on the way out!

After everyone was gone, our youth team cleaned up the entire Casita, put away tables and chairs and THEN, they all got a tamale dinner!

Like every year I can't say enough about how proud I am of our youth.

They are the bestest there are. I LOVE these kids.

We loaded the rest of the supplies back on the bus for what is always a FUN ride home.

I thank them for their work, and then we pass out diplomas and a gift to each one of them!

Always accompanied by much whooping and cheering!

Passing out gifts on the bus to our team

I want to report it was a huge success!

In spite of the weather we reached 90% capacity, with 180 people or so out of a maximum of 200 guests.

The Pastor reported 10 people raised their hands during a prayer to receive Christ!

We received many comments of gratitude from the people, and we give thanks and glory to God for a precious evening serving the people He loves so much!

Aleluya!

COOKIES! (and more)

I'm writing this late on the 23rd and I think we're ready for tomorrow!

It's been busy, but here we go!

Yesterday, we had a bus and we took over 30 people from the children's home to church with us for a Christmas service with lunch afterwards. It was great and I think everyone had a good time. 

Music, as always, was fantastic at our church!

Sonia & Rafael working on the first batch

 Then, this morning I went and picked up some of our youth to help bake cookies and make decorations for tomorrows big event. We were hoping to make around 800 cookies.

Making decorations for Casita Benjamin

 We had a great group and all worked really hard. Sandi says it was the best cookie crew we have had yet!

The decorations get better every year, for the second year in a row, Erika was in charge of decorations and she had some great ones. They made 9 snowmen that will be centerpieces on tables and at the end of the dinner we will draw numbers to give them away to guests!

LUNCH!

Of course we have to eat, so mid-day I ran out for pizzas! Lots of pizzas!

During lunch the kids watched the first "Left Behind" movie and really enjoyed it.

Frosting more cookies!

After lunch with a movie, a second big batch of cookies and finish all of the decorations. 

Then, they helped clean up the house and we called it a day!

Tomorrow we will have a bus arrive about noon, load up everything, go pick up the youth team, swing by our church to pick up a few people with music equipment and off to Casita Benjamin!

Please be praying for a good turnout and even more for lots of receptive hearts.

Pray for us and our team that we can just be hands and feet of Jesus loving these precious people right where and as they are.

GETTING READY FOR NOCHEBUENA

Last Monday we had a dozen of our youth at the house all day getting
started with the preparations for Nochebuena.
It started with wrapping gifts.
TWO HUNDRED gifts!

Good group wrapping gifts

 At the same time gifts were being wrapped there were a few of the kids helping me package up goods for the "Canastas de Víveres" a basket full of basic goods.

We bought several things in bulk and had to package ourselves into one pound bags. 

There was rice, frijoles, pasta and oatmeal.

Enough to make seventy baskets!

200 gifts were wrapped!

 It took until lunch time to finish all of that, so I went out and picked up 30 dobladas and we all ate and watched a movie for our break.

After the movie ended we set up an assembly line and made 70 baskets each with 11 different items in it.

We literally had baskets spread all though the house!

Wrapping and putting bows on the baskets

 But the making of the baskets actually goes pretty quick, what takes a long time is wrapping each basket with cellophane and topping each with a hand-made bow!

But the kids worked hard all day until it was done!

70 Baskets made and wrapped

The gifts are all wrapped and the baskets look great!

What a blessing for all the kids and each family on Nochebuena to receive a gift and a basket!

We will give 55 baskets to families and the staff of Casita Benjamín on Nochebuena and the other 15 will be given one to each house at Las Aldeas Children's Home.

Coming up next...Monday, another all day at our house making decorations and baking 800 - 1,000

Christmas cookies!

Then Tuesday is the big day! NOCHEBUENA!

Please keep praying for a big turnout and receptive hearts to hear the 'reason for the season' as they will hear a clear Gospel presentation.

FÚTBOL, GLASSES AND THE SAME PRICE (and more)

More random happenings!

So, after faithfully standing alongside our Seattle Seahawks for 37 years, it appears we could be on the verge of something special! We have been let down before, and the competition in the NFL is too tough to have anything handed to you, but WOW has it been exciting so far! Only frustrating thing is that we don't get all the games here. We did switch TV companies last year and we actually get more games than we used to, but...they didn't carry the Seattle / SF game....what is that? We found an internet feed, wasn't great but we saw it, more or less.

IF, they make it all the way to the Super Bowl, I will miss being able to watch it with a bunch of fellow fanaticos, but.....GO SEAHAWKS!

Been faithfully waiting 37 years! Is this the year?

 We have asked prayer that Evelyn could find a job, and we want to thank you and say YES, she has found a job!

It is a temporary Christmas job, but that's a start. She will work at least until Jan. 5 at a store called "Mismo Precio" (same price). It is supposed to be like a dollar store except that things are NOT the same price. It is a very confusing store to shop st.

Please keep praying for Evelyn, she works EVERY day until the 25th, 10 hours per day. Pray that it may turn into a full-time job after Christmas as well.

We also asked prayer for Martina, she is only working part-time, and needs to work more. Please keep praying for that.

Evelyn

 David finished his fútbol league yesterday and I was able to make it to every game! He did very well, the team was pretty good, only lacked a good goalie. But, David is very good and played every minute, they never substituted for him.

I am now having David and Luis both help with some needed chores around our house, so they can earn some money for Christmas. Plus they are bored with no school and looking for something to do. They will clean the roof, which will be a several day job probably, clean the outside wall by the street and do some painting, etc.

David & Luís

 Erika has been having lots of headaches, every day pretty much. We took her in this past week to have her eyes examined and she does need glasses. So they have been ordered, she should get them in a few days and hopefully that will take care of the headache problems.

Erika

Please keep praying for La Luz Brilla. Support continues low, but praise the Lord He always provides. Just after our account hit '0' for the first time, Sandi & I were praying about it and the next day we received an e-mail telling us that just that morning a check for $1,000 was sent in for La Luz Brilla!

Praise God!

This past week we also bought 200 christmas presents, all of the supplies for Nochebuena, all of the basic goods to make "baskets" of basic goods for families on Nochebuena. We will make 70 baskets!

This coming Monday will be an all day event at our house with our youth to wrap gifts and make the baskets.

Tuesday evening we will take the youth to sing carols at Kairos House.

Next week will be another all day event to make decorations and Sandi's Christmas cookies!

Then Nochebuena!

Please keep praying for all these things, and check back here as I will update with events leading up to Niochebuena!