Christmas Photos in Panajachel

No words are needed.

Judy

Panajachel, Guatemala

2 days of Christmas in Panajachel.
For those who are interested in the progress on the new building at LBN - here is a recent photo.
Glenn and Gary played 5 hours of Monopoly. I gave up after 1 hour, but the guys had lots of fun laughs as they played, traded and bargained. Remember those days?


Gary - chillaxing! We are enjoying our few weeks with Gary back home in Guatemala. He has enjoyed walking down the street and hanging out with his college friends who have returned back home too.

Judy

CAG Alumni Day - Dec 27th

Don Fox and Gary
CAG Alumni basketball game.
Mark Agrellas - CAG Principal, Rachel Fry, Jenna Crouch, Christy Brown & Gary

These three guys graduated from CAG 1 1/2 years ago. Don Fox attends Olivette near Chicago, Ian Soderling attends Purdue in Indiana and Gary attends John Brown University in Arkansas. After the basketball game, we had a cook-out, followed by a soccer game between the current CAG soccer team and the Alumni.

Judy

CAM Guatemala Christmas Gathering

3 Generations of Orths

Dec 26 - We hosted the Annual Guatemala Christmas gathering. Most of the missionary familys are out of town for the holidays, but there was a good representation at our house We got a call on Christmas night that the Schmidts would not be able to host the afternoon event due to illness in their family, so Glenn and I agreed we could "pull it off". My friend, Elisa said "Oh, Judy, this will make a good blog entry - getting notice less than 24 hours to host a party for 30 or more people!" It was no big deal for us, we just washed the dishes, moved the table next to the wall, and then lit some candles.

We also organized a Crazy Gift exchange, where everyone brings a wrapped gift (5.00 value) and where you can steal a gift from the other folks. It was fun.

Judy

Christmas Day Road Trip

As we were driving back to Guatemala City on Christmas Day, we noticed 2 pickup trucks that were loaded to the gills with boxes, obviously presents for the kids along the road. We noticed one gal got a pink doll. She was ecstatic. I'm grateful for the Guatemalan company or family that decided to spend their Christmas morning handing out gifts to kids.

It is a Christmas tradition for people to throw candy out their car window on CA-1 to the children standing by the road waving feverishly. We have to be very careful that the children do not run in front of the traffic following behind us. I made sure to throw the candy out the window over their heads, so they run off the road and not onto the road.

Guatemala City at Christmas time. This is Plaza Espana, near zone 10.

Judy

Wedding Reception photos

Michelle and her mom (from Bolivia days) along with her husband and sister, drove down from Canada to attend Ellen's wedding! Ellen sang in Michelle's wedding 6 years ago. Michelle and Ellen graduated together at SCCLC in Bolivia in 2000. I had the privilege to attend Michelle's wedding, so Mary said "Since you made effort to come to our daughter's wedding, I wanted to do the same." Thanks Mary, Michelle, Bill and Melinda!

Aunt Sarah quickly put the ribbon on the cake and also the wedding topper - bow. Beautiful!
Cutting the cake
Groom's cake = of course, Indianapolis Colts
Our friends, Carol and Phil Shank drove down from Ft Wayne to attend the wedding. Carol and I met on the HAM radio about 20 years ago. She is a faithful prayer warrior and friend. Thank you, Carol and Phil.

A Stewart tradition - when we attend a wedding, we take the Wedding napkin over to the bride to get her "official" signature to sign her name for the first time as Mrs.

Father Daughter Dance
Glenn, Russ (Thomas' dad) and Thomas at the Reception

Saying Goodbye -Bubbles being blown.

Judy

Wedding Shots that don't need an explanation

The Cake exchange.
So, what does Gary do before the wedding? Read!

Ellen's bags were packed for the Honeymoon. I'm glad she remembered her pillow!

Dad gave Ellen her favorite candy bar.

I love this shot! All the photographers taking pictures before the wedding!

Merry Christmas! We slept through all the fireworks here in Panajachel last night. We'll head back to Guatemala City later this morning. Merry Christmas to all.

More later,

Judy

Family Photos at Ellen's wedding

Grandmommy, Ellen and Judy

Thomas, Karen, Grand Daddy, Grand Mommy, Judy, GrandMa Vi, Glenn, Gary and Aunt Sarah

Aunt Sarah (Glenn's sister), Grandma Vi, me and Grandmommy

more later,

Judy

Wedding Photos

The Stewart Family

Grand mommy and Grand Daddy with Ellen
The Rosenberger Family
Bride and Groom with the Bridesmaids

Ellen

More photos to follow in the next several days.

Most of the CAM Guatemala missionaries are visiting families in the states these next few weeks. We're glad we are back in Guatemala, seeing how flights are delayed and cancelled because of weather, so we got out of DFW just in time. Later today, after Gary starts his passport renewal process, we'll be heading to Panajachel for 2 days, returning on Christmas Day.

30 years ago today, I met Glenn for the first time at John and Elaine Beekman's house!

Merry Christmas,

Judy

Ellen's Wedding Day

Father - Daughter

Karen, Ellen and Gary

On Saturday, December 20th, Ellen and Luke Rosenberger were married at Radiant Christian Life Church, just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Ellen was a beautiful bride. The church was decorated with several dozen poinsettia plants and Christmas trees. The bridesmaids wore Christmas red dresses while the guys were decked out in black suits and Christmas red ties.

Over the next 2 to 3 days, I'll post more photos of the wedding and reception. Glenn, Gary and I drove through the night Saturday from Indianapolis to Arkansas, where we flew on to Dallas on Sunday morning and then on back to Guatemala City on Sunday night. Long night (and day) for our travels, however, we're glad to be back home and especially to have Gary home for the holidays.

More later,

Judy