Break-Time

The last few weeks have been packed with out-of-the-norm activity! It's been fun being able to do stuff my regular schedule doesn't involve, but I am looking forward to getting back to a regular routine of visiting families again and spending time with my coworkers. Yesterday (Thursday), I went out on a normally-scheduled visit for the first time in 3 weeks. 

A few weeks ago, our 'Bethany' staff teamed up with a group that was here to help jump-start a store for one of our families. It involved lots of painting and shelf-making and inventory-stocking - oh, and a lot of painting, too! The above picture is the awesome new store-front. 
Last week, I was working on quarterly updates/progress reports all week to fill in the sponsors on how the families are doing.
Then, this week a few of the directors from Bethany One Family came to check out how the program is doing here in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. The VP of the organization brought his wife and two daughters along. They wanted to take a few days to visit Lake Atitlán and Antigua but needed a staff member, or several, to go along as 'tour guides.' This same week, Binduses', Pattersons', and Rachel's church, The River, was here and Tammy and Rylee were scheduled to fly back to the States for a month. The Binduses and Pattersons wanted to spend as much time as possible with their church so Tammy asked if Rachel and I wanted to take the trip into Antigua. We were more than happy to oblige! It would only take up Tuesday and Wednesday, so Rachel could still spend Monday and the weekend with her church team; Maddie also wanted to go along, and since she's actually been to Antigua before, she had a good idea of where stuff was located in the beautiful old tourist town. 
We were going to take off at 8:30 Tuesday morning, hit the lake and do some shopping in the market, then go on into Antigua around 2:00 in the afternoon. Plans changed a bit due to one of the daughters getting a case of bad altitude sickness. We ended up skipping Lake Atitlán and just taking off around noon to head straight to Antigua. 
It was one of the best two-day vacations I've ever been on! We saw a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, and even chilled-out a little. I forgot to take pics of the Jade Factory and Chocolate 'Museum' we visited, but clips from the rest of the spots are on here. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! 

We went to some cool convent-ruins Tue. afternoon. They had some parrots sitting in the lobby. 

Smile for the camera! 

Sistas - Rachel, Maddie, Me - in front of the gorgeous fountain in the courtyard. 

There was this cool chocolate shop right in one of the old rooms in the ruins!

Maddie thoroughly enjoying the delicacies ;)

We were trying to figure out what the table was doing in the 'Archaeology Room' but never came to a conclusion :/

Cool artifacts 

Some of the statues in the 'Art Room' - it was one of my favorite rooms (besides the 'Chocolate Room', obviously!) but I was too busy looking to take many pictures. 

There's a spot for weddings set up in the ruins of the old church. 

Our beautiful hotel reminded me of something from the 'Chronicles of Narnia' with all the nooks and crannies.  

We ate dinner at a restaurant that sold rabbit stew and lamb burgers! We all seemed to be in the mood for their scrumptious pasta, though, so no opinions on the flavors of those dishes ;) 

Antigua, Guatemala at night

The sistas and I got up at 5:30 to catch the sunrise from the roof of the hotel. 

One of my favorite spots we visited was the cross overlooking the city - gorgeous view! 

The Devos family

It was overcast on Wednesday, which made for a great back-drop for pictures! 

On our way back from the cross, we stopped in at La Merced - a beautiful old church built almost 300 yrs. ago.

Sanctuary

The walls were filled with displays of the different saints - this extravagantly decorated one is the statue of Mary.  

Front of the sanctuary

Antigua Arch and Clock