Our day started early but we were able to get home to Guatemala tired but okay. Josue picked us up at the airport and filled me in on what happened while we were gone.

Our soccer team won a major championship. Four champions played one another and Casa one. That is eight championships out of 9 the last 3 years.

Dottie and I were blessed with the gift of a new car. We do not know who did that for us but we are very grateful.

Life in San Cristobal was so precious. We were a family. Alex, Angelina, Jorge, Quebin, Manolo, Veronica, Ricardo, Josue, Gladys, Estella, Fernando, Esvin, Mario and others made life busy but we all felt the presence of God and there was an expectation that these children were joining wit five of our adopted children Chad, Liz, Becky, Tanya and Crissy. I believe that those months were the happiest we ever had.

Angelina, age 12, asked me what could she call Dottie and me. I did not want Director or some other similar name. She said, “Can I call you Papi?” I told her that if it made her comfortable it was okay with me. So Angelina was the one who named Dottie and me Papi and Mami.

The year in San Cristobal was filled with trips to the zoo, fair, movies and pizza. Dottie and I were as happy as we could be. We enrolled the children in a private school a few blocks away. Everything seemed so natural. We felt that we were in the center of God’s will.

As our lease was expiring we looked for a home to purchase. We found a place and agreed on a price. When I went for the closing the owner raised the price on me. I was so upset that when he saw I was not going to purchase the land he went back to the original price but I God’s dream for us.

If I had bought that piece of property we would have been landlocked and never would have owned the nearly 20 acres we currently have. We would have limited God as to how many children He could send us.

It was this time that I met a missionary who lived in Santa Maria and knew of the large house we would rent.