Party 2023

I’m posting a few pictures from our annual Guatadopt party, which this year featured traditional textiles modeled by young women in our group. Thank you to everyone for your amazing energy, friendship and support in setting up, cooking, serving, hauling dishes up and down stairs, washing dishes and bagging up trash. And for being your fabulous, wonderful selves. Thanks, too, to the Friends of the Ixchel Museum for loaning the textiles and to Susan and Anne for their fascinating and engaging presentation. A glorious weekend of families, friendship, talking, listening and love. With Tim and two large sheet cakes; above, huipiles (embroidered blouses) from Chichicastenango and Nebaj.

18!

We blinked and Mateo is 18. Happy birthday to our beautiful, smart, funny, original son. xoxo

Trip to Chichicastenango

We spent a few days in Chichicastenango in the department of El Quiche, northwest of Guatemala City in the highlands, elevation 6,447 feet. “Chichi” is 98% indigenous Maya K’iche, with 21% of the population speaking only K’iche and 71% bilingual K’iche and Spanish. Chichi is known for its market day, which attracts sellers and buyers from across the region. It’s also known for the beautiful Santo Tomas cathedral, where Mayan ceremonies are welcomed along with Catholic worship. Santo Tomas is one of many Catholic churches in Guatemala where the faithful crawl on their knees to the altar, hands uplifted and praying, for reasons known to them and their God. To witness this practice is, for me, very moving, so much so that I incorporated it into one of the final scenes of my novel, Mother Mother. We stayed in the lovely Hotel Santo Tomas, home to macaws and parrots who squawk “Hola!” and a wonderful collection of masks and carvings. When Olivia was almost two and her adoption was finally finished, Tim and I rented a car and set off as a new family to explore Totonicapan, Quetzaltenango, Panajachel and Chichi. Since that first visit, Chichi has captured our hearts.

At the restaurant Agua

Here’s a photo of family and friends at Agua Restaurant in Antigua Guatemala. With us in the center is Carlos Haas, university professor in Munich Germany, who grew up in Germany and is adopted from Guatemala. I’m grateful to Carlos or connecting with us as we overlap trips in Guatemala–and to all adult adoptees in our community who are role models and friends to us and our children. Thank you!

Mother’s Day late

I’m not on Instagram but my children are and on Mother’s Day they each posted photographs which they forwarded to me. The pictures warmed my heart, so I’m sharing them with you. Happy belated!