Welcome to the Family, Baby G!

Guillermo Adam Gonzalez, infant son of Tylre Christensen and Jaeson Gonzalez is the newest member of the family, born in Sonoma, California on June 16, 2013 at 12:00 a.m.  Weighing in at a husky 9 lbs. 1 oz., and 21” long, Baby G wasn’t breathing or crying when he entered the world so had to be transported to a hospital 45-minutes away.  They were able to get him breathing normally but then he developed a bacterial infection they couldn’t pinpoint.  They ran several tests including a spinal tap testing for meningitis but couldn’t confirm anything but 7-days of antibiotics killed whatever bacteria he had.  His parents, Grandma Kris and other family members are recovering nicely, too!

 

Our trip to Guatemala (May 26 – June 2, 2013)

Dad / Grandpa / Ed and I boarded a plane on Sunday morning to fly to Guatemala with a dozen members of my Rotary club for their 8th annual humanitarian service trip.  We thought we were going to spend 3 days in “blistering heat” in the villages around Antigua where we built five stoves in individual homes where meals are prepared on an open fire, provided dental care to suffering men, women and children and distributed shoes and toys.   However, we were freezing and unprepared for the cold!

Two of our party (Dan Strobell and Dan McArthur) are fluent Spanish speakers so we got along pretty well as long as one of them was with us.  I’ve never considered myself anywhere near “bi-lingual” but I was pleasantly surprised at how much of my high school Spanish (and what I picked up from living in Los Angeles) came back to me so I was pretty much able to communicate our needs in just about every situation.

We had a beautiful hotel room – with the hardest bed I have ever slept on – but we were asked to turn out the lights as much as possible (to save energy) and to use a candle provided in the room. 

Before we left, people keep asking “why Guatemala?”  We considered the good reasons why we wanted to travel to yet another 3^rd world country and here is our answer: 

The rate of women and children who die from smoke inhalation and other fire related problems is staggering.  With the simple stoves we built the amount of pollutants in the air they breathe is reduced by 81%.  One woman who got her stove last year  - and who was thrilled to see Rotarians again – greeted us with, “see, no smoke!”  She was also pleased to tell us her children could not reach the inner – hot part – of the stove, so “no burns!”  She also appreciated the luxury of being able to prepare a meal rather than one-thing-at-a-time as she had always done before!

In addition, to keep firewood in the house for meal preparation, the little girls in the family usually spend their entire day combing the countryside instead of developing their academic skills in a classroom. 

So, the reasons we went to Guatemala:

a.       To help Guatemalan women live long enough to see their grandchildren

b.      To send Guatemalan girls back to school

c.       The clock is ticking!  "Don't think TIME will change our Life . . . TIME only changes the expiration dates of our opportunities!"

d.      It’s a tax-deductible vacation

e.      We need another stamp in our passport

f.        There’s nothing to watch on TV … or in the movie theater

But, our trip was not all work.  We flew to Tikal (in the northern part of Guatemala) where we hiked to the Mayan ruins, took a boat ride on the river, enjoyed some delicious meals, swam and in general, enjoyed our travels.

So, here’s our trip to Guatemala, by the numbers:

·         Number of days away from home                                                    8

·         Number of Rotarians and friends of Rotary on the trip               13

·         Number of roundtrip miles from SG to Guatemala                      5440

·         Number of steps to the top of Templo IV                                      725

·         Number of pictures Ed took                                                             765                        

I hope we get to go again!  It was a great adventure.