Hail Mary

"Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee

Blessed are you among women

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners

Now and at the hour of our death

Amen."

Only moments before we had thought that we would be a little spontaneous and jump on the biggest ferris wheel in San Lucas. But once it started moving we both spontaneousely broke into the "Hail Mary" out of abject terror as we whipped around and around. Apparently in San Lucas, where there are no roller coasters, they use the ferris wheel to attain that feeling of stomaching dropping fun. We were expecting a calm, relaxing ride with a good view of the lake and of town but we were in for a surprise.

It was the feria last week. The closest equivalent we can think of is like a county fair. Lots of cheap games, food, local music and dancing, and of course lots of cheap rides. The celebration of the feria is on the feast day of St. Luke, the patron saint of town. All the towns around the lake are named after saints and they hold their ferias on their saints' feast day.

What we thought would be a ten minute ferris wheel ride actually turned into an hour long adventure. Immediately after we got on, the ferris wheel turned 180 degrees so that we were all the way at the very top. We were stuck there for about 15 minutes while the operators waited for the next people to get on. We must have just been (un)lucky in our timing. We eventually got over our terror and enjoyed an amazing view and had fun looking down at people when knew. We both wonder now if perhaps we were trying to recapture some of the spontaneity of our pre-Clara days. Our Newton House community member Cassie was visiting us during the feria and she was babysitting for "just 15 minutes" while we ran an errand. When we found ourselves sitting 60 feet up in the air we called her to let her know it might be awhile. When our feet finally touched the ground again we agreed that we were ready to leave ferris wheel adventures behind for a different kind of adventure, who is currently napping under our billowing flower print curtains. Maybe someday we can even take her on a ferris wheel - but I think we've both decided it will definitely not be here in San Lucas. More likely, we'll have to grit our teeth as we watch her jump aboard with her friends and remember the days when we did the same.

Clara Maria Fulton Fulton

We registered Clara with the Guatemalan government this week, officially making her a Guatemalan citizen....with the official name of Clara Maria Fulton Fulton. (All for the low price of 4 Quetzales - about 60 cents. To get her a US passport we'll have to pay $65.)

Why Fulton twice, you ask? Because traditionally, people here have two last names - one from each parent. So say we were Lois Smith Jones and Dan Johnson Fulton. When we married, Lois would drop the Jones and take the first last name of Dan, becoming Lois Smith Johnson. Clara would take the first last name of each parent, becoming Clara Smith Johnson, also. The computer program for registration of new babies automatically fills in the blanks, and the workers didn't know how to override it; thus, Clara received a last name from each of us.

There has been some confusion of late, because the national government is trying to begin a centralized registration process. Previously, newborns were registered by the town in which they were born. San Lucas was one of 77 towns that initially refused (related to taxes - the municipality used to collect the money for registration, but now that money goes directly to the central government). By the time we registered Clara, though, the national program had been in use in San Lucas for a couple weeks.

One Month Old!

Yesterday we celebrated Clara being a month old. She has already grown and changed so much! At birth, she weighed 7.5lbs; now she weighs a full 2lbs more. Her head control and vision improve daily. She follows us with her eyes and seems to be aware of the locations in the house of her favorite things to stare at: a small stuffed Cy (ISU mascot), a red paper crane, Dan’s Twins hat, the curtains.

We also marked the occasion by taking the first steps towards obtaining Guatemalan citizenship for Clara. One requirement for registering her is proof of certain vaccinations, and Clara received her first one yesterday. She handled it like a champ but we really struggled with both the decision to do it and the physical holding her down for the injection. The vaccine we gave her is for tuberculosis; it is no longer done in the US and leaves a circular scar on the shoulder where the injection is given. We initially had hoped to avoid it, both because of the scarring and also because she will always test positive on Mantoux tests for TB (plus she’s just not at much of a risk). So we tried to get an exception so that she could still have citizenship without the vaccine, and were passed around until finally the physician at the state facility where vaccines are administered gave us a mini-lecture on skirting the law.

I was surprised at how guilty I felt, holding her arm in place for what felt like an eternity while the nurse gave her the shot. Clara hardly cried, but Dan noted an expression on her face of surprise and fear that she’d never made before. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to be bothered by it today.

Squirming

Our Growing Girl

Clara has been growing by leaps and bounds. She's stretching out - so much so that she already outgrew her drawer-bed and we've had to transition to a real crib. She sleeps so much better now that she's not too cramped.

Our little athlete

Documenting her cute footprints

Fast asleep