Jonathan at two months

Very tired and very cold. To borrow a line from his cousin Elias, "I didn't know life would be so hard."

Scarily engrossed in a "shoot-em-up" movie.

Seven weeks

[More photos in Jonathan's album, link at right]

They arrived!

Willmar, Hannah, Elias, Amos, and Reuben Neufeld Harder arrived this morning, ready to begin their MCC assignment here in Santa Cruz (to be our bosses!). Despite the long journey, the boys were pretty excited to see their new little cousin, Jonathan (who is now taking a rather deep recovery nap...). We are so very glad to have them all here so close to us.

Change of scenery

We've been recalled to Santa Cruz for the months of April, May, and June! The Centro Menno staff in the city has been steadily shrinking and will soon undergo a major transition (that is, Liz's brother and sister-in-law will be the new directors, come 1 June). We were pretty much the only option of warm bodies to staff the Centro and to provide some overlapp in staff. So, we closed up shop temporarily in Charagua and moved to Santa Cruz right before Easter.

Our lives are quite different now, for a number of reasons.
1) we have a new baby
2) we have constant high-speed, wireless internet (and we've started Skyping with our parents)
3) we sleep (in between feedings) accompanied by loud city noises
4) we have regular office hours (for all of three days a week that the Centro is open)
5) we socialize in the evenings (mainly having folks over for supper)
6) any kind of fruit or vegetable is available in the market
7) gardening doesn't count as work anymore (even if we could find a patch of dirt)
8) Ramont spends Centro Menno days (Tuesday through Thursday) serving a constant stream of customers in Low German
9) Liz spends the mornings designing/editing the 20-page color magazine, Menno Bote, put out by Centro Menno each month for colony Mennonites in Bolivia (articles on health, faith, ag, news, etc; children's page, and lots of photos from around the colonies).

It's altogether quite enjoyably stressful! Here are a few photos to give a better idea:

Ramont serves Old Colony Mennonite customers in Centro Menno. The photo above shows the center from the outside, and we live in the huge, very nice apartment on the second floor.

Liz works on the Menno Bote for May. MCC is definitely a family-friendly workplace!

Ramont and Jonathan discuss the last customer, who just walked out the door.

Through MCC photographer's eyes

About a month ago, an MCC writer and a photographer (Silas Crews) came to do some stories about MCC's work in Bolivia, particularly with colony Mennonites. Ramont and his dad took them to several of our project sites in Durango Colony, and Silas took more than 800 photos! It's fascinating to see our "everyday" sites through another's eyes...and since he was generous enough to share them with us, we'll post a few here with captions.

Ramont sells a subscription to Menno Bote, the monthly magazine published by MCC Bolivia's Low German Mennonite program.

Ramont with Heinrich Harder, looking at the MCC-sponsored water cistern and homemade water pump.

Mrs. Harder looking over the garden covered by half-shade and irrigated with drip tape--both items we promote in the colony.

Peter Bergan (and Ramont looking into the cistern from the top).

Our favorite people in Durango, Isaak and Aganetha Doerksen, who oversee the water projects within the colony.

Main street of La Estacion de Charagua, on which our house and center are located.

ALL PHOTOS BY SILAS CREWS

New photos added

Last week our MCC colleagues in Santa Cruz held a baby shower for Jonathan, complete with amazing food, nice gifts of clothing (see the trendy little outfit above), and some rather funny games. Ramont had to compete with the other new dad to most quickly--and with the most love--put a cloth diaper on a stuffed baby/animal. He also got painted with lipstick each time Liz (blindfolded) guessed wrongly on what the wrapped gift might be.

Posted in our Picasso web album are some new photos of that event and others of Jonathan, who is now almost six weeks old. He's quite the content little boy, though not without the occasional night where he just doesn't want to close his eyes or let us sleep--not crying, just very awake. We realize how fortunate we are!

New photo album

We've created a new photo album--mainly for grandparents--with photos of Jonathan as he develops. Just click on the album labeled "Jonathan photos" in the right-hand column of this blog. We'll try to keep it updated regularly (at least while we're in the big city). Enjoy!

Once you're in Picasa Web Albums, you can also look at other photos of our time here in Bolivia by clicking on the "My photos" tab and then selecting one of the albums.

p.s. If you get stuck (mom and dad), please call us and we'll walk you through it.

Family Harder Schrock

Charagua, Bolivia
(Jonathan is almost 3 weeks old)

Grandparents Schrock come to visit

We've been incredibly fortunate to have our parents Schrock visiting for the past (almost) two weeks. They bravely rode the bus out to Charagua alone, spent the first week with us at home, and then we all traveled to Santa Cruz this weekend. Perhaps their single most valuable contribution has been their reassurance that the quirky little things about Jonathan are normal, and that he is indeed a wonderful little baby. We are also so very grateful for all the baths, holding, and even comforting him during the night.

(above: informal nap)

(putting a screen door on our kitchen)

(burping, always burping)

More baby photos from week one and two

The first Harder Schrock family photo of its kind.

Jonathan at almost two weeks old.

Anti-jaundice treatment.

Jonathan Harder Schrock

Jonathan Harder Schrock
Born 9 March 2010
Charagua, Bolivia

We thought he would be a girl...!

Day 2 in the hospital

Waiting to go home from the hospital.

Day 3, at home.

Day 4, at home.

One month to go!

From pasture to pot

Ramont's brother Radell came last week from Harrisonburg, VA to visit us for a few days in Charagua. Among other things, he helped to butcher our very first chicken. Here follows the saga:

Looking for her in the pasture:


Moving in for the capture:


Snagged!


Hanging her up to drip-dry:


Off with the neck:


Dripping out:


Skinning:


Fresh from the garden to add to the pot:


Giso (stew) made in our brand-new cast iron pot from Paraguay:


And eating it all for supper:

Recent happenings, part 1

I. MilkingWe had a cow in our pasture for about a week recently, mainly to see if this is something we should invest in more permanently. Ramont much enjoyed doing chores and milking, and I experimented with various products (butter, cheeses--failed mozzarella below, yoghurt, cream cheese, cottage cheese, and plain drinking). But in the end she just gave way too much milk for us and bellowed day and night for her not-completely-weaned calf in the campo, so we ended up returning her...much to the relief of our neighors, no doubt. This is not, however, the end of the Harder Schrock milking career.


II. ElectionsBolivia elected President Evo Morales for another 5-year term on 5 December 2009. A few weeks prior to that, he arrived at the Charagua airstrip (below) for a campaign rally, which we attended. Charagua also voted in favor of becoming one of only a handful of "autonomous indigenous" districts in the country. Time will tell what precisely this will mean, though in broad strokes it appears that more of the region's funds and decisions will eventually be handled at the local level (in the case of Charagua, this would mean more power to indigenous Guaranis).


III. MCC Bolivia retreat: October 2009, Semaipata