Guatemalan travels...

ARGH!! I can't quite get this uploading photos thing figured out.... they always end up in COMPLETELY the wrong order... but none the less... here are some photos from Guatemala... one of my new favorite places on EARTH.

***THoughts on the trip itself coming soon... for now... just pics.

The arch is north of the square. I am usually really good with directions... but for some reason I couldn't figure out Antigua to SAVE MY LIFE. We went 3 times by this arch... and every time I was surprised to see it because I didn't think that was the part of the city we were in! ARGH!

A little boy at Mayra's feeding program/school. This was a really cool program that started as a Saturday morning meal for some local children and has developed into 80 children in school every day (and getting meals!).

This is Josue, a little boy at Amor del Nino... what a cutie...

This is Stephanie. She makes fish lips when you talk to her... she also has the BIGGEST eyes. So cute!



This is Monica. Dawn and I decided that Dayton was not ready for Monica, so we couldn't bring her home... but man would we love to... she is hilarious... and she never stops. We spent most of the time at Amor del Nino telling Monica no... but she really didn't care, she did it anyway! (and we loved it!)

A volcano... Fuego I believe.

This is Brenda, a child living at Hermano Pedro. Love her. (And she was covered in a blanket from Fiesta VBS, which we did at Sulphur Grove a few years ago. I thought that was pretty cool! Its not the one we made, but it could be!)

These sawdust artworks fill the streets of Guatemala on the Sundays in Lent. THey are BEAUTIFUL. Apparently on Good Friday they are literally EVERYWHERE... wish I could have been there to see that.

The biggest volcano around the city (of the three), luckily it is extinct, it is HUGE!

There you have it... Antigua... quite a place!

Guatemala

arrived back in Dayton late last night from my 9 days in Guatemala... serving orphans... i'm going to have to think a while about what i have to say about the trip... short but intense... so much to think about... (but I secretly might actually like babies now... especially a beautiful little one name Paty... seriously... I think I would actually keep that one forever.... which is a pretty big statement from me!).

anyway... thoughts to come... for now.... here's little Ariana and I... at Hermano Pedro....

Take a little side trip...

Well... I don't always have the time to post on two blogs... let's be honest, I don't always have the time to breathe... or sleep... sleep especially... ahhh... I would LOVE a good nights' sleep... ohhhh... I digress...

Anyway, the youth of Sulphur Grove now have a blog. Little thing where I post info about our events or what we're having for dinner... you know... stuff like that...

SO. I have posted some pictures there from Winter Retreat at Camp Otterbein... I thought I could just put it here too, same post so I don't have to reload the pictures on my ridiculously slow little red laptop (just today it is slow... not sure what that's about!) but I can't actually figure out how to make that happen ... SO... long story short, you can check out pics at: Sulphur Grove Youth

Ahhh... back to work... hope this computer figures its little self out soon!!! yeah!!

19 days and counting (down!)

I am leaving for Antigua, Guatemala in 19 days. I am so excited I could BURST.

I am going to travel with Hope for Home, an organization from the Dayton area that works with orphanages in Guatemala. With the current freeze (with no end in sight) on international adoptions from Guatemala there are tons of kids in orphanages with little forward motion towards getting homes and families. SO... in a completely unexpected event... I am going to go to Guatemala for a week to hold babies. Seriously. I am also going to be checking out the possibilities of Sulphur Grove sending teams there and/or partnering in ministry with an orphanage.

SO. I am so excited I could scream... but since I am in the office and there are men working on the roof outside my window I won't... wouldn't want anyone doing a tumble!

YEAH!!

West Ohio Girls' Chrysalis #47

This past weekend I got to serve on the team for the Girls' Chrysalis weekend. Sometimes I dread things like this... I mean, I am getting old. Seriously. It has been nearly 16 years since I went on my Chrysalis weekend. When I go back to Greene Street UMC in Piqua it kind of feels like stepping back in time. Things have changed some... but it still feels a lot the same. (And I am pretty sure we are still using the same markers from 1993!).

There have been times I have been called to be on a team that I have said no. It didn't fit in my schedule or work out somehow... it didn't seem right for whatever reason. There are times I have said yes and gone to all the meetings and what not with little busyness to worry about. This time I said yes, but was SERIOUSLY dreading the idea of being asked to do a talk. When Wendy asked me to do the Single Life talk I was... UGH... stressed. I've done it before but I REALLY didn't want to... and then life got stressful and work got overwhelming and I started running like a crazy person through December and JAnuary and I was really not all that excited about going to the weekend.

Then on Friday I went to the church.... and we started with some team stuff and then the girls showed up Saturday morning... and its all a blur. I had SUCH an amazing weekend. I have never laughed so much as I did with the girls at my table. I laughed (I didn't cry!), I was blessed, I was challenged, I watched God work in my beautiful little caterpillars lives, I was amazed at the selflessness of the team (which has not always- or ever- been my experience of a chrysalis team to such an extent), I was overwhelmed with the simplicity of living this weekend. I was blessed to not turn on my cell phone, to not wonder what time it was, to just sit... sit and enjoy the people around me.... sit and be blessed by conversations and laughter and the words of God.

Chrysalis is such a structured experience... the same 15 talks every weekend, the same food, the same discussion guides, flight after flight, year after year. Yet this time it didn't feel that way to me. Sure, there was still that structure, but it seemed to flow so much from the heart. No one was worried about doing things a specific way, no one was concerned that this flight be like all the other flights, no one was stressed that the music or talks weren't what they were when THEY went to Chrysalis.

It was nice... and beautiful... and wonderful. And even though I had to give my talk again, I was blessed to share my thoughts with girls who responded with thoughtful questions and beautiful insights.

West Ohio GIrls' CHrysalis #47... God is good.

Weekend Exhaustion.... on Friday night!

I am sooooooo tired. Seriously. This weekend is wearing me out. I am sitting in the back of a classroom at the church while Kim teaches our Confirmation Class... at 11 pm on Friday night. This is the terrible event that happens 4 times a year... its called the CONFIRMATION LOCK-IN... and its NOT GOOD. NOT GOOD at all. I mean, yeah, there is something good in seeing kids learning and growing in faith... committing their time to learn about the church and membership... but it is WEARING ME OUT!

Tomorrow, after sleeping on a cold, hard floor in the basement of the church (and hopefully not having to yell at kids to be quiet too much!) I get to go to an all day Chrysalis meeting up north. I like Chrysalis... I think its an AMAZING ministry and I am blessed to get to serve on this team... but an all day meeting after sleeping on the church floor...I'm tired just thinking about it!!

On Sunday its time for FaithWeavers to start up again so after teaching Sunday School I get to bake Chrysalis butterfly cookies and then cook dinner for the church folks and teach the kiddies about Samson.

I am exhausted just thinking about the weekend... and to top it all off... it is supposed to SNOW tonight mixed with some ice and sleet and assorted other terrible winter weather... I hate being COLD and I hate SNOW... ugh!!!

OK... enough complaining. I could say some profound things or something... but instead I will decide that instead of hating things this weekend I will decide to be glad that I get to be alive today... alive and blessed.

Looking down the barrel of 2009

I seriously can't believe that it is 2009. As I sat in Carrie's living room last night and the clock counted down the final seconds until the new year, it was the weirdest feeling. I am so excited for 2009... which is pretty rare for me. Usually I head into the new year with no really different feelings than any other night. However, sitting there last night, surrounded by new friends and old ones... I couldn't help but look at the new year with excitement.

For the first time in a long time I head into the new year with absolutely no idea of what the future will hold. I mean, sure, I have some plans in place... like Chrysalis later this month, Guatemala in March, Alaska and Brazil at some point... but I head into 2009 with some new things that I have learned about myself and life... like...

I have learned to hold loosely to things. I have still not learned the art of letting go... I still tend to have a hard time saying goodbye... but I have learned to hold loosely to things... to remember the temporary nature of things in this world and be able to embrace the here and now.

I have learned to live today. I have learned that tomorrow is not a guarantee... the good things in life may be worth waiting for, but they are also here right now... and I am learning to live them while I have them.

I have learned who I am and who I want to be... and I have learned that that awareness is important only when it is coupled with the desire to not be bent and twisted to what the world wants and sees as successful. I have learned that it is important to have my own two feet to stand on and my own measures of what is and is not important.

I have learned that success is not defined by how much money I make, the home I own or the clothes (and their size) that I wear. Success for me means that I will live the life that God has called me to regardless of the pay scale and define myself by the willingness to do what is right above what is popular.

I have learned that I am far more of an adventurer than most people will ever believe, a lot more committed than my ability to tell time implies, and undefinable by most people.

I have also learned that I need to grow a lot in my ability to be a good friend, employee, daughter and sister. I have learned that money will never be more important to me than a plane ticket and passport. I have learned that good friends come and go, but the best friends always come back around.

2009 is gonna be fine (as Dawn likes to say). I know this is true!! And I can feel the excitement of a new year, full of possibilities.

See you all in the new year!