Guatemala Trip Recap: Part I

My recent trip was better than the first.

On Sunday we were able to tour Antigua as our work at the orphanage didn't start until Monday. Antigua is beautiful. We got to see old churches and buildings, the jade factory (with lilac jade - awesome), chocolate museums, and a lot of markets. Everything was so colorful.

A huge highlight of this trip was seeing a volcano erupt during our drive back to the hostel. It was really amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out in time to snap a photo.


















During this trip, we were given information and watched a video of the work the ministry teams had done in the village outside of the orphanage.

Over the span of a few years, teams were able to go into the village and build multiple homes for widows. The houses were made from cinder blocks, hauled brick by brick down hills and trails where the trucks couldn't make it. They were about the size of your average living room. To the villagers, it was more than they could ask for.

I was really honored that I was able to take pictures of them and their houses.



























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I'll be posting later with pictures and details of our time within the orphanage. They deserved a post of their own.

Guatemala: One Month Away!!

Another personal post.

I am so excited to have the chance to volunteer at the Casa Angelina in Guatemala next month. I visited in June of 2011. Not to be cliche, it was life changing. I can't wait to see the kids again.

I've worked hard to get there, picking up a seasonal job to help finance the trip. I also began a fund raising campaign that is available to anyone willing to donate. My goal was to find 100 people to donate $10. I'm about halfway there to date. :)





Here are some photos and the video shot from my last trip there. Enjoy!

Life is changing, and the change is good

On October 1st, I was prepping for an open house/birthday party at our place. In the middle of cleaning our living room, my mom calls. I thought she'd be calling about the queso dip she was bringing that night or the desserts she was making for Sunday dinner. Instead, she begins to read the Facebook message that she had just received from her first daughter, that she had given up for adoption in 1977.

A flood, and I do mean a flood, of emotions rushed through me. Avalanche, hurricane, blizzard, hot sunny day, I mean I felt it all. I knew. I knew that she was out there. When we were little, my mom told my sister and me about a sister that was out there. We knew the day was going to come, but for me, I didn't expect it to be October 1st.

I stopped short and just kind of sat on my sofa, overwhelmed, anxious, extra sensitive, and shocked. I started tearing up. What do you do with that?

The next day my sister D, who I grew up with and who is my best friend, shows me a picture during church service on her phone. I start crying again. She looked like us. She looked like my mom. It was almost scary. I mean, you sort of expect some similarities in seeing a half sibling, but it was sort of uncanny.

Now she had more than a name, she had a face. She was real, and she was in our lives.

I got nervous because I know the scary that is out there in the world. The hateful, wretched people I've encountered, or even just the people that I don't click with, but have no issues with. What is this woman's personality going to be like? What is she interested in? What does she do? Will she hate us? Will she hurt my mom? Her mom.

Well, only time could give us the chance to find out. Which was really scary as hell. We had a Skype conversation about a week or so later. She was cheerful, funny, made facial expressions we had all perfected. She teaches fashion design in Georgia and is very creative. There are so many things we had in common it really felt like she was never really gone from us.

I know this is beginning to sound like some Nicholas Sparks novel excerpt, but bear with me.

Our sister came to visit this past weekend. We had a great time just being sisters and family. It was comfortable. We were siblings. My mom was over the moon.

On Saturday, my beautiful and uber talented friend Melissa Oholendt captured pictures of us for the first time reunited. She sent us a few preview pictures from our shoot, and I'm happy to share them with you.