Beauty all around me!

Here are a few pictures I’ve taken lately. Sometimes I forget how much life and beauty there is all around me…… yet when I take time to appreciate it I feel so refreshed!

My little neighbor Emiley...... she still doesn't have teeth but is already saying a few words!

My friends told me that there's a superstition that when the clouds look like this it means that an old person is going to pass away. (I find out new superstitions practically every day).

This is my friend Maria's mom, she loves her grand kids!

Even at 7:30 am it feels quite hot and humid, so the cool afternoons once the sun starts setting are much appreciated.

A little bit of finger paint?

Just chillin out wathcing the girls jump rope.

Jumping rope..... kids here are so much better at it than I ever was.

Razor Blades and Clay

My ceramic teacher back in High School taught me how to make a basic Fimo clay cane design on the last day of school, and now many years later I get to teach it to others! During the past few weeks I’ve taught about 5 different groups of girls how to make fimo clay beads. Most of the girls I’ve been teaching are part of a young girl’s ministry called Mujercitas, they’re going to sell the earrings they’ve made in order to raise funds for upcoming activities and retreats. I haven’t heard how many they’ve sold yet but I’m sure they’re not having a problem selling them…. The earrings they made look awesome!

(If you have no idea what Fimo or polymer clay is then check out the following website http://www.leeleeko.com/millefiore.htm).

Where you wouldn’t want to spend the night

Around 11pm the lady to the far left starting singing to Mother Mary, the lady to our right was coughing and making ferocious sounds, and minutes later another lady started cussing out the air around her. Luckily the two of were small enough to fit into the single bed side by side unlike many others, yet we couldn’t even attempt to sleep because the doctors still hadn’t come by to do their evening checkups. They did finally come and go by nearly 1am. The random noises from all the other 18 ladies in the room continued through the night which everyone seemed to enjoy joking about after the nurses forced us to wake up at 6am. (I still don’t know why they insisted on waking us up so early being that they didn’t actually do their morning check-ups until nearly 8am).

(Just a little picture of the hospital to give you an idea of the size of bed the two of slept in. Each hospital room has 10 beds for the patients, while their caretakers either try to fit on the bed with them or they find a chair somewhere to sleep in).


You might wonder why I spent the night at the public hospital. Well, my friend Maria was sick with gallbladder stones. And in this country someone always spends the night with the patient to tend to their needs, bring them good food to eat, and bring them fresh sheets. That particular night her family was busy and couldn’t tend to her needs, so I got to.


I stayed with her just one night during her second stay at the hospital. She was checked into the hospital four times during two months before they actually operated on her. Fortunately they operated on her just over a week ago, and she’s doing very well now.