Jesús ha resucitado! Aleluya!

A very happy Easter to all. I hope this finds you all well recovered from all that rejoicing, Easter egg hunts and jelly beans. This monday, life is back to business at El Santuario as we are busyly preparing for the return of more of our children from vacations and the arrival of new ones. Easter and the days leading up to it were lovely here and oh-so-latino, I loved it. I will insert a photo from Palm Sunday where the people of the town put a statue of Jesus on a donkey and then lead a procession before Mass, you know, Jesus ¨entering Jerusalem on a donkey with palm fronds across his path¨, yep, we acted it out, it was amazing. Then we the Masses for Holy Thursday and Good Friday with stations of the cross acted out by some of our older kids and then our really long but pretty cool Easter vigil Mass Saturday night and our Easter day Mass yesterday morning. Lots of Masses, lots of processions, lots of love for the risen Christ - it was unforgettable and my words can never do justice.



Our trip to Cuenca was a mild success, we were impressed with the foundation, met with the director and got to see one of their homes. But, they can´t take Jamil right now. We have hope that in June, when they are supposedly opening a new facility, it is then that they have promised to take him. In the meantime we will continue to look for other options for this precious baby. Please continue your prayers for that.

I have four more weeks to spend in this place that I love so dearly and I am trying to spend them well and get a few projects done. I need your help with one of these. I need to come up with $3,000 in the next few weeks so that some of our kids can stay at home with their newly rehabilitated families. It takes $50 a month to support a family with schooling and groceries. I am looking for 5 kids ($600 per kid) for a year, equaling the $3,000. If you can help, please go to www.missionsantamaria.com where you can pay with credit card or bank transfer and then please send me a message so that I can have that money set aside from the general account. Whatever you can give, whether be 1 time donation of $20 or a promise of monthly support, it would be so very much appreciated.

Off and running to get back to the children and misioñeras that I love. I am so sorry that I cannot better express to you how wonderful a place this is and how much it means to me. Suffice it to say that as I sit and stare into the Pacific ocean and think about being on the other side of the world away from it all, all the love that I have for this place presses against my chest and threatens to explode. The difficult thing is that I know that I am going back to new and exciting things and people I love as well, I just don´t know how I´ll ever say goodbye here. Jesus, I trust in You.

Felices Pascuas from the flipside...

Return from the Jungle/Beginning of Goodbyes

Hello one and all, as always, I beg pardon for the delay in blogs, I think I´m losing my blogging-steam.

Much new to report from this end of the world. First, the mission to Tena with the FUS students was awesome and grace-filled, thanks to all of you who brought so much zeal and love for missions, it was great to see you all. Second, it´s official, my mission compañera of six months has left. Mariya has returned home to study for the MCAT as she feels called to apply to med school. It was a very sad goodbye and we still miss her very much, I am not looking forward to telling the children (who are now returning from vacations) that their beloved nurse has been lead off by the Lord down another road. Pues, hagase tu voluntad Señor (be it done according to your will Lord).

Next, my news. I have been recently accepted to the grad programs at both Georgia State and Kennesaw State Universities. I am planning on entering the program at KSU and am excited about this new adventure. The sad news is that, while I thought I would be beginning much later, I actually have to be back April 23rd for orientation and then classes May 12th. It is bittersweet. I am excited for grad school but am heartbroken to be leaving this base that has become my home and these misioñeras who have become my family. I am blessed to have at least one more month with them and that time to wrap up some of my projects here. Please pray that I am able to find enough joy to enjoy these last few weeks at the most beautiful place I have yet to encounter on this earth.

We are off tomorrow to Cuenca to investigate a foundation that can potentially care for one of our babies, Jamil, who has cerebral palsy. It is a foundation that specializes in children like Jamil and can provide the therapy and education that he deserves. I am also in the middle of the investigatory phase for a new program for local young widows with small children. Mamita Isabel has seen a great need in this regard in the area, as once the husband dies they are often left with no income and few skills/opportunities, and so we are hoping to educate them and provide them with some skills to learn how to support themselves and their families. So, the next few weeks will be busy ones and hopefully blessed.

That is about all that I have for now, not feeling all that inspirational or deep at the moment. Perhaps after this last week of spiritual ¨dying¨ my blogging motivation will be resurrected with the Lord, haha. A prayerful holy week to all and a very blessed Easter, more later, as always, from the flipside.

The Dengue Diaries

Well, it´s official. I am a true foreign missionary. I have contracted my first tropical disease - dengue fever. Sounds impressive, doesn´t it? Now don´t worry, I´m not dying and we don´t think I have the hemorrahgic type which is a good thing. And I have a good nurse, la señorita Mariya, taking good care of me.

In other news, before I got sick, Mariya and I played mom for 13 of the kids that live in Casas Familias while the house mom was on a weekend vacation. Let´s just say, taking care of 13 small children in Ecuador is way different than taking care of them in the States. You don´t realize how great things like plenty of diapers and paper towels are or washing machines to help with the piles of underwear that result from pottytraining. It was a beautiful if not trying experience and I am thankful to now know more first-hand what that part of the work here is like. I also now have an even greater appreciation for the consecrated women who serve as these house moms, or ¨educadoras¨. We were supposed to continue with caring for the children this week but due to other pending work and my subsequent illness, we did not.

A part of our time with the children included the welcoming and acclimating of three new babies, Stiven (es-tea-ven) de 4 años and twin 2 year old girls, Ximena (he-meh-nah) and Sara. The first few days were rough as Stiven was very sick and Ximena cried the majority of the time as she tried to make sense of her new surroundings. However, by the end of the second day, they began to smile and oh - how precious and hard-won those smiles were. Stiven was placed quickly in a foster family but Ximena and Sara stayed with us and have now completely stolen our hearts. In fact, I have created a new album on shutterfly dedicated to them and the rose farm, babies and roses, two of my favorite things. Mariya is talking about bringing them back with her but I intend on putting up a fight to bring them to Atlanta. Oh, they are adorable and are very special to us.

Ximena Smiles...


Currently, I am hanging out in my room, in my bed and working on being better. I am so thankful that they let me borrow the base´s one computer with internet so that I could reach out to the outside world, thanks Fatima. Prayers for a speedy recovery so that I can go on the medical mission with the kids from Franciscan Univ. next week (we´re goin´ to the jungle) would be much appreciated. As always, if any of y´all have prayer intentions, post a comment or email me and let me know, I would love to know how to pray for the folks back home.

Much love to you all, hope to have an exciting post next time, recounting my adventures in the jungle :) Check www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com for more pics!

¡Perdoname! (forgive me)

Please accept my apologies, I was shocked when I finally logged in and it showed that my last post was Jan. 22. Wow. So much for the New Year´s resolution for better communication!

Well, the best excuse for my long absence is that we have been quite busy and on the move. There was much to do organizing after the kids left for vacaction, endless visits to see how the ones who were with their families were doing and then plenty of time to practice my spanish writing skills as I faithfully documented the updates and visits that we had done (My professor Dr. Gilham would be proud that one of my biggest roles here is enforcing documentation, haha). All of this was crammed in the last weeks of January because Feb. 6th we departed for Quito to welcome our newest missionary, Sara Ogrodnick, RN. We then spent a week with her in Quito, getting her settled and we were going to go back to Tena to do the final planning for the March mission but plans fell through and so we had a few more days with Sara and the wonderful Arroyo family. In fact, on Valentines day, we went to the Arroyo´s rose farm, an amazing experience and of course, we came home with roses. It was a wonderful suprise/treat as we didn´t think we would be there to do it - even far from home and without boyfriends, the Lord found a way to romance our hearts on the day of lovers.

I am afraid I don´t have much time this evening to share anything more of the little blessings and funny stories of the last few weeks, I really just wanted to let everyone know that I was still alive. I cannot make a promise of more frequent updates in the next few weeks as starting Wednesday, Mariya and I will become ¨moms¨ to the remaining children so that the house moms can go on vacation. We will be with the little ones for a week and then it´s off to the jungle with the March medical mission from FUS. I hope that in between it all I will be able to post again but if not, I promise a big exciting post for when we get back.

I do have new pictures up on the shutterfly website, www.lavidaloca.shutterfly.com check them out, hope you enjoy.

As always, I send my love and I pray that everyone enjoys a blessed Lent.

Painting Poverty

What a week! First, we are blessed to have Mariya´s mom and sister here visiting which has added some fun to the gringo house. Next, in honor of the family visit, Mariya, myself and the family went to Cuenca (middle part of the sierra) for the weekend. While there, we mixed business with pleasure by taking a jaunt out to investigate a foundation for disabled children in the hopes of placing one of our precious babies, 8 year old Jamil with cerebral palsy, with them so that he might receive the therapy and attention that we can´t provide for him here. We also went to a symphony (free presentation), had a literary conversation with an American owner of a bookstore in Cuenca and meandered through seemingly endless knick-nacks and works of art. But as I was wandering through paintings, clay figures and such, I kept thinking to myself, ¨this isn´t my Ecuador.¨ It may have partially been because we were in the Sierra and they have their own traditional clothing and such. But more than that, even the Sierra doesn´t always look like that. Well, it got me thinking...

Why doesn´t anyone paint poverty? Why can I only find palm trees and toucans from the Galapagos, women in colorful shaws and felt hats sitting with baskets from the Sierra and sunsets over the beach from the coast? Where are my barrios, my houses made of cane and cement blocks, my little boys selling juices in plastic baggies, my old men mending their fishing nets before the next tide, my women poking sticks into open fires roasting corn and plantains, where is my Ecuador? All of these things are so beautiful to me that if I had any artistic talent, I would paint them in the bold colors of salsa dancing and the softer ones of the ocean outside my window. I would paint them with the humor of Norman Rockwell and the tranquility of Thomas Kinkade. But I can´t paint (unless there are numbers) so I can´t capture this beauty that I find hiding in the often times horrible reality of life. I can only hold it in my heart, to guard the memories there as I learn to love it even more, despite the abrasive smells, the mud, the chickens and dogs. Maybe no one can paint my Ecuador or maybe no one has tried.

I challenge anyone out there with artistic talent to try to capture this life around me. But capture it in a way that isn´t dreary and sad, doesn´t hide the reality of what it, but shows the joy, the life, the beauty amidst the garbage and dirt floors that I see everyday.

In the meantime, I will remain your little missionary, still learning Spanish, still learning Ecuador and still learning how to love in the way I am meant to. May you all have a great next week, hope all enjoyed the MLK weekend, many prayers to those at the March for Life in DC, and as always, more to come next week from life on the flipside...

Los Sueños de Gaby

Hello again to one and all, please forgive the extended absence from my blog, to all those concerned, I am not currently buried under lava from the currently active volcano and am in fact about 9 hours away from it. No worries, Olón is not about to be the next Pompei :)

This week has brought a return to work in force. We are currently planning for the new year and also for the summer vacations (remember, it´s backwards here since it´s the southern hemisphere) for our little ones. This is an interesting task, as we are currently short staffed but the Lord is blessing it. Just when I have had enough, having spent 7 hours in a meeting (yep, serious) or the whole day reviewing files in the office, the Lord blesses me with a reminder of why I am doing what I am doing. Let me tell you a story about los sueños de Gaby (Gaby´s dreams)...

Gaby is a 9 year old little girl who has lived on base now for almost three years with her two brothers. She is an incredibly smart and special little girl, one of those 9-going-on-35 kind of kids. Yesterday Gaby, who is usually bubbly and smiling, was having a rough day. So we went for a walk, (was taking a break from files anyway) stopped at the little store on base for some juice and crackers and went and sat on the cliff overlooking to ocean.

While there, she was telling me about how she was sad because her mom hadn´t come to take her for Christmas like she promised and she didn´t think she was going to see her mom this vacation either (probably true). We were talking about how this is a hard thing but how our faith can help us, how when we feel really small it´s okay because we have a God who´s really big, bigger than the ocean and everything, and He knows what we want in our hearts and He won´t let us down. As soon as I started to talk about the Lord, her little face lit up and she really started to pay attention. After a few minutes of quiet, she bashfully told me that she had seen ¨Papito Dios¨ (affectionate name for God) in her dreams. That sometimes in her dreams, Papito Dios comes and takes her and they visit all the families in the pueblo that don´t have a lot and that they give them things from a backpack full of toys and food that Gaby has. Papito Dios carries her in his arms and they go around the pueblo and then sometimes to the Santuario, our church. As she was telling me all this, she became a different kid, for a few moments, she became a happy kid again.

And I was reminded of something. That even though I feel frustrated sometimes because I don´t have the words to console these precious babies in the way I want and sometimes there aren´t words, that it´s okay. That the Lord indeed has a special protection for these little ones, that He is speaking to their heart when no one else can and He is consoling them. Thank you Papito Dios, for reminding me that even though I am small, that You are big and You are taking care of these niños too.

Love to you all, may you too share the sueños de Gaby...

Christmas Vacation

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” - CS Lewis

Yeah, so I have a thing for CS Lewis. Perhaps it is because it is so easy to remember his words. Perhaps because he was a genius. It speaks to me now as I have been struggling with yet another round of illness and the Lord has indeed been shouting to me. He has also whispering in the fact that I saw my first sunset here the other day and the stars were out last night (both a result of the fact that the perpetual clouds are finally leaving). In any case, try not to hold my love of good old Jack against me :)

Christmas eve was wonderful here at the Santuario, complete with 10pm Mass and sleeping babies, a beautiful hand made nativity scene from the misioñeras and dancing in Padre´s house until 2am. For Christmas day we had Mass again and then time to recuperate for the gringo Christmas celebration that we had ourselves with a bonfire, s´mores (yes, we found marshmellows), wine and Christmas caroles, quite literally sung by the fire. After all of this, we went for an impromtu swim in the ocean at 1am, having to scale the wall since we neglected to bring our keys. Yep, it was a different kind of Christmas but nonetheless memorable.

These last few days we have had a few different events, including a Mass for all the elderly in the surrounding communities, but for the most part we have enjoyed a few days of vacation, with later wake up times and afternoons at the beach with the kids that are still here. One of our precious little ones, Angelica, who is 6 years old, about 3.5 feet tall and 40lbs soaking wet, absolutely loves the waves and will nearly drown herself trying to get out to where I am so that she can swim with me and hold onto my arms as the waves crash into her. I have never seen a kid smile so big with a face full of salt water but she absolutely loves it and her absolute trust in me is humbling. So, even when my arms are going to fall off from holding her up in the waves for the 1,000th time, just one look at her face and I keep going. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to go right now...

Tomorrow we have a great big party, probably the second biggest of the year here, not only for New Year´s but also for the eve of the solemnity, Mary Mother of God. It´s pretty exciting as all the misioñeras who don´t live here on base will come in for the celebration and we have lots of visitors from Quito and Guayaquil who have come down as well. I have been put on the decoration committee and we are charged with decorating the boat aka the church which should be fun. I suppose it is about time to begin my reflections on the old year and my resolutions for the next, however I think my first resolution would be to keep my resolutions for more than two weeks, haha.

I hope that all my family and friends back home are enjoying a peaceful weekend and are prepared to ring in the new year. May the Lord bring blessings anew to us all and may 2008 bring more positive change to this world in which we live.