New photos!

Sharon sent me some photos from our time with Mayan Families. I had been eagerly awaiting these! Here we are with Candelaria.

I will be posting more and explaining more once things calm down a little.

More painting

We started on the bedroom today! At least this room is smaller, and I was able to do all the taping and papering of the floor molding, windows, and ceiling myself. Unfortunately, Michael had to go in to work this afternoon, so we weren't able to get as much accomplished as we would have liked.

This is such a crazy time - so much happening all at once with work, our new home, family obligations, and more. At least June should be a much calmer month!

Painting

Oh boy, I had no idea how much work painting entails! My brother, Greg, and his girlfriend, Maggie, stopped by our condo today to check it out. And despite not being dressed down for the occasion, they were so kind as to help us paint our living room. They even brought cookies!

We still have lots and lots left to do: another coat of paint for the living room, then the wood trim, and then painting the bedroom, plus installing the new bathroom vanity and accessories, etc., etc. But at least it's a start. And Michael has finished putting the handles on all of the kitchen cabinets and drawers.

I can't wait to live in our new home! It will be nest-like, not warehouse-like, the way our current apartment is. I am definitely through with loft living - I can't wait for doors!

Time flies

This is where Michael and I ate breakfast two weeks ago today: Hotel Atitlan's colorful buffet.

Here's the deal: this weekend, Michael and I need to paint our condo, install some things in the bathroom, and start sealing the shower tiles. This is the last free weekend we have before moving.

I would love to devote a good chunk of time to updating this blog, but my priority has to be the condo. So, I ask for everyone's patience one more time!

Missing Hotel Atitlan

Oh, the gardens!

Sorry, folks, we didn't have internet yesterday, and I'm still catching up. Stay tuned...I will be posting about our trip!

Ah, Antigua

Things are very crazy right now, so I don't have time to update about the trip yet. But for now, look at this shot of Antigua in all its glory. I can't believe it's already been a week since our trip.

Check this out!

I can't get enough of our beautiful girls! Tricia gave the Cumpar family a very generous gift of a pila. A pila is an outdoor sink which is used for laundry, cleaning, and personal grooming.

Check out these smiling faces!


Miss Maritza strikes a pose! Isn't she a cutie?

Our new condo

So, we spent a long afternoon at two different Home Depots. In the end, we didn't accomplish as much as we would have liked. However, at least we have made a start. Here are some pictures of our new home.

View of the bedroom from the dining room


Pocket door to the bedroom


Dining room


Kitchen - 3x the size of our current kitchen!


Living room

Goals for the weekend

So, two days before we went to Guatemala, Michael and finally closed on our first home: a condo. Now is the first time we're able to go over there together and start working on the place! We slept in this morning, since we're still trying to recover from our packed vacation and Michael's on-call schedule this week. Also, for some reason, our dog has been inclined to barking through the night this week. He's becoming noctural, it seems.

Anyway, I will get some pictures up of the new place later this weekend, and my BIG goal is to finish uploading the pix from Guatemala and finally write a description of our trip. Gotta get it done before it slips away!

Have a great weekend, all, and you will hear from me by Sunday night!

The CHOP

Look what I did today! Over two years ago, I cut my hair and donated 12" to Locks of Love. Now that Tricia clued me in to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths for women undergoing treatment for cancer, I am going to donate this foot of hair to them!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mother's birthday. She is the one who first taught me about kindness and generosity and caring for people, and she remains an inspiration for the work I am embarking on now. I love you!

Blog redesign!

I just had Nikki from Blogs for a Cause stylize my blog. I'm so excited with how it turned out!

Thank you for your patience, gentle readers. I have been sick with a stomach bug all day today, so I still have not gotten started on my description of our Guatemala trip.

Rest assured, though, I will write it up this weekend, so you all can read about what we did down in Panajachel, Antigua, and Guatemala City.

We finally get to meet Juana and Candelaria

Just a photo tonight. I'm so tired and still catching up on everything.

More tomorrow!

Just back from Guatemala!

So, so much to tell! It was a wonderful trip. I can't wait to download all my photos.


For now, here we are distributing chicks.

Check out our loot!

Michael and I had lots of fun at Target today getting our sponsored family some gifts we'll bring down.

We thought we would give the kids tools to unleash their creativity. So this is what we got: regular and heavy weight construction paper, drawing paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils, two pairs of scissors, a pencil sharpener, glue sticks, tape, a ruler, some stickers, and a cute tote bag to put them all in.

We also got them toothbrushes and toothpaste, and a little something for each child individually. The individual gifts I found around our neighborhood, for the most part. That was an interesting experience and a chance to practice my Spanish before the trip! I got a NY Yankees cap for Rafael. For the girls I got a little Hello Kitty notebook and pencil each, and I picked out a barrette or necklace from my own things for each of them. We also got a stuffed Tigger ring rattle for the baby, and we are going to give the mother one of the dish towels my mom gave me, as well as a collection of hotel soaps.

The final thing we're giving them is a little photo album. We're going to print out some pictures of us, and I'm going to see if Patti and Tricia each want to send me a photo to put in. We'll also print out some of the pictures of the family, since they most likely do not have any photos of themselves.

I can't believe the trip is coming up fast!