SoCal Memories

Little by little our house is becoming a home. I have so many ideas for projects and decorating but not enough time (or $) to do all of them right now. A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out what to do with these candlesticks that I bought at Pier-1 about 6 years ago. I really like them but I couldn’t figure out where to put them because I only had 2 and they were the same size. I thought about painting them and trying to look for more wooden candlesticks to create a collection but then something else came to mind...lamps. I had one of them sitting on the bedside table in the almost finished guest room and I thought that it was the perfect size, shape, and color for a lamp base. So...off to Home Depot to buy lamp kits.

Roger didn’t really understand my vision but he is such a good sport that when I asked him to drill a hole down the center of the candle stick he went with it. The lamp kits that we bought were a bit confusing but thankfully Roger is a trained electrician so he was able to figure it out. So here is the finished guest room...it ended up having a bit of a ‘Southern California Surfer’ theme to remind me of the years I spent in beautiful San Deigo:)

Summer Travels

Today’s blog is dedicated to the time we were away from our new home this summer. I spent a good deal of my summer in Nicaragua, 23 days in “the land of lakes and volcanoes”. Roger could only join me for 6 days since he was working and remodeling the kitchen here in Miami. His niece, Sophia, was born the day before I came home so I was able to visit her in the hospital and get some pictures of her as a sweet newborn.

I spent the the first week in Nicaragua doing the medical mission with my mom in Somoto again (Dad didn’t go this year because he was in charge of the kitchen remodel in Miami). We saw about 850 patients during the 4 days of clinics this year and were able to offer optical, dental, and women’s health like we did last year. The construction team worked on 4 houses this year, one of which was right across from the houses that Roger and Dad built 2 years ago.

In 2009 Roger and Dad built the 2 houses w/out roofs.

This is what they look like now:)

Afterward, Mom and I went down to San Juan del Sur and spent a night at the beautiful Pelican Eyes Resort (if you remember, they were booked full last year because the crew filming Survivor was there). Even though it was rainy, we had a wonderful time sitting on our balcony, drinking pina coladas, and reading our books. The clouds went away for a few hours and we got to sit by the infinity-edge pool that looks out over the Pacific Ocean.

After Mom went home, I met up with some of my friends from work to travel a bit before my next mission experience. My former principal gave me the opportunity to lead a faculty mission trip to Nicaragua with the hopes that next year we will open it up to students. Since the school I work at is run by the Salesian Sisters, we partnered up with the Salesian Sisters in Esteli, Nicaragua at Casa de Menores Sor Maria Romero. We taught English and Arts & Crafts classes, built a sidewalk, repainted the cafeteria, and put on a carnival/field day to celebrate with the kids. I am very excited about the work we were able to accomplish this year and what the trip will become in future years. The school we are partnering with is not only an elementary school for kids who can’t go to public school, but it is also a soup kitchen that feeds 100 children breakfast and lunch every day, and a boarding school for about 10 girls who can’t live with their families. I already have a group of students who are starting to fundraise and plan for next summer’s trip. All I can say is that God is good! His plan for us here in Miami is definitely exceedingly abundantly more than we could have ever imagined (Ephesian 3:20).

Cafeteria Before

Cafeteria After

Just a few days after I returned from Nicaragua, we went to Ft. Worth Texas to celebrate a family wedding. It was HOT! but we spent some time at the Stock Yards and had a wonderful time visiting our friends and family.

I just love this picture of my grandparents at the wedding! They are so sweet!