M.I.A.

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'm a busy girl! (I also don't have many photos to share...funny, since I'm a photographer...) Maybe I'll post something from my past triathlons sometime soon.

Don't worry! I haven't forgotten you all! I'm just SOOOO busy!!!

I'm only happy when it rains...

OK, not really...and if you heard my story about the bike ride, you'd know that I DEFINITELY prefer sun!

It POURED while we were in the church meeting today, flooding most of the intersections in my neighborhood. (It took a while for me to get home because so many of the streets were flooded...and I live less than a mile away from the church building!)

Here are a few photos of one of the flooded intersections near my house:


According to one of the neighbors, the water in this flooded spot was knee deep!


Out for a stroll? Just kidding. This guy was nice enough to try to find the sewer drains and unclog them...to attempt to get the draining process started! Of course, by this point, everyone who saw me shooting these photos thought I worked for a newspaper... I DON'T!!! At least not anymore... I guess that's what happens when you ONLY have SLR cameras and their huge, accompanying bags. I think I need a smaller camera...


Is that a crosswalk, or are those lap lanes?


Once upon a sewer drain...

I'm just glad I wasn't out biking in that rain this time! I decided to stay in for the day. The sky continued to look ominous, so I thought a rest day sounded like a wonderful idea! Back to working out tomorrow...

Guatemala photos (part 2)

I promised more Guatemala photos, so here they are!


This is Alex, one of the boys living in Casa Lamar at Casa Bernabe Orphanage. He's one of the kids who was clearly born again, and he's SO thrilled to be able to live at the orphanage! He spoke almost perfect English, too!


American Gothic, anyone? (KC, that one's for you!) Seriously, we got work done! I promise!!!


See? We're doing real work! You just can't beat trench digging! Due to the elevation, we literally had to take breaks every 10-15 minutes...there's just not enough oxygen up there! (Is Dave dancing or shoveling? I can't tell...)


We got a tour of an old convent from the 1500s in Antigua... This is me with two of the orphanage staff kids, Ashta & Fe. ("Fe
means "Faith" in Spanish.) We were feeling pretty special about our cool braids...


We took an afternoon to tie-dye t-shirts for the ENTIRE orphanage of 150 kids! That's a LOT of tie-dyeing! The kids loved it. (That's Jer in the foreground.)


I think this girl was a little excited about getting her t-shirt dyed. I just love that face!


That's me with some of the girls in Casa Alabanza (House of Praise). The girl in the blue shirt sitting next to me is Amanda...she's thinking of coming to do the School of Worship! I'm so excited for her!


That's Brad teaching at a different orphanage we found in San Pablo on Atitlán. A lot of these kids spoke Tu' tujil, an indigenous language, and barely spoke any Spanish...so teaching was a bit difficult! (We had a translator.)


Fourteen of the kids at the orpahange in San Pablo accepted Jesus! It was so exciting!


These kids loved seeing their photo on the back of the digital camera... Normally, photography is frowned upon by indigenous people in Guatemala, but these kids couldn't get enough!


No, I was never on an episode of "The Amazing Race"... but I did manage to stuff everything I needed for two weeks into that backpack! Don't bother with a suitcase...there's a LOT of walking involved in this trip, and the streets aren't paved!


Idol worship is HUGE in Chichicastenango (and many parts of Guatemala), so we prayed/preached against it. (That's Brad doing some street preaching in the market in Chichicastenango.) We got to pray with a couple people, including a tourist from France! It was really exciting...