Awkward & Awesome Thursday

awkward:::
-- Fitting both me and Monica into one pair of very large jeans. We tried to take pictures to no avail due to lack of mobility. Couldn't find the camera. And oh, was baby Kelly confused about that moment.

-- Getting kicked out of not one, but two pools at the hotel last week . The first offense being that we were too rambunctious for the neighbs at 9am and needed to callense, {aka, be way more quiet}. The second offense was wearing "regular clothes" over our swimming suits. what? If anyone understands the rational behind that please inform me, I'm at a loss.

-- Everyone asking why my skin was falling off my forehead after the sunburn incident. Yeah, I know, I'm a snake, okay? This is what happens to gringos.

-- So at the department store here the attendants always put the stuff you decide to buy up on the counter until you're done shopping and then you go and get it. Weird and slightly annoying but, okay. So Monica and I are at the counter paying, and obviously forgetting this standard procedure because pretty soon we're eyeing up and inspecting this great brat that's, I'm sorry, what? 5 bucks? Well in the middle of all of it comes marching up it's rightful owner. Oh, um, sorry for putting our hands all over your brand new items...ah...yeah.  Didn't at all stop us from marching right over to the department to treat ourselves to the same sweet deal. Thanks for everything, Carrion.

awesome:::

-- Getting these new cups that change colors on their own. For some reason that was super exciting upon discovery. And I'm now drinking way more water just to see it change. Simple pleasures.

-- Reading this book, "Through the Gates of Splendor" by Elizabeth Elliot. She was the wife of one of the missionaries in Ecuador that attempted to reach the Auca tribe. I don't plow trough books very often but I read this guy in 3 days flat. It's that good.

-- The kid's newest discovery of play dough. Oh! if we could only do that all day. Their favorite is making cakes, torillas and little balls. I, unashamedly, am having just as much fun with it.

-- The abundance of  wintergreen Life Saver mints that were put in the library by a group. Trying to exercise self-control.  Really, I am.

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Feliz Thursday, friends!
*Thanks for the photo, Erin : ) Couldn't remember where that one came from!

the daybook

maracuyá

We love passion fruit. We put it in our shampoos and our fancy hand soaps. I don't know about you but I don't even know if I ever knew what passion fruit even looked like until there were hundreds of them growing on the property. Much to our delight, they were coming in by the barrel full and I think I'm in love.

So this passion fruit, or maracuyá as they call it here {way cooler, don't you think?}, is super crazy inside! How do you even eat that? Well, you don't really. We made juice out of it. It's my favorite juice in the whole  wide world. So if you ever get lucky enough to come across one of these guys, you gotta try this:::

Okay so all that juice is going to make your face scrunch up into some unrecognizable sour form unless you add some lots of water to it and of course, sugaaaaaaaaar. 

I've got no fancy tricks for you, just straight up jungle style passion fruit juice. But it's incredible. And if you had no idea what a passion fruit actually was before you read this, I'm proud to be the individual who informed you. 

why am i always too cool for sunscreen?

after we sent off our first group it was time to spend a few fun days down at the beach before our next group comes this weekend. we also took our second set of house parents and their three awesome daughters down for their vacation time. we got to hang out in the water, play with the babes and just laugh a lot. those girls are so much fun and we're glad they got some time away. 

of course, yesterday morning before hitting the beach i was asked if i had any sunscreen. i replied with

 pfff no! {like i don't need it or something}. well, that decision still continues to haunt me after 23 years of life 

and some good sunscreen advocates at home. oh well. maybe next time i won't leave the beach so crispy.

ps, erin, if you're reading this, thanks for your sunglasses. we found them at the bottom of the pool the morning after you left and took turns wearing them. i'd be happy to send them back to you when i get back to the states later this month, just let me know. 

cheers!

clover hill visits

this week an awesome team from clover hill church came to kick butt on some projects. it was particularly special because clover hill is brayden's church and his parents came along with to visit. it's amazing what can be done with a few extra hands. the library and storage area got a complete overhaul of organization. {this is the "in the process," i failed to get any shots of the finished product but it is impressive, people.

we are also in the middle of some major office construction so many of the guys got to experience how honduras cement mixing works  -- lots of muscle and back bending required. but much of the base is done now and i think everyone enjoyed getting to know the hilarious and hard-working men that head up all the construction here.

the group was a huge help with running the library program and kindergarten, and i think the kids enjoyed some activities that we wouldn't have been able to pull off if it were just us. 

the group was also able to go see one of brayden's last soccer games before the end of the season and went hiking up to san luis, a remote village from where some of the kids from library come. it was a good experience for them to see a whole neighborhood of people who live with no electricity, live very simple lives and are very, very happy.

we all headed up to school one day to show everyone how english class worked and to hand out reusable bags of school goodies for all the grades. the kids were so happy to have brand new supplies and enjoyed learning some new english songs and showing off their skills.

thank you clover hill for working so hard and loving those kids. we appreciate all your effort, organization, cooking, digging, playing and teaching. looking forward to seeing you next year!

photo credit goes to michelle from the group. thank you for all your wonderful shots of this week!