Another box on its way to Guatemala

Originally posted on April 2nd, 2009.
Do you want to see something really scary?



This was our guest room back in February. I had just thrown in there all the Christmas decorations and all the donations I still had for Mayan Families and had closed the door! I had sent a box in December to Guatemala and another one in January and I still had so much stuff. One Monday night Don came home to tell me somebody was coming to stay there on Thursday. I wanted to scream! Thankfully, everybody took pitty on me and the guest ended up staying at Larry and Keri's.
Thanks to my birthday gifts from Mema and grandpa and Don and all the wonderful donations from family and friends, today I sent another box to Mayan Families. I sent all the educational toys and materials I had. I hope they will use them at the new Tierra Linda community center. Mayan Families is opening a preschool there, the first one in the town, and I can't wait to see some children using the materials. We packed every single inch in the box. We put lots of stuff inside the puzzle boxes and every space available was filled.


My helpers.

More donations to Guatemala

Originally posted on January 2009
With the money we collected from the garage sale, we were able to send another box with mostly general donations. Thank you so much to all the family and friends that gave us shoes and clothes to send.

Garage Sale

Originally posted on January 2009.

We had a garage sale at Luke and Mimi's house to raise funds for shipping boxes to Guatemala. Everybody helped but Mimi, Tere and Ely helped the most. Thank you so much!

Priceless pictures

December 2008.- Mayan Families sent us pictures of some of the families receiving the presents we sent. Looking at these pictures made us extremely happy!

Another box to Mayan Families

Originally posted on November 28th, 2008.
We finally finished packing the box with donations to Mayan Families. Thank you so much to everybody that has given us things they no longer need. It really helps because I always find items that will be treasured in Guatemala. We packed shoes for general donations and we made bags with gifts for some families. For most of the children, these will be the only presents they will receive this holiday season. We can't wait to see the pictures!

Zip Line

Originally posted on August 3rd, 2008.
Today, before leaving Panajachel, Don and Carlos went to the Natural Reserve to do the zip line. I was not sure if Carlos was going to do it but he did and he loved it. The view from the line is amazing. The guides filmed them a little.


Titi and I went shopping for a very short time and then we visited another family and had a meeting on the street with Patti from Mayan Families. I wanted to accomplish much more but it was not possible, time went flying. We did leave a radio for an old couple that have no entertainment at all in their room. I would love to buy them a TV in the future.

The ride back to the city was fine. I love looking at the fields and we passed by some interesting towns. I am so thankful that Carlos and Titi do not get car sick since the road is so rough and winding. They travel so well.

We are back in Guatemala city. We miss Pana. We stayed at a beautiful hotel, Posada de Don Rodrigo, and our room had lake and volcano view. We loved looking at the scenery and are sad to have left it. We leave tomorrow morning.

Panajachel

Sharon sent me to Tierra Linda with a group lead by Mireille Hanna from Global Legacy Programs. They brought some donations to the school. I was really impressed by the improvements to the school during this past year. This cement entrance did not exist.

The school has a new kindergarten teacher and she is wonderful. She has taught the children a lot and has decorated the classroom with the little resources she has. She uses her own money to buy paper and materials.

Some donations I gave the kindergarten teacher.It made me so happy to see this construction site. Last year, Sharon showed us the land that had been purchased with a donation given by a very generous family from Mayan Families Connection. She told us they had plans to build a middle school for the town and a community center. They did not have any money to start construction so everything was just a dream. Thanks to a group from Canada called Connexions, Tierra Linda will soon have a community center!

Titi helping sort shoes at Mayan Families. Everything is so much more organized than last year. They have built some shelves and they are a great help. I am so happy to see MF grow.

We are staying at Posada Don Rodrigo. Don wanted to feel like he was really on vacation. It is beautiful and we get to see the lake and one volcano from our room.



Visiting families

Don, showing kids their pictures.

Leaving for Guatemala

Originally posted on July 25th, 2008.

Tomorrow we leave for Guatemala. We are going to be there for 10 days. I have been packing for weeks and I have packed and repacked, trying to fit more things in the suitcases. We are only bringing a small portion of the donations we have collected from family and friends. We can bring 8 big suitcases but they have to weight 50 Lbs. or less.

We are going to stay at the Gran Tikal Futura hotel in the city and then a van will pick us up on Monday to bring us to Panajachel.

We will try to be in touch via email or here.

Shoes we will bring

When I go into a store, the first thing I do is go and check for shoes on clearance. I have found very good prices at Target.