The Minneapolis Team...

Well, the last week of my 11 week stay the Minneapolis team was at the Hogar...

It was wonderful having them around for support during the final days...

They arrived on Friday the 1st and I surprised them by coming to the airport with Jorge and that was nice. They, (I think) were happy to see me, and I was happy to see all of them!

Friday and Saturday the team was getting acquainted with the Hogar, checking out the grounds and of course, enjoying time with the children. Sunday, we celebrated a beautiful Divine Liturgy with Father Nathan Kroll from St. Cloud, MN and then had an "introductory" meeting with Madre Ivonne (because she was sick the first few days the team was there). It was nice to have her around since she is so close with Doria!

Monday, classes resumed for the children and we (the team) headed to Antigua for some tourism... of course going to Queso y Vino for lunch and shopping but this time we also did a coffee tour. It was AWESOME! We had a coffee tour and lessons on how coffee is made and produced (Guatemala is 3rd largest coffee producers in the WORLD!) and then to a musical instrument tour. The history of all of the musical instruments in Guatemala. Very fun... here are a few pictures from our day in Antigua...

This first picture if how coffee grows. Inside each of the red berries are 2 coffee beans and they have to be hand picked, EACH BERRY. Then, they are de-skinned, put through a washing procedure, then dried in the sun, rewashed and then roasted. So delicious and veery interesting!

Here is George Patronas (friend from Duluth, MN that came on the trip) and I at lunch in Antigua!

My Auntie Patty and I right after the coffee tour. It was so beautiful to share with her at the Hogar! What a blessed week.

This is a picture of some of the boys the day after celebrating Christ's baptism in the Jordan... We were heading out to bless EVERY inch of the Hogar with Holy Water. It was beautiful.

A few of my boys and I playing within my last days at the Hogar. What a joy to share with the boys!

Well I suppose that is it for the trip to the Hogar.

Thank you EVERYONE for the support, love and most importantly; prayers. I would not have been able to do this without each of you reading my blog, and praying for me.

Please continue to Shine Your Light through your actions and words and pray for the Hogar.

They are praying for all of you.

With Love, in Christ,

Jody

Christmas at the Hogar...

So the last week and a half...

SORRY I have been totally out of the loop on my blog...

I don't have a ton of time but in a nutshell... here are some pictures of the last few days...

Parties thrown by wealthy families, some of the orphanage staff giving gifts... Christmas day was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was so wonderful seeing all of the children opening tons of presents and enjoying a day of Christ's birth. They really know what they are doing here at the Hogar and I am convinced of this more and more as time passes...

Here is a picture from the back of the church of the girls... plaid really must be in this year... ;)

This Christmas was so happy for me... I got to see all of the children here at the Hogar opening presents and seeing their faces was just priceless. They all really are blessed with so many things, materialistically and especially SPIRITUALLY! I am even MORE blessed to be able to share in these events with them... Thank you, GOD!

Here are a few more pictures of me with some of the girls, Madre Ivon and new-missionary for two weeks, Annie from Australia. She's wonderful...

Karen, Sara, Jody, Elisa and Lupe on Christmas morning after Liturgy... I love these girls!

Annie, Madre Ivonne and myself... After Liturgy on Christmas morning... (note: NO SNOW!)

So the Hogar takes a Christmas picture for the website every Christmas and WHAT A PROCEDURE... Who knew trying to get nearly 80 people to take a picture would be so difficult... probably more than 80 actually... Haha but what a BEAUTIFUL turnout.

Christ is Born!! Glorify HIM!!

So the Christmas day went sort of like this:

10:00am - Akathist

10:30 am - Divine Liturgy - Christ is Born!

12:00pm - pictures

1:00pm - Christmas feast! breaking the fast was a wonderful experience here. Pork of all kinds, fruit and marshmallow salad, cole-slaw with pecans, candy and cookies of all sorts and especially the "Kid Wine" (as we called it in my house...) oh and Coca Cola!

AKA - LOTS OF SUGAR! You'd think the children would have crashed from their sugar high but not these little ones... haha it was nice!

3:00pm - Santa showed up and brought lots of presents for all of the children... it was quite an emotional sight to see because of the lack of family but NOT the lack of love. No one said you had to have a family (blood family) to have lots of love, because this Hogar Family has got it!

This was so fun to see - all of these huge rice sacks just filled with clothes, candy, shoes, swimsuits, hats, water bottles, toys, and the like... just beautiful!

It was a joyous day, to say the least!

Yesterday and today Madre Ivonne and Father Matias from New York (who arrived on Tuesday to spend Nativity here...) headed to the Monastery. They will spend 2 nights there until Tuesday. Then Father Matias leaves on Wednesday and the Minneapolis team comes on FRIDAY!!! I can't believe they are coming already... I feel like I just got here... 9 weeks ago... :)

So, with Madre Ivonne being gone, Ericka on vacation until the 4th of January, who's in charge??? Good questions... I've been curious to see how wild the days will be until Tuesday... I'll report back with that... :)

This week the children are off of school. They will just hang out, play outside, and enjoy each other's company (and mine considering it's my last week here without a team...) Today we celebrated liturgy and watched The Bee Movie! It was nice!

I am starting to get more and more sad everyday to be leaving the Hogar but I am so excited to see family and friends!! I really miss everyone!

I love you all and am keeping you all in special prayer!!

xoxo

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Celebration of Nativity...

We have had an exciting last few days...

The weekend was kicked off with a movie on Friday night that the girls invited me to, that's always fun to get in PJ's and just sit and eat popcorn and watch a movie... I don't know the movie we watched but it was somewhat related to "Annie"... Orphan story, she gets adopted to a family and then hates her family so she tries to run away but in the end she loves the fam. It was alright... :) Just to spend time with my girls was nice!

On Saturday we went to the mall. Mother Ivonne said about 12 girls needed to get out... so we went to Oakland Mall... I did a little Christmas shopping for some special people back home and then we all enjoyed a little BK (St. George's treat - thanks for supporting this outing)... We all had BK Big Fish sandwiches and Coke... it was yummy!

Saturday night we went to a "Lights Show"... it is a fireworks show put on by Pollo Campero (the popular fast food chain in Guatemala - mainly chicken) to say "THANKS" for all of the support throughout the year... It was beautiful - here's a few fireworks pictures the girls took on my camera! - Oh, we went to Mother Ivonne's brother's house, Ricky. He lives in a penthouse (basically) above some office buildings and it's tradition for him to have the girls over for fireworks, snacks and after; pizza! It was awesome... :)

Sunday was fun too, haha does the fun ever stop when I am with children?? NO WAY! We went to a Christmas parade in the city. It was basically all of the marching bands, and dancers from all of the high schools/ middle schools in Guatemala. They were fabulous! I only took a few pictures because my battery died. :( But here is at least one!

After the parade we went on a 4 mile walk down the "Americas". It's an avenue in the city that is super long and along the way there are things dedicated to the Americas... Didn't see anything I recognized... but I am sure there was a small rendition of the Mall of America somewhere in there... :) haha (kidding)...

We stopped at a little ice cream shop "Rich's" for a treat and then walked back to the microbus. (the van) and hopped in, back to the Hogar.

Me, thinking this was our "fun activity" for the day, showered and jumped right onto my bed. I was exhausted but it was only about 2:00pm by this point. I opened my eyes to hear the girls pounding on my door saying "Jody, vamos a mirar una pelicula!!!" (We're going to watch a movie!) I was like... Uhh... but then realizing I am 3 weeks away from being in MN with nothing to do, I got up and went with them to watch a movie and spend time with them!

What can I say, I can't get enough of them!

Well, I suppose that's all for now...

Sending LOVE AND PRAYERS as always...

xoxo

The 4th to last week... :(

Well... the team left yesterday and what a BEAUTIFUL week it's been... Thank you, God!

Sunday: we celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the morning, and then enjoyed a nice Tilapia lunch together... Also some popcorn and Coca Cola, while watching Kung Fu Panda. What a TREAT!

Monday: was my favorite day... We left early in the morning and rode in the cars/ van to open the day with a beautiful breakfast at "El Capitan" a nice restaurant, literally RIGHT on the Pacific Ocean coast. It was so beautiful...

Here is a picture of "El Capitan"...

After the beautiful breakfast we drove to a safe area where we could walk the beach for a little while with the 10 girls we brought and the team. It was a GORGEOUS day so we rolled up our pants and walked into the luke warm Pacific. It was basically what I would call, Paradise.

Here we are encountered by a big wave that left us with a wet ride home...

Driving back up the mountain to the Hogar we passed a lot of Sugarcane fields that were being harvested. It was like they were lighting a jungle on fire. They light the grass on fire to get rid of the snakes, and then harvest, and then light it on fire again to clear snakes again. Quite the hard labor. (At least from what I saw...)

Tuesday: was another BEAUTIFUL day in Antigua. The team invited me along to enjoy a day at the Jade factory, again (I swear I should get a part time job there giving tours, since I could give it myself now, that being the 8th time I was there...) and then the market, and to lunch. We went to this 5 start hotel for lunch - Casa Santo Domingo. It was like a Rainforest Cafe setting with a Bonfire ambiance and quality of food. It was beautiful.

Here's a picture of us walking to our table...

Here is a picture of me with Presbytera Faith from Boston, MA. We took this in the market while getting some goodies! (you can see by my bags, I did well...) :)

Wednesday: This was the team's last full day so they did some art projects, make some skirts with Presbytera Sandy Chakos and a few other fun things. It was low key but very enjoyable for all...

Thursday: The team left and the children and I were a little down - Mother Ivonne could tell. We needed a little pick-me-up so we headed to where?? The mall of course, it was fabulous. 10 of the older girls and I hopped into the van and Mother Ivonne hauled us all away to a day of Christmas shopping, lunch in the food court, and (what I would call, Target) Hiper Pais. It was exactly what we needed. I treated us all to lunch in the food court - and for 10 girls, Mother Ivonne and myself to eat, it was less than $40. (Gotta love that!)

I suppose that's my weekly update! I hope family and friends are doing well!

Keeping you all in prayer, especially as Nativity approaches!

xoxo

Hello Pittsburgh...

The team arrived on Thursday - I thought they were coming Friday (thanks Jorge for telling me the wrong day...) No big deal though, it was a nice surprise to see them arrive on Thursday...

They are a team of 8 - 7 females and Father John Chakos. Father John and his wife, Presbytera (sorry if I butchered the spelling on that, Greeky Greeks...) Sandy are two amazing people! They adopted an 12 year old, Jenny about 9 years ago from the Hogar. She is now 21, staying with me in my living quarters, and she is very sweet! It's so fun hearing her stories about living here, coming back to see the children, and how much she loves them all. Very inspirational... I will post pictures later next week when I actually take some of their family.

Today we went to the monastery for the morning and walked around, I had the tour for about the 5th time in 7 weeks... it's always good to refresh the following; how the coffee is made, what the plans are with the orphanage there, and the most interesting part to me: how much longer until they're there... It's beautiful though - here's a few pictures of the progress there...

Nothing too much else is new, I am going with the team and all of the "Senoritas" (teenage girls) on Monday to the ocean for the whole day... I am looking forward to this because it's been about 10 days since I've gotten to go out of the orphanage (besides the monastery today...which was wonderful) but it will be nice to go somewhere new... :)

I suppose that's it for now... Keeping all of my family and friends in prayer!!!

xoxo

Happy December...

How can a smile like that not say "Happy December..."?? :) This is little Dora from the nursery - she is my Sweet Pea!!

I have been having a very nice week - not too much new is happening. Working on my computer when I can in the mornings, and spending time with the little ones in the nursery. It's so lovely to have their little giggles begin my day. I try to take them outside everyday and run them around, or do they run me around?? :) It's fun to play with them - reminds me of daycare...

I met/finally talked to the long-LONG term missionary that lives in Guatemala. His name is Tim, he looks about 18, but I think he's in his 30's. I have learned that he and his wife both come from missionary families, they have 5 children together (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10), with the ages, we know he and his wife are consistent. Haha... seriously though... wow!! They are all home-schooled and they don't have any income other than donations. He is a very nice guy! The girls at the orphanage have been teasing me that I have a crush on him....FAR from it.

Anyways, the Pittsburg team comes Friday, and I am super glad! They are, apparently, a "difficult" team but very nice. There is a girl on that team (daughter of the priest who comes), who was adopted many years ago from the Hogar and she is coming, too. I am looking forward to seeing her and spending time with her. Mother Ivonne says she is "Wild in her American ways..." ((seems like my kinda girl...))

I suppose that's it for today... God's blessings on Mother Ivonne, 6 years ago she was "married to the church" apparently that's how they say... I will get more details on that soon and share...

Love and prayers to you all...

Here is little David with his 'tude... He makes me smile!!!

xoxo

I want to be 15 again... in Guatemala...

On Friday we had Barbara's Quince party. It was AWESOME.

It's a celebration of when a girl becomes a "woman" and she is treated more like an adult.

It was a wonderful day - here's how the day played out...

12:30pm Ceremony for Quincenera - Barbara enters the church while all of us were dressed up in her BEAUTIFUL dress... (see picture below)

1:00pm We all headed to the park to take some pictures with/of Barbara. EVERYONE from the orphanage was there taking pictures with/of her. It was beautiful.

1:30pm We started to eat the DELICIOUS food; guacamole, beans in "salsa" form, fruit cab-bobs, lime rice, and much more! It was wonderful. Mother Ivonne told me that usually they have a Mariachi band come and play in the morning to wake the birthday girl up and then all through the meal and for a little dancing after that, but because Barbara has been harsh with the teachers, she didn't get that. Sad, but she'll learn.

2:00pm- 4:00pm We danced and sang to High School Musical and Camp Rock (I have to learn the words, is what I learned) - it was very fun!!

After that we took some more pictures in the park (see funny picture below)... The rest of the night was pretty much hanging out with the teenage girls and Ericka. It was SO much fun!! I had the best time - we sat around (of course listening to HSM and CR), drinking some wine and beer and just chatting. It was a great night... a night that made this thought run through my head, "I should stay here forever..." BUT then time went on, and they started getting crazy around 9pm and I was like - OK - goodnight! haha it was so much fun...

This was what made my day so fun... :)

Just another cute one of Barbara in her dress...

That's it for today... I am exhausted... Love and prayers!!!

xoxo