Smiles for Nicaragua

Nicaragua is an amazing place. While I was there, I felt like I was in a completely different world. Most of the people there live on nothing. Many live in shacks, and for some, that's an overstatement. Some areas are nicer than others, but corrugated tin was common to almost every home. We visited several of these homes and delivered bags of rice, beans, and flour and gave toys and school supplies to the children. These families were so grateful and it was a life changing experience for me to meet them.

The baker's home and bakery

"Thanks for the candy, take our picture"

The village water boy

They won't go fast, but they will go anywhere

Door to the roofless house

Window shutters

Nursery wall

The tree from Endor

Preparing for Nicaragua

I thought I'd let everyone know a little bit more about what Brad is going to be doing in Nicaragua.  Here are some excerpts from emails Brad received for the trip:

"We look forward to another great year as we continue to serve our brothers and sisters in Central America.  We are pleased to announce that we have been invited to serve the future missionaries in Nicaragua this April and anticipate treating 400 to 500 young men and women.  As many of you know we held a brigada in Managua two years ago this past November.  I have spoken with the leaders there and they are very excited about our returning to their country.  Our wonderful Honduran friend, Elder Durate of the Seventy, was recently given the assignment of Nicaragua and what a thrill it is to be working closely with him again.  He sends his love to all of you and is anxious to see you again in Nicaragua."

"Most of the [missionary] groups have journeys of under three hours.  However, there is a group from a remote area of the country that has a 26 hour bus ride each way to and from the clinic.  They will be traveling mostly on very rough unpaved roads in 90 degree plus weather.  Mission President Frautz estimated some 65 to 70 future missionaries will make this journey."

"If anyone is not convinced the service we are providing is meaningful and appreciated by these people, they might ask themselves the question:  Would I spend 52 hours on a hot bus on extremely rough road to get my dental work and preparation for a mission completed?"

It's pretty exciting for Brad to be going.  We've got a bit to do before he leaves, but it will all work out.   Brad's going to be assisting the dentists while they work on the pre-missionaries.  He might even get to do x-rays since he is x-ray certified.

Brad leaves in just four days.  I'm getting nervous for him to go the closer it gets, even more than Brad is nervous.  I hope he'll be safe, but reading about how Americans have reported increasing "muggings, robbery, kidnappings, and worse" does make my stomach squirm a little bit to say the least.  Most of the time he will be in church buildings and in guarded hotels, but there will be times when he will be outside of these protected areas.  The organizers of this trip are trying really hard to make sure everyone is safe (they've even hired armored cars to drive with them wherever they go), but they have advised everyone to still be careful.  Please pray for Brad while he is in Nicaragua.  I'm sure he'll be fine, but prayers couldn't hurt.  Still, I'll be counting the days till he gets home.

Easter Eggs

Sorry these are late for all of you who have been waiting.  Brad's computer died last week taking with it his picture files and editing software.  We thought everything was gone.  We even bought a new laptop.  Luckily, Brad found out that there was a recall on his graphics card from someone who had their computer die in the same exact way.  So, Brad brought his computer into the Mac store and they fixed it for free.  The new laptop we ordered has been cancelled and even though Brad isn't getting a new computer he is so happy to have his old computer back.  And having his old computer back to life means you get to see the easter eggs we dyed last week.  Enjoy! 

Can you tell what all of these are?

Happy Easter!

HDR Photography

So I'm dabbling with a new photography technique. It's called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I've learned about it from Trey Ratcliff. It requires a lot of post processing and Trey is much better at it than I am. Here is what I've been able to produce so far. What do you think?

I GOT A JOB!!!

Finally!  I'm going to be working for Mountainland Head Start as a Social Services Specialist.  I'll be working with Head Start families setting them up with services from Head Start and within the community, and planning classes and activities for families.  It's here in Provo (only about ten minutes away), but I'll be going out to do home visits in the Provo area.  I start on Monday.  It's a full time job and I'm really, really excited.

I didn't think I would get this job since there was a lot of competition.   When I went in for my interview they had 8 or 9 people in the waiting room filling out written interviews.  They were interviewing all day and had interviews every 20 minutes.  They did have 4 different positions open, but still there were a lot of people applying.  I was going to go see my sister in St. George for her birthday, but I cancelled my trip because they were only holding interviews while I was going to be gone.  But I'm so glad I did.  

After my interview they told me they would let me know in two weeks if I got the job.  What I long time to wait to hear back.  But I didn't think I would get the job so I put it in the back of my mind.  Tomorrow would have been two weeks, but they called a day early so I wasn't even nervous yet over whether I would get the job or not.  I seriously thought they were calling early to let me know I didn't get the job.  I was completely shocked when it was actually a job offer.  I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised.  I had a really good interview and my resume is decent, but I've been looking for a job for so long and had lots of rejection letters, phone calls, and emails.  It's really nice to finally get a job and have that stress gone.  Thank you everyone who has been praying for me to find a job.  I know it helped.  I'm super excited to have a job and to be working for Head Start.  I wanted to be working with children and families so I'm really happy that this job encompasses both.  YAY!

Update on Life

So, I realized it's been a while since we've posted about what we're up to in normal, day-to-day life.  I've been making a little money working for my grandparents.  I haven't ever put anything up on our blog about this, so for all of you who I haven't told, a little over a year ago my grandpa Palmer had a massive stroke that has left him handicapped.  He was left unable to move the right side of his body and had a hard time talking and making sense.  He's made so much progress since then.  He walks with a special cane, can lift his right hand almost up to shoulder height, and is progressing well with his speech abilities.  So, I've been working with my grandpa doing his physical therapy and speech therapy. Most of the time we do really well, but sometimes he gets really tired.  And not usually with physical therapy.  It's speech therapy that gets him.  It's kind of interesting to me to hear what he is saying, the "mistakes" he is making, and for me to try and figure out how is brain is working, why the mistake he is saying seems correct to his mind.  I got to study the brain in a lot of my classes at BYU, especially cognitive development.  So, I find it very interesting to see how his brain is re-wiring itself after his stroke.  My grandpa does say some rather ridiculous and funny things during speech therapy.  For example, yesterday I was asking my grandpa to make a sentence with the word "remember" in it.  His answer, "I remember when you were thinner."  Thanks Grandpa.  Another day I was asking what the opposite of boys was.  He said, "The opposite of boys are buzzards."  At least it was a full sentence.

I've also been working for my mom doing lots of left over projects from the addition to the house last year.  I've been painting, caulking, organizing, polishing, washing, you name it.  I'm so grateful to have had something to do while I was looking for a full time job and it's been nice to see my mom more often.

To fill up the rest of my time, I've been reading like crazy.  Nine books since the beginning of the year.  That also doesn't include listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or The Fellowship of the Ring with Brad.  Mostly I've been reading Agatha Christie books.  I'm getting a little tired of mysteries so if anyone has a good book to recommend I'd love your suggestions.

While I've had oodles of time, Brad has had the complete opposite.  Brad's got another tough semester, plus a DAT prep course, and the Men's Chorus has performances every week from now to the end of semester.  This weekend the Men's Chorus is going on tour to St. George.  They are singing as part of Dixie College's celebrity concert series.

Brad also figured out when he is taking the DAT.  It's going to be June 11.  He's studying a lot for it right now with his DAT prep course, but he'll be doing a lot more once school gets out in April.  But not until after he goes to Nicaragua.  Yes, you read that right.  Brad's going to Nicaragua from April 23 to May 2.  He's going to be gone for his birthday, but it's for a good cause.  He's going to Nicaragua with a group called Smiles.  It's a group of dentist who are going down to do pre-missionary dental work so people can go on missions.  Brad got an email this week that said they have 500 people on the waiting list to get their teeth done so they can go on missions.  It should be a really good experience for Brad.

Life is good though.  Brad's busy, I try and find things to keep me busy, but it's nice to have Friday nights and Sundays together.  I guess I'll be getting busy starting Monday!

Dear Mom and Dad,

While you were gone in Jamaica, I made sure that Adrianne and Byron were taken care of.  We made really healthy food.

I also made sure everyone was in bed on time.

So next time you go out town, there's no need to worry.  I've got it all covered.