I'm proud to announce that I will be offering (at least) one FREE background each month. The backgrounds are FREE, however I'm also offering the opportunity for my those who use them to donate $1 or $5 when they take a background. This donation will be going to Forward Edge International. In January of 2008 I went on a mission trip with FEI to Nicaragua. While I was there we worked at an orphanage, helped build the Village of Hope, painted a school inside the city dump, and just loved on some really special kids. There is a dump just outside of Managua where over 3,000 live in the WORST of conditions. FEI has built the Village of Hope as a safe haven for young girls who are often forced into prostitution by their families to earn money....at VERY early ages! FEI also helps to fund the school inside the dump so that those kids can get an education. My local news channel did a great special about the Dump and the Village of Hope. You can view it here.
The donation is not required in order to use the background, but I just thought it was a great opportunity to give back! Please note that your donation initially does go to my personal paypal account, but I will then take the total each month and make the FEI donation.
We worked hard and got dirty today. I haven't downloaded those pics yet, but you can check out the svmissions blog to check it out.
A couple days ago we went to the orphanage and got to hold and love the kids there. This is me with Saraela. She is so cute!
This is my hubby with her... (no....we are not adopting!)
Today we worked all day doing nothing but hard manual labor to help construct the Village of Hope for some of the girls from the dump. Oh my goodness....I'm feeling the pain. I spent 3 to 4 hours of today loading and unloading cinder blocks into wheelbarrows. I was trying to be good to my back and so I was bending at the knees....that is equivelent to doing a squat! My legs and bumm are HURTING already! I need lots of strength for tomorrow! I will spend the day playing at the beach with a child from the dump. We go as a group but we are each solely responsible for one kid.
(I tried to post some pics with this, but blogger was having problems)
Well, the time has come. We leave for the airport in about 4 hours. I should be sleeping. But I'd rather stay up late and hope to sleep on the plane. I was busy today getting ready. I went to Target and got all my travel sized toiletries. Went to Goodwill to get some shorts (that way I don't care if they get ruined). I couldn't find shorts, but I found pants. So I came home cut them and hemmed them. Now I have shorts. Team 1 said they all wished they had brought more shorts. They also said they wished they had brought a journal and that the homemade cookies got eaten up quickly!
So I made journals out of .99 cent composition books for my hubby and I. They turned out pretty cute. (suppose to be a picture here)
Then I made 2 batches of cookies which I packed in with the suitcases. That will be a nice treat for the team and I put together a little bundle of them in a special package for our host and hostess at the house. (more pictures)
I'm a bit nervous about the trip. As you may have read in previous posts there is the spider issue. There apparently are also a lots of dogs. Stray dogs. I DO NOT like dogs and am easily frightened by them if they are aggressive at all. To top it off I just read the most recent post from team 1. They spent their fun day (as will we apparently) zip lining through the jungle. Have I ever mentioned that I'm totally afraid of heights!!! I can pretty much already see myself all hooked up, sitting on the edge of the platform with everyone telling me I can do it and crying while I pray and ask God to carry me (literally). I know I'm sounding like a total wimp here. But as I've said before this whole mission trip is very outside my box. But I do know that God called me to go. So I'm just going to have to really trust God and give my fears over to Him. Any prayers you can throw my way in these areas will be great. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of stories to tell when this is all over!
Well, I'm off. I don't think I'll be post here while I'm gone. I will have net access, but I'll be posting on the SV Missions blog instead.
Val from team one saw the comment I left and came to my blog to reassure me not to worry. Here is what she said:
Shannon, Hey you really have to go LOOKING for those spiders it is not that bad. We only find 2 and they were babies on the ground found by the guys who were digging in the bushes for something. And Suzie says that is the first gecko that has ever fallen off. Lightening can't strike twice, right?
So, I'm feeling a little bit better about things now! Thanks Val!
ps: Although, I'm not sure I want to know what a "baby tarantula" looks like either!!!
pss: They posted some great pics from Nicaragua today. Click here to see!
...A REALLY BIG BIG PROBLEM!!!! I was just reading the post that the first team in Nicaragua posted. Here is part of the post....
3. Geckos can and DO fall off ceilings onto peoples heads (Suzanne had a hard time getting to sleep later).
4. They do have tarantulas and great big beetles with horns and big moths the size of bats.
UM...HELLO! NOBODY TOLD ME THIS! I am DEATHLY afraid of SPIDERS! Seriously...I'm totally freaking out here!!!!! I mean FREAKING OUT! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm literally crying and deep breathing right now! I may need some anxiety pills or something! If nothing else this very issue will bring me closer to God because there is NO WAY I will be able to deal with it without some sort of divine intervention of peace. Start praying now people...I'M GONNA NEED IT!!! I leave Saturday!
If you've been reading my blog then you know that my hubby and I are going to Nicaragua soon on a mission trip. Our church is sending two teams. Team 1 is down there already and we are on team 2. If you would like to see what the teams are up to and how God is working in both their lives and the lives of the people they meet you can go to www.svmissions.blogspot.com during the next two weeks. It is now listed under the "links" title on the right side of my blog under "Summit View Missions"
In a couple weeks my hubby and I are going with our church on a mission trip to Nicaragua. We will be working with the guidance of an organization called Forward Edge International. Once place we will spend some time at is the city dump of Managua. It is a dump where the trash of over 1 million people goes, but it is also the home to many people. Yes, people actually live there. Adults and children. The people along with vultures and rabid dogs scour the dump to get food and things to sell. Many of the young girls there prostitute their bodies to the dump truck drivers either for money or so that their family can be the first ones to go through the truck load of trash. Which leads me to the second place we will be going, "The Village of Hope" It is a community being developed outside the dump to house those young girls and get them out of that situation. I'm not sure exactly what we will be doing in the village, but some of the possibilities are working the home construction and finishing and furnishing 2 of the homes. We will also be spending some time at the orphanage near by that ends up taking in babies from the families at the dump. There is a school that will be opening for the dump children the day before we come home and I've heard that there will be work to do there as well to get it ready.
Doing something like this is SOOO outside my box. I'm not a real "manual labor" kind of gal, holding babies isn't really my thing, and I've never been really good at relating well to little kids that I don't know. So why am I going? Because the Lord asked me to. I've known for awhile now that he's been calling me to do something like this. Something that will stretch me and cause more growth. Something that on my own I would have a hard time doing, but with His strength, will be able to do. I'm excited and scared at the same time about what the Lord has in store for me. What he wants to teach me through this. But I'm prayerfully preparing, so that I am ready.
Here are a few pics of the dump so that you can have an idea of where we are going.
In the pics below you can see the "houses" of some of the dump residents These are some of the dump residents crowding around a new dump truck load This is a video that I found from another organization that is working to help in the dump as well.
All Designs and postings belong to EightCrazy Designs. Please do not copy posts without permission and do not in any way shape or form copy designs! THANKS!
In a couple weeks my hubby and I are going with our church on a mission trip to Nicaragua. We will be working with the guidance of an organization called Forward Edge International. Once place we will spend some time at is the city dump of Managua. It is a dump where the trash of over 1 million people goes, but it is also the home to many people. Yes, people actually live there. Adults and children. The people along with vultures and rabid dogs scour the dump to get food and things to sell. Many of the young girls there prostitute their bodies to the dump truck drivers either for money or so that their family can be the first ones to go through the truck load of trash. Which leads me to the second place we will be going, "The Village of Hope" It is a community being developed outside the dump to house those young girls and get them out of that situation. I'm not sure exactly what we will be doing in the village, but some of the possibilities are working the home construction and finishing and furnishing 2 of the homes. We will also be spending some time at the orphanage near by that ends up taking in babies from the families at the dump. There is a school that will be opening for the dump children the day before we come home and I've heard that there will be work to do there as well to get it ready.
In the pics below you can see the "houses" of some of the dump residents
This is a video that I found from another organization that is working to help in the dump as well.
