Stories from my feet...

I've finally managed to take a little time down to sit and tell you a bit about my trip, with the exception that it's going to be slightly out of order.....the pictures uploaded backwards...and I'm at the library...and for some reason I can't cut and paste them...odd. I'll try to figure it out eventually, but I wanted to get a little caught up on life for you all out there, my fellow friends!

I'll first tell you that I decided to take a picture each day with my feet, and you'll notice that I'm wearing the same shoes in the pictures...yes, I wore those shoes all day every day (except bedtime). They are AWESOME shoes. Chaco's. You should totally check them out. Totally worth it. Totally. As you can tell I went to a waterfall, had to hike an almost mile long trail and I wore the shoes...on slipper ground...and I didn't fall once or hurt myself. I only had one experience of getting attacked by ants. Only one bit me, so I consider myself blessed! :)

To catch you up, I went to Costa Rica with my church, on a mission for Bible School, Construction, and Eye Clinic. It was AWESOME. Beautiful. Inspiring. And, it really helped center me in a new way. Ever since I've returned home from that trip, all things seem to be going well, and I'm certain it's because I've put myself in the right frame, and I've gotten back on track with my life. Good stuff. (More to come later: note to self!)


Friday (FUN DAY)

LaPaz Waterfall Gardens: Stunning. Google it. I can't even describe it. By the way, I took about 800 photo's of my trip. I printed about 500 and put them in albums and I had a great time taking shots. I took my Rebel instead of my 40D because it wasn't worth anything happening to it. I even took the Rebel to the waterfall and would hide it under my shirt and raincoat and pull it out for shots....it was hilarious.

Cold and rainy. There I am!





Saturday (LAST DAY)

This was my last foot picture, and how appropriate and fitting to have the feet of the group....perfect. We were the feet of Christ. The whole purpose of photographing my feet each day. And the second one is of the puppy whom I fell in love with, and if it weren't for a thing called customs, I would have brought him home with me.





Thursday (Last day of Bible School)

My feet with the goodie bags. We gave these to every kid. First day we had about 35 kids and ended the week with almost 100. It was awesome.

And the second photo is Genesis. I'll never forget her smile. She loved to smile. She'd lose in the game and run up to jump in my arms. I couldn't resist taking a ton of pictures of her. I have a series of her blowing bubbles that will forever be a favorite series of mine.





Wednesday (Halfway mark)

The church we worked at the whole week has a pastor and his family, who has a lovely little four year old boy named Jefferson. Jefferson quickly developed a crush on me and was constantly around me. It was fun. This day he brought me flowers, grass, random things from the ground...just to see me. See, the funny thing is that I don't know Spanish (poquito) at all and we'd totally hang together and communicate. It was awesome..and if he didn't know what I was saying, he'd just shrug his shoulders. So, this day I took my feet with his feet...and then it was raining....EVERY DAY IT RAINED. Not kidding. You don't believe me, do you? Seriously. The weather was AWESOME. Cool. Breezy. incredibly perfect in every way. (Driving of the driver on another hand, that's another story!)And, Jefferson is a ham too, so he plays in the rain and liked to smile for me as well. Lots of pictures of him!





Tuesday (Fun Puppet Day)

Another kid picture of Genesis, but if you can tell.....I'm really happy. I loved it there. It was the BEST group I've ever worked with and been a part of. Awesome.

And, Pablo is with my foot. I was Pablo this day....I think it was this day. He was a bird who loved crackers and we did a puppet show in Spanish (on CD)! Ha, I got ya didn't I!





Monday (First Day of Bible School YAHHHHH!!!!)

I was the tall puppet Wordbird....as evident by the striped legs and feet.

The second picture is one of a little boy named Elian. He really struck me. One of those kids that stands out. He wasn't really social. He didn't play with other kids. He didn't really communicate. He would typically be considered to be a challenging kid, but what was sooo amazing was how patient and wonderful is mom was to him. It was awesome and inspiring to see her with him. She was so good, positive and always encouraging him in the appropriate ways. I've never really first hand watching parenting skills in another country, let alone a third world country....but she did remarkably well. I was so proud of her....and I do hope to go back to see the progress he's made....and that's something I pray for....progress for Elian.

I also put two more in here...one of my feet and the picture frames we made. I glued them all together with hot glue! Fun. The most prized craft all week!

And, the last one from today, The kids absolutely love sidewalk chalk. I think it's universal!










Saturday (FLYING DAY TO COSTA RICA)

Boring feet picture, but they were freshly clean!



Sunday (First day to see the country)

A few of my favorites from the first day outside in Costa Rica.

The first picture is of a mango with the sunlight behind it...there were fruit trees everywhere and we had the BEST fruit all week! It was awesome!

Then, my foot and the dog, Tommy. The Methodist Center we stayed at had two five month old lab puppies who were adorable...loved on them everyday and it was awesome.

And the last one was a spider spinning her web with water droplets on it...much cooler in person, but I wanted to try to capture it on camera too.








So, there's a walkthrough....slightly disjointed, well....very much disjointed, but I tried.

I'm glad it's out there so you can see how much fun I had....I've got tons of pictures, but don't want to bore you with all of them!