Our Titi is 8!!!!

Our baby girl turns 8 today!! We are so proud of her and love her soooooo much!
This is what she saw when she woke up this morning.

She got books and crafts to keep her busy during the summer


The she went to school.

Memorial Day Weekend and home projects

We had a really nice weekend. It rained a lot but we also got lots of sunshine. Carlos and Titi played with the little kids in the cul-de-sac all weekend. They go from house to house, playing for a short time, and then they move on to another house. Sometimes they play outside but mainly they go from house to house. Carlos is the oldest in the group, most are 7 or 8 years old and there are a couple of 3 years old. Yesterday there were 10 kids in the house!

On Sunday, there was a nice barbeque party at the clubhouse with food, DJ, a couple of rides and games and the kids loved it. They did not want to swim but they played the games many times. Everything was free of charge so we loved it as well!!!



Yesterday we went to the movies with Luke, Mimi and Mario Ariel. We saw the new Night at the Museum movie and we liked it a lot. Carlos and Titi were happy to see some things that they remembered from our trip to Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago. After that we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We had not been there in a long time and it was not as busy and noisy as I remembered it.



Don decided to stay home and surprised us by painting the garage floor! I have wanted to do that for a long time and I am so happy with the results. Don did a great job!!! The floor was so dirty before and it always bothered me when I saw it. Don used concrete stain and some speckles. It didn't take him long and it has made such a difference. Now Carlos wants us to paint the walls.
Before:

After:

The box is in Tierra Linda!!!!

Remember the box we sent to Mayan Families and Dave and Danaya? It arrived in Panajachel a couple of weeks ago and this week they delivered it to the community center in Tierra Linda! It made Don and I very happy to see the kids playing with some of the toys we collected.

Estas son unas fotografias de unas donaciones que enviamos al centro comunitario de un pueblo que se llama Tierra Linda. Cuando fuimos ahi, hace dos anos, nos ensenaron el terreno en donde iban a ponerlo pero aun no tenian suficientes donaciones para empezar la construccion. Un grupo Canadiense llamado Conexiones dono el dinero para su construccion y Dave y Danaya son parte de este grupo.
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Dave and Danaya arrive in Tierra Linda. They went with Juan and Julio from Mayan Families to deliver supplies for the preschool and the box.

It was very heavy!






Dave and Danaya said that the big kids loved the big puzzles.


Dave and Danaya have accomplished so much in the short time they have been living in Guatemala. They will go back to Canada soon but they have already changed Tierra Linda forever. The community center now has a small library and computer classes! I love reading about their life in Guatemala on their site and their blog.

This week they invited the parents of the students to the computer class and I think it is just amazing to see these pictures of the students teaching what they have learned. This was the first time that the adults had ever touched a computer.

The very small room where the computer classes are held.

Asian Culture Festival

Last week Mimi danced at the Delray Asian Food and Culture Fair and we went to see her. It was fun and I could have stayed there all day but the kids lost interest after a while and they only wanted to go to the park by the intercoastal. I am glad we got to go!

Lety, aqui esta Noemi con mi hija. Si haces click en las fotos se hacen grandes.
Hola Vivis!!!

Mothers Day

Yesterday we had a little party at home to celebrate Mothers Day. It was a great day but today I am enjoying it even more. I have spent the morning uploading pictures into the Mayan Families website and it has made my heart very happy. People donated money for baskets that were given to mothers in Panajachel. The staff in Pana worked very hard to make the baskets and distribute them and I was happy to see some of the families we have met. How I wish I could be there to help!!

This is Chabeli, the lady from Tierra Linda that sells vegetables in the market. We want to connect electricity to her house. She lives on the side of the mountain and has no electricity at all. The problem is that it is expensive since the house is far from the power sources. I believe it will be close to $1300 US!! I need to start fundrasing!

I was so happy to see this mother receiving a basket :-) I had never seen her smile. She seems so ill and overwhelmed all the time. Her husband has died and she has 5 little children to support. They live in a very isolated place and have so little. Patti, a lady from North Carolina donated an Onil stove to the family and it is going to improve their quality of life so much!! Before they were cooking in a broken stove that was dangerous and smoke stayed inside the room. There is soot everywhere. This new stove is more energy efficient and has a chimney that will take the smoke out of the house.

Ernesto and family

Yesterday we were talking about Ernesto and I remembered I had not posted the pictures Mimi took when she went to Mexico.
Here is Ernesto, on the left!

Ernesto, my brother Angel and brother Ismael, the youngest.

Here are my handsome nephews: Mel, Jesus and Daniel

The cutest boy! He is the youngest Morales cousin.