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| Time to do more stoves! All the kids helped load up the truck. These cinder blocks are pretty heavy- great job, kids! |
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| I believe my comment was, "honey, get a shot of my biceps! " (although the muscle bulge I was expecting to see apparently is not visible at this particular angle. |
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| These pieces are extremely heavy. |
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| I'll never get tired of this view of the volcanoes. |
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| Ezra- one of the cutest kids with the cutest voice ever! |
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| When we all unloaded out of the van, the kids were caught "blue handed". They told us they had been playing with play-dough in the car. It took some doing to get it all off! |
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| Current stove in this woman's humble home. |
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| This is a wall. (what do your walls look like?) |
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| Beautiful sun beam shining down on the new stove. |
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| This precious baby boy slept soundly in the next room while his new stove was being put in. Thanks to all the generous donations, he will get to grow up in a home that is not filled with smoke every day! |
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| Our friend, Jessica, sewed over 40 of these adorable dolls and brought them with us. All the little girls loved these dolls, and they seemed to come out of nowhere to receive these sweet gifts. |
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| Jessica, the famous doll-making woman! |
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| Aren't they adorable?! I love these little girls! |
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| Cora enjoying the beautiful world! |
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| I came up with an idea that proved to be a huge hit! Sometimes the rooms where we install the stoves are pretty small, so when there are lots of us, we don't quite all fit. So this time, I stayed outside and started drawing pictures for the kids. I had a sticky note pad and a pen in the car, and I asked one little girl if she wanted me to draw her a picture. Before I knew it, kids came from out of nowhere and lined up to receive a picture! I asked them what kind of picture they wanted, and most of them said "cualquier cosa", so I just came up with different things. Snowmen, oceans with fish, rainbows, trees, flowers, birthday cakes, princesses, and bats. I wrote the child's name and my name on the paper, and also Cora's name which many of them wanted to add to their picture since it's such a pretty name. I had SO much fun doing this! These kids were so excited and appreciative of a small picture on a post-it note! |
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| The crowning moment- putting on the chimney! |
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| A curious onlooker:) |
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| Can you imagine cooking your meals on this, with no way for smoke to get out of your house? |
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| This little baby had medical problems that the mother couldn't address because of lack of money. To me it was such a small amount (it's crazy that so little for me was such a huge amount to her), and I felt moved to help their family out. There is nothing better in the world than to feel such love for people, and to help others who are trying their best, but have a hard time getting the help they need because of severe poverty. Truly, is there anything more fulfilling in life than helping someone else? Indescribable joy! |
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| This is the tunnel that leads to their kitchen and small one bedroom home. It reminded me of some scene from Indiana Jones. |
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| Dragging the bag of sand down their tunnel hallway. |
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| A lady on the street making colorful Guatemalan belts. |
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| Toilet. |
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| A washing machine, let alone a dryer, is not a common thing at all here. Most people wash their clothes by hand in a river or a pila, then dry them on a clothes line. |
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| We all took turns holding this sweet baby with the medical problems. |
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| Drilling a hold in the roof where the chimney goes through. |
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| This woman expressed gratitude and thanks to God and to us for this new stove. |
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| Adorable little girl, isn't she?! |
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| The Gregs, deep in thought. |
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| This nice lady gave some of the girls and I these very fancy beaded earrings which she makes and sells. She has several children, one of whom has severe autism. |
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| This family was so sweet and actually clapped for us after their new stove was completed. |
