I made this video to give you a better understanding of Project Nicaragua and why we love to go there! Pictures say a thousand words. I hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sigh
I went to Nicaragua recently. I do not wish to talk about the events of the trip in this blog necessarily but rather what I learned and hope to continue to take with me through out my life.
First, we in the first world countries have it made. We have the luxury of knowing that when we turn on our tap water will come out every time. Most have the luxury of knowing that when we turn on a switch light illuminates that space. I went to Nicaragua last year and came home thinking and hoping that I would be more conservative with the water I used. This time I come back thinking the same thing hoping that it actually sticks.
I sit here and I think of the poverty that I have witnessed in Nicaragua. In Granada, barefoot children wearing dirty torn clothing would come up to us wanting money and probably food. Their barefoot mother was not far behind carrying a baby on her hip. I then think of the children in the countryside who had absolutely no access to clean water, their houses were made of sheet metal roofs and wood that barely made their walls. Their wells were often dried up and the women have to hike a long way to get water. The water was never clean and safe for us to drink therefore making it unhealthy for them to drink. These children who we think are impoverished and somehow without are the happiest children. We were not there to pull them out of their poverty and somehow make them rich. We were merely there to improve their physical health. I do not shed tears just for the children who were begging from us but also the handicapped boy who laughed and smiled with us as we walked through their community in the country. I cry about their happiness and their humility. I cry because I have so much to learn.
First, we in the first world countries have it made. We have the luxury of knowing that when we turn on our tap water will come out every time. Most have the luxury of knowing that when we turn on a switch light illuminates that space. I went to Nicaragua last year and came home thinking and hoping that I would be more conservative with the water I used. This time I come back thinking the same thing hoping that it actually sticks.
I sit here and I think of the poverty that I have witnessed in Nicaragua. In Granada, barefoot children wearing dirty torn clothing would come up to us wanting money and probably food. Their barefoot mother was not far behind carrying a baby on her hip. I then think of the children in the countryside who had absolutely no access to clean water, their houses were made of sheet metal roofs and wood that barely made their walls. Their wells were often dried up and the women have to hike a long way to get water. The water was never clean and safe for us to drink therefore making it unhealthy for them to drink. These children who we think are impoverished and somehow without are the happiest children. We were not there to pull them out of their poverty and somehow make them rich. We were merely there to improve their physical health. I do not shed tears just for the children who were begging from us but also the handicapped boy who laughed and smiled with us as we walked through their community in the country. I cry about their happiness and their humility. I cry because I have so much to learn.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Good Mouse is a Dead Mouse
I have recently, and by recently I mean before Christmas, had my apartment invaded by mice. picture this, laying in bed almost asleep and you hear this scratching sound in the wall... yes IN the wall. Well, I heard this sound and I shot straight up out of bed kind of like when a coffin opens and the body springs up. I turned to my husband and yelled 'there are mice, I can hear them!!!" (To get the full effect of that sound, scratch your nails against the wall). Keep in mind, he was dead asleep so he's probably has no idea what is going on. So he says "what?" I repeat myself again and add "I cannot sleep in here knowing that they are in here too! I can hear them scratching in the walls". I was mad and it came across like I was mad at him because somehow it was his fault the mice were there. So, my loving husband says "what am I supposed to do?" I just wanted them gone... I didn't care how he did it. by no means was this conversation rational (on my part). So he gets up and goes to our cupboard and gets bounce sheets and puts them in the heat vent. Apparently they really dislike this smell. Is this true? I have no idea. All I know is that it was a placebo for me. In my mind it worked and I was happy. Even if in the real world it did not work... I did not want to read it or hear about it because for me on that dark night... it did work.
The sage continues...
Just after December 1 I was at home sick and I thought to myself... I'm going to put up the Christmas decorations. I went to the storage room and pulled out the big bin and saw it. I saw mouse crap all over the floor in one corner. I suprisingly did not flip out I just continued on my way of decorating. I did call Dave to tell him about the mice crapping all over the floor. Oh did I forget to mention that they chewed through the plastic baseboard?? Ya, that's even creepier. Dave's idea was to get mothballs and shove them in the holes and put plywood in front of the hole. We went searching for mothballs to discover that nobody sells them. Please, if you know where to get them, let me know. I will drive any distance!
Dave and I decided that we needed to clean out our storage room. And when I say 'we' I mean Dave. I was not about to go in there and touch anything. He's the man, it's his job right?? So Dave was cleaning it out and discovered that they defecated all over a quilt his grandma made him. I told him to get rid of it because you never know what could be left even if you do clean it. He was not happy. After he pulled everything out he threw the mouse trap out. He basically decided that the mice were mocking us by crapping on top of it and around it. Plus, the mice had chewed through ever corner in that room. CREEPY!!!
We bought poison and the poison was probably 1 inch by 1 inch... thick. It smelled good too... odd I know. But seriously it did. So I cut some of the poison up and shoved it in the holes. Some of the holes were too small so I would just leave the whole block in the corner. I would discover a day or two later that they were nibbling on it. I was ecstatic about this up until Dave went in five minutes later to notice that the whole block was gone. Do these mice have stomach's of steel?? honestly! I just hope they take it to their leader!!
On New Years Day morning Dave was in the kitchen preparing to make homemade pancakes (my little homemaker)... he pulled out the pan from the oven drawer and discovered mice crap on that. He pulled everything out and the mice had been all over. What's worse is they crapped in every muffin tin hole. They were mocking us. It was almost like they were saying "oh you gave my brother poison, well I'm going to leave you a present to remember me by."
The mice I think are gone or at least that is what I am telling myself to give me peace of mind.
Even though this story is creepy and disgusting, nothing will be as disgusting as the time I killed a mouse by stepping on it.
The sage continues...
Just after December 1 I was at home sick and I thought to myself... I'm going to put up the Christmas decorations. I went to the storage room and pulled out the big bin and saw it. I saw mouse crap all over the floor in one corner. I suprisingly did not flip out I just continued on my way of decorating. I did call Dave to tell him about the mice crapping all over the floor. Oh did I forget to mention that they chewed through the plastic baseboard?? Ya, that's even creepier. Dave's idea was to get mothballs and shove them in the holes and put plywood in front of the hole. We went searching for mothballs to discover that nobody sells them. Please, if you know where to get them, let me know. I will drive any distance!
Dave and I decided that we needed to clean out our storage room. And when I say 'we' I mean Dave. I was not about to go in there and touch anything. He's the man, it's his job right?? So Dave was cleaning it out and discovered that they defecated all over a quilt his grandma made him. I told him to get rid of it because you never know what could be left even if you do clean it. He was not happy. After he pulled everything out he threw the mouse trap out. He basically decided that the mice were mocking us by crapping on top of it and around it. Plus, the mice had chewed through ever corner in that room. CREEPY!!!
We bought poison and the poison was probably 1 inch by 1 inch... thick. It smelled good too... odd I know. But seriously it did. So I cut some of the poison up and shoved it in the holes. Some of the holes were too small so I would just leave the whole block in the corner. I would discover a day or two later that they were nibbling on it. I was ecstatic about this up until Dave went in five minutes later to notice that the whole block was gone. Do these mice have stomach's of steel?? honestly! I just hope they take it to their leader!!
On New Years Day morning Dave was in the kitchen preparing to make homemade pancakes (my little homemaker)... he pulled out the pan from the oven drawer and discovered mice crap on that. He pulled everything out and the mice had been all over. What's worse is they crapped in every muffin tin hole. They were mocking us. It was almost like they were saying "oh you gave my brother poison, well I'm going to leave you a present to remember me by."
The mice I think are gone or at least that is what I am telling myself to give me peace of mind.
Even though this story is creepy and disgusting, nothing will be as disgusting as the time I killed a mouse by stepping on it.
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