Christmas Card 2015

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Just in case you were on my "naughty" list I'll show you how this year's card turned out. I decided to go with a "pop-up" theme. Who didn't love pop-up books when they were a kid?  I LOVED them! Here's how they came together.....

Step 1: Stamp one million letters on dictionary paper to spell the word, "believe".

Step 2: Apply ink to the sides of each letter. Doesn't that look better?

Step 3: Glue the letters to folded card stock

Step 4: Cut 5 little notches along the top edge of the card and fold the tabs to inside of card.

Step 5: Cut red paper into strips and run them through this "go-go gadget" to corrugate them.

Step 6: Glue the corrugated strips to the top of the card to hide the notches.

By now the scrapbooking table looks like this.....

Step 7: Cut out a million little trees and apply ink to the sides of each tree. Because by now we all know that they look better that way.

Step 8: Make a million little cards with John 3:16 printed on them and glue them to the inside of the cards. For some reason I did not ink the sides of all of these cards.....that got tedious. 

Step 9: Stamp white snowflakes inside the cards......agonizing over placement of course.

Step 10: Color the tabs brown and then glue on the little trees....agonizing over color combinations of course.

Step 11: Glue a star to the top of one of the trees.

See how they stand up when you open the card?

Step 12: Let the ink dry overnight before closing the cards to prevent smearing.

Step 13: Cut a million little jute strings.

Step 14: Wrap a string around the card and put a pretty sequin in the bow. Glue the string along the edges of the card to keep it in place....because it would be terrible if the strings sagged down and were not perfectly even!

Step 15: Make a million homemade envelopes out of magazine pages. And then, the BEST part, apply all the stickers!!! Every little girl likes stickers....and so do old ladies.

It was about this time in the project that I ran out of time and had to scrape it all into a bag and jump on a plane and finish it on the road.

Grand Canyon, Baby!!!

Step 16: Decide who's naughty and who's nice, address the envelopes....

 Step 17: Stop at random Post Offices we spotted along the way and mail finished cards.

Where did yours get mailed from?

To Market, To Market, To Buy A Fat Pig. Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

On our way home from Peru we had a layover in Seattle, so we took the light rail from the airport to downtown Seattle and spent some time at the Pike Street Market.

It's one of my favorite places to be!

There's fantastic food and beautiful flowers!

The seafood is fresh and the vegetables are gorgeous! 

And there's plenty of street performers and freaks to keep things interesting.

Sometimes maybe just a little bit too interesting!

And then we flew home. The end.

A Little Adventure Part 4- "Meeting Daniel"

The last stop on our travel agenda was Machala, Ecuador to visit Daniel, the boy that we sponsor through Compassion International. Here we are going through customs at the Peru/Ecuador border. Notice how much taller Levi is than everyone else in the room!



Compassion had generously arranged an individual visit for us based on our time schedule and it turned out to be a wonderful, meaningful experience for everyone involved. First, we met our chaperon/interpreter, Juan, and then he and the hired van driver took us to meet Daniel and his Mother at the local mall.



then Juan let Daniel pick the activity for the day.......he chose a visit to the arcade. He'd never been there before nor had he ever played any of the games.



This is where Levi and his charisma and excellent Spanish speaking skills were invaluable.....he really bridged the gap that separated a middle aged American white woman and a shy 15 year old Ecuadorian boy.



Next we visited the project that supports Daniel and his family, and the church that supports the project. And they had a surprise for us. In one of my previous letters to Daniel I had written out the words to the old Sunday School song, "I have decided to follow Jesus", to encourage him because his parents were not super supportive of his conversion to Christianity. Well, the women of the church learned that song and sang it for us in Spanish and again in Quechuan.



I was stunned....it just took me by complete surprise....that my letters were really being read and that it mattered what I wrote. That people were reading them and that they really made a difference. I tell you, I was so moved that I simply could not stop crying! And then they collectively thanked us for sponsoring one of their students and wanted me to say something  to the crowd, but I was so choked up I could barely manage it. And then, of course it was time for pictures.....everyone wants to get in on the pictures!



Many of the young workers in the project were once sponsored students too and they were so overwhelmed to meet us and just wanted to thank us over and over.



After touring the church and the project facilities we got a tour of Daniel's home. It was humble and sparse, but very organized and tidy. Their home is situated behind this house that is on the street.....



.....through the alley.



They had put up balloons to welcome us!



And everyone was excited to show us around and have us take photos.



Mom and Dad's bedroom....



The cooking area....



Upstairs where the kids sleep.....

And here is the view from the second story window....



We presented a few gifts to the family.....one of which was the all-important soccer ball...and of course this demanded a trip to the local soccer court for a rousing game of soccer.



And everyone was invited!!!! They chose up teams and then went nuts running around like crazy for a couple of hours until everyone was quite sweaty and exhausted.



I watched from the sidelines. It was quite a day.....quite a day.

The next day we headed South again and ultimately ended up in Lima where we caught our flight toward home. It was a great vacation! Peru is so economical for a vacation. We figured we each spent about $2600 and I think it was worth every single penny.