Merry Christmas!

...from the Lee household!

I hope your Christmas is filled with all the crazy of family, food, and that cozy feeling you get just being together. Ours is always dramatic. Run here, run there. Bake this, bake that. Oh we're running late! That's ok, it's a good kind of crazy. I am so very grateful that I have family to rush off to see, food to bake and babies to spoil. We are blessed. Thank the Lord.

So this is the first Christmas that Olivia is 100% excited, mesmerized... SMITTEN by Christmas and all of it's allure. She is behaving like a good little girl, in hopes that Santa will fill her room with barbies, barbie castles and Justin Beiber. Yeah. She has the fever... at 4 yrs old.

It makes me oh so proud to be a momma. And an adoptive momma. Just knowing that I've given her a better life. We don't live in a big fancy house, drive expensive cars or even dress like the "Jones'"do, but she is happy, healthy and has a full belly every night. It's a wonderful feeling. I can not thank God enough for her.

Oh and Happy New Year!

Not Facebook

Let's face it. This blog will not be popular. People will not spend a lot of time here, reading what I have to say. Most would rather read what someone they barely know has to say about traffic on facebook. Or the ball game. Or something else equally random. And that's ok. I'll keep posting, hoping that someday, somewhere down the line, it will somehow save a child's life.

Meet this little mayan beauty. She has a cleft palate. She is tiny. The cleft palate makes it difficult to eat. But she is a joy! She is the sweetest little thing. The doctors at the clinic in Sarstun are not equipped to perform this type of surgery, so traveling to the city is her only option. Her family lives in one of these very remote villages in rural Guatemala, close to Sarstun. They have never been to Guatemala City, or Antigua, where her new doctor is located, or any place similar to this level of civilization. They are scared. They don't know where they are or how they will get home, let alone get back for the surgery. But thanks to www.RefugeInternational.com they have that opportunity.

How I Really Feel

That's what people say following a good rant, right? "Tell us how you really feel." So I shall. I figure if you've stuck around this long, then you care about what I have to say. If not, well then, go back to your "bubble".

The bubble. What a perfect place to start.
I'm not going to give you my same old "we've got plenty of aid here for anything from food to healthcare, why knock sending aid to impoverished children of other countries" rant. Why? Because people a.) don't listen b.) don't care c.) who do care are sick to death of hearing it. So let us move on.

This picture was taken on a mountain top in the middle of a rainforest, a 30 minute hike from a river that was a two hour boat ride from a 6 hour car ride from anything resembling civilization. This lady was kind enough to let us snap a picture of her home and her children, probably only because she knew we held a drug that could potentially save her child's life. Actually, that's not true. She probably only knew we wanted to help.
She lives in a dirt floor "house" with a thatched roof and cracks in the wall big enough to stick my arm through. Her kids run barefoot, in the same clothes as yesterday, through the jungle - alone - to school. Yes, the jungle that is filled with poisonous snakes and other large predators I refuse to let myself think about. She spends her days trying to put enough food in their mouths.
This is the interior of the "house". You see the pile of corn she's shucking and grinding into maize. The hammock one of them sleeps in. A makeshift bed in the right corner. What you don't see is another bed, made of pallets, to keep them up off of the ground, as to stay dry.
And this is home. And it is normal for rural Guatemala. Countless people live this way.

Taken from Citydata.com:
For Lamar County in 2009-

Estimated median household income - $38,205
Estimated median house value in 2009 - $82,315

According to Century 21 in Lamar County, $82,000 will get you a really nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath, brick home.

A far cry from living on $2.00 per day.

We are absolutely blessed to live in this country. Why is that so difficult to see? When extreme poverty is a short 2 hour plane ride away.

Adios Lombrices

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to travel to Guatemala to take part in the Adios Lombrices project, or "Goodbye Worms". Much of Guatemala, and even some parts of Guatemala City lives without proper drinking water. Drinking this dirty water results in the development of stomach parasites that can make a child sick and if not treated properly can lead to chronic malnutrition and even death. The north east Texas Rotary Clubs, namely the Gilmer, Longview and Tyler areas partnered with Refuge International along with the Rotary Club in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala and the Franconia Mission of the Mennonite Church to provide something like 4 million doses of the drug that kills this stomach parasite. The drug was to be distributed throughout the school systems of Guatemala which will reach most children, even younger than school age.

This is the very short version of our mission. If you or your organization, club or school would like to see our program we have put together a slideshow presentation that we would love to share with you!

After we distributed the drug among the school children in Puerto Barrios, we continued on to our destination, Sarstun, Guatemala. It is a small fishing villiage in the mouth of the Sarstun River. The only way in or out of Sarstun is by boat, and most families travel by dugout canoes, or "cayuco".

Refuge International has a medical clinic as well a water well in Sarstun, which is virtually unheard of in rural Guatemala. In addition to providing a full time RN at the clinic, Refuge also sends medical teams to the clinic several times a year providing surgeries, dental work as well as general health care.

Refuge is also testing sites for additional water wells. These people need clean water to live. A permanent solution to this ongoing problem. The girl above has come to the clinics water well to draw water for her family (you can see the buckets in her canoe).

After our arrival in Sarstun, we traveled up into the mountains, through rainforests to several schools to distribute more of the medicine. This boy was so happy to see us, despite his obvious hardships, he was a joy.

This is another one of the schools in the mountains above Sarstun. Dirt floor schools and barefoot babies with tattered clothes seemed to be common. Not to mention that the walls only covered about half way to the roof and the chalk board was so dark it was impossible to see.

I have tons more photos from this trip. Some will make you want to cry. Hopefully they all compel you to both thank God for your privilege and to make you think how many of those around us do not have that same luxury. This trip has forever changed my life. I cannot tell you in one blog post what this has done to... for me. I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to participate in such an amazing effort and to really see outside of my "American Bubble". I've made the promise to myself to live the rest of my life with open eyes and an open heart. I've reached an even higher degree of "colorblind".

Adoption is always Possible!

I know. I've been a very bad blogger. Honestly I've had a year that has been enlightening to say the least. It began with my mission trip to Sarstun, Guatemala. It was absolutely life changing. But more on that in my next post. I just wanted to share this little tid bit.

As I was having one of my days where I was missing Guatemala, which are becoming more and more often, I searched www.etsy.com for anything Guatemalan. There are tons of artisans on etsy that sale their goods, and I thought I might find someone selling things as a fundraiser. That's when I found this. This lady is selling these necklaces to raise funds for her own adoption. It just proves that where there's a will, there's a way. No excuses. If you want to help a child, you can.

This also led me to her blog, Life A Bit Sweeter. A fantastic chronicle of her journey. A good read. :)

Guerrilla Aid

Street Children of Guatemala

Because of reasons ranging from civil war to drug abuse, to poverty, to child abuse and other types of violence, the reasons for street children and child abandonment are many. It is the horrible reality facing the thousands of children living on the streets. A few mind boggling facts:

-Last year (2008-2009) a child was abandoned in Guatemala city every 4 days. Most were babies.

-More than 10 children die every week as a result of violence, 52% of these from gunshot wounds.

-90% of children on the streets have been victims of some form of sexual abuse

-29% of children aged five to fourteen are involved in child labour and are being sent out to work in difficult and dangerous conditions (UN).

-1200 children were orphaned by Hurricane Stan in 2005

It is an unbelievable reality. But it is very real.
More info at Toybox

All facts found at toybox.

I'm going to Guatemala!

I've recently been talking with the local Rotary club about a mission trip they have coming up to Guatemala. It looks like I will be going! Rotary International has teamed up with Refuge International and the Franconia Mission of the Mennonite Church to provide 4 million doses of a drug used to fight stomach worms to the children of Guatemala in an effort named "Adios Lombrices" or "Goodbye Worms". I am beyond thrilled and so very thankful that I will be a part of something so profound.

From Refuge International website:

Adios Lombrices! (Goodbye Worms!)

Worms? Worms will never make the news. They are not exciting like tsunamis or earthquakes, yet they are just as devastating. Worms are second only to malaria in their effects, representing 40% of global morbidity rates from infections. Research indicates that close to 70% of children in developing countries have more than one type of worm. Worms fill the bellies and steal the nutrients of children in impoverished countries worldwide, and Guatemala is no exception.

For more information, please click on the link above.

One day without shoes 2011!!

This is an amazing project! How exciting would it be to bring this to Paris Texas! I can go without, can you?

Chronic Malnutrition

Chronic malnutrition is an ongoing problem in Guatemala. It has the 6th highest malnutrition rates in the world, the highest in Latin America. I found this video while searching the web that describes this problem better than I can. If you would like to see the article from the Atlantic magazine, you can find it here.

Guatemala City

I thought I might add a few pictures from our last trip to Guatemala City, which was the trip to bring Olivia home. It is a city rich in art and culture.





This place will forever hold a special place in our hearts. It has given us more than we can ever give back.