Guatemala Part 3

The Bike crews first look at the project.

Sometimes it is hard to describe exactly what we do when we go to Shadow of His Wings in Monjas, Guatemala. It always depends on what talent we have on our team, but more importantly - what NEEDS to be done.
My husband, Mark, loves to spend his days off at the bike shop, or in his man cave barn tinkering with his bicycles - and he is good at it. He is also good at teaching, which worked out great when we assembled a group of us that had NO experience fixing bikes. The orphanage had told us in advance that there were some bikes to be repaired. Other teams had bought the kids bikes years ago, but through wear and tear of kids and weather they no longer worked. The wheels were rusty, brakes were shot, seats were demolished, tires flat, and pedals missing. I think Mark felt a little overwhelmed when he first saw them, but then we got to work. He taught Meredith and Derrick how to fix the tires, put new tubes in, new tires on. Natalia and Terri became the brake crew, testing, repairing and replacing brakes. Jane put seats on. We all took a turn at removing rust and painting wheels and baskets. One by one, each bike started to work.
The last night we presented the bikes to the kids at an ice cream party. They were so excited! They got to ride them around. The best thing - we heard later that one of our sweet girls - Clara, that had never had an opportunity to ride a bike before was learning from the other girls.  One of the many firsts that she and the others that have not been at Shadow very long will have the opportunity to experience.

But our team also had another rare talent that we could put into use - Kassen is a great welder. When we first got to Shadow, we noticed a little girl with an arm in a sling. We found out that she had fallen when the rotted teeter-totter had broken.  The four teeter-totters were dangerous, so we decided to go buy the steel beams to replace them so Kassen's welding skills could make it safer for "our" kids. Scott fashioned new seats from some beautiful local wood, and Alicia and I helped remove the old teeter-totters.
Play is important to ALL kids. For some of "our" kids, Shadow of His Wings is the first safe place they have had to play. Safe to be kids, and not caretakers of their younger siblings. Safe from abusive parents. Safe from predators. Safe from drugs. Safe under the Shadow of HIS Wings.


Kassen & Margarita
 

If you are interested in going on this mission trip, please contact me. There are 3 churches from our area that take teams to Shadow - and all are open to people outside of their own churches. First United Methodist of Russellville usually makes the trip over the New Year's holiday and spends 8 days in Guatemala. Participating in the fundraisers earlier in the year helps to offset the cost per missionary.


Fairies and Fisherman extended....due to FIRE

We're on FIRE....
 

Well,  we were and not in a good way.  As embarrassing as this is to confess, this morning, I thought I would burn a small pile of brush. I had some time in between Fairy sessions and I checked the wind and it seemed okay... so I started the fire. Then my husband told me  he thought there was a burn ban, so I went to check and see if that was true, when he came running in yelling that the field was on fire. (umm yea, it was true). 30 minutes later the fire trucks were leaving... THANK YOU Knoxville Fire Department!  Ironically we had a message on our home answering machine that we never check telling us there was a burn ban starting this morning.
Now I smell like smoke and am terribly embarrassed and had to cancel my afternoon Fairies - I need to be ready to play, not cry. But I am ok, only thing that got burned is grass, and I am extremely grateful that it was not more serious - just a little injury to my pride.
For this reason we are extending Enchanted Fairies to next Saturday also, and I have some appointments open. 
 

 

Enchanted Fairies and Little Fishermen

479-885-3835 for appointments
 

 

Every year, Hardgrave Photography turns into a magical fairyland with butterflies and fairies flying all around. We have the costumes, hair pieces, and imagination to let your little girl have a wonderful time, while creating priceless portraits you will treasure forever. Session fee is only $30 and portrait collections (including art work) start at $99.

Overalls and Fishing hats are perfect for this little boy set!  Let you little guy come play and us his imagination while we create sweet timeless portraits.
 Session fee is only $15 and portrait collections start at $99

If you have a boy and girl, you can do both for a session fee of $30, no second session fee.
The sets are very similar and easy for me to modify between the boys and girls.


 

 

Delta School of Professional Photography Delta School is next week so I will in Hot Springs most of the week. The phone will be forwarded, so you can still contact me and Sharon will be in the office Tuesday and Thursday from 2-6 for picking up photos and making orders. I  have had the honor of being the director of Delta School of Professional Photography for the past two years. Delta School is part of Arkansas Professional Photographers Association and is a week long school with speakers from across the country helping professionals improve their craft by teaching classes in lighting, posing, processing, Photoshop, business, and client relations. There are classes to help photographers that strive to be true professionals, not just "someone with a good camera".

Claire

Do you know we offer gift certificates?  Most of the ones we sell are for The Baby Steps program, and are usually given at a baby shower. One of my wonderful clients called me and ordered a Baby Steps gift certificate for her nephew (Jarod) and his wife (Sarah) - but I didn't recognize the last name.
To my wonderful surprise, I have known Sarah for many years. For a while when I was volunteering at Needy Paws Animal Shelter, we had a youth program where I taught young people to train dogs. Sarah, her sister, and cousin came every Monday with their precious Grandma, who I knew from my dog grooming business. Sarah was always very intuitive with working with the dogs.  So it did not surprise me, that she is such a good mommy. I loved watching her with Claire. But I think I loved seeing Jarod with Claire even more - there is just something so special and unique about Daddies that are totally in love with their babies. I think we expect it from Mommies, but it still gets me all emotional to see it with good men.
I love that Sarah brought the quilt her Grandma had made for photos. I was sad to find out that she had passed away last year. I am sure she would have loved playing with Claire.
So I am so exited to see this little family grow over the next year!  I can't wait till the later sessions when we can incorporate their sweet Airdale Terrier into the photos.

Guatemala 2014 part 2

The whole neighborhood was interested in how to get clean water.

I have been home for almost four weeks now, and I still miss Monjas. Not just the kids from Shadow of His Wings, but the people in general. One thing I love about this mission trip is the opportunity to get out in the community, to visit people in their homes, to talk to them and hear about their lives.

One of the school rooms in a 2 room school house, notice
the banner on the bottom is teaching about good hygiene
and how to stay healthy.

By placing clean water filters in homes and schools, we got a good look at the culture.  It was only a few years ago that I learned that most of the world's population cannot turn on a faucet and drink the water safely. This is something I have always taken for granted. I had always heard "don't drink the water in Mexico", but that was the extent of my knowledge. I guess I sort of knew that children in Africa sometimes died because they did not have clean water - but in my imagination, those were only starving children desperate enough to be drinking from mud puddles. I would not have thought that people in very modern cities like Lima, Peru would have to treat the tap water, or that children in school in Guatemala would need to worry about getting sick from the water. Thankfully, we were able to place 16 clean water filters in the town of Monjas over the past two years. The children in four schools can drink clean water, reducing their chances of being sick and missing out on education.

All the teachers gather for a faculty meeting so they
could learn how the system worked.

This was not only done by the group of people who actually went on the trip, but also by the supporters of this mission. Those that wrote checks for donations, bought cookies from bake sales, bid on silent auction items, and come to have dinner with us. 
If you have any interest at all in finding out more about this mission, please do not hesitate to call me.