happy birthday mom!

my gift to you: bits of spring because you came on spring's first day.









love, sienna

the children of Peru

thank you to all my supporters for helping me get to Peru so i could meet all these kids! their numbers grew and grew all week long. had about 150 by the last day; all screaming, running around, holding our hands, playing with our hair, asking our names, pointing to our sunburn and saying "rojo."

check out the rest of my Peru photos and adventures on my flickr site-->

Peru in 8 Pictures

this was actually the name of a store in the Peru airport--cute, i thought.

the group: Americans and Peruvians (if they're pale, they're american) i really loved my Covenant teammates. some i didn't know when i went, some i knew a little. such a good balance going on. nothing bonds quite like missions trips!

dan pick and luggage. the day before we left we all had to put out our luggage so some people could come pick it up and take it a day before us to the airport.
the buildings are so brightly colored there! yellow, orange, aqua, turquoise, blue, red. why don't we have buildings like that? make for such good photos.
i took this shot from the bus on our way to Haunta. Peruvian streets are so narrow and dirty but have such character! i didn't mind the bus ride at all. so many new things to look at!

chickens for sale
i got so used to not being able to talk to people or read anything while i was in Peru. got into a billboard-reading frenzy when i got back to the states: "i can read again!!"

more photos to come! i haven't even showed you the VBS kids!

peru&kyrie

it's coming. hang tight.

matching maternity shirts :)

i have this favorite shirt. A couple months ago when Papa came to visit he took kyr and i to Target. I spotted this shirt in the maternity section and actually stopped to look. It was a fitted maternity shirt and what I loved about it was that it was longer and it was polka dotted. I tried it on and bought it. I was really excited about it cause it was a comfortable material and seemed perfect. When I got back to my dorm I ran to show my good friend Taryn (my future roommate). I started explaining to her that "I know the tag says maternity...but.." she stopped me and ran back in her room. She came out holding up the same exact shirt! She had gotten it too, 6 months earlier and adored it. So now my good friend and I have matching maternity shirts that are actually the most perfect shirt in the world.

i miss them.

for mom & papa

here you go mom.. i know you've been asking for posts so here's one of Kyr and I with some friends. This was the day we all got back from Spring Break and still happy from those blessed days... the smiles are gone now though. too many papers to write and prsentations to prepare for!!! I have to teach a 5th grade class next week and I'm freakin' out... pray.

more posts coming this weekend of Kyrie in Peru.

*fun fact: the girl with the red jacket on and the one right behind her went to Sandy Cove on home-school week for years and they both know Gina Hurst. We all must have hung out but we don't remember eachother. We only remember Gina :)

animals in the womb

I just found these on lowen's computer. He had them saved in one of his files. arn't they amAZing?

my dutch friend.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Helen Keller's words...

I've been reading Helen Keller's autobiography this week. I enjoy the way she puts her words together. We learn words through hearing others in conversation or just passively listening. Many times we don't even realize how much we're learning just through our ability to hear. Learning came much slower for Helen Keller because she didn't hear words. Her teacher had to consistently form them on her hand, spelling out to Helen what was around her; how the wind blew, how pain felt, what love was. Helen would feel these things but was unable to put words to them and it kept her from even truly understanding them.

I took pictures of two paragraphs I like. Language was a mystery to her. Linking feelings and objects with letters that made words was a mystery to her. I love words, expecially small ones. Because words are all Helen Keller had to communicate with, it is uniquely enjoyable for me to read her writing.

I made dinner!

last night Anna and I had a girl's night and went to Krogger and picked up some sushi and some things to make a Thai dinner. When we got home Anna melted some chocolate for the strawberry desert and I started cutting and stir frying vegtables with a thai peanut mix. Yep, I was stir frying! And it came out really good. Anna's happy now that I showed her how to make Thai. She's gonna make it for Todd everyday next week :) (thanks to Kiko and Vincent who showed me)

a lovely picture of anna.

when Anna's at work...

she got her green card!

yay for KiKo! she got her green card. Congratulations new cousin! let me know when that GREEN party is gonna be and I'll be there dressed top to bottom in green :) (maybe we can go out after church on sunday and celebrate)

alone with a Cat&Camera

her name is Bear. She showed up on the Sorrell's doorstep on Holloween night. Anna calls her "beer" because of her dutch accent. It's pretty funny. Todd and I get a laugh.

I'm alone till 4pm everyday until Anna gets home from work. I've been scrapbooking, reading my helen keller book, watching documentaries, eating chocolate cake, bloGGIng!, and makin' friends with Bear. It's been wonderful so far. Bear's pretty sweet. She wasn't too fond of the camera but she put up with it. Isn't she cute?

all you need in life.

orange juice. water. coffee.