Family Month

Last month we got to spend a lot of time with our families, considering they all live out of state except for my sister Kim. The first weekend in May Kim and I flew to Dallas visit our sister Lisa. Lisa and her husband Nick moved to Dallas last fall so we decided it was time to check out Dallas and have a sister weekend. We had a blast just being together...it seems so rare these days. The weather was hot and rainy, but we still got out and did a lot of walking on some local paths. I think the highlight of the trip was trying to learn the dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" song. We played it over and over on youtube! I love being with my sisters because we are silly and laugh a lot. Our Dallas trip was followed by a visit from my parents and then a trip to Alabama to see Shane's family. I'll have to do another post for those trips but here are a few Dallas pics.....



Shopping...way more fun with sisters!!

Kim, me, and Lisa.

It's the little things like making dinner together that I miss doing with my sisters.


Headed out for a walk...we grew up taking walks to the beach, out on the pier, and around our little town!

Highlights

It seems that the last few months have been especially busy for us and I have neglected to update our blog!! I'll start with my trip to Guatemala in March where I spent 9 days with my parents, my sister Kim, my parents friends, Tammy and Tim, and their daughter Emma. Shane was a trooper, letting me go while he stayed home to work. With limited contact through email, it challenged us to completely trust the Lord and pray for each other a lot. My dad and his "dental team" did dentistry in two villages. 41 patients were treated and 85 teeth pulled! We also spent a lot of time painting. Our handy man, Tim, built shelves and put in a gutter system at our friends home in Huehuetenango. At the end of our trip we rested at Lake Atitlan, where volcanoes surrounded a beautiful lake. From the hundreds of pics we have from the trip, here are a few highlights....


Driving in Guatemala was insane. We saw buses like this one flying around corners with men standing on top, driving on the wrong side of the road to pass a construction zone, and passing on blind curves.


The fruit at the market in Huehuetenango looked amazing, to0 bad we couldn't eat it!


One of my projects was painting the doghouse red.


The beginning of our painting job...painting the perimeter wall that enclosed the Cerminaro's home for protection.


My mom, putting the final touches on the entrance.


The kids in the village where we did dentistry were very curious about what was going on in the "dental clinic." They would peak their heads in the door to see what we were doing.


Smile, one of our first patients was a little boy. It was mostly women and children that came to get their teeth pulled.


I got to assist my dad on the first day. We set up the dental chair and supplies in a small room in a church. The room next door was the "waiting room" which was filled all day with people waiting to get their teeth pulled. It was very different...who lines up to get their teeth pulled here in the States??!


Mom, Dad, Kim, and Jeffrey (our Guatemalan friend) at Lake Atitlan.


It was very hazy while we were at Lake Atitlan so the views of the volcanoes were not clear.


Sunset over the lake.