Sunday, August 30, 2009

Birthdays, Bonfires and Buffets

So here we are, returning back to the so-called "Daily Life Blog" with our tails between our legs. Yes, we are quite aware that our last post was on Wednesday. Seeing as how that was five days ago... well. You get the point. Sorry about that. But in our defense, life has been crazy around the Manna House in the last week. Here is a brief recap:

1. Summer Camp ended on Friday! It was a great way to start off our year, as it allowed us to get to know the kids and parents of our communities. We're thrilled to have had such a successful first program and hope that success will carry over to the programs that will begin in two weeks. (We're equally thrilled to not be required to get 10 people out of the door by 8am...)

Mike, Erik, Sonia and Sarah try their hand at the teeter-totter.
The weight distribution was clearly very equal...

Gisela chases Santiago in a game of duck, duck, goose.
(Or, as Iori likes to call it, "duck, duck, duck".)
Krysta walks the little ones back to the library.

2. We co-hosted a very successful health clinic at Alinambi on both Friday and Saturday. Krysta's weeks of planning (along with a little help from the rest of the health girls and the house) finally paid off! And she's kind enough to be writing a guest blog about it later this week!

The entrance to the clinic

Haley shows off the impeccably organized pharmacy.

LOTS of toothpaste donations

Krysta and Haley lead a charla on brushing and flossing.

The whole health crew

3. And finally, today is Jackie's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKIE!)! In order to celebrate both Jackie and Bibi's birthdays in style, we had our first rooftop bonfire of the year last night and made s'mores. We followed up the late night of s'mores and group bonding with an enormous buffet at the Marriott in Quito. Apparently all celebrations revolve around food in the Manna House.

The birthday brownies at the Marriott

Jackie's THREE... yes, three... birthday cakes
(Unfortunately we already ate the leftovers for breakfast/lunch. Typical.)

The whole group post-brunch and pre-food coma

All in all, it's been a fun (and hectic) last few days. This week will be more relaxed, as we're planning for our programs that begin in two weeks, catching up on work that was pushed aside last week, and making the blog a little more "daily"... :)

Thanks for checking in with us!
Sarah

1 comment:

dee said...

happy birthday jackie!! I wish I could have celebrated yesterday with you but I'm glad that you had a great time in ecuador with your new great friends. love you and miss you tons <3