small victories

Little Sis proudly holding up her "Future E.R. Nurse" award after completing Nurse Academy

M & G holding up the library's summer reading program books & bags

These last six months have been draining and disappointing. I had to let go of my expectations and place everything--and everyone--in God's hands. I so badly want to be following God's will for my life but in my own way. I have been so focused on seeing big results that I almost missed the small victories that are evidence of God's great story and plan at work.

So let me pause to celebrate a couple moments that remind me of how good God has been and how far we have all come.

I may been disappointed that my Little Sis did not work as hard as I worked in high school, but I am so grateful that she had the opportunity to be one of only 45 students accepted at KUMed's Nurse Academy. Furthermore, she was one of the only high school students present as well as one of the only Latina students!

It is possible that M & G did not pass sixth grade (still waiting to find out), but they did get excited about reading and about getting their own library cards!

I am so proud of these girls and blessed to be allowed to be a part of their lives.

delighted to share my life

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."

--1 Thessalonians 2:8

M, G, and I posing in front of the fashion show sign on Friday

Little Sis and me being silly and indulging in gelato & coffee, respectively

Spending time with these girls is so much more than a commitment, a program, or even an activity. It's sharing my life with them: taking them to watch my brother model in a fashion show, showing her where I worked my first job, buying Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos every time I go to Price Chopper, looking up college scholarships in my free time...

It's time-consuming, unstructured, and messy. It's learning to put them before myself while remembering that they are still kids. It's taking comfort in the fact that I can only do so much because God can do so much more.

Thank You, Jesus, for the sweet privilege that it is to have a role in these girls' lives. May I not take this responsibility lightly.

What a weekend so full of love. Heart-shaped cookies, homework parties, girl time, Bible games about Love, snow melting, carne asada, hablando con mi primo en messenger, feeling more Mexicana than ever.

amazed at the gift of life on a cold winter's night

Did you notice that he's a "Special Holiday Delivery"?

He was born on Monday, December 20th at 11:40pm. A happy and healthy baby! I got the call from my Little Sister the next morning and went to the hospital to visit that afternoon. I felt so special to be included...the only two other people in the room at the time were her best friend and her boyfriend. And then I got to hold him...it was the first time I've ever held a newborn! Words can't describe the feeling...

finally

Had an amazing evening at F’s junior high holiday concert. I think it was nice for his mom to not have to go alone, since her husband hasn't been around for a while.

There is something so exciting about being in a packed room full of beautiful faces, where I happen to be the minority. I felt so proud to be counted among the family and friends of this community. I finally felt connected. Finally.

Staying up way too late making Christmas cards for the kids & volunteers

peace

Conception Abbey

I am taking off from work today to return to this sacred place that I visited one year ago. I am turning off my cell phone and leaving my computer behind.

photo highlights from august & september!

Labor Day weekend: I went out to Sacramento/Santa Rosa for my cousin's wedding. Horacio is one of the cousins I'm closer to on my mom's side (out of the 36 cousins). He's the one who came to my college graduation and my brother Michael's high school graduation. In this pic, I'm about to read 1 John 4:7-19 in Spanish! (this was funny because my cousin, Javi, read this in English even though he grew up speaking Spanish)

Because my work is awesome and gave everyone a free week of vacation for meeting our fundraising goal, I took off straight from Cali to visit my good old friends in Arizona. It was a great week of relaxing, going to the lake, hiking in Sedona, going spelunking for the first time ever, and hiking a bit of the Grand Canyon (pictured above). I've been friends with Lauren and Vicki since 2nd grade!

The very next weekend, Lauren flew out to KC for something that fell through, so she ended up spending most of the weekend with me, even though we had just spent the previous week together in AZ. Photo: we are eating breakfast together on the Plaza.

The following weekend my roommate and I finally hosted our Housewarming Fiesta, only four months after we had moved in! We had some really crazy weather, so it was not as well attended as we had hoped, but at least we finished decorating our home!

Kansas and Missouri are looking beautiful and the weather is getting crisp. I've been obsessed with all things autumn, so I convinced my brother, Joseph, to come do a corn maze with me a couple weekends ago. It was pretty amazing!

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to take these lovely ladies that I tutor to their first ever Royals' game. We didn't really care about the baseball being played and instead talked about which players were cute and took a bunch of silly pictures.

On Saturday, I spent the whole day with my Little Sister. We made a pizza from scratch (the first time either of us had done this), baked chocolate chip pumpkin muffins (picture above), and watched the Princess Diaries. We also had some great conversations about love, her pregnancy, and even faith. I love her!

these kids are the reason why...

...I love "back to school" time. Today was the first day of the fall trimester for LIT (Leaders in Training), the after-school program that I volunteer with. This is the same program that served as the catalyst for me "moving to the neighborhood."

At LIT, the kids arrive and get a chance to eat a healthy meal while we catch up with them about their day. We then spend about 30 minutes for recreation so that we can get that out of their systems. They then split up and go with their respective groups to study math, language arts, or get homework help. At the end of the day, we circle up and usually share encouraging things we've noticed about others in the group. We close in prayer--nothing moves me more than when these children talk to God.

meet my little sister

Now, I want you to meet my Little Sister. We are matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters' partnership with Kauffman Scholars. (Kauffman Scholars is program in KC that finds low-income, hard-working kids in the urban school districts and will give them a full-ride scholarship to any college that they get in to and choose to attend!) She is 16 years old and just started her junior year of high school.

I chose her because she's the oldest of four kids and had her sights set on Harvard. This reminded me of me at her age. But when I went to meet her in the beginning of July, I realized things would be much different than I anticipated...

She is pregnant and due at Christmas. I was/am definitely not prepared for this but I will not give up on meeting with her and being her friend during this difficult time.

at the KC Ethnic Festival

love my bros

I got to hang out with both of my brothers on Friday night. We stayed up talking and reminiscing about younger years. We even went out for a fourth meal at Taco Bell around 2am. (Why we sometimes stoop to eating that garbage when we're half Mexican is even a mystery to me...) I am so blessed to be such good friends with my brothers.

downtown kansas city, while driving home the other night

my beautiful Mommy holding the two dozen roses that my dad bought for her birthday

so blessed to be a part of something bigger than myself

What a wonderful day…

These kids loved my car because it has a sunroof. They were amazed by the elevator that went up 18 floors and looked over downtown. And they loved piling into the old-fashioned photo booth hidden at the back of the restaurant.