Moving Day!

We're all moved in! (Getting un-boxed is another story.) A big thanks to my mom, dad, and Brent for coming out to help!
Thanks also goes out to the Elder's Quorum men (from both our old and new wards) that came to help. (We're also thankful for is the color-coded room packing tape from U-Haul.)

Packing Up

It's packing day. We're moving in on Saturday and didn't start packing it'll last night. I had the day off today and have been putting it to good use! The cats have been enjoying the empty boxes. : )

Five Things about School

1. I love the friends I've made.
2. My teacher's are so inspiring. These are amazing women!
3. I don't love that I have to spend so many weekends away from Jack.
4. The homework and readings wipe me out.
5. I am learning sooooo much! It's great.

Taking Out the Wall!

One of the first things that Jack and I wanted to do with our house was to take out the dividing wall between our kitchen and our dining room. The wall was only a half wall with a little pass through type window. We wanted to have a more open space and so Jack undertook the job. He used a variety of tools: a hammer, a crow bar, and even his own self. (I even got to help!) Now to get the drywaller out to fix up the additional (small) hole in the wall (oops.)

Close of Escrow!

Well, on our way home from Guatemala we had a lay over in Miami. Jack called Ann (our realtor) to see how everything was going with the house. She said that, after jumping through several hoops, the house closed and we became official home owners as of 4:55 pm Friday evening. Yay!!!

Tourist Day

On Friday after saying goodbye at the Hospital, we spent the afternoon in Antigua. Antigua is Guatemala City's Old Town. It was the capital of Guatemala until a bad earthquake hit in the 1700s. (Interestingly Antigua has had many earthquakes over the years and my dad went through Guatemala on his way home from Bolivia in 76.)

We shopped at the market for a few hours, walked through the plaza, shopped at a Jade shop (Guatemala is the only place you can buy lavender jade), and went to a nice dinner at an old monastery. It was a full, fun day.

A good conclusion to a great trip.

La Cocina del Senor

We got to serve every evening in the soup kitchen, "La Cocina del Senor". We met so many people and really had a good time serving la gente del Senor.

Jack and I were able to translate for several people in need with impairments from nerve pain, to broken arms, to drug addiction. Several people asked us to pray for them. It was a beautiful experience.

Working at the Children's Hospital

We got to work with the therapy departments at the Hospital Infantil de Infectologia y Rehabilitacion (The Children's Hospital for Infectious Disease and Rehabilitation) every morning while in Guatemala. I became good friends with Kati an OT student doing her clinicals at the hospital. We worked with children with malnutrition, developmental delay, asthma, cerebral palsy, and much more. It was a great experience.

In the afternoons, we had workshops. We taught on Sensory Integration, NDT (neuro-developmental treatment), Handling Techniques, and Tone Management. They taught us about many rare diagnoses that they have seen and treated.

Universidad Mariano Galvez

We got to tour the local PT school, Universidad Mariano Galvez. Adela, the program director gave us an overview of their curriculum and fieldwork/clinical schedule. At the end of the students' coursework, each student spends 6 months in a rural area that has never had physical therapy services. They are required to get permission to start a clinic from the town leaders, find a space to start a clinic, as well as treatment equipment, and build a caseload. I was so impressed with that clinical rotation. What a challenge!

We spent a couple afternoons at the university giving lectures on splinting, team collaboration, and a few other topics. I even got to translate for parts of the lectures and the questions that the university students had. It went pretty well.

The Shalom School

On Tuesday morning I got to go with a small group of Belmont OTs and PTs to present at a 9th grade assembly. They asked us to talk about goals and living a purposeful life, including hygiene, exercise, and vocational/education planning. We broke it down and each took a part. I got to give my portion in Spanish, as well as the intro and conclusion. It went really well and was a lot of fun. Because it was a Christian school (and Belmont is also a Christian school) I started with a loose quote of Moses 1:39 that the Savior's work and glory, his goal, is for us to have eternal life with Him. From that I introduced goal setting and the different categories that we can set goals in. After the other girls had presented on their topics, I was able to wrap it all together in an inspirational, "We can do it and the Lord will support us in our personal progression." type ending.

While waiting for the bus, we got to play with the 2nd graders on the playground. We played cat and mouse (a combination of tag and red rover). We had a good time.

Guatemala, Here We Come!

Jack and I are leaving in the morning for a week long mission trip to Guatemala. My school's therapy departments are going and will be working in the children's hospital, local schools, and a soup kitchen. Jack gets to come as the interpreter. : ) Click here to follow our daily updates while we're gone.