Happy Birthday Emily!:)

This is a speacial blog entry to wish Emily Crandall of Seattle, Washington a very happy birthday. I met Emily in Granada, Nicaragua and we were placed in the same spanish class for one week. That was by far one of the best weeks of spanish class, as we learned a lot but also spent quite a bit of time teaching our teacher slang and dirty words in english:) In that time, she learned about our project "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir". Emily and her husband Drew came out with Andres and I on one of our first ventures to El Pantanal and the school "Jose de la Cruz Mena". Drew and Emily also spared some precious travel money (as they still had 5 months more to travel around South America) to buy us some notebooks and supplies for the kids. Thus Emily truly witnessed the birth of our project and Im happy to say that she will also allow it to grow further. Emily's sister in law Jen Bowerman of San franciso wrote me to let me know how Emily had talked about our project in Nicaragua and that she wanted to donate money in Emily's name for her birthday. We graciously accept 100.00 American dollars in Emily Crandall's name to continue our project in El Pantanal, Nicaragua. I will be heading back to Granada, Nicaragua in early January just in time for the beginning of the school year and this money will be used to buy our 500 students their packages of school supplies. I want to thank Jen Bowerman and her husband for their kindness and as well as to Emily & her husband Drew for everything as well.:)

My friend Juan Carlos (who I stayed with & who works with me on the project) pointed out Emily's dimples when she smiled. Juan Carlos loves dimples because his 8 year old daughter Judene has an incredible pair. When Juan Carlos saw Emily for the first time in Casa Xalteva as she waited for our spanish class to start, he asked her in spanish "what class are those dimples going to". Of course we didn't understand what he meant at the time but he explained (as he always does...)

Happy Birthday Emily. I hope you are smiling today. Ojala que estes sonriendo.:) Make sure to come to Victoria sometime to visit.