Birmingham Art Walk

I look foward to Birmingham's Art Walk each year. This year the weather was perfect, and while the turnout was lower than last year's, we still had a great time. If you weren't able to make it, check out Alan's new website: www.alanshero.com!

Helping Peru's Children

If you know me or have read this blog before, you know that I had the opportunity to travel to Peru for several months last year. The purpose of my trip was to improve my Spanish and to work with abandoned and orphaned children. While there I was able to participate with the Project Corazon. Their blog is featured on the right. Please take a moment to link to their site and watch the top two videos. The fist will give you a glimpse of the community and the children served by this outreach program. The second is a story about a baby girl; the story is moving and sad. It is a story that no doubt has taken place many, many times in countries around the world. For this reason, we should all be aware of the world around us and consider what we can do to help.

Vacation Bible School

At times in my life the search for a church home has felt difficult and illusive. After moving to North Alabama a couple of months ago, however, I visited a small church and immediately felt welcome and comfortable. I have enjoyed getting to know the other members of the congregation. Last week was VBS. We had a great turnout and a lot of fun (as you can see). Thank you to all of the volunteers who worked so hard to make the week successful.

Road Trip

Last week my mother and I took an impromptu road trip to Buffalo, NY to visit with my grandmother and other family members. It was great to see people that I haven't seen in a while and my grandmother is still the classy, gracious woman that she was prior to moving into a nursing home. While in Buffalo, I said goodbye to my grandmother's home. Perhaps a house is just a place, but my grandmother had lived in the same house for close to sixty years. She and my grandfather raised their three children there and built many wonderful memories in their home. It's sad for me to think that there won't be anymore Christmas or New Year's Parties in that livingroom and there won't be anymore corned beef hash and scrambled egg breakfasts there, but I wish the new owner all the same happiness that my grandparents shared in their home. So perhaps a house is just a place, but I like to think of it as a place rooted in love, support and strength.

More Fun With Florals

Aren't these colors gorgeous?

Freedom is not free

Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". It is a high cost to ask our fellow citizens who serve in the armed forced to guard our country against the many adversities of this world. I am so thankful to our service men and woman, as well their families, who also face many challenges that civilian families will never know.

The shooting of five people at the Stress Center in Baghdad has brought our soldiers' mental health into the media spotlight. Mental distress caused by the horrors of war is no less real than physical wounds caused in battle. I urge you to support military service members in your community as well as the funding of mental health and family support programs for our military. For more information on the many services provided by the US military,check out www.departmentofdefense.mil.

Sweet Home Alabama

Spring is one of my favorite seasons in the south; mostly because I love to see all the flowers and trees in bloom. Here are a couple samples from my dad's garden. This is when I wish smell-o-vision existed because these Peonies smell fabulous!!

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Hello to everyone from good, old Alabama! I arrived home on December 29, 2008 and have enjoyed spending the past couple of weeks with my family. I didn't get a chance to post Christmas pictures before leaving Peru, so I wanted to post a few and let everyone see how busy the market was on Christmas Eve. I love a good craft fair, but this was ridiculous! There were so many people crowded into the square that it was nearly impossible to look at what the vendors were selling. You could buy anything from pigs and fruit cake to ornaments and statues of baby Jesus.

Christmas was celebrated a little bit differently than I'm accustomed to in the U.S. I spent Christmas Eve with a family from Cusco. At midnight, everyone went outside to set off fireworks in the streets. Then the children were allowed to open their gifts and the adults ate a nice meal that ended with fruitcake and hot chocolate. I had a great time and feel so lucky to have celebrated this special day with such a sweet, Peruvian family.