I’ll still be taking a photograph everyday, but since access to the Internet will be restricted (it will be a bit hard while in the jungle), I won’t be able to upload the photos very often. Bear with me, I’ll try to do as many as I can while I’m here, otherwise, I’ll have many updates when I return.

Follow my summer adventures in Peru at A Life in the World.

From the road,

Kate

Mini-Hiatus is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Today was my last day for the summer!

I’ll be returning to Peru at the end of the week so it was time to hang up my hat, retire my crisp white shirts, and leave the store for the summer – which is turning into my annual summer hiatus.

I’ll miss it, but I’m excited to be going back to Peru!

Last Day (99 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

I love it when after it rains you can see reflections of buildings and trees in the puddles. There is something about the symmetry and reflection that makes for an interesting scene (or photo!)

Puddles (98 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Today the eighth and ninth graders were confirmed. JJ, David, Bryce, Sarah and Drake became our newest members and were welcomed into the family.

Here’s a video I put together of their combined faith statements, which they called their Confirmation Affirmation of Faith.

Confirmation (97 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Today a group from CREW joined forces with 4 other Dearborn youth groups for Dearborn Ignite V. Dearborn Ignite is a worship experience led by youth for youth on Saturday night every three or four months. It was our turn as CREW to host the 5th Ignite at our own little Agua Viva. The night usually begins around 7 and lasts until 10, but CREW wanted to mix things up a little and get more people involved with one of our monthly ministries, Feeding the Hungry.

As I’ve written about before, each month we take a hot meal into the streets of Detroit and serve about 200 people. In an effort to get some help and expand, we invited the other 4 Dearborn youth groups that participate in Dearborn Ignite to come with us to Cass Park (across from the Masonic Temple in Detroit) to have a giant Feed the Hungry. With all the help, we had food for over 600 people, toiletry kits, clothing stations and opportunities to play football, and just fellowship with people of Detroit.

It was a great experience to see many other Dearborn high schoolers working together serving our community.

Feed the Hungry (96 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

At CREW, we have quite an eclectic group of kids that regularly attend our events. One in particular, Bryce, is quite entertaining and usually provides lots of excitement to the get-togethers.

He learned karate on YouTube, a hockey superstar, the middle child and he’s hilarious, there is no other way to explain it. If I told you stories about him here, they just wouldn’t be as funny as if you saw him in action. It’s kids like Bryce, who will become a member at First Dearborn this weekend that makes helping with CREW so much fun.

Bryce (96 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Today, the girls and I went up to Alma to visit Willard. I met Willard as a Resident Assistant at Alma, but Emily and Elissa were not privileged with the opportunity to meet him until last summer when he joined our group to Peru.

In an instant, Willard was accepted by both girls and became quick friends with similar interests, traveling, being silly, telling jokes, making fun of me and most importantly, playing with the Girasoles boys.

Since Emily & Elissa had not seen Willard since their return to Michigan in July 2009, we made a trip up to Alma for the day to get lunch and catch up face-to-face.

It was a good day to spend 4 hours in the car with the girls before Elissa goes to Washington DC for an internship (she gets to work with the interior designer who will be redoing Clinton’s Secretary of State offices!) and I head down for the summer in Peru.

Emily, contemplating her decision to go to Hope for college. She’s thinking of transferring…

Elissa is keeping her own blog about her experiences in DC, it’s called Coloring Outside the Lines.

Alma (95 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Our neighbors have returned for the summer – and I’m not talking about the elderly couple from down the street that came home from Florida!

Two bird families have taken up residence on our deck again, conveniently finding home on top of our Bose speakers. Every time I go out the back door onto the deck, the adult birds swarm around the area protecting their nest and offspring. It is entertaining to watch (from the protection of being inside) them fly around in circles around the deck with little twigs and branches and monitor the situation around their homes.

Bird Nests (94 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

He’s leaving on a jet plane…

After three weeks in Michigan, Billy has returned to Peru to kick off the 2010 summer work team season.

I had a good time aprovechando (taking advantage of) Billy’s time in Michigan with a trip to Point Pelee and a Tigers-Yankees game at Comerica Park.

If you would like to follow Billy’s adventures working in Peru, check out his blog: billygreenman.com

(This photo looks a lot better than the original since I took this one in the afternoon!)

Plane (93 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project

Boxes and boxes of t-shirts have been piling up in our kitchen over the past week. My mother, who works for the University of Michigan, sent an email to all of the campus departments asking if they had extra t-shirts from various campus events, thinking that whatever she collected she could take to Peru with her.

Little did she know, this one simple email would spread like wildfire around campus – and beyond.

After two days of bringing home boxes upon boxes from work, it looked like that we were going to have way too many shirts to take in just suitcases and many of the sizes would not be appropriate for kids. While it might make for a funny photo, I can’t imagine an 8 year old enjoying wearing a 2XL shirt.

So, after taking an inventory of the shirts and sorting out the sizes and designs appropriate for children/teens, she decided to “share the wealth” with a few other ministries she is involved with. This weekend, CREW will be taking quite a few large boxes of shirts with them to Cass Park for a giant “Feed the Hungry”. In addition, they will be shared with the ChristNet weekly rotating shelter that comes to First Presbyterian every year during the first week in November.

Boxes of t-shirts (92 / 365) is a post from: Photo 365 Project