Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Chicago Girl.

 Six weeks ago, Mary moved to Chicago to go to school.
and completely and happily embraced the windy city as her own new home...just as she said she would.
Lily, Rosie and I planned a girls only trip to see Mary and were very lucky that Mary did not mind acting as our Chicago tour guide for our busy and fun weekend. 
 Our first act of tourism was to spend the morning at the Shedd Aquarium were we were mesmerized by the adorableness of the smiling beluga whales.
Rosie enjoyed taking very up close and personal photos of the little fishies. 
This is her best photo of a fish butt.
 The highlight of the trip was meeting all of the terrific new friends that Mary has made.
Her friend Brian even had the patience and strength to join us for some fabulous Chicago style pizza at Pizano's, http://www.pizanoschicago.com/ and then a night time walk to Millennium Park. 
The Bean was lovely under the night lights.
We all enjoyed the drama of the giant fountains, but Rosie especially enjoyed running back and forth under the pink light...silly me for thinking she might be too tired to race around and around after a very full day.
Apparently this is what the end of a fun and successful girls weekend looks like...

Rosie in hoops, munching on a giant Hershey kiss from Lily's new most favorite store in the whole  world...The Hersey Store. 
Evidently, I do not have my daughters city life stamina and fell sound asleep during that girl party.
Not sure if it was Mary, or Lily who took the photo, but I very much hope that it wasn't anyone else...however, this proves that the last one standing gets to eat as much chocolate as they wish.
(I am extremely glad not to have woken up with a sharpie marker mustache, or worse.)
 
It was wonderful to share the weekend with three out of four of my girls... we all had a great time but by far the best part was seeing Mary so happily adjusted to student life in the big city. 
Love this girl and her big city sensibilities...

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Ancelma Ortiz...my hero.


Here I am with Ancelma, my Guatemalan hero.
 I had the honor of spending some time last weekend with Ancelma Ortiz, who was visiting Cincinnati from her home in Guatemala.
Anclema is an absolutely adorable young woman...she is smart and lovely with a terrific sense of humor. She is fluent in three languages. She first learned Kaqchikel, an indigenous Mayan language, then Spanish, and most recently English.   
Ancelma is remarkable and most fierce.
 She is fierce because when she was very, very young she began to ask for an education and refused to stop until she was taken seriously. 
I can't begin to imagine where she got her resolve at such a young age. 
When she was five years old, and saw her friends going to school, she asked to go also but was told that she could not. She was needed at home to work instead. She was laboring in the fields with her father and then selling their produce in the market very early in the morning. 
As she labored in the fields with her parents, she begged them to let her go to school for a part of the She was most determined and very persistent.  
She would cry and plead with her parents to allow her to begin school. 
She said, that when she was seven, she thought that it was too late. She felt like the time to start school had run out and she missed her chance...she felt too old. 
She had the weight of the world on those little seven year old shoulders.

But at eight, her persistence paid off and she was able to start kindergarten. 
I was already seven and never had the chance to study. I thought it was too late for me; that I was never going to get the opportunity to go to school.” Finally, her insistence paid off, and at age eight Ancelma started primary school. - See more at: http://coeduc.org/blog/special-fall-fiesta-guest-ancelma-ortiz/#sthash.0Y4J3cwI.dpuf
I was already seven and never had the chance to study. I thought it was too late for me; that I was never going to get the opportunity to go to school.” Finally, her insistence paid off, and at age eight Ancelma started primary school. - See more at: http://coeduc.org/blog/special-fall-fiesta-guest-ancelma-ortiz/#sthash.0Y4J3cwI.dpuf
I was already seven and never had the chance to study. I thought it was too late for me; that I was never going to get the opportunity to go to school.” Finally, her insistence paid off, and at age eight Ancelma started primary school. - See more at: http://coeduc.org/blog/special-fall-fiesta-guest-ancelma-ortiz/#sthash.0Y4J3cwI.dpuf
Ancelma in middle school
 And she loved school and even though it was difficult, she was used to doing hard things and thrived in the classroom. It was in primary school where she decided that she was going to someday become a "professional" instead of a laborer. Ancelma began to imagine a bright future for herself and her family too. But then her dreams were shattered when she was told that a middle school education was a luxury that her family couldn't afford. She was told that should be happy that she was able to attend primary school. She wanted to go to middle school but did not know how this would be possible.

Her drive did not go unnoticed by her teachers, and when the folks of Cooperative for Education asked for teacher recommendations of promising students, Ancelma was offered a scholarship by Co-Ed. 
Her parents were skeptical at first, but Ancelma insisted and through hard work and determination, became a very successful middle and high school student .
Ancelma today
Cooperative for Education made sure that she kept her scholarship, they gave her the support that she needed when the odds were stacked against her. 
Now Ancelma is a working professional. 
She works in customer service for a Canadian cell phone company in Guatemala... and when asked how she managed to stay motivated, her reply is this...
"I had to succeed because failure was not an option."
 This year, Cooperative for Education has awarded 670 scholarships to students like Ancelma... driven students that are working hard to get and education. 
However they have 12 students who are still waiting for sponsors.
The Guatemalan school year begins in January and Co-Ed is doing what they can to help match those 12 students with sponsors who will help them.
Please consider a donation to the Cooperative for Education scholarship program.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Pony Girls.


Rosie is now a pony rider.
And she is lucky enough to have two excellent teachers, one fabulous human trainer named Jess, and another 4 legged and furry teacher named Cocoa Puff.
With the addition of a nice big sister who is also horse crazy,
Rosie has a dream team on hand to help her learn to be the very best pony rider than she can be.
 She went to her first horse show not too long ago and had a great time. 
Her she is after her class with, Jess, Cocoa Puff and Lily...who was also showing that day.  
Rosie and Cocoa Puff were in a class called Leadline. She did a great job in sitting up straight and keeping her heels down and Lily was there beside her every step of the way.
Even during this tension filled moment in the competition when the judge asked her what her name was.
Our family in it's entirety...it's not often anymore that all eight of us are together at once so it was great to get a photo of the whole gang...even the college girls were there to cheer on the riders. 
While it was unusual for us all to be together, it was almost epic to catch us all smiling at the exact same time. The only one without a grin is Cocoa Puff who was so over all of us by then.
The poor grumpy dear is sporting a tiny pony sneer...she was very ready to wrap up the show and go home.
But our pony girls had a great morning and were very good about cheering for each other... I love that they both have a little horsey fan club in their own family, and Rosie especially likes riding like her big sister.