Chile . . . then chilly!!

soooooo . . . .

It's been a long time since I've written. I really don't have time to do this, but I feel I owe it to everyone. Since my last blog, I've visited the BEAUTIFUL country of Chile! I went to Santiago for about 8 days to help a campground just outside the city prepare for their summer camps. One of my VERY good friends (Miki) and her sister, Lisha, and I joined a team of about 10 or so other people working on the camp. We spent most of our time polyurethane-ing the buildings around the camp. They had just refurbished many of the windows and frames, and put up walls and ceilings to finish off some rooms and make others more live-able. We had a GREAT time. We had been wanting to go on a mission's trip for a while, and when we found out about the trip to Santiago, we jumped on it. Part of the motivation was my college roommate -- Teresa. She grew up in Chile and was in Santiago while we were there. Everyone worked hard to be sure she didn't know we were coming -- and it worked! She was SO surprised to see us! We were able to stay 2 days later than needed and spend some time with her in the city, and visiting the coast -- I got to visit another continent, another country, and another ocean all in the same trip!! I hope to have some pictures of the trip up by the end of the week.

That was Chile -- now on to the chilly!

Since returning, it has gotten colder! It was so toasty-warm in the hot Chilean sun (it's spring there, by the way) . We got back on Nov. 18th -- my 27th birthday -- and were greeted with about 1-2 inches of snow!! I LOVE WHEN IT SNOWS ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!! School last week was crazy and this week is turning out to be a repeat with more hyper-activity and talkativeness. Grades are due by Friday and I have an un-decorated tree in my apartment, surrounded by boxes full of stuff that needs to be put up!!! Maybe the first part of my comment on Karen's blog wasn't too far from being helpful!!