Belize

Last two days in Belize!

Our first day was all travel. We had hug football bags full of Bats, balls, sports equipment and books. Having to carry these huge bags was the hardest part of the day! we were so blessed to walk on to the beautiful beaches of Belize! We took a water taxi from the main land to Ambergris Caye. I was lucky enough to be co-captain with Gus and received a history lesson about the Island and the history of the country. It was amazing. The rest of our night consisted of walking around the island and getting some amazing food at their central park area!

Day two! up at 6:30 AM and Three of walked down the beach for breakfast before we started our hard day of work. After breakfast We all made our way to Holy Cross. Holy Cross is the Elementary school. I was amazed to see the school. It was surrounded by garbage and there was no place for the children to play. We spent the afternoon spreading around the tree branches and leaves in the water, then you would follow that by dumping sand to start a strong foundation for the Playground. This was hard because the sand was wet and heavy. We got a lot of work done! I am excited that the rest of our group made it in safely today!

blessings to all! Love Ya, Dominique!

Thursday Evening with MOM!

My mother Annie was in town from Arizona so I thought we would go out for an early supper and then head to Pettigrew House and Museum. The house was owned by Senator Richard Franklin Pettigrew. Mr Pettigrew was a great promoting of the city of Sioux falls. He was responsible for bringing in five railways and the development of business in Sioux Falls. When South Dakota became a state in 1889 he was elected a Senator for two terms. He also advocated Women's Rights so he would have gotten my vote :). Pettigrew was also a world traveler and a archaeologist. He has everything from things his brother and him found in local excavations, prehistoric tools, Native American tools and things of trade and other things from his worldly travels. The house was very pretty but reminded me of a haunted house and kind of freaked me out. My mother loved the wood work in the museum but she isn't much of a "museum goer" but she was a good sport for tagging along.

- Senior Commodity Distribution

At 9;30 the three of us girls went to the Salvation army to distribute commodities. I met all the majors and was assigned to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond table with Holly. Holly and I were to make sure that people coming in didn't take more than two of the many doo-dads on the table. The majors at salvation army kept telling us we could take anything that we need but I felt that other people needed this stuff more than I did. I was just their to help.

Terry Redlin

January 13th 2010.
My other classmantes Liz and Holly went to the salvation army to help serve supper and rollerskate with the kids. I had a game at six o'clock and I was pretty jealous I didn't get to go roller skating. So instead I joined a couple of my teammates and we went to Terry Redlin with our assitant coach megan and helped with the kids. For a couple hours I helped a few of the kids read and do their assigment after. I worked with the second grade class and i was amazed how attached some of the kids got to me, because im afraid of kids.

IMBIBE, IMMERSE, ENJOY!

HORSE BARN FULL OF ART! :) Imbibe, Immerse and Enjoy are the Words i see walking into the the barn. Today i ventured to Falls park to check out The horse barn with the featured art displays. I was the first one to sign the guest book for the new year so I was pretty excited about that :) I talked to the man who was working and he picks what gets displayed (never caught his name) and he told me that most of the art work there at the time was by high school students. I was told this after I looked at all the art and i was so impressed and i would have never guessed. There are some talented high school students out there. The first piece that caught my eye was a small water color painting by Sherri Sherard. It was of a tall windmill with a winding road and a field across the way. I had the same windmill across from our house and right next to our driveway that curved just like in the picture. I grew up in that house so that painting brought back some good memories and even some bad. My absolute favorite piece was by Yesenain Sanchez. I would have bought it if it was for the fact it said not for sale :( He took a picture of his sneakers, converses in the a puddle of water. It was black and white and it made this happy emotion come over me and great memories of all these shoes I've torn apart from puddle jumping.
My second had to be a shot by Beth deJong, it was so great. It was a close up shot with a sepia lens. It was of a football player with his intense eyes looking through the helmet cage. You could only see his eyes through the cage of the mask. I have issues with football and this photo brought all these feelings up. My best friend in high school was a year older than me. He played on the defensive line and was pretty big guy. On one of his a way games he jumped the over the pile to avoid getting a late hit. Someone got up at the same time clipped his should and broke my best friends neck. It was the hardest moment in my life involved with sports. To sit with his mom and brother and watch him motionless on the ground. Mike was able to walk after four months but he was never the same. He was getting looks from D-1 schools for swimming but all of that was taking away. Mike was just thankful he could walk and that made me realize how thankful i was for all i can still do and I never took a game or a practice for granted from that point. As much as i may grumble I love what i do and i love who i play with. After i left and reflected back on this i thought to myself how crazy it is that one picture could make me feel all these emotions.

It is simple for me to decide if i like something or not. If art makes me feel something deep or convey emotion! I like it. If it is deep and brings back feelings good or bad i want it in my house and i want to see it every day! Because that is magic to me as lame as it seems. I love looking at my uncle Chips Houles paintings, even though I cry almost every time, It is an real emotion and nothing fake and I love how art can reproduce this.

St. Francis House.

Today I was assigned to go to the St. Francis House for my J-term class. Prior to this I googled what the St. Francis House was all about. My first assumption was that it was like the Dorothy Day house. In high school we spent a lot of our volunteer time for a class i had to take in high school at the Dorothy Day house. Dorothy Day from Chicago was an activist who spoke out for the poor and homeless, she converted to Catholicism and embodied the beattitudes... Feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless and clothe the naked. A house was started in Fargo Moorhead when they saw the need for a place for the homeless and down on their luck to go. Well the St. Francis house emboides the same mission. St. Francis house believes in the worth of every human being. They do anything and everything from serving meals, proving showers, Clothes, counseling, help with substants abuse, find employment, and houseing with the Next Step houseing program.

My duties started at 9 Am in the morning.. thanks kim:) But i had to get up a little bit earlier than I wanted because God blessed us with a lot of snow and I had to shovel the driveway and sidewalk! OnceI was done with that I took to the snowy, slippery streets of sioux falls to the St. Francis house. When I was arrived I was greated by Pam and she immediatly put me to work. I wrote THANK YOUS! to all the generous people who donated to the house! I was happy to do this but I felt bad for the people who recieved letters with my poor, poor, penmenship! It was great to see the number of people who were giving, some gave a lot and some gave a little but im sure every one was doing what they could. As we all know we dont need to talk about our economy but people are still giving, and the the donations were from all over the dakota's and midwest! Number one reason why I love the midwest! I am sure it is like this in other places but there is this willingness to help that I find in Midwest that I just can not get enough of!

Sitting there I saw a few people who came in and out but they didnt say much. Just happy to get a warm meal I guess. I also overheard the woman their working about how they are redoing the basement and are looking for inexpenisve ways to go foward with this home improvment. The St. Francis House is a great thing, i really want to go back and help out more if I can in anway in the Future!