paul's guatemala menu

banana & blackberry smoothie

salsa verde, butter & papaya spread

spaghetti with hotdog

grilled chicken, rice, macaroni & watermelon

mystery meat with salsa, beets & macaroni

chicken on the bone with carrots potato & rice

homemade chicken noodle soup with squash & potatoes

fish, rice & fries

special treat-frozen choco banana with sprinkles

fried eggs with salsa, black beans, plantain & smoked sausages

last dinner before coming home-steak, baked potato & veggies

famous drink- mickey mouse: club soda, cherry, pinapple & orange juice

update from champerico



Paul is having a great time connecting with the children




The team after the first day of digging



Here's a catch-up from Mr. Lopez on what they have been doing in Guatemala. The village they are building the well in is called "El Triunfo" which means "The Triumph" & they have definitely been triumphant during their visit. Due to the mudslide all their phone lines are still knocked down so most of the communication have been thru text messages & a few phone calls so when Paul gets back we'll have a more detailed account of his trip with tons of pictures.  On Tuesday they hit water & were able to go through two layers of gravel which rarely happens so this is a HUGE deal!!! At first the water was extremely brown but as they flushed it out it started to run clear very soon due to the filtration of the all the gravel, the team leader was so proud of them & the village could not contain their excitement on what a strong team they were given! Living Water International visited their team leader's village 7yrs ago to build them a well, he was so thankful he joined the Living Water team & now travels all through Guatemala as a team leader helping build wells. On Wednesday they constructed the pad, installed the pump base & spent time in the community & schools going over proper hygiene. Today they installed the pump & had the dedication ceremony...whoo hoo mission accomplished!!!

Building, Reading, and Writing

We love to put the markers on the paper, we think it is much better than putting them in our mouths now! ;0)

Building is also one of our specialties!

But most of all we love to sit down with a good book, and listen to stories at story time!

operation guatemala update

A village near the drill site

 Some of you may know we have focused some of our past projects on the on-going water crisis in the world, the children were so inspired by everything they learned they raised  $850 to send Paul Lopez (Ella & Livia's daddy) to Guatemala to help build a well with Living Water International. Here are the links to some of the previous posts to refresh your memory...

http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/04/water-in-africa.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-african-village.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/06/making-difference.html
http://littlewondersschool-pre-k.blogspot.com/2010/07/operation-guatemala-bracelets.html

 Mr. Lopez flew out bright & early this last Saturday morning & had a smooth flight to Guatemala City. On Sunday they set out for Champerico which is about a 4 hour drive to the coast, due to the extensive rain it took them over 6 hours to get there. Yesterday was their first day in the village they're actually building the well in, it's about 45 mins away from Champerico, so it's kinda of like driving from Sugar Land to Galveston everyday. When they got to the village they were greeted by the mayor, water committee, teachers & all the people of the village who told them how grateful they are that they are building a well for their people. Yesterday was the first day that it hadn't rained in a long time & the team took advantage of it & drilled down 145 feet...that is AWESOME for the first day!!! So if it rains today, they'll be ahead of schedule & there wont be to much pressure. For lunch yesterday they ate scrambled eggs with black beans & corn tortillas, everyone was in awe watching the women of the village making these corn tortillas right in front of them. One thing Mr. Lopez can't get over is watching these families bathe & wash their clothes in their filthy river, you watch these things on tv, but to see them in person is really difficult to see. Whole families (up to 5 people) riding on scooters with the baby riding on the gas tank, it is an eye opener of how fortunate we are. So far he has taken about 500 pictures but with all the rain & flooding the internet is down, so we have only gotten a few pictures, we'll be sharing more as soon as we can. We're so happy to be able to help with the water crisis & we want to say thank you to all who helped make this possible!!



Paul & 3 school boys

Paul, Ella & Livia

chalk

"Hey look what I found!!""make some room guys, I need to make LONG lines"

"I like the way this sounds when I pound it on the table"

"I think the chalk looks better on white paper!"

Espanol!

We are excited to announce that Little Wonders has now teamed up with the Language Factory to incorporate Spanish into our curriculum! We are coordinating with a Spanish teacher at the Language Factory to create a Spanish lesson once a week for our children! She will teach them vocabulary, songs, and hold conversations with the children to help them learn Spanish.



Classes will begin tomorrow September 10th at 10:30 a.m., they will be held at Little Wonders. This will be the only week that classes will be on Friday. Beginning next week classes will be every Monday.



Handouts will be provided after the classes start. If you have any questions feel free to ask Maryam.

Paint anyone????

"What color do you want?"

Doodle Doodle Doodle

"Yes??? May we help you?" 

We love to draw all day long!!We always have so much to say about our drawings.....what we are making, what color we are using, and how many we made!!!!