THHEEEE WEDDING

they are finally wed.

my lovely sister Kat is a wife now and there could not have been a greater way to have celebrated. the day was perfect and she (obviously) was absolutely stunning. when they got engaged in November i remember thinking it would take foooorrreverr for August to hurry up and get here. so far, their wedding day was the the best day of my life--surrounded by the ones who mean the most to me while having as much fun as allowed.

hehe. the before everything. waking up too early than what's good for most people but too excited to know the difference. 

the finished product. aiiyyyyeeee. good looking family ehh?

the ceremony was fast but precious. it was my first time to be a bridesmaid so witnessing such beautiful moments up close was a real treat.

my favorite part of the day, besides the dance, was THE PARTY BUS. ommmgggg tooo much fun. keg in the back, music pumping, everyone jumping around singing and dancing. 

mini break at the park for some lovey photo shoots

ladies' man.

the dance. sigh. so ridiculously fun. my family is an extreme lover of dancing so we made sure to get the best of the best DJs. you like our sparkle shoes? compliments of Hilary, the goal was to dance all the sparkles off by the end of the night. mission accomplished.

wedding party shots. getting the party started.

everybody chipped in to pay the DJ $100 extra to keep the dance going another hour. best dance of my life. at one point my brother in laws linked arms and with me on top, tossed me into the air for a nice little cheerleader twirl.

seems like i really wanted the bouquet.

the speeches beforehand were beyond moving. hilary had each sibling come up one at a time saying what we each contributed to the family, and then finally what Kathryn contributed to all of us. tears.

i'll never forget that part. seeing my brother in law hopping around in my skirt is a hilarious image that never goes away.

then we said peace to Mr. and Mrs. Bechard through a parade of sparklers.

:)

ZoO

Go to the zoo they said, it'll be fun they said. I love that phrase usage.

Take a bow Chanch. It was a little kiddy zoo, complete with train rides and a camel and flamingo if you looked hard enough.

Here we are, calmly and collectively waiting our turn for the face painting station. The anticipation is killing us. Or me anyway. Are they really going to be able to draw a pig on my face? 

Seeing how they made Vianney look like a fairy from the Land of Perfect, my suspicions were altered. 

It was finally Chancho's turn. What does the little girl want the paint lady asks, a puppy says I. Oh no says she, I'll give her a flower on her arm. Alllrighhtt so much for a free country, I should've known once I didn't see a bald eagle chillin somewhere that there'd be trouble.

Whoa! We got ourselves a Pablo Picasso over here! We waited an hour in line for that masterpiece,yes we did. I think the cotton candy line hour long wait would have proved more beneficial and liberating, but I guess that's for another zoo trip.  
I asked the lady for war paint. No says she. Alllrighhht. Onward!

Why I wasn't allowed on the pony rides is beyond me. I even tried to bribe the 10 year old pony leader with goat feed for the llama's near by but she wasn't having it.

Snow cones! But there was only enough left for a few parched children. I asked her to share, of course she said no. Shut up and eat your snow cone Chanch. 

He's so fun and fat. I squeeze him all day.

The highlight of our zoo trip had to be this pile of unknown dirt that Damaris and I explored. You could see the whole zoo from up there. So exhilarating. 

Adventures in Lincoln

I've been in Lincoln for almost 2 weeks now and will be here all summer! I've been doing this with my oldest sister Lindsay for about 5 summers, and sadly this is probably my last visit since next year I have to start doing grown up things ;)

I love Lincoln, everything about this city is perfect! Yesterday evening we decided to be wild and take all 8 of the kids on a picnic at the lake. I'm amazed we all fit on the blanket.

I can only imagine how annoyed my friends are with me --all I do is post pictures/talk about this little girl. Damaris aka Chancho is probably the cutest kid to ever waddle the earth. Two summers ago she had just been born and I held her constantly, feeding her, changing her, bathing her--the works! I was practically her mother lets just say ;) So we've been pals ever since. 

Just this morning she was up before me and Lindsay told me she came running frantically through the house looking for me yelling "BIG MAR! (the kids call me Big Mar to distinguish us) WHERE IS SHE?!" Calm down Chanch it's only 6 a.m. give it some time. 

Damaris and Damaris :) How I feel about her is how Lindsay felt about me when I was a baby--which is probably why we spend every summer together. 

After stuffing our faces with cream puffs we explored the country side. It was so refreshing.

It was harder than it looks. John wanted to do hill races. Yeahhhh righttt. Track season's over.

Made it. Miss Sass O' Frass in the front. 

I was very tempted to go swim out and go sailing. 

Then the sand throwing began. Some ducks swam by later and Damaris goes "CHICKENS!" Idiot.

Precious girls. 

And the best for last. Rawr. I want to bite his fat off. Kapaun is very much a mama's boy but him and I are working on our relationship. I told him I'm his aunt and he has no choice but to like me so it's gotten better ;) Chancho calls him "Boy."

Graduations!!

Whoo! It's been awhile. Ever since I returned from Haiti my life was bombarded with school, finals, and other odds and ends. A few of those events included Kathryn's bridal shower (yes, another one), my other sister, Kellan, high school graduation, and also Kathryn's college graduation. 

Kat is in the middle as the almost blushing bride. Once they're married in August they'll move to Wisconsin, so naturally the theme of the party had everything to do with cheese. Which was just great, I had more than my fair share of cheesecake. 

Austin aka Perosis (Osteoporosis--Austioperosis--Perosis....we're all very odd) looovvess his heels ;) We're always giving him trouble for his cowboy boots with a nicely raised heels that make perfect clicking sounds when he walks. Aren't they too cute though?? (the couple, not the boots....but I guess the boots too).

 And now my baby Kev's high school graduation. She is the last of my mom's 10 children, so the ceremony was very surreal. It's wild to think that I was wearing that blue cap and gown only 2 years ago! Time flies.

She's going to Benedictine this fall, and has an intense love of culinary arts so will eventually maker her way to owning a restaurant and conquering the world one pastry at a time.

 Kellan is also quite athletic and will be joining me next year on the track team. 

Cum Lade! Kathryn is brilliant and graduated with flying colors with an Accounting and Finance degree. Most of the family made it up to Atchison to witness her monumental moment. It made me anxious to finish my last two years and for some reason felt an urge to major in 3 more subjects (that moment has passed).

Finally, I am back to my second home in Nebraska. My sister, Lindsay has 8 kids so I'm her little governess ;) This will be my last summer to do so, so I will be cherishing this summer greatly--especially this little girl. She is beyond special to me, it might have something to do with the fact that we have the same name lol. Damaris aka Chancho is a ball of fire and keeps everybody on their toes. 

I'm doing P90X this summer as well in preparation for Kat's wedding...this summer has a lot to look forward to!!

Mission Trip to Haiti

Where do I even start?! As soon as I set foot in Haiti I stayed in a constant state of numbness.  

Once we got on our bus to drive 3 hours to Gonaives, my eyes were peeled to the window. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. From the rubble and ruined "houses" to the chaos and filth, my emotions were overwhelmed with sadness and disbelief at the poverty. 

Also there were goats everywhere. What cats are to Americans, goats are Haitians. I was always seeing some kid hog-tied in the road. lol. 

For some reason I missed the memo that we were going to be working with MOTHER THERESA'S NUNS! As soon as they told us that I literally freaked out (internally). My mom loves Mother Theresa, and her nuns are practically saints, so the fact that I would be near them for a whole week brought me tears of joy! I acted like a kid at Christmas when we got to their compound and one of them shook my  hand. 

For most of the trip we were with the little orphans and the sick. The first day we were there they asked who wanted to go see the babies and of course I jumped right in. I turn the corner to go into their room and my heart stopped when I saw about a dozen cribs crammed together and babies everywhere. "Have your pick!" they said and I see a little girl, probably two years old, just standing in the middle of the room, just looking at me. So precious, her face was adorable and I ended up sitting on bench for 2 hours with her just cradled in my arms. Every day I did that--they all just wanted be held. I could sit there for hours and they would just stay there. It was sad how that's all they wanted, they didn't need to be entertained, they just wanted to be loved. 

This little girl in particular was very dear to my heart. I didn't meet her until the third day but as soon as we were together, we were never separated. I don't even know her name which is unfortunate but we were definitely soul mates :) I still picture her sweet little face and it makes me sad. The interesting thing was that she was a very mean little girl to everyone. She hit, bit, and slapped anyone, especially if another baby was sitting on my lap. But it made me see that we all can be like that, especially when we are lacking love. 

One day I decided I wanted to do manual labor and spent the day sanding wood and varnishing benches. Other than that the only thing I did besides being at the Missionaries of Charity with the children was on Saturday. We had a whole bunch of games and activities and took them to a part of the community for the kids to come and have some fun. My station was soccer which was embarrassing but also entertaining. They were beyond athletic and I stood no chance. The kids kept laughing at me, apparently I wasn't as good as I thought. However, I did play soccer every day and was quite skilled by the end of the week. 

There was a face painting station as well, which ended up being full body painting and they were the painters, also another area where their skill was superior to mine. Dang it. 

I picked up this unamused munchkin from the sock puppet station. He had no idea what was happening as you can see.  

Our mode of transportation. "Tap Taps", we are packed in tightly, we could fit 15 of us in it. Nice and hot and sweaty. The driving there is ridiculous. It's like a NASCAR race only everybody's going in different directions. My life flashed before my eyes a few million times--no speed limit, no stop signs, and a lot of swerving and honking, I think I developed a high blood pressure. 

My buddy Soon! We both were so excited to be there but struggled seeing the sights if you get what I'm implying. At least he has an excuse. 

This is the area where we stayed, complete with pool! Except it was suspicious, I was nervous there was a crocodile living in it. 

Our uniform. I kind of like the scrub look. It was awesome to not care about my appearance for a week.

I can genuinely say I liked everyone on the mission. Every one of them had a big heart of love which is always admirable, and we all brought a lot of humor to the show. 

The food was scary at first, so I guess my taste buds either adapted to it or I was just famished because I sure cleaned up my plates. 

Haiti has the most beautiful sunsets.

Sunday mass was at the compound, it was so neat to see how they celebrated even though I didn't understand a word they were saying. Their music was upbeat and made you want to dance in your pew. After mass they continued dancing outside which was so delightful to see their happiness. That's another thing I learned, I was expecting the people of Haiti to be sad and depressed, especially since they live in poverty, but they actually have a lot of joy. They don't realize what they don't have, which made me frustrated with America because we have everything and still want more, and when we get more we're still unhappy. 

Let me tell you about my little boy John. It was Easter Sunday and a few of my fellow missionaries asked if I wanted to go see the sick boy John who had malaria and typhoid. I said sure and followed them into the room thinking I was just goin g to see another poor sick little boy. But as soon as I walk up to his crib I see him hooked up to IVs and realized that he wasn't just sick--he was actually dying. So I begin SOBBING uncontrollably. Keep in mind I hadn't cried all week, I had teared up a lot, but I had refused to let any tears run lose. But seeing him gave me no control over it and I could not get myself together. Seeing his little 10 year old body scrunched in a crib, his eyes lifeless, his breathing heavy--I will have that image in my head forever. It was truly heartbreaking. And to make matters worse, his mother comes in and her face is just as sorrowful, she sees me crying and I feel even more awful. AND THEN, he actually starts to die, the nurse begins giving him chest compressions and I'm left motionless leaning over his crib and holding his hand, crying like its my own child that I'm losing. He would put his hand up to push the nurses arm away from pressing his chest because it hurt him, and it would break my heart all over again, I felt so useless and wanted so bad to help his suffering. 

I went back the next day and looked through the window where he had been, but all I saw was an empty crib. It saddened all of us to see death and suffering so up close but in the end it was a comfort to know that he's not suffering anymore, he's probably quite happy now actually. 

The day we flew back home I sat next to a Haitian lady on the plane. She spoke perfect English so we were chatting back and forth. I told her about my trip and mentioned I learned a few words in the language, to which she laughed at when I recited them to her. Apparently all this time when I asked the little kids what their name was, I was asking what their husband's name was. That explains why they always looked at me like I was an idiot. Whoops.

I learned so much I can't even understand all of it. It was an incredible experience that made me see life an a whole new way. It's amazing how much fearlessness and love can help you conquer anything. I will have these memories for the rest of my life and will always have a special place in my heart for Haiti and the people in it.