Fundraising is on its way!

We had a very successful and very fun Family Fundraising Party a few weeks ago. It was so nice to have all of the family (mine and Brian's) together in one place, getting to share more about what we will be doing and spending precious time with the people that we love and care about so much! We are both so so incredibly grateful for all of you that came to support us (and those that supported us in spirit) that day. We really feel so loved and truly blessed to have such amazing people who have our backs and support us both financially as well as emotionally! We really couldn't be doing what we are doing with out all of you so a HUGE thank you to you!

Time is ticking away and we have now started counting down days instead of months! Somehow we skipped the weeks, I think thanks to my mother, and it really sent me into a bit of a panic mode! I know that saying 6 weeks is the same as 40 something days but once the word "days" is thrown in there, it feels so close and so real! We have been really getting into looking at what the weather will be like in Michigan and in Belize as well as looking up You Tube videos of different cultural aspects of Belize. We started looking into Garifuna dance and music and we are now practicing our booty shaking abilities so that we can try to keep up! I encourage you to get on and look at some of the videos and, if you are brave enough, try it out! I do it when I am listening to music alone in my room so no one can judge me while I am practicing! Its a fun way to start getting in the mood! I am posting a couple that we have found on to our blog. they are on the right side, under the map of Belize. Enjoy!

We are still on for our wine tasting event! It will be Sunday September 26th at 5 pm. I will post our flyer soon and there will be invitations out soon as well! We are looking at having some amazing prizes and games and some DELICIOUS wine to taste! Mark your calendars now and contact us if you would like to purchase tickets!

We are really getting excited now and we have so much to do to get prepared so stay tuned and check in often to keep in the loop about what we are up to!

Tickets and Fundraising!

Exciting Exciting News! Our tickets to Michigan have been officially purchased!! We will leave DIA at around 9 am on October 25th and arrive in South Bend Indiana at around 5 in the afternoon where we will be picked up and taken to our new home at IICD in Dewagiac Michigan where we will begin our adventure!
When August rolled around I started to realize how close October is and now that our tickets are purchased the whole things is feeling really real! I think about how fast this summer has gone by and I am realizing that it is time to start getting in some serious quality time with our friends and families. This will be the longest either of us have been out of Colorado, away from our families, or out of the country. It is a very new and different experience and it will be like nothing we have ever done before. It is hard to imagine being away from the people that play such an important role in my life while also living in such drastically different living conditions and going through so much both physically as well as emotionally. Its starting to feel so intense but still so exciting. We will truly be thrown out of our comfort zones so many times and in so many different ways throughout the year we will be gone and this can only offer us an incredible number of opportunities to learn more about who we really are and our places in the world around us.

We are still working on fundraising (check out our Fundraising Thermometer on our blog!) and although we have had some hiccups in our plans things are still moving! We are having a family fundraising party in couple of weeks which is very exciting. We were going to send out fundraising letters to our families and then we thought, this is our family! We figured we might as well have an opportunity to get the whole family together and spend quality time with them instead of just sending out a formal letter to the people we love. We are also still working on a wine tasting event and we will have more details coming soon!

Keep checking back for more exciting articles about Belize and more updates about our journey!

Up Date!

These pictures were sent to us by Fransisco who just got back from Belize! Thanks Fransisco!

So, we have quite a bit going on!

Mark your calendars: We just set the date for a wine tasting fundraiser!

It will be September 12th-Brad from Primo Vino in Olde Town Arvada will be helping us with a fabulous wine tasting! We are also looking into having some entertainment from a fabulous local non-profit called Denver Creative Movement and we are looking for some items for a silent auction as well! We will write more about the event as the details come together but we are very very excited about it!

We only have a few more months until we leave and we have A LOT to get done!

We have received reports from the teams that are in Belize right now and its really fun to hear about what they are doing:

They have been helping the families they are working with farming more efficiently and are teaching them how to compost, etc. They are also working in the schools and doing activities with the kids, holding hygiene classes, HIV/AIDS awareness, etc. The village where they are living is out in the jungle with no electricity or running water. I posted some of the pictures that were sent to us by the group that just returned.

To the right you will a see a link to the report that we got so you can check it out for yourself!

(Keep in mind, most of the volunteers are not from the US so english is not their first language).

More to come soon!

Update! 6 Months left!

We have begun our fundraising process!
We are looking into various ideas for events and working on planning something for late July or early August.

We are also continuing to study Spanish and looking more into what we need to do to prepare not only financially but also physically and emotionally. It is going to be a very intense change from our lifestyles here: showers that consist of a bucket of water or trip down to the river, a hole in the ground as a toilet, and the dirt as the floor in our house. Not to mention big bugs and spiders and lots of deadly snakes.

We need to prepare ourselves the best we can so that we can be strong enough to be able to help the best we can and take full advantage of our time in Belize.

More to come soon, including news from and information about Belize!

Starting the Adventure!

Last summer (2009) Brian and I decided we wanted to travel. We weren't sure where or when exactly, or even what kind of travel we wanted to do. So we began looking into different programs and decided we wanted more of a volunteer service work type trip. We began looking into different programs and options that were out there but everything was so expensive for a very short amount of time. Being poor college students and wanting to really make a change, we were determined to find something that would allow us to the most for our money.

I had looked into IICD a while ago when I was feeling the travel itch but had decided that at that point in my life I wasn't quite ready to sign on to such a major committment. It came to mind as Brian and I were looking into various programs and the two of us began looking more and more into it. We automatically became interested in the Fight Poverty program they had and started talking to our contact weekly, if not more.

It was a process just to figure out what country we wanted to go to and how long it would take us to raise the money but we finally made the commitment and sent in our $300 each to secure our spots in the January Belize team!

We were both lucky enough to recieve a 50% scholarship and in turn, will be heading to Michigan at the end of October to volunteer for two months in order to help pay off our scholarship. So, on October 25th, 2010, we will arrive at IICD in Dowagiac, MI to begin our 12 month long adventure!!

This concludes my first post of my first blog, and the beginning or our adventure to Belize!

Below is a link to the IICD website if you want more info about what we are doing!

www.iicdmichigan.org/

Paz! Adios!

Andra and Brian