Rain, rain, don't go away ... I love you!!!

"Challenges make life interesting, however, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

                                                                      - Mark Twain

       Okay... be prepared to throw on your sad face because what I have to say is quite depressing. Remember how I was talking about getting rain? Well, we haven't been getting any, and now camp has officially be cancelled. I can't go to Camp Mary White this summer! Something that the other girls in my troop and I have been waiting for all year! Sami and I started counting off back when it was still at about 140 some days. I remember I would walk into class and Sami would ask me, "Guess what," with that goofy grin on her face, and she couldn't wait to shout out that we had 148 more days until camp. 

      I even paid for the plane ticket. Originally, I was supposed to go to church camp for a week in California, and leave on an early flight to get back to New Mexico and CMW on time. But, now CMW is cancelled and I paid for a $200 ticket that I don't need...I'm so bummed right now.... However, I will continue to hope for the best. 

     On another note, I previously sent out fifteen letters out to various Archery stores in New Mexico. I just recently got a couple of them back with, "return to sender" stamps on them. Unfortunately, I think I got some old addresses that are no longer valid. Oh well, I will hope for the best with my other little letters. ... To make my donation section a little more happy, I can say that I have gotten one donation, from my brother. He has an old recurve bow from when he was little and now he is about four times it's length. Pulling back on the string would be like snapping a rubber band to him now. 

      EVERYBODY, please pray, pray, pray for some rain! Camp Mary White needs it, and New Mexico needs it too! 

Bonne Nuit Haiti... Bonjour New Mexico...

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
                                                      - Dr. Seuss


     I barely got back home from Haiti, and I already miss the crazy, hectic, heartbreaking, uplifting, lazy, delightful Haiti life. I cried just about the whole way back from Dominican Republic to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (a good three hours), then, had another tearful goodbye as I parted with the rest of my new family in the Ft. Lauderdale terminal. I have never been to a place so beautiful and ugly at the same time. Pollution amounted to the ugliness that I saw, and the flora and fauna of the island took my breath away! Where else can you see mangoes and coconuts grow on trees! ... Okay, i admit, a lot of places, but it was the first time I got to see these massive trees tower over the little towns, swallowing them with vegetation Unfortunately, this trip is over but who knows, I might be able to go back next year. I'll definitely keep my hopes up.
    Now, I have to return to other responsibilities like summer homework (bleck!) and the Gold Award Project (woot, woot!). We decided to have a troop meeting soon after I got back. And what started as a meeting to officially start our Gold Award Projects (soon after finding out about their approvals!! Yee-hah!), ended up as a field trip to La Tienda (the Girl Scout store in New Mexico). Yay! Now I can officially get started.
     Now I get to write some letters, lick some stamps, seal some envelopes, ... and do a rain dance?... Yes, I did say rain dance! It's been quite dry in New Mexico (who would have guessed, dessert n' all). It's always dry this time of year, but usually we have more moisture abundant winters. This year however, we mostly got a super cold winter with some snowfall. Anyway, D.J., my Girl Scout troop leader, said that if we don't get more rain, then Camp Mary White would have to be closed due to fire dangers. ... I wont worry too much about it now, D.J. doesn't think it'll get closed, and she's had the privilege of attending CMW since she was a little girl.
     Ready, set, ... rain dance!