March 14, 2011

PI DAY!

This weekend was fun! I chaperoned a church retreat for the high schoolers that I taught that one time, along with Allison, Amy, Adam, Ashley, and Preston, who were a few of my friends from church back in college. The retreat was fun, well-run, and pretty organized, but the best parts were hanging out with them, as well as spending a little bit of time with the girls on my side of the cabin. They were so silly and fun, and I really hope they go far in life :) It was a beautiful weekend of sunshine, prayer, and good food!

Since little sleep happened, I took a 3 (ish) hour nap Sunday afternoon when I got home, and part of my dream involved eating gummi peaches... and I woke up drooling all over myself. Pretty attractive, right? Scott cooked us some BBQ ribs, and I made a salad :) Due to the nap, I couldn't sleep, so I filled out the FAFSA and felt productive.

Today was good because I used some of my credit card rewards points on Kiva to lend some money to a lady in Bolivia who is trying to raise money to send her daughters to school. You lend $25 to help a person/group with their small business, and they pay you back in small installments. YAY microlending! Here's who I just made my first loan to:

Mrs. Felicia Quispe, 36, has two daughters in her care. She’s a single mother who was abandoned by her husband. She and her daughters live alone in Quillacollo. She sells clothes at wholesale and retail. The clothing is both new and used that she brings sometimes from Santa Cruz Department.

Felicia buys the clothes by the dozen directly from manufacturers and resells sometimes at higher prices. If she sells by the piece she earns more profits. During market she goes to Santa Cruz to sell her merchandise and returns with other merchandise to sell. This is how she’s always seeking ways to obtain more profits and better income for her family.

Felicia, in her zeal to find better possibilities to improve income, came by in person to request a loan to have working capital. An evaluation was conducted and it’s clear that she is a woman who works very hard for her family’s wellbeing. Felicia wants to use this loan to finish paying school costs for her daughters so that they will become hard working, upstanding citizens.

Yay! I feel happy.