Tag Archive for 'simply smiles'

Going Deeper: Reflections on The Village Project, Oaxaca, Mexico, Summer 2011 by Peter Allen

mathew published on September 4, 2011 in build, celebrity, food, superforest journal and zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

As some of you might know I spent the summer working for an organisation called Simply Smiles. I have yet to write my own overview of my summer there, but I thought I would extend this piece, written by my coworker and boss, to all of you. So here it is, please enjoy!

Not long ago, the Founder and President of Simply Smiles, Bryan Nurnberger, posted a moving account of his summer on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation. In it, he discussed the challenges of developing trusting relationships and effective programs in the absence of cohesive community. The heart of his conclusion was vintage Bryan: We will continue to work with our new friends on the Reservation despite the persistence of suspicion and a sometimes terrifying lack of hope. “The need trumps the obstacles,” as he says. My experiences as the Simply Smiles team leader in Mexico this summer were in many ways opposite from Bryan’s, but as with the Reservation, the importance of communityemerged as the dominant theme of our eight weeks in Oaxaca.

Our work with marginalized communities in southern Mexico certainly involves improving the lives of our friends there physically. We bring food to those suffering from malnutrition and to those at risk of starvation. We rebuild and repair schools. In the past, we’ve built houses and transformed a children’s home.

However, beneath and within all this practical help is an essential reality: trusting relationships and compassionate connections. This summer, in addition to refining and improving upon last year’s program, we did our best to deepen and strengthen the friendships that Bryan and many others developed in 2009 and 2010. This meant not just buying groceries but working side by side with the women of Santa Maria Tepexipana (including Lula, Christobalina, Matea, Angelina and others) as they prepared the weekly community meals. It meant holding Movie Night every Thursday and inviting not just children but people of all ages. It meant stopping into people’s homes to chat as we walked by on our way to the storage shed. It meant welcoming children into our campsite and playing cards and laughing for hours.

Those who expressed gratitude to us consistently emphasized their appreciation of ourfriendship over our material help. Personally, I believe this is because friendship is something that they can and do give to us as much as we give it to them. In any situation where the “haves” are giving to the “have nots,” there is a fundamental and uncomfortable lack of parity. But friendship levels the field. For this reason, we went deeper into this jungle this summer, holding a community meal in the mountaintop village of La Cienega, walking an hour-plus uphill in order to send a signal to them and to others: We will make the effort to come to you. We want to know where you live and to share life with you.

Each of our staff members and interns also recognizes that we could have done nothing of substance in Oaxaca City and in the jungle without the help of the local residents. Carol and Francisco welcomed us to Casa Hogar each Sunday afternoon. At the dump, Edith, Luciano, and Soledad allowed us into their homes, took us on tours, and embraced us with brilliant smiles. Each community meal in Santa Maria required at least 10 hours of preparation and hundreds of fresh tortillas. We needed a local mason (Javier) to help us make improvements to village schools. Even the people at the places we stopped on our long drive to the jungle each week became our good friends. They opened their hearts and homes to us and we know that we can rely on them in an emergency.

Yes, the food is making a difference in the jungle. The people who attend our community meals and come to our food distributions are unmistakably healthier. That is something to celebrate! And the unexpected feedback we received from some of the adults and older children – that the people of Santa Maria are closer to one another and treat their children better since we’ve come into their lives — is extremely gratifying.

However, all is not wonderful. Social injustices abound. Crimes go unpunished. Our friends at the dump still live and work in an alarmingly unsafe environment. The people in the Santa Maria region still lack anything close to decent health care (Can you imagine being a parent and not having a place to bring your sick child?). The political and economic decks remain stacked against the coffee farmers and their families and workers.

Simply Smiles has plans to help our friends address these issues, but we need your active support. Will you help us by coming to Oaxaca in 2012 and, if you feel moved to do so, by making a donation or becoming an I’m Dedicated donor? Please contact Bryan or me or visit our website if you want to be a part of this amazing life we are living – a life of deepening connections and emerging hope.

Thank you so much to our staff, interns, volunteers, and donors for creating thousands of smiles and for making Summer 2011 a success!

Mathew’s Journal – My Mind is Blown

mathew published on June 6, 2011 in superforest journal and zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

SuperForest,

A few weeks ago I came upon this video that told me I had been doing something I considered simple and easy the wrong way my entire life! I did not know how to tie my shoes, and this man has taught me the right way:

Wow! Right? And trust me this really works, my shoes DO NOT come untied. Ever.

This video has been one of many a thing recently that has blown my mind. The past year has been a strange one, and I feel I have gotten more lost than usual. It was almost like my life was a drawing by a one year old:

Something Like This...

Totally INSANE! Every direction at random, never having a true heading or understanding of where it was going. Which I suppose is just how life is, but it felt more random than it has in the past. At times I have found myself really detached from the world around me, and really stuck in my head. Other times I felt detached from my head, simply floating along. But along this journey, like I said, my mind has been blown. I have seen and experienced amazing things, and I am constantly trying to retune myself into being in gratitude. The strange thing, at least to me, is that my head says this past years experience should be scary or something of that nature, but in fact I feel it was actually serene. Many emotions have flown through my system in the past months, many that have seemingly bogged me down, confused me, and trampled me. But I also have had just as many that have lifted me up, made me soar, and that have given me a smile.

One of the patterns I have seen in the past year is that I have pulled myself away from this little blog. Stopped writing to myself, to you, to it. I got more involved in the physical world, and less involved here. I reallocated my energy to different people, and now I am here writing my mind to all of you. I devoted my love and time to those things and people new in my life, and now it is time to bring it all back in. Perhaps their is a trick to balancing it all while continuously adding more, but I haven’t found it yet. And perhaps part of me never wants to find that trick, love exists because we have loss and pain. It is a beautiful system of constant giving, where we must constantly divert our attention to that which is freshly given, or choose to remain focused on what we already have. Hmm..many a interesting thought here.

As always thank you for giving me your time, it constantly astonishes me that I am given it. It is a true gift, thank you. And I have sincerely missed you, SuperForest. I haven’t even been good about reading everyday, which I something I used to pride myself with. I would open my computer, and if there was a new post I would read it, no matter what else I had going on. Now I find myself saying, I can read that later. Well a old saying reawakened me to that note, “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” If I expect people to read and enjoy my writing, I must also enjoy theirs! The result? I enjoy my writing more! So, I make my mark once again on these pages, which journal the growing community of love minded individuals.

Sadly I only have a few more weeks of guaranteed internet, as I soon leave to work in Mexico for Simply Smiles, our dear SuperForest friends. So, I hope to make more of a mark in those coming weeks, and then tell you all about the experiences I have! Until next time, Constant Reader. Keep giving all that you give SuperForest & SuperForesters, it keeps inspiring me beyond belief.

Until next time,

M

SuperForest Exclusive: An Insight To Simply Smiles – An Interview with President and Founder Bryan Nurnberger

mathew published on August 20, 2010 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .
As I have written about before (Here & Here) the organisation Simply Smiles is close to my heart. I got the chance to interview my dear friend, president and founder of Simply Smiles, Bryan Nurnberger. It is the beginning of a new and growing relationship with Simply Smiles and SuperForest. It promises to be a beautiful and exciting partnership, and I hope to bring you as many updates as I can. So enjoy this interview, and then after that..well just Simply Smile! :D
SuperForest – You asked me this about SuperForest, so I’ll turn it around, what is the Simply Smiles philosophy?
Bryan Nurnberger – Our “dignity” philosophy is well outlined in the philosophy section of the website.  But it is in fact only one aspect of our philosophy.  This kind of humanitarian work is never black and white.  Simply Smiles is supported by corner stones of philosophies that move us forward each day. Building an individuals dignity is one.  The importance of a moment – and then a series of moments – “Simply Smiles” that lead to a bright future is another.  And our moral obligation (that we embrace joyfully) as the “haves” to reach out to those in need is another.  Finally, the dismissal of borders and flags for the acceptance of all of us as one global human population of equals is another.
SF – Why “Simply Smiles”?
BN – Because we believe in the power of those moments.  Of making a child smile.  We rarely are able to pull off broad strokes.  That is, we can’t sweep into an area and build a hospital that changes the region’s health care in an instant.  Instead, we value high-fives, shared meals, and the smaller incremental steps to get to those bright futures.  This also allows us to build dignity by building friendships with those we strive to support.  Plus, you can interpret a name like Simply Smiles however you would like to and it always turns out good.  Hard to put a negative spin on a name like that.
SF – What began this adventure, or what was your initial inspiration?
BN – I stumbled upon the Casa Hogar Benito Juarez Children’s Home in Oaxaca, Mexico when I was a 24 year old rock climber traveling Mexico to recuperate from an injury.  What I found there were 70+ children who changed my life.  One boy with Cerebral Palsy named Ricardo really touched me and he was (and is) the inspiration, the catalyst, the genesis, for all of this.
SF – What keeps you inspired?
BN – Almost everything.  The needs we see each day, the smiles on the kid’s faces, our proven ability to really help people, our donors who in most cases give blindly without ever having met the kids they are supporting, our traveling volunteers, the sacrifices people make to help us, even the office work – learning to manage people, accounting, effective fundraising, computers – really I enjoy every aspect.  Maybe with the exception of squeezing my 6’3″ frame into airplane seats a million times a month…
SF – What are the projects you have worked on?
BN – We transformed the Casa Hogar home into a model children’s home where the kids there have everything they need to achieve our mandate of providing bright futures
We build a second Casa Hogar in a town called Cuicatlan.  Same as our first, but here children were living with their parents in prison.  Thanks to the home, never again will an innocent child have to live in Mexican prison with a parent.
We build 28 homes for 127 people who were previously living in a garbage dump
We are providing over 12 tons of food that keeps 3000+ people fed each month in the jungle of southern Mexico.  (Much more to come on this, this is a very first step in helping them)
We are working on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.  Beginning throws here, but the needs are comparable to the worst I have seen in developing countries – and it is in South Dakota…
Every child we begin supporting has the opportunity to go to college.  We currently have 2 college students studying in Mexico and one in the United States.  All on Simply Smiles Scholarships.  This opportunity is available to anyone – even if you were born in prison, in a dump, or in a remote mountain village.  Such is our commitment.
SF- What are the plans of the future?
BN – We believe our manner of support and our philosophies are sound, meritous, and should be spread to wherever there is need.  So, we hope to work around the globe.  Immediately though, we are working to build a center of operations on the reservation in South Dakota and to launch another Casa Hogar Children’s Home in the jungle of Oaxaca, Mexico.
SF – How have you seen Simply Smiles impact the communities you’ve worked with? What measures are you taking to ensure these impacts remain, longterm plans for helping and creating sustainable futures?
BN – We have.  Children who grew up in our homes are in college, married, and living happy lives they otherwise would not have had.
In the dump, the homes are the hand up that many needed to improve their incomes and standard of living for their families.  The government even recognized this and brought in electricity to the houses we built.
In the jungle we are bringing back the traditional way of life there by purchasing their coffee and selling it in the US under the label of “Simply Smiles Coffee”  (Launching officially in September of 2010).
To ensure our work is lasting we maintain a presence through friendship.  Even at the dump, where the work is nearly done, we visit our friends there several times a month.  Just to talk.  To see how they are doing.  To let them know we did this for them, not just to make us and our volunteers feel good.
SF – What does “relationship” mean to you?
BN – It’s a synonym for those dignity building friendships in this case.
SF – What was your most inspiring and/or shocking experience?
BN – Too many to list.  But the most would be “discovering” Casa Hogar back in 2002 – the moment that started this all.
The second would be seeing an 11 year old boy named Jorge tear into our trash from Casa Hogar at the dump trying to survive.
SF – What has given you hope?
BN- Our supporters.  Plain and simple.

Thank you Bryan!

If you would like to contribute to Simply Smiles personally, or learn more, please head over to their website by clicking here! If you are at all interested in getting further involved feel free to contact me and I can get you in contact with Bryan personally. Even if you have any questions feel free to email me at mharreld1991{at}gmail{dot}com! Thank you SuperForest!

Mathew’s Journal – (16.5.10) – Simply Smiles (Part 2)

mathew published on May 16, 2010 in build, celebrity and zeitgeist. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Heeeeelllloooo SuperForest!

Like I promised I am here for my next journey into the wonderful realm of Simply Smiles.  I am sorry it is rather late, it has been a long day.  And as SuperForester Heather said, I just couldn’t make time.

For the first instalment: click here!

When I got back from Mexico the first time I felt changed.  And understandably.  More than that, I felt excited!  Ready to help and make a change.  But what plague me was how.  Bryan had told us before leaving that our journey was just beginning.  We were now beginning our part as ambassadors of Simply Smiles; witnesses of what we had all lived and experienced together.  Our responsibility was to share this with all (much like SuperForest thrives and strives to do).  At the time I didn’t know how.  I shared it with my friends and family.  I struggled living back in the western civilisation.  I help present our trip to the whole school.  I started to plan a concert fund-raiser with Kristen that sadly fell through because of many factors (but the drive for doing this is still very alive in my heart, and one day shall become reality).  Time went on and I tried as much as possible to share my experience with all I met along the path, but still it all felt inadequate.  So, of course when our second trip was announced I was one of the first to jump on board.  I was so excited for this!  Bryan had talked about a new project while we were in Mexico the first time, and now that project was on going.  Our group was going to be the first youth group to head down for this project.  We were all very excited.

March of 2010 we left for Oaxaca, Mexico yet again.  We had new faces and some old, but the feeling was the same.  Except this time I knew the faces of Alejandro, Olé, Tino, and all the other kids at Casa Hogar would be greeting me soon! I kept my promise to all of them when I had left last year.  I told them, “Uno años,” or one year.  And now I was back!

This time we weren’t staying at Casa Hogar, but at the under construction Simply Smiles Headquarters where we would be helping bringing it up to functionality.  Here are some pictures of the HQ:

Freshly painted building

Our tents at HQ

A fresh in progress tiling job

But we also spent plenty of time with the kids!!

Hanging at Casa Hogar

The first few days of the trip were spent in Oaxaca, Oaxaca.  We had to depart from Casa Hogar once again.  But I left with the same promise I did last year, “Uno años.”  We then packed up and headed out for the next leg of our adventure, and the next project.  We took a whole day driving across the state of Oaxaca to our new location.  The ride their was spectacular!

Some spectacular views

We soon arrived in the middle of the jungle ready for our next task.  We had a few days to move 12 tons of food from storage to our camp site, and then repackage it to make it ready for 2,500 people.  This was the new project, also known as “The Village Project.”  Again here is some background.  Simply Smiles teamed up with a great name guy Juan.  He was working at Casa Hogar, after living their as an orphan, but now is fully fledged employee of Simply Smiles.  And about a year or so ago Bryan asked Juan where people really needed help.  He told Bryan it was at his home.  The people there hadn’t seen modern medicine, a white person, and much more we all take for granted.  Bryan was the first white guy many of the village, and surrounding villages had seen.  The village we are located in is far from the main city, almost near the cost.  Here’s a map:

We are towards the south end, close to the Pacific

The village we stayed in had around 30 people.  The mountains around us had many micro communities of families trying to scrape a living.  It was our job to give them the basic nutrition to simply survive.  There is no other way to put except, before Simply Smiles came along these human beings were starving to death.  But as always it started with becoming friends, and with the amount of mistrust these people have with white people (because some time ago or so some came and kidnapped their children) it has been a difficult task.  Juan and his family have been beyond helpful!  The next bit I will show to you all in pictures and video, because I know my words will fail me.  First, I will show you Bryan’s own introduction to the project, he describes better that I ever could.

Before I begin, however, I should mention that since we are working under the Simply Smiles philosophy this day wasn’t just us handing out food.  It was a day of celebration.  It is known as “La Fiesta,” the party!  We play with the kids, share food, and talk all while also handing out our monthly supply of much needed food.

our camp, about to hold our expected 2,500 people

Moving the food to camp. Items included: rice, beans, oil, candy, soap, sugar

Getting ready for the Fiesta!

Taking a much needed break with the locals!

All food ready to go, phew! Now the real party begins

Everyone waiting to get in and get their monthly package

The most important part of the day, having fun! We did face paints, played tag, broke bread, and more!

A bird's-eye view of the day

People walked over a days journey to get this food, so they could survive. We received 2,963 people that day.  Way more than we had thought.  We were devastated by the number.  Each month it had been increasing and we were hoping it would slow down, it did the opposite.  Bryan had said the night before, “I hope there isn’t more than 2,500, not because we don’t have the food, but because I would be devastated by that number increasing.”  We ended up having to face the dilemma of running out of food.  Beans ran short, but every family was fed in the end.  The last thing we ever wanted to do, as it would have broken all of our hearts, was turn a family around and say sorry.  Fortunately that hasn’t happened.

Some of you may be asking yourselves how Simply Smiles plans to keep doing this every month.  That isn’t the plan.  Long term goals are set to reintroduce the coffee industry in the area through Simply Smiles Coffee!  This is an effort to bring back self-sustainability for these people. Perhaps one day permaculture will take its grips there too!

For more info on “The Village Project” click here.

If you remember Kristen’s song, Keep Hope, from my first Sunday Sunshine post, then you might remember the story she told about the girl with no name.  That story is true, and it came from this gathering.  There is a girl with no name who comes with her family to get their monthly food.  Her family loves her dearly, but when she was born they were so worried by just keeping her alive they didn’t name her.  She is now known as No Name, as no other name would stick.  She is a beautiful girl, with vast amounts of potential, if only she was given the chance.  That is what Simply Smiles is trying to do.  Give a chance, a hope, a life.  Many of the children Simply Smiles works with have the same dreams all children have.  They want to be doctors, policeman, fireman, and even lawyers.  But what hope have they if the can’t leave a dump, or if they can’t even eat a daily meal?  Simply Smiles gives them that chance.  Currently one student is studying in the U.S. now and two others are studying in Mexico City!

That is the power that Bryan is creating for these peoples.  He and the Simply Smiles organisation are creating hope for brighter futures.  We all at SuperForest commend you!

Please lend out a SuperForest helping hand to Simply Smiles by visiting their website, here!

And for their facebook page, go here!

I am sure there is much I am missing, so please do go visit their website to learn more on what they are doing.  Change is always in the air for Simply Smiles, as it always is for SuperForest.  I promise you will all feel at home.  There is much more to come from Simply Smiles!  Stay tuned for more news about Simply Smiles right here on SuperForest!  And as SuperForester Kristen will tell you…

SIMPLY SMILE!

Have a great week everyone,
SuperForester Mathew

Mathew’s Journal – (15.5.10) – Simply Smiles (Part 1)

mathew published on May 15, 2010 in build, celebrity, superforest journal and zeitgeist. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Gooooooood Morning SuperForest!

Back in March I told Sun Shines On that I was going on a trip to Mexico with an organisation called Simply Smiles.  I then wrote I would tell them all about this trip, unfortunately I did not.  First, I couldn’t bring myself to divulge my experience, keeping it close to my heart.  Then life happened, and I just haven’t gotten around to it.  So today I am going to beginning sharing my whole Simply Smiles story with SuperForest, including my most recent adventures.  Today I will start with my first trip back in 2009.  Tune in tomorrow for my second trip.

The fall of 2008 I was introduced to Simply Smiles by one of my teachers and told him I would love to go along on a school trip.  It was the first one my school would be doing.  We left in March of 2009 for Oaxaca, Mexico.

Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Arriving at a tiny little airport we waited for our luggage in anticipation for the unknown.  Bryan Nurnberger, founder & president of Simply Smiles, greeted us outside to take us off to Casa Hogar the orphanage we would be spending out time at.  Casa Hogar, at the time (as Simply Smiles have opened some more now), was the only orphanage in the state of Oaxaca that supported children with disabilities.

Our mission at Casa Hogar was best described by “Simply Smiles.”  We were there to be friends, to play, to laugh, and to smile! We also did a few things to help out around the orphanage such as: painting the playground, cleaning some buildings, and cooking.  But that was just some extra stuff.  The real pleasure and enjoyment at Casa Hogar was being with the children, who would soon become our new brothers and sisters.  I’ll show some pictures of our time at Casa Hogar.

Playing Futbol

Playing Music

Dazzling in technology's awesomeness

Drawing

Giving rides!

Giving LoVE

The feelings of love and comradeship felt with everyone at Casa Hogar is indescribable.  We became family.  The older guys, Olé, Tino, Juan, Jorge, and others became our “amors,” or loves.  It was our way of saying we were brothers.  That little fella in the picture above is Alejandro.  We became closer in those few days than I have with any other human being.  We become brothers and we became father and son at the same time.  He was mine and I was his.  In many ways he taught me how to love a human being purely and openly.  I miss him everyday I am without him in my arms.

We spent much of our afternoons and evenings at Casa Hogar, but our mornings  were spent making breakfast, and then heading out to our work site.  This requires some background info.  The city of Oaxaca has a large dump where all garbage in the city is taken to.  It is a large mountain of trash.  And on the this mountain there are people scouring through the trash for anything valuable.  This is their daily living.  These are full families ranging from child to grandma, totalling 128 people, struggling to survive.  The trash is their only source of income, making “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” a more truthful saying than many of us can even realise.  Their homes were made of metal sheets that they had found.  Their yards were seeming littered with trash, but were in fact all organised in specific groups: cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal sheets, other things that just seemed like “junk,” but were quite valuable.  They were then dependent on collectors of this valuable trash to come pick it up.  They would come on irregular schedules, making it impossible for families to know when to expect any pay.  I didn’t even mention yet that these human beings were picking trash barehanded, and many barefooted.  The garbage trucks would just come dump their trash with complete disregard for the people, increasing the chance of being hit by truck or falling trash.  Not to mention the packs of wild dogs and circling vultures waiting for food.  Oh and the smell!

The dump, but hardly all of it

Homes at the dump

Packs of dogs at the dump

via simplysmiles.org

This is Jorge, age 11, picking through the trash for his survival.

Phew!  I am sorry I had to whip that all out, but it is necessary to see the truth before we can start to make a change.  That is all of what Bryan and Kristen (the same mentioned in one of my posts and husband of Bryan) first witnessed when they visited the dump.  They knew something had to change.  This is where Simply Smiles philosophy was really born.  The philosophy goes something along these lines:

We are all human beings, and such we should treat all with the same love and respect.  The difference is our fortune.  Those of us born fortunate should help those less so, but begin with friendship.

Bryan and Kristen first got to know the people at the dump, they befriended them.  They were not just some westerners.  They were Bryan and Kristen, those lovely and friendly couple gringos.  They dined with the families, they spent days with them at the dump, and more.  Until once a real bond was established they offered to help their friends in need.  This is how the housing project began.  Bryan describes it on the website as:

They Call The Dump Home…

There are 28 families surviving off of what the garbage dump in Oaxaca, Mexico can provide. They survive in an environment that can only be described as “Hell on Earth”.

These families, 128 men, women, and children make up a closely knit community of people that many consider to be modern day untouchables.

It is the mission of Simply Smiles to bring this justice to light and to provide all that these human beings need and deserve.

Our group was to build one of these houses, and with the help of three master masons we did.  We also helped paint one of the other completed houses.

Bryan with the house we helped build

This project is now complete!  All 28 families have a home to live in.  The city of Oaxaca has now recognised this community and has installed electricity into the homes.  Their lives have been drastically changed for good!  Their children now have hope to pursue their dreams.  This is what Bryan had to say on the finish of the project:

New Homes For Everyone!

Houses View Check

Everyone who WAS living in homes made of trash, now has a new home! This is a panoramic view of many of the houses built by Simply Smiles volunteers.

Imagine living with your family in a house made of items you scavenged from a garbage dump. Your home is made of bed springs, or metal drums, or at best some sheet metal scraps.

Imagine working all day in unspeakable filth and smell and coming home to a place where you don’t even have a place to wash your hands.

You lay your new-born baby down to sleep in a plastic bin you found.

This was reality for 28 families.

Today, all 28 families have brand new homes.

YES!  Amazing!  And just because this project is over doesn’t mean the relationships built over time our gone.  Bryan and Simply Smiles volunteer groups often go back to the dump to see our friends, to see how they are doing.  The progress is amazing!  It was truly an honour to have been part of that project, to share my humanity with others.  It was true sharing of humanity, love, and peace.

The hardest part about this trip wasn’t the shock effect of seeing the living conditions of fellow human beings, but, selfishly, saying goodbye to my new friends from Casa Hogar.  For all on the trip this is true, I believe.  We were all in tears, but what kept me going was knowing I would be back in only one year.

I can only hope you can feel a slimmer of what I experienced by reading this.  I will never be able to fully express all the feelings in words, but perhaps one day you will be able to experience it by going on a trip with Simply Smiles!  Simply Smiles, Bryan, Kristen, and all involved are near and dear to my heart.  Snuggled right next to SuperForest in fact.

I will tell all of you about the next year tomorrow.  It is a new project, and a much harder topic for me to talk about.  But I will try my best.

If you are interested in learning more about Simply Smiles, and their other projects please check them out!  Click here!

I will see all of you tomorrow for Sunday Sunshine and my next instalment!

Love to you all,

Mathew