Redefining Gratitude

I wake up each morning, work out, grab my coffee, eat breakfast with my children and continue the routine of my day.  Routine.  Although I am thankful for everything that I have, this trip to Guatemala, with my daughter, has caused me to pause and freshly see things through her eyes.  I have moved twenty-six times throughout my life...all over the world...but my children have been born and raised in Minnesota. There is a wonderment in experinecing a new culture, like tasting a new food and letting the newness of it all envelop you.  As we have driven through the cobblestone streets, peppered with brightly clad children, tucked between their parents on a motorcycle, I have awed at the lack of judgement in my daughters eyes as she found acceptance that there are so many ways to do the same thing in the world.

On the first day we arrived we went to the weaving co-op of Santiago Zamora and walked the dirt floors of their 'showroom', strewn with fresh rose petals to welcome us.  When is the last time you've sprinkled rose petals on your floors to welcome your children home from school?   I found myself smiling at the wrapped attention of the kids as they listened to the stories of these women and how they struggled to build their business and all of the freedom that it brought to them.  We were helping to make a difference as we purchased their textiles and shared a meal.  Each day I notice the differences of our cultures as we partake in their culture and observe it's joyous simplicities.

Although there is so much need in this country I am dumbfounded by the generosity, larger-than-life smiles and joyful adornment of the poorest of homes that we have seen.  I pause...as we have watched children squeel with joy as they play with a bottle cap in the school yard, the smile of the ironworker who shared his work with our group and the pride of the school girls walking home with their friends, arm in arm.  I pause as I find a new gratitude...true gratitude... for my 'routine'.  The sun looks different now when I wake, my new tennis shoes as I work out feel luxurious, my coffee is richer and my breakfast with my kids is priceless...and I haven't seen my daughter on her cell phone at all.

 I realize that our visit here did not change much on a large scale in Guatemala but as we communicate with our sponsor child and contribute to their familys' needs, it will hugely impact our awareness of gratitude for all that we have.