A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

joy

/joi/
Noun

1. A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
2. A thing that causes joy.

Synonyms
delight - gladness - pleasure - mirth – rejoicing
 
 

JOY

We have just returned from another week of camp with the girls of La Esperanza Orphanage. Every year, on the Monday following Easter Sunday 30 or so girls from Mexico City descend on the tiny pueblo of Umecuaro, Michoacán, México to enjoy 6 days in the countryside. For the last 5 years my husband Todd and I, and some of our friends, have joined them there. I know that I am often a little long-winded, ( a little? ) but today I am going to let my pictures do most of the talking. I am, as usual, somewhat overwhelmed by the end of camp week.

Our friend Connie generously hosts the camps at her property on the lake in Umecuaro. There are 2 large trojes, a cabin in the design of the P'urhépecha Indians of Michoacán, Connie’s lovely troje style home, a gazebo and plenty of space for tents, dogs, kids and horses. With the lake right across the street, the girls can go kayaking, swimming or fishing. There are areas for bike riding, and trails for hiking, horseback riding and nature walks abound.

JOY

The girls lead a very structured life at La Esperanza. Necessarily so. The 2 madres, nuns, who run the orphanage recently celebrated their 50th anniversary there. They are now in their 80’s and although they have huge hearts filled with love, they have to administrate an orphanage with with close to 40 girls, so structure is a must.

Madre Roble, Supplier of Joy

For this reason at Camp Connie we try to give the girls a holiday, as unstructured as possible. We have plenty of volunteers so that the girls can pretty much do what they want when they want to do it. Sometimes that just means hanging in a hammock, playing a game of cards or chatting on the lawn overlooking the lake.

The Ice Cream Man, Bringer of Joy

 

JOY

My Joy

Although we offer the kids hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, swimming, horseback riding and craft making, we decided to do something more this year. I set up a makeshift makeup studio on the patio of the largest troje, Todd set up a mobile photo studio in a field behind the house and the Camp Connie Portrait Studio was born.

The Joy of Makeup

Karen

Yessi

Patty

Camp Connie

I experienced such joy this week that it would be impossible to put it into words. I think that the pictures probably express it more aptly than I am able.
If anyone would like to know more about Connie’s organization, One Pueblo, please look at the following link.
www.onepueblo.org