Home From Guatemala

I just returned from a ten day trip to Guatemala. I once lived and worked here and have always loved this country, it will forever be in my heart! I was apprehensive about how I would be able to communicate with them after so many years but God was gracious and I did just fine.

I traveled with a youth group from the church where I had grown up. I didn't really know one of these kids but I grew up with their leader and many of their parents. I truly felt that this was God's will for me to return for the first time after eleven years. I knew that it would be awesome but emotional for me and it was both.

When I entered the country it was like I was going home, although this is not home anymore I can't describe the feeling I felt.

I had no longer been at the house where we were to stay when a friend from the past came for a visit and brought me two dozen roses. They were beautiful and everyone was able to enjoy them.

The next day we left for the mountains of Quiche where we visited and worked in three feeding centers, attended two church services, celebrated the fourth of July with our Guatemalan friends, participated in an obstacle course on the side of a mountain and painted the outside of one of the feeding centers. The days began early and ended late but it was a great feeling at the end of each day.

On Friday I was able to visit in the home of one of the children that I sponsor through this program. The was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Me with Nicholas Fernando as his siblings look on

After lunch on Friday we headed back to Antigua where we would be the rest of our time here.

On Saturday we visited Hermano Pedro Hospital a hospital for the severely handicapped.  Here we were able to push some of the children around the grounds in their wheelchairs. It is really a sad place but what a joy to see those children smile. I touched the leg of one little boy while praying for him and he grabbed my hand and place it on the back of his chair. I took it that he wanted me to push so push I did. Yes, we all shed many a tear but what a blessing it was. No pictures were allowed here.

Sunday morning we had devotions and then walked to the foot of the cross where we prayed over the city of Antigua. WOW

Sunday night we attended a youth group service in one of the local church. I was so excited when I hear this because a child I sponsored for 13-years was in this group. She was there and what a great reunion we had. Such a blessing to be able to invest in the life of a child who is now on the worship and evangelism team of her church.

Sonia and my daughter when we began to sponsor her.

Me with Sonia now.

On Monday I was able to visit in the home of another child I sponsor. Also another blessing was the guy who took us to the house was a great friend and brother of mine Coca. We enjoyed the walk over and just talking about old times.

Me with Belsy and her family she is the little girl standing in front of me.

The rest of our time was spent sharing and shopping before we left to return to the states on Tuesday.

God took care of me on this trip, as always, I had no problems at all with allergies, headaches, sneezing etc. I had taken a carry-on with some gluten free good and my medicines in it. I had to supplement a few meals but all in all there was plenty I could eat. Once the cooks who where friends of mine from the past found out about my diet they accompanied me as well as they could. When they had fried foods I ate fresh salad which was great and fruit. The fruit and vegetables in Guatemala can not be beat they are just not as good here in the states.

If you would like to see other photos from my trip which are MANY you can do so here.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again soon!

Our Colorado Trip

We just returned from visiting our daughter and her family in Colorado. We had a wonderful time and I was in gluten free heaven.

I'm going to let my photos tell our story, click on it to enlarge or you can also go to my webshot album to see a larger view!

Our plane was to leave out of Jackson Thursday morning. Jackson is about 1-1/2 hrs drive from our house. On Wednesday it started to sleet and snow so we left and went to a hotel for the night so that we would be sure and get to the airport. Here Honey is finishing up last minute work and I am sporting my new hair cut as we get packed to leave.

Views around Sarah's house...

Friday morning I took photos of the view from our daughter's home. Later that morning we went to "Granny's Gluten Free Zone" to pick up a few items for my stay! Being in the South we don't have stores such as this, I was in heaven.  Then we met our son-in-law Eric for lunch at "The Rustic Oven" and guess what? I was able to order gf pizza and it was wonderful!!!

After lunch we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming so that I could shop at "Sierra Trading Post" and we could possibly see some buffalo. God was good and we did both. I had asked Sarah to take me boot shopping and this is where she chose.

I bought Patagonia's in a dark brown and I love them!!! They'll be great to wear for cool or very cold weather! For very cold weather I also bought Carhartt boot socks and they are the best! Thanks Sarah!!!

Thursday night we met Eric for supper at an Ethiopian restaurant "Ras-ka" in Fort Collins. The food was a bit spicy but very good. Since Eric and Sarah are waiting to adopt from Ethiopia getting to know Hannah (the owner) was a blessing. She had some very wise words for them. We left in tears knowing that we had made a new friend.

Until we get our Ethiopian babies these are our grand-children. We had no problems they were very well behaved. They were brought in to the downstairs area at night. Honey looked down and told them good-night and we laughed that it was like looking into a zoo.

On Saturday we went to "Estes Park" I love this place. This time we took a ghost tour at "The Stanley Hotel" it is sooo rich in history and I loved it. After our tour we had lunch at "Mary's Lake Lodge Resort" it was wonderful I had a huge hamburger gluten free of course without the bun.

We saw lots and lots of Elk.

On Sunday we attended church and then had a steak lunch and lazy afternoon of movies and fun.

Monday was Valentines Day, Sarah took us to Boulder while Eric worked. We enjoyed lunch at "4580" where I had a gf hamburger bun and all with fries. Man o man can you imagine? The bun was flaky like a croissant and it was wonderful. After lunch we enjoyed walking in and out of the different shops and riding around town. I had to take a photo when we passed the Rudi's distribution center. I saw their bakery on the way to the airport in Denver.

Monday night was a special night. We had "Beaujo's Colorado Style Pizza" and it was wonderful. Then Eric had picked us all up a special candy coated caramel apple! It was so good Honey and I shared one but I'm still thinking I should have eaten the whole thing. Great food and spending time with those you love isn't that what Valentines is all about?

Before leaving for the airport on Tuesday we had a photo shoot. Then went and visited the welcome center so we could see a mountain lion up close and personal.

Honey had heard about a restaurant called "The Buckhorn Exchange" on the travel channel and he told Sarah that was the one place that he wanted to go. It was located near the train depot in the heart of Denver and when we first got into the area we all wondered if we really wanted to eat there. Let me tell you, YES WE DID. All three of us LOVED this place we were just sad that Eric had to work and wasn't with us. I walked around taking photos until our food arrived and then I just wanted to eat. I think Honey and Sarah went to one more area but here are the photos that I took.

 

So this completes our trip to Colorado, we had such a good time. I"m looking forward to visiting again in the future and I won't wait as long as I did this time.

Thanks for stopping by ya'll I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did!

Launch of Mobile version of website to help Celiacs find GF-friendly places to eat

Wow look at this:

The Gluten Free Travel site has just launched a free mobile version of their website, GlutenFreeTravelSite 
( http://www.glutenfreetravelsite.com ). This site helps people with Celiac and others following gluten-free diets to find safe places to eat, either in their area or in places they travel.  Unlike many "apps" that cost money and need to be downloaded, the mobile version of GlutenFreeTravelSite is absolutely FREE to use and automatically accessible via any smart phone -- be it an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android-based phone.

Visitors accessing the site "on the go" via a smart phone will now have a more user-friendly experience finding "gluten-free friendly" restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, and hotels/resorts wherever they are. Similar to the experience on GlutenFreeTravelSite, users will be able to search the huge database of gluten-free dining and travel reviews by entering a city/town or zip code. The search results appear on a a Google map, and clicking on any establishment on the list will enable users to link to the review.

Other key features of the mobile version include GlutenFreeTravelSite's Gluten Free Restaurant Menus section which lists national and regional restaurant chains that offer gluten-free menus -- and provides direct links to those menus as well as the restaurants' locations. Users of the mobile version will even be able to visit the site's Blog, Facebook and Twitter pages, and read the Featured Review of the Month.

To access the mobile version, you simply enter the regular URL for GlutenFreeTravelSite ( http://www.glutenfreetravelsite.com ) into your mobile phone’s browser, and you’ll automatically be routed to the mobile version of the site. More details can be found in our Press Release.

Thank you for taking an interest in the gluten free community and thanks for stopping by ya'll!

A Visit to the Big Easy to be with the Saints

I remember years ago attending New Orleans Saints football games and they NEVER won. I remember wearing my t-shirt and being so upset because they were so bad that I'd change or wear a jacket zipped up over it to hide it after the game. This was over twenty six years ago, it's been a while.

Honey treated me to trip to the big easy and a Saints game recently and hey THEY WON!!! The game was soooo good even Honey, who is not a big football fan, enjoyed it. After the game we spent several days looking, eating, and being lazy around the big easy. The weather was really cool but not as cold as it would have been in the Hills.

Here are photos from our trip, enjoy our stay in the Big Easy!

It's time to go let's follow the crowd for once!

Click on any photo to enlarge!

Let me introduce the New Orleans Saints and the 

St. Louis Rams.

The youg and the old Saintsations with Gumbo one of the Saint's mascots.

Drew Brees in action!!

Different kinds of Saint fans...

Bourbon Street after the game.....

Around our hotel

A trip to the Mississippi

Supper on Monday night, great food by the way.

Daisy Dukes for a great late breakfast.....

Royal St.

We took a VIP City Tour on Tuesday and it was great. We gained a wealth of information that I will not be sharing with you but if you ever get a chance take this tour. Here are a few photos that turned out it's really hard to get good photos out of a bus window!

The Lower Ninth Ward five years following hurricane Katrina.
The housing project of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The Saint Louis Cemetry No 3

The Garden District.
A beautiful part of town where many of the stars live.

Our last night in town we ate at The House of Blues on Decatur St.
It was a neat place and the food once again was really good.

This trip has been an eye opener for Honey and I or maybe a heart check I'm not sure which one. We were raised believing that all things in New Orleans were evil that nothing really good comes out of it.

After seeing the destruction still visible from the hurricane and hearing the heart beat of our tour guide, who was wonderful by the way, we have more sympathy for this city. We see there is much beauty in midst of some ugly. There are many here who desire change but still have very little hope that things will be much better than they are right now. Things are much better now  than when we visited over twenty years ago it's kind of like the the floods came and cleaned house. Everything seems cleaner and you just don't see as much ugly or evil as you use too, maybe it was due to the cold weather who knows

We may not agree with everything going on in New Orleans, Louisiana but we loved what we experienced and we are already making plans to visit in the future. So come on down ya'll and remember take the city tour!

Travel tips from you to me

Honey and I have decided to take a trip, we need to get away for around a week. If you know anything about farmers you know that they work ALL the time, we have not been anywhere outside of visiting our children in five years. WOW

So I'm soliciting your help, we want to go somewhere in November or December that we could enjoy some site seeing, eating and resting. We're not like the average couple in that due to Honey's back problems we are limited in how much and what we can do in one day.

Some of the places that we have been and enjoyed are: Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis TN, San Antonio TX, all over Indiana and Kentucky, Colorado (only in the summer) etc.

I was thinking of maybe New Orleans that's  a place that in the past I have far from loved but have not been there in years so it may be fun to return. I would also LOVE to attend a Satins football game. Have you read Drew Bree's book? If not you must, it is wonderful. I've also check the area for restaurants that can accommodate gluten free eating and they have many!

Then what about the Ozarks? I may be too cold there.

So where have you been that two older people might enjoy? Give me some ideas before Honey decides that he's too busy and we make it six years with no break! :(

Thank you friends I know I can count on you!!! Please HURRY!!!!!

We Need Help Mississippi!!!

I recently received a message from this sweet lady (Karen Broussard) who is the founder of GlutenFreeTravelSite.com which is a wonderful tool for those of us who have to eat gluten free. It appears that Mississippi was the only state that had no reviews. I mean there were absolutely NO reviews of restaurants, hotels/resorts, cruise ships, or grocery stores within the state. So she asked that I try to get the word out and that I submit some reviews of my own. I'm now working on submitting reviews but as the wife of a farmer I don't travel much so I need your help. If you or a family member have to eat gluten free for any reason at all please go to GlutenFreeTravelSite.com and submit a review of your experience. It's not hard and takes only a few minutes of your time. Please pass this message on we need to put Mississippi on the map.

Here is more info about Karen and her site.

 Biography

Here I am with Ryan, my son and the inspiration behind both this blog and our sister website GlutenFreeTravelSite.com. It's hard to believe this beautiful little boy was once so very sick -- and from something so prevalent in most people's diets: gluten.


In the 3 1/2 years since Ryan was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, our family has ascended the learning curve of preparing gluten-free meals quite successfully. Our one big challenge remained keeping Ryan's diet safe when dining out and traveling. Thankfully, awareness of Celiac Disease has grown tremendously with each passing year, and with more people getting diagnosed, there's more demand for good gluten-free foods -- both in grocery stores and in restaurants. The key is FINDING these grocery stores and restaurants -- as well as hotels, resorts and cruise ships.

That's why I started GlutenFreeTravelSite.com... to give people with Celiac -- and others on gluten-free diets -- a way to learn from others experiences dining and traveling around the world. It's a way to connect to others in the worldwide gluten-free community and read their personal reviews of places they'd recommend (or not). With this first-hand knowledge, you get great ideas of where to eat in your own area -- or when traveling anywhere around the world. And by having this information at your fingertips, you cut down on the planning and research you have to do yourself and can take a true "vacation from worry." Best of all, you can help spread the word about the wonderful places you've been by submitting a review yourself. You'll be helping other Celiacs as well as rewarding those establishments who've taken the time to learn about safely preparing gluten-free meals.

I hope you get some great ideas of where to dine both from this blog -- and from reading the personal reviews on GlutenFreeTravelSite.com. Happy Gluten-Free Traveling!

Karen Broussard
Founder and President
GlutenFreeTravelSite.com

Gluten Free Travel Site

I just ran across this wonderful place and I have posted a permanent link to it on the side of my blog page. It is a gluten-free travel site, if you're like me when you travel you always study up on places you can eat because that is a big part of your trip. If I forget to look into it Steve and I have this long conversation right before any meal. "So where do you want to eat?" "I don't know you tell me you're the one who can't eat at a lot of places!" "I know but I'm not really hungry so you pick and I'll tell you if I can eat there." "No you need to pick." This conversation can go on for hours so I was so happy when I found out about this place! I plan to visit if frequently. Here is the information so that you can visit it too!

 GlutenFreeTravelsite.com.  Check it out!
Here is the direct link: 
http://www.glutenfreetravelsite.com/index.php

A Trip of Faith

Steve and I had a trip to Florida planned for Friday morning to visit with family, who recently lost a loved one.  I spent more time looking out the window Thursday night than I did in the bed. The last time I looked there was no snow in sight all was clear. Friday morning I got up asking, Steve what do you think? I was so tired I really didn't I could make the trip must less get up and pack plus everything else that goes along with a quick trip. Steve's answer was, "we're going". Get up Grace and get moving! I hauled it out of bed and went to work. Before Steve left for the office he said, "Grace guess what? It's snowing." By the time we got ready to leave the snow was gathering on the ground but we decided to go ahead, since we were ready, and see how far we could go. Now, keep in mind WE NEVER have snow HERE and if we do it's only a dusting. We crossed bridges that made me a nervous wreck only ice and slush! By the time we drove to Meridian, I was begging Steve to turn around and go home. We stopped for lunch and the snowflakes were as big as quarters. Steve said, "honey lets eat and then we'll decide what to do." I think this was one way to get me to calm down. After we ate Steve felt we could make it and I felt he was crazy! LOL Now that I look back I'm glad we persevered and made it. Here are a few photos of our trip from Macon to Mobile, AL.

 

  

  

  

 

It was beautiful but that is one trip I'm glad is over!

We stopped and spent Saturday night with our friends/family Fred and Marion. 

This was one of those trips that took faith to make it and I lived by faith. Getting ready to leave in such a hurry I didn't thank about food. For supper Saturday night I made a quick trip to wal-mart and bought some ingredients for gluten-free barbeque nachos. I love these things and if I'm not careful I'll eat so much that I make myself sick. I use Loyd's barbeque in a tub, it taste great and is gluten free. Hey you have to be creative when you are living life  Gracefully Gluten Free.