Humanitarian Aid in the Four Corners

Jeremy and I took McKay and Jaxon down to the Four Corners area to do some humanitarian work with the Share a Smile Foundation over fall break. We were on the Navajo reservation in a town called Aneth. There were five dentists, nurses, doctors, optometrists, and two Eagle Scouts one worked on a garden for the elementary school and another one built a house. It was an amazing weekend and a great experience.

I learned a lot about Jeremy's job as I was his assistant. It was a yucky job and I appreciate Jeremy's job and the assistants at his office a lot more. The kids in Aneth had a lot of needs and it was great to help them out.

This poor kid. He had quite a bit of work done and needed a lot more. He was such a trooper. I had a hard time when the kids had to get a shot. The kids were trying to be so brave, but when they would cry (silent tears) it would break my heart and I would have to blink back the tears.

McKay and Jaxon were on the garden crew. You should have seen this place before they started working. It was full of prickly weeds and dead trees. McKay and Jaxon helped build a reading garden for the school (where we were set up). They put in planter boxes, a pathway, benches, tables and a fence. (I don't know how much actual work they did, but I know they did great.) Jaxon made friends with some of the kids at the school. One boy he met hadn't ever eaten an apple. Jaxon offered him one and he loved it--he ended up eating four!

While McKay was out working, he came upon a lizard. He caught it and named it Gary. He knew he couldn't keep it, so he wanted a picture with his lizard. I am sure that Gary is thriving in the new garden.

After our last day of work, we took off and headed to the Four Corners. We had never been, so we had to go check it out. Here is McKay in all four states.

And Jaxon in all four states.

Here we all are, standing so close, yet all in different states.

On the way home, we stopped just outside of Blanding and hiked up to some ruins called Dry Wash Ruins. It was a fun quick, but interesting, hike.

Here we are at the ruins.

The whole weekend was a great experience and we hope that we are invited to go serve again with Share a Smile. It was a great way to spend our fall break.