Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

Guatemala focus, Day seven.

Wow.  Poverty awareness month (PAM) is hard.  I miss my variety of veggies.  I miss my fruits.  I really miss my salads.  The kids' Halloween candy screams at me every day....

 

Sigh.

I could sit here and write about everything we're learning--we are learning a lot--but instead I'm going to confess.  --There has not been one day of PAM that I have not cheated.  Yep.  There you have it--I suck at sticking to poverty foods. In my defense, I didn't want the lettuce to go to waste on day four (okay, and I have a salad almost everyday and was going through serious withdrawals).  Also I figured, I can call it an "ensalada" and I'm golden.  :/

If it were just the salad, I probably wouldn't feel the need to confess.  But it's the yogurt, cup of tea, Reese's PB cup in a pumpkin shape (the shapes are the best), peanut butter with my banana.... Everyday it's an internal struggle and every day I fail at least once. 

In all honesty, it doesn't help that Donnie is sending us pictures of his Guatemalan fare and it looks nothing like our meal packs (which one week into a daily pack and I have taken to bribery--finish your portion without complaint and you get a piece of your Halloween candy)! 

They call it "mamón chino" but it's called a Rambutan in the States.

He said it had the consistency of a peeled grape and was quite tasty.

The waiter gave two options when ordering steak: with or without fat. (I might not be too jealous of that!)

OK, this one I'm not jealous of at all, but I had to share the picture!

Moral of the story: while I'm constantly cheating and unable to stick with my own rules for some reason, doing this challenge has opened my eyes and amazed me by the countless blessings in my life, my family member's lives, and my friends lives.  I am so grateful that I am able to "cheat" by having a salad or a yogurt or a cup of tea--or allowing my kids to have a piece-of-candy bribe.  I know that I am jokingly complaining about stumbling through this month, but I still wouldn't change it and won't quit now.