First off want to say thank you for coming over and reading this. I'll be honest, I really don't know what I am doing and what is to become of this. I guess this will just be a place for me to sit and write some thoughts about me, life, family, and Lluvio-how things are going.
Second, I want to introduce myself. I am Sarah, no nick name, no short name, just simple Sarah. I was born and raised in Central California. No where near a beach, so no I am not a surfer and the beach is not my backyard. I actually grew up in the middle of no where, a little place called Sanger. Yeah no one knows where that is. Have you seen the movie McFarland? Yep thats almost exactly where I grew up. I stuck out like a sore thumb at my high school. I was one of the light skinned, blonde hair, blue eyed few that attended Sanger High and I can remember I hated it. I so badly wanted to blend in and just be like everyone else. A few times other "normal" looking girls would try and pick fights with me, and we're not talking like bad mouth fights, Im talking like lets roll up our sleeves and get some blood out of her fights. All because I had blonde hair.
I think thats when my desire to reach out to others started. No, not because I was picked on, but because I was raised with diversity, there was about 15% white people at my school 5% blacks 20% asian, and the rest were Mexican. Each group was different and had variety. I saw rich and poor, popular and nerdy amongst each group. I learned to love to be among different cultures and learn more about each one.
As I got older and graduated high school and went to College, I decided I wanted to serve a LDS mission. -- Something girls were not asked or expected to do at the time--- I badly wanted to go to Mexico and I remember my dad being mad at me for wanting to go there. (Side not for those of you not familiar with the LDS church) when you serve a mission you don't get to choose where you go, you are assigned, girls serve for 18 month and boys 24. Girls were allowed to go at the age of 21 at the time and boys 18.
At the age of almost 22 I found myself packing up my belongings and preparing to leave for Puerto Rico. There I served amongst the people for 18 months and experienced the hardest times and the best of times of my life. What I learned most was how to SERVE and LOVE people you don't even know. There I was assigned to serve on a small island off the island of Puerto Rico called Dominica. I was only there for a few days, but its where this whole story should have began... (sorry for the long intro)... I was with a few other missionaries young and old and a small boy came up to us. The first thing I noticed was he had no shoes on. But he was happy as could be and sure loved to talk to us. The more we got to talking to him the more I began to analyze this little boy. He could have been no older than 8 and I could tell he didn't come from much. He had old clothes on with holes and used him imagination with his toys.
Lluvio introduced himself about 20 minutes after talking to us. He may have not had much but he sure was a ray of light. When I came home from serving my time as a missionary many things happened, I went to school, met a guy, got married, graduated with a bachelors of Public Health, and had a little baby. This was more than I could have asked for. Now 5 years later here I am writing my first blog. :)
Now, there was a lot I didn't get to mention, a lot that happened that influenced me to get married and go to school. A huge lesson to why i got a degree in Public Health--- I want to save the world-- and right now I can't complete or even start some of my life goals, but I am trying to find a beginning for them and that is why I started Lluvio Boutique, a boutique that gives back to those in need. And it was named Lluvio so that I could always remember the reason why it was created, so I could think back to that small boy who influenced me so much just with his happiness. I hope to one day be able to help even more people, and even go back to Dominica and help young children, like Lluvio with nothing become something.
