Surprise Visit

After cutting veggies this morning (still no pataste to take a picture of for you), we got the kiddos breakfast and then into the pavilion to play.  The big girls stayed home from school today due to a missing cell phone that needs to be found.  Glinda's phone went missing on Saturday and the girls had 2 days to find it, but now there consequence for not turning it in is not being allowed to go to school, so they spent the entire day raking leaves and burning them.

After lunch I gave a tour of the elementary and secondary school to Laurie and her daughters.  Rachel wanted to check in with the elementary school librarian (who is a volunteer) if she could borrow a few books to read to the toddlers.  The librarian told her that there were already books locked up in the pavilion and she would just have to ask for the key.

After working in the toddler house this afternoon (playtime, supper, showers and dishes), I stopped at the Big Girls yard and Doris told me that she wanted to straighten my hair.  She advised me as she was doing it that I was supposed to wear it straight and not wash it for a week, which is what many girls down here do once it's straightened (even a volunteer said that she did that).  The problem is that I have fine hair and it tends to get very oily after just 24-36 hours.  Since I had washed it that morning, it was already starting to produce oil near the scalp (which she could feel).  I let her know that I'd go as long as I could, but I couldn't make any promises.

Jeremias, Alejandra (in back), LoriAnn, and Nicole

When we came back to our room, there was a big van in front of the hotel.  As I came closer, I saw that John and Jenny had come back for a visit!  John was in charge of the Grandecitos house last year when it was opened.  The pastor who read Psalm 133 for the ribbon cutting ceremony is also down here (part of the OH group).  I was so touched by his choosing of scripture that I had a plaque made for John's house with the verses engraved (I might have mentioned this in an earlier post)...however John was no longer here.  I was told that he left in February to go to the States to try to raise funds to begin an orphanage in Thailand.  What a surprised to see him back on a visit!  He let me know that the Thailand goals didn't work out, but that he was living in Tennessee and working on a horse therapy ranch that spent much time working with ADD and ADHD children.  He came down with the owner to work with Emmanuel's horses (and the boys that work with the horses) to make sure their program that was started a couple of years ago was still running strong.  I gave John a small bag of the chili suckers - his favorite!  

Plaque for the Grandecitos house is hanging above entryway

After chatting with him, I went into the kitchen to say "hi" to his wife, Jenny.  She was surprised to see me too and we chatted for a while.  She said she was glad that she was back home for a visit (she was an orphan here since very young).

Relief at the Toddler House

Today there was no pataste to cut, however there was a ton of yucca.  Yucca is a root and is pretty hard to cut as you have to cut the bark off of it before you chop it up.  Laurie generally took care of the yucca last week while I cut the pataste, however since there was no pataste and extra yucca this morning, we both cut the yucca after I had peeled the carrots.  After serving breakfast and heading to the pavilion, we were excited to see members from both the Ohio and California teams come to help out with the toddlers.  It's nice when the kids can get more one-on-one attention.  The Ohio team also brought in hot dogs, chips and soda for the toddlers to eat during lunch.

Morning vegetables to chop: Yucca, Green Beans, Carrots, Broccoli

Yucca

During our 2 hour break Laurie took her daughters, Rachel and Rebekah, into town to go grocery shopping and for her daughters to check out Guaimaca since she didn't take them last week (and since she now needed some oil to replace what Mirna had used).  When they got back we headed back to the Toddler House and Lorraine (a good friend of mine from California) was there to help out with the toddlers and to chat with the teen moms.

At the end of the day, Carla (the staff member who is in charge of the Toddler House) let the girls know that since Glinda's phone was still missing and they had 2 days already to produce the phone, Papi had decided that the girls would not go to school tomorrow and they would have some difficult chores around the house and yard until someone admitted to taking the phone and produced the phone.  Glinda is sure that her phone went missing while she was caring for the kids here at Emmanuel on Saturday.  Some girls walked away crying because they truly like going to school.

Honduran Slip 'n Slide

Yesterday the Alabama team left and two other teams came in, one from California (the group I was anticipating) and the other from Ohio (some members I'm also familiar with)...there were over 40 people in total!

This morning Alina and I ate some Corn Pops for breakfast.  These had been left over from the HoeDown and since volunteers have off from their responsibilities on Sundays, we didn't eat over at the Toddler House.  The problem was that in our kitchen, the only 2 bowls were extremely small (you might use them to mix baby cereal?).  So I thought that it would be okay to have TWO bowls full of cereal, while Alina filled her bowl 4 times.

We then prepared to head to church, and listened to an awesome sermon (probably the best since I've been here this year) from the youth pastor from Ohio.  It was evident from the beginning that he was a youth pastor because he immediately captured the attention of ALL of the teens in the church.  He began the sermon talking about how early on in life he would choose HIS way rather than listening to his parents and gave an example of throwing sticks and stones at a big pile of rocks in the yard, underneath which was a huge hornets (or wasps) nest.  Although his parents said leave it alone, he figured that he could stand at a safe distance since he was in baseball and threw the sticks and rocks at it day after day until the insects decided to organize and chase him after many days of being tortured.  It was a hard lesson because he was stung numerous times.  He talked about how he should have listened to his parents who were concerned about his safety and well-being, and equated that to learning to listen better to God rather than taking your own path and doing your own thing.

After church we dropped off the 2 double-dutch jump ropes from the MD team to Zue's house for the girls to play with and then walked the 3 remaining frisbees to the grandecitos house.  When we returned we noticed that the Ohio group had set up a Slip and Slide for the medium girls.  They were wet and dirty!...but having tons of fun.  The youth pastor that had spoken this morning was also there and was running hand in hand with many kids down the slip and slide.  It was a blast to watch.

Honduran Slip 'n Slide

Getting the mud rinsed off

At the end of the day we were introduced to a family who had come in from Atlanta.  They have 4 children and the father just got done with his residency...he's a doctor.  He'll be working all week with Karelia in the clinic here at the orphanage.  I'm hoping that he has some insight to Nicole in the Toddler House as she's going to the hospital on Wednesday to have yet another procedure done.

My First Nap Here

This morning was the same routine...cutting veggies at the Toddler House, feeding them breakfast, playing in the pavilion/play house, then feeding them lunch before their afternoon nap.  The difference between today and all of the others days I've been here though is that I was exhausted, so when I went back to our room at about 12:30, I decided to set my alarm and nap for an hour.  A lot of times I'll head to another yard or do something during this 2 hour downtime, but today I was just too tired.

MacKenzie handing out snacks to the toddlers in the pavilion

Chris (Laurie's husband) spent the afternoon with us in the Toddler House to get a feel for what our daily job is.  He's been fixing washing machines and changing light bulbs around the orphanage.  Before that he was working on wiring and the electrical for the medium boys house which got a new roof put on.  Here in Honduras, putting on a new roof means completely taking off the old roof until there are only 4 walls to the house and replacing all of the wood roof frame and then the roof itself...it's not simply re-shingling.

There was a buzz this morning about supper this evening.  Katja let all of the houses know she'd be bringing cream and cheese around to all of the houses so they needed to plan accordingly.  Mirna (the cook for the Toddler House) wanted to make eggs, but didn't have enough oil, so she asked us if we had some.  I didn't, however Laurie did and had Rachel give it to her and tell her that she'd like the left-overs.  I'm guessing there was something lost in the translation, because Mirna used an ENTIRE BOTTLE of oil on the supper.  She felt terrible when Laurie came back looking for the left-over oil.  Supper consisted of eggs with onions and cheese sprinkled over a tortilla and then cream on top...YUM.

After the kiddos were showered and put to bed and dishes were washed, Alina and I headed to the school playground where the small girls were playing.  I chatted with Reina and Yolani (2 big girls who help out and live with the small girls that I've gotten to know over the years) while Alina played with the small girls.  There was a little boy they were chatting with, although I didn't catch his name, whose hands and body were badly burnt.  They told me that he was at Emmanuel because his mom purposely pushed him into a fire which was burning garbage because she didn't want him.  As they were telling me this, the little boy agreed that was what truly happened and added to the story.  Many of his fingers are bent because his scared tissue underneath the knuckles will not allow for his fingers to straighten.  This boy is living in the power toddler house, so is most likely only 5 or 6 years old.  My heart just broke for him.

Alina and I ended the night sitting next to the water fountain in front of the church and just admiring God's creation of nature around us.  What a way to end the evening!

Use #1374 for Duct Tape

Alina with Michell at Big Circle

We were told last night that there wouldn't be any veggies to cut this morning, so we could come a little later.  That was exciting news since today is Friday...meaning it's Big Circle once again.  Big Circle begins at 6am right outside our room, but the boys start coming at 5:30, so it's hard to miss it.  Today is also Katja's birthday.  We listened to the message/devotion/sermon this morning from a member of the AL team.  When the singing began after the message, we headed to the Toddler House only to find out that we could've stayed for all of Big Circle...oh well, perhaps next week (as it will be our last).

This morning the lady in charge of monitoring the kids at the Pavilion, Glinda, had a doctor's appointment for her pregnancy check-up...she's 5 months along.  Carla asked if I was okay with taking Glinda's place for the morning and being in charge (so to speak).  That was okay.  I now have a 2nd kiddo who's "stuck" to me...Jeremias.  He's generally a happy little boy whose mom is not here (so not one of the teen moms kiddos).  Whenever I sit down, he runs over to sit on my lap.  It went well in the pavilion with the kids.  Glinda came around lunch time and took over putting the kiddos down for a nap.

LoriAnn with Jeremias

This evening I had a chat with Doris (one of the big girls that I've known for the past 7 years).  She has a good friend, Beth, who just came in today with her husband.  Beth is from the U.S. and has been working to get Doris' papers fixed so that she can come up to the States from November to February on a visit.  Doris is pretty excited about that, but also nervous in a way.

This evening when we got back to our room, there were 2 places in the bathroom where ants were coming and going.  I knew there was a reason why I had kept the duct tape from our team...it's to patch up those holes to keep the ants in the ground and not in the rooms!!!  Ugh, yuck.

Teen Moms Get Attention

This morning began as the others did this week...but now first doing devotions and trying to madly post many of the blogs that I was not able to post over the past week of my internet modem stick not working.  We headed to the Toddler House once again to cut veggies and serve breakfast and then took the kiddos to the enclosed pavilion to play.  LaDonna (a lady from FL that is working towards the adoption of one of the toddlers) came by to say goodbye to her Wilson.  She left a purse with sunglasses for another toddler, Nicole.  Nicole has been to the doctor in Tegucigalpa 3 times in the last 2 weeks because she is rapidly losing weight and they are not sure why.  She says she's 4 years old (although her charts say she's 5) and she weighs less now than she did 2 years ago.  Nicole is a spunky little girl who has taken a preference to hanging out with me any time I'm around.  When others extend their hands out to her to hold her, she refuses and snuggles in to me even closer.  We're hoping that whatever is going on gets figured out quickly.  Please keep her in your prayers.

Nicole

Around 9:45 we decided to take all of the kids for a walk.  Sometimes they walk to the farm, but today we walked to the front of the orphanage so that they could all look out the gates at the world outside Emmanuel.  As many from the Alabama team were watching the toddlers at the gates, MacKenzie spent time working with the teen moms in team-building activities like doing the human knot, trust falls, and then the circular sit.  Okay, I made up the name for the last one because I'm not sure exactly what it's called, but I can describe it...everyone stands in a tight circle, your toes to the heels in front of you and on the count of 3 you all sit down.  If it's done correctly, you're all sitting on the lap of the person behind you...if it's not done correctly, you fall down.

When it got close to lunch, we headed back with the kids to the Toddler House to serve lunch and put them down for naps.  This afternoon there were no classes, so the teen moms got to stay back at their houses.  When I headed back to the Toddler House to wake the kiddos up from the naps, I brought the "famous" chili suckers back to the houses for the teen moms and all of the other workers there.  They were so excited.  You see, many people come to the Baby House and the Toddler House to give attention to the babies and toddlers (of course)...but it's rare for the teen moms to get attention.  I was glad that this was a day where they were recognized and worked with!

La Cucaracha

I generally get up around 4am here so that I can have my devotional time with God and journal.  Then with the time left over, I try to get online to blog a bit if the internet is working.  If it's not working, I have a word search book that my mom had given me a couple of year ago or I have a book to read.  This morning, since the internet was not working...it hasn't been working for the past week...I was doing the word search.  When Alina's alarm went off and she sat up in bed, she said (1/2 tired yet), "There's a cockroach next to my bed!"  Sure enough, I'm guessing one had fell in through the cracks in the ceiling from the roof and it was lying on its back.  The cockroaches down here are huge, about 1.5-2 inches long (and that's just the BODY).  I went over to check it out and the legs were still moving, so giggling I said to Alina that she should get the broom and sweep it out.  She didn't want to at first.  I let her know that if it had been a tarantula or a scorpion, I would've swept it out.  But it's a cockroach!...they don't bite, they just run really fast and look gross.  So she went to get the broom and "slowly" tried to sweep it out.  If you know anything about cockroaches, then you can probably guess what happened next.  Because Alina didn't sweep it out using quick strokes, the cockroach grabbed the bristles of the broom and flipped itself over, and then sprinted underneath her suitcase.  She freaked out!  At that point there was no calming her down, so I told her to lift the suitcase while I held the broom (she didn't even want to lift the suitcase)...and when she did I quickly swept it out of the room onto the grass.

On the way to the toddler house I let Alina know that today way our 1/2-way point in this trip.  She took a few more steps and said, "It only feels like I've been here a couple of days."  I laughed and replied that it HAD to have been more because we had a whole team down here at the beginning for 11 days!

After cutting vegetables and serving breakfast, I headed with Melinda and Heather (two ladies from the AL team) to the school to remeasure the medium girls from Vero Castro's house.  Elizabeth was pretty sure that many of these measurements were off too.  I believe that we got all but about 2 measured.

I stopped at the tienda to check in with Carmen who knows about the Claro internet modem sticks and she said that most likely the problem was that the 7 free days that came with the stick were put on it but that the internet stick was never activated, even though the month was purchased.  This did not really sit well with me.  She let me know that she'd look more into it after church this evening because her phone didn't have enough minutes on it to check at that time.  While I was at the store, Alina noticed a Coca-Cola bottle with Andres' name on it.  I guess Coke is putting names on bottles now?  Anyway, I had to purchase it and hope that it makes it back to the States without exploding on the plane.

Anyone recognized this name?...and it even has the accent too!

We headed back to the Toddler House at 2:15pm to wake the kiddos from their naps and play with them for an hour before suppertime.  After supper, they got their normal showers as I washed the dishes and they were sent to bed.  Everybody was rushing because there was church this evening and it starts at 4:30.  Alina and I barely made it back to our room to change clothes and get to church on time.

After church I took the internet stick to Carmen and she was able to fix it.  I was SO appreciative for what she did, but now I'll be super busy for the next bunch of mornings trying to catch up on devotions!