August 23rd, 2011 - My Last Day at Emmanuel

At 6:30am this morning, a RN (from the team) came to the clinic to relieve me again.  It gave me a
chance to get back to the house quickly to drop off my overnight things before heading to the little girls’ circle.  On my way to the volunteer house, Blanca came running down the hill from the
lavenderia to give me a hug.  She knows it’s my last day here.  I got a few pictures and recorded a few videos during the circle.  Doris and Blanca held each other the entire time, so I got a great picture of them together.  After circle, we headed to breakfast…arroz con leche, YUM!

After washing dishes, I headed back to the volunteer house to find the same bunch of women from yesterday ready to paint the hallway.  They helped me to clean up the floor in the 5^th bedroom and to get the furniture back into place and then they had the hallway done by lunchtime.  I used the morning to wash all of the dirty laundry from the clinic – there were 2 & ½ loads!

Around 10am, I headed to the school to find Luis David & Arnulfo.  These two boys hold a special
place in my heart as well, but I haven’t been able to spend more than a couple of minutes here & there just saying “hi” and “how are you”, etc., because we only seem to see each other in passing.  I made sure they each got a paleta and asked their instructor to take a picture of us.  I had noticed that the
store had their white T-shirts in size Medium (my size) on Sunday, so I headed there to chat with Elvia and buy a T-shirt.  I’m thinking I’d like one of the red long-sleeved ones, but I may have to pass on that this year and save up for next year – since my money is just about out.

After the tienda, I took the clean clinic laundry back and said “goodbye” to Tony.  I got a picture of
him & I together and he gave me a super-big hug.  I’m not sure who’s spending the night in the clinic this evening yet, but he will get to go back to his little boys’ house in the next couple of days when the stitches come out.  I’m thinking he’s heading back to the doctor tomorrow to get them out.

I headed to lunch and ate with Doris and did the dishes, then came back to the house to cool down – it’s been a super-hot day today!  After cooling down with a mango juice, I headed to the yards for find Karla.  She’s going to do a final check on me for head lice before heading home tomorrow morning. I’ll still do one last lice treatment tomorrow morning, but I want her to get out all she can prior to that.

After visiting with Karla, it was back to work…sweeping the entire volunteer house.  I don’t want
Daysha overwhelmed with too much of a mess when I leave – although there’s plenty to do with getting paint off of the floor in the living room, kitchen and hallway; but it should come off easily enough with a mop and water (at least it did in the other rooms).  I headed to supper and took care of baths afterwards.  I gave Esperanza the bag of chili-coated suckers to give to the girls afterwards and headed back to the girls house when most were sleeping, so that I could give Doris and Blanca the small gifts I had for them.  I spent an hour & a half with them, mostly chatting in the dark since the lights went out.  They wanted me to stay the night, but I couldn’t…I have too much to do yet before leaving tomorrow morning at 6:30am.  When the lights came back on, we said our goodbyes (and “until next year”) and I headed back to the volunteer house.  I’ll take care of a few odds ‘n ends before heading to bed.  Good night!

August 22nd, 2011 - Pasado Manana

So the realization that I’m going home the day after tomorrow (pasado manana) finally hit this morning and has been prevalent throughout the day.  One of the RNs came to the clinic at about 6:15am (earlier than I’m usually relieved), so I was excited to get back to the volunteer house to shower.  Tomorrow when I’m relieved, I’m heading straight to the little girls’ circle for my last time this year.

I helped serve breakfast again this morning and did dishes afterwards, then headed back to the volunteer house where there were 3 ladies waiting to paint that 5^th bedroom!  I had planned on doing all of the detailing around the edges today in my spare time, but God provides!!!  I showed them where all of the supplies were and answered their questions and they had it done by lunch.  In the meantime, I headed to the office to talk with Katja since she had mentioned the possibility of me taking some children into town to spend money that their sponsors had sent down for them.  She was pretty  swamped with work (being a Monday), so I let her know I’d be back in the early afternoon.

 

I headed to the high school next to ask Doris’ teacher if she could take some photos of her class and what goes on.  She took the camera and I assured her that she could give the camera to Doris and I’d get it later.  Doris gave it to me at lunch.  I once again helped serve lunch and did dishes – my nails have finally gotten cut short due to “water damage”.

 

After lunch, I headed right back to the office and Daniel was waiting to discuss his ride home tomorrow with Katja.  He looked quite sick.  We were told (by Kellin) that Daniel hasn’t really been eating properly.  He’s a little worried to eat with the boys, so all he’s had in the 3 weeks here has been a big pot of macaroni and cheese which he scoops little bites out of when he’s hungry.  Daniel said he had a head cold and waiting about ½ hour before heading back to the male volunteer house to rest.  He said that he’d contact Katja later via phone.

 

Some of the team members came into the office to look for children to sponsor.  When Katja came in, she worked with everyone else first since they had more immediate needs, and then let me know she didn’t have time to get everything in place for me to take the children in to town today or tomorrow. I reminded her that I’d still like to get a picture with her, since I haven’t gotten one of her in the 4 years down here – so I’ll stop by tomorrow again to do it.

 

When I got back to the volunteer house, I scraped paint off of the ceramic tile in bedroom #4 and swept and got all furniture put back into place.  As soon as the mop is put back together (the long handle is currently attached to the paint roller brush), that room will be mopped.  I did a load of laundry for the house (towels & such) and I began to pack the things I will no longer use between now and my trip home.  I cannot believe how much I’m leaving behind.  My suitcase is going to feel virtually empty!!!

 

I headed to the little girls’ house for supper, but since their baths were scheduled later for this evening and I had to take sponsored children (along with Brandy) to the team volunteer house at 5:30 for a celebration, I didn’t give baths tonight. I’m sure the girls were wondering WHERE I was!  I will be there tomorrow to do baths one last time.

 

When the celebration (food, games, etc) at the team house was winding down, Brandy escorted the boys back to their dorms and I escorted the girls.  It was interesting how we both got back to the girls volunteer house at the same time.  Although Brandy has her own apartment now, she had left her bike back at our place…so needed to get that way to retrieve it.

 

I put on my only pair of jeans before heading to the clinic for the night (which I had originally packed in the suitcase earlier today), and I realized that the right knee is beginning to come apart.  Although there’s lots of wear left, I don’t feel they’re appropriate jeans to wear to work anymore on Fridays – so I’m going to leave them here for Brandy since we’re about the same height and size.  I let Daysha know when I got to the clinic that my plan was to get up really early on Wednesday so that I could do a last load of laundry before heading home, and I would leave the jeans sitting out if Brandy wanted them.

 

Daysha took off from the clinic, and once again it’s only Tony…so should be a good night – my last one in the clinic.  Goodnight!

August 21st, 2001 - My Last Sunday Church at Emmanuel for 2011

Terri came to relieve me at the clinic at 7am and I rushed home to shower & get ready for the last church service I’ll be attending this year at Emmanuel.  I head out early Wednesday morning, so will miss Wednesday evening’s service.

 

Today’s service was given by a pastor from Florida.  He talked about 3 things: figuring out your identity in Christ, forgiving others when they commit sins against you, and then reconciling – or going through the process of making everything right.  What a service!!!  I was on the edge of my seat listening to every word.

 

After church, Daysha and I went to the volunteer house.  We needed to change out of our clothes before heading to eat with Daniel, Kari and Kellin. When we got to the tienda out front, we discovered quite a few members of the new group there with the children they sponsor, giving them soda & cans of Pringles and taking pictures.  We had to wait a while for our food, but the conversations we had while waiting made the time fly by.  Daniel leaves on Tuesday for Tegucigalpa and I leave on Wednesday.  At that point, the male volunteer house will be empty and the female volunteer house will only have Daysha (for about 2 weeks when some Danes come in).  We had some great conversations with Elvia and Angelica (who were working in the tienda today) as well.

 

When I got back to the house, I folded the laundry that I had washed that morning from the clinic and stuck a load of my own clothing in the washer.  This should minimize what I’ll need to wash early Wednesday morning when I prepare to leave.  I uploaded 3 days worth of blogging and swept the entire house – minus everyone’s bedroom aside from mine. 

 

I did supper and baths with the girls again and around 5:30pm I brought the clean laundry back to the clinic and introduced myself to the 4 RNs that are from this most recent group that will be helping me out over the next few days.  I plan to spend this evening at the clinic and most likely Monday night, but will need Tuesday night to be back at the volunteer house so that I can wake up extremely early on Wednesday to prepare my stuff to leave.

 

Before heading back to the clinic to spend the night, Brandy came over and made some Chai Tea for Daysha and me.  It was DELICIOUS!!!  She let me know that little Sindi (with the seizures) is in the hospital in Tegucigalpa and not doing so well, so I’d like to ask for your prayers in her healing.

 

When I got to the clinic, there were 2 boys; Tony and then one named Jorge who had an allergic reaction on his skin to something he had touched.  Although Tony was a little wound up when I got here, both are now sleeping, so I will be going to bed soon as well.  Good night!

August 20th, 2011 - My Day with Doris

So at the clinic, I stayed awake reading until 4am and then laid down on the top bunk where I normally sleep, but since I was so worried about the girl, I just watched her for 2 hours.  I had been praying all night that she wouldn’t seize while I was there and God answered my prayers.  Brandy
walked in at just after 6am to bring me a coffee, and the instant she walked in the door, little Sindi had a seizure. 

Brandy has been working with the babies at the toddler house, so having been exposed to these seizures before; she handled the situation much better than I ever would have.  I have said many thanks to God for all the graces He provided me through the night.  Karelia soon came to the clinic and along with Brandy, they took little Sindi to town to see the doctor.  I learned later that she
would have to spend a few days there.

I headed up to the little girls’ dining hall to confirm with Mariela that I still wanted to take Doris to
town this morning.  I had made Doris a promise to take her out…just me & her, and with having not gotten much sleep – I still felt the gentle nudging to follow through on this promise.   I then back to
the volunteer house to shower and get dressed for the day, and went to get Doris afterward.

 

Generally when I’m down here in Honduras, I like to get a shirt/blouse or two for myself.  Something I can wear to work that’s just a slightly different style than what I can buy in the United States. I asked Doris to help me go “shopping”, because in reality, I don’t like to go shopping for myself.  I found out later that she doesn’t like to shop for herself either.  We had a great time…she suggested a few shirts and I tried them on.  Although I bought 3 shirts, it was really the first one that I bought…the one that she had picked out completely on her own while I was trying on another that is my favorite. 

After that, we headed to the ice cream shop to get a double scoop cone.  I asked her if she wanted to
sit down and eat in the ice cream shop, but she said she’d rather walk and chat and eat.  As we were walking around the square some little children came up to us and quietly said something to Doris.  She gave them her cone, which had barely been touched and they ran off.  She said that they were hungry and were asking her for her cone.  I was so touched by her willingness to “just give”.  If I would’ve known what was going on, I would have given them my cone as well.

We stopped in one store and Doris was looking at a guy’s shirt.  She said she had a friend at Emmanuel who recently arrived and didn’t have a sponsor yet.  She’d like to buy him a shirt rather than get something for herself.  How could I say “no” her kindness?  This is something I’m seeing in lots of the children here.  Even Tony (the boy in the clinic) who has received a bunch of gifts from the lady from the volunteer team this week that has been helping me out at the clinic (since Kari’s been pulled away)…gave more than ½ of what he received to his brothers when he saw them today for
lunch.  God’s love is definitely here at Emmanuel – all around!

On the way back to the orphanage, Doris and I stopped at Glenda’s one last time so that I could buy her some fruit (which I’m sure she shared as well).  Glenda took a few pictures of us and they turned out really nice.  I can’t wait to share them with everyone back home.  I walked Doris straight to the luncheon that was provided by the volunteer team – hot dogs and a mixture of black beans and ground beef.  I chatted with the small girls until they had gotten their food.  Blanca clung to me the entire time and when I asked if anything was wrong, she remained silent.  I realized that I’d be leaving soon and felt she was thinking about it too, and it made me sad.  Some of her friends tried to cheer her up by talking to her and when one friend asked how many children I had, she immediately (without hesitation) said SIX…4 in the states and 2 here at Emmanuel.  My heart broke a little bit because of how special she & Doris are to me.  When the girls were settled down with their plates of food, my need for sleep from lacking it the night before struck.  I headed back to the volunteer house and set
my alarm to give me 3 hours of sleep before supper, because I had no clue what tonight at the clinic would entail.

Supper and bath time went as they normally did.  Girls running every which way in the house, whereas to a stranger it would seem like mass chaos – but over time, one comes to see that they have a “system”.  They go to the bathroom first, then brush their teeth, then come into the shower to get their hair wet, get shampoo scrubbed well into their hair – by me & Angelica, and then get scrubbed down with soap by some older girls before heading to Elvia who rinses them clean.  After the shower, they head down the hall to Doris who dries them off and gets them some clean clothing to sleep in, then they head to their living room area to get their hair brushed by 2 other older girls and then to sit in
rows waiting for all to finish this process.  I’ve loved the chats that I have with Angelica and Elvia as we are washing the girls, they are my nightly blessings from God and we have conversations that really touch my heart.  Elvia is SO good for those girls, and I’ve mentioned that to her on more than one occasion.

After I finished my responsibilities, I knew I was needed back at the clinic, so said my quick good-nights and headed to the volunteer houses to prepare what I needed to stay overnight.  When I got to the clinic, I found that I would just be staying with Tony – which was a relief to me in knowing that I would most likely get a better night’s sleep this evening.  I finished up the book that Daysha had lent me and up until my trip down here, had never really thought that Christian fiction books (ASIDE from The Shack) would really interest me.  I was wrong, and can’t wait to dive into a new series that I started down here.  The last thing I’m doing for this evening is finishing typing up this blog.  With
that, I’ll head to bed and am looking forward to a wonderful time of worship in church tomorrow and a relaxing time to spend with Daysha, Kari (and her husband), Daniel and Brandy – the other volunteers – for lunch!

August 19th, 2011 - Pulling an All-Nighter

This morning when I got up, Tony decided that he wanted to shower and go to big circle.  He was not
sick – just the ear thing, so I decided it would probably be good for him to go & see his brother and his friends.  We headed to big circle, dropping my overnight items from the clinic off at the volunteer house on the way. 

The message for the day was from 1 Peter 2:19-21 which states “For it is commendable if a man
bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.” 

Then the second reading came from 1 Peter 3:13-17 which says, “Who is going to harm you if you
are eager to do good?  But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.  ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.  It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

Basically the message was about how even if we follow God’s will in our lives, bad things are going to happen to us and God wants to respond in His ways, in the way that Jesus would have responded, with love and respect towards those who do us injustice.  It is in our sinful human nature to be upset, angry and even vengeful when these things occur; but we need to remember to lean on God in these times and respond with love.

After circle, I walked back to the clinic with Tony and Daysha to wait for Terri to relieve me so that I could go to the little girls’ dining hall to help serve breakfast and do the dishes afterwards.  I joked with one of the older girls about burning the hot cereal to the bottom of the pan and she cleaned it out for me.  I definitely was not looking for her to wash that pan, but was very thankful she did (& I let her know that too!)…because it took her almost the entire time that it took me to wash all the dishes to
get the burnt, caked-on cereal off of that pan!

I headed back to the house to shower and then went to take a few more pictures to bring back home. Doris asked me to lend her my camera and said she would take a bunch of pictures for me, so I’ve saved what I have so far to my computer and I’m going to lend her my camera and trust that she’ll get some pretty good pics.  I hope all of you have seen my new profile pic on Facebook of me & Doris.

Daysha and I headed to town.   She needed groceries, and I desperately wanted to find a soccer shirt
for Noah to replace the one he grew out of, but loves – I was out of luck.  I am not giving up hope though…I still have a few days left for my search!  We got back to Emmanuel just in time for it to start raining pretty hard.  It is the rainy season down here, so it generally rains at least once a day but not for much more than 5-20 minutes before the sun comes out again.

I ended my day by heading to the little girls’ dining area and ate rice, beans & a tortilla with them and then went to help shampoo hair with Angelica.  It has been a real blessing to get this involved with the girls once again.  I got permission to take Doris to town tomorrow (thanks to Lesbi for reminding me I hadn’t spent one-on-one time with Doris yet).  I like to buy a few shirts for myself – nice stylish ones I can wear to work, so I’m hoping that she can help me pick some out!  Of course we’ll do the “ice cream thing” too like I had treated Blanca and Yenci the weekend before.

When I got back to the volunteer house, Daysha and I went outside to pick 2 avocadoes which are just about ready to eat.  I remember Andres last year standing on a chair with broom in hand, jumping up to try to hit them off of the tree (they really are up high).  Then Daysha asked me to pray for her college mentor’s family (the Burley family).  Her college mentor, Kim, had posted a message on Facebook saying that her daughter, Emily, was in a terrible car accident and it took the jaws of life an hour & a half to get her out.  Please be praying for Emily’s health in this most difficult time.

At the end of the evening, I prepared myself to head back to the clinic for the night.  When I arrived, there was a girl from the toddler house who was at the clinic with a fever.  She is autistic and prone to
seizures, so they wanted her to stay the night.  She needed to have her temperature checked every hour, so this meant I would be pulling an all-nighter.  I’m glad I had Daysha’s book to keep me occupied. 

August 18th, 2011 - God Places You where He Wants You

This morning around 6:30am, I relieved Daysha from having spent the night at the clinic.  I stayed until 11:00am and of course in the morning, right when I was about to take Tony for a walk (the one with the stitches on his ear – but not sick), another child came in that claimed he was sick with stomach problems and vomiting.  So that “killed” the walk idea.  I was happy to hear that the boy went back to his house after lunch and that Tony got to go on a walk with Kari in the afternoon.

When Kari relieved me at 11, I went back to the volunteer house just to put my stuff away, and on the way I saw another dead tarantula on the path – although this one was not as much as in tact as the one I saw a couple of days back.  It looked like it had been driven over the night before (and, of course, a few pieces had been carried off by other bugs/insects/predators).

I had a quick little snack and then headed to the girls’ dining hall to help serve lunch.  When the girls began eating, Esperanza came over to me to ask if I could help her with her “homework”.  It was a couple’s bible study that all couples at Emmanuel were asked to do.  There were some questions she had to answer and then a survey she had to take which assessed her love languages (???).  I helped her translate the sentences into Spanish (which were written out in English) and helped her with a few ideas, but really didn’t feel at all qualified to help her with a marriage counseling bible study. 

Here’s the reality: Although some people may think that I have it all together in my marriage and in raising my children (I’ve been asked a few times to lead bible studies in these areas)…I don’t feel that I do.  I’m being completely open here, and I’m guessing that if you’re reading this – you may be shocked but perhaps you’re also thinking that you don’t have it all together either…does anyone?  I think even when things are going good, we ALL tend to look at other couples/families and think that they are doing things SO MUCH BETTER.  I do that too.  Okay, so that’s my philosophical stuff for you to think about in this blog.  Now back to what’s been going on today.

 

As I was washing dishes after lunch, Lourdes (Doris’ sister) asked me if I had a Facebook and when she found out I did, she wanted to know if she could “friend me”.  We took care of that and she quickly looked at a bunch of pictures of my family.  She thought the picture of Peanut standing next to Sara holding her hand in Sara’s wedding photo (in the pre-wedding pic of Sara and her bridesmaids and flower girl) was the most precious thing!!! 

 

About 3pm, Kari came by the volunteer house to tell me that one of the ladies from the team that came was going to help out in the clinic because Katja wanted Kari to go full-time to the toddler house.  I know Kari’s heart is more towards being at the clinic, and she mentioned she’s been praying about this new assignment.  I told her that God has been faithfully giving me just what I’ve needed since I’ve been here, and perhaps there’s a reason why she is to go over there and spend her days there.  I am going to pray that she has strength to handle so many toddlers (it’s definitely NOT my area of expertise), and that she receives much guidance from Jenny who currently is in charge of them – as
Jenny is pregnant and due in the upcoming months.

 

I wasn’t due back at the clinic until about 3:30pm because I thought there would be ensenanza, but there wasn’t.  But I walked with Kari as she was going back to her apartment and I headed to the clinic to introduce myself to the team member who was going to help me out with a few hours while I had to sneak away to help the little girls each day.  We agreed that she would stay until I was done bathing the little girls (between 5:00 & 6pm), but Daysha asked if I’d like her to take 6-8pm so I could have a “breather”. 

I really do like Daysha! 

Now I’m typing this up at the clinic before I have to give Tony his 8:30pm dose of Ibuprofen (for the pain)…and it’s about 4 minutes to 8:30, so I’m going to go for the evening. Have a great night everyone!  May God bless you.

August 17th, 2011 - The Cleaning of the Volunteer House

One of my passages in my devotion this morning was Psalm 91:4 – He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

 

Oh how I’ve needed to hear these words this past week, but this morning was truly the perfect day to hear them as I was able to soak them in and truly let them work through me.   So many emotions are going through my head as I think that now I’m down to one week left here at Emmanuel.  Actually at the time I’m writing this, it’s almost a week to the HOUR/MINUTE that I’ll be walking out the front gates of this beautiful place that God has blessed.  The trip home has always been difficult because I’m leaving behind children that I have come to love freely, but I’m not yet with my own family…so those many hours that I’m en route (which this time will be over 24 hours of travel between Emmanuel and Appleton) are the toughest.  I hope to hold these words to my heart as everything here begins to wind down and I prepare myself for next week.

Today was a very tiring day.  Kari came to the clinic at 6:30am, so I headed back to the volunteer
house to drop off my stuff.  When I got  there, Lourdes came in and said that her & Katja’s crew would be cleaning the house today and I should get anything in the house (aside from that which was already in my room) into my room.  They did a complete cleaning of the house – meaning they took out ALL of the furniture and washed down walls, floors, cupboards, all the furniture (cabinets &
dressers).  It took all day to do.  Even some boys came over to mow the lawn and then brought the power washer to wash the outside of the house.  In the end, it smelled completely disinfected…like a hospital.  I know that it’s super-clean now and am very thankful that they did this, because Daysha & I have tried to clean as much as possible in between our other responsibilities and then painting the house, but we’d have NEVER gotten it this clean.

I was hoping to get a nap in since last night was rough on me because of it being my 2^nd night in the clinic and having to wake every 3 hours to give medicine…however I had to find other things to do during the day, so I headed to the toddler house to help in the Sala.  After there, I headed to the yards to play with the special needs children.  I read various bible stories to them for over an hour (it was a HOT day today…so I tired easily), then headed to the clinic to relieve Kari for a few hours.  When she came back, I needed to run to the store out front to get a mango juice because all that had been in the
refrigerator back at the house had been thrown out.  I’ll reuse that wide-mouthed bottle for water
for tomorrow too.  Then I headed to the small girls’ area so that Doris could call Andres (she’s been wanting to do that since I got here & she found out he didn’t come).  It put a smile on her face
for the rest of the afternoon.  I went to ensenanza with the girls and then to supper (beans & cabbage) and then over to their house to help with baths, as usual. Because the new group got in a little later, there’s no church this evening.Now that the day is done, I have a large headache, probably from some of the chemicals that are still floating around the house from cleaning.  I was really appreciative to have the chance to talk with a REALLY GOOD friend who sharea a lot of my Christian views.  God put her in place at the right time last night and gave us a good connection to chat for as long as was needed.  Thank you!

August 16th, 2011 - The Computer Works Again?

Kari came to the clinic at 6:30am to relieve me from having spent the night, so I headed back to the volunteer house for a bit to eat before going to wash dishes.  Dishes tend to go a LOT slower when you don’t have that 2^nd person there to help.  After washing them, I headed back to the volunteer  house for lice treatment #2 and to paint.  I lost track of time and before I knew it, it was just about lunch time.  Bedroom #4 is just about done with only one wall to go!   It got painted that elephant gray color, which is really making the room look dark, especially since there’s only one window.

 

After a week of my computer not working with the internet, it finally worked yesterday!  With everything that’s been happening to me down here, Daysha & I think that perhaps it was not meant to work on my computer for this past week and today was just the day that it was supposed to be up & running.  I can’t really explain here why we felt that way – just a lot of “God signs” going on down here.  I am so glad for the opportunity to come down here each year, I feel so close to Him and many times can hear Him whisper to me his wishes and plans for me as I listen to the daily devotions the kids participate in each morning and afternoon, or the ones that I go through on my own.

 

I stopped by the clinic to check on Kari to give her the option of staying in the clinic over lunch or going and taking her turn in the dining hall & washing dishes.  She said although she didn’t really mind, it seemed that she’d rather stay in the clinic, so I headed to do dishes.  After dishes I headed back to the house and cleaned a little bit.

 

I relieved Kari from the clinic around 2pm so that she could go and get a bite to eat (they do send an extra plate to the clinic during meal times for the volunteers in the clinic) and just take a break.  I let her know that she could tackle supper time (serving food only) and then bath time, and when she was finished if she’d come back for about 20 minutes, I’d head to the house to pack to spend the night.

I began reading a 350-page book at 2pm and it was so good that I had to finish it (which means I didn’t get to bed until about 11:30pm).  I had to get up every 3 hours for this little boy to get his medicine, so I’m thinking that I may be tired tomorrow – but I’m sure that God will get me through!  The highlight of my night was probably while I was sitting in the front part of the clinic (since I needed light to read) and getting to watch the big bugs come out to play.  The ants here are larger than normal, but this huge black cricket (probably 3-4 times the size of the ones we have) crawled across the floor and wasn’t about 5 feet in front of me when out of nowhere a little lizard ran down the wall and over to him and whisked him away!  I heard the crunch when it caught the cricket in it’s mouth and I think the lizard would’ve started eating him right there, but I didn’t really want to see it, so I stomped my foot and it ran under a door into another room. Later, as I was reading the last 10 pages of my book, I saw a cockroach come out from under a cupboard whose size had been foreign to me since I had lived it Mexico.  I wanted it to stay under the cupboard until I finished the book and retreated to the back room to sleep, so once again I stomped my foot and it went running. When I spend the night in the clinic, I take the top bunk of one of the beds in there.  I figure that if any bugs are going to climb a bed, they’d rather go for one that’s not so high, hahaha. 

 

Goodnight!

August 15th, 2011 - Saying Goodbye to Maryland Friends

This morning I had to first stop at the team house to say goodbye to the Maryland group.  As I mentioned before, I didn’t get to see them that often this year…but it was nice to see familiar faces from time to time!  I greatly appreciated the help they gave with filling in for us a few hours here & there so that we could have a little bit more time to paint.  Katja came by the house today to inspect the 3 rooms that are now finished.  I think she realizes that it’s going to take a little bit longer than anticipated.

At breakfast, Doris was pretty upset.  She shared a bit of information with me, and I will pray that God touches her heart and heals her struggles.  She is one of the many reasons that I come down each year.  I love to see her smiles and kidding around and just to be there for her!

After breakfast, I headed back to the volunteer house to prepare the last two bedrooms for painting. I took out every non-furniture item that was left behind by previous volunteers, and moved all of the furniture to the center of the room.  I did 2 loads of laundry and also scraped a bunch of the paint drips off of the ceramic tile in bedroom #3 and swept that room.  We should be painting as soon as lunch is done.

While Kari and I were doing the lunch dishes, Gerson called over our way to say that there was a boy in the clinic.  Kari took that shift since I was going to paint and she didn’t have plans – other than to come and help us paint.  Later on we found out that he was going to be staying the night, so it worked out even better because since she is a newlywed…it might be tougher on her to stay the night, away from her husband and in a new place.

When I got back to the volunteer house after lunch, Daysha was working on the white pillars in one of the bedrooms, and Daniel and Kellin (Kari’s husband) were rolling paint on one of the walls while their boys were outside cutting the lawn.  They got that wall done in no time flat.  Daysha kept working on the white borders/pillars the rest of the afternoon and I worked on the ceiling & flooring edges and also the corners with the brush.  Looks like these two rooms are going to be gray (think of an elephant’s color).  Katja came over later to check on the progress of the house and mentioned the possibility of the volunteer team that’s coming on Saturday to paint the kitchen, living room and hallway for us.

At 4:10, I headed to the little girls’ dorm to help with baths and got the shampooing job again (which I like doing).  I chatted as I shampooed each girl’s hair and then sent them to Elvia who washed the shampoo out.  I generally stay a little later to help out with calming them down, etc…but since I’ll be staying the night at the clinic, I really needed to get back to our house to have a little supper and then to get ready for the clinic. 

When I got to the clinic and was chatting with Kari, the power went out.  It was completely dark and I was regretting not bringing a flashlight (because power outage is a common thing down here).  Just a few minutes later, Daysha ran in and announced that she’d be in the clinic as long as the power was out – even if it meant staying the night.  She had let me know earlier in the day that she has never lived on her own…living with her parents’ right up until college and then living with roommates.  I don’t know how she’ll far when I leave and she has that big volunteer house to herself for 1-2 weeks.  She agreed to go back to the house to get a flashlight for us, and while she was gone the power came back on (what a relief), but I still had the flashlight for the night “just in case”.

Later in the evening, Gerson brought a boy in who had been taken to the hospital for stitches.  He had an incident with a trampoline that had just about ripped his entire ear off and stitches needed to be put on the inside as well as the outside of his ear to attach it back on.  Gerson said that this boy will be in the clinic for quite a while, so I can pretty much bank on staying in the clinic every night for the rest of my time here.  Gerson also asked me how long I’ve been her and how long I’d be staying yet and then asked (again this year) WHY I don’t stay for longer bits of time.  I let him know that eventually I’d be down here for the entire summer.

August 14th, 2011 - And Now There Were Two

This morning we said goodbye to Jacki and Julie.  After they were long-gone, we realized that Jacki left her camera behind.  I will try to get her address from Katja, so that when I get back to the States I can mail it to her.

When we headed to church, I saw the Maryland group for the last time.  They could’ve used my help with painting faces for the children today, and I was hoping to join them later.

The service today was on forgiveness.  It’s amazing how each day that I’m here, God speaks to me in His own way – and His chats are just what I need…refreshment for my soul. 

After church, I spoke briefly with Kari and God must’ve put checking up on her later into my heart because as I was moving into my new freshly-painted room, I found a phone with a charger (and she does not yet have one).  I quickly took it over to her apartment with the intention of also inviting her to the tienda to each lunch with us later – and I found her with bloodshot eyes.  She missed home.  Her husband was out working and she had the day off and it hit her that she’d be here for 9 months.  I was glad to be able to have the opportunity to share with her that most volunteers go through a little homesickness the first week or two that they’re here. It’s an adjustment since you don’t really understand what the needs are yet or how to keep yourself busy. Gradually you realize that there’s more work to do than hours in the day and that alone-time to reflect on those you’ve left behind lessens.

When I got back to the volunteer house, I decided to head to the yard and have Karla check my head. Karla only found one, which was very tiny or just hatched, and she told me that she was pretty confident that she had gotten all of them!  Sometime over this past weekend, Julie, Jacki and I googled the life cycle of lice (I know…gross).  Anyway, I discovered that the best thing to do is to give myself another treatment 9 days after the first treatment in order to kill off any newly hatched lice (the treatment generally doesn’t take care of killing what’s inside the eggs) – so I’ll have to look back and see when I gave myself the first treatment. Between that and what Karla’s done for me, I should be good to go!  Of course, I’ll still have her periodically check me from now until my return home.

We headed to the tienda for hamburgers (no tacos today).  I showed Kari and her husband how to manage their phone…simple things like putting Lemps ($$$, payment in advance for usage) on the phone, texting a special code before calling the U.S. to get a discount rate, how to check how many Lemps are left on the phone, etc.  Daniel showed up to eat with us, which was nice because Daysha and I realized we hadn’t extended the invitation to him while in church…it completely slipped our minds.  We chatted and ate for about 2 hours before realizing that the time had flown by and we still had not yet painted today.

When we headed back, Daysha needed to catch up with a girl, so I headed to the house to do some cleaning. I swept the bathroom and cleaning the bathroom sinks.  Daysha & I have an agreement that I’ll take care of the floor sweeping/mopping and the sinks/showers and she takes care of the toilets.  After having worked at McDonald’s and cleaning those bathrooms on the night shift, I never care to clean a toilet again.  I also swept and mopped the hallway, living room and kitchen since Daysha cleaned the kitchen cupboards and did the dishes (there were a lot of dishes).  Laundry was an all-day, ongoing thing – as usual.

Sam (David & Lydia’s niece) came over to help us finish painting.  She’s going to be a junior in high school out in California & is such a sweetheart!  She was here for 5 hours this afternoon and although it only took us 2 hours to finish the room, it was nice to chat with her for another three!  When we were done, I cleaned up our brushes and the painting jars.  Cleaning the floor and getting the furniture back in place will have to wait until tomorrow.  I’m also planning on getting into the last 2 bedrooms and getting all furniture into the center of each room, so that we can begin them sometime this week.  I’d like to have them all done before leaving Daysha here alone.

Today was cooler than normal.  I’m actually closing the windows and turning my bed-side fan off this evening to prevent it from getting too cool in here.  Generally around week 2, I begin to adjust to the climate here – which is not much different than a typical Wisconsin August, there’s just no air  conditioning…so no escape from the heat/humidity.  Good night to all, I know I won’t be sweating tonight!

August 13th, 2011 - I LOVE YOU

I LOVE YOU.  Three simple words that to many people are “just words”, but with the children down
here mean SO much more.  Three words that a husband and wife may say in passing each other in the house or to end a conversation on the phone, or a child may say when they want to prolong going to bed, that many times is just a common phrase.  They’re 3 words that get shared verbally, yet many times do not truly come from the heart. Doris says these words to me at least once a day and they generally either accompany (or are followed by) one of the strongest hugs I’ve gotten in a long time. Yesterday I had to remind her of my weak stomach, to which she was very respective. 

 

Although Blanca doesn’t say it as often as Doris, she constantly looks for me…to take my hand wherever she goes (generally in between the little girls’ house & their dining hall).  She’s always giving me hugs…perhaps not as “strong” as those from Doris, but they last a long time – as if she just wants to curl up in my arms forever.  I can’t imagine being in a better, more loving place right now.

My first stop this morning was to the kitchen (there was no circle this morning).  The very first thing I saw was a tarantula.  Although it had recently died, it’s the first WHOLE one that I’ve seen in the 4 years I’ve been here…since generally the ants and other bugs come and carry pieces of it away.  It was pretty large, and would’ve scared the daylights out of me if I’d have found it in our house!  There was great comfort in knowing that it was dead and I wouldn’t have to worry about it coming over by me or bothering me while I had to do dishes.

When I headed over to the clinic to take over the morning shift (Jacki had spent the night), Gerson and Karelia decided to send the 2 boys home.  Better yet, no new kids came in – which meant I could get back to the house to help with painting.  Karelia also brought some girls over to fully clean the clinic so that I could get back to those other chores.  I deeply appreciated this.

I spent the rest of the morning painting before heading back for lunch to do dishes.  I can’t really
remember how it started (I would probably blame Doris), but there ended up being a water fight in the kitchen.  Doris and I got soaked – but it was fun!

 

The afternoon was spent painting some more (I cannot believe how long it takes to paint a single room!), and then after supper I headed to the medium girls’ house to help Julie and Jacki say their goodbyes.  They threw a little party for the girls and because their Spanish is limited, Julie asked that I be there for translation into Spanish.  She played a few games to start and then got into some bible versus that she’d like the girls to focus on as she leaves.  After the bible study, I headed back to the house to paint some more while Julie and Jacki gave out cookies and gifts.  Julie and I are different in our ways – she needs long conversations and to show affection when saying goodbye, whereas I would just rather slip away unnoticed.  But we got along well as roommates for this week and a half.

 

The AWESOME news is that 2 of the bedrooms in the house are done!  They have been painted and cleaned and are set-up and ready to go.  Tomorrow Daysha and I will be moving into these two rooms to free up the other bedrooms.  The 3^rd bedroom we had started is mostly done, but needs a 2^nd coat and touch-ups, which hopefully we can get finished up in the next couple of days.  I’d like to have all the bedrooms done before I leave.  If I think of it, I’ll take a picture of the bedroom I’ll be staying in before moving my stuff into there.  Although to most Americans it probably won’t look like anything spectacular, Daysha and I celebrated last night about having accomplished the painting of these two rooms and WE think they look great!!!

August 12th, 2011 - Ice Cream with the Girls

Well, I was hoping for a better day, but I woke up at about 11:30pm (last night) and had probably the worst night of my life.  Aside from being extremely sick, another tragedy happened that will probably greatly affect my life for a long time and I’m really not ready to deal with it – and cannot even bring myself to talk about it yet.  I hope that God’s love & grace shines brightly throughout these tough moments because I want to be able to use these last two weeks to work with these little kids and love them so much!  I was so glad to hear Veronica’s words at big circle.  I’ve known her since the 1^st year I came down here and she is such a sweetheart.  That woman has been through so much – I feel that we have a lot in common.  It’s amazing how God can put those words on her heart to share and they
are so applicable to many…that no matter what struggles we go through in life (big or small), it is Him to whom we have to look and only Him that will get us through.

This morning (after my daily duties at the little girls’ house) I tried to paint a little more, but the fumes got to me and made my sickness worse.  My brain was swarming, so I was unable to rest.  I had some
plain white rice and took a lot of “heat” from the little girls’ about how gross that must’ve tasted…just plain, no chicken broth, no butter.

I found a team member to help Kari with the lunch dishes so that I could surprise Blanca & Yenci and take them in to town for some ice cream cones (Julie accompanied me and brought 2 older girls).  We ended up getting permission from Papi, which I was really excited about.

Neither Blanca nor Yenci had been outside of Emmanuel…EVER!  Blanca clung to my hand, and sometimes Yenci had my hand – sometimes she followed quietly behind, but the entire time she looked scared.  When we got in to town, I stopped at the little bakery and bought some banana bread.  They were amazed at the little bakery (again, having never seen one before).  Then we headed through the central park to the ice cream shop.  It wasn’t a 32 flavors or anything…I think they had 10-12 flavors, but they each chose one and got their cone.  It was their first ice cream cone as well.  I was so nice to enjoy how appreciative they were and amazed at this new “thing” that tasted so great!

We stopped at the supermarket on the way home and Blanca pulled the cart around as I picked out supplies.  They grabbed at least 5-10 items from each aisle (like toothpaste, noodles, Glade, etc) and asked if I needed it.  Again, another moment for me to just absorb!  When we got to the front, I let them each pick out a juice box and small pack of cookies.  We also shared a Sprite on the way home.

On the way home they saw a few shoe stores and just about begged for shoes as we passed EVERY store, lifting their up which were getting pretty old. This is definitely not something my own children beg for. I may have to think about sending them some for Christmas, now that they’ve been sized.  Our final shopping stop was at Glenda’s, where I bought a bunch of bananas (to help soothe my stomach issues) and let them each get a banana and another tiny fruit that I didn’t even recognize…which only cost 5 cents for three of them!

When we got back in to Emmanuel, we ate some of the goodies/snacks at the tienda before taking them back up for their ensenanza (bible study).  We chatted a bit and had fun.  It was a WONDERFULLY FULFILLING day!!!

Then it was back to serving supper and clinic duty before I turn in for the night.  I may do a little bit of painting, but perhaps I should grab a face mask from the clinic so I’m not inhaling so many fumes and putting myself at greater risk of getting sick.  We have 3 bedrooms just about finished and most likely should get them done and perhaps a little more on Saturday – provided no kids are at the clinic.  This evening there was only 1 boy at first, but justifiably so, because he came in with 103 degree fever.  Later in the evening, Gerson brought another boy in to spend the night.  There was a pretty good storm outside, so I showed them how to count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder to know the distance away from them the lightning struck.  We sat back and did this for about an hour.

The Maryland group is heading home on Monday, so they are throwing a small party for the staff/volunteers which I will miss due to being in the clinic, but Daysha promised she’d make a plate up for me & bring it back to the house.  I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I did the first year, but more than I did last year (they were coming as I was leaving).  After Sunday, it’ll just be Daysha & me in the volunteer house.

August 11th, 2011 - Sickness Strikes!

It was a little sad to see Joy leave this morning, since I had worked so closely with her at the little girls’ house, but we all sent her our love and saw her off before heading to our respective circles to begin the day.

Kari (the new volunteer that will be helping me with the little girls’ house) was at circle and we chatted as we washed dishes.  She seems very quiet, and most likely it’s because she’s new…but I reassured her that as she becomes more familiar with things around here, she’ll have more than enough to do. 

When I got back to our volunteer house, Jacki and I began painting.  We began with one of the back
bedrooms and she took care of the roller brush while I did the detail painting around doors and windows and then along the baseboards and corners.  We worked together for almost 3 hours until I
had to go back to the little girls’ house for lunch.  At lunch I asked Kari to take my afternoon shift at the clinic so that I could spend the afternoon painting.  I did more small detail painting while Daysha
and Jacki worked on a 2^nd coat of paint in the room that we had started and then began painting the next bedroom across the hall.  I worked straight through until it was time to head to the little girls’ house for their night time bath.  After bathing the girls, I headed back home to eat and then paint some more…and THEN it hit – getting sick!  I have never before gotten so sick while down here and I felt terrible that I had to ask Julie to take the overnight shift at the clinic for me, but I felt a small fever coming on as well as…we’ll just say “other symptoms” that I knew I wouldn’t be effective in the clinic and it would probably be better for the 2 that were spending the night if I didn’t share my
illness with them.

 

I’m heading to bed now, feeling horrible and hoping that tomorrow will be a new and better day!

August 10th, 2011 - God Gives when We Most Need

I woke up this morning and headed to the little girls’ circle once again with Joy.  This will be
Joy’s last morning circle since her last day it tomorrow.  We washed dishes together and then I headed
to the school to do measurements with the team from Maryland.  We whipped through the elementary school very fast (I think they started that yesterday) and completed it by lunch, at which time I headed back to the little girls’ dining area.

God works in wonders here at Emmanuel.  Joy was amazed at His works and blessings when I arrived, because it would have been the very first day she would have had to do dishes on her own.  Today at
lunch (realizing that this was the last time I would do dishes with Joy), a new volunteer arrived named Kari that said she was sent to this house to help out!  What a blessing.

After lunch, we went to tackle the measurements at the high school and completed them within 30 minutes.  There was another little boy (Brayan) at the clinic, so at 2pm I headed there to relieve Julie.  I was with him until 5pm and then, under Gerson’s direction, returned him to the little boys’ house before heading to church.  What a wonderful testimony Joanne (from the Maryland group) gave!  I did not realize that just 3 years ago when I first met her that it was her very first time here.

After church, Julie, Joy & I headed to the little girls’ house, the medium girls’ house, and finally to the toddler house in order for Joy to say goodbye to all.  We chatted a bit at the volunteer house and decided tomorrow is the day that begins painting…I know, good luck to me!

August 9th, 2011 - Mosquito Bites from Day 1

My body was completely exhausted this morning when I woke up in the clinic, although after bathing the girls and stripping/remaking the beds in the clinic…my brain was more awake, so that when I got back to the volunteer house I could not nap.  Because my body was so exhausted, I knew that going out into the hot sun would really not be good, so I decided that rather than help the children…I’d help the volunteers by cleaning up.  I swept & mopped the common area (hall, living room, dining room, kitchen), washed dishes and 2 loads of laundry from the clinic.  I began washing laundry from our house (bedding from those volunteers who had left – yep, not done yet), and finally sent one of my own loads through.  I sprayed my bed down with lice control aerosol and then made my bed with new sheets since the discovery of the lice.

I headed to the little girls kitchen (which is still flooded) with Joy to help serve lunch and do dishes. When we finished I headed again to the clinic.  Fortunately I didn’t have to spend tonight as well because Evelin was sent home this morning and Erika headed home just after supper.  I changed bed sheets there and swept…Karelia said she would mop since there was a doctor in the clinic today doing exams and I didn’t want to keep interrupting him by running around with a mop. I took the sheets back to our volunteer house to wash and will get them back tomorrow.

I’ve been here a week now and I still have the 14 mosquito bites from day 1 of arriving at Emmanuel, however they are now about the size of a standard Wisconsin mosquito bite once it turns into a red bump, so hoping that tomorrow or Thursday will be the last day of the appearance of all of these bites on my legs.  These mosquitoes seem to rip off your flesh and dive down deep (hence the drops of blood on my legs the first day).

Also, I got to see a boy who was about to have the little worms come out of him from having been chosen to be a “host body” by one of those bright green flies (you’ll have to ask Andres or me more about this).  The boys arm was very swollen and he cried terribly.  Unfortunately the worms did not come out today, so hopefully tomorrow.

Joy and Julie invited me to hear them practice with the music team for tomorrow’s evening service. They’ll be singing Power of Your Love which was one of the songs Bob & I chose to be played at our wedding. I’m pretty excited to listen to that. 

After an full day, it’s finally time to turn in…I really need the recuperation time for an active day tomorrow!

August 8th, 2011 - LICE !!!

The girls’ kitchen still has not been fixed (as far as the flooding goes), so we found ourselves hauling dirty dishes once again up to the lavanderia. While we were up there preparing the dishes to be washed, Doris found a louse in my hair! UGH…that’s a first for me in my 4 trips down here. Now I’ll need to get my hair checked out to see if that was a loner or if there’s more. We have shampoo treatments down here, so hoping that if I do have lice – it’ll get taken care of before I get home. My roommate (Julie) had it yesterday and had to give herself a treatment last night. They sure are ugly little things!

I worked at the clinic again with Erika from 8-11am, and while there made sure she bathed once again (kids in the clinic bathe in the morning after waking and again before heading to bed), ate, and then I washed dishes, swept & mopped and cleaned up a little.

After this, Katja had told me that the Maryland group was over at the toddler house sizing the babies. When I got over that way, they had already finished and were headed elsewhere. Because lunch was quickly approaching, I decided to just meet them back at their volunteer house for a quick update before heading to the little girls’ kitchen again for the lunch hour and dish duty.

After lunch, I caught up with John in the yards & gave him some paletas con chile (suckers/lollipops coated with hot pepper). It seems that most of the children & staff here at Emmanuel really like the Mexican treat – and it’s not really available to them in town. I headed to the tienda out front with Julie so that she could get some more saldo, and on our way back I decided to have Karla (who was out in the yards) check my hair for lice. Julie highly recommended her. Of course she found quite a few…okay, MANY. She said that she did not see any eggs/nits though, so when she finished pulling all she found out of my hair, I washed my hair with a lice treatment and Daysha checked me afterwards and didn’t find anything. I’m going to go back to Karla tomorrow to make sure I’m clear. From what I’ve heard from the volunteers – the lice must be really terrible this year because in the 4 years I’ve been here, this is the first year I’ve gotten it (and many other volunteers have gotten it more than once…some 4-5 times in the summer they’ve been here). Although I realize if it’s going to happen – it’s going to happen, I just want to be CLEAR by the time I come home so that when I hug my kids, they are not exposed to it right before school starts.

I had to be at the little girls’ house at 5pm to help with bathing. After all were settled in, the older girls who stay with and watch over the little ones headed to the gymnasium (Monday nights are their nights to go)…so I went along. I played soccer with them out on the court, which didn’t go so well at first. They put me at goalie – and I had never played soccer before in my life (so they scored quite a bit on me, but I did block a few). Then they decided to switch my position with someone else, which went a lot better for our team!

Afterwards Esperanza served noodles with hot dogs and a bottle of Coke to the girls. I ran up to the volunteer house to get them some paletas. They were surprised by how hot they were! When playtime was over, I had to head to the clinic to spend the night. There are now two girls in the clinic, Erika and Evelin, but they should be going home tomorrow (hooray)! As I entered the clinic, I was greeted by thousands (literally) of ants who were heading into the building in search of the 3 noodles that had been dropped on the floor during supper time. That brought back many memories of living in Mexico and the necessity of keeping the floors completely clean…sweeping and mopping multiple times daily in order for the insects to not find the inside of your house pleasant. Any hint of food & they will come! I swept them all out into the grass (perhaps there would be some enticing meal there?) and mopped the clinic for the evening. Joy brought me some household insect-killing spray to get the ones that were hiding underneath the wall.

I haven’t really gotten to spend any time helping the Maryland group with measurements, so hoping to do that tomorrow.

August 7th, 2011 - Saying Goodbye to a Bunch of Volunteers

This morning Julie relieved me from the clinic and I had just enough time to dress and get to church. It was a wonderful service on the 23^rd Psalm, and so nice to see the team members from Maryland!  Of course Robert asked about Andres (and why he wasn’t down here this year), and two more boys also asked about him after church.  Andres sure has made an impact in the 2 years he’s been down here.

After church I chatted with Jacki for a little bit and then we headed to the tienda for some tacos at 11:30.  The male volunteers met up with us there.  After the tacos, we headed to town for toilet paper (which we forgot the other day) and supplies to make guacamole and enchiladas this evening in celebration of those volunteers who will be leaving this week.  I’ll be at the clinic while this is going on, but they are having dinner just an hour before I’m done, so the food should still be warm – or room temperature.

I was at the clinic from 5-8pm with Erika again, and all went well.  Another boy was there, but when I asked about pajamas and clothing for tomorrow, Gerson decided to send him home instead of letting him spend the night.  I made sure Erika took her shower and changed the bedding before letting her settle in for the night.  She fell asleep about 7pm, so I got to do a little reading about missionaries in New Guinea.

When I got back to the volunteer house, there was a plate waiting for me and I enjoyed time chatting with the other volunteers before we said our goodbyes and the girls and I went in to clean up.

August 6th, 2011 - Internet Issues Resolved???

Last night we discovered that there is too much security on the computer Bob sent along with me – and this doesn’t allow me to publish my blogs. So I will be using not only Daysha’s USB internet, but also her laptop to post my blogs.
I headed to the clinic this morning at 8am to relieve Julie. I gave Erika a shower & got her dressed for the day, took temps, gave medicines, swept/mopped the clinic, washed dishes, and ran the bedding through the washer. Jackie came to relieve me at 11am and will be staying for two 6-hour shifts, because I will be staying the night. Erika hasn’t eaten since early yesterday and didn’t eat again this morning. This actually isn’t good, because now she is complaining of stomach pains and she has been vomiting up the medicine and water all night & morning (because the medicine is upsetting her stomach THAT much since it’s empty).
At 11am, I brought the wet bedding back to the volunteer house to dry and cut Erika 2 small slices of banana bread (thinking that would be good for her empty tummy). She took a tiny bite and said that she DIDN’T like the bread – which completely stunned me because I thought it was yummy!
I headed to the girls’ volunteer house and did dishes at the lavanderia’s spicket once again with Joy. There were more dishes than normal, so it took us over an hour to do them all. My water shoes were soaked by the time I finished, so they are sitting outside and I am hoping that they dry quickly.
I chatted with Daysha for a bit back at the volunteer house before heading to supper with the little girls. After supper was bath time and Mariela asked both Joy and I to stay and help prepare the beds and watch the little girls while the older girls went off to bible study. While we were there, it poured and the girls got a little restless. Just like I do at home with my own children, they were given warnings about settling down or they would have to go to bed early. When the big girls came back, I headed to the clinic to spend the night with Erika. I had to wake up every 2 hours to take her temperature (and give medicines on some occasions), but overall it went well.

August 5th, 2011 - The Toddlers

Because today is Friday, this morning began with BIG circle – which I was able to record a few things on my camera to bring back to you. We heard from Gerson about helping and having mercy in your heart rather than helping and expecting something in return. They now have a microphone and speakers this year which makes it a lot easier to hear. In the past they just spoke as loudly as they could, however it was a little difficult to hear with such a huge circle – putting you more of a distance away from the speaker.
After circle, we headed to breakfast. On today’s menu was arroz con leche, so I had a little bit. Joy was in the clinic, so I had to do dishes on my own (and discovered later that I didn’t do the greatest job). I felt a little pressure to hurry as I was doing it since all the girls in the kitchen had left and I was expected to be at the toddler house ASAP. Just to give you an idea of how many people they feed in the little girls’ house – I think I heard something about 72 tortillas being made.
I was at the toddler house most of the morning, watching the older toddlers (ages 3-5) in the yards. I think there were 32 of them, but they were running so much I can’t be too sure of my counting. After a few hours of helping toddlers climb & go down slides, pushing them on swings, giving them water breaks, watching them on the various jungle gyms, helping them on the teeter-totter, and helping them search for toads (the highlight of their morning)…I desperately needed a break before heading to lunch to do even more dishes. I can’t believe how much water I drank – I felt like my husband (it was a VERY large water bottle!).
When I headed up to do the dishes, we found that the sinks in the kitchen were not working properly, so Joy & I had to take all of the dishes up the hill to the lavanderia to wash them out of a water spicket there. It was tedious & back-breaking to be bending over the spicket the entire time scrubbing so many utensils, bowls and cups (and then the pots/pans as well), but this experience also made me thankful that I purchased a new tube of IcyHot and Aleve right before coming down here!
After doing the dishes, I headed to the clinic once again to watch over Erika – who has bronchitis. I discovered many things: vomit is easier to clean up on ceramic tile than on carpeting, 3 bowls of food for supper is WAY too much for little Erika (don’t worry, she didn’t want to eat any of it), I feel really old when I’m called Ma’am, Luis David (the RIGHT one, Andres) is still here, I now know what lice looks like (no it’s NOT ME who has it…I hope), and a few other things I’ll just put off mentioning.
Julie relieved me from the clinic and will stay there the night with Erika, but I did help her clean a little bit before taking off. If Erika keeps coughing the way she has been, it’ll be a rough night for Julie.
And with that concludes my day. It’s now 6pm and the sun is going down. Tomorrow the group from Maryland arrives, and I’m so excited to catch up with them!

August 4th, 2011 - My Little Bakery (YUM)

Today began pretty much the same as yesterday – going to the little girls’ house to help get them dressed and then to circle, followed by breakfast. After doing the dishes, Daysha, Jackie & I headed in to Guaimaca to buy some groceries and other items. We went to the supermercado first for the pastas/sauces and I got some juices, then to the mercado for veggies, then to a store which I had never heard of…My Little Bakery (I guess it’s a “volunteer favorite”). I bought a loaf of mixed bread (like a chocolate/vanilla mix – almost a cake) and also a loaf of banana bread. The banana bread was very good as far as Honduran food goes, but of course it’s not my Mom’s. 
After the bakery, we headed across the street for Daysha to renew her USB internet connection subscription. I gave her the payment for this next month in exchange for sharing the USB. This was a win-win situation for us both, since she got one month of internet subscription for free and I didn’t have to invest in a USB connector + the first month payment. Hopefully I’ll be able to update my blogs more efficiently now. On the way back to Emmanuel, we stopped at Glenda’s for fruit. She asked about Andres (as many of the older boys are doing too), and told me to say “hi” to him from her.
When we got back, it was time to head to the girls’ house for lunch. After doing dishes with Joy, I headed to the clinic again. There was a little girl there with the fever and bad cough that was using a nebulizer when I arrived (bronchitis?). Three boys came in while I was there who had eaten some berries that weren’t meant for humans. Gerson wanted them to stay in the clinic for the afternoon and just let their bodies flush the bad stuff out. When Karelia came at 3:30pm, she also welcomed me back with a smile on her face and said that there were NO CHICKEN POX. The boys left by 4:30pm and then Jackie came to relieve me at 5pm. Jackie is leaving on Sunday and no longer uses her phone, so she said that I could use her phone while I’m here (I had bought minutes in town to put on the phone since it was empty).
I headed to the little girls’ house to show Blanca (mi flaquita) pictures of Alina. She is always asking about Alina each year, and I actually had pics on my camera of my family from Sara’s wedding. I called home for the first time this evening and got to talk to all but Andres. Hoping I can call at a time everyone’s home next week!

August 3rd, 2011 - Back to the Clinic

This morning began with a 6:30am trip to the little girls’ house to help them get dressed. Quite a few of them did not get their skirts washed yesterday – a required part of their school uniform, so it was a scramble to ask other houses if they had any extras. We then did “circle” outside their house. This is where they sing praises to God and hear from His Word. Following circle, they walk single-file to breakfast. We prayed, washed our hands, and then the girls ate. Afterwards, Joy (another volunteer) and I washed dishes while we chatted about our family & lifestyle back home. Joy is originally from Egypt, but lives in Los Angeles and has been here for 7 weeks.
After dishes, I came back to the volunteer house to have a cup of coffee and while helping Julie translate a letter from Spanish to Danish.  Well, okay, I did the Spanish to English and she did the English to Danish.  Then we took out 5 kitchen-sized garbage bags (of garbage) out to where the boys come to pick it up daily.  I washed down the kitchen cupboards and tables and spent a bit of time sweeping the main living area, hall and kitchen/dining areas which were part of the filth that Katja was talking about.  I was hoping to mop afterward, but Max stopped by with 2 boys to work on the dryer – so that’ll have to wait until later.  I’m hoping that someone else tackles the bathroom, because I have a tough time with bathrooms after having worked at McDonald’s & seeing some of the most disgusting stuff ever in my life in bathrooms.
Joy & I went back to the little girls’ house to help with lunch and wash dishes afterwards, and then I headed to the clinic (no chicken pox this year) to relieve Julie & watch a boy who was in there for having been sick that morning.  When Gerson came in at 4pm, he seemed happy to see me again and welcomed me back and then released the boy since he seemed to be doing much better.  I headed back to the little girls’ house to help with the supper dishes, but found out that I didn’t need to help bathe the girls because there was no water in the tank for them to shower.
Church began at 5pm and I saw Daniel there (the other volunteer who rode in to Emmanuel with me yesterday).  I saw a few girls who recognized me from spending so much time with them and their chicken pox last year in the clinic!  I recognized them too, but names are more difficult for me to remember.  The other female volunteers & I sat down to relax after church & just chatted for an hour or so before calling it an evening.