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.