Brandy's Goodbye

On Saturdays there isn't any circle, so we headed to the little girls' house to help them get dressed and have breakfast.  During breakfast Alina's stomach wasn't feeling so well (don't worry, it was very temporary this time) so the other volunteer, Samantha, went to get her some medicine and Alina went home to rest while we served breakfast.  I checked in with Alina after the dining hall was cleaned.  After about an hour or so, she was feeling better, so we headed out on a walk.  On our way we saw Esau, a member of the California group that had just arrived.  He has been here every year since the year of the chicken pox (he helped out a great deal with the plumbing issues at the clinic that year and also got me some extra help with caring for all of the children with chicken pox).  I introduced him to Alina and then we continued on our way.

While chatting with Alina at Emmanuel's snack shop, I got to meet Elizabeth's dad.  He suffers from vertigo, so had been in the house resting up until this point...but now was walking with his wife and their suitcases which were full of...peanut butter sandwiches!  They had made over 100 of them to take to the medium boys' house for lunch and were stopping by the snack shack to buy a bunch of 3-liter (yep, you heard that right...not 2L like we're used to) bottles of soda.  They also bought a bunch of additional snacks (chips?).  They asked if Alina & I would be willing to carry them to the medium boys house and we said, "Sure," but by the time all was packed up and ready to be carried, there were some bigger boys that were happy to help out, and there was nothing left for Alina & I to carry.

Alina & I went to the little girls' house to help serve lunch and clean up and then we met Samantha at the girls' volunteer house and headed over to the team house because Samantha had heard that the gift shop would be open.  We met Julieth and Veronica in the gazebo at the team house and they said that the shop would be opened until tomorrow.  Samantha headed back to her house to clean, but Alina & I stayed and chatted with Julieth and Veronica for about an hour.  When we were finished we headed back home and had a good chat with Kimberly about the book she was reading.  I decided to wash the bedding so that it would be clean for when Bob came (with Alina's illnesses while here and Bob's weak immune system, I didn't want to take a chance that he might get sick).  When I hung the wet bedding on the clothes line out back, I accidentally stepped on a mucky hole and a huge toad jumped out.  Good thing toads rarely scare me!

For supper at the little girls' house, they served toasted tortillas with a bean/beef mixture spread onto it and then a crumbled, salty cheese sprinkled over the top.  Each child got 2 of these and they were very good!  We made sure the girls got their showers and then headed home to make a call back to the States.  Andres was the only one home, but I really did enjoy talking to him for a while about what was all going on with him.

After the chat with Andres, I began to make guacamole for Zue.  Tonight is Brandy's last night before heading to the States for a few weeks.  Brandy wanted to have a birthday party for Zue & Zue wanted to throw a going away party for Brandy.  It's and awesome friendship between the two.  Brandy has been here for a couple of years and last year a baby came to the orphanage.  David & Lydia had told Brandy that this baby may be available for adoption due to her circumstances.  Brandy immediately took the baby (named Lydia) in as her own with hopes to adopt Lydia down the road.  Brandy has never been away from Lydia, so this trip back home was worrying her just a little bit.  Please keep Brandy in your prayers, for courage and strength while she is gone away from her daughter.  An amazing note to Brandy's trip though, is that her dad may be coming back to Honduras with her to visit Lydia!

We (Kimberly & I) had a great time with Zue & Brandy.  Alina was at with the big girls watching movies and I had left the apartment door unlocked, so when Kimberly & I came back from the party, Alina had already put herself to bed and was sleeping.  She did let me know later that she heard the rat scurrying around the kitchen while she was in bed and was a little afraid to come out of the bedroom!