The Shipment Arrives

On Saturdays there is no circle devotions, but we still go over to the little girls' house at 6am.  So after making sure all the girls were dressed and had their shoes on, Alina went with them into the sala (like a living room) to watch Toy Story 3 with them while I chatted with the 2 staff members: Karelia & Elizabeth as well as the 2 other volunteers assigned to this house:  Maggie & Samantha.  Maggie is actually leaving back for the States on Tuesday.  She's been here a month.  Samantha just got here this week and will be staying for 3 weeks.  We had a brief conversation about her beginning to worry about going to the airport herself (since no teams are going back on that day)...she asked a LOT of questions about the bus to get to Tegucigalpa and travelling there alone, or if she should just ask Norman to take her.  I advised her not to think about it until the week of departure, saying that there might be another volunteer leaving that same day or perhaps a staff member that realizes they need to use their day off to run in to Tegucigalpa for some much-needed items.  All would happen in due time.

We had breakfast (granola once again) and Alina tried her first strawberry moon pie.  She didn't really care for it so I suggested that when she saw the medium girls in their yard, she share it with them rather than throw it away.  We are so eager to throw away food in the States, but never truly realize how privileged we are to have food in excess until we actually see, with our own eyes, those who are not in that situation.  After breakfast we headed to the school playground so the girls could play.  It began raining and rained most of the day.  Today was actually the first day EVER in ALL of my times down here in Honduras that I wore pants all day!  They kept the girls at the park for about 2 hours, but since it just got more & more damp, giving the little girls more & more chills, the older girls finally decided to bring them back to the sala at their house to watch more movies inside or to color in the dining hall or do other activities.  Alina entertained the girls by doing some cartwheels, jumping rope, and using the hula hoop.  Because we were indoors, the volume was VERY loud, so at one point I had to take a break and run to the apartment because I felt a headache coming on.

The girls had spaghetti for lunch today.  Alina helped to serve up the plates and also helped with dishes after lunch!  In the afternoon, Alina & I headed down to the yard to visit with the medium girls.  Alina played a bit of soccer with Coco and Michell and I chatted with Doris' younger sister, Elena.  Two years ago Elena would barely talk to me.  She was SO shy!  Today she wouldn't settle down and kept talking & talking.  She had just gotten done with visiting her mom and was full of energy!  When things settled down a bit and Alina looked like she was getting a little tired of soccer, I invited her to go with me to the snack shop and get an ice cream cone.  She quickly said, "Yes!"

As we were walking to the ice cream shop, I saw the semi-truck!  They had received a container and I never heard it.  They were just beginning to unload it.  I kept my word and purchased cones for me & Alina and said, "Why don't we go over and watch them unload the truck while we're eating our cones?"  We did and they were still unloading when I had finished my cone, so I began to help.  Alina helped too when her cone was finished.  It's amazing at how fast a container can get unloaded, and how much Dr. Reynolds can actually PACK in a container!  Boxes and boxes of unending moon pies!!!  There were clothes and so many packages of diapers!  A team who's planning on coming in September had sent down some supplies for possible activities that they'll be doing with the kids.  A huge commercial kitchen sink was sent down (the kind there would be in restaurants or a cafeteria).  A walk-in freezer was sent down in pieces!  And everything went so smoothly, efficiently and quickly!  I'm thankful for the cool raining day, because we definitely could've gotten a LOT more sweaty than we did.  I had never gotten the chance to help unload a container on prior visits.  It was a very exciting experience for Alina & me both!

Right after unloading the container it was time to go back up to the little girls' house for supper and bath time.  Yanira gave me a bracelet and Doris gave Alina a shirt.  I still have a difficult time comprehending how gracious these children are with their things.  They remind me constantly of the widow who gave her last money to God, knowing and having true faith that he would provide for her.

Alina stayed with Doris and the big girls watching to watch movies for a while before coming home to bed.  While she was gone, I read a couple more chapters in my book:  The Language of Love & Respect  by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.  For more information on this book, see http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Love-Respect-Communication/dp/084994807X

Locked out of the Library

Because it's Friday, this morning began with Big Circle.  If I had not mentioned it last week, this is where ALL of the children of Emmanuel, staff and volunteers (and teams if there are any) come together in the special needs yard to sing praises to God, recite their memory passages that they had learned throughout the week, and then hear from His Word.  This morning our small girls got to recite their verse, actually verses...as the children generally memorize an entire chapter of the Bible to recite!  They did well.  One of the members of the Maryland team who had actually come 3 weeks early to teach the children how to play musical instruments led devotions this morning, talking about how vast the universe is...and how much MORE God is.

After circle, we headed to breakfast and then made a quick stop home so that Alina could change to shorts and get some water, before she headed off for her last day to spend volunteering with the Maryland group.  I headed back to the little girls' house to walk the girls to school and then begin classes.  When I got to the school, the library was locked.  I figured this wasn't much of a problem, since it had been locked on Monday as well; so I just waited a bit while interacting with a bunch of the medium girls who were waiting in the courtyard to be called into their classrooms.  As it got closer to class time, I asked Felipe where the key was to the library.  He hunted down Elvia and she tried to open the door with the key.  It wouldn't open.  She gave the key to Felipe, it still wouldn't open.  He gave it to a teacher who uses the library as a resource center most often, it wouldn't open.  They turned it over to Veronica (the elementary school principal), it wouldn't open.  She gave it to the boy who serves as custodian, it wouldn't open.  We were locked out!

If you know much about this orphanage, it's that it's constructed out of bricks.  There were only 2 ways into this library, through this door or through a window.  Windows are much different down here than they are in the States.  They consist of MANY small horizontal window panels, so it would require removing quite a few of them so that a small child could crawl through into the library and then hopefully be able to successfully unlock the door.  Veronica decided to call Wilson, one of the handymen from Emmanuel to come over to the school and work on getting it open.  Wilson took the entire doorknob off of the door so that we could get in and start class, and then while we were having classes, he proceeded to put a new doorknob on.

Also during our classes in the library, Mateo #2 (a volunteer from the Maryland group who calls himself this because his brother-in-law is also a Matthew and wanted to be #1) hung two paintings int he library that the group had done during the week.  One was a huge painting that just about went from floor to ceiling of a tree and all of the leaves of the tree were outlines of the students' hands who used the library most often.  As students came in today to our class, they took quite a bit of time to look at the tree to try to find their hand.

After morning classes, I walked with the little girls to their dining hall to eat lunch.  Each day the meal seems to be the same - vegetables in a ramen noodle soup.  Today as we were cleaning up after lunch, an older girl brought down a dish from the medium girls' house - spaghetti...all of our older girls just gobbled it up talking about how delicious it was!  They offered me a little bit, and I had a few noodles, but to me it was "just spaghetti"...but I guess after you eat the same thing for lunch day in & day out, it's amazing to them when they try something different.

On Fridays there are no afternoon classes, so the little girls went to the park (on the Emmanuel grounds) to play.  I took a walk around and just socialized with a bunch of the medium girls, like Yency, Coco, Leticia, etc.  It was a nice break from the regular routine.  When the little girls got back to the house, there were many Maryland volunteers waiting for them to say their goodbyes, since they leave tomorrow.  After the sweet goodbyes, it was time for supper and then baths.

When all of the girls were squeaky clean, I had a chance to sit down & have a nice, long chat with Doris.  She's been wanting this for the past week.  We sat together and she shared something that had been weighing on her heart over the past bunch of months.  We discussed the proper way to handle the situation and prayed over it.  When Karelia came to take the girls on a walk around the orphanage (to try to tire them out before bed), I headed back to the house since Alina wasn't feeling so well once again.  Thanks be to God that by the time I had gotten home, Alina's stomach ache had went away.  The talk with Doris had truly wiped me out, so I headed to bed very early tonight, but will be getting up at about 3am again tomorrow so a good night's rest will much be needed!

Hawaii in Honduras

Alina made it through the entire night without vomiting, which was encouraging.  When I woke this morning, I felt her forehead and it seemed to be a LOT less hot than it had been yesterday, however it still felt warm.  I let her know that she should still sleep during the morning, but that we'd check in and see how she was doing at lunch time...I did check on her a couple of times throughout the morning too.

I headed to the little girls' house once again to do breakfast.  Maggie and Samantha (a new volunteer from Pennsylvania) handled circle, so I went into the dining hall to get the tables set up and the granola out and ready to be eaten.  Between breakfast and school, Alina seemed to be doing better but was still pretty tired out.  Then came lunch (bringing the little girls home to eat, eating, cleaning up, and returning them to school), and after lunch I decided to get Alina out into the nice sun to help bring a little life back into her body.  She said her knees were really weak as we walked to the store to get something a little more nutritious.  She ate a little bit of plain white rice and a tortilla, and then drank a strawberry-banana smoothie.  She wasn't able to eat much more, but that was okay since she hadn't eaten the entire day yesterday nor breakfast this morning.

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped by the quadraplex where Katja lives.  She had left a propane tank out for me to carry back to our apartment (thank GOODNESS we live so close because they're HEAVY!).  The tank was probably just over 1/2-full, but still weighed quite a bit, and especially carrying it uphill to our apartment.

I noticed that the Maryland group was gathering in front of the medium girls' house.  Joanne was there, so I went over to say "hi".  She asked about Alina, and then we all gathered around holding hands while she prayed for Alina to completely recover, as well as strength on my part to get through this trying time.  We headed to the shelter in front of my apartment as the medium girls approached so that they could do an activity with making butterflies with them out of coffee filters and clothespins.  I am so amazed by and in awe of those who are good at art and the ideas they come up with, because that is so not a gift I have been blessed with.  When I saw my small girls approaching their house for their activity, I headed up that way.  They did a short devotion and each received a coloring book.  They were SO excited!

After the activity, it was once again shower time and bath time...but after bath time today would be an all-together new thing!

When I got to the house, Alina mentioned that Kimberly would not be coming home...that she would meet us up at the team house for the staff & volunteer dinner that the Maryland group was providing.  Since Alina was feeling quite a bit better (still not 100% yet though), I had her come along because I knew that the food would be good for her.  The Maryland team had chosen a Hawaiian theme this year for their dinner.  We were greeted with 3 girls in grass skirts doing a dance, a boy who was handing out leis, and finally another girl who was handing out a flowered hair clip to the women.  There were 5 tables of staff & volunteers (how AMAZING it is that this big of an orphanage can run so well with so few people leading...that can only be a "God thing"!!!).  Each table had its own waiter (or pair of waiters).  Before sitting down, we were offered a cheese appetizer on a stick and a small cup of fruit punch.  Children of the staff & volunteers were led to a separate room where they ate and participated in various kids activities so that the dinner could be for adults only.  Alina went with the kids, but did more helping out than being served.

Before eating, I saw Brandy and we hugged.  She asked me when I'd gotten here and I let her know that I'd been here for about a week so far.  She gave me a "look" and asked why I didn't head down to the toddler house to say "hi" to her all that time, to which I replied that I was put to work right away by Katja and have been super-busy ever since.  I heard through another family that volunteers here that she's looking for a certain bed/crib on ebay that's located in Wisconsin and is a "pick-up only".  If that's truly the case, perhaps I can help her out & arrange to get that item on the container which will get shipped down to Honduras!  We were told that every item on the menu had pineapple in it.  The meal started with iced tea and a salad, followed by a main plate of chicken and a rice that had pineapple and a few other things...not sure what...in it.  Then the cake was last and had a pineapple frosting, served with coffee if you liked.  It was ALL so delicious!  On top of that, there were 5 people chosen to participate in a limbo contest and a hula-dance contest.

One of my highlights of the night was when David & Lydia got up to leave.  He spotted me on the way out & came over to give me a hug.  He said he had thought he'd seen my face around this orphanage this past week, but wasn't really sure until now, and then asked where Andres was (EVERYONE has been asking me where Andres is!!!).  I let him know that Andres needed to stay at home this summer to work towards paying for college, but that I had brought my 10-year-old to start helping through the next bunch of years.  Since Alina was away with the children, he'll most likely meet her at church on Sunday.  :-)

On our walk home, the sky was so clear that Alina & I spent most of our time looking up.  What you can see in the night sky down here is completely different than what you'd see from Wisconsin.  We were in awe of how serene this place is.  As we walked back to the apartment, it was the perfect temperature, the clearest night, and with just the slightest bit of a refreshing breeze.  What a way to end the night!

Alina Gets Sick

I woke in the middle of the night to Alina running to the bathroom and the sound of vomiting.  When she stopped, I got her cleaned up and set large bowl next to her as she laid back down in the bed.  Since it was about 1:00 in the morning, I did the best I could to clean up the bathroom (it was everywhere), and then headed back to bed, since I normally get up about 3:00.  Alina has been sleeping with me at night, mostly to get her a little more acclimated to Honduras.  She's had quite the "culture shock" when she first came down, although it's getting a little easier every day.  Now the typical illness of heading to a foreign country has finally reached her.  As the day went on, her fever got higher and higher.  I did need to stick her in a cool shower at one point, which she didn't like at all (it was her first cold shower ever with the purpose of trying to break a fever).  I wanted to wait the standard 24-hours and try natural ways to get her fever to break before resorting to medicine, since that would just "tide the fever over" until the next day.  Since she had been up quite a bit of the night, I decided to head out & tackle my responsibilities in short bursts, stopping back in to check on her every chance I could...but that she would be able to sleep some of the fever off.

I headed first to the little girls circle.  Gabi led the circle, but there were so many volunteers around that the girls paid little attention...which Gabi made note of.  After breakfast, I stopped home to check on Alina.  She got up to unlock the door and said she had been sleeping.  I made sure she drank a bunch of water before heading back to the little girls house to walk them to school.  I am so glad that the apartment we are staying in is so close to the little girls' house, so that I have ability to check on her like this.  I walked the girls to school and then began my classes for the day.  Today's classes are mostly 6th graders, so I had to teach in the Narnia books.  I have gotten caught up in these books, although my plan is to finish the book and planning before I leave Emmanuel...and that'll be a long way to go yet.  I had forgotten to check how many classes were on "prize day" (a day that Amy would celebrate with the students if they had 4 good behavior weeks in a row).  I'm giving the hot chili coated mango suckers to the children for prize day, and I needed to run home to grab just a few more that I was short.  I was so glad that Julie (a volunteer from the Maryland group) had been working with me all week and had seen how I had been leading classes.  She said she'd be comfortable enough leading the 6th graders while I ran back to grab some suckers.  She did a GREAT job!

After classes, I walked the little girls back to their house to have lunch, and then back to school.  After leaving them at school for the afternoon I headed to the orphanage snack shop, where I bought a chicken sandwich for Alina...something a little less "greasy" for when she would regain her appetite, as well as a 7Up.  I also ordered a baleada (a type of burrito) for myself, and they now have a COLD snack shop where they make smoothies!  I tried a blueberry-banana smoothie.  It was very good.  They do sell ice cream cones at this cold snack shop too, and have about 8 different flavors to choose from.  It was at the store that I found out there is a volunteer here with dengue fever right now.  I got a little worried, so I stopped back to the apartment to check on Alina once again.  Her fever seemed to be getting higher (which is what it was at this time during the day that she got the cold shower I mentioned above).

When I walked the girls back to their house, the Maryland group was waiting to give them their afternoon devotions on being God's princess (since God is the King).  They had styrofoam crowns for the girls to decorate with jewels, and then taught the girls how to walk like a princess, wave like a princess, and finally curtsy like a princess.  The girls had a TON of fun!  Before leaving, one of the Maryland moms asked about Alina and offered 2 tylenol pills, which I figured I'd give her before evening came...to get through the night.

The little girls had supper and then we bathed them.  Karelia lent me a thermometer from the clinic for me to monitor Alina's temperature for the night.  Unfortunately after the first measurement I took (102.0), the battery on the thermometer died and I was not able to check anymore through the night.  I decided to not go to the evening services today since Alina's temperature was so high.  I did hear later that I missed a very emotionally moving testimony by one of the Maryland group members.  Alina took 1 adult tylenol prior to heading to bed for the evening.  She hadn't vomited all day and each time I checked in on her, I made sure she was drinking enough water.  I had been praying that it was just the sun & dehydration, rather than dengue.

Alina's Volunteer Day

This morning Alina & I participated in the little girls circle together.  We noticed that some of the little girls can get a little "out of hand" around Alina, so I did tell her to be careful around them...& not to encourage them to be disruptive.  She did a good job with this (although some of the girls can still get a little crazy).

Reina was in charge of leading the devotion, but she looked to me quite often to keep the girls 'in line'.  When the girls got done singing and it was time to listen to God's Word, she begged Yolany to do it for her.  So Yolany took over.  Reina had told me this weekend that the little girls do not listen to her at all and that she's been struggling with that (being a house leader).  She's only 14 years old, so please pray for strength for her.

After breakfast Alina & I headed our separate ways.  I headed with the little girls to school.  I had an idea for Julie (the volunteer who's helping me from the Maryland group this week).  I wrote down some students' names who had struggled the day before with reading and had her pull them out to read with her one-on-one.  It was a great opportunity for them to get some extra reading time in and a way for her to get more involved.  Down here when children are pulled out to read, it's actually a privilege and a treat!  They love it.  As I'd pull out some students this week, then others in the class would remind me which day they got to go, with a smile on their face.  :-)

I found out later that while I was gone this morning, Alina got to fill around 100 water balloons for the medium girls' field day today.  Then she went to the toddler house to play with them.  She spent time in the 'Casita' which is the arts & craft house, painting the book shelf ends for the library.  These ends will help tremendously, since right now the books just slide right off the shelf because it does not have sides.  They ended up looking so wonderful too (another reason why I'm disappointed my camera broke).  After painting, Alina went to participate with the medium girls in their field day.  She got soaked!!!  Finally she came over to the small girls' house to watch a movie with them...Narnia (but not the one I'm reading, one about a King named Caspian).

When the girls came back from school, there were two women volunteers from a Panama City group waiting with me to give them some cookies that they had made.  The cookies were delicious!  They socialized a little with the girls and then when they left, it was time for supper & baths.  We did save some cookies for the bigger girls who were still in school and those adults who are in charge of the house.

When the little girls settled in to watch the Narnia movie, I did stay for a little bit.  But when I realized that it was NOT the one I needed to have read for tomorrow's classes, I headed out and prepared about 20 pages before heading to bed.  I also wrote down some ideas to possibly share at tomorrow's circle...if Reina would accompany me.  I'll let you know more when I actually lead the circle.

My First Day of Classes...EVER

I do have to say I was a little nervous this morning.  I had everything planned for the 5th graders, in terms of the Alto Secreto book.  I actually recognized a few of the girls' names as girls I had taken care of in the past.  But as any teacher on their first day, you're always wondering what you forgot.

After breakfast with the little girls, I walked with them to school.  Amy met me at the school and introduced me to each of the middle school teachers.  Once school began, I went to get my first class.  All of them went very well.  The children were good.  The Maryland team sent a team member over who sat in with me.  She handed out stickers at the end of class to those students who read out loud - which was every one today!  After classes, I thanked her and mentioned that I'd see her tomorrow and then we headed our separate ways to lunch.

I ate with the little girls, walked them back to school and then spent the afternoon reading the next 2 books - one was the Spanish version of 'Dinosaurs before Dark', and the other one was called 'Help! A Vampire!'  They were slightly easier to read than the 'Top Secret' book I had already read, so moved quite a bit more quickly.  As I went through these books, I did laundry.  When it was time for supper and baths, I headed once again to the little girls' house to help out.

This evening Alina asked Kimberly if she could paint her nails.  Kimberly chose a purple nail polish with a clear sparkle over the top, and then Alina chose to paint her nails 1/2-pink and 1/2-blue with purple polka dots lining where the 2 colors came together.  She also got a clear sparkle over the top.  They had a blast!

I was completely exhausted from having read so much this weekend that I needed to go to bed extremely early.  Tomorrow will be another day of reading...but a Narnia book - in Spanish!

Kimberly Moves In

Just like back in the States, on Sunday there is church.  The difference between here & the States is that church begins at 8:30 and lasts just under 2 hours.  I let Alina know this before we headed there, because since she's been raised as a Lutheran, she's very used to those hour-long services; and I didn't want her repeating over & over, "When will this be over?"

Normally volunteers go to the store on Sundays to get lunch together.  Most times they take children from the orphanage with them.  Today I decided that since we'd have quite a few Sundays where we could take children, that I'd just spend lunch with Alina.  The menu item was pizza and I do have to say I was a little bummed that it wasn't a Honduran dish.  :-(

After lunch, we spent some time with Leticia and Yency in the big girls' yard.  They wanted to know if Alina could ride a bike, so they lent them the only bike they had in the yard (which was a little too big for Alina) and then sent her on her way.  It was a little difficult since Wisconsin is so FLAT and she had lots of hills to ride up & down in the yard, and since it was all grass rather than on roads, but she did it.

I came home and worked more on my reading for classes tomorrow.  I got the first book all planned out.  The title of the book is 'Alto Secreto' which means Top Secret in English.  So I was quick to say, "One down, three to go!" (in terms of the books I had to read).

Kimberly moved in after church today.  She just had 2 more loads to bring over, so tonight will be her first night in the house.  She had quite a bit of stuff...but I'm very glad she's here.  I now have access to an internet stick, which is a modem via a USB.  I had planned on buying one in Tegucigalpa, but Kimberly mentioned that it would be no problem to share.  Now I can get caught up on my devotions each morning, making sure any important email gets taken care of (since I'll be down here right up until I head to work at Oshkosh North), and also get this blog updated fairly quickly.  :-)

Before the night was over, Alina & I headed to the team house to visit with Joanne.  While I'm in classes each morning for this coming week, Alina will head with the Maryland team to do various volunteer work.  She was excited to get to work with them again (did I mentioned the team misses Andres?).  In the afternoons, she'll come back my way or go to the medium girls' house.  After making sure everything would work out with Alina's arrangements, we headed back to the apartment to turn in for the night.