Heading Home - Day 1

This morning we woke up at 4am, partly to do last minute packing, partly to clean up, partly to have time to say our goodbyes to everyone.  We showered and got dressed in the clothes we'd be leaving with.  We borrowed the luggage scale that the Miller family (who lived in the room next to us) had brought down and found that we were at 50 pounds and 55 pounds.  We originally wanted to leave a backpack in the suitcase so we only had 2 backpacks and 2 suitcases, but that looked like an impossibility.  I got my suitcase back out and we put the bibles in the suitcases (which emptied out enough weight for the suitcases to be under 50 pounds each).

We started washing the bedding from the room so that we could leave the area clean.  Alina went to the baby house to say her goodbyes, and Noah and I headed to the medium boys house to say our goodbyes.  We walked with the medium boys to the 'comedor' where I said goodbye to many of the other children as well.  Then we spent about 1/2 hour with the medium boys in the yard out front of the school.  When the 1/2 hour was up, I wanted to head back to spend our last 1/2 hour with Michell before taking off.  She was taking the goodbye rather hard, and when Alina came back from the baby house to give her and hug and spend a bit of time with her, she began to cry.

Our medium boys!

Me and Michell

Walter (a friend of Norman's) came to pick us up right at 8am.  On the way to the Tegucigalpa airport, he laughed at all of the little Honduran expressions that Alina and Noah had picked up during the past month ('huela madre', 'picojuco', 'pucha', 'nambre', and 'que mas hizo').  I spent time reading all of the letters that the children had written me, and chatting with Walter.  I had a pocket-full of letters to go through, that that was in ADDITION to all of the letters and drawings I had received during my month here (which I had already went through).

There was a slight traffic jam before getting to the airport, but we were WAY ahead of schedule, so it was all good.  When we got to the airport, I had completely forgotten to get newspapers to bring back out of the newspaper stand where I normally shop before heading home...I give these to students at FVTC when they are the highest scorer on a test.  I did make sure that Alina and Noah ate enough McDonald's before getting on the plane, because it would be a LONG time before they would get food again in Atlanta.  Noah's stomach ended up getting upset just before and during the flight, and the 'smell' of his upset stomach made our (and probably the people around us too) noses/stomachs upset the entire ride to Atlanta!

Getting ready for our flight to Atlanta

In Atlanta we had to go through customs and then get a shuttle to the Domestic terminals, then a shuttle to the hotel.  When we arrived at the hotel it was around 7:30pm.  We were really only a little hungry (dessert sounded good), so we asked the receptionist if there was a restaurant that would have good dessert around and she recommended a Ruby Tuesday about 5 blocks away.  We walked there and had an appetizer and dessert.  So yummy!  When we got back to the hotel room, we watched a little bit of TV before turning the lights out to get some sleep.

Noah being his goofy self - no clue he was photo-bombed by the manager

Not for the Weak-Stomached

This morning would be our last BIG circle (where all of the children come together to sing praises to God, pray and hear the message).  Alexander led BIG circle.  Alexander has been at the orphanage since a child and is currently on a scholarship studying to be a missionary.  He came back to the orphanage for 2 weeks between trimesters, so I got to see him once again.  He should be completing his studies this November.  He has such a peace in him!  He said that at missionary school, he had gotten really sick with sinus and breathing problems because it's in another part of Honduras which is always fairly cool and damp.  After talking with doctors, he will eventually need surgery to correct his health problems...but he's determined to finish his studies so that he can do the work that God is placing before him.  Please keep him and his health in your prayers as he goes through these last 3 months at school.

We began washing clothes that we would be leaving behind this year.  Generally Alina has been leaving plenty of summer clothes behind, since she'll be bigger and her clothes will not fit next summer.  I tend to leave a lot of my clothes too (Esperanza asked for many of them this year).  This year Noah is leaving his clothes too...so we just wanted to be sure they were clean before passing them off.

I headed to school to check on the status of the two students who were supposed to retake their test today.  I said that I'd be back in the afternoon to help Profe Ramon correct the retakes, but I never did make it (will explain why later).  Sometime during the morning the electricity turned off for a couple of hours, which put us quite a bit behind in doing the laundry.

They told us that they would be killing chickens at 8am.  We walked over there, but then it was switched to 8:30am, then 9am (Latino time is a little different from American time).  I think they started around 9:15am...but we were there and ready.  Alina wanted to leave after a little bit to go back to the baby house to work - not sure she had the stomach for the process.  It took Noah a while to warm up to what was going on, but eventually he did okay and ended up deciding to feed the vultures the 'left-overs'.  I was at the end, bagging the prepared chicken so that it could be frozen or go straight to the 'comedor' to cook.  They processed 40 chickens today.

Noah getting used to dealing with processing chickens - the chicken was still opening and closing its mouth

This chicken is still alive and waiting to be processed

Pulling the feathers off

Getting the insides out

This is before ALL of the vultures came for the leftovers - only about 1/10 of what actually came

We headed back to the room to change clothes (so that we could wash these clothes) and then Noah took a shower.  Then we headed to the 'comedor' to eat lunch with the boys.  When lunch was over, we headed back to the room to ensure that all clothes were getting washed and then I spent the afternoon making guacamole for all of the medium boys.  It was a LOT of chopping of avocados, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic (and I missed heading back to the school because of it), but it was completely worth it!  The medium boys were surprised I did that for them and they said it tasted REALLY good.  EVERY boy asked for some with their food!

When supper was over, I quickly headed back to our room to pick up the clothes for the boys that Noah was going to leave as well as the Jurassic World movie we were going to watch tonight and the popcorn we had bought for the boys.  I dropped off some things at the big boys house first, before heading to the medium boys house.  They were giving the medium boys buzz cuts when I arrived, so that gave me time to get ready to watch the movie with the boys.  I gave each boy a 'paleta' (Mexican chili-coated mango sucker) as he came into the rec room, and we got the movie going.  About 1/2 way through the movie, I had Rudy (one of the bigger boys in charge of the medium boys) distribute the popcorn equally among the medium boys.  The boys got special permission to stay up past 6pm (when the doors normally get locked) so that they could finish watching the movie with us, since it was our last night there.  When the movie was over, they all surrounded Noah & I, giving us hugs and saying their goodbyes and good nights.

We walked back to our room and started packing our two suitcases.  Alina's suitcase would get left behind since 1 zipper broke off of it, but we generally leave one suitcase behind anyway since we leave so many clothes here.  The suitcase still has a working zipper, but we just don't need it.  There may be a greater need from a future volunteer whose suitcase gets completely destroyed in transit to Emmanuel.

We got to bed later than normal...around 9pm.  But all things considered, it was a great day!

Calling Home

This morning we headed to circle and then to breakfast with the medium boys.  They got to be in the yard today because there were no classes for them.  Their teachers had a reunion/inservice.  I noticed that the tia (care-taker) was taking some of the medium boys over to the soccer field by the church, so Noah and I headed over with them.  They spent about 20 minutes sweeping the water puddles off of the cement field so that it would be more safe to play on.  As they were sweeping, Noah found & held his 3rd gecko.  I actually had my camera with me this time (the 2 prior time I didn't), so I got his picture.

Noah and the gecko

The gecko

When it was 10am, I had to go to the school and work with two of the three students who did not pass the math test on Tuesday.  I went through 3 types of problems with them and then they asked me to give them some homework.  I gave them 3 practice problems of each type (so 9 problems total) and let them know that I'd check their answers tomorrow before they retook the test, to see if they were on the right track.

I headed with Noah to lunch and then we went to the yard again with the boys.  Later in the afternoon I went to the tienda with Alina and bought her some fried yucca chips.  I found Noah playing soccer with the small girls when I walked back.  We headed to supper with the boys and then met up with Luis David at the tienda so we could call home.  Both Bob and Andres were at home, so they each got on a line in case Andres needed to translate (since my phone down here doesn't have a speaker option).  I was hoping to Skype, but it didn't work out so well.  Bob said perhaps there wasn't enough bandwidth to do it...although I don't understand that technical jargon.

When Luis David was done chatting, we brought him back to his house and went up to our house to grab Michell so that she could also chat with Bob.  Towards the end of the phone call, when she knew that the call was winding down, she got very teary eyed and could barely talk.  I know that she felt as if her time with us was winding down and we had less than 36 hours to be together.

When Michell had to go into her house, we went in for the night as well.  Tomorrow (our last day here) will come soon enough and we want to enjoy and celebrate it all we can!

Evening Fun

Today at boys circle, I shared Luke 10:30-35 which is the parable of the good Samaritan.  I mentioned how none of the 3 men had known the wounded man on the side of the road...none of them, yet one decided to help.  One felt the need to help.  I let them know that there are some friends and family back in the States who do not know ANY of these medium boys, yet are working hard to gather shoes for them to send them down.  I told them about the time I took Doris into town for ice cream and as we were walking back to Emmanuel eating our ice cream, she saw 2 children without shoes, dirty, and hungry on the side of the road and she gave them her ice cream...she didn't even know the children.  So I asked the boys, what are YOU willing to do for a stranger?  Or maybe when a new boy comes to the orphanage to their house, what are they willing to do for the new boy that they do not yet know?

After circle, we headed to breakfast with the boys and then to the school.  I chatted with the new long-term volunteer, Whitney, a bit about Skarleth Michell and our progress in reading (Skarleth is a non-reader) before we walked down to get Skarleth so that she could begin working with Whitney.  I let Skarleth know that by next year when I came down, I expected her to be able to read me a children's book.  As Whitney settled into working with Skarleth, I walked over to the school to check with Profe Ramon on how the math tests went from yesterday.  He said there were for sure 2 students who would not pass it.  He asked if I would have time between now and Friday to go over some more examples with these 2 students and we decided to block out a time tomorrow to work together.

When it was time for lunch, we went with the medium boys to lunch and then headed quickly back to our room because it was the last time we'd be going into town on for 2016.  We got coffee and treats to bring back home for family and then made one last stop at Glenda's for some guacamole ingredients, since my plan was to make a big dish for the girls who work in the kitchen.  We said our goodbyes to Glenda before heading back to Emmanuel.

Alina, Noah, and Glenda at her small food stand

When we came to the gate of Emmanuel, we gave some Mexican suckers to the security guard.  This guy has been there for the 9 years I have been coming.  He's super nice and I'm very appreciative that he works security here.

Alina and Noah with Emmanuel's security guard

We were told that there would be no church this evening because Wade and Lourdes had an activity planned for staff and volunteers.  We met up above the girls volunteer house, just below the water towers, where a team had put up a 3-man swing a few years ago.  The activity was going on the swing.  Alina had been on this swing before, but I never had and since it's Noah's first year here...he hadn't either.  We decided to go for it!  They secure you in with ropes and then use a gator to pull you at least 30 feet up into the air (or higher...I don't know, it's CRAZY high!).  You can see the mountains all around.  You have to pull a rope which sends you swinging into the air.  The first try, Alina could not get the rope pulled.  I think she may have tugged it 6-10 times before we finally were let go and swinging.  The second time they sent us (each person got 2 times at the swing), we didn't think she'd be able to send us swinging on the first try, so we were shocked when she tugged and we were released right away.  What a rush!

Waiting to get pulled all the way to the top of the pole behind us

What we looked like coming down after Alina pulled the rope

After everyone got their chance on the swing (who wanted one) and it was dark, we walked down below to the medium girls comedor and there were baleadas and beverages waiting for us.  Baleadas are Honduran tortillas with beans, eggs and butter in them...super delicious!  It was a great way to end the evening!

Sharing in Circle

This morning in circle, Miguel shared a piece of the New Testament on loving your enemies -

Love for Enemies

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn them the other also.  If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Luke 6:27-31

Generally when passages are read, there are a couple of examples given that show application of the passages.  So I decided to give an application of this passage for the boys.  Although I won't share here the example of love for enemies (because it is not MY story to share but one that greatly influenced me), it deeply impacted the boys and they all thanked me after sharing.

Sharing at medium boys circle

We headed to breakfast and then to school where I stopped in Profe Ramon's class to help the students study for 1/2 hour before they had to take their test.  One girl was crying...I'm guessing because she felt she wasn't adequately prepared for the test.  When the test began, I quietly excused myself to go work with Skarleth Michell on her reading.  She is the only girl I did not turn over to Rachel when I was needed for larger time periods in teaching math because she has a difficult time dealing with change.  I hung on to her as a student hoping that a long term volunteer would be coming in who would be able to take her (minimizing change on her).

When reading was finished, we headed to lunch with the children and then spent the afternoon in the yard with the medium boys because school was let out for the afternoon for the elementary grades.  Yes I know, if you've been reading my blogs you've seen a lot of NO SCHOOL days.  There are no such things as substitute teachers here, so if a teacher is sick, there is no school that day for that particular class.

After hanging out in the yards, we headed to supper with the boys.  They let us know that they'd most likely be watching a movie when they got done taking showers and we were more than welcome to come, but it decided to downpour right around that time, so we hung back at the room and the kids played games with each other until it was time to turn in for the night.

The Day of the Tarantulas

This morning I left our room and locked up, but Noah was trailing behind because he still had to put on his shoes.  He caught up with me at the medium boys house for circle and was VERY excited!  He took a different route to the house than I did and saw, in his terms, a "large, live tarantula"!  He was so excited that he wanted to show it to me after circle was done, while we were on our way with the boys to breakfast.  I knew that the tarantula would be long gone, but he insisted it was moving very slowly (typical) and it would still be there...it wasn't there.  But I was happy that he got to see one before we left, because I have seen many throughout the years (check out previous years blogs for more on that).

After breakfast we headed to the yard with the medium boys.  There was no school today for the elementary levels, so the boys were out in the yard all morning, headed to lunch and then all afternoon.  It was fairly cool and quite overcast in the morning, but the afternoon was 100% sun, so I had to change from my jeans to capris.  While in the yard, a medium boy thought he could startle me by throwing a red tarantula on the ground in front of me, saying it was the "most dangerous" tarantula in Honduras!  I think he was a little disappointed when I didn't jump...I knew there was no way he'd ever throw a live tarantula at me.  And it was pretty small compared to the black ones I've seen around here.  The rains are bringing the tarantulas out more and more now.

After supper I had a date with Lucy, Karly and Ruth Maria to study with them for their big national math exam tomorrow.  We worked on the calculus for an hour and a half before they had to go back into their houses for the night.  I wished them the best on the test tomorrow.

When I got back to our room for the evening, Noah pointed out another tarantula that must've fallen from our roof top.  It was upside-down and dead on the ground right in front of our porch.  Another small one...wondering when the big ones will come out???

Thank You Kevin!

When we arrived on July 22nd, we noticed that one of the dressers in our room had a small termite problem.  After quite a few days of sweeping larger and larger amounts of termite left-overs out the door, I finally decided to put our DEET to a 2nd use and we were problem-free for 2 weeks.  Now we noticed that the termites have migrated to the other corner of the dresser and we're once again dealing with the daily clean-up.  I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to tackle them again.

The small particles on the floor is what's left behind daily by the termites

After sweeping our room and a few other chores, we headed to church.  Julissa came over to sit by us on her own accord, which was fine with me but a bit 'unusual' because generally we would have to invite a child to sit with us and then get permission from the person who is in charge of caring for that child.  Pastor German from in town came to preach the sermon today.

Alina, Julissa, and Noah

After church we walked to the power toddlers house and then to the medium boys house to grab some children to take to the tienda.  In years past, we've mostly taken girls to the tienda or toddlers because those are the houses we have been assigned to.  It seemed only fitting to take boys this year since we have been spending so much time with the medium boys.  I chose Jeremias from the power toddler house (you may have seen pictures of him in last year's blog) and then also his big brother Josue David from the medium boys house.  Alina chose to bring Toni, and Noah chose to bring Oscar.  We had an awesome time and I learned that boys will eat WAY more than girls!!!  Good thing I had brought plenty of Lempiras (the Honduran dollars).

Alina, Jeremias (in orange), Noah, Oscar (in yellow) and Toni (in my sunglasses)

Many of you may now be wondering about Oscar...there are a few children here who have lighter skin.  I've been told that the region in Honduras (called Santa Barbara) is where there are numerous Hondurans living that have light skin, light eyes and light hair.

When the boys houses walked by to go to the 'comedor' for lunch, we said our goodbyes and they headed in to eat some more with their house.  They were all very appreciative and said thank-you for the plate of food, chocolates and ice cream that we had bought them.

After lunch I headed with the Miller family to the big soccer field.  Pastor German had brought a team from the town of Guaimaca to the orphanage to play against our big boys.  I figured that Luis David would be playing (he is the goalie), so wanted to go watch the game for a bit.  Last year he had asked me for a goalie shirt, some gloves, and cleats for a Christmas gift.  I know absolutely NOTHING about soccer, so when I had gotten back to the States I decided to ask my colleague at Oshkosh North who is both a math teacher and the head boys varsity soccer coach for some help in what exactly a goalie shirt was?!?  He said he had a spare one that I could just have to send down.  Well, when we came down this year, Luis David was wearing it and very proudly.  He drew a few stripes on the shirt and wrote his name on the back.  I know that I would not be able to wear a long sleeve shirt like that in 95-degree weather with complete sun.  But I wanted to really show my appreciation to my coworker for what he had done for this boy who I've known for 9 years!  Emmanuel won 5-2.

Luis David as the goalie waiting for the ball to come his way

Me with Luis David

When I got back to our room, I made some guacamole to eat.  It's so much easier to eat cold food on hot days.  Alina saw that the medium boys were playing soccer in the field just below our room, so she went to play with them.  When they went home for the evening, we called home.  Unfortunately we ran out of money on our phone and were not able to chat as long as anticipated, so we will be sure to get our phone restocked to call later in the week.

I ended the evening with a good long chat with Michell and 3 other junior staff.  I have lots to share regarding this chat first with my husband, and hopefully soon with all of our family and friends.  I was really blessed to be able to spend this time with Michell because since I'm with the boys this year - I don't have much time during the day to be able to really chat with her.  We chatted for about 30-45 minutes before saying our good nights and heading to bed.

We're really making an effort to appreciate each day from now until Saturday because it will go fast.  We are beginning to miss our family back home, but also really that it will be really sad when we go as well.  As my husband put it earlier in the evening, our goodbyes will be "bitter sweet".

Gators!

This morning I was feeling just about 100% after having been sick the past two days.  Noah and I went to the medium boys yard to get them ready for breakfast and walk to the 'comedor' with them, while Alina headed to the baby house.  She's been going there independently for over a week now, working with our neighbors the Miller family.  After breakfast in the comedor, we headed to the yard because the medium boys would be outside playing all morning.  The morning started off cool, so I had long sleeves on - more due to not wanting to get bitten by mosquitoes but also because of the morning temperatures.  After and hour and 1/2 of being in the yard, I took Noah to the store to get some breakfast.  This would be the first hearty thing I've eaten since getting sick.  They had burritos filled with ground beef and potatoes.  This really filled me up for the day!

We headed back to the yard and Noah played with the boys while I sat in the shade until the sun came around front of the building, then I headed back to my room to get some water and put my long-sleeve shirt away.  Back in the kitchen was Darryl's wife, Jenny and we ended up chatting about LIFE and it unexpected turns and how God works through those turns.  Our chat took us all the way up until lunch!...but it was a healthy chat.

After lunch, the medium boys wanted to watch Batman vs. Superman again (since they missed the last hour of the movie last night).  They had to clean their rooms and the rec room first, a normal Saturday afternoon chore but I believe that their desire to watch the movie through to the end helped the speed in which they got their chores done because normally they don't finish as quickly.  They ended up missing the last 7 minutes or so of the movie (Superman's funeral) because it was time to head to supper.  At supper they invited us once again to watch a movie after supper, so Noah and I headed back that way.  They had gotten the Scorch Trials lent to them.  Again, they were sent to bed before the movie ended, but were pretty excited to watch something new.  As Noah and I walked back to our room, Esperanza's husband (Armando) stopped in his gator to give us a ride back.  The male staff here have gators to more quickly and easily get around with their equipment and helpers from house to farm to work area, etc.  This was my FIRST ride ever in a gator in the 9 years I've been here!  Of course Noah decided to put a damper on that and told me that he got a ride in a gator last week (hahaha), but when we pulled up, Alina looked shocked and a little disappointed that she has not yet gotten a ride in a gator.

Alina and Noah wrapped up the night by playing a game of Skipbo with the Miller children before coming in and locking the doors and heading to bed.  Today was our last complete Saturday here.  I've told them to cherish each of these last 7 days (the last Saturday, the last Sunday, etc) because it'll be a year before we'll be able to come back.

Movie Night with the Medium Boys

Since today is Friday, it began with BIG circle where all of the children gather into a circle for morning devotions slightly in front of our room (more in front of the medium girls house which is right next to us).  Since my stomach was still very weak from being super sick yesterday, I just sat on the porch steps outside our room while Alina and Noah went to participate with the children.

I was sweating all morning, which was a good sign because yesterday while my body had the fever all day I wasn't sweating at all.  I was still hot, but found out later that it wasn't just me...it was actually a hot day outside.  I stayed in all morning and Noah stayed with me (again), although he was getting pretty restless today with having to be in and not moving about with the children.  I decided to try to walk with him down to the 'comedor' so that he could eat lunch with the children like he normally does, but by the time we got down there (I had to walk extremely slow), there was no more to eat.  We chatted with a few children, but I felt my temperature rise again, so we headed back to our room.  I sent Noah with some money to the tienda to get lunch for the both of us.  He came back extremely happy that they had his 'favorite' meal...tostadas - which are toasted tortillas with a combination of warm chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and thousand island dressing on top.  They were delicious!

Noah giving the 'thumbs up' on his tostadas

After we ate, I rested for about an hour and then decided I had to try to get out and get some fresh air and sun.  I saw that the medium boys were in the yard, so Noah and I walked down there.  I had a huge bottle of water, of course.  On the way down to the yard, Lourdes (Wade's wife) was walking with her children and stopped me to check on me.  I've only been sick a day, but I guess word travels fast!  She reminded me that they have the clinic if I'm sick, so I let her know that in the States they recommend waiting a fever out 24 hours to see if it drops, and since I was actually feeling better today than yesterday, I figured I'd see if it was actually going away.  I thanked her for being concerned because that truly means a lot!  So many of the children throughout the rest of the day too had asked if I was feeling better.

Noah played in the yard with the medium boys while I sat in the shade and chatted with the older children (teenagers) that were in charge.  They had 'ensenanza' (afternoon devotions) right there in the yard before heading to supper.  Noah ate supper with the boys this time and Miguel and Rudy checked with Santos (the man who is in charge of the medium boys house) to see if they could have movie night with us tonight.  Santos said the medium boys were behaved all week - perhaps because they were told that we had movies - so it would be fine.  They told us that the boys were going to finish supper quickly and run home to shower and we could come around 4:25pm to have movie night.

When I headed to the house, Noah stopped by Darryl who was assembling his saxophone.  He asked Darryl a few questions and said he was going to hang out there for one song.  Because I was moving so slowly, I knew that Noah would be able to catch up to me.  I could hear Darryl play almost all the way to the medium boys house.  What a treat for Noah who was right in front of him!

When we got to the medium boys house, all of the boys were anxiously awaiting us at their bedroom doors.  As soon as we got there, Santos sent the boys into the rec room to watch the movie.  They decided on Batman vs. Superman...and we had a blast!  It was all in Spanish, so I'm sure Noah will want to watch the movie with his dad again (but this time in English) when we get back home.

When we got back to our room, Alina had some exciting news from the baby house...she got to see a baby take her first steps today!  So all in all, it was a good day for each of us.

My Turn to Get Sick

Yep, it happened.  I spiked a fever during the night and it lasted all day today.  I was in bed the entire time.  I felt horrible for Noah who loves to get out and run...he needed to stay in with me.  But he was an AWESOME nurse!  He was genuinely worried for me.  I don't think I was awake longer than an hour or two the entire day, and I could feel my temperature rise and fall throughout the day.

Noah did tell me in the late afternoon that a family was moving into the room next to us, a husband, wife and daughter.  He said the husband claimed to know me, which seemed to make Noah confused.  Later I found it that it was Darryl from Maryland and his wife.  Darryl has some awesome talent on the saxophone, and I believe that he's given the kids here music lessons over the years too.  It's nice to have others around us that we know fairly well!

Alina did get to go back to the baby house today and work today.  Glad that her infection is on the way out!

The Tut-Tut

After medium boys circle devotions and breakfast, I went to check on Alina.  She's now been on antibiotics for 3 days for her strep throat, and this appears to be the last day that she'll need to stay indoors.  She's getting her appetite back and is up and walking around, but still looks pretty weak.  I gathered my materials to teach calculus for the day and then Noah and I headed down to the classroom to teach a little bit about area under the curve (Profe Ramon wanted me to give some exposure to this topic, but not to go too in depth since it wouldn't be on their test on Monday), and then give them time to review for the test.  Robert (the high school principal) came in and watched the introduction to area under the curve for a little bit.  Profe Ramon had gotten special permission for math class to be extended today for the 2 highest grades due to the rigor of the tests, class went from 8:30-11:45am.  He was working with Bachillerato I and I was working with Bachillerato II.

The students got their review after recess.  They're not used to being allowed to working in groups, so this was interesting as they worked on the review I had prepared for them to get them ready for Monday's big exam.

Review questions I had made up for the students to prepare for Monday's test

Students working in groups on the review

A group of students working on their review for the exam

When class was done at 11:45, we headed back to our room to check on Alina - who was up and walking around.  She complained a little about getting bored and wanted to into town with us, but I wasn't ready to let her walk all the way into town just yet.  Noah and I headed into town with quite a few volunteers.  We split up as a group almost right away because Noah and I decided to stop at Glenda's for some tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and avocados.  We only had to go to 1 grocery store, but also had to make a stop at the TIGO store to have them check out what was wrong with my phone.  It turned out that the battery just needed a charge...apparently the phone charger will not charge a battery that is "completely" dead. We also had to stop at the CLARO store to purchase some extra time (or GB) for the modem as I was almost out.  It's probably from posting so many pictures to my blog this year!  We also stopped at the bakery to get a few 'Tres Leches' cakes.  I gave one to the security guard out front of the orphanage when we got back, and the other two went Coco and Claudia who were celebrating their birthdays.

Because my body began to feel a little bit weak in town, I decided that Noah and I would take a Tut-tut back.  I didn't think to get a picture at the time, so I am including a picture that I found on the internet so that those who don't know what these vehicles are have a better idea.  This is Guaimaca's version of a taxi.  As I walked from the front gate of the orphanage to our room (which is still quite a hike), I could feel my temperature rising.

Tut-tut

I went to church with Alina and Noah, but could feel myself getting more ill by the minute.  We did buy a package to call home this evening since Alina was feeling better.  The packages to call home are about $1.25 for a 1/2 hour, which is pretty awesome!  We got to talk to Bob, Kaylyn and Jaden.  Alina got a little emotional on the phone, but I'm guessing she's still pretty weak from having been sick twice now down here.  Her clothes are beginning to fall off of her.  When we said our goodbyes on the phone, we locked the door to our room and went to bed.

In Need of Shoes

This morning began as most others, with a trip to the medium boys house for circle (devotional time).  Then we walked with the boys to the 'comedor' and then once again I needed to get back to our room to finalize the preparations for teaching calculus for the day.  When I got to the school, I decided that I could no longer watch some of the medium boys walk around in their current shoes without making some sort of effort to get them new shoes.  These boys need shoes.  So click HERE to see my efforts in trying to help the boys get new shoes.

An example of some of our medium boys shoes

After the medium boys got into their classrooms, I headed to the high school once again to teach calculus.  The lesson went fairly well.  The boys who had been gone all last week due to being up in the mountains planting trees are starting to catch on.

When calculus was over, Noah and I headed back to our room for a little bit to check on Alina, and then walked with the boys to lunch.  We spent the afternoon with the medium boys in the yard out front of the school.  Noah played soccer once again with them, and then when school let out we went with the boys to supper.

God is Good - El Arco Iris

This morning Noah and I headed to the medium boys house without Alina.  She said her throat was hurting and she was burning up with a fever.  When I used Noah's flashlight to check her throat, I saw a lot of white on her tonsils (which my aunt Linda had told me years ago was a good indicator of strep throat).  We did circle with the boys and then walked with them to breakfast and stayed until breakfast was over.  I spoke with LaShawn (one of the clinic nurses) about Alina's symptoms and she said to bring her over at 8am, when the clinic would be open for the girls.  I headed back to the house and gave Alina some ibuprofen at 7am and worked a little bit on the calculus lesson I would be teaching today.  As I was working on the lessons, Rachel (the oldest daughter from the family staying next to us) came home from the baby house with similar symptoms, but not yet a fever.  I decided to take both girls to the clinic.  Alina's temperature was 101.8 degrees, and it was confirmed that she has strep throat, so she was put on a 5-day antibiotic.  LaShawn told her that she would have to rest for 48 hours, drink lots of fluid and let the antibiotics kick in...no working.  Rachel also has strep, but didn't have the fever yet.

I dropped off Alina back at our room and made sure she took the 1st two pills and some food to go along with it before gathering up the calculus materials and heading to the high school.  The high school girls were just lining up to head in to class (the boys were already in the classroom) when I arrived.  Profe Ramon let me know that I'd have the class to myself today since another teacher was absent, so he'd have to cover her class.  I finished up indefinite integrals and then wrapped up the hour and a half lesson with the definite integrals.  I have now officially covered all of the topics that are on the exam.  Profe Ramon also wants me to take some time out of each day this week to cover the remaining topics in the book, but mostly wants me to work on reviewing for the exam with the students and then catching the boys up to speed since they missed all of last week due to planting trees up in the mountains.

When class was done, I chatted with Profe Ramon during recess and he asked if I could work through the 2 exams that would be given next Monday so that he could have someone 'double-check' his answer key.  This is something that we do in our math department as well...having a second eye checking for a possible error (or errors) we've made in making an answer key for a test definitely helps.  I'm not sure why an answer key was not provided with these tests which are required to be taken by the Honduran government educational branch.  This was actually a blessing to me, not only because I'm nerdy and enjoy working through math problems, but because I could be back in my room monitoring Alina, especially since LaShawn said that if her temperature went much above 102, we'd need to consider an injection to get it down due to the hot climates down here not helping keep her body cool.  I spent most of the afternoon working through the 2 tests, but was able to get them finished before school ended at 3pm, and returned them to Profe Ramon.  He was very thankful for my help in working through them.  We did discover some incorrect answers on the test itself, again made by the country of Honduras, not Profe Ramon.

Noah and I headed to the medium boys house after school to listen to 'ensenanza' and then walk with the boys to supper.  Noah now sits by Rudy and the bigger boys in the house.  He says it helps him to eat a little faster because they talk less.  I bought Alina some Gatorades from the 'tienda' at the recommendation of LaShawn and made sure she drank an entire one, since she hadn't been drinking much more than 1/2 of a glass of water all day.  She was sleeping, but we wanted to be sure to get the fluids down as well.

When Noah came back to the house, he was carrying 4 movies that I had asked Selvin to pick up in town for me for the medium boys...I can't wait to watch them with the boys this weekend (the boys who are in charge of the house who know about them are excited too)!  We'll keep you posted on that when we watch them.

Noah noticed that the small boys were down at the 'cancha' playing soccer and asked if he could go.  I took a book down to read while he was playing.  When I finished a chapter I looked up and saw the beginnings of a rainbow.  Of course it was one of those rare instances that I had forgotten to bring my camera, so since I also saw some gray clouds coming (perhaps rain, might destroy my book), I figured I'd run the book back to my room and grab the camera and hopefully the rainbow would still be there.  When I got back the entire rainbow had formed above the church (rather than just the fragment I had seen earlier).  Here's the photo I got:

What a WAY to end the night!  God is Good!!!

Basketball in Honduras

This morning we went to church and the Pastor from Guaimaca was preaching.  It was a good sermon on loving and serving your enemies.  When church was finished we headed to the medium boys house to spend the morning.  The boys were watching the Avengers.  Once again, we watched a bit of the movie, but Noah didn't get to see the ending because it was time to head for lunch.  Noah ate lunch with the boys while Alina and I headed to the store.

Noah and Alina with Michell

After lunch, we headed back to the boys house and they watched a bit of a mermaid movie (not sure what it was called since we got there late, but around 1:30pm they headed to the gym to spend the rest of the afternoon before supper playing soccer.  Rudy brought down a basketball for Alina to dribble around.  When we went into the 'comedor' (dining hall) for supper, I made sure I measured the last 3 big boys, and now I can officially say that all of the children here are measured!!!

After supper we headed to the gym to play some basketball with the medium girls.  Alina did fall down pretty hard on the cement floor and hurt her tailbone a little bit, so praying that it's nothing serious.  When the girls needed to head home for the evening, we headed home also, folded some laundry and turned in for the night.  It was a very relaxing Sunday.

Alina (with the ball) and Noah defending her

Meet Nelson

Beginning our morning routine as we usually do on Monday-Saturdays, we headed to the medium boys house.  They were just coming out of their houses and had to clean up the yard.  Unlike us back in the States who use rakes to clean up leaves that have fallen from trees, they simply pick them up with their hands each morning as well as any garbage (paper, plastic, etc) that is on the ground.  When all was clean and passed 'inspection', the boys lined up to head to breakfast.

At breakfast, the big girls were quick to remind me that today was Coco's birthday.  She turned 15 today.  We had bought 2 small cakes in town (gave one to Luis David last night for his 18th birthday)...but I wasn't sure of the exact date of Coco's birthday, so since we had refrigerator issues and I didn't know how long the cake would last, I let Alina and Noah eat the cake last night.  I let Coco know that we'd buy her a cake when we went into town this next Wednesday.

After breakfast Alina headed to the baby house and I went with Noah to the yard in front of the church where the medium boys were.  Noah spent a lot of time this morning playing soccer and Connect 4 with the medium boys.  The office used today as a day to get gifts to the medium boys who had received gifts on the container from their sponsors.  Some children have multiple sponsors, while some only have one.  Many of the medium boys were quick to tell me that Nelson is the only boy in their house who doesn't have a sponsor in the United States.  He only has a Honduran sponsor who is actually a staff member here at the orphanage.  Nelson is a sweet boy who doesn't talk.  He makes hand gestures to let you know what he wants/needs.  He is 14 years old and in a child's size 8 shirt, child's size 7 pants, and a child's size 2 shoe.  He is small!  If you feel led to be Nelson's U.S. sponsor or would like more information on sponsoring a child at Orphanage Emmanuel, please click HERE on how to do that.  Sponsoring a child is only $35/month and completely worth it!  We sponsor 2 girls in Tegucigalpa through Compassion International and cannot wait for the chance to meet them some day!

Nelson Yovany Mondragon Peralta - Child #1674

While in the yard with the medium boys, one boy got a package from his sponsor and in the package was a comb.  The boy asked if he could comb my hair since he didn't really have a lot of hair to comb.  How sweet!  When he finished coming my hair, he asked if he could braid it.  He ended up putting around 12-15 braids in my hair which I pulled up into my 'bun' since I didn't have rubber bands.  As the day went on, some big girls asked WHO did my hair (they didn't care for it), but when I told him it was a medium BOY, they were quick to say he did a good job (for a boy, I suppose).

Noah playing Connect 4 with one of the medium boys

We walked the boys to lunch and then headed to the big boys yard to do measuring.  It took a bit, but Robert helped us out, walking us room to room to make sure that every boy who was in his room cleaning got measured.  There were a few boys missing (working for David or out on the farm) who we will have to get at supper this evening or during meals tomorrow.  When we were done measuring the big boys, we headed up to the medium boys house and found them in their rec room watching the Avengers.  It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles, but Noah still wanted to watch it, so we stayed.  We walked with the boys to supper and stayed with them through supper.  Noah got his FIRST Honduran tortilla!!!  He liked it, but is not really liking the supper dishes that consist of mostly beans.

After supper, we headed back to our room.  I chatted with Michell and Esperanza until about 5pm when Esperanza's husband came for her, so Michell had to go into her house (medium girls house) for the night.  Noah saw that the other medium girls house was down on the soccer field by the church, so I went with him down there so that him and Nathaniel (the son of a volunteer family that is staying in the room next to us) could play soccer.  I chatted with Pastor Dori while we watched the kids play soccer.  When it was about 6pm, they headed back to their house for the night.  Back at our room, I settled down and soon Alina came busting into the room saying that there was someone outside my door that I knew.  It was Daniela, an older girl who was from Emmanuel.  She had gotten married in the last year and came back today to talk to David and Lydia about returning to Emmanuel as staff.  They plan to move back this way in September to begin work here.

Alina and Noah decided to play a modified game of Monopoly (I don't know the exact name of it) before heading to bed this evening.  Normally I call them in about 7pm due to having to get up really early each day (between 4 and 5am), but since we do not have to get up early on Sundays to work, I let them stay until the game was done, or 8pm (the orphanage's curfew), whichever came first.

Noah, Nathaniel, Alina, Rebekah

Luis David's 18th Birthday

Being Friday, this morning began with BIG circle at 6:30am.  For those who didn't read about this last week,  BIG circle is when ALL the children come together and share devotions and praises to God.  Normally children just have circle time with the other children right outside their own house (which are grouped by gender and age), but Fridays are special.  Alina and I chose to stand by Monica who lives in the medium girls house right next to us while Noah floated around from the power toddlers to the medium boys to the big boys.  When circle ended, we headed with the medium boys to breakfast.

The grandecitos at BIG circle

Alina and Monica this morning at BIG circle

Between breakfast and school I headed back to our room to prepare notes for Rachel who will be taking over 3 of my 4 reading sessions since I'm teaching calculus in the high school.  This way she would know what I was doing with each child and where I had left off.  I took the notes with Noah to the school and met Rachel there and we had a little bit of time to discuss each child before I had to head off to the high school.  When I got to the high school, Profe Ramon let me know that I'd be along with the students today (the grade is called Bachillerato II) because he had to be in Bachillerato I in order to catch them up to speed on their math material.  Once again, it was only the girls because all of the high school boys are up in the mountains all week planting trees.  Class went really well and I feel pretty good about where we left off for the week.

During recess for both high school and grade school, Noah went out to play soccer with the kids.  Alina had headed to the baby house after breakfast and that's where she'll be working with the Miller family who had come in on Wednesday evening.  After recess, the 6th grade had physical education class (soccer) so Noah stayed and played with them while I worked with Scarleth Michell on her reading.  She was my only student who was adamant that I work with her, and not hand her over to another, until I leave.  It sounds like she's had so much change happen lately in her life that she's not ready for more.  After reading with this girl, it was time to head with the medium boys to lunch.

After lunch I made some guacamole, ate a little bit and took the rest to the special needs yard.  There was quite a bit and they ate all of it.  I heard a lot of, "Que rico!" (YUM!)  Noah played soccer in the yard while I chatted with a few of the older teens who were in charge of the yard.  When school let out, we headed to the medium boys house for their 'ensenanza' (afternoon devotional time).  Anaheil did a great job with the boys.  I am learning so much from the older boys in this house on how to handle boys...but still not ready to be let loose to try ideas at home yet.  When 'ensenanza' was finished, the boys lined up to head to supper.  I ran back to the house to grab a small cake that we had purchased in town on Wednesday and shirt for Luis David, who turned 18 years old today.  He said he couldn't wait to eat the cake back in his house and that he liked the shirt.

Noah and Luis David (the birthday boy)...18 years old today

After supper (about 4pm), Noah and I headed back to our room to wait for Alina who would come home from the baby house around 5pm.  Noah was pretty stuffed from all of the lunch and supper he ate in the 'comedor' (dining hall).

Our New Fridge Came with an Extra Gift

We had our morning trek to the medium boys house for circle and the children said 'goodbye' to the Ohio group that has been here for the last week.  Jordy (a 6-week volunteer) was also leaving this morning with the Ohio group, so the boys said their 'goodbyes' to him as well.  We walked the boys down to breakfast after circle and watched as many people, mostly teens, from the Ohio group were crying as they said their goodbyes.  Quite a few had made some good connections while here, and there were some teens I've recognized from last year's group, as well as some that this is their 3rd trip.  It is really something special to be able to come multiple times over the years and see the children group.  I'm sure that Alina, Noah and I will be in that situation in another 2 weeks when we get ready to leave Honduras.  Even Noah has stunned me by how well he's adapted to the culture here.  He seems to have had a much easier transition (emotionally) than Alina did her first year down here.

I found out during breakfast that the class I teach has off of school today so that means I wouldn't be teaching calculus today, but spending the entire morning reading 1-on-1 with the 5th grade non-readers.  This filled my morning and as Noah and I read with the two boys, Alina worked with 2 older girls to get all of the donated notebooks (and other school supplies) from the semi container shelved and put away in the school storage room that I had organized years ago when they switched from wood shelving to metal shelving.  When shelving school supplies was done, Alina headed to the panaderia (bakery) to help the girls there make buns for supper.

When we went with the boys to lunch, I asked Wade if Noah could eat lunch and supper each day with the boys because Noah seems to be losing weight with all of the extra walking/running/playing he's doing each day.  He eats quite a bit of food from our place, but is always hungry and is sleeping a lot (perhaps going through a growth spurt?).  Wade said that would be fine and showed Noah the process for getting a plate each day.  Today's lunch was noodles and vegetables.

After lunch, we headed up to the team house because Veronica Diaz (who is in charge of that when teams come) had said she'd open the orphanage's souvenir shop for us.  We found a few items to bring back home while chatting with Veronica and Verenice.  When we came back to put our purchases away, we saw the medium boys playing in the yard next to our room.  The 11 ladies that had left earlier in the week had left some food in the fridge for us, including red grapes.  Although Alina and Noah like grapes, I don't think they've ever been exposed to grapes that still have the seed in them and they decided that they'd rather not eat those.  So I washed them up and had Noah take them down to the medium boys.  They disappeared instantly!  I had also purchased a small loaf of coconut bread in town for us all to try.  Again, Alina and Noah weren't too keen on this bread, so I cut it into slices and sent it with Noah down to the yard...another thing gobbled up by the medium boys.  I'm glad that the food is not going to waste!

While we were in the kitchen, David came with a new fridge.  The one in the kitchen stopped working last night, possibly with the storm.  They tried to fix it, but to no avail.  This fridge that was being dropped off had been in storage quite a while, so it needed quite a cleaning.  When we opened the door to the fridge, I saw (funny that no one else did) a cockroach about 2" long run and hide way in the back of the fridge!  We are now sharing the hotel with the Miller family that came in last night.  They are a family of five - Chris and Laurie are the parents and then 2 daughters, Rachel and Rebecca that are around Alina's age and a son, Nathaniel who is around Noah's age.  Laurie, Rachel, Rebecca and I worked quickly and furiously to clean the fridge out with soaps and bleaches so that we could get our food cooled down as soon as possible.  When we got the last shelf out, there was the cockroach, hiding.  Rachel killed it quickly and we were able to finish cleaning it all up and get our food in it.  The entire process of swapping out the fridges and cleaning the new one and putting food away probably took us around 45 minutes.

We headed over to the yard where the medium boys were, and while I sat on the steps chatting with some boys, Alina and Noah played soccer with others.  When it was time to line up to go to supper, we walked with them to supper and Noah ate with the boys once again...mostly beans with a few noodles.  Noah asked for 2 scoops when he should've asked for one, because it took him a while to eat, and he ended up being the LAST person eating in the comedor!  

After supper, we headed back to our room to settle down.  Coco came over with 2 friends and I offered them a piece of cake that was left over by the 11 ladies.  They gobbled it up along with some guava juice that I had picked up in town on Wednesday.  Later in the evening, Michell came over to say 'good night'.  I hadn't seen her all day and she let me know that she was at Esperanza's house babysitting her sick daughter, and that she would most likely be there all day tomorrow too.

Noah played with Nathaniel for about an hour while Alina worked on her Spanish assignment, until it was time to head to bed for the evening.  I have probably mentioned that it starts to get pretty dark here by about 6pm due to the mountains, so we tend to turn in to bed around 7pm.  This gives the kids about 10 hours of sleep to recoup for the work that the next day will entail.

Calculus by Candlelight

The electricity went out throughout the town around midnight.  At first it would go off and turn on and then go off and turn on (we have fans on in our room which is how I knew)...before it finally went out.  It was SO uncomfortably hot the rest of the night and I couldn't keep my sheets over my head as I usually do because of how it was, which means I was kept awake by at least one mosquito that enjoyed hovering over my ear.

The electricity was still out when I woke up at 3:30am to continue working on the calculus I was going to teach in Profe Ramon's math class this morning in Bachillerato II, so I'm glad I brought down the 2 candles that Julie had made for us for Christmas.  I don't usually use candles in my house back in the States, but they were put to good use here (and probably will be used a lot more between now and when we leave)!  Now I know how students/teachers felt back in the days of no electricity and still having to do paperwork while it was dark.

Calculus by Candlelight at 4am

A better picture of the calculus I was working on, using the glow of the candlelight

When we went to the medium boys circle this morning, the Ohio group was there and asked me to translate the devotion for them.  They spoke to the boys about the parable of building your house on the rock versus the sand and then had an exercise where they had boys build a house made with popsicle sticks in the sand and the team dumped water on it (symbolizing a storm) to see if it would stay standing.  Neither house built on sand was able to remain standing.  Then they talked about a house built on a rock and how to build your own foundation on Jesus.  The boys really enjoyed this devotional time!

After breakfast, I went back to my room to do some last-minute prep for the calculus lesson (just in case I under-planned).  I headed to school to do the reading courses from 8:30am - 10:00am before I had to head over to the high school to teach calculus at 10:20am.  It all went well, and I found out that I will have a calculus-teaching schedule through next week...and EXTRA HOURS at it!  An hour and 1/2 both tomorrow and Friday and then 2.5 hours each day next week from Monday-Thursday, just to get the students ready for this national test that they are to take next Friday (or the following Monday if Profe Ramon decides that they'll need Friday as a teaching day too).

When the calculus class was done, we headed back to the house to grab a quick bite to eat before heading into Guaimaca to do some grocery shopping for the week.  I wanted to get some extra food today for Alina and Noah who have lost a few pounds since being here and with all of the walking around that we are doing on a daily basis.  We got lots of pasta and a volunteer here had some protein bars to send Noah's way too.  He's actually been eating a lot more than normal (perhaps a growth spurt), but these protein bars will be a good filler for him between meals!

As we were putting groceries away when we got back, we heard the semi coming...the Container!  We quickly got the groceries put away and then ran down to the bodega (storage area) to help unload the container.  This would be Alina's 2nd time unloading the container, which comes every 4-6 weeks, but it was Noah's 1st time.  He really enjoyed running on and off the semi carrying donated Moon Pies and clothing and also gifts for the children from their sponsors!  We got the container unloaded in what other longer-term volunteers thought was a record time.  It did start pouring while unloading, and we heard from David (Papi) that it was because of the tropical storm (hurricane) Earl that was hitting the coast.  Please pray for those on the coast of Belize and Honduras today.  We are very much inland and surrounded by mountains, so we only experienced a completely overcast day along with this one downpour of rain...did I mention it was just perfect temperature-wise today (as opposed to bright sun & no clouds with burning temperatures)?

Alina and Noah in front of the container that arrived today

Noah carrying clothing donations off of the semi container

Alina carrying clothing and Moon Pie donations off of the container

After the container was loaded, it was time to get ready for church.  We headed down about 4pm and noticed that after the service had started, our friends the Miller family (from New York) had arrived and were sitting in the back.  This is the 3rd consecutive year they've come down (at the same time we've been here).  They'll be staying in a room right next to us for the remainder of our time here, so we're excited that they're here.  They have 2 girls around Alina's age and a boy who's about Noah's age...so it should be fun for all!