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!

All of the Girls are Now Measured!

This morning began with going to the medium boys house (as usual) for circle and then heading with them to breakfast.  We spent the morning reading with the 2 boys and the 2 girls - Noah works with the 2 boys and while the girls are reading, Alina and Noah are reading books in English.

Over lunch I finally measured the last 3 of the girls here at Orphanage Emmanuel.  I'm so excited about having them finished.  We only have 2 houses left to measure: the grandecitos (middle-school aged boys) and the grandes (high-school aged boys).  Alina will not be able to help with those, so Noah has been getting some practice at measuring feet for shoe sizes.

This afternoon we spent a couple of hours washing, drying and folding the bedding from the other 2 hotel rooms since the 11 girls/ladies that had stayed in those room had left this morning.  I believe the rooms are supposed to fill up by the weekend (one family is coming tomorrow).  Since the ladies had given me the keys to turn over to Andi, when we finished 1/2 of the laundry, we put it into a room that was still unlocked (the lock wasn't working).  Andi stopped by later in the evening with multiple keys to try to lock it.

We went to the comedor (dining hall) to meet up with the children for supper and then Noah and I walked to the grandecitos house to try to get as many of those boys measured as we could, while Alina went home to try her hand at making grilled cheese sandwiches for us.  We got all but about 10 boys measured and are committed to heading to the comedor for breakfast tomorrow to get them finished, which would only leave us with one house to go!

After supper, we decided to call it a night.  It's been a lot of work and a lot of walking around tracking people down when we are measuring.  I purchased a Fitbit back in May for mother's day and I've definitely been getting more steps in down here than ever before, on a daily basis!  The 3 of us have lost a bit of weight in only a week and 1/2 down here.  I don't mind, but I'll have to make sure to buy extra groceries tomorrow for Alina and Noah.

Cleaning the Tilapia Tank

Like the other mornings, we headed to the medium boys house this morning for circle (where Noah found ANOTHER grasshopper) and then walked with them to the comedor (dining hall).  When the boys were done eating, I headed back to my room to make sure I was prepared for the calculus that I was about to teach in Profe Ramon's class.  Rachel (the math major university student visitor who is staying in the room next to us) met me just before I had to head to the school.  We waited at the school for Profe Ramon to arrive.

Noah, Gerson and the grasshopper

Unfortunately today's class of normally 12 students only had 3 students.  They boys were all pulled from school to plant trees up in the mountains, and the rest of the girls decided to come to school in something other than the uniform they were supposed to wear, so they were sent home.  This material that I will be teaching this week is difficult and it will be on the exam next week Friday, so I am a little heart-broken that 9 of the 12 students were missing.  The lesson went well because each of the girls smiled and you could see the 'light bulb turn on', so I have a good feeling about Wednesday (the next day I'll be teaching).

Towards the end of teaching, Alina headed out to work in the tilapia tanks, cleaning the tanks.  When I discovered that there was no reading classes today, Noah and I walked down to the farm to check in on her.  We found her IN the tanks WITHOUT waders, cleaning!  I was told there are currently around 6000 tilapia in the tanks.  She seemed to be having a lot of fun with the others cleaning the tanks...but she smelled AWFUL when she got done and walked back with us.

Alina cleaning the tilapia tanks

Alina enjoying cleaning the tilapia tanks

Noah took himself to the tienda (store) THREE times today!  He's been getting more and more hungry by the day - not sure if it's a growth spurt or all of the walking and activity is draining his calories more quickly.  We'll have to be sure to buy more food than usual in town.  I've told the kids that because I've bought a month's worth of crackers/cookies, that if they wanted more in town, they'd have to buy it.  I'm guessing they both will be buying quite a bit this coming Wednesday when we go to the supermarket.

This year I banned the kids from bringing electronics down (Nintendo DS, tablets, etc).  The past few years they seemed to be hindrances to what we were trying to accomplish down here.  They brought books and we bought a few games (Connect 4, Dominoes, a deck of cards, Checkers, TicTacToe, etc) from the Dollar Tree.  It's been amazing how much the kids have been reading (and actually getting INTO it) and then playing with each other.  It's reduced my stress as well that they are more than willing to get out at pretty much any time and go play with the children here...because the electronics are not here distracting them.  They each asked to keep the lights on this evening before bed just a little bit later so they could finish their chapters!  It'd really be nice if this reading before bedtime could carry over into our routine in the U.S.

A Slip n Slide Sunday!

This morning we headed to church and were surprised that 3 of the teenage girls from the Ohio team decided to give their testimonies.  They did a very good job!

After church, Rachel (a visitor from Georgia) worked with me through a bunch of calculus problems that I would be teaching this coming week.  We found a few errors in some problems, but it helped to have a 2nd mathematical eye/brain on working through these problems since it has been 20+ YEARS since I've taken calculus, and I've never taught it.

I treated Alina and Noah to ice cream before we headed to the medium boys house.  Alina chose a mini green plastic soccer ball that was filled with vanilla ice cream!  They both enjoyed their delicious treat while walking over to the boys house.  The boys had invited Noah to come and do the Slip n Slide with them, and activity that the Ohio team had planned for them.  Noah chose not to wear his swim suit, so he fit in better with the boys.  I should say that one of the Ohio team members, when he arrived, said 'hola' to Noah while Noah was in the yard with the medium boys.  There are a couple of Honduran boys down here who are as light as Noah, but it still made us giggle.

Alina with her soccer ball ice cream

Noah (white t-shirt) on the Slip n Slide

In the evening, I was invited to church in Guaimaca by a pastor of that church.  He also invited the Ohio pastor to do the sermon for the evening, along with Wade to translate into Spanish.  It was a very good sermon and many church members came up to the altar afterwards to have prayer for the pains (emotional, physical, financial, spiritual) that they were suffering.  I saw a girl there who used to be one of the Orphanage Emmanuel children, so it was GREAT to see that she is still going to church and trying to find what God wants for her in her life!