This morning at breakfast, I learned that both of the students I tutored last week Thursday night passed their math retake test. I was so grateful that they were able to get through this test, and pass with flying colors. Brenda will now be able to graduate (provided she passes her other classes from now until November!
Also, a good friend of ours stopped by to say 'hi'. She came in yesterday (from Florida) and chatted a bit about being excited to be here. We chatted about the boy she's been trying to adopt for the past couple of years (Wilson) and how when she tries to take control, she comes across many road blocks...but when she leaves it in God's hands, things move along well. She mentioned to me that she knew of another couple who had tried to adopt from Honduras, and after $180,000 and 10 years, they finally got their child out of Honduras. There are SO many hoops to jump through down here, and even when you think that all's going smoothly, expect a 'hiccup' to occur which will set things back a bit. If you research how many children from Honduras are adopted by U.S. citizens each year, the number is EXTREMELY low. This is most likely because of our 'fast food' life (we want things NOW), and that's just not the way things roll down here.
When the boys were done eating, Noah headed with Moncho to work for the morning. They spent their time in the Big Boys House working on the lights. They brought a bunch of light bulbs to change, but then realized it was something with the circuit box, which ended up taking a little longer, but they fixed it and didn't end up having to change a single light bulb. One of the neat things down here is that the light bulbs are made out of some sort of plastic, so they do not break when dropped like glass bulbs. I'm guessing there may be bulbs like this in the States, but this was the first time I had ever seen bulbs like this.
When I went out to the special needs yard for the morning, I found Jeremias out there playing. He quickly ran over by me and told me that he didn't have school today, so we spent the morning together playing games and coloring. I haven't had time to get to spend with him this summer (aside from hand shakes and hugs in passing), so this morning was a real treat for me.
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Jeremias |
After lunch, we headed to Guaimaca for our last time this year. We went in with the other volunteers and had to stop at the Tigo (cellphone) store to help 2 volunteers get their phone/internet chips activated. At the Tigo store, I saw Milton, who let me know that he dropped off my request for movies, and they only had 3 of the 5 movies. He said they would deliver them either tonight or tomorrow to the front gates of Emmanuel. Then we headed to the grocery store to get some treats to bring home to the nieces and Max, and also some coffee to give to the sisters and sister-in-law, as well as getting ingredients to make the medium boys some guacamole. We stopped by in the town square to get a couple of pictures before heading to the fruit stand and the bakery. We were with new volunteers, so we just showed them the typical places to shop at in town. All the while, I was handing the Mexican paletas (suckers) to children along the way. At the 2nd bakery, Noah got a frozen chocolate-covered banana. We stopped by Glenda's on the way back to say our 'good-byes' and then headed back to Emmanuel. I took a picture of our walk back, and 2 women saw us taking the picture and asked if I could take their picture...so they stood in the doorway to their house and this is probably one of the best pictures I've gotten this year so far!
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LoriAnn and Noah in the town square |
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Noah in front of the church in the town square |
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Noah walking back to Orphanage Emmanuel from town |
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Our walk back to Emmanuel |
We got the guacamole ingredient in the fridge and emptied our backpacks of all of the treats we had bought to bring back home, and then it was time to get ready for church. We had asked permission to bring Josue David (Jeremias' older brother) and Marlon to church with us, so we had to allow extra time to go and pick them up. Marlon arrived to Emmanuel just before we had come on July 25th, so he's new yet. He told me that they found him and his cousin on the streets begging for food, so he was brought here. He's not yet quite acclimated and is shy and doesn't talk much (even with the medium boys). He looks sad almost all the time. Each picture I took below, I had to take twice because the first time he was not smiling. When I noticed that, I asked him to smile, while showing his teeth and then took the picture a second time. I showed him the difference between the 2 pictures so he could see that the one with smiles looks so much better. I also let him know that I'd make copies of each and get them sent to him. Noah is thinking of sponsoring Marlon. He has wanted to sponsor a child through Compassion International for the past few years, but has not felt that God has put a particular one on his heart yet. When he came here this year, he felt that God was telling him to sponsor a child from here rather than through Compassion...and more specifically now he has requested information on Marlon from Sara and has read through the entire sponsorship packet! (My son really dislikes reading). Please pray for God to give Noah concrete guidance as he contemplates sponsorship.
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Left to right: Josue David, Noah, Marlon |
As we walked out of church towards the medium boys house, we noticed a rainbow. We took the boys picture with Noah and then Christofer offered us a ride back to the medium boys house to drop off Josue David and Marlon...and also a ride back to the comedor. When we got back to the house, we found the Miller family working hard to get packed up (they leave tomorrow), eat and then get some rest.
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Left to right: Marlon, Noah, Josue David (with rainbow in background) |
I reminded Noah today that this was his FIRST Day of the 'Lasts', meaning this was his LAST full Wednesday of being here at Emmanuel, so he should make the best of it. Tomorrow would be the LAST Thursday of being here, the day after would be the LAST Friday, and so on and so forth. Live each of these days to the fullest with the children here!