Our Last Sunday 2017

This is the last morning in Honduras that we'll be sleeping in (if sleeping in means getting up at 5:30am instead of 3:30am).  Church began at 8am and I had asked if Michell and Luis David could sit by me, while Noah ran down to the medium boys house to get Marlon and Josue David.  I asked Noah to take a picture of us prior to the start of the service, but I think he may still need some lessons on how to use the camera as most of his pictures are not coming out very sharp/clear, and seem to be 'fuzzy'.  We had a special treat today in church with David preaching!

LoriAnn with Michell

After church we went back to our place and I made a Mexican huevos rancheros for Noah and myself for breakfast.  We didn't have the 'caldo de pollo' cheese or tortillas, and I had forgotten that we had 'crema' as well, so I guess that's why every time I make it, that it tastes a little different!  We had a bunch of extras left over, so I hung on to them and figured I'd give each of the medium boys a spoonful at supper, to go with their rice and beans.

After breakfast, Noah and I headed to the store where we waited for lunch to be done.  While we were there, we sat next to some volunteers who had just come this past week.  One of them complimented my eyes.  Since it was Sunday, I had put a little bit of make-up on.  I don't do that the other days of the week, because it just seems to melt off of my face and it just takes too long to do in the morning.  I was very appreciative of her comment.

When lunch was over, Fabio headed my way to ask where we should work on his calculus.  I asked him where he'd be able to concentrate best, and he said up at the 'kitchen' tables at the big boys house.  Back before there was a comedor that serves everyone, there was a kitchen at each of the houses where the children ate.  The tables were made out of cement and tiled, so I imagine they will be there for a while.  He had left his notebook in the classroom (with the 10 examples of problems that are on the test) and I had given all of my notes to Profe Ramon, so we had to walk around for a bit to try to find keys to get into the classroom, since I couldn't remember what types of problems were on the test.  We worked for almost 2 hours on the problems before he had to go relieve another big boy of his chores.

When Fabio had to leave, I walked to the gym and found the small girls playing.  I decided to grab Alejandra and Nikoll and take them to the store, just to spend a little bit of time with them.  I have known these two girls for the past 3-4 years while Alina and I had been assigned to the toddler house.  They each got a soda and chips and we chatted a bit at the store before heading back to the gym.  I spent about an hour at the gym with them before heading home to heat up the left overs for the medium boys.

Alejandra (left) and Nikoll (right)

For supper, we decided to serve the huevos rancheros to the medium boys and the 2 chicken thighs left over to Chino and Luisito (the 2 teenagers in charge of the medium boys).  They were all very thankful, most likely because it is a big change from their typical meals.  After supper, Noah headed to the cancha with the grandecitos to play soccer and I headed up to Michell's house to watch a movie.

An Eating Competition

This morning Noah got up at 5am!  (YAY!!!)  We headed to the medium boys house on time and without problems, and then took them to the comedor for breakfast.  After breakfast, they headed straight to the special needs yard to play for the morning.  It is my last Saturday, and I had promised Monica that we would have some time together, so I let Noah know that I was headed to pick her up and to the store, and he wondered if he could bring Marlon down for some ice cream and to play Snakes (Chutes) and Ladders.  That sounded fine to me.  Unfortunately, Monica wasn't in the medium girls yard, because she had walked to the baby house, so I decided to wait for her at the store.  Noah and Marlon enjoyed their ice cream and probably played their game about 6 times.  Luis David came over with another boy and they joined in, since the game allows up to 4 players.

When Monica returned from the baby house, I went to pick her up.  We spent time together at the store (Noah walked with Marlon back to the yards) and I gave her a skirt and top that Alina and I had bought at Kohls before coming.  I also gave her a bottle of shampoo and conditioner.  The shampoo was left behind by the Miller family and the conditioner was an extra one that I had bought in Tegucigalpa just in case I ran out of the first bottle.  We chatted for a bit about her plans and also how schools are different between the United States and Honduras before we noticed it was time to get ready for lunch.

In the comedor for lunch, I noticed that Jefferson got to play with the medium boys today, so he was eating lunch with them.  Jefferson is extremely skinny (like a mini-version of Noah), and he also doesn't like to eat, so I told him I'd put him and Noah (who wasn't eating) in a competition against each other and the winner would get a Mexican sucker.  Jefferson began to eat furiously, which absolutely stunned the kids who were in charge of him.  The kids down here LOVE these suckers!  Noah could probably care less about the sucker, so I whispered to him that I'd buy him ice cream...and immediately it was an eating competition for the both of them!  They actually finished at the exact same time, which means Noah was NOT the last person eating in the comedor for lunch today!

After lunch, we headed with the medium boys to their family room to watch Zootopia.  When the movie was over, the boys were told to come outside because Chino had bought a pinata full of candy.  Only 1 side of the house got to participate in afternoon activities, because apparently someone on the other side of the house (there are 2 HUGE bedrooms to this house where 18-20 boys sleep in each room), one of the boys tried to light a fire...so they were all told that there would be no fun activities until someone confessed who did it.  Each boy got a few swings at the pinata and even Noah got to swing.  After Noah, then tia Moncha swung (without a blindfold) and then they told me to take a swing.  I really don't think that the boys thought I'd be able to swing that well, but my years of playing softball paid off!

We headed back to the family room to watch another movie (The Hobbit), but I had to come back to our room after a bit because it was extremely hot today and I was feeling light-headed.  I rested until supper time and then met the boys in the comedor for supper.  After supper, Michell came over to sit on the porch with me while Noah walked with Rudy to the clinic, which is almost next door to us.  Rudy broke something in his foot and now has a cast on for the next 4 weeks.  Noah came over our way with a gecko and made all of the girls that were sitting with us run and scream, which of course amused Noah!

Noah handling the gecko

As the evening was winding down, Suly came up by us.  I had to meet with her when she was done working in the comedor (her house is just below ours) because she had a special request from me...you see, Suly is getting married!  This week she talked to David about it and her fiance also talked with him to ask permission to marry and David gave his blessing.  Suly bought a dress, but it needs to be cleaned, so she asked me if I knew of someplace in the States that would do a good job cleaning it - since she feared that if it got done down here, it would get ruined.  I was so honored!  I told her that I could take it to the same place that cleaned my dress.  So we went down to her house for her to try it on and show it to me...it's absolutely stunning!  She came out into the living room because she was so excited that she wanted to show it to Noah - oh boy...a typical teenage boy response, not too much excitement, but he did say it looked nice on her.  She put it in a bag and I will be taking it back with me to the States to have it cleaned before sending it back her way.  She plans to marry June 26th, 2018.

Our Last Big Circle of 2017

This morning Noah was able to sleep in a bit because it is Friday...Big Circle...our last one for this year.  One of the houses that recited their bible verses this morning was Luis David's house...so that was a special treat.  I also noticed this morning that since we've been here, the medium boys have not recited verses, so I guess we'll be missing that this year.  After Big Circle, we headed with the medium boys to breakfast and then to their house until school started.  After walking them to school, we went to the hotel to do our morning cleaning before heading to the yards.

Since Noah didn't really get up on time for Big Circle today, he was with me this morning in the yards rather than working with Moncho.  We took the Bingo game that we had bought at the Dollar Tree and Noah played that with the boys who were there.  Each boy who got Bingo won a Mexican sucker (chili-covered mango flavored sucker).  There were 10 Bingo cards, so 10 boys could play at any time.  Noah was able to practice his numbers in Spanish as he called the numbers out from 1-50.

When we ran out of suckers, then the Bingo game was over.  We asked to take one of the new boys, Marlon, to the store.  Noah was going to play Snakes/Chutes and Ladders with him - another game we had bought from the Dollar Tree.  Marlon recently arrived to Emmanuel, just before we did (I think I mentioned him in an earlier post).  He said he was found begging off of the streets along with 2 cousins, so they were picked up and brought here.  We also got him a soda and some chips.  He brought the leftovers to his cousins in the yard after the boys played for a while at the store.  Noah will be leaving the game with Marlon when we leave.

We headed to lunch, and then Noah went to work with Moncho again while I spent the afternoon with Michell.  I bought her the new Beauty and the Beast movie, so since they had to be in their house all afternoon, we watched that together.  When they had to leave the house for ensenanza (Bible study), I headed for the medium boys house, waited with them there and then headed to supper.  After supper, Michell came over again and we just sat on the front porch and chatted.  We also called home for a bit to see how things were going, before turning in for the night.  It was a really nice day today, and now it's been 2 days with no rain!

Finally - A Tarantula!

Although I had already been up for over an hour, getting ready and doing my devotions...I definitely woke up even stronger when I headed to the bathroom, opened the door and a large cockroach came running out of the bathroom towards me!  I chased it back into the bathroom and headed to the kitchen looking for a broom to sweep it outside, but both brooms were not in there.  When I came back and opened the door to use the bathroom, it ran under the couch.  I guess I'll have to wait for another day to get it out of the room.

This morning, our neighbors, the Millers left to head back to the States.  We hung around (rather than heading to the medium boys house) so that they could give us their keys.  Although they planned to get picked up at 7am, I'm guessing that the van showed up for them sometime between 6:20 and 6:25am!  They did end up pulling out at around 7am though.  They mentioned that it will take until noon the next day before they are back at home.  Noah was really excited about the left-over food that they were leaving behind.

Noah and I did some final cleaning of the hotel and then I went to the yard with the special needs boys for the morning while Noah went to work with Moncho.  I was excited to see some of the power toddlers in the yard (their teacher wasn't in school today) that I had gotten to know a couple of years ago while working in the Toddler House with Alina - Jefferson, Jeffrey, Jorge, and Chino.  One thing that I've noticed I've been terrible at this year is taking pictures, and of course by the afternoon I realized that I should've have taken a picture of these boys.

After lunch, I headed back to the hotel to change the laundry and make the medium boys guacamole for supper.  Noah helped out with peeling the onions, getting the 'juices' out of the tomatoes before cutting them and a few other things.  The water shut off at about 2pm and I wasn't able to wash the cilantro, so I waited for about an hour for it to come back on...but it didn't.  I sent Noah down to the store to buy a few bottles of water, so that I could finish up the guacamole with the cilantro.  We walked the guacamole down to the comedor and put a large tablespoon into each of the medium boys' bowls.  I gave the remaining guacamole to the ladies who were working in the kitchen.  The medium boys were VERY appreciative of the guacamole added to their rice and beans for supper!

After supper, Noah headed to the cancha to play soccer with the medium boys while I headed up to Michell's house to watch the movie, 'The Shack' with them.  I bought this movie in town.  They all loved the movie!  Towards the end, I heard the 'tia' (lady who is in charge for the night) mention a tarantula.  The room was dark, and I only quickly saw a small spot on the wall which she swatted off and then did some fancy footwork and shuffled it out the door.  When the movie was over and I left, there was a squashed tarantula right outside the front door which ants were already starting to carry away!  It was a rather small one, compared to the ones I've seen over the years, but it was my first tarantula sighting this year.  We have not really seen many of the big bugs we've seen in the past this year, which has been a real bummer for Noah.

When I got back to the hotel room, Noah was eating some supper.  After he was done, we went to our room for the night and settled in.

The FIRST Day of the 'Lasts'

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.

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!

LoriAnn and Noah in the town square

Noah in front of the church in the town square

Noah walking back to Orphanage Emmanuel from town

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.

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.

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!

Michell is Sick

When we headed to the medium boys house this morning, they were cutting grass and picking it up.  They had 1 rake today (last time they had 5), so many boys were just using their fingers as a rake.  They worked the entire time on mowing the cleaning up the yard right up until it was time to head to breakfast.  When we got back from breakfast, they went back to picking up the clippings off of the yard.  We walked to school at 8am and then I was in the special needs yard for the rest of the morning.  During a small break, I headed to the school for recess and then to our room to clean our room, the kitchen and the porch, as well as to make some room in the refrigerator for the new family that was coming today.  Noah and I cut up all of the turkey and bologna slices (which he didn't really care for), a few slices of Velveeta cheese, and a block of Honduran cheese and put it in a gallon sized bag so that we could take it down and serve a tablespoon of to each of our medium boys, on top of their noodles and vegetables.  It may sound awkward, but the kids love any chance of eating cheese that they can get!

In the afternoon, Noah went with Moncho to paint and when I saw him later, just before supper, I was at the ice cream shop chatting with some of the Mennonite women and he jumped off the gator to come and ask for some ice cream.  After supper with the medium boys, we headed back to our room.  I had heard just before supper that Michell was sick and hadn't been out of her room all day (which also means she hadn't eaten all day).  One of the big girls stopped by my room to tell me that Michell had gotten her appetite back.  I made her up 3 peanut butter (which is a delicacy down here) and jelly sandwiches, an apple and a peach tea, and Noah threw in 3 Moon Pies in order to fill her up.  She could always share if she couldn't eat it all.  With that we settled in for the night, realizing that our time here is winding down.

Noah's Generosity

We headed through our normal routine today (going to the medium boys' house, then walking with them to breakfast).  At breakfast, Morgan let me know that Lucy would have to get into my room to get a few sheets in the cabinet to make the beds in the next room over - which was going to be reserved for a family coming in.  We headed back to the boys house after breakfast for a bit and when we walked them to school, I headed to our room to sweep it and the kitchen, and the front porch as I waited for Lucy to come.  I have her and her girls come Mexican suckers for all of their hard work cleaning up the 3rd room here.

The right side of our room with 2 twin beds, a double bed and bunk beds (hidden at right)

The left side of our room with 2 tables, a couch and a chair

Our room, looking in from the doorway, bathroom behind door in back

When I went to the yard, it began to rain so we walked all of the special needs children to the gymnasium to play.  At 11:45, it was time to head to lunch, so after eating our noodles and veggies (the typical lunch here) we headed back to the gym for the afternoon.  I went to the office for a bit to chat with Doris and Sara about a few things and then headed back to the gym to pick up the kids for supper.  Tonight after supper I headed to the medium boys house to watch Batman vs Superman with them.  This is the last movie I got for them...I will have to research a few more to purchas since we still have just over a week left here.

Noah stayed behind when I was watching the movie with the boys, because the Miller family had asked to take Wade and Lourdes children so that they could have a date night.  Noah wanted to play with them.  Their children are bilingual.  Laurie and Chris served them macaroni and cheese, and I found out later that Noah absolutely insisted that they use the 2 large bottles of Fresca soda that he had bought earlier in the day to serve to the kids to drink.  They played numerous games and were at the park and ended up staying for 4 hours.

Noah, the Miller children, and Wade's children

Sunday is a Day of Rest

This morning I got to sleep in a bit from my normal 3:30am waking time because it is Sunday, meaning that we have off this day (from our normal 6am routine) and church begins at 8am...so I slept in 2 more hours.  There was a pastor from town who led the service today and talked about King Uzziah who followed the Lord in the beginning of his life and reign as king, but then over his 52 years of reign, he became more and more proud of the man he was and in the end he did some things that he shouldn't have, so God touched his forehead with leprosy and ended his reign.  The pastor talked to us about being careful not to become prideful in that way.

After church, Noah and I came back to the room and played a game of Uno and Skipbo before heading to the store.  In the almost 3 weeks that we've been here, we have not yet purchased a meal at the store, so today we purchased lunch there.  Lunch consisted of 2 tortillas, 2 meatballs, rice and a salad.  While we were eating, Luis David came over and told us that he was watching over David and Lydia's (Orphanage Emmanuel founders) house because they had went into Tegucigalpa after church to pick up David's sister from the airport.  They would be gone until tomorrow.  There needs to be at least 1 person up at the house watching over it, because Luis David claimed that people break into the orphanage and then try to get into David and Lydia's house to steal things.

When we got back to our room, Michell was waiting for us on the porch, so I spent the afternoon with her (from lunch until suppertime).  Gradually a few more big girls came out and sat with us on our porch and in the end, there were 8 girls and I sitting in a circle just chatting.  The Miller family said later on that I should put a sign saying 5 cents out in front of me with a cup...similar to Peppermint Patty in the Peanuts comics.  I laughed at the thought, but the girls weren't there for advice, just to talk.

For supper, Noah and I heated up a bowl of rice and veggies that Bob had made a while back, and for dessert, I had thawed and heated up a large frozen cinnamon roll that I had bought in town.  Noah went to play soccer with the special needs girls, along with some of the new team members that came in yesterday.  They are Mennonites from Pennsylvania, and their attire had many older children staring that them Saturday afternoon when they came into the comedor around suppertime.  I had asked Luis David (who was also staring) if he had seen people dressed like that before, and he replied that he hadn't - with a shocked look on his face.  I'm excited to watch this young group (seem to be between 18 and 25 years old) interact with the children over this next week!

After the soccer game, I met Noah at the water fountain in front of the church.  We chatted a bit and then headed back to our room to settle down for the evening.

Noah Took a Shower with a Cockroach

This morning I woke up at 3:30am in order to take a shower an spend time doing my devotions (my daily routine while the house is still quiet).  I woke everyone else up at 5:30am.  Alina was already mostly packed, Bob had a pack a bit.  I sent some souvenoirs home with them that we had purchased earlier so as to lighten our load when Noah and I come home in another week and a half.  Alina and Noah went down to the comedor and were instructed to have breakfast (which I found out later that Alina never ate), while Bob and I walked the suitcases up to the Team House.  The team from Georgia was leaving today along with 3 volunteers, so luckily Bob and Alina were able to ride along on the bus rather than have the orphanage's chauffeur take them (which costs considerably more).  I had given Alina some fruit from the refrigerator that I knew Noah and I would not eat to take along to breakfast to give away.  Bob and I met up with Alina and Noah at the comedor so that Bob could say his 'good-byes'.  I found out that Noah hadn't even begun to eat because he had been goofing around with the boys who were eating, so I had to have him get his bowl and sit down to eat.  He was absolutely and by far the last person to finish eating. While I stayed with him, Bob went up to the Team House to wait and Alina took some of her clothes that she was leaving behind to Sofia at the baby house.  She said her 'good-byes' there too.

We waited with Bob and Alina for the bus and then said our 'good-byes' before the bus took off around 7:30am.  Noah and I headed back to our room to strip all of the bedding and wash it, and turn the room into a room for two.  I swept the room, the kitchen, and the porch while he cleaned the bathroom and the room ended up looking really nice.  I wrote my blog and posted it from yesterday while Noah read some more in his book.  He seemed a bit down and I'm guessing it was because his sister was gone, so he had no one to 'pester', or as he would call it, 'joke around with'.  I decided to take him to the tienda (store) to get him some ice cream...partly for him, but probably mostly for me for having to deal with his being 'down in the dumps'.

When we were finished we went to lunch with the medium boys and then headed to their house to watch movies for the afternoon.  We watched LEGO Batman, Independence Day and then finished up the Zootopia movie that they began watching about a week ago but never got to finish.  After supper with the medium boys, we headed back to our place and Michell was waiting for me.  I sat with her out on the porch until about 6pm when she had to head back, then we went into the room for the night.  I told Noah to shower up and he took the SHORTEST SHOWER EVER!!!  He came out and told me that he was showering with a cockroach.  He said it was hidden in the folds of the shower curtain.  I hit the shower curtain, and it fell onto the floor of the shower...it was pretty big.  No wonder he took such a short shower!  He went to get Nathaniel (the 11 year old next to us) to take it out of the room.  I am hoping that by next week, after the Miller family leaves, Noah will have the courage to take care of these by himself.

Suly stopped by to ask me if I could boil some water to throw into 2 ramen noodle instant bowls for 2 big girls next door.  I did that and we chatted for a bit.  She told me that she has plans to get married and said that she had just talked to David about it yesterday.  I'm so excited for her!  I have known her for the 10 years that I've been coming here, and she has been teaching classes and also involved in the kitchen.  She truly is a remarkable young woman and I'm praying that all goes well with her upcoming wedding!

What a nice way to end the evening...

Last Day for Alina and Bob

Fridays are big circle and Alina and Bob were both sick, both with stomach problems.  Bob decided not to go work on the technology education building with Chris and Mike today.  Noah reminded me (once again) that today was Big Circle (which doesn't start until 6:30am as opposed to the 6am that we are normally out the door).  Alina stayed for Big Circle today since she's been at the baby house and has missed it each week so far.  Bob walked around and got children to sign his hat.  This is a tradition for him and then he hangs the hats next to his bed as a reminder to pray for the children here at Emmanuel.

Big Circle at Emmanuel

Alina and Michell

Alina with Alejandra (pink) and Nikoll

We headed to breakfast with the kids and Bob got more signatures in the comedor.  I spent some of the morning in the special needs yard and some in the school (during recess).  I finally got the scientific calculator that I had purchased in town Wednesday to Luis David and showed him how to use it and a few of the features on it, more or less.

Bob used the entire day to work on supper for Moncho and Ana Yansi, with extras for us to eat with Michell.  I got special permission to be able to bring Michell over for supper and for her to stay out until 7pm, rather than the children's 6pm curfew.  It is extremely dark by 7pm here, so I think that safety is one of the reasons why they turn in early.  Bob made breaded chicken, a vegetable mix and mashed potatoes with chopped avocadoes.  It was super delicious!

After the medium boys had supper, Moncho had another basketball tournament with the boys in the gym.  Once again, I forgot to bring my camera (sorry).  Alina wanted to come down to the gymnasium, and I told her I prefer she didn't because once she'd see the basketball games going on, she'd want to play - and she's been sick most of the week.  She ended up coming anyway, and of course she played the 2nd half of one game (which we cut to 7 minute halves).  I am hoping that she stays well over the weekend.

While the kids were playing, Bob made his way down to the gymnasium to ask me if Noah told me about the gas/propane...I said 'no' and he let me know that we were out, and he was still cooking.  I asked Moncho if he had his radio and he did not, but said to check in the comedor because someone in there SHOULD have a radio.  I told Bob to either radio Wade or Mike about the gas.  I didn't see Bob after that.

At 5pm, Alina, Noah and I left the gymnasium to walk back to our room.  I picked up Michell on the way, and the gas/propane was being delivered!  When I got to our room, Bob told me that it cost L$320 (320 Lempiras or Honduran dollars).  He said that the Miller family paid for it and that he wanted to pay for 1/2, but they claimed they were using it so much more than we were and they insisted that we don't chip in.  I will be sure to repay them somehow!  :-)

We sat down for a good meal with Michell, and although Bob served the food 'family-style' (where we could all just dig in), Michell preferred that he make her plate for her.  At the orphanage, their plates are served for them, so she doesn't know anything else and I think that the thought of her serving herself made her feel a little uneasy.  We gave Michell a bunch of clothes that we had bought for her back in the States, and a pair of shoes, and then walked with her to the souvenoir store to get a gift for Kaylyn and Jaden.  The sourvenoir store is set up right next to the team house and is for team members who come down who would like to get gifts, some made by the children right here at Emmanuel.  They have jewelry, post cards, wood-crafted items, t-shirts, musical instruments, coffee, vanilla, machetes and knives, and just about anything that you can think of!  I bought Michell a bracelet so that she wouldn't feel left out as we were shopping.

When we came back, Moncho still hadn't stopped by for the supper, so Noah and I decided to run it to them.  It was about 6:45pm, so Bob and Alina hung back to play a few rounds of Uno with Michell.  They were still playing when we got back.  I walked Michell back to her house for the night and then came back to our place, where Alina had already started to pack up for tomorrow.  As usual, everyone was in bed and just about sleeping by 8pm.

A Cockroach Ran Up My Leg!

As I was doing devotions this morning, I felt something on my leg, underneath my pants leg right on the shins.  I figured it was either one of my long pieces of hair that got caught in my clothing after a shower or perhaps a daddy long-legs, so I shook my pants a little bit.  All of a sudden a small cockroach (about an inch and a half) was on the floor.  I didn't see it actually run out of my pants leg, but I'm pretty sure that's what the motion had been.  YUCK!  Bob, Alina and Noah were still sleeping - I didn't scream.  Just startled.

We headed through our normal routine.  Bob's been working with Mike on this technology education building and Alina headed back to the baby house.  They will head home on Saturday for Alina to try out for volleyball at Oshkosh North on Monday.  Noah and I were with the medium boys as usual, and after heading with them to breakfast and dropping the ones in school off at school, Moncha (who's in charge of the special needs yard during the day) decided to take the children into the gymnasium for the day.  The gymnasium got a new set of doors put on it.  The old wooden double-doors with the padlock were replaced by black iron-bar double doors.  They look really good!

I was supposed to head to the high school area for recess to give Luis David his calculator and show him how to use it, but I ended up getting recruited to play soccer in the gymnasium with the children there.  I have never played soccer before, and having been a 3-sport athlete where I am REQUIRED to physically touch the ball with my hands, this made for a very difficult time for me!

After lunch, I headed back to the room to rest for a bit because I would be tutoring 2 students this evening in 2 different houses in 2 different math classes, which would make for a lot of running around.  I headed to the small boys house first at 4:30pm to work with Miguel.  He is in our equivalent of 10th grade and did not pass the math test the first time around.  They are allowed 1 retake to make up their points.  I worked with him for just a bit over an hour on finding intercepts, vertices of parabolas, and also locating the focus and directrix of a parabola.  I showed him an example of each, then we worked through an example, and then I gave him an example to do alone.  He seemed to be catching on.

About quarter to 6pm, I headed to the toddler house (it was a hike) to work with Brenda on her math for her retake tomorrow.  Brenda is the only student in the 11th grade who did not pass the course, so she will be doing a retake tomorrow as well.  The 11th grade is the last grade before graduation here in Honduras (unlike our 12th grade).  I worked with her on derivatives, integrals, and summation notation and calculation.  She had all of the notes that I have given in class, and hopefully with what we went through, she'll be okay.

When I got back to our room, I found Alina writing her 'goodbye' letters to the children she had made connections with.  The children tend to write tons of letters down here, and color quite a few drawings as well and give them to the volunteers and teams as they spend time with them.  So Alina was reciprocating.  She asked if I could hand out 2 letters to 2 boys that she would probably not see tomorrow since she spends her entire days at the baby house.

I began reading Bringing Up Boys by Dr. Dobson a few days ago.  Each night I read a chapter before heading to bed.  I got this book back when Andres was about 9 or 10 and read it back then, but figured with Noah and Jaden - I just may need a refresher!  Bob, Alina and Noah all fell asleep before I finished my chapter, but then it was lights out (just as the hard rains came down) and I fell asleep with the pitter patter of the rain on the roof.

A Scientific Calculator

Our morning began with the normal routine, heading to the medium boys house and then with them to breakfast, then back to their house before walking them to school.  After walking them to school, I checked on Alina (who was still sick with flu-like symptoms) and swept out our room, the kitchen and the front porch.  Sweeping is definitely at least a daily thing down here as the floors are all 12"x12" tiles and dirt gets tracked in fairly easily.

Once the floors were swept, I went to check on Bob.  He's been working with Mike to put up a technology education building.  I got a few pictures (and he took some pictures from the scaffolding as well, so you could see how the building is coming along.

Bob on the scaffolding with a volunteer

Aerial view of building progress

Aerial view of building progress

Ground view of building progress

 After taking a few pictures, I headed to the special needs yard to be with those children all day.  Noah wanted to work with Moncho again today.  Some days I allow him to do it, some days I don't. I often wonder if Noah just wants to ride around in a John Deere Gator all day.  I found out later in the day that they headed to the medium girls house to fix some electrical things.  I'm so glad that Moncho has been so patient with Noah and has made him feel helpful.  I pray that this helps Noah in gaining confidence and learning responsibility.

Moncho with Jordy (Ohio volunteer) and Noah in back

Children playing in the special needs yard

View of the church from the special needs yard

 We headed to the comedor for lunch.  I have a routine now of standing outside the doors to the comedor and holding my hand up to 'high-5' all of the medium boys that enter.  They really enjoy this!  After lunch, we headed to town (Guaimaca) since it was a Wednesday.  Wednesdays are the only days that volunteers  are allowed to head into town, because they seem to be the most 'safe' days to do it.

Luis David had stopped me this morning to see if I had happened to bring a scientific calculator with me down from the States.  I'm not sure if he thought since I was a math major I would have one on me all of the time or what?  Actually I used to bring one down, but since I found an app of a graphing calculator and downloaded it onto my American phone, I haven't had the need to bring an extra calculator along with me.  I told him I would look in town for one.  On the way into town, Chris saw a store that had calculators.  We went in and they had 2 scientific calculators, an off-brand and a Casio.  As a teacher, I definitely have a preference for the TI (Texas Instruments) brand, so I let the man know that I was looking for a particular brand, and if I didn't find it in town, I'd be back to get the Casio.

We stopped at the pharmacy first, since the daughter of the Miller family (right next to us) have been sick longer than Alina.  I helped translate for them to get decongestants and cough medicine.  Then we headed to the first grocery store.  Bob had put a list together for me, and there was so much less to buy than the last 2 weeks, so we got through the store fairly quickly.  Our next stop was the Claro store.  Claro is one of two cell phone companies in Honduras.  A friend of the Miller family who had come down with them ran out of data on the modem we had bought at the airport in Tegucigalpa.  I don't think she realized how much data that face-timing uses up.  She purchased more at the orphanage, but didn't really understand what it meant to activate the phone chip, so that amount disappeared just as quickly and the chip broke...so we had to get this situation fixed.  Then we headed to the second grocery store to buy the remainder of the supplies on our grocery lists.  We've made a habit of stopping at a bakery that has chocolate-covered frozen bananas on the way back from town, so definitely stopped there and I also bought a tres leches cake for a boy whose birthday is tomorrow.

While in town, I didn't find a Texas Instruments calculator for Luis David, so on the way out of town, I stopped once again at the store we had found on the way in to buy the Casio for him.  After walking back (man was it hot today), we got the groceries put away, and although it was just about supper-time, I didn't have the energy to walk to the comedor to eat...I wasn't hungry either.  So we just stayed in our room, rested and waited for church.  It was one of the shortest services ever!...but that was okay because Alina had stayed back to rest.  She feels like she's getting over her sickness, but wanted to be sure.  Many girls from the baby house came up to me after church to say that they hoped Alina was feeling better soon, so I know she's making an impact there.

When we got back from church, we called my parents back to to chat with them and with Kaylyn and Jaden.  It is best down here when making phone calls to buy what's called 'packages'.  There is a sequence of numbers to dial to see what packages are available for phone calls.  In the 2 weeks that we've been here, the best package has been 20 minutes for $15L (means 15 lempiras or approximately 70-75 cents).  We called for 20 minutes and then when that expired, we hung up, bought another package, and called again.  After chatting with family back home, we finished up our game of Phase 10 (that we had started over a week ago) and each read a chapter in our books before heading to bed.  It is dark here by 7pm, and we are very tired around that time, so at the latest we are in bed by 8pm.

Hurricane Franklin

This morning at the medium boys house, Luisito asked Noah to show him some ball-handling skills.  So Noah took Luisito through many of Frank Schade's drills (Head Coach at Oshkosh North for many years, now retired) from the camps he's been attending since kindergarten.  About half way through the drills, Noah stubbed/cut his big toe on the cement.  He was wearing his flip-flops rather than his toe-covered hiking sandals.  He didn't cry and continued to show Luisito drills.  When it was time for Luisito to take some boys to the health clinic, we walked with him so I could use the first aid kit that Bob purchased and brought down due to our request from Noah getting hurt earlier in our trip.  Noah's toe was actually cut worse than it initially looked.  We got the antiseptic wipes out and cleaned it thoroughly.  Put antibiotic cream on it and thena butterfly bandaid with another bandaid over the top and then gauzed it up with tape.

Noah (in red shorts) showing Luisito (in blue) some basketball drills with Nathaniel, Moncho and Chino looking on

Noah and I were in the yard all morning since there wasn't really any work for a 12 year old to do on the technology education building today.  Alina came back sick from the baby house (dizzy, feverish), so I checked in on her every hour and a half or so.  Gave her ibuprofen, saltines and water and told her to rest for the remainder of the day.

Bob, Noah and I had lunch together in the comedor and then it started to rain...well, not really rain but downpour!  And it was nothing but a torrential downpour for over an hour!  Emmanuel is in the mountains, so water was rushing everywhere.  The culvert outside the comedor was about 10 inches tall and completely covered with running water.  We were told that this was the residuals from Tropical Storm (or hurricane) Franklin.  I have actually never seen rain like this.  They ended up cancelling all afternoon classes and work for everyone.

Torrential downfall outside the comedor

The rain coming down from the hills outside the comedor

The rains and flooding passing between the back of the school and the comedor 

When the rain went down to a sprinkle, all of the kids headed for their houses quickly.  We went with the medium boys and I had my movies on me, so we watched Ice Age: Collision Course and then began to watch Zootopia before it was time to head to supper.  After supper, the boys headed back to their house to shower and finish watching Zootopia.  Luis David asked for me to stop by and chat with him for a bit (which turned into about an hour and a half chat).  At 6pm when the big boys had to go inside, I headed to the medium boys house to pick up Noah.  He was sitting with a couple of boys and they asked if they could finish up watching Zootopia, so I let them.  We walked back to our room at about 7pm, cleaned up Noah's toe and turned in for the night.

A Basketball Tournament in Honduras

This morning when we went to the medium boys house, Moncho let Noah know that he'd like to do a basketball tournament later this afternoon with his medium boys.  Noah was all for this!  We did our usual routine of walking the boys to breakfast and then headed back to the house because Noah was going to work with Bob today on a new technology education building that they are constructing.  They are now putting the last side on the structure which should only take a day or two.

I walked the boys to school and found out that the boys in 5B (there's two 5th grade classes, A and B) didn't have school today because their teacher wasn't there, so they would be in the yard with me.  I brought games with me (Connect 4, Checkers, and Dominoes) so that some of the boys could play them.  As we were in the yard, some volunteers came to grab boys to go on a walk, which helped a bit since the yard had more children than usual today.  Even though some children left, a fight still broke out between two of our medium boys.  One boy ended up getting so upset that he ran off and an older boy had to run after him.  They were both told that they would lose their dessert (a moon pie) at lunch time.

Noah and Bob came into the comedor at lunch time and ate with us.  When we headed back to the house, we found that Alina had stayed at the baby house over lunch.  Volunteers are allowed to leave the baby house from 12-2pm, but she generally stays to chat with the older girls and watch movies with them during that time - which is when the babies are napping.

I was in the yard during the afternoon again, and once again, even though I stayed in the shade just about the entire time, I got pretty tan (and a little burnt).  It's amazing how you don't have to be directly in the sun down here to get the effects from it.  When we went to the comedor for supper, Noah didn't come.  I finished eating and decided to search for him because Moncho said he'd like to do the basketball tournament after supper.  He was still working on the building with Bob, so I said that he had to eat all of his supper and return his bowl and then he could come to the gym to play.  Moncho set up 4 teams, he took one and each of the teen boys in the house (Luisito and Chino) took a team, and Noah got a team.  They got to pick the boys on their team, and we set up some brackets for play.  We decided on 7 minute halves (since they only had about an hour and a half to do the tournament).

First up was Moncho and Luisito...Moncho likes to shoot hoops in his spare time (there's a hoop at the medium boys house), so he quickly started building up the points.  When Alina came into the gym, the score was 6-0.  She asked if she could play and I think that Moncho felt sorry for Luisito's team, so he said she could play with them.  I don't think he knew how good Alina was.  Even at playing only around 25-40% (because the floor was slippery and she didn't have her ankle braces down here), she helped to turn the game around and the game ended up tied.  They decided to go into a 2 minute overtime...each scored once, still tied.  So we decided to do a free-throw shoot off.  Each time that a teammate from Luisito's team would miss (or make) a shot, so would the team member from Moncho's team.  To be fair, Alina shot last and she made it.  We told Moncho to shoot against her (even though he had JUST shot against Luisito).  He made it.  So then the boys started shooting against each other again.  Eventually a boys from Luisito's team made it and the one from Moncho's team couldn't match the score.  So Luisito's team was put into the championship game.

The next game was between Noah and Chino.  Noah's team took an early lead 8-0, but then Chino began to score and the game was very close right up until the end.  Noah's team lost by two...so the championship game was between Luisito and Chino.  We told Alina that she could not be in the game while Luisito was in the game otherwise there would be 2 big kids on one team and only one on the other.  Luisito played the 1st half and at the end of the first half, the score was about 10-2.  When Alina went in for him in the 2nd half, I told her to mainly pass the ball to the medium boys to give them opportunities to score, and for her not score unless it got close.  The medium boys wanted her to score as much as possible.  She ended up putting 2 points in, but the entire time, impressing all of the boys with her dribbling abilities, passing abilities and shooting abilities.

Luisito bringing the ball up the court against Chino's team in the championship game

Bob and Salomon

After the tournament was over, we headed back to our rooms.  Alina and Noah's backs were completely full of sweat, so it was shower time before we settled in for the night and read chapters in our books and headed to bed.  All in all it was a good day and the kids had fun!

Alina's Last Sunday

This morning began with church at 8:00am.  I went with Noah to the medium boys house to pick up Jairo (one of the twins) while Alina and Bob went to get Michell.  We met at the entrance to the church and then headed in together as a family to sit down.  When we were seated, Bob asked if Luis David could sit with us as well.  The sermon was led by Pastor German from in town (Guaimaca) and translated to English by David (founder of Orphanage Emmanuel) and revolved around the question, Are you simply a 'believer' or a 'disciple' of Christ?

From front to back: Luis David, Bob, Alina, Michell, LoriAnn, Jairo, Noah

After church, we brought Jairo, Michell and Luis David up to the hotel to eat pancakes with syrup.  Bob made up the rest of the box of pancakes and there were only 3 left, so he packaged them up in aluminum foil to send with Jairo for his twin brother.  We then brought the three to the store for some sodas and also to meet up with Coco since it was her birthday.  I had bought her a tres leches cake back on Wednesday, so we wanted to give it to her.  We sat at the store until all the children came down to the comedor to have lunch, and then we walked Luis David, Michell and Jairo to the comedor so that they could join up with their houses.

Noah and Luis David walking to the store

At the store, clockwise from Bob: Alina, Noah, Luis David, Michell, Jairo

Luis David had told us that there would be a soccer game today, so we walked to our room to rest and get some water and a blanket to take along to the big soccer field at the back of the orphanage.  It is quite the hike and that definitely helped in getting my steps in for the day (which I forgot to sync on time, so they didn't end up showing up in my Fitbit competition against my sister for the weekend).  We had to walk through the farm on the way, so Bob and Alina stopped to pet the calves, who seemed to really enjoy the attention.  There were more calves thank this who were waiting up ahead to be pet as well.

Bob and Alina petting the calves

When we got to the field, we found some shade and sat by some older teen boys from the orphanage and cheered on Emmanuel.  Althought I took my camera, for whatever reason I forgot I had it on me, so sorry that there is no pictures.  They ended up in a tie, so had a kick-off (not sure of the proper word for it)...and it was the longest kick-off I had ever seen (not that I watch a lot of soccer games).  I think they exhausted all of their players and had to begin again!  In the end, we got a kick into the net and then Luis David (who is the goalie) blocked the one that came in for their team.

On the way back to our room, I heard a voice call my name and looked in that direction.  It was my little Alejandra...and she was wearing the blue dress I bought for her!  The first weekend of every month is reserved for family visits, and her mom had come today to visit her.  I walked over that way and got to meet her mom.  What a nice lady.  She said that she hoped Alejandra was behaving for me.  I said (with a smile), "She always does!"

I left them to visit some more and went back to our room.  A little later I say Suyapa walking by and stopped her.  I asked her if it was her birthday (I knew it was) and she absolutely jumped!  She said, "You're not going to throw eggs at me, are you?"  I let her know that I would not throw eggs at a girl, I just had a cake for her.  I went to get her cake, a napkin and a plastic spoon and handed it to her and said Happy Birthday.  She thanked me and went back by the big girls (who she is in charge of).  After a while, I went down there as well to sit and chat with Michell while Bob made supper - rice with garlic, onions and green beans.  After supper, I tutored Durbin in math to prep her for her make-up test tomorrow (she was sick on Friday), while Bob and Alina played Phase 10 with Michell.  When they were called in for the night about 6pm, then we also went in to settle down for the night.

A Honduran Birthday

On Saturdays, we are still volunteering.  Volunteers only have Sundays off, so the morning routine with the medium boys is still the same...walk over at 6am, get them settled down a little when they come out of their rooms, take them to breakfast, and since it was Saturday, we were in the yard all morning.  The tia (lady who is in charge of them during the day) got out coloring pages, so one of the boys gave me a page of a turtle to color.  It was an adult coloring page, so I knew it would take a while.  One of the medium boys, Salomon, came over frequently from playing soccer to check my progress on it, so when I finished the picture, I gave it to him.  It rained a lot this morning.  I think that if they knew it was going to rain this much, they would have kept the boys inside.

On Saturdays, they eat lunch earlier than normal.  Because I was prompted by Luisito (one of the teenage boys who lives with and is helping the medium boys) to celebrate Luis David's birthday "Honduran style", Noah and I concocted a plan to carry through at lunch.  Noah ran up to get the 'necessary supplies'.  I walked the medium boys to lunch, got Noah's and my bowl of food and set them down and waited for Noah.  When Noah came in, I approached Luis David and told him that I'd like to take him to the store for his birthday (Noah was coming around the back), so I asked him who I needed to ask permission for him to be able to go to the store with me.  He said 'Papi', so I asked where David was...he pointed him out.  I said, "ok!" and then officially told him Happy Birthday & gave him a hug.  Noah quick handed me the egg, and I said, "I'm so sorry" and smashed the egg on Luis David's head.  So in the United States we give the number of spankings and then give a 'pinch to grow an inch', down here in Honduras if you are the birthday child, you get eggs thrown at you.  In 10 years of being down here, I have never celebrated their birthdays this way, so Luis David was quite surprised.  I let him know that I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for Luisito.  I found out later that during the day, he had to change his clothes and wash his hair THREE times.

After lunch, we headed back to the room, where we reorganized the room for Bob.  A double bed would be completely too small for me and Bob to share, so we pushed Alina and Noah's twin beds together and shoved a blanket between the 2 mattresses before putting a sheet over the top.  It's now a fairly large bed.  I gave the double bed to Alina and Noah took the bottom bunk of the extra bunk beds that were in our room.

I spent from 1:00-3:00ish with Luis David.  I wanted to take him to the store, but the girl who runs the store had a visit with her mom today, so the store was closed.  The first weekend of every month are allotted to families who wish to visit with their children.  It's a pretty busy time down in front of the orphanage, and it's fun to see the children who have visits sprint down to the gazebo in front of where our room is to see their mom and other relatives.

Luis David and I just sat in the chosa (gazebo-like hut) in the big boys yard chatting).  He shared quite a bit of what's going on with him and his plans for the future and said that when he headed into the capital city of Tegucigalpa a week ago, it was the first time that he had been outside Orphanage Emmanuel (probably aside from the town the orphanage is located in), and it scared him quite a bit.  He thought Tegucigalpa was a pretty ugly and scary place.  As we were chatting, Noah came up the road with Bob!  I was hoping to have been back at the room when Bob was dropped off, but I guess he got in earlier than I had expected, so I quickly said my goodbyes to Luis David and headed with Bob back to our room so that he could put his suitcase away and rest.  I think he slept for the rest of the afternoon, evening, and through the night!

Noah and I met up with the medium boys for supper and then we headed to the cancha (soccer field) for them to play soccer until 6pm when it gets dark and is time to head to their rooms for the evening.  Noah and I headed back to our room and settled in for the night too. 

The Container has Arrived!

Today is Friday which means that in stead of heading to the medium boys house, all of the children will come out in front of our rooms, the big girls house and the health clinic to have 'big circle'.  The small boys and the grandecitos had to recite their bible verses today.  There was a light mist through all of this, but when the boys finished reciting their verses, the downpour came!  So 'big circle' was cut early and everyone headed to breakfast.  Noah decided to trade his arroz con leche for what the children were eating (trigo).  When he traded, Santos grabbed his arroz con leche and quickly began to eat it.  Arroz con leche is a real treat for breakfast for the kids...but every day we've been here so far, they get trigo.

Big Circle

Noah trying the Trigo

After breakfast we headed back to the room so that I could gather up my items for calculus class.  Today the students were taking a test, and Profe Ramon asked me to administer the test while he administered a math test to another class.  There were 2 errors on the test, so I had to prepare what I was going to write on the board to correct those errors and also a few formulas for the students to have.  After the calculus test, a few students came up to me and said, "Thank you" for teaching them the material because they didn't believe they would pass the test without my help.  When I gave the tests to Profe Ramon, he asked if I could correct them as well.  This was the part that was difficult for me because every teacher has their own way of correcting things, especially when it comes to math.  It was also difficult because I didn't really agree with the point system that the government put on each question.  Thankfully, I was able to get all 17 corrected by lunch and returned them to Profe Ramon.  It looks like a few students are going to have to redo the test (I think they are allowed only 1 retake).  I headed to lunch, ate, then headed back to the house to rest for a bit because that was just too much calculus for me this week and my brain really needed a break.

Before supper, I headed to the tienda to chat with Lourdes and get a gatorade, then I headed to the medium boys house for devotions.  Today, Chino (one of the teens in charge of the house) had the medium boys share about how God had worked in their life this week.  After ensenanza (devotions), we headed to supper and then I ran back to our house to grab the movies while the medium boys showered.  The boys decided they wanted to watch Power Rangers, however they didn't get to watch the entire movie due to time.  We watch their movies in the living room, but the boys have to be in their bedrooms by 6pm.  We'll continue the movie later.

When it was time to go, I asked Luisito if the container had arrived, and he said it had...so Noah and I rushed down to the warehouse and they had already had 1/2 of the container emptied.  The container is a semi-trailer that is sent from either Alabama or Tennessee (this one was from Tennessee) loaded with food, clothing, building materials, gifts from sponsors and others, etc.  Alina was hard at work helping to empty the container.  After his experience last year and knowing just what to do, Noah jumped right in too!  Wade told us that with all of the help, the container was emptied in record time - 50 minutes!  This is good, since we were told that the driver is paid by the hour from when he picks up the container at the port in La Ceiba.  There are 2-3 boys that ride on the top of the semi-trailer while it leaves the orphanage because the power lines at the entrance are too low for the semi...so the boys have to lift the power lines up and walk the length of the trailer before letting them go so that the semi can pass under them.  Noah wanted to help out with this, and he was invited to help, but I said that since his father wasn't here to 'okay' it, I wasn't about the let him.  Wade and David thanked all of the staff and volunteers for helping unload the container and then we headed back to our room to turn in for the night.

Alina unloading the container

Noah unloading container

David (Orphanage Emmanuel founder) unloading the container