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.