Heading Back to the States

So today is the day!  I can't say that Noah and I are super-excited about heading back to the USA.  In all honesty, leaving is the most difficult part of this trip.  But the time has come.  Noah took my sandals and tennis shoes to the baby house where Invisible was in order to give them to her.  She seems to be the only girl at the orphanage with feet as big as mine.  While Noah was doing this, I had a few letters and paletas and clothing items to drop off at the big girls house.  We agreed to meet up at the medium boys house for devotions.

At the medium boys house, the boys took turns thanking Noah for spending so much time with them and playing with them.  They wished Noah well in this next year and said they were excited to see him again next year.  Juan Carlos translated for the medium boys as they were thanking Noah and talking to Noah.

Noah with his medium boys

 We headed to the Comedor with the boys although today we didn't eat.  We spent a lot of time finding various kids around the Comedor to say our goodbyes to.  I said goodbye to Michell quite a few other girls.  We walked to school with the medium boys and hung out with them for a while.  I walked over to the high school to get my hair braided and say a few more goodbyes.  When I began heading back to the elementary school, Eliberto caught me on his bike with a letter from Luis David.  That's when I realized I didn't even see him at breakfast.  He was waiting by the large warehouse...and I could tell he had been crying a lot.  At 20 years old, our visits (and especially leaving) has really touched him.  We chatted quite a bit before I had to go get Noah to head back to our room.

Noah with Gibran - his sponsored child

I dropped off the remainder of our paletas with Doris in the office so that she could hand them to children as they came to the office to visit with parents or chat on the phone with parents.  She gave me quite a few CDs of the children at the orphanage singing praise songs.  When I got back up to our room, David and Lydia (the founders of the orphanage) were both up there to say goodbye.  They thanked both Noah and I for our time there, and the many years we've been coming.  It was such a precious moment for me.  Suly was up there as well, with lots of smiles and saying she'd see me soon at her wedding!

Norman picked us up at 8am and on our drive back to the airport, we saw a dead cow on the side of the road.  I think it may be the first time EVER that we've seen ANY sort of dead animal on the side of the road.  We were also stopped by the police because they had to check all of Norman's plates/stickers to be sure his van was registered correctly and up-to-date.  It was a really short 3-minute stop and didn't really hinder our timing to get home at all. 

Our flights back to the USA went flawlessly and the only hiccup in our travels was that I forgot to take my current drivers license, which meant I was ultimately unable to rent the car I had reserved.  Thankfully we were able to easily take the 'L' to downtown Chicago and only have to walk about a block to the Greyhound bus station in order to catch a 8:45am bus to Appleton.  The bus ride was about 5 hours, so not too extensive, and we were back home by 2:30pm.  It was a good year and a great experience.  We cannot wait for 2019!

Writing Letter and Packing

The bulk of the day today, as our last full day here at Orphanage Emmanuel was consumed by 3 things:

1. Writing letters to a bunch of children at the orphanage
2. Packing our things to go home
3. Spending time with the kids here

Right away after getting up and ready for the day, we began dividing up the things that would get packed versus what we'd be leaving behind and giving away.  Because we're positive that Noah will be in a bigger size next summer, most of his clothes (like Alina's) are staying down here.  He took his smaller sized underwear to the medium boys house and commented to me on how quickly boys grabbed them.  Small things like that, which we take for granted, are items which the orphanage tends to be super short on (especially for the boys), so they really need and ultimately want them.

Noah took his basketball clothes to the big boys house (ages 16+), and I saw many of the big boys running down to the gymnasium later in the day and shouting at me that they were headed to play basketball and BECAUSE they were wearing Noah's basketball shorts, shirts, etc...they were going to play "as good as Noah"!!!  What a compliment.

We spent quite a bit of time after school let out at the medium boys house watching movies with them.  Chino gave me a really nice painting as we were there (which he painted), with all of the boys names that live in the medium boys house.  I am so used to giving the children gifts, that receiving a gift was so unexpected...I got a bit choked up.  Okay, I cried quite a few tears of joy and gratefulness! 

I didn't want to neglect Michell, so I headed to the house she lives in around 5:45pm and stayed until 7pm...so we could say our goodbyes.  

It was a very difficult day and night for us.  Leaving is the most difficult part of the trip.  Noah actually told me that he just preferred to stay down in Honduras and I could pick him up next year!

Noah's Sponsored Child

We are winding down...only 2 days left here at Emmanuel and then Wednesday we will be in transit all day back to Wisconsin.  I decided to head to the Big Girls House this morning to socialize and have devotions with them, while Noah went to the Medium Boys House.  We met up in the Comedor for breakfast and then headed to school with the kids.  While Noah socialized with the medium boys at school until classes began, I went over to the high school by Suly and Misel braided my hair.  She seemed sad that tomorrow will be the last day of braiding my hair - although I told her I'd most likely stop by Wednesday morning to get my hair braided before heading to the capital (Tegucigalpa) to catch our plane.

When classes began, Noah and I headed to the orphanage office to chat with Sara.  Noah had chosen a child to sponsor last year who was picked up by his mother shortly after we began sponsoring him.  So, he had used this past month to get to know some of the medium boys better and decided on sponsoring Gibran, and 11 year old boy who has been here for the past number of years.  Gibran has an older brother (Cristopher) and and older sister Zelenes.  Cristopher and Gibran came to church with us yesterday, so you can see them in the picture I had posted yesterday.  Zelenes graduated from high school 2 years ago and decided to become a police officer.

At recess, little Alejandra found me right away and wanted to chat with me for a while.  Her friend, Suyapa, also sat next to me.  I spent about 1/2 of recess with Alejandra (who is in elementary school) and then went over to the high school since they have recess at the same time, and spent the remainder of the time with Michell.

After recess was finished, I took Noah to the 'tienda' since we still have a little bit of money on our account.  They had omelets for sale this morning, so we decided to split one.  It's the first time in the month Noah's been down here that he actually said he was extremely full.  We had a few loose ends to tie up here, including Noah figuring out how to fix a bike that had a tire pop while he was riding it, so that took up the remainder of the morning before heading to the Comedor for lunch.

Due to select students having to practice in the afternoon for the upcoming Independence Day parade in September, the majority of students didn't have school this afternoon, so we headed to the Medium Boys House to watch movies, jump on the trampoline (Noah) and play ping pong with them.  When it was time for supper, we headed that way and then I headed back to our room to do some cleaning while Noah went to the Medium Boys House until about 6pm.  Suly stopped by and we had a wonderful chat about her upcoming wedding in the States and other things. 

When Noah got back, we finished the evening by watching the movie Pixels on Netflix.  I have a couple of extra GB on the modem that won't get used up before we leave, so it was nice to have some time to watch a movie with him.

Dia Libre

Today is Sunday.  It's our free day and our last Sunday here, so Noah and I are going to make the most of it.  So we headed to breakfast and neither Noah nor I were too excited about breakfast.  We are typically served arroz con leche (rice with warm milk)...YUM!!!  Although Noah doesn't like that either, something about having issues with the texture.  Anyway, today's breakfast was corn flakes with trigo (a wheat and flower mixture) and warm water.  I'm not a fan of corn flakes, or trigo, or warm water in my cereal...so we decided to take a few bites and hand it over to the medium boys since we knew that we'd be taking quite a few kids to the store throughout the day today and I didn't want to overeat.  The medium boys who received our bowls were SO excited...probably because they don't get this dish, they only get the trigo.  We are served what the toddlers eat for each meal, which sometimes (especially for breakfast) is a little different than what everyone else eats.

From Left to Right: Gibran, Noah, Cristopher, LoriAnn, Michell, Luisito (Selvin), and Luis David

After breakfast, I walked back to the room to get ready for the day.  Noah went right to the medium boys house.  He had decided to bring Gibran to church.  He's thinking of sponsoring Gibran, especially since the boy he chose to sponsor last year (Marlon) is no longer here.  I had already asked Michell to sit with us at church while we were at breakfast (she works in the kitchen) and last night had asked permission for Luis David and Luisito to sit with us at the service and go to the 'tienda' with us afterward.

After church, we took all of these kids except for Michell to the 'tienda'.  Michell had to get back to the kitchen to start working on serving lunch, but I had made arrangements to take her to the 'tienda' after lunch.  At the 'tienda', all of the kiddos got 'churros' (chips) and a soda.  Luis David and I chatted about his plans for after graduation and how he'd like to study out in Roatan.  He doesn't yet have a plan on how to get out there, but we are going to work with Elvia to help him get out there to study to become a chef, and later he wants to study English.  What better place than out in Roatan???  I have heard that it's an island dedicated to tourism, especially to those from the States.  I am hoping he can find a job in the restaurant business, even if it's just mopping floors or busing tables, just to help make ends meet so he can study.

Noah took off with Gibran and Cristopher for the medium boys house after about an hour or so.  Noah was bored at the 'tienda', however it seems like the 2 boys found their house WAY more boring and really didn't want to go there.  But they all went anyway.

When the kids were heading to the Comedor for lunch, we decided to wrap our conversation up so Luisito and Luis David could go to lunch as well.  After lunch, I headed to our room to change quickly and then went back to the Comedor to pick up Michell.  We had made arrangements for me to spend time with her between 12 and 2pm.  We headed to the 'tienda' for an hour and chatted, then headed to the hotel so I could show her a couple of pictures of our family that were on the computer, and finally ended up at the big girls house so she could spend a little time with Coco before taking her back to the Comedor to start working on supper preparations.

After dropping her off at the Comedor, I headed across the road to pick up Julissa to take her to the store to chat.  We chatted about a lot of things.  She is hoping to learn enough English to become a translator some day.  She said that she got a 99% in her technology class and thought she was one of the most intelligent students in the class (behind Oscar, who she reported was the most intelligent).  It was fun chatting with Julissa about past years and her dreams.  Time went by really quickly and we saw people heading to supper, so I had to drop her off at the Comedor.  I ate supper with Noah and he went back with the medium boys to play on the trampoline and watch the Lego movie in Spanish.  I headed to Michell's house to chat with her some more before deciding to head back to our house for the evening.

I guess the excitement for our neighbors for the evening was when the electricity went out (we were already in our room), a tarantula came out onto our shared porch.  It was big and black, and Lourdes told them it was poisonous.  When Chris killed it, it was evident that the tarantula had babies (EEEWWW).  They told Noah that they had thought we were already sleeping, so they didn't call for him to come and check it out.  I'm glad that they didn't call us out to see it!

If I didn't mention it yet this year, the power goes out frequently here.  Sometimes it's out for a few minutes, sometimes it's out for a few days...although that hasn't happened in a few years.  It's just a way of life and we have to get used to it.

Our Last Saturday

Today was a very tranquil day.  We began once again by heading to the medium boys house.  On the way, Noah and I stopped to take a picture in front of the newly painted fountain.  Milton painted this fountain blue (it was white) last weekend.  I am amazed at how quickly that boy can paint!!!

After heading to breakfast with the medium boys, we went back to their house.  They had to be inside all morning, first due to a staff meeting and then they had to clean.  When the children clean their houses, they pull ALL of the furniture (couches, chairs, tables, etc) outside and sweep and mop all of the floors.  They clean the bathrooms from top to bottom.  They washed the windows, beat out the rug, and cleaned the wood on the furniture.  This is a cleaning process that they use EVERY Saturday.  Although, they do sweep and mop their house every morning (due to how fast ants will gather for even the tiniest morsel)...Saturdays are reserved for pulling everything out of the house and giving the house a complete cleaning.

We headed with the boys to lunch and then I headed back to our room with Noah.  We did a little bit of cleaning...Noah cleaned the bathroom, etc.  Then Noah slept while I chatted online with Alina about her first week back in the States and making the JV Volleyball team for Neenah High School.

I rested until supper and then we headed to the Comedor.  When we got back to the room after supper, my plan was to go a spend a couple of hours with Michell, but I ended up talking with Tammy's husband Chris.  They are staying in one of the rooms next to us and are here to help with the horse program at Emmanuel and also another program in town (Guaimaca).  They also were working on a discipling retreat that was going to take place on  Sunday.  Since we had chatted for so long, I headed to our room to sleep afterward rather than heading to Michell's house.

Our Last Big Circle for 2018

This morning was our last big circle for 2018.  As usual, we stood with the medium boys.  The big girls had to recite their Bible verses today.  They were SO quiet compared to all the boys houses the past 2 weeks.  We walked to breakfast with the medium boys and then headed to school where Misel did my hair.

Medium boys standing in Big Circle

Big Girls House reciting verses

I spent most of the day chopping up the ingredients for guacamole.  I took a break midway through the morning (between chopping tomatoes and chopping onions) to go up to the souvenir store and get a few items for Kaylyn and Jaden.  Then I took another break to go to lunch, and finally in the afternoon, took 1 last break to have some tacos with Noah at the 'tienda'.  Noah worked most of the day with Javier in the chicken house...gathering and cleaning the eggs.

The Miller family made their rounds this afternoon to say their good-byes as they would be leaving tomorrow morning.  They let Noah know that he could run over their way to grab left-over food since he tends to get the "munchies" being a teenager.  Noah and I finished the evening watching a movie together in our room.  It was a long day and the weekend is coming.

Lunch with David and Lydia

This morning we woke up to a beautiful fog covering the mountains.  My throat is still pretty sore, but I'm hoping it gets better in the next day or two now that the Miller family has given us some throat lozenges.  We headed for the medium boys house and then to breakfast.  At breakfast, Noah gave an egg to Christofer and told him that it was Almy Misel's birthday, asking him to be the one to break the egg on her head, since he is 0 for 2 so far with birthday eggs (on Salomon and Christofer).

After breakfast, I spent some time with little Alejandra at the elementary school before heading over to the high school to have Misel braid my hair.  When school began, I headed back to our room to rest my throat and also so as not to spread any illness I might have. 

We were invited to go to lunch with David and Lydia today.  They took us and the Miller family into town to Katy's restaurant, which is owned by a Mennonite couple that settled in Guaimaca around 50 years ago.  Noah got to ride in the back of David's truck, something that is definitely not allowed in the States anymore.  As we were leaving the orphanage, Elvia was walking 2 girls (sisters) up to the medium girls house who were just dropped off at the orphanage.  David stopped his truck to say "hello" to the girls.  The younger of the two was crying, whereas Elvia said the older one mentioned that this is a really big orphanage.  Noah really enjoyed the food at the restaurant and it was probably the first time in this past month that he finished his meal before almost anyone else!  He even said he was still hungry after he was done.

When we got back, I rested a little bit more until the school day was done.  Then I headed to spend time with the big girls and Noah headed to the medium boys house to spend time.  We met up again at the Comedor for supper.  Unfortunately after supper, we just went back to our room because we were told that the medium boys would have to shower and head to bed immediately after supper due to being naughty this afternoon.  So, since we had a couple of hours of daylight left, Noah and I played some games together before heading to bed ourselves.

Our Last Trip Into Town

My throat was still raw this morning.  I'm not exhibiting any other symptoms other than a sore throat a cough, so at least that's good.  My plan is to stay away from the children as much as possible though, so I don't overwhelm LaShawn (the clinic nurse here) with children who have the same symptoms.

I did head to the medium boys house this morning, but kept my distance.  Noah was not feeling well (diarrhea), so he stayed back and I told him to meet us for breakfast.  I walked with the boys to the Comedor and saw Noah there.  He was unable to eat the arroz con leche (the hot rice with milk cereal that we have every day), so I didn't force it.  I needed him to be better for this afternoon's walk into town.  After breakfast, I walked the medium boys down to school and then headed to the high school where I chatted with Suly and Misel braided my hair.

Today is the "first of our lasts", so it is our last Wednesday at Emmanuel.  Tomorrow will be our last Thursday, etc.  So we need to enjoy each of these since we will not be back for 11 more months.

I spent the morning in my room drinking lots of fluids, hoping and praying that my sore throat would be gone soon.  At lunch, Chris and Nathaniel Miller join us at the medium boys table to eat.  He let me know that they had quite the array of medical supplies, and Noah could go back there to pick up throat lozenges and cough drops.  Noah came back to the room with the supplies and I quickly put a lozenge in my mouth before we headed into town.

Wednesdays are the days that are reserved for going into town shopping for groceries.  I had let Glenda know last week that we'd be in to pick up supplies for me to make the medium boys some guacamole, so I would be needing avocados, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, garlic, and lemons.  We stopped by her place first to see what she had, thinking that anything extra I might need to get, I would then buy from the grocery store.  She had enough of all of the supplies except for avocados.  She told me that she had bought 5 large avocados in Tegucigalpa last Friday, but then they began to look more delicious by the day and she ended up eating 3 of them!  I just had to laugh.  It wouldn't be a problem.  One of the grocery stores in Guaimaca would have the avocados.  I like Glenda...she remembers us every year and even remembers back 7 years ago to the last time Andres came along and asks about him (referring to Andres as the "big boy")!

Our walk into town with Noah posing for the camera

In town we found the avocados and then also picked up a bunch of Honduran treats to give to our nieces and nephew back home.  I can't wait to make up the goody bags (and hope that the treats don't get crumbled in transit.

When we got back to Emmanuel, we put the groceries away and made sure that there would be space in the refrigerator.  Although the couple in Hotel Room #2 left today, we heard that more would be coming and staying in Hotel Room #1 tomorrow...and if these people are who Suly believes they are, they will definitely need room in the refrigerator.  I will keep you posted when I find out.

We headed to supper and then went to church at 4pm.  The orphanage mechanic gave his testimony last night and it was very captivating.  His son had holes in his heart and a very good friend of mine, through God's help, direction and plan worked tirelessly to get this boy surgery in the United States.  The boy's story is amazing (4 years with heart problems), how God planned for this all to work out was simply nothing short of a miracle, and the boy is now very much okay!  Everything happens in His time.

Getting Sick?

This morning when I woke up, I could feel a little tickle in my throat.  I'm assuming that it is because the little night stand fan is pointed directly at my face during the night in order to keep the mosquitoes from biting us on the face.  I'm hoping and praying that's the only reason why and that I'm not getting sick.  This, so far, has been the first year that no one has really gotten any sort of sickness symptoms.  Just in case, though, when I head to town tomorrow I will be buying some throat lozenges or cough drops.  I had decided to stay in most of the day today, just in case this is more than just a tickle in the throat.

Noah and I headed to the medium boys house for devotions and then to walk with them to breakfast.  After breakfast, I found Elvia in the medium girls yard.  She had asked me yesterday if we could chat, just the 2 of us.  Although I had let her know that our chat would be private, I can say that we really had a heart-to-heart meaningful chat about the challenges tough decisions to make of being in your 20s, like she is.  I was glad to be a sounding board for her and to share in my struggles through those years, and I think that she was glad to have someone who she felt wouldn't judge her and what she had to say.  It was a nice, open, meaningful conversation.

We headed to the school together where she needed to spray paint a girl's shoes black...yes, they do that here because the girls HAVE to have black dress shoes for school and they have limited resources and not enough shoes to go around.  Misel braided my hair once again.  I think she really enjoys doing it.  She's really coming around and smiling quite a bit more.  Last week Noah had said he was scared of her.  He said that although she looked like she liked me and would give me hugs, that he felt when she was giving me a hug and looking at him that she'd give him a look as if she wanted to kill him.  Misel doesn't typically smile very much and like me, when she's not smiling she does look a bit angry...even when she's not.

After school began, I headed to the special needs yard just for a little bit, before deciding to go back to our room so that I wouldn't chance spreading any illness I actually might have.  I headed down to the high school at recess to see if Miguel passed his math course.  He did!  This means that I will no longer have to teach or tutor math for my remaining week here, so I gave the math text and all the notes I still had back to Profe Ramon and thanked him for saving everything I had done from the past 2 years, then I headed back to my room to rest a bit more.

I headed to lunch with Noah and then walked the medium boys to school.  I had a paleta (Mexican sucker) in my backpack, so had Chino tell the boys that they could do a push-up contest to see who could do the most push-ups, and that the winner would get the paleta.

Again, after the boys headed in to class, I went back to the room to rest.  This has not really been a fun day for me as I've been in the room virtually all day.  But I do not want the kids to get sick if I am actually ill.  Noah treated himself some ice cream from the 'tienda' this afternoon and spent the evening play with the 2 younger Miller children.  The Miller family will be heading back to the States on Saturday, so that will leave us with 4 days here at the orphanage just the 2 of us.

I'm thankful that people who have come and stayed in this room in the past have left books to read so that while I've been couped up in here for the day, I've had something to  do.

A Day to Catch Up

This morning we woke up to David mowing lawn with his boys right outside of the room we're staying in.  This is the 1st time in the 3-4 weeks we've been here that the lawn has been mowed (I'm sure a lot of Wisconsinites are jealous).  The first week to two weeks were a dry spell here, but it has rained at least a little virtually every day since.

As we headed to the medium boys house, Noah saw a large grasshopper (locust?) on top of the newly painted water fountain that is outside the church.  Milton had been painting the water fountain, which was a white, to a deep blue.  Noah is fascinated by the creatures down here (and jumped last night when the girls put the dead snake from the church outside our door)...I think he gets that fascination from his dad.

After taking a picture of the grasshopper, we headed to the medium boys house and then to breakfast and then waited at school with the medium boys.  After a while, I headed over to the high school so that Almy Misel could braid my hair once again.  She does such an awesome job and the hair stays back all day long.  When school started, Miguel asked if I could do some last minute tutoring, since his math exam was going to take place after recess.  We sat in the library and went through the study guide I had given him.

I went back to our room during recess to relax my brain.  I have been pretty tired these past 2 days...to the point where I'm wondering if I'm catching something.  After resting a bit, I headed back to the school, just in case Miguel had any questions about the test.  He did have a couple, but not as many as I expected.  I found out later that he left 3 questions completely blank. 

After heading to lunch, I spent the afternoon in our room catching up on blogs.  If I am getting sick, I don't want to be passing it around, and I had quite a few days to catch up on.  When school ended, I walked to the medium boys house and spent time with them.  A box of underwear and socks had arrived on the container for them, so Fernando was sorting through them.  There were quite a few pairs of underwear that had to get passed up to the big boys house and the special needs boys because they were way too big, and there were a couple of packages of socks that had to get passed to the power toddlers house because they were way to small...but overall there were quite a few pairs that stayed at this house with the medium boys.  I found out that I am not the only one that has problems with boys not separating their clothes when they wash them...these boys got a talking to as well about separating their clothes and how they are not supposed to wash jeans with underwear and socks, and that whites get washed separately.

When it was time for supper, we headed to the Comedor and afterward the boys got to go to the yard outside the church (which is very close to our room) to play until bedtime.  When it was time to head in, I caught up on a few more blog postings.  Uploading pictures tends to take forever!  Noah spent an hour or so playing with the 2 younger Miller children in the playground by the school.

A Yummy Lunch

This morning we headed to the Comedor for breakfast and on the way back to our room there was a scream outside the church.  Apparently a girl found a live snake, which a boy came to kill right away.  The snake was not venomous, which was a good thing.  We made sure we got ready for church and when we got there, David preached.  I really like when David preaches and am amazed by how God talks through him!  Today's service lasted almost 2 hours.  We did not take any children to church with us since I just wanted to sit with Noah.

After church, we came back to the room to read for a bit before heading back to the Comedor for lunch.  We were surprised by the lunch menu - elbow macaroni with spaghetti sauce and cole slaw.  I'm guessing that since there are not going to be teams here for the next 4 weeks, we got some left-overs from what had been ordered for the teams.  I don't know that there were ANY left-overs after lunch today!  The children ate every last bite.

After lunch, I spent the afternoon tutoring Miguel for his math test tomorrow while Noah spent time with the medium boys and the big boys.  After tutoring Miguel (who works in the little boys house), I headed up to the medium boys house - which is right across the road.  Chino let me know that Noah was with the big boys and then said perhaps I should have a chat with Noah about being up there since the big boys age range is from 16 on up and they can tend to either use bad language or talk about stuff that perhaps a 13 year old is not ready to hear yet.  Although I'm sure all the chat would be in Spanish, I guess I don't want Noah picking up bad words in Spanish just yet...so we'll have that chat.

We headed for supper around 3:30pm and then decided to stay in for the night.  For those who are not very familiar with the orphanage, I'm including a map below.  Emmanuel is a large orphanage and may look like a mini city to those who have not been here.  I believe that David (the founder) has said that he has just over 500 acres of land.  I am guessing that Emmanuel is one of the (if not THE) largest orphanages in Honduras as it typically houses around 500 children.  We are staying in what people at Emmanuel call the 'Hotel'.  There are 3 separate rooms that have beds, furniture and their own bathroom (you can see previous years' pics for an idea of what it looks like) and then we share a communal kitchen.  I've marked the hotel in yellow on the map of Emmanuel.

Alina, Bob and the Team Leave

This morning began like most of the others...heading to the Medium Boys House and then to the Comedor, but it was the last time that Bob and Alina would be with us...their last breakfast here too.  They're taking off today with the team and heading back tot he States 

They left just after breakfast, around 7:30am.  I always get a little nervous when they head back because it is a long trip.  Generally we leave Emmanuel any time between 6am and 7:30am, but the flight doesn't take off from the capital of Tegucigalpa until around 1:30pm.  We get into Miami, but don't catch the 2nd flight until sometime around 8:30pm.  Bob let me know from Miami that their flight had been delayed until close to midnight, putting them into Chicago about 2:15am...and then getting a shuttle to the hotel and driving home right away...getting into Neenah about 5:30am.  That's a lot of hours of travel.

Back at Emmanuel, Noah spent a bit cleaning the bathroom and then we headed to lunch.  Noah played soccer in the yard and then while he decided to go spend time with the medium boys, I decided to spend time with the big girls.  It was a tiring day, knowing that 1/2 of our family was in transit back to the States.

The Last Day for Alina and Bob

This morning was Alina and Bob's last Big Circle.  I tried to get pictures to show you how many children are actually at this orphanage and what Big Circle looks like, but unfortunately I don't think there's any place where I can stand to capture the entire circle (perhaps if I owned a drone and brought it down). 

After Big Circle, we headed to the Comedor for breakfast, then went to school with the medium boys.  The boys who is 2nd in charge of these medium boys is affectionately called Chino because he looks a little Asian.  He had purchased a bag of Nanches, which is a yellow fruit that I don't even know we have in the U.S.  They are about the size of grapes.  He was throwing them one-by-one at the boys, who were fighting over them like when candy is thrown at children on the street in parades.  Then he began throwing 5-8 at a time...even more excitement for the boys!

When school began, we headed back to our room to stock up on water and other items, and then headed out to the special needs yard.  When it was time for recess, we headed over to the school and after recess, Noah noticed the 6th graders playing soccer for phy ed class, so he asked the teacher if he could join in.  She allowed it.  I told him that he should take a 'paleta' (Mexican chili-coated mango-flavored sucker) to the teacher and tell her 'This is for allowing me to play"...thanking her.  He did and I was impressed!

After school, Bob and I met with Luis David at the 'tienda' (store) to give him his graduation outfit (a suit, dress shirt, shoes and tie) and to discuss his future plans after graduating.  He thinks he'd like to be a chef.  We talked through 2 options for him to carry out these plans, and will be looking into both of them with him over the next few months.

When it was time for supper, we headed back into the Comedor.  We ate quickly so that we could get back to our room to microwave the 12 bags of popcorn we had purchased in town on Wednesday for the medium boys.  After getting clearance from Chino, we were going to surprise the boys with popcorn, soda and a movie and share with them our typical "Family Night Fridays".  It was a hit!

Noah Does Morning Devotions

Noah had been asked all week to give the morning devotions at the medium boys house.  He kept saying that he didn't want to, but given how much he was in our room...he had plenty of time to prepare and Bob and I told him that he should do it.  This morning was the morning he 'preached'.  He talked about following in the footsteps of God and focusing on where those footsteps actually were.

After his chat with the medium boys, we went to breakfast and then Alina, Noah and I hung out at the school with the medium boys until school started.  I realized that with Bob here, I haven't really made a daily habit out of blogging, so I have quite a few days to catch up on now.  I tackled that in the morning before recess, and then headed to the school at recess for Almy Misel to braid my hair.  She really enjoys braiding my hair and I need to have it up due to the heat...so it's a win-win situation!

After recess, I worked with Miguel on his math.  He had had surgery the week of the testing and will need to make up his tests this week, although based on the tutoring, I don't think he'll be ready this week.  I worked with him right up until lunch and met Noah, Bob and Alina in the Comedor.  I have been walking to the Comedor this week with Rachel Miller (the oldest of the Miller family children) since she is teaching reading in the elementary school.  After lunch, I headed back to our room with Alina for her 2 hour break from the Toddler House and Bob went to fix a computer. 

At 2pm, Alina took the camera with her to get some shots of the toddlers.  Here are a few of the photos she took.  Unfortunately since I didn't work in the toddler house this year, I do not know their names.

The afternoon and evening were fairly uneventful.  We were going to play a basketball game with some of the bigger kids...Alina was really looking forward to it, however it got cancelled due to a Bible study that was added in at the last minute because of some adolescents that decided to break some rules here at Emmanuel this week.    I guess the kids who were going to play against Alina will just have to wait until next year!

The Boys Passed!

This morning again began the same - medium boys house, toddler house, Comedor for breakfast.  And then the rest of the day was different:

I headed to the school right away because I had no idea when Profe Ramon was going to give the test.  It turns out he wanted it to be done 1st thing during the school day.  While Luis David and Carlitos were doing the retake in the presence of another teacher, I worked with Miguel on reviewing for his test.  He was absent the day of the original test because he had some sort of surgery on his stomach, which set him back about a week.  I asked him what exactly was done, but he didn't seem to know either.  We spent the hour working through problems, reviewing for the original test.  When it was time for recess, we decided to stop and pick up tomorrow.  It looks like he'll be taking the test on Friday.

During recess, a student came to get me to let me know that both Carlitos and Luis David had a couple of questions regarding the retake test I had made for them.  They were small questions and Luis David finished his test fairly quickly after that.  Carlitos used up all of recess and still needed a bit of time to finish, so we were sent to the office for him to finish up the test.  When he finished, Profe Ramon asked me if I could correct the tests and get the results to him before lunch.  I wasn't really sure at that point because there were only about 45 minutes until lunch and I hadn't even made an answer key for the test.  I told him I'd try, but it'd be more likely that I would get it done just after lunch.  I took the tests back to our room - because I work best in complete silence, and I knew that if I stayed in the school...there would be students who would walk the halls, pop in to say "hi" and just distract me from getting the tests corrected in a timely fashion.  In our room, I quickly made an answer key and was able to correct the tests with a few minutes to spare before lunch time. 

I ran them back to the school and gave them to Profe Ramon, explaining Luis David's score was how it was because he had completely forgotten to do 2 problems on the test - one of them was the absolute easiest problem on the test.  Students have to get a minimum of 70% on the test to pass the course.  Carlitos passed with an 82% and Luis David, even though he missed 10% of the test because of missing those 2 problems, passed with a 71%.  The boys were SO happy to hear that they had passed because now they are still on track for graduation.

We headed to the Comedor and then after lunch Doris grabbed Bob to help her set up a printer in the orphanage office while I got Alina and Noah ready to head into town.  Bob had to download a driver in order to get the printer and the computer to 'talk' to each other, and said that this would take a while, so we headed into town together and the plan was to work with the download when he got back.

In town we wanted to buy a year's supply of coffee.  Coffee costs SO much less down here, and it's SO good!!!  Last year we got so much that it lasted through March, but our intention last year was never to buy a year's supply.  With both Alina and Noah not taking many clothes back, we should have enough room in the suitcases to not be over the limit in weight.  Coffee was just about all we got in town.  We did stop at Glenda's when we were on our way back from town so that she could say "hi" to Bob and then say goodbyes to both Alina and Bob since they'll be heading back to the States on Saturday.  I let her know that I was planning on making a guacamole for the medium boys next week, so I'd be by to get some avocados, tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients for that.

We unpacked all of the groceries before heading to the Comedor for supper.  Noah had found out it was Salomon's 13th birthday today, so brought an egg to the Comedor to get him.  After Noah threw the egg, then one of the 'encargados' (bigger boys who help with the medium boys house) put water over Salomon's head, and then another 'encargado' poured hot sauce over Salomon's head.  I'm not so sure Salomon has ever gotten this kind of treatment on his birthday before.

After supper, we needed to get ready for church.  I wore a dress that a teen girl had given me.  The dress was a size to big for her, and she said I should wear it to church.  However, when I put it on, my knees showed and I'm not very fond of dresses that are above my knees.  I did wear it to church, but will be giving it back to this girl since I know I won't wear it in the States.  Perhaps she can gift it to another girl here at the orphanage. 

We had asked to bring William, Maycol, Salomon, Brayan, and Cristopher to church with us.  As usual, Michell snuck in to sit by us when she was finished with her chores of cleaning the Comedor.

From left to right: Brayan, Alina, Cristopher, Salomon, Noah, Maycol, William

Tutoring for the Retake

Today began like most of the other days here...Noah, Bob and I headed to the medium boys house while Alina went to the toddler house.  We all met up in the Comedor for breakfast afterward.  Noah decided to head with the boys after breakfast without telling Bob where he would be, so he ended up 'castigado'...which is a word our kids learn very quickly...it means 'punished'.  Noah was told by Bob that he would have to be in our room all day and could only come out to eat.  All of the children here need to ask permission to have any privileges, from going to the store to going to the bathroom.  Noah needs to learn that he must stay in constant communication with us so that we know where he is at all times.  If you remember, he had tried doing this to me a week or more ago and got the same results...'castigado'.  The medium boys think that it's funny when Noah gets punished, mostly because I don't think they see many foreigners punishing their children, so they figure that they're the only ones who get punished.

After recess (between recess and lunch), I worked with Luis David and Carlitos on the review for their retake test tomorrow.  We got through 16 of the 20 problems when it was time to go to lunch, so we made arrangements to study together after school today and get those remaining 4 problems finished. 

We headed to the Comedor and then I went back to the room to meet up with Alina.  Just before classes finished at the school, I headed down to the 'tienda' (store) to wait for the boys walking back to their houses from class.  Carlitos came over by me and let me know that he got out of farm chores so that he could study.  Originally I was going to come by later for him, when his chores were done.  We walked up to the big boys house where Luis David was and all 3 of us studied together for the retake test, finishing those 4 problems.  The boys will have to do a little more studying later tonight as they are still a little deficient in different areas, but should be fine for tomorrow's test.  Since we had finished up about 1/2 hour before supper, Carlitos decided to go help out on the farm and relieve the boy who stepped in to do his chores for him.  I headed to the Comedor with Luis David, where I met up with Bob, Noah and Alina, and then headed back to our room for the night.

More Birthdays Today

This morning as I moved the towel from the doorway, a tiny gecko ran out.  I said something to Noah and he decided to play with it for a bit before letting it run up the wall to the ceiling.

We got ready for the day and then headed to our medium boys house while Alina went to the toddler house.  We all met in the Comedor for breakfast.  After breakfast, I went to the room to finish writing the retake exam that Luis David and Carlitos would be taking on Wednesday.  Profe Ramon had also asked me to write a review for the test to work on with them over the next 2 days.  When they were both written, I took the test to Profe Ramon so that he could make photo copies of it to give to the boys on Wednesday and then I went to the special needs yard where I spent the morning with Suly and Bob.  I chatted with Suly a lot about her upcoming wedding.  She met a guy in the States and they were working through all of the paperwork, and hoping to be married by the end of the year.

Suly, Bob and I took all the children in the special needs yard out on a walk, through the farm and around the back of the orphanage so that they could get out of the yard for a little bit.  Wilson chose to walk with me as well as Jorge from the power toddlers house.  Wilson has really come around since being in the toddler house years ago.  He seems more calm and less naughty (haha).  He offered to carry my water bottle so that I had 2 hands available to hold hands with him and Jorge.  It was nice to walk with them both!

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  Alina met us in the Comedor and then we all headed back to our room together.  Since Alina has off for the 2 hours after lunch, she took a nap.  Bob took a nap as well.  Around 2pm, I headed to the medium boys house and just as I was arriving it rained hard...there was thunder (so assuming there was lightning) and it just poured.  I'm glad I got there when I did, because I had books in my drawstring backpack that I didn't want to get wet.

We walked to the Comedor together for supper and then I brought Suyapa, Coco and Cristofer their birthday gifts (tres leches cake, paletas and a gourmet candy cane).  I talked yesterday about Honduran birthdays...Cristofer got quite a few eggs on the head today as well as a cake mashed into his face.  I think he knew as I approached him that I wasn't planning on doing any of that, so we were all good!

How Hondurans Celebrate Birthdays

This morning I was the only one who went to breakfast.  Bob was too tired from his travels yesterday, Noah's least favorite meal of the day is breakfast, and Alina decided she wanted to sleep in.  This meant that I was the only one who got to see Luis David all covered in eggs and moon pies!  Today is Luis David's birthday.  Here at Emmanuel, the tradition is that you "egg" the person who's having a birthday.  Luis David told me that his roommates woke him up at 3am by dumping hot water on him.  That was the first step to celebrating his birthday.  Then, when they got to the Comedor, a friend smashed 3 eggs on his head (this is VERY common down here for birthdays) while another friend grabbed some of the raw egg and smeared it on his face and then finished off by smearing a large moon pie on his face.  I didn't see all of this happen, but I did see Luis David run out of the comedor and he was ALL messy!!!  When he came back, he chose to sit next to me, and I had to warn him about not touching me!  (haha)

We asked permission to allow Luis David, Michell, Nikoll, Alejandra, Cristofer, Brayan, William, Salomon and Maycol to sit by us in church this morning.  We took up an entire row in church...but it was nice to sit by these kids.  Noah's complaint is that he had to sit behind a pillar so unfortunately he couldn't see the words to the songs on the projection screen at the front of the church.

After church we took some of these kids to the tienda for chips, sodas and ice cream.  While we were there, Alejandra's mom came for a visit, so she had to leave early.  The parents are allowed to come and visit the children at the front of the orphanage once a month, and usually it's towards the beginning of the month.  I sent a paleta (lollipop) with Alejandra for her mom.

Clockwise from left:  Bob, Noah, Brayan, Cristofer, Alina, Nikoll, and Alejandra

When we saw the kids heading to lunch, we grabbed those we still had and headed into the Comedor to eat.  I'm not sure how much they ate since they had been snacking all morning, but after lunch we needed to grab Michell and Luis David...two who are very close to my heart...so that we could give them their gifts.  We had purchased quite a few clothes for each of them and also needed to give Luis David his birthday cake.  So we spent the afternoon with the birthday boy and Michell and had quite a few good conversations about school and Luis David's upcoming graduation in December.

Luis David, LoriAnn, Bob and Michell

We had to bring Michell back to the Comedor at 2pm because her work assignment at Emmanuel is to be in the kitchen for all meals, so she needed to get there early to prepare supper.  When it was time for supper, we headed to the Comedor to eat and then decided to retire to our room for the evening.

Bob Arrives!

Because it is Saturday, we got to sleep in an extra 1/2 hour this morning.  Instead of breakfast being at 6am, it is served about 6:30 (since there is no school), so this will give Alina and Noah a little bit longer to sleep in.  Today the Ohio team left (after breakfast), and I spent the morning in the special needs yard, just out front of the church.  I decided that since I was so close to our room, I would make runs back and forth between the yard and the room to get our loads of laundry finished.  Noah grabbed a bunch of boys and arranged for a soccer game...the winning team won the special lollipops we bring down each year.  These suckers are made in Mexico and come in mango flavor (the kids' favorite option down here), watermelon flavor, or corn flavor and is coated in a hotter chili pepper.  You cannot buy these suckers in stores down here, so they only get them once a year...when we're here.

We also spent quite a bit of time giving a lot of the clothes away that we had brought down.  I had bought quite a few bras for the big girls house that were on sale for 90% off.  This is one of the biggest needs that the girls have.  I've already mentioned shoes for the medium boys earlier and in past years.  Unfortunately, even though I had brought over 20 down, there were still girls who only have 1 bra and it is so worn that they have to hold it together with a safety pin.  My mom had given me a bunch of makeup, which I gave to the older girls...lipsticks and some eye shadows.  We really needed to clear a lot of these things out of our room to make room for Bob when he came later today.

After lunch, we headed back to our room to fold the laundry, reorganize some of the furniture in the room to make more space, and then clean the room.  I went to the big boys house then to chat with Luis David about his math test, which he missed a passing score by 2 points.  We talked about the importance of graduating and how he will have to do the retake exam in order to be able to graduate in December.  Keep in mind that here in Honduras, school is only mandatory through the 6th grade.  Any years beyond that are considered completely optional, so graduating from high school really is a big deal...perhaps the equivalent of Americans getting a college degree.

I went back to the room around 2 to wake up Alina so that she could head back to the toddler house.  About 10 minutes later, Norman drove up to the room with Bob.  He brought his suitcases in and then wanted to walk around to say his hellos.  We stopped at the Comedor first, and he said "hi" to Michell.  Then we walked to the medium boys house, where Noah was watching TV with the boys.  Although Noah wasn't overly excited to see him, quite a few of the medium boys were.  Then we walked to the big boys house so he could say "hi" to Luis David.  Finally we got over to the toddler house so he could say "hi" to Alina.  Once again, Alina didn't come running at him (until she needed technology help in getting the DVD player to work).  I am hoping that the love that the kids here at Emmanuel demonstrate on a daily basis to everyone rubs off a little bit onto our own kiddos.

When Bob got the DVD player fixed, it was time for supper, so we headed to the Comedor, ate quickly and then retired to our room for the night since he was very tired from the all-day travels.

A Special Dinner for Staff and Volunteers

Being Friday, today began with Big Circle.  All of the children come right out in front of the building we're staying in to worship, have devotions, and sing praises.  Some children's houses are chosen to recite their memory verses, which usually is comprised of an entire chapter, rather than just 1 verse.  Today it was our medium boys turn, followed by the big boys and then the small boys.

Medium Boys reciting their verses

Small boys reciting their verses

The children of Emmanuel in Big Circle

Big boys reciting their verses

After circle, we went to breakfast and then headed to school where we found out the results of the math test.  Two girls had decided to turn their tests in completely empty.  They were told that there would be absolutely no chance of a retake and that they had to talk with the principal of the school.  There were 2 boys who would be able to retake and we'll have to figure out how that will work so that they can retake next week.

In the afternoon, I was at the medium boys house, helping put together a trampoline that they received from the semi container that came this week.  It is a larger, rectangular shaped trampoline.  It looks really nice outside the boys house.

This afternoon a smaller team also arrived from South Carolina.  There were about 13 people in this group.  Meanwhile, the Ohio group was saying their "goodbyes" as they'll be leaving tomorrow.  Chino (in charge of the medium boys) put together a basketball game with the medium boys and Alina and Noah participated.  There were 3 teams.  Alina's team won the first game 8-16 (against Noah).  Then Noah's team played game #2 and won, and then the final game was between Alina and Noah's team once again (with a few more big people joining in...mostly on Noah's team) and Noah's team won 13-12.

Alina vs Noah

Alina vs Noah

Noah shooting a 3-pointer

Alina ready to bring the ball up the court

We finished off the evening with a dinner put on by the Ohio team for staff and volunteers.  It was extremely filling and consisted of ribs, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, fruit and donuts.  I think Noah went back for thirds!  When we walked back to our room from the team house, the power to the orphanage was completely out and we forgot to bring flashlights, so we walked in complete darkness.  We all slept well with full bellies!

A Container and Basketball

It was super cold last night.  Perhaps not Wisconsin cold, but pretty cold by Honduras standards.  I had to turn the ceiling fan off and Noah had 4 blankets on during the night...3 of them were heavier blankets.

The students took their math test today.  There were 2 girls who put their name on the test and turned it in completely blank.  The rest took their time and a few asked questions.  There were 2 small errors on the test, but I put a note about them up on the blackboard.  The test originally had 10 questions and was worth 45 points.  Profe Ramon and I had decided to take off the one question that would be impossible for all of the students and make the rest of the 9 problems worth 5 points each.

Profe Ramon had asked if I would correct the tests, so I took them with me and said that I'd have them back to him by the afternoon.  I had most of the test corrected before lunch, but since my brain was tired, needed to take a quick nap before correcting the last word problem on volume using definite integrals.  The tests didn't look the greatest to me, but ultimately Profe Ramon would be determining who passed the course and who did not.  Students need a 70% in the course to pass.  I returned the tests before the end of the school day and Profe Ramon said that he would take them home and combine those scores with homework, classwork, and behavior to get an overall score for the course for each student.

When we went back to our room, Noah and I saw that the container arrived, so we headed down to help unload the container.  The boxes that we had sent at the beginning of July were on the container and would soon be in the proper hands.  My cousin Sara had sent quite a few clothes for the kids in the baby and toddler house (Honduran toddlers tend to be a LOT smaller than American toddlers), and I sent a bunch of uniforms down for the kids.  After the container was emptied, it was time for supper.

The container up against the warehouse, ready to by emptied

Noah is in green way at the left ready to empty the container

The beginnings of emptying the container

Noah holding Ramen noodles and smiling

One of many boxes sent by us (Thanks Sara!)

 We were told that the Ohio team would be playing a game of basketball against the big boys tonight...in what they called "Americans vs Hondurans".  The Ohio boys let us know that they had challenged the big boys to a game of soccer last year and lost 0-13 and figured it was because soccer is a Honduran thing, so they were bound and determined to beat them in a "American" game of basketball.  Alina and Noah were so excited to be able to play their first game of basketball down here for this year.  When we went in the gym, we saw the big boys first, and they asked if Alina and Noah were going to play.  I let them know that the group said it was "Americans vs Hondurans" but them told the big boys that Alina and Noah weren't part of the group, so I asked the big boys who they should play with...of course they said Alina and Noah should play with them...which the Ohio crew was completely okay with.  Fast forward a little bit - the Hondurans won (with Alina and Noah's help) 32-20!!!  Did I mention that the Ohio group had a boy that was 6'6"?  Alina did a GREAT job defending him.  He was bound and determined to dunk, and never had the chance.

After the game, Alina and Luis David played a game of 1-on-1, Alina was always up by 2 or 4 points, and then Noah and Luis David's friend joined in...making it 2 against 2.  Ending score: 49-38, Alina and Noah won.

Alina 1-on-1 against Luis David

Luis David tries to score on Alina after being taunted by her

It was an awesome day to be at Emmanuel today and I had two teenagers who came back to our room ready to sleep!!!  (After they showered off the stink and sweat from the game, of course)

A Very Difficult Calculus Test

This morning began with our usual routine of heading to our respective houses, taking our children to breakfast and then heading to school.  When I got to school, Profe Ramon showed me the test that the students would have to take tomorrow.  It only took about 5 seconds to look at the test and I felt sick to my stomach.  There were 2 problems on the test that we didn't cover and there was NO WAY the students would be able to do one of the problems (not to mention there wasn't any similar examples of this problem in the book). 

Profe Ramon wanted to know if I could review with the students, and I let him know exactly what I saw on the test...that it was quite a bit harder than the reviews the students have been given the past few days (based on the prior test he had given me).  I told him that I needed to go back to my room to prepare a review for them.  I work best in complete silence.  Rachel (from the Miller family that I have mentioned a few times in my blog) said that she would review with the students a little bit.  She had helped me last week and I had a small review today to do with the students.  She said she could work with them on that until I got back with a more intensive review, so that was the plan.  When I got back, I taught the students one of the topics that they had missed, but unfortunately there was no way that the other topic could be taught in such short a time with sufficient practice to be successful on that question.

After reviewing with the students, we headed to lunch and then being Wednesday...headed into town for our weekly groceries and supplies.  I stopped at a store on the way into town and got Michell a calculator.  She had been borrowing one from a friend all this year and I decided she should really have her own.  I bought a bunch of groceries that Bob had requested, since he'll be coming down on Saturday.  Noah wanted to stop for the chocolate covered frozen banana on the way back, and then we stopped in to see Glenda and bought a few vegetables from her.  She was making tortillas when we stopped by, so she had Alina finish up the tortillas while she helped us get the vegetables.  When we were done buying, she had Alina take 4 tortillas with her to eat since Alina helped finish them up.

When we got back to the orphanage, we put the groceries away, read for a little bit, headed to supper, and then headed to church.  Noah brought 2 boys to church with him, and as usual Michell found her way over to us when she came in from cleaning the Comedor.  When church was finished, we headed back to the room to call home.  Everyone got to talk to Bob and Kaylyn.