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.