Heading Home...Photo Dump

   I had completely forgotten to post about our travels home, which is pretty typical of me each year.  Although I don't remember the travels overall, I did realize (June of 2024) that I still had photos of the travels home, so will put them here for all to see...

Fun to wake up to...at least it was dead

Leaving Emmanuel

Our ride back to the airport in Comayagua

Very common to see trucks stacked like this!

What's up with Kaylyn?

Jaden taking in the scenery on the way back

Arrival to the Airport in Comayagua

Kaylyn in Minor Migration

Kaylyn and Jaden in Minor Migration

Our choice of restaurant at the airport in Comayagua

Ended up buying these pagers for my new students at the new NHS (so they could work out in the pods)

What is up with Kaylyn?

Now she's playing along!

Do they ever get it right?

Our Last Full Day Volunteering at Emmanuel 2023

    This morning Jaden and I woke up to our typical morning view here at Emmanuel.  Then we headed to the Comedor for him to get his last breakfast for this trip, which was oatmeal.  Jaden headed out with Alexander after breakfast to do weed whacking, whereas I headed back to our room to pick up Kaylyn to head to the Chosa.  Usually on Monday mornings, I would hang back and wrap up lesson plans or homework since class is at 8:20am...but since it would just be Kaylyn and Eva in the Chosa today with the toddlers, I decided to go with her right up until class started and then return pretty much immediately after class.

   In today's 10th grade class, I had prepared a Jeopardy game to play with the students which reviewed each of the 6 functions they had learned about (quadratics, rational expressions, absolute value, greatest integer, exponential, logarithmic).  The 16 students were divided into 4 teams of 4 and absolutely loved the game and really got into it!  I am hoping that they learned something along the way, but it really seems to me that their math skills are extremely weak.  Each student got a paleta for participating and for the winning team, each member received a pack of gum.

Drawing maps in school (trace, color and label)

9th Grade class, unfortunately I forgot to get a pic of 10th Grade

   When I got back to the Chosa, Kaylyn told me that she took Mateo to the clinic while Eva hung back and watched the rest of the toddlers.  Also, before and after class in the Chosa, Brithany was fairly clingy.  I don't believe she knew that this was my last day, perhaps she "felt" it somehow?  But either way, she would not leave my side (or my lap which she definitely hung out on most of the time).  For almost the entirety of this trip, she has called me mama, and all of the toddlers when I would come to the door would call Brithany's name and tell her that her "mama" was here.    Kaylyn has been pushing for us to adopt her for the past 5 weeks, even saying that she would share her bedroom...but as I wrote a week-ish ago, I don't feel called to do that.  Although, if I were to adopt a child, she would be up there on the list!!!

   Kaylyn worked through Brithany's hair and found a louse (singular of lice?) as well as pulled out a fair amount of nits.  Lice is pretty common here among the younger girls, both toddlers and small girls.  It is an orphanage.  And unlike many Americans who get freaked out about them, that is not the case here.  You just tackle it on a day-by-day basis until it's gone.  Since we are on that topic, Kaylyn and I headed to the Medium Boys house after lunch so that the tia Berta (who was with the toddlers last year) could go through our hair thoroughly and check for lice.  Kaylyn, who had some dried up nits last week, was clear.  I had 3 dried up nits in my hair.  After checking us and pulling the nits out, Berta put both of our hair up in a french braid.  On our way to get our hair checked, I stopped at the Tienda to buy both Invisible and tia Berta a bag of chips and a soda, and then there was around $100L left of our in the Tienda, which I just told Brenda (who works the tienda most days) that she could put the rest in her name.

Kaylyn checking Brithany for lice and nits

Marbella

Mateo

Brithany pointing to her teeth when I was asking her if she knew each body part...she did!

   I took Invisible all of the lotion, shampoo, soap, conditioner, detangling spray, and toothpaste that we had left over.  And we also gave her Kaylyn's pair of sandals and my tennis shoes, as well as one of our flashlights.  I typically leave my tennis shoes with her as her feet are larger than most females at Emmanuel.  She has been nothing but kind to me ever since I first met her back in 2008...and this is only a snippet of how I try to repay that kindness.

   This afternoon while we were with Invisible and tia Berta, Jaden was working with the pigs (feeding them and cleaning their pens) and also fed the cows with Herlan.  We all walked to the Comedor together for supper, where they had beans, rice, and crema; as well as a really sweet bread that was made in the Panaderia (bread shop) at Emmanuel.

   After supper, we put the last load of laundry in and then packed our suitcases.  We COULD fit everything in just 2 suitcases (we came down with 4), but if Noah is truly coming down here as a volunteer, we need all of our suitcases at home.  So we put the smallest suitcase inside of the largest suitcase, and then loaded them.  There was definitely extra room in each one.  We decided to hit the hay early and not watch a movie since we were planning on getting up around 3:30am to make sure the rooms were all clean and everything was ready to go before breakfast.

Jaden Gets a Haircut

    Our time is winding down here, as I told my 2 kiddos...one more free day, one day of work, then we head home.  I let Jaden head to the Comedor by himself for breakfast this morning since I had a bunch of things to pack up to give away today and we also needed to get ready for church.  He said that they had the Corn Flakes again this morning.   David and Lydia headed to Tegus (Tegucigalpa, capitol of Honduras) early this morning with Milton for a few days to themselves and to prepare for the group that is coming in September.  Milton told me this last night and let me know I would not see him until I returned, so we gave each other a big hug.

   Rollie did the service in church today and asked about the 5 questions we need to be prepared to answer if someone who either doesn't know about God or someone who adamantly doesn't believe in God would most likely ask.  Questions such as: Who is God?  Who created God?  Why does God let bad things happen to people?  Why does God allow people to suffer when He could stop it?  It was a very good last sermon for being down here and hard to believe that when we head to church next Sunday, it will be in the United States in English, and completely different.

   After church, we did some lighter than normal cleaning (since we had cleaned a bit yesterday as well), and then we packed many items up to give away to those who live here.  We packed all of Jaden's items up except for the clothes he would wear today through Wednesday, from socks to underwear (both of which we had purchased new before coming down here) to shorts to shirts.  I will just need to do a load of laundry later today and then on Monday evening for last minute things to give away.  Then I got the blog done for Saturday, as well as finished up my last lesson plans for Monday's 10th grade class (a review game...more to come on that tomorrow).

   At lunch, we gave a huge bag of Jaden's things to Cristian for the special needs boys.  I am not sure how often they get clothing, but it seems like many of Jaden's clothes would fit them fairly well.  And sure enough, when supper rolled around, many of them walked by in new socks and shirts and pointed at them, telling me and Jaden, "Thank You!!!"

   About mid-afternoon when today's laundry was done, we headed to the Toddler House to give Graciela the last of Kaylyn and my items.  She said thank you once again and said she would be sure to get them distributed among the girls, junior staff and staff that needed/wanted them.  We also had 4 pairs of wired ear phones which we had gotten on the way down from the airlines, that Graciela was eager to take off of my hands, so I was glad we had picked them up.  We then headed to the store, where I just had Jaden and Kaylyn with me and Ellie met up with us so we could spend the remainder of the time before supper there.

   At 2:45pm, Jaden left the Tienda to go searching for Eliberto, because we had heard that he was the best at Emmanuel for cutting the boys' hair, and although Jaden's hair was still fairly short from me cutting it that way prior to coming down here...I saw what Eliberto had done with the other boys' hair at Emmanuel and thought that Jaden could really use a new back-to-school style.  So, I would just have to wait until supper in the Comedor to see how that turned out.

Jaden's new back-to-school cut

   Kaylyn and I headed back to our room quickly before supper began to get some paletas for Oscar and the kitchen crew, and for Invisible to share with Berta as well.  Then we headed down to the Comedor.  Jaden came in and I felt his haircut looked AWESOME.  He let me know that Hector gave him a freshly cut coconut and cracked it and put a hole in the top so Jaden could drink the coconut water and then eat the coconut.  Hector also invited Jaden to go on a walk after supper with the grandecitos.  While Jaden was gone, Kaylyn and I did our 1/2 hour of reading and when Jaden got back, we ended up watching a movie to wind down the evening.  Although I thought we'd be watching back to back nights of Mission Impossible, Kaylyn didn't really care to watch it, so they settled on an animated movie called "The Monkey King"...it was unique (weird) to say the least.

We Are Now Alone

    This morning when I opened the door of our room, we were surrounded by fog.  Now honestly, I can say that I am not sure if it's fog or if we are in a low lying cloud, because we are up in the mountains and I have seen clouds so low on nearby mountains that you cannot see the top of them.  Anyway, it was beautiful today.  April and her 3 kiddos (Zoey, Zayden and Micah) are leaving this morning at 8am, so they headed to the baby house to get some pictures before taking off.  I didn't see them after that, so it's a good thing we had said goodbye last night.  Kaylyn and Zoey exchanged numbers so they could keep in contact.

   The breakfast this morning was arroz con leche and generally Saturdays are the porridge type breakfast made of that flour mixture I had mentioned back on Wednesday (Jaden's least favorite breakfast).  He was so relieved to know he would not have this breakfast again during this trip.

   Kaylyn and I headed to the Chosa to watch the kiddos.  Since April had left, this is the first day we were in here alone with Eva watching the toddlers.  The small girls stayed in their house, so the amount of toddlers was manageable.  Although this is the last "full" morning for me to watch the toddlers (since I have to teach on Monday and will only have half a morning with them), Kaylyn will have one more full morning on Monday.  She has been coughing a lot lately and has been taking the DayQuil and NyQuil that I had purchased, so I have to try to remember next time to pack cough drops.  I feel like she has been sick down here more than she has been healthy...but I am just glad she has a good attitude about it, and the serving she is doing while here.  She even asked to braid my hair today and made 2 separate braids that she said formed a heart.

Brithany

Clara and Brithany

   After being at the Chosa for an hour or hour and a half, LaShawn called for the toddlers to head up to the clinic to get their heights and weights taken, so Graciela (who is in charge of the Toddler House), Eva, Kaylyn and I got them all ready and walked them up to the clinic.  The nurse from town pulled the scale and the height measuring tool out to the porch out front of the clinic.  While we were there, Clara (Kaylyn's favorite) decided to close the clinic door and it locked in the process.  Both sets of keys were in the Clinic, so it took some finagling (what we would call breaking and entering) to get the door open.

Camila getting her height measured

   When we walked back towards the Toddler House, Graciela said we were going to let the toddlers play in the park.  When she told the toddlers that, every one of them let go of our hands took off running towards the park, obviously excited because this is only the 2nd time in the nearly 5 weeks we have been here that they have gotten to play in the park.  About an hour before we needed to head to the Comedor for lunch, Graciela decided to turn the water on at the park's "waterpark".  The kids were SO excited!!!  They stripped down to just their underwear and for about 30-45min got to play under all the streams of water.

Moises enjoying the sprinkles

   We headed to the Comedor with the toddlers and found that there was a HAND-MADE tortilla at each place setting.  This excited me so much because I hadn't had one of these since last year!  Alina had learned to make them years ago, I wonder if she still remembers how.  When we walked back to our room, we noticed that Cristian was up there with his gator and crew.  They were moving Karen and her 2 daughters (Dara and Nachita) out from the room next to us and into Mirna's house.  So we will no longer have neighbors for the last few nights here.  Once they were gone, we swept out the kitchen well, and I got ahead on some of my lesson for Monday.

Kaylyn coming into the Comedor with Clara, Camila and Natali

   We headed back to the Toddler House at 3pm and gave Graciela most of my clothes that I was leaving behind.  There are still a couple of shirts and pants that I need to wear before taking off, but as soon as I do and I get them washed, they will stay down here too.  Generally all of my kids' things stay down here each year as it will not fit them the following summer because they are still growing.  This year, when it came to my things, there are more things staying here than heading back as well.  When I gave it to Graciela, she said that she would make sure it got divided up where the necessity was...between her, Eva, Lourdes, Mirna, Pamela, or whoever else might need it.

   We walked with the toddlers to the Comedor for supper (and once again there was a hand-made tortilla at our place setting), and then the toddlers headed to the Cancha (playground outside the school) to play some soccer and on the playground equipment.  We used this time to start getting more things together that was going to stay behind.

All meals are covered to protect them from insects

Medium Boys

Special Needs Boys

Grandecitos with the Grandes table behind them

Small Boys (girls tables are behind on other side of Comedor)

Our place setting each day (between Medium and Special Boys)

Rice, Chopped Hot Dogs in Ketchup, and Handmade Tortillas

   This evening's movie was Kaylyn's choice:  Love Hard.  Jaden said when it was all over that he no longer wanted to watch rom-coms...so guessing that it might end up being a Mission Impossible night for the last two nights we are here.

Kaylyn Gets to Participate in a SleepOver

    This morning Jaden woke up with a swollen lip, and it was quite swollen.  We asked him if he got into a fight, although honestly we would have heard about it from whoever was in charge of the groups he was with yesterday.  The only possible conclusion we could come to when he said, "No" was that he was bitten ON the lip overnight by a mosquito.  He rarely covers up and he does not wear the bug protection that we brought down (although you definitely wouldn't apply that to your lips), so in a way, this is more on him.  It should go down throughout the day, and definitely by tomorrow.

   Today was the FIRST day since pre-COVID that the kids got to do a traditional BIG Circle.  They all had to meet outside the hotel and they form a super-sized circle (hence the name), and then they have devotions together and sing together.  Chino led the devotion for today and prior to him taking us through the Word today, the grandecitas and the grandes recited their verses for today.  Alejandra was part of this group, so I definitely enjoyed watching.  They generally practice for 4-5 weeks before they have to recite a chapter of the Bible.  Zoey and April joined us for Big Circle, which was awesome as they're leaving tomorrow and they have never seen one before.

Jaden, Kaylyn and Dilmer

Kaylyn, Gibran and Jaden

Kaylyn, Cristofer, Jaden and Alejandra's brother

Kaylyn and Alejandra

The grandecitas and grandes reciting their verses

Chino with this morning's devotion

Big Circle

   After breakfast, Kaylyn and I headed to the Chosa.  It's Zoey's last day in here, so we tried to have fun.  During some down time in the Chosa, where the kids were otherwise occupied, I began to work on my last lesson plan for Monday.  I will be reviewing the 6 types of functions that they have studied and learned how to graph in a Jeopardy-type formatted game.  Kaylyn recommended to do it that way.  I am going to try to remember to take pictures of the classrooms prior to leaving, but honestly it hadn't even crossed my mind the past 4.5 weeks.

   We walked the toddlers to lunch and then I headed back to my room to do final preparations on the Ensenanza for the big girls.  This is devotional time that they have Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 3pm after school gets done.  The topic was on Leah, although if you'd like to know more...you will have to ask.

   Jaden watered Alexander's plants today.  I had to ask him about this, because it seems like it's been about 5 days since he's mentioned to me having watered them the last time.  He spent the morning with Chino painting the steps to the Medium Boys house, and there is paint all over a pair of shorts that actually fit him well...so those will not be coming home.  In the afternoon, he was in the Horse Barn, moving wood and sweeping.

   The big highlight of the night was Kaylyn asking me if she could spend the night up in the Girls Volunteer House with Zoey and Ellie.  I was very much okay with it, but let her and Zoey know that Zoey's mom had to be okay with it, especially since Zoey was leaving tomorrow.  With both moms' permissions, and Ellie's permission, Kaylyn got packed up around 6pm and headed up to the Volunteer House, very much excited.  I reminded her as she went out the door that she had to make sure she got up on time and left the house when Ellie did in the morning.

   And with that it was just Jaden and me in the room for the night.  So I decided to put on the movie "Heart of Stone" which was supposed to be an action movie.  The movie was alright, probably Jaden liked it more than me, but it ended about 8:20pm and then the rains came, which made for a cooler and more comfortable night to be able to fall asleep.