Orphanage Emmanuel in Guaimaca, Honduras: Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!! Today is my son Jaden's birthday...and while at the Toddler House, the kids once again asked to see if the dogs were in the kitchen. We got a pleasant surprise because they were both in the kitchen and so was Jaden! So Jaden was gracious enough to hold up Mindy to the camera in the kitchen for all the kiddos to say "Mindy!!!" into the camera. Later in the day, I popped back on to tell Jaden "Happy Birthday" and chat with him just a little bit.

Jaden holding Mindy with Bella in the background

This morning was a normal morning all the way up to walking the toddlers to school. Typically the toddlers have been walking past the Team House when the team is leaving (in case any team members want to give last minute hugs), however when we walked past the Team House today, the teams were already gone. I guess their departure time was 6:30am rather than the typical 7am (we go by about 6:45am).

After dropping off the toddlers at the school, I had a long day ahead of me with preparing the upcoming unit in 10th grade math for Profe Jorge. I had already taken care of 8th and 9th grade and dropped them off with Profe Dayana. This upcoming unit in 10th grade was on functions (linear and quadratic). I would like to have it done by Friday afternoon, but we shall see. Today I focused on all the notes throughout the day, definitions and formulas. I was able to get through all that and will work through the "homework" tomorrow.

I took the bag of green grapes I had bought to the Comedor at lunch for the kitchen staff to share. It is now time to start giving away things that I am no longer going to use or not taking back with me. I came down with 2 suitcases (checked bags), another smaller suitcase (carry-on) and a backpack. I will only be leaving with 1 checked bag and 1 backpack...so most is staying back here. I also bought a box of chocolates (bon o bons) in town this last trip, so I took that to Dunia (unopened) to give 2 each to her older girls who care for the toddlers, and then she could take the rest home to her own family.

Box of Bon o Bons

When I got to the Comedor, Lydia came up to me and said that Noah has been such a special blessing to Emmanuel and asked if I knew that he bought lunch for everyone at Emmanuel who eats in the Comedor today. He purchased arroz chino (chinese fried rice with chicken, shrimp and steak) as well as bought soda for everyone. I did not know he was going to do this. Noah has had such a great heart for the kids down here and I know they are all going to miss him! He leaves on Saturday back to the States and to start the next chapter of his life, whatever that may be.

Pages of lesson notes for 10th grade (2-sided)

After lunch, I spent an hour doing the last of the math notes, so that tomorrow I would only have to make answer keys to the homework (if I would have time for that). Then at 1:30pm, I headed down to the Tienda to work some more with Dominic and division. With the team gone, the store was a lot more tranquil and he could focus quite a bit better. We worked for about an hour and I gave him a handful of mechanical pencils to take with him...he was very appreciative because pencil sharpeners down here are a "luxury" item.

I headed to the Toddler House and sat with them for a bit before they had to take their showers. After the showers, we waited for the rains to stop before walking to the Comedor for supper. While in the Comedor, Josecito once again chatted with me (this is a daily thing when I eat in the Comedor because he sits right behind me). At one point he asked me what I was going to do this evening, and I told him that I would be crying quite a bit. He got a super worried look on his face and asked why and what happened. I smiled and said, "I'll be chopping onions!" My plan is to prep the onions tonight for the guacamole I will be making tomorrow, haha...I got him! So after the Comedor, that is exactly what I did before settling in for the night. What I didn't realize is that I wouldn't actually shed a tear because my glasses must have provided enough of a barrier between the onion strength and my eyes. But the smell was so strong that Nora let me know she could smell the onions before she even came into the house when she came back from the small girls for the evening.