August 1st - We´re here!

This morning I woke up at 3am to finish getting ready. I woke up Andrés about 4am in hopes to leave at 4:30, however we didn´t get on the road until 5am. With Bob sleeping in the passenger seat and Andrés sleeping in back, it was a long ride (especially through miles of fog). We arrived at O´Hare at 8am and realized fairly quickly that Andrés forgot both his gum (for the plane ride) and his camera - so no pictures this year folks.

Our day consisted of 3 flights: Chicago to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Miami, and finally Miami to San Pedro Sula. We never really had to sit for too long (unlike last year where our layovers were fairly lengthy). During these flights, Andrés realized that he forgot quite a bit more than just his gum & camera, but he´ll probably update you on that. The most interesting flight was in Cincinnati where we got on to the runway & what I THOUGHT was our take-off was really super fast acceleration to get off the runway, because another plane was coming in for a landing!

Luis picked us up from the airport and drove us to an ATM and then to a Baleadas drive-thru to get some supper since the neighbor´s small restaurant up the street is not open on Sunday (and Andrés decided not to eat in Miami because he wanted the tacos that this guy makes). We got settled in and here I am typing this blog.

Tomorrow we´ll head on the earliest bus possible (leaves @ 4am) to Tegucigalpa...which is a 4 hour ride. From Tegus, we´ll catch another 2 hour bus to Guaimaca. I expect we´ll be in Guaimaca at Orphanage Emmanuel by sometime between noon & 3pm. Again, I´m not sure how often I will be able to update this blog, since my first priority is helping out at the orphanage, but today is just to let everyone know that we´ve arrived okay & are en route to the orphanage. And with that, I´ll need to say "good night" so that I can actually wake up tomorrow. ☺

July 31st - What a Rocky Start

It's been a busy summer for me, which is good since I'm absolutely NOT a teacher who enjoys having 3 months of "free time". Here's a brief synopsis of what I've done this summer:

• 4 weeks of summer school - Teaching beginning Spanish (and a new Going Global class, which required LOTS of prep work) at Ferber Elementary up on the north side of Appleton. Both Alina and Noah were in summer school this year, coming with me each day.
• More family camping trips than ever before - Generally we only go 1-3 times per year, but this year we had each of our children pick a state park and made reservations which is in addition to our annual trip with my sisters.
• Lifest - We were down on the grounds every day for something. This is such an awesome festival to refresh & renew your soul. It definitely helps me gear up for my trip down to Honduras!
• Three weeks of taking Andrés to Driver's Ed. (I think he's excited to get his temps when he gets back from Honduras)

Finally we're just about ready to go. I had many students from Ferber Elementary school donate supplies (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, conditioners, hair clips, small toys, etc) and they were shipped on Thursday. I sent along our 2 VCRs with the shipment of donations, because last year when I took the 50+ Disney movies (VHS in Spanish) that Andrés owned, there were 2 dorms that had non-working VCRs. Hopefully now the little & medium boys can watch some of those movies, and since they're IN Spanish, they'll understand & have fun!

Andrés had lost his passport since coming back from Honduras last year, so we had to go through the process of reporting it lost and applying for a new one. What a horrid experience that I hope to never go through again. With the time crunch and the U.S. Passport Office's request for paperwork that I didn't have (and was impossible to get...because it never existed), they took forever in issuing him a passport (he got it this past Thursday, 4 days before departure). I don't know WHY this wasn't an issue for his last two passports. But all is done & ready to go now - so our focus in on what's ahead.

Today we need to pack. The suitcases are in our living room and open. Laundry is caught up, so we just have to put our clothes together. Andrés says he's looking forward more & more to going, but is still a little nervous because this year we will stay in separate dorms (meaning he'll have to do his own laundry, which he's never done before). I'm hoping to pack in the morning, so that anything we need (like mosquito spray with 100% DEET), we can run & buy before the day is over.

Hopefully we will be able to keep you updated daily via this blog, however I'm not sure what will happen. If we cannot update daily, we will keep a journal like last year & make sure to update this blog when we can - so that our family & friends know how things are going and that we're okay.

To think that tomorrow at this time, we'll be 1/2-way to Chicago to take off! We'll see most of you in 3-4 weeks. ☺

August 18th - Traveling Back to San Pedro Sula

We had to be at Max & Katja´s house by 5:45am if we wanted to catch a ride with them to Tegus (rather than riding the chicken bus). As we were waiting for Katja´s family, Merethe came out to give me a hug and say "See you next year," with a smile.

On our way to Tegus, both Gabriel and Simon (Katja´s boys) got sick. She said they often get car sick. Andrés had a few extra tablets of Dramamine left, so we gave them to Katja for the boys on their way back home...but perhaps to have them split a tablet.

As we got to the Hedman Alas station, people were loading the bus for San Pedro Sula, so we hurried to buy tickets and get on. Luis met us at the bus station to take us to his (& Blanca´s) bed & breakfast, where we had stayed when we came into San Pedro. We found a ciber café to update a few blogs and then Jen & I headed to the mall for a few hours while Andrés completed his blogs back at Luis & Blanca´s. Andrés had no interest in the mall whatsoever.

When we got back from the mall, we headed for the little restaurant Luis had recommended the 1st time we stayed here. Then we came back to the B&B where we made a few calls home to ensure all was in order for our travels tomorrow.

August 17th - Last Day at Emmanuel

I got up early this morning to do a last load of laundry. After breakfast, I went to finish up in the library while Jen entered all of the children´s measurements in the computer and Andrés went to his last day of school. I brought him the chili-mango suckers to hand out to his class after recess and for the last hour of school I went back home to clean, begin packing, and get the last of the suckers to take to the big boys dining hall.

After lunch, I hung around with Doris to learn how to make tortillas (the Honduran way). I´ll have to try it back in the States. I went back to the house to prepare myself for the bible study this afternoon. Merethe had asked me to lead it last week and I´ve been working on it since Thursday. I also translated a bunch of Spanish words to English for Angi.

The bible study went well. I spoke about Jonah and how you should always say YES to God with a servant´s heart. I had supper with the girls one last time and said my goodbyes before turning in for the night.

August 16th - Our Last Sunday

The pastor from town (Guaimaca) began the church service today by asking "What is a saint (or holy person)?" as Peter instructs us to do in 1 Peter 1:15. No one answered him, so he went on to talk about how he posed this question to a bunch of children. The answers he got were:

• A saint was someone who didn´t sin.
• A sant was a statue made out of wood, plastic, or plaster.

But it was the 3rd child´s response that intrigued him, who said, "A saint (or holy person) is like a person who is made of glass." The pastor wasn´t sure what the child meant, so he prompted the child to describe what he meant. The small child went on to say that he had been in churches with stained glass windows of saints and saw how the light came in through the window to illuminate the room with many colors. So to the child, a saint (or holy person) was someone who shines with the light of God. What a response!!! The message was of the Good Samaritan.

After church we invited Andrés to lunch. The Andrés I´m refering to is a child at Emmanuel who I met last year who is the same age as MY Andrés! We went to the restaurant at Emmanuel and Elvia cooked for us. Afterwards, Jen & I took a bunch of the paletas (Mexican suckers) to the little boys house to hand out. We got some pictures with a few of the boys and headed to supper to get a bunch of pictures of the girls.

August 15th - My WORST Day Here

Today was a bad day.

After breakfast I entered 3 more pages of library books. I was very close to 2000 entries when the power went out. Since the laptop had a full charge, the battery kicked in and the computer didn´t turn off (WHEW), so I just kept entering and saved it before turning it off to head to town.

Jen & I went to Guaimaca in the morning to do a little souvenoir shopping and to check my email to see if our flight had changed. With the national curfew, our flight had changed coming down here, so I was imagining that we wouldn´t be leaving at 1am anymore either. Instead of flying out at 1am on Friday, our flight was bumped up so that it leaves at 10:30am on Wednesday. Two whole days!!! I was very bummed out when I saw that.

If that wasn´t enough to start my day off badly, when I got back to the farmhouse and opened up the laptop to turn it on...all that showed up is what Hans calls the "blue screen of death". I really didn´t know that´s what it was, but it was blue and I´ll bet I tried turning the computer off and on around a half-dozen times! Finally in my frustration I called Bob just to be sure. Perhaps he´d have a "miracle fix" and I could keep entering data, however Bob told me there was nothing I could do. I was crushed!...all that work and there were still around 600-800 books to enter!

Jen & Andrés measured again at supper-time, so I made spaghetti for them when they got back. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean that evening together before heading off to bed.

August 14th - Hungry Girls

Today´s routine was similar to the previous days...entering library books (I´ve entered over 1500 now) and sizing the children. Andrés was feeling much better. He´ll have to go with Jennifer during mealtime this weekend to size the boys who don´t go to school (there are some that only work on the farm).

Jen hasn´t been at supper lately since shé been handing out medicines (which gets done during supper-time). They are still making a plate for her, so each night I have to give it away. Quite a few girls will ask for her plate which surprises me since the girls get the same size serving as we do at each meal and one plate fills me up!