I had requested to not be at the clinic for the 6:30am shift because I desperately needed to be in church to hear God's Word. Since we had to leave at 4am on August 1st (a Sunday), it has been 3 weeks since I've been in church. I know that I've been working where I've been needed...but this was the last chance I'd have at making a Sunday service at Emmanuel since we'd be heading out in just 6 days.
I felt so rejuvenated and refreshed after going to church. A large number of people came from the Valley of the Angels - where David & Lydia first began ministering 23 years ago. It was powerful to hear their pastor preach about the story of Jonah going into Nineva to tell the people to repent and how they listened! David closed up with how Jesus is knocking at our doors (hearts) to ask us to dine with him. Do what he asks, no matter how difficult or lengthy the task. I truly needed to hear this - especially with all of the blogs that you've been reading so far. As I've mentioned before, David has a special way of giving all of his messages that really reaches the heart.
After church, I rushed to the volunteer dorm to change out of my church clothes and then headed to the clinic, but promised Andrés I would treat him to lunch when I was done at the clinic at 12:30pm. I met him out front at the store/restaurant, however he was already seated and had already eaten a hamburger. By the time I got there, they had run out of hot food...so I just sat and chatted with Rachel, Therese, Thomas (her boyfriend) and Andrés for a while before we headed back.
I made myself some lunch and then headed over to the little girls kitchen to visit with Doris. We played soccer for about an hour - it was my first time ever playing soccer in my life. Doris said I should be on her team and I joked that she would have the losing team then (since the only thing I knew about soccer is that you want to kick the ball in between the goal posts). It was fun and I learned a lot.
The volunteers got together to have a Bible Study around 5:30pm. We shared readings from the Bible and just caught up on stories that had happened to us both physically & spiritually throughout the week. It was definitely refreshing to be able to communicate on this level with them as I was preparing to spend another night at the clinic.
It's been almost a week since I've spent a night at the clinic (with Leigh & Owen taking most of the night shifts over the past 5-6 days), but only Kevin was there...so it was a little more relaxed environment. All of his chicken pox are finally gone - the only ones that remain are the ones he has picked at over & over until they've bled. He does have a small infection around one pox on his leg due to scratching it so much, but we're hoping that he can go home tomorrow.
Monday, August 16, 2010
August 14th - My Last Week
One week for today we will be on 2 buses to get back to San Pedro Sula where the airport is located. Time seems to have flown by (no pun intended) while I've been here.
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30 - 9:30am. We are winding down with the chicken pox and really praying that no more new cases come in. There were 3 children in the clinic as of this morning, and by the end of the day two girls will be sent home, leaving us with Kevin. Kevin was a special case...I have NEVER seen a child with so many chicken pox. He has spiked a fever at least once a day, and I truly believe that his body/system is shocked by how bad he has the pox.
When I was done with the clinic, I ran some of the huevos rancheros leftovers from last night to Doris. I only get to see her in passing and feel terrible about it too. Last Monday as I was headed to the volunteer meeting, she ran to me and gave me a big hug and began crying. She said "she didn't want to talk about it right there & then", but it was very difficult for me to watcher her, since I've never seen her cry before - she always has a smile on her face. When we have the last child out of the clinic, I am going to try to spend as much time with her as possible.
I called home early afternoon to find that Alina had lost a tooth and Noah would like to come to pick us up at the airport. Peanut refused to talk to me because she was more concerned about getting some "leche" (apparently Bob needed to do some grocery shopping). When I was off of the phone, I needed some time to myself - so sat back & watched the movie Family Man, which was the movie Bob & I saw on our first date. That movie does have a lot of good qualities to it, on how to love and appreciate your family.
When the movie finished, a volunteer who has been vacationing for 2 weeks walked in and introduced herself. She's from Denmark & her name is Therese. Her boyfriend (who came to visit for those 2 weeks) will be staying in the boys volunteer dorm until Tuesday, when his plane takes off for Denmark. We found out that we happened to be on the same flight from Miami to San Pedro Sula when we flew in on August 1st! What a coincidence. :-)
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30 - 9:30am. We are winding down with the chicken pox and really praying that no more new cases come in. There were 3 children in the clinic as of this morning, and by the end of the day two girls will be sent home, leaving us with Kevin. Kevin was a special case...I have NEVER seen a child with so many chicken pox. He has spiked a fever at least once a day, and I truly believe that his body/system is shocked by how bad he has the pox.
When I was done with the clinic, I ran some of the huevos rancheros leftovers from last night to Doris. I only get to see her in passing and feel terrible about it too. Last Monday as I was headed to the volunteer meeting, she ran to me and gave me a big hug and began crying. She said "she didn't want to talk about it right there & then", but it was very difficult for me to watcher her, since I've never seen her cry before - she always has a smile on her face. When we have the last child out of the clinic, I am going to try to spend as much time with her as possible.
I called home early afternoon to find that Alina had lost a tooth and Noah would like to come to pick us up at the airport. Peanut refused to talk to me because she was more concerned about getting some "leche" (apparently Bob needed to do some grocery shopping). When I was off of the phone, I needed some time to myself - so sat back & watched the movie Family Man, which was the movie Bob & I saw on our first date. That movie does have a lot of good qualities to it, on how to love and appreciate your family.
When the movie finished, a volunteer who has been vacationing for 2 weeks walked in and introduced herself. She's from Denmark & her name is Therese. Her boyfriend (who came to visit for those 2 weeks) will be staying in the boys volunteer dorm until Tuesday, when his plane takes off for Denmark. We found out that we happened to be on the same flight from Miami to San Pedro Sula when we flew in on August 1st! What a coincidence. :-)
August 13th - Mallory's Goodbye
I again had the 6:30 - 9:30am shift at the clinic. After that, Andrés and I went into Guaimaca to buy some supplies for the supper I was going to make tonight. Mallory, a long-term volunteer who was going to stay until September, is heading home on Saturday due to the health of her father. Rachel wanted to have a nice supper for her with all of the volunteers, so I agreed to make guacamole and huevos rancheros (as something different from the food we've been eating around here).
We were only in town for about an hour or so, since I had to be back at the clinic from 12:30 - 5:00pm. Andrés relieved me at 5:00 so that I could start supper. We (Owen, Leigh, Rachel, Andrés, Mallory & I) ate at the school. This is just to give you an idea of the need for volunteers in the month of August. It seems that June & July are pretty full of volunteers. At one point in July, there were over 20 girls in the volunteer dorm - and that doesn't even count the males over in THEIR dorm. But many high school & college age students head back in August to get ready for school.
We had a great time together, and unfortunately since I had lost track of time, I had forgotten to call home by 8pm like I had promised. Andrés had mentioned that Bob was keeping up the kids a little later anyway lately, so that they should still be up...but when I ran back to the dorm to grab my phone, Bob let me know that they had went to sleep early due to their behavior. I chatted with him for a while, before turning in for the evening.
We were only in town for about an hour or so, since I had to be back at the clinic from 12:30 - 5:00pm. Andrés relieved me at 5:00 so that I could start supper. We (Owen, Leigh, Rachel, Andrés, Mallory & I) ate at the school. This is just to give you an idea of the need for volunteers in the month of August. It seems that June & July are pretty full of volunteers. At one point in July, there were over 20 girls in the volunteer dorm - and that doesn't even count the males over in THEIR dorm. But many high school & college age students head back in August to get ready for school.
We had a great time together, and unfortunately since I had lost track of time, I had forgotten to call home by 8pm like I had promised. Andrés had mentioned that Bob was keeping up the kids a little later anyway lately, so that they should still be up...but when I ran back to the dorm to grab my phone, Bob let me know that they had went to sleep early due to their behavior. I chatted with him for a while, before turning in for the evening.
August 12th - A Little Rest...
David (the "vacationer") took my 6:30 - 9:30am shift this morning at the clinic to give me a little relief going into next week's schedule. I am very thankful for that since my brain now only seems to be working when I'm at the clinic. When I head to the volunteer dorm, I seem to forget A LOT - although Bob would probably tell you all that "That's normal"!
Even though I didn't have to go in at 6:30am, I still did in order to be sure Andrés was there to relieve the volunteer who was watching Erika and also to give him his malaria pill (4 days late). He came a little late, but did manage to get there...so I went back to the volunteer dorm to lay down.
I didn't realize how sleep deprived I actually was until I woke at 10:30am still groggy and my body still extremely tired. Although I had a pretty good night's sleep, this was much needed due to the demanding hours of the clinic. At 10:30am I mustered what little energy I could to get up and prepare my mind & body to work at the clinic again from 12:30 - 7:00pm. Although that was a slow 2 hours of moving around, when I walked into the clinic, my adrenaline kicked in once again and all was fine.
The electricity went out again (which is actually a pretty common occurence), but that meant no fans in the clinic to move the air around. We were brought a DVD player last week, but two days have now went by where it hasn't been working...so we are left with coloring books, reading books (most are in English), a few chess games that have pieces missing (which I just showed them how to use them as checkers games), and a few stuffed animals. Six hours will go by pretty quickly if you keep the kids busy!
Even though I didn't have to go in at 6:30am, I still did in order to be sure Andrés was there to relieve the volunteer who was watching Erika and also to give him his malaria pill (4 days late). He came a little late, but did manage to get there...so I went back to the volunteer dorm to lay down.
I didn't realize how sleep deprived I actually was until I woke at 10:30am still groggy and my body still extremely tired. Although I had a pretty good night's sleep, this was much needed due to the demanding hours of the clinic. At 10:30am I mustered what little energy I could to get up and prepare my mind & body to work at the clinic again from 12:30 - 7:00pm. Although that was a slow 2 hours of moving around, when I walked into the clinic, my adrenaline kicked in once again and all was fine.
The electricity went out again (which is actually a pretty common occurence), but that meant no fans in the clinic to move the air around. We were brought a DVD player last week, but two days have now went by where it hasn't been working...so we are left with coloring books, reading books (most are in English), a few chess games that have pieces missing (which I just showed them how to use them as checkers games), and a few stuffed animals. Six hours will go by pretty quickly if you keep the kids busy!
August 11th - The Soccer Game
Today's hours for the clinic are 6:30 - 9:30am (for chicken pox) and then I was also scheduled to be with Erika (the girl with bronchitis) from 11:30am until 7:00pm. While I woke for the early shift, Andrés was preparing himself for the pig slaughter (you'll most likely read about it in his blog, so I'll spare the details).
Due to the amount of children who come to the clinic daily to get checked, Karelia was still around at 11:30 when I arrived to watch Erika, so she told me to come back around 2:30pm to take over. It was nice to have 3 extra hours off, especially since I heard that the girls soccer team here at Emmanuel was going to have a team from town come in and have a game. They were going to sell food as a fundraiser as well (like concessions), so I was very excited to get the chance to see the game. Although I didn't get to watch all of it, I stayed until just after half-time when it was tied 1-1. I bought lunch for Andrés and myself & we watched together - which gave us a little time to spend together.
Due to my later shift at the clinic, I missed church this evening and the art show where the children sell the art/jewelry they've made and get to keep a percentage of the profits. I'm hoping to check out more jewelry before heading back to the States.
Back at the clinic, I had to help Erika with her nebulizer treatment. This was not new to me since both Noah & Kaylyn have had nebulizer treatments when they were infants. When 7pm came and I was relieved, I walked back to the girls volunteer dorm in the dark. It's amazing that it's so dark here that early...when in Wisconsin it's still pretty light at that time.
Due to the amount of children who come to the clinic daily to get checked, Karelia was still around at 11:30 when I arrived to watch Erika, so she told me to come back around 2:30pm to take over. It was nice to have 3 extra hours off, especially since I heard that the girls soccer team here at Emmanuel was going to have a team from town come in and have a game. They were going to sell food as a fundraiser as well (like concessions), so I was very excited to get the chance to see the game. Although I didn't get to watch all of it, I stayed until just after half-time when it was tied 1-1. I bought lunch for Andrés and myself & we watched together - which gave us a little time to spend together.
Due to my later shift at the clinic, I missed church this evening and the art show where the children sell the art/jewelry they've made and get to keep a percentage of the profits. I'm hoping to check out more jewelry before heading back to the States.
Back at the clinic, I had to help Erika with her nebulizer treatment. This was not new to me since both Noah & Kaylyn have had nebulizer treatments when they were infants. When 7pm came and I was relieved, I walked back to the girls volunteer dorm in the dark. It's amazing that it's so dark here that early...when in Wisconsin it's still pretty light at that time.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
August 10th - Double Time at the Clinic
Well, the events of last night (2 toddlers being rushed in to get looked at) resulted in one of the toddlers needing to go to the hospital today. She was diagnosed with bronchitis, but since she doesn't have chicken pox, she needed to stay in a separate room at the clinic which means double-time on the volunteers...one would have to cover the children with chicken pox and another would have to be with this toddler (well, actually 5-year-old - she just lives in the "Toddler House"). I am so thankful that David (the man on vacation) took our 6:30am - 12:30pm shift.
Leigh and I finished sizing the toddlers this morning. I had this job last year, along with a group that was here from the Northeast. We take their measurements and equate them to sizes so that if sponsors would like to give them clothing for Christmas, they know approximately what size to get. After we finished sizing the toddlers, Katja put a halt to sizing (since all 400+ children are supposed to get sized)...primarily due to the demands of the clinic. There are currently 8 children with the chicken pox.
Leigh and I finished sizing the toddlers this morning. I had this job last year, along with a group that was here from the Northeast. We take their measurements and equate them to sizes so that if sponsors would like to give them clothing for Christmas, they know approximately what size to get. After we finished sizing the toddlers, Katja put a halt to sizing (since all 400+ children are supposed to get sized)...primarily due to the demands of the clinic. There are currently 8 children with the chicken pox.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
August 9th - A Minute to Call Home
This morning I was at the clinic from 6:30-9:30am. After that, Leigh & I ran to town. Due to the demands of the clinic, I have not yet had a chance to get to town (for phone cards, groceries, etc) since our arrival on the 1st of August. My plan was to stop at the internet café to type up my blog, but Leigh suggested that I use her laptop back at the dorm when I'm not in the clinic rather than using time in town to catch up. That sounded good to me!
We first stopped at the TIGO store. TIGO is probably the main cell phone carrier down here. My Verizon phone doesn't work down here and even if it would, TIGO offers much better rates than Verizon ever could to call home. I bought 3 of the $100 Lempira cards, planning to give one card to Andrés and the other two should allow me to call home multiple times to chat with my 3 precious children left behind: Alina (7 yrs), Noah (5 yrs), and Kaylyn (2 yrs); and of course my AWESOME husband Bob who allows me to come down here for such a length of time while he watches the kids who are still too young to come down & help. I am also thankful that I have sisters, parents, aunts, cousins, and other family close-by, to help with the kids while I'm down here!
Lempiras is the currency of Honduras and 1 U.S. dollar will yield about 18-19 Lemps in exchange (so I purchased $15 worth of minutes to the States which should be MORE than enough to get us through this week & next). Leigh also offered to buy our extra unused minutes before we head back if we had any, but I'll probably take them with me to San Pedro Sula so I can maintain contact with Blanca & Luis (from the bed & breakfast we stay at before heading home) and also to make some last minute phone calls home the night before our arrival back to the States.
We headed to the supermarket next. Generally I've eaten with the little girls the last 2 years, but have found it difficult this trip because of the clinic needs. The hours I'm in the clinic usually run right through the eating times of the girls, so I think I've only been over there to eat twice now. It's best to have some food "on hand". This supermarket is nothing like our Super-Walmarts back in the States. It's even smaller than a small local supermarket back in the States, but since it's bigger than the other stores in Guaimaca...it is THE supermarket. I bought some spaghetti noodles and some sauce (which comes in packets rather than a glass jar or can), some Honduran cheese (which is similar to the cheese that our old babysitter Patti brings us from El Salvador), 4 boxes (yes, BOXES) of milk, and some orange juice. We stopped at Glenda's small stand on the way back to Emmanuel for tomatoes, eggs & onions. There is an avocado tree next to our volunteer dorm, so I'll try to make some guacamole at some point for everyone.
Katja held a volunteer meeting at 4:30. Rachel and Malorie (two long-term volunteers) made donuts for the meeting and brought sodas. The focus of the meeting turned to the clinic demands. Katja mentioned that there was a couple just arriving as we met who were going to be at Emmanuel during the week "on vacation", but that the husband, David, was a paramedic. If it were a vacation, I really didn't want to ask him to do it (who wants to work on vacation, right?)...but noticing Leigh & my exhaustion, she called and asked David to help out at the clinic from 6:30am - 12:30pm the next day - just as he was bringing his suitcases in to where they were about to stay. He agreed to be there.
After the meeting, I hurried home to call my kids & was excited to hear from each one. Kaylyn said "hello" but the next thing out of her mouth was "When are you coming home?" Did she come up with that one, or was that Bob helping her to talk in the phone...I'm not sure. I let her know that I'd absolutely love it if she was there at the airport when I flew home in 2 weeks. I got to talk to Noah and Alina as well before talking to Bob & saying "good-nights" to all. Although the bus rides back to San Pedro Sula will be torture on me ('cuz they're all I'll think about, which will make me miss them more), the blessing of Emmanuel is that each year I come, I am SO NEEDED and they fill my hours - giving me little time to dwell on having left the rest of my family back home.
I spent the night at the clinic (6:30pm - 6:30am) and it was a long night. Two toddlers were rushed in to the clinic about 9:30 with Karelia. They had high fevers and she needed to check them out. With all of the lights going on in that room & all of the commotion, most of the children who were there with chicken pox woke up and it took them quite a while to get settled back to sleep. I was more appreciative of David agreeing to be in at 6:30am so that I could get some rest the next day!
We first stopped at the TIGO store. TIGO is probably the main cell phone carrier down here. My Verizon phone doesn't work down here and even if it would, TIGO offers much better rates than Verizon ever could to call home. I bought 3 of the $100 Lempira cards, planning to give one card to Andrés and the other two should allow me to call home multiple times to chat with my 3 precious children left behind: Alina (7 yrs), Noah (5 yrs), and Kaylyn (2 yrs); and of course my AWESOME husband Bob who allows me to come down here for such a length of time while he watches the kids who are still too young to come down & help. I am also thankful that I have sisters, parents, aunts, cousins, and other family close-by, to help with the kids while I'm down here!
Lempiras is the currency of Honduras and 1 U.S. dollar will yield about 18-19 Lemps in exchange (so I purchased $15 worth of minutes to the States which should be MORE than enough to get us through this week & next). Leigh also offered to buy our extra unused minutes before we head back if we had any, but I'll probably take them with me to San Pedro Sula so I can maintain contact with Blanca & Luis (from the bed & breakfast we stay at before heading home) and also to make some last minute phone calls home the night before our arrival back to the States.
We headed to the supermarket next. Generally I've eaten with the little girls the last 2 years, but have found it difficult this trip because of the clinic needs. The hours I'm in the clinic usually run right through the eating times of the girls, so I think I've only been over there to eat twice now. It's best to have some food "on hand". This supermarket is nothing like our Super-Walmarts back in the States. It's even smaller than a small local supermarket back in the States, but since it's bigger than the other stores in Guaimaca...it is THE supermarket. I bought some spaghetti noodles and some sauce (which comes in packets rather than a glass jar or can), some Honduran cheese (which is similar to the cheese that our old babysitter Patti brings us from El Salvador), 4 boxes (yes, BOXES) of milk, and some orange juice. We stopped at Glenda's small stand on the way back to Emmanuel for tomatoes, eggs & onions. There is an avocado tree next to our volunteer dorm, so I'll try to make some guacamole at some point for everyone.
Katja held a volunteer meeting at 4:30. Rachel and Malorie (two long-term volunteers) made donuts for the meeting and brought sodas. The focus of the meeting turned to the clinic demands. Katja mentioned that there was a couple just arriving as we met who were going to be at Emmanuel during the week "on vacation", but that the husband, David, was a paramedic. If it were a vacation, I really didn't want to ask him to do it (who wants to work on vacation, right?)...but noticing Leigh & my exhaustion, she called and asked David to help out at the clinic from 6:30am - 12:30pm the next day - just as he was bringing his suitcases in to where they were about to stay. He agreed to be there.
After the meeting, I hurried home to call my kids & was excited to hear from each one. Kaylyn said "hello" but the next thing out of her mouth was "When are you coming home?" Did she come up with that one, or was that Bob helping her to talk in the phone...I'm not sure. I let her know that I'd absolutely love it if she was there at the airport when I flew home in 2 weeks. I got to talk to Noah and Alina as well before talking to Bob & saying "good-nights" to all. Although the bus rides back to San Pedro Sula will be torture on me ('cuz they're all I'll think about, which will make me miss them more), the blessing of Emmanuel is that each year I come, I am SO NEEDED and they fill my hours - giving me little time to dwell on having left the rest of my family back home.
I spent the night at the clinic (6:30pm - 6:30am) and it was a long night. Two toddlers were rushed in to the clinic about 9:30 with Karelia. They had high fevers and she needed to check them out. With all of the lights going on in that room & all of the commotion, most of the children who were there with chicken pox woke up and it took them quite a while to get settled back to sleep. I was more appreciative of David agreeing to be in at 6:30am so that I could get some rest the next day!
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