Pinata Party

After devotions this morning, I once again headed to the little girls' house to help with getting them up and to help with circle & breakfast.  While cleaning was going on, I headed over to where the Ohio group was helping with cement.  The road between the big girls' yard and the team house has always been a combination of dirt, gravel, and rocks.  Over the past 6 years, various teams and the orphanage have been working to cement these roads.  Since Bob was working with the Ohio team and Papi this morning, I went to get some pictures of the work.

Smoothing out the Cement - Honduran Style

I walked the girls to school and then held the lectura (reading) classes.  Today since two of my students (Raul & Jorge) wouldn't read in class and got made fun of for not knowing how to read, I pulled them out after my 5 classes were finished to have them read with me in a small group...just me, Alina and them.  I had Alina read along with them so that they felt empowered in helping her pronounce some of the more difficult words.  I think that they walked away with a confidence partially built up from having had it crushed just an hour or two before.

During lunch, I went over to the girls' volunteer house where Kimberly was baking for her boys.  We chatted for a bit and then I talked with Leslie who is looking to take over the classes at the school, since she will be here for 10 months.  I let her know that she'd need to talk with Amy, and if all was okay, I would get her some of the materials either later in the evening or tomorrow.

When I got back to the little girls' house, I found out that their classes were cancelled for the afternoon.  Because the Honduras Independence Day is coming up in September, they will need to use a series of afternoons to get their band ready to have a marching parade around the orphanage.  The little girls don't participate in this and today was a practice day.  Because of this, members of the team came to do a bible study with our little girls, followed by coloring pictures and then a pinata party.

Pinata Party for the Pequenas

Because supper was not ready after the pinata party, we decided to bathe the girls first tonight since were were on a tight schedule with it being a Wednesday night and there was church at 4:30pm.  Supper consisted of a nice white rice with green beans and carrots mixed in.  I'm amazed at all of the girls down here who refuse to eat their vegetables...some may say, "well, kids in the States refuse to eat their vegetables", but to me it's just a little different when they refuse to eat EVERY veggie you offer them.  Although they DO eat fruits of all sorts...some that I don't care for and wouldn't choose to eat.

The church services down here last around 2 hours (not sure if I mentioned that before or not).  It was given by a pastor from the California group named Alex.  He gave us an abbreviated version of the book of James in the Bible, but the emphasis he provided on us showing our love of God and relationship with Him to others and encouraging them to do the same really was something!  After the church service, while Kimberly went to serve crepes to the female volunteers, Pastor Jeff came back to our place and Bob made a delicious chicken supper from the left-overs from last night.  Although I wasn't very hungry and didn't eat (since I had eaten at the little girls' house), I conversed as they ate.  After supper, it was completely dark out, so we said our good-nights and went to bed.

Dinner with Mami & Papi

Although my day generally begins between 3 & 4am with a shower to wake me up and getting dressed, and followed immediately by devotion time with God, I don't head out to "work" until 6am.  It is a short walk to the little girls' house from the apartment (about 1 city block's length).  This morning I took off with Alina once again at 6:00am.  Pastor Jeff went with Kimberly to her house (the power toddlers), and Bob went to the big boys' house.  When I got to the girls' house, some members from one of the teams was there that asked to do the morning's devotions.  They had bracelets to hand out which were made up of links of varying colors, each color having a special meaning (black = sin, white = Jesus' righteousness, red = Jesus' blood sacrifice, clear = forgiveness, blue = waters of baptism, green = life eternal, purple = royalty).  They needed someone to translate for them since this group had no Spanish speakers, so I took care of that.  After the girls had their circle devotions, we had granola for breakfast and then walked with them to school.  Bob had brought his camera, so I have taken a bunch of pictures.

My classes went well this morning.  Today I had 3 4th grade reading classes.  After class, as I was heading back to the little girls' house, I saw the 6th graders in the school storage room doing each other's hair.  As I approached them, I asked them what they were doing and they said "planchando pelo" which translates to "ironing hair".  I took a few more steps towards them & saw that they actually had an iron that you use for clothing!  They had a towel underneath and hair above the towel and used this clothes iron to straighten hair!  They were also doing each other's make-up since today Max was taking pictures of them.

I continued on to the little girls' house where Alina was learning how to make tortillas with the kitchen girls.  After making tortillas (which they would eat for supper), they began preparing the tilapia for supper.  Alina has been learning various tasks around Emmanuel (how to mop, how to check for lice, how to cook, etc).  She's been fitting right in!

Alina making tortillas with Doris

I headed back to the school to bring the girls home for lunch & get them served and then walked them back to school.  Because we would have a late supper tonight (at 6pm as opposed to the 3:30pm we generally eat at), Alina & I waited until AFTER the girls went back to school to go with Bob to the tienda to eat a later lunch, so that we wouldn't be starving by the time the late hour of supper rolled around.  After eating, Bob went on his way to see if Esau needed help.  He had been working with Esau (from the California group) all morning.  Alina & I stopped by the craft house to see if Elizabeth needed any help with her special needs class, but she was just wrapping up since she had to get back to the little girls' house early.  We let her know that we would not be with the little girls this evening due to having a special supper.

Pastor Jeff had been with Kimberly most of the day touring the orphanage and also getting to walk into town since we needed milk for this evening's dinner.

When I got back to the apartment, Bob was already there prepping the food for this evening.  Kimberly & I carried many of the supplies up to Tammy's house, where we would have our supper.  Bob was preparing a special meal for David & Lydia, Pastor Jeff, and then Kimberly, Bob, Alina & me.  Supper consisted of chicken with a creamy guava sauce, whipped potatoes, fried green beans, and a fruit salsa.  Kimberly made pan de pan for desert, which she had learned to make when she spent a day at the bakery in town just over a month ago.  David & Lydia were pleasantly pleased with the dinner and we had great conversation.

After David & Lydia left, we cleaned up all of the dishes and put Tammy's house back to the way it was before heading back to the apartment.  We were full and tired by that point, so decided to call it a night.

The Rain, Bob & Pastor Jeff Arrive

Wade had mentioned a few years back that there is only 2-3 weeks during the rainy season where it's actually "nice" outside and doesn't rain as often.  Those days have come & gone as of today.  It rained all day long and just when you thought there might be a break, it came down some more!  The down-side of this is that I didn't bring an umbrella or a rain jacket, so just like the kids...no matter where I walked, I got wet.  The upside is that it's not nearly as hot as it usually is which will make it a nice "cooler" day for Bob who doesn't do well in extreme heat.

Alina & I began our day as usual by heading to the little girls' house to help get them dressed, do their morning circle (in the sala, of course, since it was raining outside) and then get them breakfast before walking them to school.  There were 3 teenagers here this morning from one of the 2 groups that are serving this week.  Our little girls tend to flock around new team members or volunteers, so once I was able to get the teens to spread out, circle became a pleasant experience in which just about all of the little girls participated (many times they'll get distracted by "new people" and they don't participate, or begin to exhibit bad behaviors).

Classes went well this morning...it was all 5th grade classes.  There were moments when the children were reading out loud and it was very difficult to hear them due to the rain beating on the roof of the school.  Alina & I did have a couple of 20-minute breaks between classes.  During one of the breaks, we re-shelved books that had been taken down, and on the 2nd break we headed home to begin moving Alina to Kimberly's room since Bob would be coming today.

Alina & I walked the small girls back to the house for lunch and then helped clean up before bringing the girls back to school for their afternoon classes.  We briefly ran home for a 1/2 hour to finish cleaning up the house (did the few dishes that were in the sink, finished moving Alina's things, cleaned the bathroom and swept/mopped the house).  When the house was finished, we headed down to the craft house where Elizabeth was teaching the special needs children.  They read through a story, practiced colors, shapes, letters A-E and their numbers 1-5.  Then they traced their hands onto paper, decorated them, and cut them out.  Elizabeth hopes to use these hands down the road when she asks questions like, "Do you prefer..."  Then she can have a picture up on the board and the students can go over and move their hand to which one they prefer.  She finished class-time with another story.

We finished just as the school was letting out, so I headed over to where the small girls line up in the school.  Then I saw Norman come up the drive with Elizabeth's friend, Molly, and Pastor Jeff & Bob inside.  He dropped off Molly at the girls' volunteer house first, then drove around to the apartment to drop Pastor Jeff & Bob off.  By this time the little girls were headed back to their house, so I walked with them until I got to the apartment and greeted Bob & Pastor Jeff.  I quickly ran to see Katja about where PJ would be staying...which is in the "hotel"  He's in the one closest to our apartment, which is nice.  We unloaded the luggage and headed over to the little girls house.

Because the team didn't show up to do Bible study, and because the store wouldn't stay open too much longer, I mentioned to Bob that he should take Pastor Jeff over to get a bite to eat.  It's a good thing that I sent them when I did because I'm sure it started to downpour once again just as soon as they arrived to the store!  While our girls were having Bible study, then supper and then baths, Bob took Pastor Jeff around on a mini-tour...I think Kimberly is completely showing him around tomorrow.  We chatted a bit after the girls' bath-time and then I said my good-nights as I'm sure both Pastor Jeff & Bob were tired from their long travels.

Alina & I headed to the medium girls' house to watch a movie with them.  This would also give Bob a bit of time to stretch out on the bed and sleep comfortably for a couple of hours before I came to bed.  We had fun watching the movie with the girls (although I couldn't tell you the name of the movie).  When it was over, we said a bedtime prayer together before we headed home to bed ourselves.

House Dedication

This morning began with a church service led by Frank (Esau's pastor from the California group that is here).  I've heard him speak before and am just amazed by his ability to reach out to people.  Much of his sermon came from 1 John, which contains many verses that I had went through with Alina just a week ago...on how to be a child of God.

At 11:00, the new boys' house was dedicated.  The pastor here from the Ohio group (yep, there's 2 groups here this week, which is actually pretty unusual) did the dedication and prayed over the boys' house.  This house is for boys that are around 13-14 years of age and John will be in charge of the house.  John had told me this morning that when he was just a volunteer 4-5 years ago, he lived in the boys' volunteer house & had prayed/envisioned that some day God would lead him to be in charge of a boys' house in the very spot that this new house was built!  The verse that the Ohio pastor chose to use in the dedication of this house was:

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.  It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.  For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.  ~Psalm 133

What an appropriate passage to choose...brothers living together in unity.  We all know how boys are (SO energetic) and how they can get very physical in times of play, in times of work, and in times of anger.  May God bless this house and nudge these boys to get along well together as they go through life's challenges.  I would like to have these verses in a frame or engraved to send down here to John to put up in his house above the door.

After the dedication, Alina & I at lunch at the tienda.  It's amazing how our stomachs have "shrunk" to accommodate the smaller, healthier meals here.  I ordered a hamburger for Alina and myself...I didn't have to eat for the rest of the day (and this was LUNCH), and Alina had to wrap up about 1/3 of her hamburger left-overs to take home for later.

After we had eaten, we went over to the little girls' house to help with lunch.  On Sundays, volunteers "technically" are given the day to rest in the Sabbath, however we were missing our girls!  After lunch we headed home to call Bob with our last-minute list to bring then headed out to the medium girls' yard to chit-chat for about 1/2 hour before heading over to the little girls' yard to take Marisol and Yanira to the tienda for ice cream.  Yanira's sister, Maria, had special permission today to be over in the little girls' yard to spend time with her little sister (she is a big girl), so we took her as well.  Siblings in different houses don't get to see each other much unless they get this special permission...and if they are siblings of the opposite sex, they never get to see each other except in school (as Yanira & Maria told me about their brother who is 6 years old.  After the ice cream, we took the 3 back to the little girls' yard and sat there until supper time.

This evening we went out front of our apartment and the medium girls were playing a game of soccer.  Michell's team was losing 1-3, so I told Alina to join in on her team.  Alina played hard, and the girls really enjoyed Alina spending time with them.  After they were called in to go to bed, Alina & I also headed back to the house to call it a night.

Brandy's Goodbye

On Saturdays there isn't any circle, so we headed to the little girls' house to help them get dressed and have breakfast.  During breakfast Alina's stomach wasn't feeling so well (don't worry, it was very temporary this time) so the other volunteer, Samantha, went to get her some medicine and Alina went home to rest while we served breakfast.  I checked in with Alina after the dining hall was cleaned.  After about an hour or so, she was feeling better, so we headed out on a walk.  On our way we saw Esau, a member of the California group that had just arrived.  He has been here every year since the year of the chicken pox (he helped out a great deal with the plumbing issues at the clinic that year and also got me some extra help with caring for all of the children with chicken pox).  I introduced him to Alina and then we continued on our way.

While chatting with Alina at Emmanuel's snack shop, I got to meet Elizabeth's dad.  He suffers from vertigo, so had been in the house resting up until this point...but now was walking with his wife and their suitcases which were full of...peanut butter sandwiches!  They had made over 100 of them to take to the medium boys' house for lunch and were stopping by the snack shack to buy a bunch of 3-liter (yep, you heard that right...not 2L like we're used to) bottles of soda.  They also bought a bunch of additional snacks (chips?).  They asked if Alina & I would be willing to carry them to the medium boys house and we said, "Sure," but by the time all was packed up and ready to be carried, there were some bigger boys that were happy to help out, and there was nothing left for Alina & I to carry.

Alina & I went to the little girls' house to help serve lunch and clean up and then we met Samantha at the girls' volunteer house and headed over to the team house because Samantha had heard that the gift shop would be open.  We met Julieth and Veronica in the gazebo at the team house and they said that the shop would be opened until tomorrow.  Samantha headed back to her house to clean, but Alina & I stayed and chatted with Julieth and Veronica for about an hour.  When we were finished we headed back home and had a good chat with Kimberly about the book she was reading.  I decided to wash the bedding so that it would be clean for when Bob came (with Alina's illnesses while here and Bob's weak immune system, I didn't want to take a chance that he might get sick).  When I hung the wet bedding on the clothes line out back, I accidentally stepped on a mucky hole and a huge toad jumped out.  Good thing toads rarely scare me!

For supper at the little girls' house, they served toasted tortillas with a bean/beef mixture spread onto it and then a crumbled, salty cheese sprinkled over the top.  Each child got 2 of these and they were very good!  We made sure the girls got their showers and then headed home to make a call back to the States.  Andres was the only one home, but I really did enjoy talking to him for a while about what was all going on with him.

After the chat with Andres, I began to make guacamole for Zue.  Tonight is Brandy's last night before heading to the States for a few weeks.  Brandy wanted to have a birthday party for Zue & Zue wanted to throw a going away party for Brandy.  It's and awesome friendship between the two.  Brandy has been here for a couple of years and last year a baby came to the orphanage.  David & Lydia had told Brandy that this baby may be available for adoption due to her circumstances.  Brandy immediately took the baby (named Lydia) in as her own with hopes to adopt Lydia down the road.  Brandy has never been away from Lydia, so this trip back home was worrying her just a little bit.  Please keep Brandy in your prayers, for courage and strength while she is gone away from her daughter.  An amazing note to Brandy's trip though, is that her dad may be coming back to Honduras with her to visit Lydia!

We (Kimberly & I) had a great time with Zue & Brandy.  Alina was at with the big girls watching movies and I had left the apartment door unlocked, so when Kimberly & I came back from the party, Alina had already put herself to bed and was sleeping.  She did let me know later that she heard the rat scurrying around the kitchen while she was in bed and was a little afraid to come out of the bedroom!

A Big Surprise at the End of the Day

This morning there wasn't the usual big circle that happens on Fridays.  We headed in the direction that the big circle generally is and heard our little girls in their house yet, so stopped up to the house to see what was up.  Apparently they canceled big circle last night.  So after the little girls got up & dressed, they went to the sala to have a little circle and then watch some movies as they waited for breakfast.  This morning once again they had oatmeal, but there was a lot more grains than normal in the oatmeal, making it about 1/2 as thick as we eat it in the U.S.

The elementary school was closed today, so just the bigger girls needed to be walked to school.  Kimberly, Alina & I headed into town with 3 other female volunteers (Samantha, Anna & Leslie) so that the other volunteers could get some supplies/groceries for the next few weeks.  I had my own list (sent by Bob) as well as getting cards to add minutes to my phone so that I could call home.  It is most reasonable to buy a phone down here ($20-$35) and then get minutes than to bring your American cell phone & plan down this way to call back up to the States.  With the Honduran plan, it costs about 5 cents a minute to call back home!  Since I had such a big list of items to purchase for this coming Tuesday (I'll keep that a secret until we get to that day's blog), Samantha & Alina helped by carrying some of the bags back.

When we got back to Emmanuel, I put all of the purchases away before heading to the little girls' house once again.  The little girls were out in the yard, so I took the opportunity to chat with the bigger girls of the house.  Daniela was struggling with her English project.  She needed to choose which character of the Bible she would like to "become" and then answer a number of questions about this character of the Bible.  She told me that all of the people she wanted to be were taken by her classmates...so then she asked me if I could be anyone in the Bible, who would I be?  I told her I'd have to think about that and I'd let her know after supper.  We ate supper and then gave baths, and then I was ready to reply to Daniela.  Here's what I said:

If I could be anyone in the Bible, I would most likely choose to be Leah.  Daniela had never heard of Leah!  So we looked up her story in Genesis 29-30.  Leah was not anything special in terms of beauty, we could think of her as a plain-Jane...perhaps not even that good looking (Gen. 29:17).  Jacob fell in love with Rachel due to her physical beauty.  So Jacob asks for Rachel's hand, works 7 years for her father Laban and then on the wedding day, Laban gives him Leah as a wife saying that it is customary to give the older child first.  Imagine Leah & what's supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life, and when Jacob discovers that he has been deceived...how his expression changes from pure joy (having thought he was marrying Rachel) to...anger, disgust, repulsion, frustration, deception, etc when he realizes he didn't get the woman he had longed for.  Feel for a moment what Leah would have felt.  Then Jacob is so determined to get Rachel that he works another 7 years...so Leah is not "good enough" as a wife...and she knows that Jacob is putting in all that time to get the wife he really wants, which is NOT HER.

Okay, now after all of the earthly misery, here's what God did in Leah's life -

Leah was the first to bear children for Jacob, in fact she bore Jacob 4 sons before anything came through Rachel's line!  Due to the names of these sons, you know that Leah was suffering in an earthly way, feeling very unloved by her husband, for the bible says:

Leah because pregnant and gave birth to a son.  She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the Lord has seen my misery.  Surely my husband will love me now."  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too."  So she named him Simeon.  Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."  So he was named Levi.  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the Lord,"  So she named him Judah.  (Gen.29:32-35)

Now, let's process that last sentence and how great our God is...the first chapter of Matthew gives the lineage of Jesus.  You only have to read Matthew 1:1-3 to discover that Jesus came from Judah, son of Jacob.  God richly blessed Leah, who was unloved by her husband, by sending His Son through her!!!  Leah never knew here on earth that she would be the ancestor of the Most High, she never knew how God would bless her & what an amazing blessing it was!

Daniela decided immediately that she wanted to work on Leah's story.  I let her know that if she needed any other help, just to let me know.  While we were discussing the story, Dulce moved into the little girls' house.  She is a big girl that was helping out over with the medium girls and I'm not sure yet why she came this way, but I do know her fairly well & her name (which means "sweet" in English) completely fits her personality and character!  She'll be a great addition to the home.

Alina & I called home briefly to talk with everyone and then watched a movie with the big girls.  When we came home and opened the door, I heard noise in the kitchen.  We went to the kitchen but didn't see anything.  I moved a few things around, certain that I had heard the mouse...but nothing happened.  I went to the bedroom to put my purse on the dresser (where I normally keep it) and when I walked back into the kitchen, Alina was frozen in place staring at the top corner of our kitchen (above the cupboards) and she said "There's the mouse."  I didn't see anything and she said it's tail is dangling from that hole in the corner, too afraid to point.  I looked up and saw a tail...it wasn't a mouse - it was a RAT and a BIG ONE!!!

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh....that's Honduras.

A Day at the Playground

Once again, today was a pretty "normal" day.  Woke up and had my devotional time with God, followed by heading the the little girls' house for circle devotions & breakfast, and then walking them to school.  The girls seemed to be ready for school earlier than normal this morning.  Alina came with me once again to my classes this morning.  She read another page in a book out loud along with the students.  One of my 6th grade classes was not able to come down for reading time because the teacher's schedule didn't allow for it this morning.  Our classes only meet once a week, so they'll have to wait for next week in order to participate once again.  I walked with the girls to their dining hall when the morning session of classes was over.  Here at the orphanage when you walk anywhere, your children should be in a nice, straight line.  This has really been a challenge with the little girls, but it's a work in progress.

After lunch, Alina & I walked back to school once again before heading to the apartment for just a little bit.  The girls are in school from about 1:00-2:30.  Before going to pick the girls up from school, I took Alina to the snack shack for an ice cream cone.  They had replaced their flavors since the power outage on Sunday, so both Alina & I decided on chocolate cones.  After eating them, we went to pick up the girls from school, passing the lines of boys walking to their homes.  I only know a few of them, but gave them high fives as we passed.

When we picked up the girls we headed to the playground at the school, since there wasn't the ensenanza devotional study this afternoon.  The girls played for about an hour while I chatted with Doris and interacted with a bunch of little girls.  Just like in our own families, there are fights that break out all the time.  Imagine how often your children argue in a day and then multiply that by about 15-20 (since there are around 35 girls in the house).  One girl came up to me at the playground crying very hard and showed me her back while she said that another girl bit her.  It was already very swollen and turning black & blue.  I brought the two girls over to Pamelita and asked if she could handle that, since it was a little more serious than the arguments I was used to handling.  After I turned them over to Pamelita, Elizabeth (one of the staff here) came biking down the trail to the playground and Pamelita sent them to her.

When playground time was up, we headed back to the house to have supper.  The tia (that's what they call the cook) made the girls tortillas filled with beans and butter that was home-made from the farm.  This is the first time we've had tortillas in the little girls house this year.  Last year it was practically a daily thing, but I guess they've been out of flour for a while.  The tortillas were delicious!

After supper comes bath time, and after the girls were all bathed, I spent an hour chatting with Elizabeth before heading home.  Her parents and brother arrived from Washington State yesterday, so prayers for a healthy stay here would be much appreciated.  Alina stayed with the big girls watching a movie while I went home for the evening.