Jaden Begins a Variety of Jobs

    This morning for breakfast was arroz con leche (rice with warm milk) and a banana on the side.  After breakfast, Noah headed off with Moncho and Kaylyn headed to the Toddler House.  I have asked Noah to take pictures here and there of what he does and also am hoping to get pictures of Kaylyn working with the Toddlers as well so that that I can put them into future blogs.  

   As for me and Jaden, we needed to be at the school this morning at 7am because the Math 10 course (Algebra 2 / PreCalculus) began right away first thing!  We reviewed some basic concepts that the teacher said they were having a difficult time with: graphing points, independent vs dependent variables, domain vs range, and substituting values in for x when to came to functions.  Then we got into the lesson for today, using all of these concepts just mentioned to graph rational functions.  I should probably stop there for those who aren't math savvy.  Jaden got to plot some points when we got to that part of the review, so that kept him a little engaged.  He wasn't able to go with Alexander until 8am, so needed to stay with me until that point.

   Alexander told me that he was going to make sure Jaden got to work with a variety of people while he was here, so I want to be able to focus on his experiences a little more than Noah and Kaylyn's this year because it is his first year here at Emmanuel.  When I met back up with Jaden for lunch, he told me that Alexander took him to work with Chino this morning where his chores for the morning were: changing light bulbs, carrying a ladder, holding wires and holding flashlights for Chino.  He said he had a lot of fun and learned a bit too.

   Lunch consisted of spaghetti with queso fresco (crumbly cheese), zucchini and water.  After eating we chatted with a few of the children in the Comedor - which is actually the norm for us to chat and give hugs, and then we headed to our respective areas.  Kaylyn and I headed to the Toddler House to put the kiddos down for a nap, Noah headed off with Moncho and they have been busy working on the sinks in the Power Toddlers house because the wood underneath them has rotted out.  They also used leaf blowers to clean the cemented areas.  Jaden headed off to work with Mike in the wood shop to sand table bottoms and revarnish them.

   When Kaylyn and I headed back to the Toddler House just a couple of hours later to wake up the toddlers and get them ready for supper, the encargadas (older girls and women in charge) said the toddlers would be eating supper in their house today.  It has been raining on and off all day...rains for about 5 minutes and then the sun comes out for 20-30 minutes, then it rains again for a few minutes and it's been a continuous cycle like that throughout the day.  They didn't want the toddlers walking all the way down to the Comedor and getting soaked and ultimately sick.  So after getting them up and getting the picnic tables set up in their open area, Kaylyn and I took off for the Comedor for supper.

   After supper, all 4 of us once again retreated back to the Team House to settle in for the night.  Kaylyn decided to make us pancakes as a night time snack and then the extras were sent to the refrigerator for anyone to snack on over the next few days, if they last that long.

Update on Noah's finger:  We looked at Noah's finger this evening and it looks like the spritzes of Bactine have been keeping it disinfected and that the wound has closed.  So now it should just be a matter of time before he'll have a good battle wound to tell stories about.

Update on Kaylyn's sunburn:  The burn on the backs of Kaylyn's knees look like they're about to blister, but now we are wondering if this might be a combination of a sunburn and an allergic reaction as her right hand is extremely red around each knuckle (of this same color you see here).  She says it does not itch yet, but if it gets to that point we will definitely take her to the clinic to see LaShawn.  Some of the girls here at the orphanage said that another girl has allergic reactions of the same kind (on the knuckles)...so we will just wait and see.

Noah's 1st Ever in 5 Years!

    This morning when we headed to breakfast, Oscar had oatmeal on the menu.  We seem to have been rotating between oatmeal, arroz con leche (warm rice with milk), and another mixture that I have not been able to define yet.  But the main part of this story is that never, ever in his history of being here, has Noah eaten breakfast quickly.  He has a difficult time mostly with the textures of the warm cereal that is served each day.  In prior (non-COVID) years, he would eat 2 or maybe 3 spoons of breakfast and then pass the rest on to the boys whose table we shared.  Sometimes he wouldn't even take a bit and just eat the moon pie!  Anyway, this morning Noah at everything in the bowl and more quickly than Kaylyn, Jaden or me.  I am not sure if he was just starving by that point because nothing was really different about this bowl of oatmeal...but I was blown away by how fast he not only ate but finished off the bowl!

   After breakfast, Noah went with Moncho and Kaylyn headed to the Toddler House.  Jaden went back to the Team House with me because Alexander (who he will be with the majority of the time) had off today and so we arranged for Jaden to work with Mike, but the shop didn't open until 8am.  I spent an hour looking over and refining the lesson I had created for the Math 11 (Calculus) course that I would be teaching this morning.  When Jaden headed to the shop to work with Mike, I took off for the school to teach their first lesson on derivatives (constants, linear functions, and exponents).  After the lesson, I headed back to the Team House to work on the lesson for tomorrow's Math 10 (Algebra 2 / PreCalculus) course which would be on polynomial functions (asymptotes, intercepts, domain, range, graphing).  Although the Calculus topics are still pretty fresh in my brain from 3 years ago, it has been a bit longer since I have taught Algebra 2...so the lesson took me a bit more to create.

   The kids and I met up for lunch in the Comedor and then Kaylyn and I walked back with the toddlers to the Toddler House in order to help put them down for a nap.  They all nap in the same room on some large shared mats which is interesting.  I remember years ago when I saw this for the first time wondering how in the world they could get all of these children to sleep so quickly, together and at the same time!  I am guessing the older toddlers make an example for the younger ones coming in and since that's how it's been for years, it works well.  I will try to remember to get a picture of this for an upcoming post.

   While the toddlers slept, Kaylyn and I headed back to the Team House.  During this time Kaylyn generally takes a nap as well, while I tend to work through the math book carefully noting the mathematical words in Spanish that I need to remember.  Many of them are cognates, meaning that they are very similar in English (like sum is suma, or multiply is multiplicar, etc).  But there are some that are a bit different, so I want to be sure I am using the correct words in Spanish.

   We met up with the boys at the Comedor for supper and then headed back to the Team House.  Both boys showered since there were fairly dirty from their days work while I read before turning in for the night.

Noah Gets Hurt

   We have decided that on Sundays, we would not eat in the Comedor but rather eat together as a family.  This will be the one meal that we share just the 4 of us without interruption for the two Sundays that we are here.  While in town on Friday I bought 2 boxes of Cereal, the Honduran equivalents of Frosted Flakes and Cocoa Puffs.  Of course everyone wanted the cocoa puffs today.  The reason why I do this is so that the kids can be reminded of how great fresh milk from our beautiful state of Wisconsin (America's Dairyland) really is!  You see, milk here comes in a small box, about a quart of it and that box you will find on the regular shelves (not shelves in the refrigerator) of the store.  While we are used to expiration dates only about 2 weeks from the milk we find in the store, the expiration date on these boxes is in October 26th and November 4th of this year.  This probably makes Wisconsinites wonder, what in the world???  I know that it did to me as well when I had lived down in Mexico and saw this.

   Church begins at 8:30am, so the kids decided to wake up just a little bit later since Sunday is a more relaxed day and our day off from working.  We had breakfast and then Kaylyn and I walked to the yard just outside the church where the little girls were because yesterday they let Kaylyn know they wanted to braid her hair up like a princess, specifically Cinderella.  As she was getting her hair put up into braids and a bun, many of the little girls kept saying over and over, "Cenicientas" (Cinderella!!!).  I wish I would have taken a picture while Kaylyn was getting her hair braided so that it could capture all of the small girls who were surrounding her while the braiding was in process.  Perhaps she will have this done next Sunday as well and I can capture that moment.

Kaylyn's Cinderella hair

   After a beautiful performance in church for Lydia in celebration of her birthday, Pastor German gave the sermon today and I guess I never realized that his wife was Profe Juanes.  She has been a teacher at the school for quite a few years, although I hadn't seen her this year...perhaps retired?  I always enjoy listening to Pastor German as his lessons have always been applicable to what's going on with me in the moment.

Lydia thanking the girls for their performance

Lydia showing appreciation to all who have celebrated her

David acknowledging Lydia as the Proverbs 31 wife and mother

David and Pastor German

   Sundays are also our day to get the house cleaned and in order.  When we got back from church, I let the kids know what the plan was to clean the house.  We would take care of the 3 toilets, the 3 bathroom sinks, the 2 showers, then sweep and mop the entire house (aside from the 2 bedrooms we do not use).  We also needed to focus on cleaning the kitchen cupboards and sinks well in order to minimize attracting bugs (ants, cockroaches, etc).  They will still come, but hopefully less.

   As Kaylyn, Jaden and I began to clean the bathroom, Noah decided to make himself a sandwich.  Apparently the meat was in a sealed package and he thought he would open it with a huge butcher knife that just happened to be extra sharp.  One miscalculation and he went through the finger on his left hand.  At the time I didn't know how bad it was, I just saw the blood.  He said it wasn't bad and I took him at his word because I was on a mission to clean the house.  I scolded him for deciding to avoid cleaning by making himself a sandwich, and may have mentioned that perhaps that cut was his punishment for avoiding the work that lay ahead.  He put a Band-Aid on it and began to help clean.  In all, it took us an hour and 10 minutes to clean the entire house, which included the porch that wraps around 2 sides of the Team House.  Obviously it was the floors that took the longest...I swept, Kaylyn followed behind mopping with disinfectant soap, Noah went behind with a mop to clean up the soap, and Jaden followed with the third mop to try to dry up as much as possible (clean, rinse, dry).  We finished with just enough time to make it to the Comedor for lunch.

   After lunch, we took Nikoll, Alejandra and Jeremias to the tienda (store) for treats and snacks.  We chatted a bit at the store.  Jeremias is an absolute HOOT!  I love having him along to crack jokes with Noah.  We moved from chatting at the tienda to the table and chairs on the porch of the Team House.  We had some clothes to give to Alejandra and Nikoll, each got a dress, 2 shirts and 1 Honduran soccer jersey.  Jeremias was satisfied playing with Noah's Nintendo DS, although he will most likely get a few shirts next week.  All 3 got a paleta (Mexican mango flavored sucker coated in chili pepper) as well as a packet of flavored powder to add to water to make flavored water, although honestly I think they will choose to open the packet and eat it like a pixi stix or Fun Dip. 

From front left around the table:
Alejandra, Nikoll, Kaylyn,
Jaden, Jeremias, Noah

   The girls mentioned that they wanted to go on a walk yet before supper, so we all walked to the farm and saw the cows (which is why they wanted to go to the farm).  We had to take a shortcut path back to the Comedor because we were in a crunch for time.  When we dropped them off to eat, we headed to the tienda to buy a Pepsi and taqueritos (a type of chip) to take up to Michell in the big Team House where she and Mirna were preparing the supper for Lydia's 72nd birthday party.

   By now, Noah had changed his bandage twice as it soaked through and onto his hand, arm and leg.  This second time that he changed it, I told him I wanted to see it.  We cleaned it up and I got a good look at it.  In all honesty, if we had been in the United States I believe he would have went to the clinic or even the ER to get a few (3 to 5, or more) stitches.  But here we are, in Honduras, so the best we can do right now if he doesn't want LaShawn to look at it is to get it disinfected and try to get it to close up on its own.  I got Bactine on it and then put a smaller bandage over the deepest part of the cut to get it to stay closed, then wrapped a huge bandage around his finger which immobilized his finger so he wasn't able to bend it or agitate the wound.  Unfortunately I forgot the Neosporin, so I told him this would need to stay on an absolute minimum of 2 days but hopefully we could get 4-5 out of it to allow time to close.  I also instructed him to let me know if the bandage soaked through with blood, because then he wouldn't be able to avoid checking in with LaShawn (the nurse here at the orphanage).

   Lydia's party began at 5, although rarely are people on time.  We arrived at 5:30pm due to a few hiccups on our end, but they were just about to start when we arrived.  We found a table and sat down and Elvia began the evening as MC.  They had delicious food (rice, beans, eggs, sausage, tortillas, pico de gallo, pineapple juice, and fried plantains) and our plates were absolutely full!  And that didn't even include the chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  After dinner, the grandecitas (tween girls) entertained us in Munchkin Men costumes with 2 dances and even got Lydia and David out on the dance floor!  Those girls had us all in laughs!  Selvin washed Lydia's feet just as Jesus washed his disciples feet.  Rolley put together a video presentation to music of pictures of Lydia through the years which was amazing, and then Elvia offered up the microphone to anyone who had words of gratitude to say to Lydia.  When David and Lydia retired to their house, we all hustled up to the girls volunteer house where Moncho lit up some big fireworks.  I have never been next to fireworks like these (imagine city fireworks on the 4th of July, just as high but perhaps not as many) so it was just incredible to be a part of.  David and Lydia definitely would have been able to see these from the comfort of their house.  What an amazing way to end the evening!

Elvia as MC of Lydia's 72nd birthday party

Birthday meal

Munchkin Men dance for Lydia's birthday party

Selvin washing Lydia's feet

Alexander talking about fond memories of Lydia as a mother

Lydia's closing speech and gratitude to all

Everyone Misses Alina

   This morning we woke to the sound of the boys cutting the grass.  Although breakfast is later due to it being a Saturday and there isn't school (which starts at 7am) today, I still woke around 4:30ish.  All 4 of us headed to the Comedor for breakfast and that is when Moncho let us know that he could take Noah but not Jaden from here on out.  I talked with Alexander and he said that Jaden could start working with him on Tuesday since he had many things to do today to prepare for the party tomorrow (which I will talk about tomorrow).  Monday he was off of work, so Tuesday would be Jaden's starting day.  So Kaylyn and I took Jaden to the Chosa after breakfast to help watch the toddlers for the morning.  

   While at the Chosa, Marta asked about Alina.  I titled today's blog the way I did because by now...many of the children have been asking about Alina because she has been here 7 consecutive times, more times than any of our other children.  These children here at Emmanuel know her best and they think the world of her.  Some children have mistaken Kaylyn for Alina, so to a couple I pointed to Kaylyn and said "mini-Alina".  Not sure how Kaylyn felt about that.  The only one who doesn't remember us, but would most likely remember Alina is the one she wanted a picture of...Dilmer.  Her little boy.

   We took the toddlers on a walk this morning, around the farm and back, before it was time for lunch.  When lunch was over, it was nap time for the toddlers (from 1pm-3pm), and Kaylyn and Jaden also felt they needed a nap as well.  While they were napping, I worked through Profe Jorge's tarea (homework) from yesterday and then began working on the next lesson I was going to teach for this class.

   I noticed Kaylyn has a pretty bad sunburn on the backs of her knees, and am guessing that may have been an area she forgot to get sunscreen on when she used it each morning...and now, will pay the price for the next bunch of days as the burn looks to be a good one.  

   Noah missed supper tonight, not sure if he wasn't keeping track of time?  He didn't bring a watch down so is relying on the clocks that are on the microwave and coffee pot in our Team House, when he bothers to check them.  We brought his bowl of supper back to him though.  

   In the evening I played a game of Candyland with Noah and Jaden while Kaylyn showered, and then we all sat down to read before we turned in for bed.  I am guessing Noah was doing a Sudoku rather than reading, but that is still much better than electronics.  :-) 

Delays due to Internet Chip Problems

   I was excited to wake up today because it's Friday, and typically Friday is Big Circle.  This is where all of the children gather out in front of the clinic and hotel and have devotions as well as singing praises.  Some groups of children recite the Bible passages they have learned as well.  It rained overnight and was still drizzling when 5:30am came along.  I didn't hear any noises outside indicating Big Circle was about to happen (generally you can hear the musicians tuning and firing up their instruments), so we walked down to the Comedor.  They had decided to do the morning's devotions, recitations and singing in the comedor, which definitely kept us dry!

   After breakfast, I walked Kaylyn down to the chosa at the Toddler House.  The chosa is an enclosed area where the children can play with toys as well as watch movies and sing-alongs.  Then I headed back to the Team House to change my clothes in order to head to school.  In the mornings I am typically wearing long sleeves and pants, but I do not want to get caught in those as the day goes on, especially since it gets extremely warm for us Wisconsinites (think WI August, but much less humidity).  

   I met with Profe Jorge who was about to teach the 10th grade math class.  If this name seems different from many of my last posts, it is.  Generally over the past 7-8 years I have worked with Profe Ramon, who was in charge of the upper level math courses.  Earlier this summer, Profe Ramon passed away.  As I typed that sentence, initially I had the word 'sadly' in there...but as I thought about it, we should be happy for him because he truly was a man of God and he is now in a much better place in perfect health and celebrating.  I watched the lesson for the day and then Profe Jorge gave me my schedule for the next 2 weeks as well as books for each of the two classes I would be teaching.

   Alexander was going to take Kaylyn and I into town today and Moncho was going to take Noah and Jaden today, but there was a staff meeting at 9am.  We all thought it would be done by 10am, so the boys and I waited in the Team House gazebo as we chatted with Milton, Mirna and Michell.  Michell brought us some of the cheese filled bread that she and Mirna had been making for Papi (David, the founder of Orphanage Emmanuel).  It was quite delicious!

   It wasn't until 11am when Alexander came around saying the meeting ran late and that it wasn't just me and Kaylyn going, but Daniela and Eva as well because they had some items that needed taking care of in town too.  So Alexander dropped us off at the grocery store in the center square and told us that's where he'd pick us up after dropping off Daniela and Eva where they needed to be.

   We went to both grocery stores and then stopped at a Claro store to get a chip for Alina's old phone.  Generally in the past, I would by 2 chips (SIM cards).  One would be from Tigo and would go into the cell phone to make extremely reasonably priced phone calls home, and then the other chip would be from Claro to put into the modem so that my computer would get internet and be able to take care of these blogs.  The past few years I have been down here, a few staff members at the orphanage mentioned they didn't know why I was buying 2 chips since I could just get one for my phone and then use the 'hotspot' in order for my computer to be able to access the internet.  So this year I decided to try that...HUGE MISTAKE.

   When we got back to the Team House from town, Kaylyn and I put the groceries away.  They boys helped as well.  They were also kind enough to bring back the lunches that were made for us in the comedor so that Kaylyn and I could eat after getting those groceries put away.  We just had to grab the bowls from the fridge and throw them in the microwave.  

   After putting the groceries away, the kids all decided to take a nap while I read.  I brought two Stephen King books down out of the 3 that my sister Julie loaned me, quite a while back I might add.  I began reading one in Alaska on our anniversary trip, but now seemed like the perfect time to get back at it.  Typically I do a lot of reading while down here.

   For supper in the comedor, they served beans, rice and hot dogs.  Jaden is not a fan of beans, so he was the last one finished.  Over our first few days here, the kids have decided that the one to return the breakfast dishes to the kitchen from the tables we eat on would be Jaden.  Kaylyn would return the lunch dishes and Noah would return the supper dishes.  That way they are all taking turns and doing their part.

   When we got back to our room for the evening, I tried to get the chip (SIM card) to work.  Alina's old phone said 'invalid SIM'.  I tried putting the chip into my old Tigo phone, but that didn't do much as well.  Then I tried moving it to each of the portable modems I had acquired over the past few years and both failed as well.  I tried to move it to my own personal cell phone, but it said I would have to completely restart my phone.  Although it may have worked in my phone (not sure if Alina's old phone was locked?), I didn't want to chance that there would be issues and then I couldn't resume my own US chip just as soon as I got back to the States.  So I didn't go any further with that.  This meant that I would be unable to call home to say we got here okay or work on the blog until I was able to resolve the issue.  So, discouraged, I decided to call it a night.

Map of Orphanage Emmanuel on our fridge door

Missing Alina

    I woke up about 4am (which would be 5am WI time) in order to get everyone ready for breakfast.  We were told that on school days, breakfast happened at 5:40am.  Last night I asked the kids when they would like me to get them up so we could be down at the comedor on time and Jaden replied with 4:30am, Noah with 4:45am, and Kaylyn with 5am (she likes to shower the night before).  This is how our mornings will run from here on out, provided all goes well with these times.

Although very miniature, Jaden got to see his 1st gecko

   Oscar is now in charge of the kitchen, and breakfast consisted of arroz con leche (rice with warm milk).  As usual, Noah is not a fan and didn't finish his breakfast.  We made sure to see Michell, Alejandra and Gibran during breakfast and to say "hi" to each of them.  Gibran is Noah's sponsored child, and as for Michell and Alejandra...I call them each mija (my daughter) as I have considered them my Honduran daughters for years. 

   After breakfast, we decided to give Jaden a tour of Emmanuel so he could begin to get his bearings straight.  Generally we are down here for approximately 4 weeks, but due to Bob and my anniversary trip prior, as well as Noah and Kaylyn's volleyball tryouts in mid-August, we were only able to come for 2.5 weeks.  I am hoping that Jaden has enough time to adjust and grow to love this place as the other kids have in that span of 18 days.  As we gave the tour of Emmanuel and were sharing stories, Noah announced that he missed Alina by saying this "would be much better if Alina were here".  Kaylyn seconded that notion.  This was extra special since Noah really doesn't talk about missing his family members.

   Our room in the new team house is now set up.  Although they had 2 rooms made up for us (guessing one may have been for just me and the other for the kids), we have decided to all be in one room.  The bed at the forefront is mine, followed by Kaylyn and Noah (with blankets draping over to both keep bugs out as well as privacy), and lastly by the back window, Jaden.  The bathroom here has 2 showers and 3 bathroom stalls with 3 sinks, so we have already finagled how they will be split up and shared.

Our room in the team house

   I dropped off $2USD in the tienda for each child, which is about $48L.  Lempiras is the Honduran currency.  Jaden let us know that he bought a small pack of Zambos (plaintain chips) at the tienda for only $6 and that he really likes it here.  We will see once he begins working the boys jobs.

   Speaking of jobs, we went in to see Morgan at 1pm about what she would like us to do while we are here.  It looks like Kaylyn will be in the casa de tiernos (Toddler House) once again, while Noah and Jaden were to work with Moncho.  We later found out (from Moncho) that the work would be too dangerous for Jaden, so Jaden will split time between working with Mike who was varnishing tables in the wood shop and Alexander in the gardens.

   Kaylyn and I spent the afternoon on the playground with the medium girls and they gave us a lovely serenade along with dancing, while Noah and Jaden spent time with the small boys in the gymnasium.  When it was time to head to the comedor for supper, we chatted with Mike and Lydia about the sink faucets and other supplies that Mike had requested we bring down.  They were all able to fit in the luggage we had planned to bring down without going overweight!

   After supper, we once again decided to turn in for the night so that we were well rested to begin working tomorrow.

Return to Orphanage Emmanuel

    This entry has been a long time in the making!  After COVID-19 hit in spring of 2020, we were unable to travel to Orphanage Emmanuel in Honduras due to travel restrictions for our typical 4-week stay from the end of July through the end of August.  And although many countries had lifted restrictions by summer of 2021, they were not yet lifted in Honduras.  This 2 year hiatus has been difficult on both me and the children, so this spring we were excited to hear that the Orphanage would allow teams and volunteers once again after Memorial Day.  Of course there are still mask requirements (which is nothing new to me as I had worn one to school each day this past school year) as well as either having been vaccinated (which we are) or a negative COVID test.  Again, to be able to return to this place that gives us so much spiritual rest and peace was a true blessing.

   With that said, what we weren't prepared for was having the online paperwork filled out to enter Honduras (which involved immigration work as well as passport and vaccination work).  Generally the immigration work is filled out on paper, on the plane about an hour before we land.  We were not notified of the movement of the paperwork to online forms, and unfortunately I wasn't able to complete all of it prior to our ORIGINAL departure date of Monday, 7/25/22.  So we had driven all the way to Chicago, parked the car, took the transport from the economy parking lot to the airport, waited in line, got sent to the back of the line to fill out the online forms, and ultimately missing that plane and had to drive the 3+ hours back home.  I am very disappointed in this particular airline for lack of notifying us via email about these online forms, especially since United had emailed me about these requirements (but for Canada) when Bob and I went on our 20th anniversary trip just 2 weeks earlier.

Monday's failed attempt to fly (before picture)

   So here we are...once again having driven through the night and arriving at O'Hare, hoping that everything this time has been filled out properly.  I even made copies on paper to prove I had filled it out!  As it turns out, while in line we met up with another couple who was also supposed to fly out Monday morning (final destination was Honduras) and were denied for the very same reason (as well as not having paperwork filled out to bring their service dog).  We chatted while in line and also found out that Guaimaca, the city where you will find Orphanage Emmanuel, was also the birthplace of the husband of this couple...Small world!  

Wednesday's shuttle from parking to terminal

Wednesday's shuttle from parking to terminal

   This trip is Jaden's 1st time on a plane.  He handled it well, both to Fort Lauderdale as well as to Comayagua (Honduras).  The airport in Comayagua is new, I believe it just opened earlier this year or last year.  But because it was new, there was not yet a place to exchange money or buy chips for phone and internet.  This is not problematic for me, but it does slow down the process of letting those back home know that we are doing alright.

Jaden's 1st plane ride

Comayagua International Airport

   A man named Lucas (recommended by Morgan) picked us up to take us to Emmanuel.  It would be a 3-4 hour drive depending on traffic, however ended up being a bit longer due to Lucas' truck overheating in the mountains.  Thankfully, his son was able to meet us where the truck broke down and lend Lucas his truck while he waited for other family members to come and take care of this.  Due to the delay, I asked if we could stop so I could get the kids a bite to eat because they hadn't eaten since about 2am.  Lucas stopped at a gas station where I bought each of the kids a hot dog (normal toppings are ketchup, mustard and mayo), Chokis (a brand of cookie here), and Enjoy juice that was pear flavored. 

Traveling by truck to Emmanuel

   We got to Emmanuel safely around 4pm.  Alexander met us at the new team house and gave me the key, letting us know that church would begin at 4:30pm.  He said they would understand if we couldn't make it, but after two years of not being here, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

   We unpacked after church and were in bed by 7pm.  It gets dark here around 6pm and with a full day of travel it was very easy to fall asleep early.