Since my last post I have had many memorable events....

A night with no electricity... a new Honduran food... another unsuccessful trip to immigration in Tegucigalpa... the puppy´s eyes have opened and he is learning to walk...puppy began to eat puppy mush ... a visit from the giant moth ...

Yes, it has been an eventful week!

When I last posted I had come to the internet because I thought the power was out in the barrio. When I returned home that evening it was dark and when I pulled into the barrio and saw the lights on in people´s houses I was so excited... until I pulled up in front of my house. It was completely dark! I began encouraging myself by saying Ï will not cry... I will not cry¨ as the tears were coming down. Well I decided there was nothing I could do about it at this point, and I needed to just make the best of it, and be thankful for the blessings that I have. So as I lit candles around the house I began to sing... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning, give me oil in my lamp I pray... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning keep it burning till the break of day...¨ It lifted my spirits and became my theme song for the night.

I put the puppy´s homemade formula in the freezer hoping that I could keep it from going bad during the night. (By the way I have been calling him Samson because he is strong!) Sang some songs to entertain myself, then went to bed. The following day we learned that the electric company had turned the power off at the house. When Lisette asked them why they had turned it off, the lady said Öh it was a mistake¨ Well we know that... so when can I have my lights back on! Ended up that the father of one of the students at the school had to come to the house after school that day to turn my power back on. After Lisette´s visit to the electric company, and telephone calls to the electric company and their promises to turn it back on right away, I was still with no power, so a phone call to a dad who works for the electric company and he came and met me at the school and followed me home to get me turned back on! You don´t know how wonderful electricity is until you have none!

Last Sunday I was with Patty in La Villa and she introduced me to a new food. I can´t remember how to say it... but it is very good. It is hard, sort of like a very hard cracker, and is made with corn and parmesan cheese and baked in these big mud ovens. They are very good! It was fun learning more about the culture here!

Tuesday morning Porter and I headed to Tegucigalpa to go to immigration ... again! The week before they told me to come back in seven days to get my passport that would be stamped with the permission for my extension. Well without knowing what the lady said I could tell from the look on her face that it was not good news when I handed her my paperwork. She told Porter that my passport was not back (we don´t know where it goes, or if it even actually goes anywhere), and that the man who has the stamp is not in today so it couldn´t be stamped anyway! GREAT! So then she fills out another permission for me to come back in 5 days. Porter says 5 days is Sunday. We cannot come here on Sunday. She says oh well you can just come on Friday it will be ready for sure by then. (Do I believe that? NO!) Well actually we got her to fill out a new paper for me to have until Tuesday again, Porter is flying to the US so he was going to have someone drive him to Teguc so we can share the gas expense and both go on Tuesday. So Gabby will drive us, take him to the airport and then go with me to immigration. And hopefully I will get my passport! All I know is that I need my passport before December 3 when my flight leaves for the U.S.

And then there is sweet little Samson... one eye opened on Monday morning, the second eye opened during one of his middle of the night feedings Monday night/Tuesday morning...he has started walking - it is soo cute! He gets his back legs up and starts to walk, takes a few steps then plop on his belly! He is getting better each day. And yesterday he started eating puppy mush (a mixture of the homemade formula and puppy chow in the blender). He loves it, but just like a baby is very messy while he learns to eat! This morning he stepped in the mush and began walking - thankfully there is no carpet so it is easy clean up!

And my moth... He could star in a Stephen King movie... for two days he would come flying up out of the basement and right in my face and I am up jumping and screaming and he is flapping in my face... then he flies up to the high rafters in the living room and stays there. I can´t reach him there, not that I know that I really want to reach him. I tried spraying flying insect spray at him, but it didn´t reach him he is too high. I haven´t seen him for a couple of days so I am praying that he has flown outside.

Other than these exciting events... Life is good! It is beautiful here, the mountains are beautiful, the sky is beautiful, the colors are magnificent! Some mornings I am on my way to school and look at the mountains and they don´t look real, they look like a magnificant painting that is a back drop to the city, but they are real, they are so beautiful!

One of my students passed her sciense test today (yes Saturday, some of the students who are behind come to school on Saturday morning. It was Krissia... it is a hard Pace, it is about airplanes, and I now know all about altimeters, and control wheels, and rudder pedals, and ailerons, and elevators, and aerodynamics... I have had to help a couple kids study for this test and it is really tough. She couldn´t remember a couple of the words and she sat there and sat there and wouldn´t give up. She spent the entire 3 hours on this test, but she passed!!!! She couldn´t remember the word elevator, and she could describe to me an elevator like we ride on, which an elevator on an airplane is what make the plane climb and dive... she said oh miss it is the thing that is at a hotel, and the door opens and you get in and then it goes up... I said yes yes and it is called... oh miss I do not remember. She needed to answer one more question correctly in order to pass... about 30 minutes later she said ËLEVATOR¨ I was so happy! And she was too!!! I told her that every time I ride in an elevator I will think about her!

Annette comes home in about 1 1/2 weeks... I will be happy to see her and it will be good to have someone at the house with me!

The month of November will be busy busy and it will go by quickly then I will be coming to the U.S. on December 3.