I have some pictures from the last few weeks of school that I hadn't had a chance to post yet, so even though I'm not there right now, I think about my kids daily. So wanted to post some fun pictures!


Here is Nicole at the scoring table...she wasn't scoring though, she was posing for her picture :) She is a sweet girl! She is finishing up 5th grade, and will be entering 6th grade in February.





Here is a cute picture of Keene! T"his young boy is working hard to finish up his 6th grade paces and he will be graduating from 6th grade on Friday. Because the free public school only goes through the 6th grade, this is a milestone in your education career. They graduate just like our highschoolers do. Keene is a special boy! In many ways! If Ihad a centavo for every time I said "Keene sit down and get to work", "Keene do you have permission to be out of your seat?", "Keene what are you doing?!!!" I would be a rich lady!!!!! But I love him! He has a special place in my heart!




Here is Keene seeing a ball coming toward him! WATCH OUT KEENE!

Here is Anthony. When it gets cold in Honduras everyone pulls out their stocking caps, and gloves and scarves. He looked so cute with his cap on.



Here are three of the teachers at school....Merlynn, Patty and Henry. I miss you guys!!!!



This is Mr. Peter (our kids' pastor) and David. He just completed the 7th grade. David is Miss Lisette's son.


I love you Chepito! I miss hugging on my sweet little guy every day!


Two of our high school students taking math tests! Kasey and Charlie (Carlos)







Some of the 5th grade students working with Miss MaryCruz on their Espanol Paces.
(notice Mary Cruz with her cap and scarf)



First they're working, now they're posing! Aren't they cute!!!!



Mauro, looking all mean and tough in his winter cap!



Awww, what a sweet smile! Yea, he can only look mean and tough for a second, then his sweet smile comes out!

After Mauro posed for a picture Wilmer wanted in on the fun. So he borrowed Mauro's hat. Notice the lollipop stick hanging out of his mouth - busted! That's a demerit and get rid of the candy Wilmer! "What candy Miss? I don't have candy!" I have the picture to prove it Wilmer!

Prayer Request for Honduras

Today I was reading that on Monday the Vice President of the Congress of Honduras was murdered. He was also the current governor of the department (like our counties) of Cortes. He, along with an attorney, were murdered in a drive by shooting on Monday.

The news article does not indicate who or why or if there are any suspects. However, it does not sound like a random shooting. Back several months ago when the Congress voted on ALBA, there were certain parts which were accepted and other parts which were not. The parts which were not accepted deal with cutting off relations with the United States, and all the communistic aspects of ALBA.

There are elections coming up in the country for President and all the other elected officials. Please pray for this time for the country. If things are manipulated by those who are in favor of ALBA and in favor of Hugo Chavez, it could be very bad for the country of Honduras and all the folks living there...whether North American or Honduran.

Please pray for the government of Honduras. Pray for protection of the government officials. This country needs protection from the enemy!!

Velvet Water

You know you get used to things, and you don't think anything about them. Like my shower, and our water in Honduras. Now I do complain about it sometimes, like I can't look at the water that Maria is washing my clothes in because it looks dirty...how will my clothes be clean? But if you don't look, they smell fresh and I tell myself they are clean.

Everyday when I take a shower at home, I have hot water because I have a ducha, so it isn't the temperature, it's the amount of water that actually gets through the holes in the ducha because the holes get clogged up with all the dirt that is in the water...and it is the smell of the water (some days it isn't good), but I don't really think that much about it, it's my shower.

But this morning I took the best shower ever!!!! There was so much water it covered my hole head...it wasn't a game of find a stream of water to try and rinse the soap out of my hair, and oh the way it feels....it is so soft! It was like I was taking a shower with velvet water!

And my hair is so soft! Oh the things that all my life I took for granted, and now it is a special treat! I am rediscovering life in the United States.

This afternoon I am going to pick up a car (thank you Tim Calabrese!!!! You rock!!!!)

I am sure my first driving experience will be a blog post! I laugh just thinking about the contrast between driving in the USA and in Honduras!

Ashlynn

One thing that is hard about being away is missing out on seeing little ones grow up, the new things they do, the new things they learn, all the changes that happen so quickly when they are little. The biggest thing is missing out on getting to bond with them as they grow up. I was afraid I would come back and Ashlynn wouldn't know who I was.

Well, thanks to my wonderful family that isn't the case at all! While I have been away this year Shawna and Austin have been telling her about me, showing her my picture and telling her my name and that I live in Honduras. So she wasn't surprised to see me, or wonder who is this nutty lady who is wanting to hold me and kiss me. She knew who I was and could say my name and she warmed up to me very quickly! It was such a blessing to me.


Here we are at the airport. She was wide-eyed checking me out....but she knew who I was. She knew who was coming in on the airplane.

She gave me hugs and kisses and talked to me all night last night. It was as if I had not been gone all year!

I am in Texas!!!

I arrived here this evening. I wasn't sure this morning if we were going to make it to the airport. All the gas stations in Comayagua were out of gas. And Annette didn't have enough in her truck to get to Tegucigalpa...so we began calling people to see if anyone had gas in their car. And no they didn't! We finally talked to a friend who lives in a small town about 15 minutes down the highway and he said he thought the gas station there in La Villa had gas, so we headed that way and we found a station with gas! Oh joy!!!!

So I made it to the airport and had an easy flight to Texas. It was fun to see my family and I loved playing with Ashlynn! It really didn't take her long to warm up to me. I was really glad about that!

I have already made a trip to Walmart! I needed shampoo and conditioner and some new makeup as I had been using some yucky smelly wrong color base....oh yuk! So I was thrilled when Joshua drove me to Walmart. And we even sat in the car for a little one on one mom and son time! Just like the old days!

And I had the most fabulous ham and cheese sandwich! Actually I must confess, I ate two sandwiches! What made them so fabulous? It was ham (not some odd Honduran version) and cheese, real colby cheese, and soft fresh yummy bread! Just completely different tastes than you can find in Honduras!

Now I am off to bed!

Winding Down....

My days here are winding down. I have 9 more days before I return to Texas for vacation. A lot of mixed feelings. I am excited to be going to Texas...to see my family....get away from the mosquitos that have invaded my house...go to Walmart...drive in a straight line without dodging dogs, children, people on bicycles, people with wheelbarrows full of wood, or bananas, or pineapples, and at the same time trying to miss the potholes.....

But, I am already thinking about not being at the school every day. Not seeing my kids every day! Although I have already had to say good-bye to my 2nd graders, there are still the kids who are behind in their Paces that we are trying to get caught up. There are so many kids who I will miss during this time away...

I had two second graders who were finishing up their Paces this week. My last one finished today and went home this morning. I was struggling with him yesterday. He got to the end of his Pace and was ready for his Self-Test...but he wouldn't take it. He finally told us that he didn't want to finish his Pace because once he was done I wouldn't be his teacher any more. Well he cried, and I cried and Patty cried. He did finally finish today and took his test. But it took a lot of talking and hugging and encouragement...and then I bribed him with stickers and a little spider man car. The bribary worked!

I have one more week at the school next week helping in the Learning Center with the ones who are working to finish their year, and then the following Monday, November 24, I will be flying to Texas.

Teachers needed at Ruach for 2009

Annette is looking for caring Christians who love kids and love God. If you have ever thought about spending time on the mission field, now is a great opportunity for you. Please pray about coming to Honduras next year. In a perfect world you could commit for the entire school year, February through November, but any commitment level is welcome.

If you have any desire at all, please contact me for more information concerning housing and support while serving in Honduras. We would love to have you!

You will fall in love with these kids as much as I have!

Monday was a successful trip for me. I drove to Tegucigalpa, drove around the city, which is an adventure all its own! Just drive, don't worry about lanes, or taking turns, or getting in line, and if you are not aggressive they will ignore that you are on the road. Yep, I was ignored several times. But we made it!

And to top it off, I also got my residency card! Not sure which was more exciting - overcoming that first time of driving - or getting my residency card. The card was a pretty big deal....and I only had to pay an additional 200 limperas that day.

Unfortunately, Paula's experience in immigration was not successful for she and Faith. As is common here, you are told one thing and when you return with that piece of missing information they decide that there is something else needed. So was the case with Paula on Monday.

Although her trip to immigration didn't go as she had hoped, I am so glad that she came with us. It was fun having my first driving experience shared with good friends!

We did make it to Chili's for lunch. We enjoyed chips and salsa - Chili's chips are the all time best! Annette and I were ready for the chicken crispers....although the batter was different this time and they weren't so crisper....but I got my bowl of honey mustard for dipping - Oh I love that stuff! I think I could drink it. Alyshia had a pita sandwhich that looked bigger than her head - it looked very good. And Paula and Faith shared a plate of chipotle chicken crispers.

Now you may think "is your lunch really news worthy?" Oh yes it is! Come live in a foreign country for a year and miss some of your favorite foods and restaurants, yep it is newsworthy!

A Dark Drive Home

Saturday I drove us to Seguatapeque to see Mark & Paula at the boys home. This was my second time to make the drive. We didnt' have any trouble getting there, and had a nice little visit with Mark & Paula. We started saying our goodbyes, making bathroom trips and getting ourselves together about 4:30, and we were down off their mountain and onto the "highway" by 5:00....I thought great we would beat the dark. NOT!

The last place I wanted to be in the dark was driving down the curvey road through the mountain.

Annette was so encouraging. I could not have done it without her with me! I was so scared, I could feel my heart beating in my head! It is dark, you can't see two minutes in front of your face, and the road is so curvey at times I couldn't tell where it was going, I tried to stay behind a vehicle, no matter how slow, so I could watch where the road went, they were my guide. At times you could see the white line on the right side, so that you don't drive off the side of the road.

And then my windows are tinted so it is always a shade darker in my car than it is outside. At night time I feel like I am driving with my sunglasses on. I have to get that changed!

I was so happy when we got to the point where you could see Comayagua down in the valley, so I knew we were close to home.

It was very freaky! And I couldn't believe I did it! Tomorrow will be another first for me, I am driving to Teguc. Paula and Faith are coming to Comayagua in the morning, and I will have them, Annette and Alyshia with me, and we will head to Teguc to go to immigration (fun!) and hopefully I will get my Residency Card. Then the plan is to go to Chili's for lunch! OH YUM!

I wanted to share a few fun pictures of my kids from last week....

These were my lunch buddies one day last week. Moises, Hanssel and Josue.


Miguel, Olga and Ivis holding the flags and Bible for our morning pledges. This was the last day of school.




Here are some of my kids re-enacting saying their morning pledges. I said let me get a picture of you guys saying your pledges....Josue was very dramatic! He is always funny!



They love to pose for pictures! Moises, Josue, Brian and Anthony.



These are some of our 5th and 6th grade girls. They like to eat their lunch under the playground set. Gladys (her sister Sofia is in my 2nd grade class), Daniela, Dassia and Katerine.


For our end of school party we had candy, popcorn, chips, candy, cake, cookies, candy, cokes, candy and a pinata full of candy! Can you imagine 30 1st and 2nd graders stuffed full of all the above! YIKES! But they had much fun! This is a picture of the cake one of my students brought for the party. Nancy was so excited to bring the cake. She has a cousin who makes cakes, so she had asked me if she could bring a cake to the party. She was a happy girl!


Here are some of the kids playing and getting ready for us to start hitting the pinata.

Here is Gabriel at our after school homework time.




Mauro taking a picture of himself! :)

Final Days

Today was the last day of school. sortof.....Today was the last day of official school. Next week we will have class for those students who have not completed their year. Hopefully they will be able to finish their Paces during the 2 1/2 weeks of GRACE so that they will pass their grade.

It was hard saying goodbye to my 2nd graders. But also a fun day as we partied this afternoon with a cake, and popcorn, and chips, and cookies, and pepsi and a pinata full of candy! Yep they were a little wound up!

Many of my "special students" from the Learning Center will be at school for the next couple of weeks trying to finish their year, so I didn't have to send them off yet. It isn't so hard say goodbye to the kids because I know I will be here again in January to see them and start over. But sending my 2nd grade students home today was a little emotional....they won't be my 2nd graders next year. They will be 3rd graders in the Learning Center.

We have some kids who want to be coming to school next week. I have a couple of my 2nd graders who haven't finished their year, so they need to come next week ...but then I have students saying to me "Miss can I come to school?" No, you are finished with your year. And they look at you with sad little eyes!

Moises has asked me every day this week if he can come to school next week. It breaks my heart! What kid wants to keep going to school....this is their vacation! Like summer vacation in the U.S., but we have kids that would rather be at school than at home. One boy in the Learning Center today would not work on his Paces because if he finished today that meant he couldn't come to school next week.

Here Wilmer decided to take his headband/scarf and turn it into a ninja mask.
(see story below about the headband / scarf)



He is folding it.....


He has put it on his head, punched a hole for his eye...but he can't get it lined up with his eye. He decided it wasn't such a great idea.

All this has gone one during our "homework " time after schol. Needless to say, Wilmer did not get much homework done today!

Here is a picture of a 1st grader, Mario. This was one of our cold days, notice the sock hat he is wearing ....

Wilmer is one of the funniest kids! I wish I had a video camera so you could see and hear his funniness! The worm he does, his impression of Mission Impossible, his silly sayings, his "me too" that he says in response to everything....but here is a picture. You know they say a picture says a thousand words....but this one might leave you speechless!




We were working outside on the patio after school today. Wilmer and Mauro. Actually Mauro was working, Wilmer was singing, running around, falling on the ground, making funny noises.....and then he took the left overs of a poster, and first he wrapped it around his head with the words NINJA WORM written on it.

He then decided to convert his headband to a scarf, and he wrapped it around his neck and then took two used plastic cups and put them on his ears and said "miss now I can keep warm!"

I love you Wilmer!!!! I just don't think you could be any funnier!!!!

This is our last week of school. We will have half days for the next couple of weeks for the kids who didn't finish their year. Many are working hard to get their Paces completed, yet there are still some kids who have over 20 Paces to complete ( you have 48 Paces to finish in a year).

Here are some fun pictures of my kids!

I don't know why....but Josue pulled off his shoe and stuck his foot in the air. Not sure what goes through the mind of a second grader at times!

But wait....


Then he decides to take off his sock for the picture!!!



Alejandro certainly thought it was funny! He fell over on the floor laughing....and he has also taken off his shoes. I don't know what the deal was with the boys and their shoes that day...but they are certainly having fun with me and my camera!

Christmas Music

I know it is only November 1, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but it is so cold outside that it made me think of Christmas and that time of year in Texas. So I pulled out my Kari Jobe Christmas CD this morning and played it! I love it! Loved listening to Christmas music!

Here is one of my students working hard on his Math pace....he has almost half of his year left to finish to complete 5th grade. And we have one more week of school! YIKES! He will be going to vacation school. He he is working to finish his Math pace after school last week.

I took his picture, and told him I needed a picture of him working hard, because it isn't something I see very often! Hence, why he is so far behind!


Work, Mauro, work! Something I say consistently in the Learning Center.

BRRRRR!!!!! It is cold here!!!!! A cold front seems to have blown in Tuesday morning and it has stayed! I have been wearing jackets, long sleeves, and have actually pulled out my couple pairs of socks.

So, yes, we do get cold weather in Honduras. Thankfully it has not been raining, just cold.

Although, cold and no sun do not go well with hanging clothes out to dry. Wonder how people did it back in my mom's day, during the winter? I came home from school yesterday and my clothes and towels were hanging up outside, and they were completely wet. No drying going on there! So I have them hung and draped over things inside my house. Still most are very wet today!

I am enjoying using the towels that I washed and dried while we were staying at Annette's house. Oh my goodness!!!! Take your towles out side, rub hard soap on them, wash them by rubbing them with two rocks...oh yea and some dirty water....then hang them up to dry. They are "clean" but they are hard, like cardboard, and stiff.....I forgot what soft fluffy towels felt like! Oh I am spoiled. At least for a few more days, until my towels are dirty and they will need to be washed on the pila again and hung to dry....if they ever will dry with this cold gray weather!

I love my students! One day last week Alejandro was being so silly! He is a funny kid! I hope you enjoy the following pictures of him!

Alejandro...where are you????




Are you under there Ale?????




Hello Ale!!!!! So glad I found you!

Well my little adventure was postponed today. The kids setting off firecrackers woke me this morning at about 4:00 a.m., and that was when I heard the wind blowing fiercely. I thought great, I wanted it to be a beautiful sunny day for my drive today (it had been dry and sunny for 2 days)...well when I got up this morning it was dark and cloudy, the gray clouds were so low that that tops of the mountains were lost in the clouds.

I felt frustrated, and didn't know what to do. I really wanted to make the trip to Teguc, and to pick up Annette, and just to get that first time out of the way.

It wasn't raining, it wasn't bad weather here in town, just cold, windy, and sky filled with low gray clouds....I didn't want to get into the mountain and run bad weather, not being experienced driving in the mountains here. I got online with Elaine and she said pray about it and go if you have peace about going and stay if you have peace about staying. If I didn't go, Annette could come to Comayagua on the bus that runs daily to and from the AirForce Base.

I prayed about God showing me what I should do, then it suddenly came to me that I wanted to go, but I didnt' feel peace about going, and at that point it was more of an issue of pride, not wanting to say I didn't go because it was cloudy. But being full of pride is not a reason to do something that I feel a pause in my spirit about.

So I knew the right thing to do was to stay in Comayagua today.

I hope I will be able to make the trip soon, but today wasn't the day.

Annette is home now! I stayed at Annette's house again tonight so we could all visit and catch up from the time away! It was fun, and it is good to have my friend back in Honduras.

Update on Maria's House

Today at school I was asking Maria about her house. She said that they are adding blocks, a little at a time.

Please continue to pray for the communities here in Honduras that have flooded and have lost so much! There are funds here to help families recover from all the losses, however there is also a lot of corruption in the country. Election are coming up here, and one of the teachers was saying that some of the people running for election were giving away the food and water that is provided by the government, but using it as a campaign ploy. Here I am with clean water for you, vote for me. It is sad to see people taking advantage of a bad situation.

I will keep you updated on Maria's rebuilding of the wall in her home.

Tomorrow - a new adventure!

Tuesday morning I will be driving to Tegucigalpa to pick up Annette from the airport. Doesn't sound like an adventure, but ....you have to know the trip and you have to know me! The first time I came to Honduras I rode in the car from the airport to Comayagua staring at the floorboard. I was petrified! I had always been afraid of heights, and have never much enjoyed driving or riding through mountains.

However, I have now ridden through the trip dozens of times, to where I am familiar with the road and it is not quite so scarey. But this will be my first time to drive to the city.

I am also going to go to immigration and hopefully get my residency card while I am in Tegucigalpa.

When I first moved here I always said I would never drive to Tegucigalpa, but here I go! It will be a first for me, and while I am a bit nervous, I am also glad that I am taking that step out of my comfort zone! (yes, Jerry - here I go - I know the things I say I will never do! Like going on a cruise - but I still hope I don't ever have to do that!)

Pray for good weather, little traffic, no trouble with slow moving trucks and passing on the road, and not getting lost in the city, and pray for Annette to have smooth traveling and no trouble with stand-by.

I will report back how the trip goes!

24 HOURS OF NO RAIN!!!!

We have now gone more than 24 hours without rain! This is the first time for that to happen in over a week. We pretty much had 10 days of just constant rain.

We went to the grocery store today and it is hot, and bright and sunny! We are so thankful for the sun and the heat and hopefully it will begin to dry up this water!

Weird Dreams!

Last night I heard ducks quacking in all my dreams. I remember the dream I had this morning right before waking up. I was at my house, and I heard the ducks quacking again. Then there was the little dog I had fed bread to yesterday. (He was so tiny and boney I don't know how he was still alive, so I fed him a couple slices of bread yesterday while I was there flood-proofing the things in my house.)

In my dream this little dog was in my house and I couldn't get him to go out of the house. I was thinking great, I fed you some bread and now you have moved in! And where are those ducks I keep hearing, their quacking is making me crazy. Then I noticed some stairs that went down into a basement (my house does not have a basement but in my dream it did). I started down the stairs and saw that the basement was full of water and full of ducks!

Do you think I am water-logged! It is bad when there is so much rain that you are dreaming about ducks swimming in your water filled basement!

I feel ashamed for worrying about the things at my house. After we got out of the flood waters last Sunday I was thinking about things I wished I had brought with me, some were sentimental things like pictures and cards and letters from family, but others were just things.

This morning Maria came to Annette's house aroung 8:00 a.m. Maria cleans at Annette's and she also works at my house 2 days a week (thanks to Maria I always have clean clothes to wear - handwashed on the pila!). She normally works at my house on Fridays, but she had come by Annette's to ask me if she could wash her clothes in the washer. She stayed and cleaned while her clothes were washing. I was asleep when she got there and it took a little while for things to start to compute in my tired brain. I knew something must have happened at her house for her to bring clothes to wash at Annette's.

I began asking her about her house and if it had flooded. She was using some words that I was not familiar with. I understood her to tell me that the water had come into her house and that it had happened at 3:30 a.m. but she was telling me something else that I wasn't getting. So I called one of the teachers, Patty, and I told her that Maria's house had flooded, but I didn't know how bad it was or what I could do to help her, what did she need, what things had she lost. So Patty talked to her for me, and it was worse than I could have imagined!

Maria lives in a very poor bario, Bario Bokeem. (For those who have been here with Restoration, this is the bario where Pastor Felix's church was, where we would do a lot of ministry, and walk the streets passing out candy). Her house is made of clay blocks and one of the walls of her house crumbled during the night and the water came in her house.

It broke my heart when I learned what happened. Maria is very humble. Some of it is culture and the way maids and similar workers are treated by people in general. She has a hard time accepting blessings which I have given her in the past and I have seen the same when others have blessed her. Today however, she did not resist. Which shows me the desparation I can only imagine she was feeling. She is a single lady with three children. And now her house was missing a wall, it rained all night last night, and the rain is not going to stop any time soon. She can't go to her savings account, or pull out a credit card, or open an account at Home Depot...this morning someone was trying to put up a temporary wall with sheets of plastic to protect her home.

Today as I gave her some money and told her it was for her house, and then Alyshia came and gave her some money as well, I saw her face change, soften, and I thought she was going to cry. Please pray for Maria, for her kids, and for this situation.

Today it has not rained in Comayagua, but one of our students from school told me that the highway was closed again yesterday because the river had run over again (that is the river that is near my house, that flooded the highway and many neighborhoods last Sunday morning).

This is rainy season, so it is odd to pray for the rain to stop, but there is so much rain and so much damage and so much flooding, if the rain continues I don't know how we will ever get past the destruction that is occurring.

Pray for these poor neighborhoods, families who work hard to make a home for their kids and the rain is washing away their homes. Maria works harder than anyone I know....she cleans house for 3 families (for 2 of us that includes handwashing all our clothes and towels and sheets), and cleans our school in the afternoon.

Pray for those of us who care about her, for us to know how to help in this situation.

While I was at my house Tuesday I noticed the verse on my daily calendar I keep in the kitchen. I had not changed it since Saturday’s date….but the verse on Saturday was Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” I thought now isn’t that something….a very interesting verse to come in and read after all the rain and flooding we have had. And while Alyshia and I were at my house baking brownies that evening, I was showing her the verse which I still have it on, and she flipped it to see what the verse was for Sunday (the day we flooded)….it is the verse about don’t worry about what you will wear or what you will eat, because God knows what you need, look at the lilies in the field….

We both just said wow! First the verse about God watering the land, and then do not worry…..both are such good words and so relevant after what we and many people here have experience over the past week.

Rain Rain Rain

I am posting this now, after we know what happened as a result of the all the rain. I am reading this now, and it was Saturday night that I was writing this on my computer ….just hours before the river would overflow and flood many parts of Comayagua.

(October 18)

It started raining during the day on Wednesday and did not stop….until sometime Friday morning. But the pause in rain did not last for long. Thursday they announced that we would not have school Friday or tutoring on Saturday due to the rain. So Friday we were so happy when we saw a break in the clouds. Then we went to the internet café, and just as we were walking into the mail the downpour started again.

It rained all day on Friday, and Saturday morning we woke to a blue sky….but once again it was only a pause in the rain. It rained all day on Saturday. I am sitting in my bedroom typing this Saturday night…and it is still raining. I don’t know when it will stop, but I am wet, everything is wet, my clothes are wet and do not dry, our salt is wet and clumpy, it is just wet and muddy everywhere!

Thursday when I took Wilmer and Mauro home, (after they walked to my house across town in the pouring down rain!) I got to their street and it was flooded so badly the water was rushing and I couldn’t tell how deep it was so I let them out on the sidewalk at the corner by Wilmer’s house. They jumped out of the car and when they did the water was nearly to Wilmer’s knees. Poor guys!

The rivers are swollen and rushing, the ground is saturated, and fields look like swamps.

(I didn’t know at the time of writing this that a flood would be coming our way)

Vistors to see Miss Stephanie and Miss Alyshia

To add onto Wilmer and Mauro’s trip to my house…. Thursday after school none of my kids stayed to do homework, and Alyshia and I headed home. It had rained all day and I was wet and cold and happy to go straight home after school. Well about an hour and half later I hear voices outside “Miss Estephanie!” and we look out the front door and there standing outside my gate are Joseph, Mauro and Wilmer. Joseph lives a few houses from me. Mauro and Wilmer decided they wanted to see where I live, so they walked with Joseph after school. Actually, they had left the school at 3:00, walked to Wilmer’s house which is the opposite direction of my house. They went to Wilmer’s so he could take his medicine because he had been sick …then they walked back to the school to do homework with me. Only I was gone because I didn’t think anyone was staying. Joseph was still at the school (he just hangs out there a lot) so the boys walked home with him and came to my house. When they arrived at my house they were completely soaked!

I dried them off a bit, gave them a towel, offered them something to eat, which they didn’t accept – they said they just wanted to know where I live, then I loaded them in the car and drove them home. This is when they jumped out onto their street into knee deep water.

This is Wilmer's funny ...mmmmm I'm thinking face....love this kid!

Kemys and Friends Come to Visit

Last Saturday the girls were at Kemys birthday party at her aunt's house, who lives across the street. They came over the visit, and they all wanted to see my house inside. Wonder what the amazement is? Yes, I am just like you! We had a fun a visit, and the girls mostly giggled and drank some water and used the bathroom and got some stickers. And fed dog treats to Samson. He probably made out the best of all!

Jackeline Michelle, Kemys, Sara, Cristy and Blanca

Now for the lighter side of life here...the reason that I am here...all the following stories were written prior to the rains and flooding...

Quotes by our Kids

At the end of the day we were hanging up the list of kids who had to serve a detention the following day. One of the boys, David Fernando, said to me…”Miss the detentions are senseless. Everyone who is behind in their Paces doesn’t get to go to the break anyway, so what so the detentions make no sense. (Detentions are served during their morning break and the first 20 minutes of their lunch) But if they are behind in Paces they don’t get a break and lose the first 20 minutes of lunch.

Alyshia and I had talked about the fact that the kids who are getting detentions are mostly the same kids as the ones on the list so they are not really getting a punishment for their detentions.

It was funny that one of the boys saw that and agreed that “the detentions were senseless”

He is a good kid!

Wilmer the Worm…Wilmer the Wild Worm

(October 13)

Monday night once again I had a group of 5^th and 6^th grade boys to stay after school to work on homework. Of course my two boys, Mauro and Wilmer were in the bunch. I was giving Mauro the words for his Word Building self-test, (like a practice spelling test before the actual exam). One of his words was “worm”…..

Ok wait let me back up a second….

Wilmer is this totally hilarious kid! If he was in the United States they would probably put him on Ritalin and turn him into a zombie, but his hyper activity is part of his personality! He can’t sit still, he can’t stop talking, he can’t stop making funny sounds…he is just all around hilarious! He wiggles and falls and jumps and is in constant motion …..but he is so smart! I think his brain moves as quickly as his body does.

Well I tease him and call him Wilber, and Willie, and Willard, Wally….it just makes him act sillier.

So I had been calling him Wilbur and Willie yesterday, which he plays along with me doing that, but I am the only one who can call him these silly names …so while we were working on homework he was telling the boys that I call him Wilber and it makes him crazy, because I give him these crazy names.

So it was about that time that one of Mauro’s words was “worm” and I said that’s what I will call you…Wilmer the Worm. So he says yes miss I’m a worm and he jumps into the floor, puts his arms at his sides, and starts wiggling in the floor and cracking up! Mauro’s next word was “wild” …so I look at Wilmer and said Wilmer the Wild Worm!

He liked the idea! I told him I could write stories about the adventures of Wilmer the Wild Worm. He thought that was a great idea!

So be on the lookout for stories about the adventures of Wilmer the Wild Worm and his buddy Mauro the Moose or Mauro the Mongoose or Mauro the Muskrat….not sure what animal Mauro should be…but I could sure write some funny stories about the boys!

....update on Wilmer the Wild Worm.... Yesterday at the end of the school day Wilmer brought me his Word Building Pace to see the sentences he had written for his spelling words. For the word ruler he wrote the sentence Wilmer is a ruler of the worms. For the word member he wrote the sentence The worm Juseagpt is a member in my Kingdom of the Worms.

He is such a funny kid! I am really going to miss these kids when I come home for Christmas!

Funny Directions…..

(October 13)

After their homework time had ended I was taking Mauro and Wilmer home. Actually taking Wilmer home and Mauro to the restaurant where his parents work. I took Wilmer first and needed directions…so here we go again trying to get directions from the boys. Wilmer, who talks nonstop and only sometimes makes sense…. is telling me right right right…I said where do I turn right? No derecho! Now derecho can mean straight or right…so I said do you want me to go straight or turn right. No “go go go go go…” so he says that until I go past the street where I should turn and he is yelling right right…only actually he wants me to turn left.

So I back up and turn left, then more of the same… “go go go go ….” Continually non-stop until I get to the street where he wants me to turn again… I said just tell me when to go downstairs, (downstairs is the term Mauro used when he wanted me to go left - check out the post from September 20 - Honduran Directions - for a good laugh!), and the boys just laughed!

We did finally make it to Wilmer’s home and dropped him off.

Later that week after school they stayed again to do homework and when I took Wilmer home, there was a drunk man asleep on the sidewalk in front of the house next to Wilmer’s house. The houses on the street where Wilmer lives are literally right beside each other, like built side to side.

The boys are funny and have good attitudes and love to laugh and have fun and be boys, but then sometimes the reality of where we live and the world these boys are growing up in hits you in the face. It breaks my heart!

Here is a webpage where you can look at some pictures from the flood in this weekend. Many of these pictures are from Comayagua.

http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/honduras/comayagua/photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27714845@N07/2961619305/

Rain Update

We were home from school this week on Monday and Tuesday. It rained off and on all day Monday, and Tuesday it was actually sunny most of the day. I started moving some of my things back to my house, thinking the sun is out, it will dry up the water and the over flow from the river and we can move back to my house.

Well after I moved some things down to the house, I decided to drive by the river...oh my goodness!

I went back and picked up Alyshia from Annette's house and drove over the bridge and onto the highway, which had flooded and stopped traffic most of the day on Sunday. The flooding and how far out it went was amazing. Fields where we had played soccer now looked like a lake!

I decided we would not move back yet, but wait and see ....

So we had school yesterday, and again today, and I thought great things are getting back to normal. But it was announced that there is still so much rain going on in the country and around Comayagua that there is still the potential for flooding. Because we are in the valley, all the rain around is running down to Comayagua and our already saturated ground, and swollen river and flooded fields. So we sent home all the kids this morning and we are not having school tomorrow.

I moved my things back to Annette's, and tried to prepare for any flooding that might occur at the house. Putting things up high, on shelves and not having any wood furniture in the floor.

Here is a picture of the river that is about 1/2 mile from my house, which is the river that overflowed and flooded neighborhoods and the highway. This picture was taken 2 days after the flood. It is still very high, and very wide!



As we drove over the bridge you could see the mud and gunk and grass that was on the road of the bridge and the walls going over the bridge.

Hello from a soggy girl in Honduras!

Well it started raining on Wednesday, and it rained all day and night and all day on Thursday. The Minister of Education canceled school for Friday, and it rained all day on Friday. Saturday we woke up and guess what....it started out sunny but by noon it was raining again and all day and all night....

Sunday morning I woke up a little after 7:00 and I heard people outside talking, but that is pretty common. So I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Finally about 7:45 I got up and looked out my bedroom window...the road was completly covered with water, like probably knee deep.

I walked out to the living room and looked out the window and that street also, was covered in water, again probably knee deep. Muddy, scummy flowing water.

I thought well we won´t be going to the base for chapel this morning. We will just be stuck in the house today. I went into the bathroom then went to the kitchen to get something to drink, and I looked outside again....it looked higher. I went back to the kitchen then I heard Samson and it sounded like he was splashing in water. I went back to the living room and opened my front door and the water was rising and it was coming in the front gate and beginning to fill up the walkway leading to my house. Samson seemed to be in a panic as he ran back and forth, and then he would stop and stick his face in the water and beginning scratching frantically with his front paws.

I immediately realized that the water was rising quickly and we needed to get out of there!

I went to Allishia´s room, and I don´t know what I said, I was panicked, but I told her we needed to get out.

We each grabbed some clothes, threw them in suitcases and grabbed a few `"necessities" and then grabbed Samson. Thank God I still had Lance and Annette´s truck at my house, we could not have driven my car out, the water was too high!

We put Samson in the back seat with Allishia and I unlocked the back gate to drive the truck out. I put the truck into park, and put on the emergency brake, but as soon as I would let go of the steering wheel and take my foot off the brake, the truck began moving. I didn´t know what to do, as I could not leave my house unsecured with the gate open....Allishia jumped out of the truck and locked the gate for me. I hated it, I was praying for her, I was so afraid, and here she was in water that is up to her thighs, and it is brown, mucky, and flowing....

She got back in the truck and we started on our trip to high ground, which seemed to take forever. There were other people leaving their homes, some walking out, some in trucks, some people were loading up all their possessions, refrigerator, couches, etc. Me, I just wanted out with our lives and my puppy!

I was praying and crying the whole way out of the water. It was scarey...like nothing I have ever experienced before. It still seems a bit surreal when I think about it. Like it is hard to believe that it was just yesterday morning that this all happened.

We made it up the hill to high ground to Annette´s house.

We were so thankful to be out of the water, safely!

Then we began unpacking and it got kind of humerous. I said, I remember picking up my makeup, but all I brought was eyeshadow. And I had gone into the bathroom to get my toothbrush, but I had left without it. I had not even thought about my passport, until about an hour later, and I thought "oh no! I want to be able to go home!" I did however remember my Coke Zero, Allishia´s Coke, and my M&M´s and her Snickers bar!!!! Now those are priorities!

We both showered, then headed to the grocery store to pick up some food items, as I hadn´t thought to bring any food with us from the house, and to get some make up to make up for what I left behind.

After the store we thought let´s go see how close we can get to the neighborhood and see if the water is still rising. At that point it had been about 3 hours since our escape and it was all gone! The only sign that there had been a flood was the horrible stench like dead fish mixed with skunk and the mud covering everything! But the water was gone! We went inside the house and packed up things we needed, and things I wished I had brough the first time (like my passport!) and got all the food from the refrigerator, as now we had no power, and we moved everything down to Annette`s house.

Many families in Comayagua were not as fortunate as I! I had some of the muddy water come into the house, but it did not do any damage to furniture or other things. But some families lost everything! There were houses with water clear to their roofs.

There is a river new my house and it overflowed. It ran over and closed the highway down for part of the day yesterday.

Comayagua, along with some other cities in Honduras were on red alert, which is the highest potential danger....the President has now put all of Honduras on red alert.

Schools were cancelled today and it appears that they will be cancelled again tomorrow.

Please pray for Honduras, that this storm that is lingering over us will move away quickly. There are many families who are hurting because of this storm, not only in Comayagua but other cities in Honduras.

Today we bought some newspapers which contained pictures from the flood in Comayagua. They truly are horrific! But people came together to help one another, the military was here in town helping, the U.S. military were out in helicopters rescuing people.

I am so thankful that we are fine and safe, but am praying that the rain will stop and this storm will pass by us.

Happy Rainy Friday!

We are off school today. It started raining here on Wednesday and didn´t stop..... Yesterday was horrible at school. It poured all day! Many of the students weren´t there, I am sure because of the weather. So they canceled school Friday and tutoring on Saturday.

This morning we woke up and it was not raining...and the sun was actually out a little. Alyshia and I came to the internet cafe and just as we are walking inside the rain starts. We can hear it coming down in buckets!

I have a lot to post...fun stories and pictures about the kids, but I am not on my computer, we have had some internet problems this week, so we are at the cafe. So no pictures today.

I will post some funny stories and fun pictures of the kids next week. But for now.... we are all well....just a little wet, and a little cold, but we will just keep floating along!

Manuel came back to school last week and we were all so happy to see him!

Paula sent me an update on Gerardo, and they were able to locate his mother and siblings, and his mother was being tested last week to see if she was a match. I haven´t heard any results yet, but am praying for the right match!

Strange Sightings....

We see some odd things here in Honduras.

Heard of Cows...

Yesterday Alyshia and I went to the golfclub to go to Glenda's salon to get my roots colored (last week some of the kids asked me if my hair was really white and I painted it black! - time to go see Glenda!!). After leaving the salon and traveling down the long, seemingly never ending uneven, bumpy, dirt road, there were two guys on bicycles with their 10 or so cows. We saw them coming and taking up the whole road so I stopped the car, thinking that the men would move the cows over so that we could continue down the road. Not the case.....the cows continued coming toward us. Alyshia stuck her head out the window to take a picture. And still we sat on the road with cows coming toward us.

I said to Alyshia I guess the cows will go around us, I don't know, this has never happened to me before. They did go around us, but barely! They all bumped and rubbed along the side of the car as they went by. We were a little freaked at the time but then could laugh about it.

It brought back memories of Joshua and I going to Arbuckle Wilderness and the big cow getting mad when he took the whole bucket of animal food from us and he began head butting the car.

Even though we had been to the Salon and I was so relaxed I actually fell asleep while Glenda was washing my hair...the reality of where we were quickly returned!!!!

Momma Donkey and Baby

Friday I was taking Alyshia and some other people from school to an orchestra concert at the church in the park. We were coming up the road by my house and there, standing in the center of the road was a momma donkey and her baby. They just stood there in the center of the road as I manuevered around them.

Later when I went to go back and pick them up, several hours later, there they still were, standing in the same spot in the middle of the street.

The cars do not rule the roadways here. Animals, and people on bicycles, and dogs, pedestrians...they have more influence over the roads than cars do.

Weird Bugs!

Here is an odd bug that we saw on the bar on my living room window. We saw him there one evening and we came outside to take pictures of him. The next day he was still there...and the next and the next. He wasn't dead, his little antenna were moving (actually his long curly antenna), but he just stayed right there for days, until finally he was gone!





One morning I went out to put Samson in the porch area so I could move the car out of the yard to go to school. When I went out I saw this huge spider web and this odd bug in the middle. We don't know if the bug is the spider that built the web or if the bug was captured by a spider in the web.

Today there was another bug in the web, and still this odd bug sitting in the middle of the web. We have taken pictures of him and examined him for days...we don't know what he is but the web is still there and he is still there even after several days of long heavy downpours of rain!


I wish it wasn't there, but I'm not so sure about knocking it down. If the creature is alive I don't want it to come after me. YIKES! It will be a job for Raid!

Dengue....and they laugh at Gringos for wearing Off!

Manuel is still doing good. He is home, and one of the teachers went to see him last week. He was wearing a mask to protect him from any germs as his body is still weak. But he is out of danger, just needs rest to build himself up again.

His brother Gabriel had Dengue Classico, which is the Dengue I had last year. He returned to school last week, as did his cousin, David Fernando who also had Dengue Classico. Actually most of their family had one form of Dengue....but we are happy that all but Manuel have returned. We are hopeful that Manuel will be strong enough to return soon.

Thank you for your prayers for him! Please continue to pray for the health of the kids and the teachers. This is rainy season so there are more and more mosquitos out and about!

We had a good week at school last week. Only 4 weeks of school left, then we will have a couple of weeks of half days for the kids who didn't complete their year to try and get them finished.

The kids have all been working hard. It is too bad that they didn't decide to buckle down and start working months ago!

I am posting some pictures of some of the kids along with a fun story about them and their sweet personalities.

All of the kids at the school are special and each one touches your heart in their own special way.

I hope you enjoy reading about some funny kids and getting to put some faces to their names.

At the beginning of the school year Daniel sat next to Maryori (spelled different but pronounced Marjorie)....3rd, 4th and 5th graders don't mix well with boys and girls. They still think they all have germs and actually play a germ game....which I hate and sometimes give demerits for passing germs in the Learning Center . . . I am getting off my topic. . .

They sat next to each other and anytime I would come by them they would both say "Miss change me"....meaning they wanted to sit in a different office. Well one day I said ok Maryori I will change you to a frog and Daniel I will change you to a lemon tree.

They giggled about it but everytime they would say something about me changing them I would remind them that I could change Maryori to a frog and Daniel to a lemon tree.

Well it kind of stuck with Daniel, and he began calling me Miss Apple Tree. So I call him Lemon Tree and he calls me Apple Tree.

I love this kid! He can be so annoying, but he is a great kid! His name is Jose Manuel Gonzalez. We have a lot of Joses, and we have a lot of Jose Manuel's, so we have to throw in his last name to identify which one we mean.

He is our disco singer. his first song was "Everybody Dance Now" (if you ever went roller skating in the 70's you will recognize all these songs!)....

He doesn't know all of any song, he just knows a chorus or one line...and he sings it over and over and over again! So he sits in his office and sings "Everybody Dance Now" and sometimes he adds a little musical beat to it...but he will say that over and over...and he now has half the Learning Center singing that one line.

Then he had some strange song that he sang that was to the tune of the Jetsons cartoon....and the words he sang were "simson son of simson " over and over and over...

Next he started singing "Stayin Alive" only he doesn't have the words right. Now he is only singing those two words, but he can't get them right...

First he was singing "Steppin Alive Steppin Alive"....I told him it was Stayin not Steppin....

The next day he came in singing "Skippin Alive Skippin Alive"..once again I said Jose Manuel, it is STAYIN ALIVE not SKIPPIN ALIVE....

He just laughs and keeps on singing..."Skippin Alive Skippin Alive"

Last week he started singing "American Woman" that is all he knows of the song...so he sits and sings that over and over and over..

He is a funny kid! But he is very smart! He writes great sentences in English! With some of the kids I dread having to check the sentences they write in their Word Building Pace or the letters or paragraphs they have to write in the English Pace because I know I am going to mark them all up with grammatical errors...but I love to grade Jose Manuel's! He writes great sentences! His written English is fantastic and he is only in the 4th grade! I tell him all the time that he is going to be a writer, we have talked about him either being a journalist or writing novels. He didn't know what a journalist was, but when we talked about it he decided that would be a really cool job to have!

This little boy is Ricardo but we call him Ricardito. He is adorable! He is in the 3rd grade. He is very smart, a great student! He doesn't have many friends, really doesn't want to go and play with the kids. The kids all like him and invite him to play but he stays by himself. At the beginning of the school year he only "meowed", like a cat. He has a pet cat, and he told us that was his only friend.

So for the first month or so of school we constantly had to tell him that he was a little boy, not a cat, and he had to talk like a little boy.

He still sometimes reverts back and starts to meow but he knows that we will not respond to him unless he talks to us. One week he was trying to sell his meows for 1 limpera. He told us that he didn't know why no one wanted to buy a meow. Ha ha! He is a cutey!!!

He was being mischevious and would not smile for me when I was trying to take his picture last week. He couldn't hold back any longer and he finally smiled for me!




Below is a picture of Saul. He is a cutey! He is Ricardo's cousin. Saul is in the 4th grade. He is a quiet kid, hardly ever gets in trouble. Very smart, all around good kid. He helps us to look after Ricardo, and try to get him to go and play with the other kids. He is very good about looking after his cousin.

Here is a picture of Chepito. This is the little guy who has the parakeet. I forgot my camera again on Saturday, but I promise to get a picture of him with his little bird. He did tell me this week that his bird loved the bird snacks I bought him at the pet store. Much healthier than chocolate and coke!


You can see some of his inventions. He has made a pencil holder that he keeps his pencils in, taped to his desk. His pencils must be lined up in order of size, from smallest to biggest. And below that he has made a holder from a plastic bottle that is attached to his desk with a metal hook and he keeps pencil sharpeners and other misc items in it. He is a very crafty kid. He is always making some ingenious thing from out of nothing. He is very smart, just hard to channel it to his Pace work.