April, Full House Style

It has been wonderful to be back "home" in San Pedro. I had really missed the family [I feel like they are mine now :-) ] and the kids from Hogar Esperanza and Widow's Mite. It has been H-O-T here the past few days - we are talkin 98 degrees, feels like 110, completely humid, sticky HOT. It's amazing how the heat can really sap your energy when you aren't used to it! Everyone was right when they said "this is nothin'" when I talked about how hot it was when I arrived. Interestingly, all the locals say that the first week in April is the hottest of the year. Go figure. Jorge says that it is actually just the first real hot of summer then, and it just stays that hot until, like, September. Woah.

ANYWAY.

Big News! I am having visitors!! YAY!

Kim Martiniuk, my partner in crime since age 4, is coming down on April 3rd for a week; and Philip Howard, my fantastic boyfriend, is coming on April 6th for two weeks! Can we talk about how excited I am for just a second????

ALKJGOIWNIAKNSGUIWHENJF BGNIJIALK!!!!!!

okay. Thanks.

Kim will get to experience (aside from the "hottest week of the year") all of the Easter festivities of Semana Santa! The week before Easter, we are going to all the orphanages in San Pedro to do egg hunts and other games.

And Philip will be arriving the day of our Easter party here at the house for all the kids at church! We are going to be cramming as much "Honduras/ROOM experience" in as possible while they are here. Then on the 16th the Garcias are headed to the States to speak to some churches and do some fund raising, and Mary, Philip, and I are going to Sherry and Terry's for a few days (Sherry and Terry have a soup kitchen/street ministry and they attend our church). Then Mary and I are off to Puerta Limpira for two weeks, then back to the States! WHOOSH. That is time flying at its best.

I can hardly believe how fast it's going and how fast it will go, until May. But what adventures I have waiting on me in the next few weeks! And what beautiful ones I have been blessed with thus far!

Cardboard Casas

It's hard to believe that Mary and I have been at Mission Miqueas well over a week! For the past few days we have been working on serious organization projects in the staff house. Melody and Jacob (the house parents) have been in the States since Tuesday, and left us the option to get some organizing done in the house. The children's home takes in hundreds of donations constantly, of anything and everything. Keeping it all in order is a serious challenge, and Lauren, Mary, and I were the women for the job! We went through boxes and boxes of donations, refolded clothes, andrelabeled bins of odds and ends and necessities.When we were finished (yay!) we had lots of trash - among the trash, several empty cardboard boxes. And what is better to a bunch of kids than approximately 10 empty cardboard boxes of various sizes?? NOTHING. These kids had a Ball with these hollow cardboard cajas - they were casas, carros, hideouts, wagons, tunnels, tables, chairs, and so much more. It is so great to see kids actually PLAY; the children here romp in the yard, fall down hard, and run all over.

It has been so incredible to start forming bonds with these kids - they all have distinct personalities and some of them are just so stinkin' adorable, I can hardly stand it.

There is Sandie (the tías call her Sandía - which means watermelon) who was the first child to plop herself in my lap at the home, and ask me a million questions. She is incredibly smart, precocious, and sneaky - and three years old. Lauren told me that she has been known to talk all the older boys into giving her their blocks, because she would be sure to do something great with them, and they could be allowed to watch if they just handed them over.

There are Wilma and Jesler, aka Ebony and Ivory (for obvious reasons): They are BEST friends, and they have funny personalities. Wilma is also frequently called princesa because she does NOT like being

put down ever, for any reason, except food. And Jesler, is simply adorable - tiny, quiet, and blonde, he is all smiles. I have never seen him throw a fit; he tries - he will scowl and act like he's gonna cry, but then something trips his trigger and he is smilin' again.

Jefferson (Jeffers) is the class clown. He is ALL boy, and ALL personality. He is incredibly sneaky and reckless. Today, he was playing with Isaac and Douglas two much older boys, and for no reason at all he kicked Isaac in the head and turned and high tailed it the other direction before Isaac even knew what hit him (literally). He is also incredibly sweet. At a soccer game on Sunday, he walked over to a player sitting on the sideline (that he did not know), and sat right in his lap. He will tell me "te amo" and give me kisses whenever I ask (and when I'm lucky, when I don't).

ALL of these kids have changed my life. I love them more than I can say. I am so blessed by them - Somedays it is hard for me to believe that I am in Honduras, and that I won't see them everyday for always.

More Miqueas

It has been raining here for almost 36 hours. It is my first serious rain experience in Honduras. Here at Mission Miqueas we are technically in a village outside of the town, El Progreso. Being in a village makes us susceptible to shoddy electricity in the rain. Our power was out all night the night before last, and last night from about 7 until 11pm. Aside from this inconvenience, when it rains here .... it is GLORIOUS. It's cool and refreshing outside - practically the perfect temperature; an awesome break from the 100+ degree weather we were having before this rain.

The day before the rain started (it began Sunday night) Mary and I were lucky to tag along when Walker (full time tutor) had to take Walter, the oldest boy here at Miqueas, back to school. Walter was struggling with behavior and grades at all the schools he was placed in within El Progreso, so Melody and Jacob sent him to a strict boarding school in Peña Blanca. There, he is doing SO well. He has good grades, friends, and is excelling. Walter had come home for the weekend that Mary and I arrived, so we had the opportunity to hang out with him and get to know him a little bit before he had to go back. He is 13 and has 4 siblings and a nephew here. He is such a sweet kid!

Peña Blanca is a beautiful little town up in the mountains and Mary told me that R.O.O.M. works with an awesome children's home there called Pan American that works with malnourished children. ROOM has been there many times, and one of the most recent was to drop off TOMs shoes for the kids. Near there is a beautiful lake, Yojoa, and Walker took us there to see it! Since there were three newbies in the car (Mary, Lauren, and I) Walker took us on a drive through several small towns there to see what they are like. We went to El Mochito, which is home to one of the biggest and richest mines in Central America. He explained that the mine was responsible for all the paved roads in the town, since most mountain villages have one paved road at best. It was an awesome tour, and the mountains are SO beautiful here. It was the first time I'd been really cool in a while (hard to believe that there are blizzards at home in the States), and then after we got home it began to rain. Praise God for this cool reprieve from the heat.

Micah 6:8

Yesterday morning Mary andI arrived at Mission Miqueas. We are here to experience day-to-day life at a children's home, and offer some help while Melody and Jacob (the house parents) are gone to the States. Miqueas is just outside the town El Progreso, down some dirt road and in a compound. Shew.Not like city life at all. There are two buildings on the property: One is the main building where the kids live, sleep, eat, play, and do homework, and the other is the staff house. Mary and I are staying in the staff house in our very own room with our very own large beds! It's awesome. There are 38 kids living here, ranging from infancy to age 14. There is a team of nannies (tías) that help corral the kids day to day, Walker - the full time tutor, Lauren - an intern, and a young couple- Melody and Jacob who run the place (Mama and Papa). The adults (minus the tías) all live in the staff house together.

I have never encountered such loving kids. Yesterday Mary and I spent the day getting to know the kids (it is a challenge to remember 38 names!) and helping the tías. Mary, Lauren, and I helped tía Dueña and tía Yolanda make baleada tortillas before dinner last night. [note: baleadas are a delicious Honduran food that consist of puffy tortilla, beans, eggs, honduran cheese (crumbly like feta, sharp like cheddar), and mantequilla (butter/sour cream combo)] It was awesome to help, because I doubt I will be able to live without baleadas in the States, so I NEED to learn how to make the tortillas :-)

There are so many amazing stories here - both happy and sad.

Karen is 10 but behaves like a toddler. There is nothing wrong with her mentally, but for the first 7 years of her life, no one talked to her, interacted with her, or fed her regularly. She

is simply completely behind socially. She has only just begun speaking and playing with others.

Antonio is 18 months old, but cannot crawl or speak. He has crossed eyes and came to the home completely malnourished. If you look his direction at all he is all smi

les and flirtations - the tías call him a "coqueta." With help and plenty of food, he is just learning how to sit up on his own and is trying to stand.

All of the kids here attend the best private schools the home can afford, and they all do some form of extracurricular activity: dance, soccer, swimming, band. They are so fortunate to be here, and the home takes great care of them. I have loved every second here. The kids are all so affectionate and love attention. My lap never stays empty longer than 3 seconds when I am sitting down and when I'm standing some adorable kid is begging with his hands raised for me to pick him (or her!) up.