A Day in The Life of Hailey and Micah

Since I haven’t written a blog post yet I figured many of you might be thinking, “What are Hailey and Micah doing? What are their thoughts and what are they experiencing?”  I am going to answer those questions the best I can J and let you know what a “Day in the life of Hailey and Micah” looks like.

But First, I want to just praise the Lord for what he has done in our minds and hearts this first week in Honduras.  Before coming here I thought it would take a few weeks to find a routine and even longer to feel at home.  But that is not the case!  Just yesterday I told one of the other volunteers that I feel like I have been here way longer than just a week…in a good way!  I find myself already in a good routine and full of peace and joy.  Yes, Micah is still adjusting but now that I think about it he is doing great considering we have only been here for a week and a half.  Joseph and I are full of thanksgiving and gratitude for the Lord and how he has given us the peace that He has in this new place.

I will try to keep this as short and sweet as I can, but history shows that I usually don’t do that! Haha.

Micah usually wakes up around 4 or 5am and we then bring him in bed with us and he sleeps for another 30min or hour…until 5:30am.  The last few days I have been getting up and running with some of the girls, which has been yet another great surprise.  Culturally, not many people “workout” but I have learned that some of these girls really enjoy working out and being healthy.  After that Joseph and I get ready and get Micah ready and head over to the kitchen for some delicious Honduran coffee.  Breakfast is at 6:30 and usually consists of beans, eggs, and tortillas.

After breakfast, Micah and I take a walk around the grounds/community of Art For Humanity so that he can get familiar to the place and become more comfortable and learn what things are and what not to touch J  My cousin, Summer, suggested this and it has been a great part of our morning routine.

Just recently I have been helping out feeding the chickens and Micah really enjoys that.  He looks at the chickens and says “Hi!”  It is very cute.

Micah goes down for his first nap around 8:30am and during his nap Joseph and I like to work with the girls and just spend time talking with them and helping them with English and improving our Spanish as well.  Yesterday, for example, I helped the girls collect large rocks that the builders use to make foundations for buildings. It was hard labor for a good 2 hours.  And today, I helped the girls tend to the coffee farm by raking brush and weeds away from each of the coffee plants. Again, hard work!  But I enjoy intense labor and just spending time with the girls. They worked today to earn some money and when they learned that I was not working for money they were so astonish! J  I also try to wash some clothes before Micah wakes up around 10am.  I really enjoy washing my clothes by hand, yes it is time consuming but I choose to embrace the quiet time and use that time to think and pray and practice my Spanish with myself J

When Micah wakes up I try to continue to get things done like hang out our clean laundry or do some yard or garden work and encourage him to play beside me.  What does he play with?  Well, usually if you give him a few sticks he has fun playing drums on a log or if you give him a cup he will keep pretty busy putting rocks in it and pouring it back out and doing that over and over again.  His new friend, Jarod, actually gave him a little car and sometimes he will play with that.  I will also encourage Micah to “help mommy” and he will pick up sticks and rocks and put them in the wheelbarrow or help me water the flowers I recently planted.  Just yesterday Micah started to color…really color and not just put the crayons in his mouth.  He really enjoys just taking the crayons out of the jar and putting them back in, but he will color some as well.  He is also learning his numbers, he already knows “one, two, three, and ten” J  I wrote the numbers 1-20 on a big piece of drawing paper and taped it to his wall in his room so we can practice.  I know you are probably thinking “1-20?”  Hey, you never know what a kid can learn! J

Lunch is at noon and usually consists of beans, rice, tortillas and sometimes a vegetable like coleslaw or potatoes.  Micah has really enjoyed all the food here, which has surprised Joseph and me.  Before coming here, those very foods were the ones that Micah wouldn’t even attempt to eat.  Another huge thing to praise the Lord about!  We do wish there were more fruits and veggies here, but we knew they would be limited before we came.  He usually eats 2-3 bananas a day and when there are veggies we try to hide the tortillas from him until he has had some veggies J  Or else he will just want the beans and tortillas.  He pounded the tomatoes yesterday, which was a good surprise.

Micah goes down for his second and last nap around 1:30pm and during that nap is when I take a shower and get some reading and journaling done.  Joseph has been teaching class during that time, so it is another great time for me to spend some quality time with the Lord.

The girls are done with their classes for the day at 3:30pm and that is when they usually take showers and do their laundry and get ready for the evening which consists of dinner at 5:30pm and what we call “Conversation Time” at 6:30pm, which is when we all get together and play a game and sing songs and encourage the girls to speak in English.  There is much laughter and it is a great time of fellowship.  I give Micah a bath around 6:30 and join the group after that and then we put Micah to bed at 7:30pm.  Joseph and I usually stay up for 30 mintues just talking with each other about our day and maybe get some reading done.   The students/girls usually stay up until 9-10pm.

So there ya go! That is a “Day in the Life of Hailey and Micah” J  I hope you enjoyed getting a picture of our daily routine here in Honduras.  We are really enjoying the tranquility and beauty of this new place and are looking forward to sharing it with those of you who are going to visit us.

I hope to write more posts, but Joseph seems to get to writing them before I do. But now that you have an idea of what I do during the day, I look forward to sharing more of what I THINK during the day J 

Blessings to you all!

**More pictures coming SOON!