Thank You, Donors!

Hailey and I want to thank everyone who has supported us financially during our time in Honduras. Your support has made it possible for us to do many things – from purchasing diapers for Micah to purchasing medicine for people who could not have afforded it otherwise. We want you all to know that your financial support truly is making a difference in the lives of people in Honduras. Here are a few of the ways that we have been able to use the donations:

-To purchase medicine for a student who needs monthly shots (Hailey administers the shots)
-To purchase eyeglasses for a couple of the students. One of the students was getting headaches every class from trying to read the blackboard.
-To pay for a doctor’s visit and medicine for our cook who has a very bad bacterial infection in her ear
-To purchase a guitar to teach new songs to the students and to lead worship on Sundays
-To pay for many of our monthly necessities (toiletries, diapers, shoes for the rainy season, etc.)
-To purchase a cell phone for a student who was unable to communicate with her family
-To pay for gasoline for Joseph’s motorcycle for regular trips into town for groceries, medicine, toiletries, etc. for the students
-To purchase a cake for Mother’s Day for several of the mothers who live near us
-To pay for an upcoming trip out of the country to renew our visas
-To pay for international health insurance

While many of these things may seem trivial as you read them, we cannot express the gratitude of the people who have received help (in one way or another) from your financial support. Not only are we extremely grateful, many Hondurans are grateful as well.

We will continue to be wise stewards of your financial support and will continue to use it to help other people as often as we are able. Thank you!

Perfect Timing (written by Hailey)

(Written last week)

Before moving to Honduras I had told Joseph that I wanted and envisioned our home to be a place where everyone feels welcome and a place everyone wants to be, especially children of the community. I wanted our home to be a fun and safe place for kids to come and hang out and be loved on. When we arrived in Honduras I was a little sad to see that we lived even more remotely than I imagined; I guess I thought there would be more people coming and going from around our house, like in a neighbor. So I put my dream of having Honduran children running around my home away, assuming that it would not happen.

But today….it happened! And it couldn’t have been at a more perfect time!

My family in Tennessee asked if they could send us anything a while ago so we sent them a list of a few things that we needed and a few other things that would be fun to have. (We don’t have a mailing address here so what people have to do is send the packages to the organizations home office in Virginia and then about every 3 months or so they ship all that they have at that time in a large container to Honduras. It takes about a month or so for the packages to get to us because of the size of the container and the necessary travel time and going through customs.) We were so excited to hear that our packages were arriving this week but we were not sure of the exact day or time. When they arrived I felt like a little kid in a candy store ☺ It is amazing how such simple things like almonds and raisins and lotion can get you so excited when you live out in the middle of no where ☺

We got everything unpacked just as a group of people from the community came over for a church service. One of the builders here was leading the service outside under our dining structure and it started to rain. The small kids stayed warm on their parent’s laps while the other older children ran for cover in the kitchen. I saw them and waved them over to our home. They came running over due to one of the kid’s promptings, she is the daughter of the cook who works here often with her mother. I was so happy to not just offer them shelter from the rain but now, after receiving the container I could offer them some toys to play with! I also brought out a few of Micah’s books that are in Spanish and of course I had to offer them some treats too.

I sat there and looked around and realized that what I envisioned our house being used for was actually taking place! I was filled with Joy and so grateful for the generosity of my family and for the Lord’s perfect timing!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

( Written Yesterday, May 25th)

Today is Joseph’s 27th birthday!

He woke up at his usual 5am and went outside to get some reading and preparing done for his class. I was lying in bed, just about ready to get up, when I heard a lot of chickens making some noise earlier than usual. I got up and peared out of our window and sure enough, I saw Joseph chasing the 2 hens and their baby chicks into their pen. Aparently they had gotten out of their box that they spend the nights in ☺ Right now some men are building a new chicken pen for mothers and their babies that will keep them safe from predators at night, but for now we have to put them in a box at night. Anyways, I quickly put on my slippers and ran out to help him. I laughed to myself thinking, of course something unexpected had to happen the morning of Joseph’s birthday! Haha.
I went back inside to get ready and while Joseph enjoyed his cup of coffee. Micah woke up shortly and we all had breakfast together. Here is a picture of Micah and Joseph:

Joseph taught his morning class while I watched Micah and washed some clothes.
Micah went down for an early nap because he didn’t sleep that well last night…we heard him roll around and make noises frequently throughout the night. After Joseph’s class I sowed seeds for a row of cabbage and two rows of onions in my garden. ( I planted three rows of carrots yesterday!) Joseph was able to skype with his parents and two Sisters for about an hour which was a great birthday present.

A few weeks ago I e-mailed Glen, the president of Art For Humanity, and asked him for a favor. I asked if he would bring a box of brownie mix for Joseph’s birthday. When he arrived a few days ago and gave me the brownies I was so excited! Joseph and I have been talking about how much we miss brownies and ice cream, so I thought this would be a nice surprise for him! How I needed to figure out if I could bake them ☺

I learned that the site manager, who lives just down the road from us, had an oven that we could use! This is going to be great. Long story short, Joseph found out I was going to make brownies because I let the cat out of the bag by asking him about an oven yesterday…yes, I am terrible at making surprises! I think I have surprised Joseph just once before we were married and I had to flat out lie to him. AND he lived in another city, so he couldn’t see the accidental smirks on my face ☺

Anyways, oh well, so he found out. But I knew he would like brownies just the same! Oh, so I had to cut a wheelbarrow of firewood yesterday and wheel it to Rosie’s house, she is the wife of the site manager.Today I made the brownie mix and let the cook, Candida, lick the bowl ☺ She was in heaven…she had never had a brownie before! Then I had to walk the brownie pan back to Rosie’s house, it is about ½ mile down the road. I got to her house and her oven was not the oven I was picturing. Haha. Look at the picture below with my brownies inside:

Well, here goes nothing. Aparently, she had started a big fire earlier and just pushed the logs aside, slid the brownie pan in with the end of a rake and covered the holes with pieces of a tin roof. I told her maybe it would take 30mintues and she said “No! cince minutos!” (15 mintues) She knows her oven better than I do, so I let her be in charge of the time. We walked back to her house and talked about our sons and motherhood and then after just 10 minutes she told me the brownies should be ready.
We walked through the cow field back towards the oven and she pulled them out and said “Nosotros una problema! (We have a problem!) haha. As you can see in the picture below, the brownies got BAKED to a black crisp on top, but then the middle was still gooey!

So then I realized that her oven was WAY too hot and it just wasn’t going to work for brownies unless next time…assuming Joseph will get me brownies ☺…we make a way smaller fire and put the brownies in earlier before it gets too hot.

Rosie and I laughed and I attempted to tell her in Spanish about the phrase we say in the states “It is the thought that counts!” She got the idea and we laughed again and she apologized. I told her that is was no problem and that I was thankful for her help.

I returned to the campus and all the girls ran up to me hoping to see a delicious chocolate cake. I showed them what happened and they smiled and said they didn’t mind, they would eat it anyways! Haha.

Shortly after I returned, it started to rain and we had to do our typical routine when it rains: run over to our clothesline and bring in all the laundry! Joseph started to work on cutting chicken wire to fence my garden off from the dogs and chickens, who like to dig. And I tried to entertain Micah and write this post ☺

I just put Micah down for a second nap that was much needed ☺ and I am sitting outside writing. The rain stopped and Rosie just walked up for a big bag full of delicious bread she just made in her oven. HAHA. It practically tastes like cake… ah geee…I guess for the next birthday we can just ask Rosie to make her bread! Haha.

Since the rain has stopped and Micah is sleeping I better go take a shower. The girls have one more hour of class and then dinner is at 5:30pm. Four of the students went into town today with Glen to get some dental work done and I gave them some money to buy a piñata for Joseph. Hopefully that comes as a surprise! I will write more about that and hopefully post a picture of two….

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Ok, so the evening has ended and it sure ended with a bang. The pictures really say it all so I can keep this short :)  I helped the girls make Joseph's favorite meal here, Baleadas - which are flour tortillas with bean and cheese. It was really fun and I am getting pretty good at it!

The girls decorated the classroom and surprised Joseph with a "Clifford - The Big Red Dog" pinata and some of the girls said a few words of gratitude and then did a skit that was hilarious....so I heard :) I had to go give Micah a bath and put him to bed so I missed it, but apparently 3 of the girls did a skit acting out Joseph, and 3 of the volunteers.  Then we presented the pinata and that was pretty funny watching Joseph hit the dickens out of that thing.

  Then we all ate the burnt brownies, which were not that bad!  Joseph said it tasted like smores! haha.

I think he had a good day :)

There are great days....and there are others

(Written Friday Night)

Today fell into the “other” category. I decided to call it the “other” category not because it was necessarily bad (I suppose it depends on who you ask and when you ask), but because it was not great. Here are a few of the “highlights”:

• Hailey sprained her ankle on a jog this morning and it is already pretty swollen. She has been limping around most of the day.
• We learned early in the morning that the previous day’s rain made all of our water (except our filtered water) muddy. Huge rains mean flooded rivers, which means dirty water for us since our water comes directly from the river. This means we wash our clothes in dirty water, we bathe in dirty water, and I brushed my teeth using dirty water.
• I rode my motorcycle into town to take one of the students to the bus to visit her mom (who is ill) and my motorcycle almost fell over because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to where I put the kickstand. Luckily, I stopped it from falling, but I also put a huge crack in the plastic as I used my leg to stop the fall. Because the rivers were high (and also because I am still learning on the motorcycle) I got my feet and ankles completely soaked on the ride. To top it off, I purchased a few heads of cabbage for dinner and forgot them in the supermarket. Awesome!
• It POURED for a couple hours in the afternoon. I don’t mind the rain, but Micah isn’t a huge fan because we have to stay inside and there really isn’t much to do in our house. It was one of those “Huge Honduran Rains” that bring out all the earwigs that can fly. These bugs (I forget their Spanish name) are earwigs that fly around until they decide to lose their wings. Then they crawl around looking for someone’s ears to crawl into. They timed their arrival perfectly at dinner time, which meant Hailey and Micah ate inside our home while I ate tortillas and quesillo (with a dash of earwig wings) outside with a few of the students. Yummy!
• We learned that one of our close friends in Seattle had a brain scan and the doctors found a mass. We are optimistic that the test results from the specialist will show nothing serious, but it is still never fun to get news like this from someone you care about so much. Please pray with us for Sylvia.
• Micah was especially fussy. He doesn’t have days like that very often, so when he does have them they often seem to be fairly stressful. Maybe he was tired, maybe something he ate gave him an upset stomach, maybe he had a small fever, but whatever it was it makes for a long day. I felt like the entire day consisted of Hailey and I telling him “no,” taking things away from him that he shouldn’t be playing with (there seem to be a lot of those kinds of things in Honduras), or him saying “Momma, Momma, Momma” over and over again (but only during the times when Momma wasn’t available).

Anyhow, all those things added up led to an “other” day. It would be nice if we could end these kinds of days with a scrumptious order of Phad Thai followed by some brownies with vanilla ice cream. Or if we could enjoy some chocolate chip cookies or Hagan Daas (is that spelled right?) coffee ice cream. Maybe if we could just enjoy a hot chocolate in our pillow-top bed while watching one of our favorite shows on our laptop.

But for now, I am laying in my full-size, rock-hard, mosquito-net protected bed racing to finish this blog post before my battery dies because we have had almost no electricity over the last few days. I will end this “other” day in a few minutes and wake up tomorrow to what will likely be a “Great” Day. I’ve had many more great days in Honduras than other days and I think it will stay that way. I like it down here a lot, but just like anywhere else in the world, there are days when everyone thinks…“if only I could (fill in the blank).” Today was one of those days.

At least I get to fall asleep to the sound of barking dogs, barking frogs (yes, you read that correctly), and insects that make noises I don’t even know how to explain. This is the life!

Our First Bible Study

Last week, we decided to start an optional Wednesday night Bible Study for the students who are interested. We chose a 7-week study on the miracles performed by Jesus in the book of John that was written by a pastor from Southern California who I met at a conference in Chicago last year. We thought that maybe a few of the students who attend evangelical churches would be interested, but did not expect many.

Last night, we set up 7 chairs and wondered if that was too many. Only a few minutes into the Bible Study, I had to bring in another 11 chairs and our living room was packed. We had a great combination of people, including students, the cook and her daughter, one of the construction workers, and the wife of one of the other construction workers. In total, we had 18 people. The entire Bible Study was in Spanish, and many times Hailey and I could only understand bits and pieces, but it was a great time of fellowship with friends from many different backgrounds and walks of life.

We look forward to great conversations in the coming weeks as we learn about the life of Jesus.

Even in the Safest of Places...

Before I complete the rest of this post, I want to re-affirm you all that we are safe and sound and I am currently lying in my cozy bed. No one is concerned of any violence where we live, and I was told by numerous people (including a police representative) that the issue I am about to explain is very isolated.

That said, there was a family of six that was murdered in a village a few miles away from our house last week. There were five adults and one nine-year-old girl (I am almost in tears as I write this thinking about that little girl). Around five o’clock in the evening one night, several masked men entered the home of the family and shot all six. One of the Honduran workers that our organization employs is a police representative, meaning he is an unpaid volunteer for the police department in an area that is too remote for the government to pay officers, so we get updated information from him daily. He had to go to the house only minutes after the family was murdered.

Unfortunately, yesterday one of the extended family members of the family who died decided to kidnap a teenage boy who he thinks was involved in the murders. As far as we know, the teenager is still alive, but there have been many threats to kill him if the murderers do not step forward. Douglas told me this morning that the situation is only getting more complicated. Some people think the individual who kidnapped the teenager is just trying to get vengeance, while others believe he may have been involved in the original murder and is trying to cover up his own crime.

Anyhow, I share this information with you because I know that many of you would like to know, if only for the sake of knowing or because you are praying for us. I have also been struck by the fact that something like this happened in a place so calm and tranquil. Many of you may be thinking, “You live in Honduras, there’s no way it can be calm and tranquil,” but this is one of the most peaceful places I have been my entire life. This kind of crime is common in the large cities of Honduras, but is unheard of in rural areas where everyone knows everyone else. Some of our neighbors are greatly surprised and deeply saddened by this tragedy. It almost feels weird to continue on with our daily activities (classes, work, prepping the garden, enjoying delicious meals, and playing baseball with the students and workers) when something so horrible happened in our “backyard.”

I can’t help but ask myself if there is there something we can be doing to help. If there is a reason why we are hear when this tragedy occurred. Or if the best thing to do is move on with our daily lives as if nothing ever happened. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say to people. I don’t even know how to feel. And one of the hardest things is thinking that there are millions of people around the world who experience this kind of tragedy on a regular basis. It has been difficult for me to swallow and I can hardly even imagine that some people just get used to it.

For now, we will continue to pray for the family and hope that justice is served.

MICAH :)

I thought you would want to see some pictures of Micah and see what a big boy he is becoming.

Some things about him:

*He gives kisses now.
*He says three words in Spanish "Hola", "Adios", and "Agua"... he says "Agua" alot.
*He likes to watch the baby chicks run around.
*He is warming up to everyone and likes to wave hello or goodbye to them.
*He went on his first motorcycle ride and LOVED it...he actually slept more than half of the total 1 1/2 hour ride.
*He does a pretty good job brushing his teeth...after mommy or daddy has brushed it for him first :)
*He likes to play in the dirt and fill buckets up with dirt and rocks.
*He can now climb into a adult size chair and he looks so cute and happy with himself as he settles in to relax :)
*He is quite the helper....when he wants to be :)
*He is down to one nap a day....about half of the time.

The happy boy waking up from his nap.

Playing with his toys...rocks and sticks :)

Letting one of the students, Zwelmi,  hold him :)

Liking the sign his mommy made him that points to "the baby chicks", "los pollitos".

Smiling for the camera!

Brushing his teeth like a good boy!

Enjoying the ride on daddy's shoulders!

Hanging out with mom inside during the rain...notice our indoor clothesline :)

Helping dad get clean drinking water for the kitchen.

Getting out of his chair :)

Still loving his baths in his duck tub... that is in our cement shower :)

Enjoying playing in the water on a sunny day.

...but Oh, Does He Give!!!

I ended my walk early today because I just had to blog about what the Lord reminded me of shortly after I started my morning walk…

I am trying to start my prayers by praising God and thanking him all he does and gives and especially for sending us His One and Only Son to die for our sins so that we might give our lives to him, live our lives for him and have eternal life. And as I was praising Him, a verse and a particular situation where no one can doubt God’s love and grace came to mind.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Job 1:21

I know someone who suffered a miscarriage last year and though I have not experience that and could not even pretend to understand what sorrow that must bring, I know that losing someone close to us is one of the hardest things we will ever have to experience in this life; Praise God that we can put our hope in Him and trust that many of those that we lose go straight into his loving arms for eternity. But as sinful humans who struggle to Trust God when we experience loss and suffering, we forget about His Promises and His Sovereignty.  All we see is our loss and we don’t understand why God would take something so precious away from us…

Now…. get ready to learn more of God’s grace and mercy and don’t be surprised if you need to grab a tissue for your joyfully tear-filled eyes….

This week we learned that the person who experienced such a loss last year, is now pregnant with twins!!!  ISN’T GOD SO GOOD!!  After hearing that news I could not help myself from laughing as my eyes filled with joyful tears! 

Yes, God does take away…. but oh does he GIVE!!!

He knows the questions we have when we experience loss and he knows the pain we feel. He grieves with us but he also rests in peace and desires that we receive that same peace that passes all understanding.  We can have that same peace when we Trust in God and know that He does not have any problems, he just has plans…good plans for us and the losses that we experience and the trails we go through are all apart of His wonderful, loving plan for us.  He wants to use them to draw us closer to him so that we can experience his Amazing Grace and Mercy.

As the Lord reminds me of this Glorious Truth this morning, I also challenge all of you to take time to thank God for ALL that he has given you and ALL that continues to give you.  Also thank him for the times he has taken away, trusting that He does it for our good and because he loves us so. 

I know, because I am a sinful human, that it is easy for us to go to the Lord and tell him of all that we are lacking and of all that we need but know I think of how much that must sadden our Lord because He knows how much he has given us.  The life we live and the air we breathe should be enough for us to praise him daily.  So, look at your life and SEE and TOUCH all that he has BLESSED you with and know that he gives WAY more than he takes away.  Why?  Because he is our Abba Father, our daddy, who loves us more than anyone ever will and more than anyone ever can.  He ALWAYS has our best in mind and ALL he does is for OUR good.

Praise The Loving and Mighty Name of Jesus!

A lot of Firsts...

It's been a crazy week since the students have been back and every day has been packed from morning until night. We thought it would be fun to share some of our "firsts" since we've been down here.

• The first time we were served three carbohydrates at a meal with nothing else
• The first time we’ve owned a motorcycle (The first time Joseph has crashed it, too)
• The first time we’ve seen a million fireflies
• The first time we’ve had spaghetti with hard-boiled eggs in the sauce (served with tortillas, of course – which by the way is actually quite tasty)
• The first time we’ve washed our clothes on “The Pila” (similar to a washboard) and hung our clothes on a clothesline
• The first time we’ve slept under a mosquito net
• The first time Hailey has seen a coyote UP CLOSE
• The first time Micah has been given cookies and other sweets (which is the common food of choice for crying babies in Honduras)
• The first time Hailey can honestly call herself a “Chicken Farmer”
• The first time we have ever lived without a refrigerator
• The first time it sounds like we’re camping EVERY night
• The first time we’ve lived within walking distance to one of the most beautiful sights in the country (A Huge Waterfall)
• The first time Micah has asked for something in Spanish (Agua, Agua, Agua)
• The first time Joseph has cut Hailey’s hair (It’s not half-bad either)
• The first time we’ve seen and heard a barking toad (about as big as Micah’s head)
• The first time Micah has kicked, punched, and pulled the hair of a dog (A common practice here in Honduras that we are trying to keep Micah from learning)
• The first time Joseph has had thoughts in Spanish (on accident, of course)
• The first time Joseph has cried in Spanish (Es una broma – look it up in a Spanish dictionary)
• The first time our entire family has had a case of HRUBS – all in one day! (Honduran Rapid and Unexpected Bowel Syndrome…from the food)
• The first time we need to drive through a river three times to get to the nearest town
• The first time we have regularly gone to bed at 8 PM

I am sure there are many other “Firsts” that we aren’t thinking about. Hopefully the funny stories will make their way into a future blog post.