A peek at the real world and "Hasta Enero!"

Friday Oct 15

Today was my last full day.  Sigh.  Of all the days I have spent with the kids, this was one of them...  So, the ENTIRE staff went off on a 2 day retreat leaving Diana Collins in charge of SBV with a group of volunteers from a church in the Teguc area...and me.  Remember when you were in elementary school and you had a new substitute?  Well, this was like the entire school, including the principal, being substitutes!  At least they knew the "principal" Diana.  Most of the others they had never met.  Fasten your seatbelts...

The day got off on the wrong foot from the very beginning.  We were taking the volunteers with us in the van.  They were stuck in traffic so we were an hour late getting to SBV.  There was a group from a different church there to lead morning activities that involved breaking the kids into groups and moving them from supervised station to supervised station.  Unfortunately, the supervisors weren't there yet so they quickly adjusted and did everything with the entire group of 65 children!  We moved from the devotional in Cottage 1 to the porch of the Chapel for some activities.  That is where things started to quickly unravel.  It was cold and the wind was blowing really hard.  The volunteers put on a couple of "dramas" that the children enjoyed.  It was mostly OK but some of the little boys were beginning to squirm, get restless, wander off.  Someone was constantly going off to find a wandering lamb.  OH, did I mention that some of the volunteer caretakers didn't show up?

 After the dramas, the volunteer team tried to organize them into groups for games.  I suggested to Diana that we move the group to the new courtyard because it was so cold where we were and the courtyard is much more contained.  That was a bit better but the kids had had it with organized activities by strangers.  The little boys in cottage 2 were veering out of control, led by Fernando.  He wasn't alone... Ronnie, Kennet, and Jose Luis were being busters too.  Bless Emanuel's heart.  He was as good as gold.  We finally corralled them for lunch.  (Note:  Make a prayer of thanksgiving for little boys' appetites...)  They all ate a good lunch with minimal prompting.  I had gotten these huge marshmallows as my dessert.  I cut them in half except for one.  I gave the whole one to Emanuel for being so good and then a half to each of the others if Diana judged them worthy.  (She did!)  After lunch was nap time for the littlest ones and some of the older ones who had been naughty.  About that time Fernando started a full blown melt down.  None of us really knew what to do or how to handle it.  Understandably, he has serious anger issues.  I want to talk to some experts when I get home about how to deal with that sort of situation.  Ultimately, he took off towards the school.  I knew I couldn't run after him but Reina showed up (thank you, God) and reassured me that he would be fine, he just needed to cool down.  Sure enough, after awhile he returned in fairly good humor.  He wouldn't speak to me but he was back to his cute self. 

Paty, who hid in her room studying all morning, showed up and was a hero getting all three of the little boys to fall fast asleep.  Finally, Diana and I had some quiet time to strategize about how she and the other volunteers would survive the next 24 hours and talk just a bit about the child sponsorship program.  We made some headway which we will be able to continue via email.  (One she has been released from the inevitable stay at the Funny Farm after this weekend.) 

With equal parts guilt and relief, I kissed each of the children good-bye and bid them "Hasta Enero!"  On the way back to Casa LAMB we stopped briefly at Suzy's to say hey to Franklin, Irma and toddler Evelyn.  Then Jose David's van got a flat tire on the highway!  As he and the male volunteer changed the tire, barely off the road, I stood by them in my red, pink and yellow Target pajama pants waving the cars to swing wide and avoid Jose David and volunteer.  I am certain I am the topic of many dinner table conversations, "You won't believe the crazy gringa I saw on the side of the road!"

Safely home I have had time to reflect on the day.  I think God scheduled this day this way on purpose.   It was cold and very windy - a taste of weather to come, and the kids were normal kids - meaning they can go from adorable to naughty in the blink of an eye.  I realized life here will not be all rainbows and roses.  This is real life.  It will be hard, frustrating, even maddening.  And yet, all those naughty boys gave me big hugs and kisses when I said good-bye. Fernando even smiled when I kissed the top of his head.  I see my time sort of like a marriage - for better, for worse... I will be faithful and give my love to God's littlest lambs.

Hasta Enero!  (Until January!)

Peace, God bless you all, keep these beautiful people, young and old, in your prayers.

Devotional

Sweet Dunia and Yolani

These kids do chores without complaints!

Isac!

Any Notre Dame fans out there?

Volunteer, very funny drama

Good Fernando

Evelyn, not a baby anymore, with Irma - Franklin's wife

Irma and Franklin

How many days has it been since yesterday?

Thursday Oct 14

Being in Honduras is like being in a time warp. I was in Roswell just a few days ago and yet I can barely remember it! On the other hand, I can't believe it is already almost time to leave. Each day is so full it seems like more and yet it goes by so fast. Today was definitely one of those days.

Sadly, the weather let me down and we had to say good bye to Pamm and Alex. David, Gladys, and Isidra and I took a long drive to visit a woman, Maria, who will be entering LAMB's micro-enterprise program. Oh my. She lives in a little tiny sort of house in the back of a rabbit warren of a building. She has a concrete floor and a tin roof courtesy of the mayor of her town. Some of the walls are solid, some are made of a patchwork of cardboard. Inside is a hodgepodge of furniture, two rooms - one bedroom for herself and 3 daughters still at home and a living room/kitchen. Her home was as neat as a pin (MUCH cleaner than mine)with pictures of her older daughters and their school diplomas framed and hung on the bare wood wall. Her 15 day old grandson was there while the new mother was at a clinic getting a check up. Maria has no legs. She lost them both in a train accident. She has an old rickety wheelchair. She sells sweets, apples, churros on the street to make a living. She wants a micro-loan to buy some produce and supplies to sell so she can save money to buy a sewing machine in order to start a sewing business. She makes curtains, bed linens, repairs clothes, etc. Unfortunately, she has not been able to sell much lately because she has just been diagnosed with stage 3 uterine cancer. She is so worried about what will happen to her 3 daughters still at home if she dies. But, she doesn't have the money for the tests (biopsy and something else I didn't recognize) she needs. How much are the tests? $75. I committed that amount from the Atlanta team on the spot. Please pray that she is healed. So she is telling us this, tears down her face, she can't sleep worrying about her children. She sighed and said, "This is just so much to handle." She suddenly brightened up and proclaimed, "I have no legs but that won't stop me!" Gladys and Isidra said they would make her the loan and provide her a sewing machine so she could get started on her new business. We prayed together and then left. Was that only half a day? There was so much to absorb -- to see the life she lives and the grace with which she lives it is overwhelming.

Then on to SBV! I got there and hung out in the library for a couple of hours. The entire time I had one little boy or another, sometimes two, climbing on my lap to listen to a book. Heaven. There were several other children in there all reading books sprawled out on the floor. Jimmy was carefully perusing the books for the older children. He loves to read. He would show me his favorite books or point out the favorites of other children. He proudly showed me the books his Madrina, Marilyn, has given him. It was wonderful.

Next I visited Sala Cuna to see the babies. I was captivated by Yolani who was listening to music and really enjoying it with her whole body during naptime. I couldn't resist so I tiptoed in to watch. Gabriel, one of the staff, followed and got Yolani giggling and then belly laughing. What a glorious sound to hear her laugh!

I moved on to Cottage 2 to put my things in the office. Guess who was sitting there with his own computer? JORGE!!! I haven't seen him in two years! He looks great. He is 16, handsome as he can be, deep voice, and sweet smile. He is living with his mother, whom I met, and going to school. I ran into Xiomara again so it really felt like old home week. We really have spectacular children there.

I played with the younger children for an hour on the playground and the slide. It was a non-stop flow of children down the slide as I horsed around with them. Mondo-fun but boy am I exhausted! My favorite moments were holding Paola's hand as she zoomed down the slide laughing hard and grinning ear to ear. She came to us from such a traumatic and violent environment. It has taken quite awhile for her to get over that trauma so it is such a joy to see her happy and just having a blast. God is good and God is most definitely here.

I am going to fall into bed as soon as I upload some pictures...

Hasta manana!

15 day old grandson of Maria

Maria's cardboard wall

Maria

Maria telling us about her cancer diagnosis

Maria holding her grandson

Playing with the puzzles from Alex's Eagle project

Caty reading - late for lunch!

Jorge

Reina, Margarita (their mother) Julio, Jorge and Jimmy

Noe

Isaac

Yolani

Soccer on the playground

Yolani and Ode to Joy

THEY'RE SO FLUFFY!!!!

Wednesday, October 13

Have you seen the movie Despicable Me?  If not, rush out and see it.  A great line from the movie is when Agnes, the littlest orphan, shouts with joy when she got a huge new unicorn, "IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!!!"   Well, we morphed it a bit to refer to the kids at SBV because they are so, so cute.  Noe, Maria Mercedes, Fany, et al... THEY'RE SO FLUFFY!!!!

Today was a great day.  We started out in Flor at the children's assembly.  Always wonderful.  Esli was leading part of the program.  It is really awe inspiring to see how she has grown into such a poised young lady.  I spoke to her quickly and she beamed when I told her that I was so proud of her and so happy that she now has Angelie, her daughter, with her.  "Yes, I am so happy and I am with my mother too!"  A happy ending thanks to God's grace and the loving staff at SBV.

I had a very fruitful discussion with Gladys, the Honduran Director of LAMB.  Every time I speak with her I am more impressed with her dedication, competence, intelligence, and strength.  I learned today what a visionary she is.  She and I share many traits like that.  I am very excited about working closely with her.  She takes a holistic view of everything which is so grand.  I also bought a car from her!  Of course, I won't take ownership of it till January but that is one load off my mind.

We took a quick(ish) trip to Giancarlo's.  Again I didn't spend all that was allocated!  What a good girl am I!
We returned to Casa LAMB for a quick lunch and then to La Colonia, the grocery store, to buy ice cream for the birthday party at SBV. As Pamm was reaching for the vanilla, I redirected her to the chocolate chip. Of course.  If given a choice, always go for the chocolate chip.

On to SBV to set up for the birthday party.  We had two huge pinatas - Woody and Jesse from Toy Story 2 and 3.   Once school was out we got the children down on the field to do the pinatas.  First the girls.  It was hilarious.  They all made a big circle around Jesse who was suspended from a tree on a line.  One of the staff members would raise and lower it to make easier or harder to hit depending on the age of the child.  They started with the smallest girls and worked their way up to the older girls.  They excitedly cheered each other on, patiently waiting their turn.  Who do you suppose had the final whack that broke open the pinata liberating all the candy?  Gina.  Who else!  The girls fell on the candy collecting it as fast as they could.

Next it was the boys' turn.  It was a riot.  Literally.  No carefully organized circle.  No, it was more of a pig pile under Woody.  Typical boys!  But, the little boys did manage to go first and somehow everyone who wanted a turn got one before all the candy flew.  Little Alex was hysterical holding his shirt out under Woody as the candy was falling to catch it before it hit the ground!  A fun time was had by all!

Up we went to Cottage 1 for cake, ice cream, hats, and goodie bags.  Before we sang happy birthday to the October and November birthday boys and girls, I made my announcement about living in Honduras. I was moved and delighted to say that everyone cheered!   We handed out cake and ice cream to everyone.  I was disappointed to learn that the alleged chocolate chips in the ice cream were actually raisins!  EWWW.  I was surprised by a raisin and was not amused.  Nevertheless, it was a great party.

Dunia was so dear.  Before the party she made sure I added Sulay, her house mother, to the list of birthday people especially because today is her birthday.  After the goodie bags were handed out she raced up to me upset because Sulay hadn't gotten a goodie bag!  Not to worry, we had extra so Sulay got her goodie bag!  How dear of Dunia to be so concerned that Sulay had the proper acknowledgement of her birthday.  That's how those kids are -- so generous, so empathetic, so caring.  I just love them.   THEY ARE SO FLUFFY!

We got back to Casa LAMB for another fiesta!  A surprise fiesta as a going away party.  Judy moved it from Friday to tonight because Pamm and Alex are leaving tomorrow.  Gladys, Evelyn, and David joined us.  We had such a good time.  I was telling them about our family motto: Never be surprised by a raisin.  David was confused about what I was trying to say.  I explained that we bought chocolate chip ice cream but it had raisins instead.  He clarified that what we bought was actually...wait for it... (remember, the ice cream was for 65 children) ...we bought RUM RAISIN ice cream for a children's birthday party!  We all totally lost it over that.  Although the week isn't over yet, I believe I am secure in my position of doing the stupidest thing of the week!

I am still hoping for a non-destructive but flight cancelling storm so Pamm and Alex have to stay longer....

Tomorrow I am going to meet a woman who lost both of her legs in a train accident.  She has 3 children, lives in a hovel and refuses charity.  She is joining our micro-enterprise program, getting a loan to purchase sweets, apples, etc. to sell on the street so she can ultimately purchase a sewing machine to start a business making curtains and bed linens.

Good night all... enjoy the pictures of the birthday party...