Monday, November 22, 2010

... a funsweetexhaustingsickcompetitive-filled week en mi vida loca ...

Just a quick update on a few of fun things we got to do this week...

Sports day was this Thursday at school. It is a day that I plan for all high school students, and it is just a day full of sports. There were 4 teams that rotated around playing different games against different teams. We played basketball, futbol, dodgeball, and kickball. The kids get so excited and show up with their team color shirt and are ready for a day of competition. One of my fav. things is getting to see them play with different kids and get to know their school mates better because they hardly get to do anything at all with the kids in other grades - so for this day, I mix up the whole high school and put them on teams with all the grades 7th-11th. Some of the kids got a little too competitive and yelled at my refs/me, which was annoying, but most of the kids had a lot of fun and showed good sportsmanship all day. I can really see the kids improving in the different sports, especially basketball - it is SO encouraging to watch.





















On Friday after school, we didn't have any plans so we gathered up some games and construction paper and headed up to play with the kids. When we go on Wednesdays we spend time with the kids doing homework, but on Friday we just got to play with them. We showed them how to play Jenga, played a little UNO and old maid. The kids get real bored now during the day because they are out of school for a couple months (breaks are weird here) so we thought it would be fun to surprise them with a "game day". We also got to hold the babies and feed them their bottles before we left to help out a little, it was sweet.



On Saturday, despite my need for sleep, we got up at 7:30AM (on a saturday, yes I can't believe I did it either) and met some people from church and small group for a day of hiking!! There is a national park over looking a beautiful lake just about an hour away. So we drove out there and all agreed (against mine and stephanie's best judgement) to take on the 5 hour hike to the top over look and waterfall. The first stop was a really nice over look where you could see the lake, 45 mins later, a beautiful waterfall, 45 minutes later, a cloud forrest, 45 minutes later, another nice overlook, and another hour later - we had FINALLY reached the bottom. shewwww, I get exhausted all over again just writing about it! haha. But getting to know one another better, the stumbles, the falls (stephanie), the water bottle getting knocked down the river, the lack of wildlife (2 butterflies people), and the random conversations made it all a little more fun! It was a great day of hiking, but next time I think we'll go for the shorter one... :)



immediately after I about fell down the mountain side behind us and stephanie saved me...
laughing about how close to dying i was, and how she has had to save my life twice now...

finally the picture we were going for in the first place, before the near death experience...



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

...a face you may never know...

So today at the kid's home there was a lot of excitement because they had gotten gifts from their sponsors in the United States. The little kids were so enthralled with new pencils, sharpeners, and NEW coloring books while the older kids were outside playing with their new balls. Several of the kids were writing letters to their sponsors (I guess they do it a few times per year) and it was soooo incredibly cool to be on the other side of that letter. My mom has always, since I can remember, sponsored a child in another country and has received letters and photos from her sponsor child through the years. We read about how old the child is, their favorite color, their birthday, and what they enjoy doing. My mom has always dreamed of having the opportunity of meeting that sweet face that she receives letters from. 

Today, I was helping/reading what the kids were writing in those same letters to those families, much like mine, who has chosen to give their money to a child they may never meet. So...this post is for you - sponsor families, who have committed to send a monthly donation to a child somewhere in the world - you are making a difference. Though you may never meet your child or ever really get to know where your money is going - there are children benefitting from your small sacrifice somewhere in the world and seeing the smiles on the kids faces today was truly priceless. I would love more than anything to shoot an e-mail to the sponsors of these kids at the children's home I go to (some you see below), and just let them know that their sponsored child is a precious gift to my life and that I am so thankful for their commitment to help them financially. I would love to tell them how much the gifts mean they received today, and how they get excited for dinner because they have good food to eat, and how smart they are, and how good they are at shooting marbles, etc. So thank you out there, whoever you are, that sponsor the kids from Vida y Libertad Casa Hogar and also all you who sponsor kids through other ministries - thank you. Just take a look at these sweet faces below and see my purpose for this post...











Saturday, November 6, 2010

...to a guy named Guy, thanks for the holiday...

Can you see my name??!
Well I celebrated my first English holiday - Guy Fawkes Day - which always involves a bonfire, and usually a small man (made from newspaper), which gets burned over the fire. He tried to burn down their parliament or something...? Anyways, it was at the house of a missionary family, who has just started a new church that I am attending, and small group. So it was a great time with hot dogs over the fire, with extra big buns filled with typical honduran toppings - mayonnaise, ketchup, slaw, onion - and the only gringo-addition to the dogs - chili. They were delicious! Finished off by smores and oreos. Great night of fellowship. 

 Check out this view!!! The lights in the background is our city - Siguatepeque - pretty awesome huh?!





...vacation saves the month...





Shew did this vacation come at the right time! At the end of every parcial (semester), we have to begin plans for the next one. Those plans include: the 9 week plans, government plans, homework calendars for the parcial, plans for the next week, then we have to turn in a copy of every review sheet, final exam, and answer key. SHEW - so after turning in all of that on friday, we were finally able to take a deep breath and jump into a van and head for the water! We went to a beach most of us had never been too called Omoa, near Puerto Cortes (one of the biggest ports in south america). We settled into our nice little canadian-owned bed & breakfast joint that was literally 20 feet from the water - they constantly have to battle with flooding. It took us no more than 30 minutes to get in our suits and head for the water!


The next day we beached it up all day, checking out a couple different beaches - one of which was infested with these little jumping bugs that would completely cover your towel within 45 seconds of laying it on the sand - we didn't stay at that beach long. At the second beach, we met three little guys that were excited to see so many gringas in the same place. After talking to them once, they became our best friends for the day, haha. Their names were what surprised me most - Jason, Wesley, and Steven, haha! I was totally expecting an Alejandro or Juan David, but no. We spent most nights playing "Hand-and-Foot" (a Mellon family favorite) and stayed up late, pooling all of our junk food together.


 Our last day, we went in to Puerto Cortes and visited their largest bilingual school. Becky had a contact in the school and he was happy to answer any questions we had and show us around. We were pretty overwhelmed with the differences in their school and ours. First difference - air conditioning in every class! what! I turn the air conditioning on it our class by opening the doors and windows, haha. But it was cool to get a different view of how they ran their school. It was an awesome vacation to a new place and a great chance to get to know my fellow teachers better!