3 years!!

Three years ago today I came here to his foreign country. God made it clear to me that this is where he wanted me, and I will be here until it is clear to move on.
I can remember mine and Jen's crazy journey to get here like that! Oh the memories! Our first year was for sure tough but it has helped to grow me into the person that I am today! And look at where I am today!

Slumber Party with Rostia!

8:30pm
And the fun begins....................

9pm
Drawing/Coloring

10:30pm
Washing dishes, she wanted to mop too but I did not have a mop over here with us, and I was not about to go to the kids side. She is loud at times and I was afraid she would wake up the kids. Then we would have a big Casa de Esperanza slumper party, not too sure I could have handled that!

11pm
Here she is dressing up my prayer bear she found here in the apt. While also enjoying some pumpkin seeds we cooked!

dance party!11:45pm
I got some shut eye from 12am til 3am! Dorian stayed up with her!
After waking up at 3am she was ready to go and asking every little bit when she was going to leave to go to the Dr. So come 3:30am she wanted to brush her teeth and get ready, so I let her. Also come 3am the Dr. said she was not allowed to have any more to eat or drink. At this point I am not too sure she wanted any more to eat because her belly was full and she had the hicups!

4am
Playing one of my favorite games, bejeweled! It took her a half an hour or so just to learn to work the mouse. Still not sure after playing for an hour she figured out how what the object of the game was, but the important thing was she liked it!
These are just some of the moments captured last night at our slumber party!

So Miss Rosita had testing done today for an more accurate test on her hearing. For those of you who have been following my blogs we had been thru a big long process with testing and did not get accurate results with the other testing we had done. So it was next on to a machine they would hook up to her to read her brain,( sorry I don't know the technical name of the test). They wanted her to go to sleep so they could hook the equipment up to her and get accurate tests of reading her brain. Also in order for her to get tested accurately the Dr. said she needed to stay up all night.....yep thats right NO sleep, a slumper party for us. So we kept her here in the apt with me and Dorian. We started the night at 8pm but with no elec. due to all of the wind here. So the first hour we ate all sorts of goodies and filled our tummies and just laughed and giggled. Well then came 9 pm and she was wanting to do something so we got out paper and markers and went at it. Well about 10pm she was ready for bed! She was not wanting to keep her eyes open and was ready to lay down. Well thank you Lord the lights came on at 10pm and that gave her energy and she was up and at it. The pictures above explain the rest of the night. :) Although Dorian was kind enought to stay up with her and I did get to sleep off and on from midnight til 3am. :)
Rosita came over to the apt a little bit ago and wanted to know if she could watch TV and draw with me. I explained to her not tonight, we both our in our own beds and were going to sleep tonight. She just looked at me with a ornery little smirk. Today she has slept most of the day from the meds they gave her. Lets just hope she still sleeps tonight!

She left this morning with Marc at 5:30am(at 5am I sent her on down to Marc's, she was ready t go and I was ready to sleep. She had made it thru the night and now just hoping Marc could keep her awake in the car on the way to town. He said he had no problems with keeping her awake. Just many adventures in keeping her in line! :) The Dr. drugged her up with meds to help her go to sleep. Although with not sleeping all night I am sure she would have fallen asleep there on the table on her own. The test began and right off they could tell that her left ear had no hearing. Then it was on to the right ear, they found out she could hear at 110 decibels in her right ear. They said as an example that, that is rock concert level. So in all we found out today it is not correctible. So now it is on to game plan number two. We are going to have to get her going to a school so she can learn to sign, read, and write.
So please continue to pray as we continue to take the next step with what to do for the best of Rostia.

Pumpkin

Here is the pumpkin! A little sad looking I know but it was the best we could do.

Had a little problem cutting the teeth, it's a true WV pumpkin. Missing some teeth! Although Dorian got the glue gun and glued back in the tooth!

Carving the face

Cutting off the top!

So yesterday on our day off Dorian and I found a pumpkin at the supermarket. I have never noticed the past couple of years here that they even sell pumpkins here in Honduras. So I was quite happy when I found one. Fall is by far my favorite time of the year and I miss it. So to have a little bit of home here with me during fall made me happy. I was even more excited to carve a pumpkin with Dorian. He had never done it before! So it was fun to get to carve a pumpkin with Dorian. I had to do a little convincing but soon after Dorian was up and cleaning out the pumpkin and carving away. So here are some pictures I thought I would share of Dorian carving his first pumpkin! Wish the kids could experience this too but the pumpkins are a little too expensive for us to buy them for all of the kiddos.

SUN!!!

So the rain has seemed to settle down for the time being. Although the sun is out now and we are loving the weather especially today! There are many who are suffering the after math of all of this. They have no home, they have lost loved ones, they have lost their crops, and lost so much more. So even though the rain has stopped be praying for so many as they recover and get back on their feet.

Here they all are............

Here is the BIG happy Casa de Esperanza family!!!

More pics from all of the rain

rain, rain, and more rain

Rain here in Honduras

and more rain....

Rain

Chicken Foot

So in all of these rainy days the kids have learned to play chicken foot or otherwise known as mexican train. They love it!!! They keep wanting to play and play and play. Although I do have to keep a close watch on them when they play they can get quit sneaky! The pictures did not come out so clear so sorry about the fuzziness! I figured all of you from Belpre who get together and play this frequently would enjoy seeing the kids playing one of your favorite games!

Pamela

She is growing into a young lady too fast for me..............

rain rain rain

So it seems to be as if we are going to see the rain for awhile. The news said today that we will have three more days of steady rain. As we have already had rain all week and now more days of rain. It doesn't take much rain here to make things yucky and messy! Many people suffer beyond what we can even imagine. So be thinking and praying for many of those here who are suffering.

Hopefully the sun will be here soon!!!

Our babies

Marjuri
These are the babies of the house. Not so much babies any more! They growing up on us! Pray for these two as they are getting older they are getting a little more attitude and testing limits, which is normal. Although for me at times I need an abundance of wisdom on how to punish them and how to train them up in the way of our GOD!

Katty

Johny Bday

Today we celebrated Johnys bday! I have managed to borrow a camera so I finally have pics!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHNY!

September Update

September Update 2008

Well the rainy season arrived but whenever I get tired of the wet and dampness I am reminded of the hundreds who have lost their homes during the rain. There is little drainage here in Honduras, so a quick rain shower can sweep away homes on the sides of mountains.
September 12, was Children's day here and it is quite a celebration. Another celebration was independence day. The children love the celebrations with parades, pinatas and costumes.
The schools are having problems with strikes as the teachers were not getting paid. So the schools have been inconsistent and the children end of attending an average of 3 days per week. We continued with testing for Rosita but no concrete results. Communicating with her has been a challenge but she communicates with us just fine and gets along pretty well for the most part. Behavior issues have been a problem with her but we have seen some progress. Pamela is still awaiting for authorization for surgery on her foot. Her mother did give her written permission so the process is moving, but slowly.
We are moving along with the building of another dorm so that we can offer a home for more children.
Dorian was able to go visit his mother in Nicaragua for a week. He really didn't do much visiting as he was there to get papers out and such and the system just does not move so fast and it was lots of days of waiting and traveling. He returned home on a Sunday and on Monday he was in hospital having emergency surgery to have his appendix removed. Public healthcare in Honduras is dangerous at best so we went to a private hospital and while it was very inexpensive compared to United States, there are very few here who can afford it. Cost of Dorian's operation is approximately $3500 and while a bargain, it is quite a sum for us. We are currently attempting to raise monies for the surgery so that we can continue to minister and not fundraise. Dorian has not fully recovered yet and has a drain still from the operation and continues to be on antibiotics. Please pray that his health will be restored and if you are interested in helping us with the cost of surgery please email me for details(karendvaughan@gmail.com).
Continue to pray that I will remain clay in His hands.........

Blessings~

Address

Some of you have asked how you can send support to me and Dorian, and how you can also send money to help out with all of the medical bills we just had with Dorians surgery. 

You can send your checks to:

Dorian & Karen Guido 

P O Box 617

Belpre. Ohio 45714

The checks can be made out to Belpre Church of Christ if you are wanting a tax write off, or you can make them out to Karen or Dorian Guido.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been asking how you can help and for your support. We could not be here without you! 

Blessing upon each and everyone of you!

Any further questions you can continue to email me at karendvaughan@gmail.com

Happy Birthday Sisi

Today Miss Sisi turned 7 years old. We celebrated with the normal cake we have here at Casa, I tired to take pictures but as of right now of the three cameras I have none of them seem to be working. A little frustrating, but it's not the end of the world.

I told her she was seven years old now and as they day went on several people asked, "Sisi how old  are you?" Well she sat with a empty words and never answered. So today we have practiced saying she is seven but just can't seem to get it. It will come. Hey, I forget how old I am at times!

Also wanted a tell you a little story. Yesterday the kids were outside playing and Sisi comes up to me and says, "God is good." I responded by telling He sure is. And I told her you know what, God made the trees, the flowers, all the animals, and us. And she responds by saying, "Even the gringos?" Yes Sisi even the gringos!!!

Home sweet home

For those of you who did not know Monday Dorian was operated on for his appendix. He had just gotten back from Nicaragua the night before. They said that is was at the point of bursting but that they got it out in time.

Thank you for all of your prayers for Dorian. We just got home and he is on his way to recovering. Now we just need to pray for help on paying all of the bills we have from the hospital. Our God is great big and faithful and I know he will provide!