rain, rain, rain

Please be praying for all of those who are being affected by the rains here. We have had nonstop rain all week! Houses are starting to give way. Please be praying for everyone here in Honduras!

Stacey

Stacey with Josue and Nohemy!

We have been looking for someone who is committed to a one year commitment here at Casa for quiet awhile now. Well we have had a few prospects but finally after much prayer Stacey decided to come and work with us at Casa for a year. She has came on faith as she still does not have all of her support to be here. I am postive that God will provide!
We are more than blessed to have her here with us.

Pray for her as she adapts to being here and that she soon can call this place home too.

Mouse

After supper and chores tonight the kids all sat down to watch a movie. Tonight was movie night! Well I was talking to Pamela and she yells out MOUSE!!!! So we both went running for brooms. The kids hear us scream so they all come running too. The kids are all putting on shoes, grabbing brooms, mops, dust pans, sticks and whatever they can get their hands on to kill this mouse.
Well we pull out the shelf to where the mouse was hiding. The mouse starting running and everyone starting beating it with their brooms. We had no luck the mouse got away and went into the kitchen. A few of the kids went in to the kitchen moved to refrigerator to find the mouse and they are starting beating at it with the brooms again. He was quick and he got away again. This time he ran into the pantry. So the boys start pulling all of the stuff off of the bottom shelf of the pantry to look for the mouse, when he comes running out and back into the kitchen. There was lots of screams and brooms and things flying all over the place to kill this mouse. The mouse out smarted all of us and ran under the stove. Well he had no where to go from there the kids thoughts but he out smarted all of us and climbed up into the pots and pans, well at least we think.
The poor little mouse, if anything he might have died from an heart attack that we all gave him.

The worst part of all is that we had Josue in the potty. We had put him in there and left him there because he had not went poo poo in the afternoon/evening yet. He always does and we wanted him to go before going to bed. Well in the midst of all of the commotion he was left on the potty for an half and hour or more. Pamela finally remembered she had put him on the potty she felt horrible that we had left him in there. At his point the only thing we could do was laugh. She found him to be playing in the potty. Hey isn't that what any two year would do that was left in the bathroom. At least he did not have the toilet paper strung everywhere. Although we were quite surprised that he did not come out to see what all of the commotion, yelling and screaming was.

Pamela said her throat hurt from yelling so much and that it was a good night for her because she had not laughed that hard in a long time. For those of you who have been reading my blog. Pamela lost her husband almost a month ago. So she said to have that good laugh felt so good to her because it had been too long.

So thank you for the mouse that brought a little bit of excitement and entertainment to CASA tonight!
Only if we would have had a video camera there with us!
Ashley we thought of you tonight and Dilcia was saying if Ashley was here she would be on top of the table yelling!!!! (this must be some relation to gus ;)

potty training

The potty training continues with Josue. He is making progress. He is finally going to the bathroom in the potty. Before we would just sit him there which he usually just played. Now for the past week or so he has been going to the potty. Although I am not too sure he is uncomfortable enough yet when he is wet or dirty to care. So it is still going to take work but at least we are on our way! He is at least going to the potty!!! So hopefully in the next couple of months he will be potty trained!!!!

April Update

April 2010

I am already half way through the month of May and I am just now getting April's newsletter out. Sorry for the delay. It seems like the days fly by here and I easily loose track of time.

We are seeing more and more rain all of the time. Which means lots and lots of little bugs and insects coming out. As we go through May and June the rain will just continue to pick up. Which is wonderful for the crops. You can just see the change in the plants, trees, and flowers as they have all got more color and are growing. Although as every year when the rain comes around there are many who have to deal with finding where to find somewhere dry to sleep and to keep the mud water out of their small houses. Please pray for all of those who are effected by the rains.

We had to let our house parent Siomara go in April. It was sad to see them go as they had become part of our family. Although it was not working out as we thought it would. So pray for them as they adjust back home in Los Pinos. Also be praying for us as we are in the interview process to find new houseparents.

One down and three to go! The kids have finished their first quarter at school. Not very many of them did very well on their grades this quarter. We are hoping here in the second quarter they do much better. We are going to have to stay on top of studying and homework with them and hope for their grades to improve.

One week in April we took a short trip to Nicaragua to see Dorian's family. He was wanting to work in the church there in Nicaragua. It was quite frustrating at times as it is hard to work for the people just for a week and then leave. Although it was good to get to spend time with his mother and nephews.

We are thankful for each and everyone of your who support us in our work. Please continue to pray for the Santa Ana church and Casa de Esperanza.

Blessings~
Dorian and Karen Guido

Mother's Day

Jose and Daniela
All the letters together was suppose to say "te amo mama" but they all got on stage backwards and it read "amam oma et"!

Mother's Day here is always quite the celebration!

This year I was not here for Mother's Day. Instead I got to surprise my family and go to my brother's graduation.
The Mother's Day program go canceled and was postponed til one week later. So it happened I still got to go to it.

4th grade boys singing

Fernando in skit

Jackson, dancing

5th grade dance
Pamela

4th grade poem

Sisi ( mama maestra) Reina ( mama mona)
The funny thing Reina was not even suppose to be in the skit. Although she was quite upset that Sisi and Katy got to be in on stage and not her. So the teacher promised her on Friday that if she worked hard she could be the mommy monkey. So guess what she was good and she was the mommy monkey! She was so proud of herself!

Ana

Ana was in a skit where she was the ugliest mom but in the end that really did not matter because she was the best mom in the world!

Katy reciting a poem

Surprise

A friend of mine bought me a ticket to come back and surprise Brian my brother for his graduation at Harding. So that meant that I got to surprise my family too!
I have loved every minute of surprising everyone!!!
Here for the weekend and head back to Honduras Monday! For now enjoying time with family!

Roni

Last weekend was such a hard weekend for all of us at Casa. Pamela, a staff member at casa lost her husband unexpectedly. She was more than just an employee. She was our neighbor, part of our church family and had become a good friend of ours.
Early Saturday morning I got a phone call from Pamela blubbering into the phone. I just couldn't understand what she was saying. So I woke Dorian up and told him to talk to her because I could not understand her. Dorian was unable to understand her either so she had to pass off the phone to her mom to talk to us and explain what had happened. We were in shock. We both jumped out of bed upon hearing the words Roni has been killed and gathered our clothes and out the door we went to her house. She had already left by the time we got to the house.
I called Marc to let him know what had happened and he journeyed along with us to see what he could do to help. We got into our cars and went up the road a ways to where Roni's parents live and found Pamela. She was besides herself. I stayed with her all day long just to be there for her. Marc and Dorian were busy running lots of errands for the family and were in and out all day.
We came to find out Roni had gotten off work Friday night late and it was rainy, dark and very foggy and Roni began to make his way home on the road to Santa Ana. Although he did not make it very far. It looks as if someone did not see him as it was very foggy and he was hit and killed. His body was found the next day early in the morning on the side of the road. He left behind his wife and two year old son.

When someone dies in Honduras it is all very quick. The body had been taken early in the morning before Pamela even got to see his body to Forensic Medicine to do a complete autopsy. Everyone there at the house was scrambling around to help and make preparations. Some had loaded up and went to the cemetary and started digging the hole, as other got seats loaded up and sat up, along with the family making food for all of those who would come to visit. Others were busy getting the table and area ready for the viewing of the body. Then there was the truck loaded that headed to town pick up the body and get the casket.
Word traveled fast and soon all of the neighbors, family and friends had come near and far to help this family out in tragedy. Roni's body arrived back in Santa Ana about 10am and the changed his clothes and got him ready for viewing.
This was a very difficult moment for Pamela as she was unsure if she wanted to see Roni like this. All afternoon and evening we were there for Pamela to listen to her, to love her, comfort her, and remember all of the good memories with her. About 6pm we talked Pamela into going home for a little bit to rest and come back later.
We loaded up and headed home to shower and rest for a little bit. We picked her back up at 9pm and headed back to Roni's parents house. We had worship service from 9 til 11pm. Then at midnight we loaded everything up and went to Pamela's house. She had decided to split the viewing. Part of the time at his parents house and then the other part at her house.
The viewing continued all night and carried on into Sunday. It really is amazing to see all that come to surround and be with the family in this tragic time.
Sunday morning she had asked that Sunday morning worship be held at her house. The church along with many others gathered there and did worship. I gave the older kids at Casa the option if they were going to go or not. I explained to them what had happened and etc and told them this was their choice if they wanted to go. About 7 or 8 of the kids went with us for worship and the burial. Pamela loved having the kids there to hug on her. They all had come to love her with her working at casa.
After worship the family has lunch prepared for everyone. Then about 1pm all of Roni's cousins picked up the casket and starting walking towards the cemetary as we all followed in procession. May along the road joined in the procession.
The casket was opened one last time at the cemetary and then a few words were spoken. As the body was lowered into the hole and then covered with dirt songs of praise were sung to our God.

The amazing part in all of this is that Roni had taken the decision to be baptized in April. Praise God!! We will never know why God took him from so many who love him at such a young age. He was 23 years old and leaving behind his wife and two year old son who doesn't even begin to understand where his daddy has went.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers for this family. Please continue to pray for this family.