7 years!

Happy 7 years to me!!!!!
It has been 7 1/2 years ago that this country stole my heart. Little did I know that 6 months later I would be living in that country. The 29th of October is the day I waited with all my luggage to board a plane with many unknowns awaiting me.
Seven years later here I am still. Happily married and with an 11 month old little boy, Korbin. God sure does have his way about things. It has had it's ups and downs but I am so blessed to be here serving. Who knows how much longer I will be here serving. Possibly seven more years or maybe twenty more years or maybe not even a year. May God continue to direct my thoughts and steps and may I continue to be passionate and loving to those that I encounter every day.

Tortillas

 Ana with the maseca. Mixing and adding water til she gets the right consistency to start making the tortillas. Elvia was very patient at showing Ana what to do.

 Ana's first try at trying to make a tortilla.

 I even got in on the tortilla making. 

 The finished tortillas

On our new wood burning stove cooking the tortillas. 

Most of the kids are pretty excited to get to make tortillas. We shall see how long that lasts. Hopefully while they are on summer break we will get a good start with learning to make the tortillas.

Fire Wood

Bryan and Antonio are very anxious to go help look for wood for the new outside wood burning stove.

Dorian, Elvia, Denis has all showed them how to cut the wood but they are still trying to get the hang of it. Terri went to town today and got a new machete, hatchet, and axe. Bryan was so excited and anxious to get to try them out. The mother in me does not like them even with a machete or cutting wood but hey they have to learn sooner or later. They are 14 years old.
Even some of the girls are pretty anxious to soon learn how to cut wood.

Cooking

The ladies have one of the kids daily help them cook in the kitchen. They all take turns in the kitchen and some days they all fight over who is going to help cook. Some of the kids have finally learned to cook without the help of the adults. The last month or so there has been days when we do not have any staff here to cook or clean and the kids really are learning to step up and take more responsibility. Antonio has been great at cooking the rice. He does a great job!!! This past Friday we needed to make lunch and was in charge of making lunch. He choose Sisi to come to the kitchen to help him. They both did a great job. They made me a little nervous as they were cooking french fries and had to boil grease. Every time I would go into the kitchen to check on them Antonio would tell me to get out the kitchen because I made him nervous.
 Although they were careful and made a delicious lunch. It feels so good to see them growing up and learning to do things on their own and putting in practice what they have been taught.

Expelled

We are having to deal with one of the kids being expelled from school this week. Not what we wanted to hear. Cindy has always had a defiant side to her. Although she has come a long way she still has that streak in her at times. Although we have not had problems with her in school til this year. Her teacher she has this year is pretty tough herself and does not put up with anything. I thought it would be good for Cindy actually since last year she failed 4th grade due to lack of interest. Never wanted to study or do homework. It was like pulling teeth to get her to do her homework. Although this year she has improved in the homework area but her attitude that is very defiant at times her at home she has showed to the teacher this year. So she was expelled for coverings her ears, sticking out her tongue and ignoring the teacher.
Really hoping we can get her some help as I feel there are some deeper issues going on with her.

Stove

 Today we got to try out our new stove. This past week we had an outdoor stove made. It is even the new eco~stove. It uses less wood to burn. Excited about this as this is important the kids learn to cook on one of these and as a plus it will help us save money. As many people here in Honduras only use a wood burning stove to cook. I am hoping that during summer break we can start making our own tortillas. The kids will learn to make them and learn how to use the stove. Today Elvia was excited about getting to use the new stove. She was making the kids lunch on it this morning.  Hopefully we can build ourselves an outdoor oven too.
Fernando has a debt for money he has taken from people at school to he is in charge of collecting the wood for the fire every day to pay off his debt. Not too happy about it but he has to do something to pay off the money he owes the teacher. Yesterday after about 5 trips of hauling wood he came to me sweaty, hot, and tired and wanted to know if it was enough. This morning he was at it again looking for more wood.

Elvia making lunch

4th graders

Cindy, Fernando, Jose, Daniela, and Ana

This past month the 4th graders have been working really hard cross stitching. It is something they make all of the kids learn to do in school. They have had to practice doing different types f stitches and write their name and the school's name.
Well for some of them this was easy and they even liked doing it, and then for others it was torture. First of all 4 out of the 5 of the kids could never find their needle. They always seemed to misplace their needle. Jose came home from school one day and said, "I know my needle is here some where". He had just put it in his book bag loose with all of his books and pencils. He emptied his whole book bag and shook every notebook but to no avail no needle. It was a struggle the whole month they worked on this. They even lost their thread at times.
Although they finally have turned them in to their teachers and got graded. Some got 100% and others 80% and 90%. Now they are all wanting to sell theirs in our casa store to make a little money.

Games

This past month the kids have spent a lot of their time playing hop scotch. They go from month to month with different things they like to do. Sometimes its soccer, sometimes its jump rope and well this past month it has been hop scotch. It is so good they find things to occupy their mind and I love when I get to see all of the kids playing together and getting along.
We will wait and see if this month brings a new game or they stick with hop scotch.

Sisters!

Rosy and Sisi usually don't get along very well. Well they are sisters. Although recently things have changed. They are starting to share, play together and even hug each other. Hopefully they are growing out of their fighting stage and are finally growing to love and accept each other as sisters.

Also friday was Sisi's birthday! Happy happy birthday Sisi!

Jackson

Yesterday I got a call from the school that Jackson had fallen playing soccer and that I needed to come get him to take him to be seen. It was a little after 12 and I knew that I could not get back in time to get all of the kids at 12:40. So on my way to get Jackson I called the school to tell them I needed to pick up all of the kids. There was no one else here at the house that could pick them up and I didn't know how long we would be in the hospital and if I could get back in time to get the kids.
When I got to the school all of the kids were outside waiting on me. Jackson seemed to be very calm. He had to get seven stitches. He is doing great. He has to hobble around because where he cut up his knee is right where is bends and he has to keep his leg straight.