Life Update and Thoughts

I am finally putting off the housework in a rare moment, that baby Charlotte is sleeping and Sicily and Olivia have gone to check on Grandma’s animals, to get some thoughts down and I figure, why not restart this blog which many of you have encouraged us through in the past!?  

So quick update to kind of get us caught up (more or less because who knows how much time I have until the little one wakes up!).  We have been living in Oregon for two years now since we moved back from Honduras.  Ira has been back at his Engineering job at Maxim on top of starting a non-profit (www.leadershipmissioninternational) and running everything state-side (volunteers, finances, etc.) for The Leadership Center in Honduras.  We welcomed Charlotte Rose into our family last summer and she just turned 1on August 12th.  Olivia finished first grade last year (and loved it!), she just turned 7 and is excited to get back to school with her friends for 2nd grade starting tomorrow!  Sicily, let’s be honest, had a rough adjustment to the states and then suffered from some health issues for which she had ear/nose/throat surgery a few months ago.  She is doing much better now and she has taught me a lot.  I have been doing my best to take care of our family and our home, which takes essentially ALL of my time, yet I keep wondering what else am I supposed to be doing right now and experiencing the emotions of those thoughts like… “Am I doing this right? Am I doing too much?  Am I doing too little?  Should I go back to work, or school? How can I be more intentional about taking care of my family? Should we move back to Honduras?”…and the list goes on.  All of these thoughts, the mixed emotions, confusion and lack of direction have lead me into deeper thinking, prayer and deeper conversations with Ira…and also to the purpose of writing this blog.  

I live to serve God, my husband and my family as together we work to see many who are currently living in poverty and injustice come to experience a better life.  

I need to know where I stand, God needs to know where I stand and my family, friends and community need to know where I stand on my life mission (Or maybe you don't but I’m going to tell you anyways :)  I want to write about it, talk about it, pray about it more in order to solidify this sense of direction to my life.  I do not want to be a wish blown to the wind, I want to stand solid for God, for my family, for my world and even for myself knowing that I am moving toward righteousness, I am making a difference and I am living for what God spoke into my life as early as when he created me.  There are too many distractions in this world, I need to have focus and live intentionally each day knowing what I am striving for… seriously cleaning up 8 spills in a row will make you focus on the floor, forgetting that you are giving love to your children, your husband and even yourself, providing a clean environment for everyone to work, grow and thrive in.  (side thought…perhaps I could spend this extra time on my knees also talking to God…AAHHH insert my overwhelmingly functional/ “2 birds killed with one stone” quality)

Right now our hopes, dreams, mission is encapsulated by a group of amazing young women in Honduras.  We have taught, advocated for and befriended these girls as we welcomed them to Leadership Center.  We strive to empower these motivated high school graduates to become the next generation of Honduran leaders who can deliver their country out of the cyclical poverty in which it currently sits.  To take more from what Ira has already written (on our website listed above), “We offer a 3 year Business Leadership Degree to young women who could otherwise not afford a college education. Our program will teach 3 primary areas to each graduate; Leadership, Business and English. This will provide them with the necessary skills to succeed in Honduras' difficult economic environment. It is our hope that our graduates will use their skills and businesses to enrich their lives, but also to enrich their local communities and country.”  Along with caring for our family, friends and community here in Oregon our focus is on changing lives in Honduras.  But our vision goes far beyond this.  The success of the women at Leadership Center encourages us that this type of opportunity for education and character development can be replicated, we hope to see many more schools opened in Central America and beyond, and thus many more lives changed and countries relieved from poverty and injustice (…AHEM… let’s open one in Africa!…haha you know I can’t wait to get back there!)   

Our focus on college aged students in Honduras and my experience watching my sister-in-law and her friends here in Oregon graduate from high school and function in a bigger world has lead me to think a lot about our years in high school and college.  The ways we are still growing.  This is an intense period of character growth as we desire to establish ourselves in a big world.  

As we get older we are still changing, adding and possibly subtracting from our repertoire of talents and missions.   If we have some strong character development and skill training during these years there is great opportunity to “get off on the right foot” or perhaps at least feel confident that we are going in some sort of desirable direction.  The girls at LC and those we have not met yet at future schools are in this awesome development period.  It has been incredible to see the girls at LC grow and learn and develop a confidence in themselves and their goals and dreams.   (I went way off course at this point and started stream of thought writing about what I have learned about helping young adults versus providing food, housing, edu for young children…but too much info, I am getting overwhelmed and you are probably thinking is this a blog or a book?!…maybe save that discussion for my next post, hopefully less than two years from now ;)

That said, even after these years we can be thrown “off course.”  I put this in parentheses because in our minds perhaps we are off course but…who is to say we are really?  Good things can come from straying off our original life plan.  We can grow in ways we never imagined and grow closer in relationship with our God as we seek his direction each step in a wilderness unimagined before. 

For me I was so sure at the end of high school that I wanted to go to Boston University, get the best education in International Relations possible and perhaps become a translator or humanitarian aid worker with the UN (or some other reputable organization).  It turns out I only completed two years at BU before moving cross country to Portland, meeting the man of my dreams (even if I didn't know it at the time ;), becoming a mother, and finishing (my now not so significant) degree in International Studies at Portland State University.  I worked several small jobs and learned about being a wife and a homemaker before welcoming our second daughter and then promptly moving to Honduras to start a school for underprivileged women.  This, I could see was a great work of growing Ira and I together and with God as our dreams, talents, life missions merged closer.  I praised God so often (and still do) that God brought certain unity to our relationship: growing my love, understanding and respect for family (a gift Ira always had) and instilled a passion in Ira for helping people living in poverty and injustice (a passions I prayed he would join me in :).

I stumbled upon an article about successful leaders as I waited for my babies to wake up from their nap in the stroller and some of the points have stuck with me.  For one, the article urged me to do what I am good at.  Recognize talents and then work to improve even more on those things.  This seems reasonable but does it mean we shouldn't learn to do new things?  I guess we could choose to try new things that also draw on some of our more natural skills.

I decided a few months ago to start my own little business selling wine.  It is a direct selling job that involves a lot of public speaking and asking things of people, two things of which I am not super fond of (nor good at) so several times over the last couple months I have thought, what the heck was I thinking getting into this?  Why would I try something so off my radar of natural abilities.  I do thrive being around a lot of different people and I like feeling that I am able to contribute financially for my family (no matter how small…which is what this business certainly is right now :)  But also, I wonder, can this little venture be preparing me to learn how to talk about my big mission in life, the calling on my family to travel on mission teaching, inspiring, growing others who do not have the opportunity or skills to start a small business or stand in front of others and speak their dreams for their families and their communities?  

Still I struggle to find where I fit in. These beautiful little girls, this inspiring husband, this housework…it seems to take all of my time.  But this passion too for those affected by poverty and injustice cannot be quelled.  It keeps burning inside pushing me to do something about it, I have to find a way.

Ira and I know that our ability to live out our mission that God has instilled in our hearts and our lives depends on Him bringing others along side us.  We know God is urging us to continue fighting for his people in this way of raising up ethical leaders who will in turn help their families and their communities. 

Please pray for us and share your thoughts.  Should we move back to Honduras? Should we begin raising funds to start another school? Should Ira quit his job and try to start a business that might provide enough for us to live on but allow freedom to travel back and forth? Will you stand by us while we commit to pray together for direction? 

Rainy Season is here!

I think we have officially gotten into the rainy season…it has been pouring rain non-stop.  And of course when I say pouring I mean, we have to yell at each other to hear even ourselves pouring.  It’s actually quite fun.  I just wish we had fireplaces to cuddle up next to and warm up.  We have the wood stove top in the kitchen, but when everyone else is in there as well, (likely blasting music) it’s not quite as cozy. 

Sicily is dying to play in the rain, but it’s just too cold right now to be doing that, even though, she would have a ball.  Plus, when it rains here, the land turns into one giant river and washes stuff away.  Olivia, though, has her rain boots and jacket on and has been walking around in the puddles with her umbrella against her shoulder.

Maybe the more exciting thing is that we are also having thunder and lightning.  We don’t get enough of that in Oregon.  One strike was pretty close, maybe across the river, but the last several have been further away and less frequent.  The rain continues to come down like nothing else though, so I’m still hopefully for more.  My best guess is that it has been coming down for an hour straight while only letting up for a few moments. 

The other awesome thing about today is that we are having baleadas for dinner. I’m sure we’ve explained before, but they are awesome, awesome, awesome!  Who ever thought a tortilla, beans, egg and cheese would be so tasty???

Ahh the rain is finally letting up again…wonder how the roads will be tomorrow for my moto ride?

Update: Didn’t ride the moto today, but will have to tomorrow.  And the rain didn’t actually stop until around midnight.  Thankfully this place hasn’t seen rain like that in a long time, so it’s been really dry and it was easy for the earth to soak up the water.  Roads are ok!

Glad I'm a volunteer

Police Officer pointing at me to pull over after I did an illegal U-turn: Papers please (but in Spanish)

Me: Is there a problem officer??  (just kidding, who says that when they know that the cop knows that they know they did something wrong)

PO: Something in Spanish

Me: No entiendo (I don’t understand)

PO: probably says the same thing but uses hand motions this time

Me: OK

PO: Your license please.

Me: Here you go

PO: I’m going to give you a ticket

Me: No entiendo

PO: I’m going to give you a ticket

Me: Crap

PO: I’m going to keep your license for 3 days until you pay.

Me : No entiendo

PO: I’m going to keep your license for 3 days until you pay.

Me: Double Crap.  But we are volunteers and live in Zambrano.  We are only here for today.

PO: Your volunteers?

Me: Yes, and we are only here for the day

Handing my stuff back, he says: Thank you for your help.  Have a good day.

Rolling up the window I say: Uhhhh thank God I said we are volunteers.   

Sarah: Good job playing dumb too.

Me: I wasn’t playing dumb.

Even if Sarah thinks I’m dumb, we still avoided a ticket with this close call.  Praise God.  And we ended up having a great rest of the day, skyping with mom and Lish, eating at La Princesita (mega-sized baleadas), and some ice cream.

More recently we have the new director that is going to take my job, so this is good as I have 2 more weeks to train her.  Her husband is also here and will be doing some random work for us and helping her.  They seem like they have some really good ideas for improving campus, specifically for the cleanliness, which makes sense, since they studied public health.  We feel that they will have a positive impact on the students, volunteers and campus as a whole immediately.  We are grateful for the new staff that we’ve recently welcomed. 

I drove Glen’s car to San Pedro yesterday and took the bus back by myself, so I had a lot of time to think and reflect without much interruption.  Memories of the school and the country were weaving through my brain.  I kept passing landmarks that have become familiar to me, and I also kept thinking about how this might be the last time that I see this thing or that thing.  As I mentioned in my last post, leaving is beginning to become real…of course this brings a flood of emotions; happy, sad, grateful, joyful, etc.  I’m excited to visit Sarah’s family in New York, and I’m excited to visit mine in Oregon, to find a new place, to eat different foods, go to the park with my girls, and sometimes I’m even excited about the idea of going back to a normal American job.  I wonder if I’ll cry when we leave, I mean I usually don’t do that kind of thing, but I know it’s not going to be easy leaving.  When we left the States for here, I knew I was coming back at some point.  And I will be coming back here as well, but I just don’t feel ready to leave.  Leaving the states was a lot easier.  Saying that I think we are making the right decision by leaving…it’s just a really difficult one.  I feel like I’m just bouncing all over the place here, so I’ll wrap up with saying I wish more people could experience the things that we have here.  

Goodbyes

Sarah and Valerie started crying as we hopped on the moto to leave our friends.  I don’t know why other people crying makes me want to cry, but it does.  Leaving is so hard and usually a little awkward – the goodbyes that turn into something else you wanted to say, to more hugs goodbye and finally someone saying that we need to leave if we want to get home at a decent time (in our case before dark) .  And now that we’ve said goodbye to our new, but trusted friends, the Shuberts, the sense of actually leaving a place we’ve called home for the last 10 months has finally set in.  There is not much else you can do but cry.

It’s funny that the thing that has brought us so much joy and made us commit to longer than a 2 week mission trip, that is wanting to have a larger impact and deeper relationships, is also causing us the most pain while thinking about and getting ready to leave.  But as they say, “it’s better to love and lose, than to never love at all” or something like that.  That is exactly what has happened in the fairly short time while we’ve been here.  Relationships have been built, friends have been made, volunteers and students have come and gone, and fantastic memories have been remembered.  We love the students that are here like they are our own family, the extra time that I’m able to spend with my daughters and wife, the food – ok maybe not the food as much, but the rice and beans aren’t too bad if you add hot sauce – and the beautiful surroundings that we have on campus.  It’s actually difficult sometimes to remember what life was like in the States, or what life will be like when we return, aside from more ice cream.  We do know there will be more of that!

The next 2 and a half weeks will be hard as we pack up and train our replacements.  There are a couple things that do cheer me up when I think of leaving; I know I am returning to friends and family and I know that I will come back to Honduras soon as well. I think that I can stay busy enough to keep my mind off the inevitability of leaving everyone and everything here.  In the moments that I think of leaving I may tear up…there’s not much else you can do.  

Life

Since I haven’t written in a while and I have not kept a journal while here in Honduras, I have an urge to record some thoughts and a picture of my daily life so that I can remember in the years to come.  This blog is more for me than for you, but perhaps some of you will still enjoy reading it. 

Although this picture of my day has changed a bit since we first arrived, this is a rough schedule of life for me here at Leadership Center in El Salto, Honduras.  April 2012.  My schedule here is quite different than anyone else who lives here first because I am the only one with two little girls (or any children for that matter (except for Candida, but her kids don’t live here)!), and second because I function as the wife and support role to El Director ;)  This role (as Hailey can contest) requires a careful balance of being the family of four that we are but also caring for our extended family here: our 22 students, all the other volunteers, Candida and her sweet family, a (now very pregnant) dog and 20 some odd chickens (soon to be 30 some odd chickens).  There are cows and horses too, but all we do is “moo” and “neigh” at them, Sicily takes care of that, piece of cake!

Between 5am and 6am rise and shine (thank you Sicily and 5 roosters).  Play with Olivia and Sicily in the house; get everyone dressed in cool outside morning clothes.  Sometimes we give the gardens an early morning watering and fill the water jug in the kitchen by refilling and carrying the 5 gallon jugs from the “drinking water” tank to the kitchen. 

7am Breakfast is usually scrambled eggs, some kind of sautéed vegetable and beans (or if you are me, minus the beans).  Oh did I mention coffee…yes, the most delicious coffee (Joseph you would be proud I am down to 2-3 cups a day ;)…unless I go visiting of course)

More recently I have been taking tabs on who is sick each day and giving meds because we have some nasty bacteria going around.  Oh, and I now force feed water to everyone in my path since we almost lost Gabby to dehydration.  (I am sort of making light of it now, but really there was nothing funny about an emergency trip to the closest hospital 2 hours away with someone who is unconscious and appears to periodically stop breathing.)

Moving on from that though:  breakfast, rehydration drinks, pepto, tums, and a bottle of advil later (note: a trip to the dentist in Siguatepeque is in our near future), everyone is ready to start work.

Sometime around breakfast we take care of the chicks/chickens…feeding them, rotating around the coops/chicken fenced areas so the chicks are safe during the day.  Unfortunately we recently had a mite infestation which required washing all the chickens and smoking the chicken coops several times.  We lost several chicks L  but there are more hens sitting on eggs right now, more chickies should be born in another week or two.  I have learned more about chickens than I ever wanted to know here, and I still really do not understand some things.  How do you know which eggs are fertilized or not?  Do sitting on egg-chickens need to eat or drink, because they don’t seem interested, but 21 days seems like a long time to fast for a chicken!?  How does pounding on a coconut shell set over top of a chick revive a chick? (Really, Alex, I believe you, it worked when you were a little kid in Moskitia)

7:30-9am Garden/compost care and lessons. Each day two of the students help me care for the gardens and I try to teach them all I have learned in the last few months about gardening and compost so that they can continue when I leave and/or replicate such projects when they return to their homes.  Everyone has helped to reconstruct and replant 3 beautiful gardens since Semana Santa (when the cows ate everything and destroyed the fences while we were on break).  The seedlings are popping up all over the place now and we just need to get the trellises finished up and keep weeding and watering.  We are growing cucumbers, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, beats, radishes, and hopefully, watermelon.  The compost has finally been reinforced from the dogs and chickens getting in and everyone is learning how to keep a proper balance of “greens and browns” and mix mix mix.  We are still waiting on more worms to come, but every time someone finds an earth worm they know to put it straight in one of the gardens or the compost (Thank you for your worm contributions Martha, Candida, Olivia and Angela!)  I have to post some pictures of the “new and revived” gardens, everyone has worked so hard to build, plant, and now care for them!

9am snack time for Sicily, Olivia and me.  Fresh fruit is so good when we have it.  Sicily loves water melon, cantaloupe, peaches, pears and apples.  Olivia sticks to the bananas (usually straight from the banana trees up on the coffee farm).  When we don’t have fruit we usually eat peanut butter with something, or should I say pretty much anything (usually left over tortillas or dry oatmeal).

From 9:30 to 11:30 the students have classes.

Lunch is around 12:30 or 1pm

From 1:30 to 3:30 more classes.

I get to teach English class at 1:30 to our newest 10 on Wednesdays and at 9:30 to the second group on Fridays.  On Saturdays after testing I get to meet with all the students to plan lessons to teach at the local elementary school and to encourage them in their community projects.  The girls plan monthly community events such as inviting the community to our campus for health and sexual education classes or for a movie day.

Some days I sneak a run in after putting Sicily down for a nap around 11:30 if Ira is free.

Throughout the day Olivia, Sicily and I play outside a lot: Walking, riding bikes, sitting in the tree fort, swinging on the tire swing or in the hammocks.  Olivia does art projects and works on writing, reading and math using her workbooks that she has.  We blow bubbles, color, dance to silly music, and have lots of water, sand and dirt play time.  When we have inside playtime we often pull each other around in cardboard boxes, wash basins or sleeping bags or Olivia pretends she is going on a trip somewhere and we must help her plan, pack, and go (usually to Hawaii, but sometimes to the Great Wall of China?) by whatever means of travel (boat, air, car, walking) that we are going by that day. 

Sometimes we visit neighbors and bring coloring supplies and puzzles.  Sometimes we walk to Erlinda's to visit and buy beans, milk, quahada (like a soft cheese), or little cracker snacks and to seek advice on any random thing I need advice on at the moment. 

We help make the shopping lists for when Ira is able to head into town and prepare accommodations for new volunteers. 

I burn trash, wash dishes, wash clothes, and constantly pick up things that Sicily throws on the floor so I can sweep out the dust, dirt, sand and less desirable things like mouse droppings, spiders and beetles.  (Sicily is a good beetle spotter these daysJ)

About 3:15ish I like to shower, and Sicily likes to play in the water.  Sometimes there is some warm water as it has been heated by the sun as it runs through the black tubes from the river.  After that, we do a final pick up and sweep, bug spray up and head outside to feed the chickies, water the gardens and put water over the fire for bath time later.  We take care of any random tasks that need to be done and sometimes have time for a walk to “moo” at the cows. 

6pm we have dinner and hang out with everyone for a while, usually in the kitchen.  Spanish music and all kinds of dancing often take place in the kitchen after dinner. 

7ish bath time in the laundry tubs for Olivia and Sicily down at our house to scrub off all the dirt they collected during the day.  Quiet playtime and reading then off to bed for the girls (usually about 8).

After Sis and Liv go to bed we have time to read, recap the day, problem solve if necessary and/or meet with other teachers/volunteers or students.  Sometimes we have bon fires, movie nights or play games, but often the girls study in the evenings.  Tonight the girls put together a talent show for fun and used our makeshift oven (that Ben made from the old small fire stove) to make a cake to celebrate Angela’s Birthday.  They did such a great job putting on skits and choreographing dances…beautiful, smart, and hilarious!  I am so glad we got most of it on video hehe!

Every time volunteers come or go or a new group of students arrives on campus, the dynamic of our tight knit community here changes.  It is interesting, fun, and sometimes overwhelming.  Just after returning from Semana Santa vacations we welcomed 11 new students and two new long-term volunteers, actually a couple who will act sort of as a “Dean of Education” for Leadership Center and try to create a set curriculum for our students and volunteer teachers.  Two weeks later, Ben and Martina, an awesome, energetic, fun-loving couple from England who had been here for 3 months left LC to continue their travels in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  They had become so much part of our family here I am still reeling a bit from their departure a week ago.  Olivia has handled it well though I know she will miss playing freeze dance, monkey chase and weddings with Martina and Ben, not to mention their company in the gardens, in the kitchen (Ben-Candida replicated your Vegetable Curry and it turned out delicious!), and on the yoga mats J  No doubt the students miss your presence, intelligence and creativity in their classrooms as well. 

I have learned so much here but one very important thing I have realized is that the very essence of  virtues like humility, gentleness, patience, kindness, joyfulness, contentment, gratefulness, and so on are only virtues when they are being tested.  To quote from a book a good friend sent me here, The Fitting Room, “Patience is not patience if someone or something is not trying it.  Forgiveness is not forgiveness if there is no offense to pardon.  Humility is not humility if a person never has to bow.”  Traveling into an environment incredibly different from where I come from and living, working, cooking, learning, teaching, breathing with 30 people I have never met before has provided plenty of opportunities for testing “fruits of the spirit.”  Then make Ira and me responsible for the health, safety, education and happiness of those 30 people, still while learning to navigate this new environment and language might I add, and yes, Lord, you have successfully multiplied those opportunities.  So help me God to learn quickly to be proactive, not reactive (thank you Ira’s Leadership class for the wording) and always to be kind, patient and loving in all situations.    I have really come to love all who come through here and all who live here.  Each one as God’s own creation whom He loves and has created for a purpose, with that in mind, how can I not love and believe in each person who is here and is certain to make a difference in this world.  It is difficult not to think of each of the girls here as ours daughters in addition to Olivia and Sicily.  However, I know these girls do have their own families and they will only be at Leadership Center to learn and study for a few years of their life and they will move on with new opportunities and experiences that present themselves.  This thought has consoled my heart a little as we have decided to return to the states, leaving Leadership Center for a while to begin a different phase of our lives.  By no means does this mean we are leaving LC behind us, we will continue helping in various ways just from a different location.  We will stay connected to LC and we will always have a special place in our hearts for each of the girls that have been part of our lives here.  I am so thankful that I have been brought here to Honduras and to have had so many wonderful and different experiences.  Four weeks to go, as I write this my heart is thudding, begging to stay in this time right now but time does not stop for heartache.  Transitions are difficult, necessary and exciting all at the same time.   As I encouraged Ben and Martina just last week, I now remind myself, there are still many more experiences to be had and many more people that our lives will touch along the way.  It reminds me of the “Girl Scout” song Olivia and I randomly started singing the other day, “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.  A circle’s round and has no ends, that’s how long I want to be your friend. (Cheesy? I know, but it makes my heart feel a little lighter thinking of this little tune.)

<3  Jesse, Karen, Alex, Johanna, Martha, Yanetzi, Olga, Mayra, Iris, Cecelia, Riccy, Gipsy, Betis Miledi, Areli, Eva, Angela, Kenia, Gabby, Claudia, Mirna, Esperanza, Raquel  <3

OK, I must apologize for leading you on to believe that I was going to write weekly or even regularly.  But to try and compensate, I will write about several things today and put them in a few different posts.  And from here on out I will try again to be more consistent in writing in the blog.  Don't forget to check the other posts that I put up today!

We recently purchased our tickets to fly back to the US.  I’m still working on getting an official offer for a job, but it sounds like I have one locked up.  We have plans to visit New York for a week and a half before heading back to Oregon.  We have a week before I will (hopefully) start my job to find a place to stay.  We’ll likely start searching for places in NY, but if anyone has some good places to stay let us know!!  We’ll see you in NY on May 26^th and Oregon on June 7^th!  We are excited to see all of our family and friends and for hot showers any time of day!

This is also a difficult time for us because like I said before we feel like this is home and the students and staff have become like family.  We really feel like we can and are doing a lot for the girls here and will miss being here a lot.  Fortunately, there is nothing from keeping us from coming back.  I hope to make trips every year back to Honduras and check up on all the girls.  I believe I’ve also mentioned that I am now in a position of leadership of The Leadership Center, kind of like a board of directors, so some of my time in Oregon will be devoted to teaching young poor women in Honduras.  I will miss being here, but look forward to the opportunities that God will provide to improve our school here! 

Hope to write again soon!!   

Coming back to campus for a new quarter!!

We returned to campus a couple days before all the students and new volunteers were set to return.  We got a lot of vegetables and other food for campus and prepared the rest of campus for the students and volunteers.  We had to take all the volunteers and students in 3 different car loads.  Two of the volunteers were/are the new Deans of Education – a couple that is tackling the job together.  They have a good background in linguistics and have made positive changes to the school in their first 2 weeks.  They are teaching the newer girls a lot of English and I am impressed with the new students drive to learn.  They are a good group of girls.  In fact, our whole student body is very enjoyable.  We have learned to love them and call them family. 

There is a lot of building going on, on campus, including a platform for a new water tank - for clean drinking water, new classrooms, expansion of the comedor (where we eat), and soon we hope to raise funds for the start of a library.  Actually we currently have a “matching gift” offer, that is if any gifts come in specifically for the library, they will be matched dollar for dollar up to $7500!!  What a great opportunity for you to get involved in providing education to the future leaders of Honduras!! 

Vacation with Grandma and Grandpa

For vacation we were required to leave the country to renew our 90 day visas (which we actually had to extend because we were here for like 92 days!  Before going to Belize for the renewal and down time, we headed to Tela again for the weekend and to wait for the ferry that only leaves Puerto Cortes, Honduras on Mondays.  We stayed at a nice hotel, Playa Bonita, just down the street from the beach.  I think we walked to the beach everyday.  Our girls love playing in the sand and started exploring the ocean some more.  Sicily has basically no fear of water and loved to be carried in the waves and splash around.  Before coming to Tela with my parents, Olivia was pretty terrified of the “salty water” – I think because of the waves.  We started conquering that fear with Auntie in Tela and I think we almost completely conquered it with Grandma and Grandpa Brandt.  Olivia started swimming in the ocean by herself (we were nearby in the water also) with only her “floaties”.  It was quite cool to see her being so brave.  It’s sort of funny to see a 4 year old swimming in the ocean by herself.

After Tela we went to Belize.  We took the ferry there, which is just a big fishing boat basically.  Before you get to your final destination you have to go through customs, which is a really long, boringly hot process.  They leave you on the boat for probably an hour or so.  All year round is hot in Belize, but I’m pretty sure April is the hottest time of the year.  At least it seemed like it.  The sun is nice at the beach or by a pool, but not when you are stuck on a boat with 50 other people.  After that getting to Placencia was a breeze.  When we arrived, our first stop was the smoothie shop…wow, smoothies are so good in Central America.  Not sure if it’s that I hadn’t had one in a while, I was dying of heat, the fresh fruit or the combination of all, but it was good.  I’m glad Sarah had the idea.

Our condo was really great.  We had a pool at the complex that was also right on the beach, so we had the best of both swimming options.  Both were great.  Did I mention the swim up, serve yourself bar at the pool…nice touch.  Olivia had a great time swimming and jumping into the pool with Grandma and Grandpa and doing more swimming and floating in the ocean.  The downtime with family was quite nice as always, but it was nice to get back to campus as well.

1st Update in a while...

Not sure when I last wrote, but it must have been around the time my mom and sister came.  It was nice to have mom and Lish on campus for almost a week and for our girls to play a lot with them.  Olivia looks forward to being close to Auntie again when we move back to Oregon.  After we went on our vacation to Copan (Mayan Ruins) and Tela (warm weather and the beach), we came home re-energized.  Partly because we had the nice vacation and partly because we only had 2 more weeks until Sarah’s parents were to come and Semana Santa (Holy Week).  We finished the quarter strong and all the students did very well on their final exams and quarter grades.  The end of the quarter is always very busy.  There is a lot of cleaning to do, grading the final exams, making the report cards, packing for some time off, etc.  Thankfully Craig and Kathy were there to help take care of the girls and help out around campus.  Then we were off for vacation!

Mom and Lish are here!

We’re very excited that my mom and sister arrived on Friday.  We’d been looking forward to the day for a long time.  Not just because they would be bringing some unhealthy American snack foods, but because we love our family and miss them greatly. 

As I was driving my mom and sister home from San Pedro airport, I informed them that it was another 4 hours or so to Zambrano, where we would need to drive on a dirt road (more like a dried up river bed – actually can turn into a river when it’s rainy season) for about an hour.  Their reaction was quite funny when I told them that we reached the half-way point on the dirt road. “What!? No?”  As I’ve written before it’s just so bumpy that you have to drive quite slow, so the 9 miles takes much longer than it normally would.

We’ve had a fun time with mom and Elisha.  We’ve gone on a couple hikes, one to a viewpoint of our huge waterfall, and another to our swimming hole and local “beach.”  They’ve helped tend to the garden and watch the girls while Sarah and/or I have been busy with work or working out.  They also brought supplies for s’mores, so we had a campfire on Sunday night and enjoyed the sweets. Unfortunately, I’ve been quite busy with the school, so I haven’t been able to spend a ton of time with them.  We’ve been getting ready for 17 students to come interview for the next cohort of students.  They are all coming today.  In fact, I’m leaving in a couple hours to pick them up in Zambrano.  It’s exciting to have all the students coming, but it can be a little stressful as well.  

some day i might post organized thoughts, today is not that day

Looking back at the pictures that I had so badly wanted to share maybe because I thought it would give you (my friends and family back home) a better picture of my life here, maybe because I want to share the cuteness of my little girls (since we can’t enjoy them together in person right now), maybe because it’s so difficult for me to get a computer, the pictures and some decent internet together all at the same time, probably a bit of everything….anyways, I got to thinking how much the pictures do not really illustrate our life here. I think over time a series of pictures can show a lot but when everything is growing and changing at such a rate as when people are thrown into a new (very rural might I add) environment and told, “ok, you need to figure out how to live AND how to educate young women who need to become leaders in their communities, competent in business, and successful in an incredibly corrupt world,” these picture just do not do the experience justice. Ok, maybe I am being dramatic, and I know the Lord sees all, but I just can’t get over how cool and difficult it is to experience all that goes on, behind the scenes, so to say.
Can you imagine sending your oldest daughter (the one who helps with all the cleaning, cooking, clothes washing, babysitting of your other 6 children, ect.) 10 hours away to a place you know nothing about with people you don’t know so they can live and work on a farm and study (subjects you probably don’t know anything about yourself). Why? I’m not sure. But I am sure glad I have gotten to meet these daughters (not all are the oldest) and been given the chance to brainwash them…just kidding. Caring for and educating these young women is a big responsibility, but knowing the sacrifice their families make to allow them to be here raises the bar a bit. I’m glad my wonderful husband carries most of the weight ;). And of course there is the hope that these promising young women will become a better future for their families (if we do a good job, right?).
I don’t know how Ira knows how to do everything, but thank you God that You have prepared him to be able to do everything that needs to be done here in order for our little community and the entire leadership university to function well and happily. I mean who else do I know that in one day can transport 10 of us in a barely functional truck down a barely functional road, organize a leadership and volunteer opportunity for the students from leadership center, volunteer at a school for younger school aged kids, play volleyball and apples to apples, set up an interview (this is not as simple as making a call in the US), make sure other volunteers that are traveling out this weekend are safe and know they are doing, take me on an ice cream date, make the weekly test for the girls to take tomorrow, buy construction supplies (this consists of learning several new words in Spanish and knowing where these things are sold, oh and maneuvering the truck that I am fascinated anyone can drive…I mean, the stick shifter has just recently been welded back on and I can see the road moving beneath my feet when I sit in the front seat. When the engine gets hot I can barely keep my feet on the truck floor, and don’t get me started on the fumes, uhg! wow I am so thankful for any sort of transportation right now, I should not be bashing the truck! I love you big blue) anyways I was on some kind of list of all the things Ira can do in one day, but I don’t think I could possibly list everything and I have to go, so that’s it for now. peace

The last 2 weekends

We’ve had eventful past couple of weeks. 

Last weekend after classes were finished we (our family and most of the students) went to a “fair” in Las Botijas and met up with some other Gringos that we’ve befriended.  I’ve probably mentioned this before, but it’s always nice to see other white people.  Being here, we have a small – let me emphasize small – taste of being a minority - more on that later.  The fair was quite small, but allowed all of us to get away from campus and enjoy something different and a little fun.  Once we got there after about an hour and a half trek over the mountain (which we were told was going to be 35 minutes), we watched a local soccer game for a bit and chatted with our fellow Americans.  The girls (students) were getting a little antsy, I think because they wanted more attention or something, not really sure. 

Allow me to sidetrack you for a moment…I find it quite funny that every time a group of girls or all of us are going somewhere off campus it becomes like a beauty pageant around here.  Everyday campus life only includes small or no amount of makeup and “normal” clothes and shoes (like flip flops and socks-looking at a girl with them on right now, hehe).  But when we are going somewhere, it’s a different ball game and it doesn’t matter when or where we are going.  For example, we were going to visit a doctor’s office a couple weeks ago, and we had to leave at 4am because it’s basically 1^st come first serve everyday (no appointments at the cheaper places), and one of our students woke up at 3am to get ready!  These girls crack me up.  Ok, that was more than a sidetrack…

The fair was quite underwhelming other than the ice cream bars that we had.  There was some music playing, a booth thing selling clothes and toys, a food booth, and well that was about all to it.  Anyway, like I said, nice to get out and get some exercise. 

Yesterday we went to Zambrano with the older students that have been here longer and taught at a small youth program.  The basic essence of the program is to provide some positive influence to children that don’t get a whole lot at home.  Our students taught dental health, read books, helped with art projects and played with the children for 2 sessions.  In between sessions we went to a Chinese restaurant.  To my surprise it was quite delicious, a little greasy, but a good change of pace from beans and rice.  We came back to the missionaries’ house that runs the program and played a board game and some volleyball.  All in all, a fun time.

More on being a white person in Honduras…I suppose I don’t fully know what it really feels like to be a minority somewhere because we are tucked back a ways and kind of have our own little community here, not to mention that I’ve only been here for ¾ year, but you notice you’re a little different from the others.  Most of the time it’s just the staring that makes you feel like you are sticking out, but also not understanding the language, sayings, and the customs and traditions also contributes.  Not that people are trying to make me feel all weird or something, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming anyone for doing this to me, just saying I can “feel” it sometimes.  I suppose most importantly it gives me a greater appreciation for those people who are coming to America to try to have a better life and find it difficult to interweave into American society and customs.  I think I’ll end there. 

As we approach the finish line as they say, I’ve decided that I will re-dedicate some of my time to blogging.  Obviously, I’ve done a poor job of consistently updating our blog, but I will try the last couple months that we are here. 

We’ve had ups and downs just like any other part of life that we or anyone else has been involved in.  We've missed family and friends, had some difficulty adjusting to a life without cold drinks, blazer games, consistent electricity, water, and internet, and living seemingly bazillion miles from civilization (even though it's only about 9 miles).  We've had our fair share of beans, rice, tortillas, mosquito bites, sleepless nights, arguments, problems with the students, etc.  

All that said we have really enjoyed the "ups" as well.  We have met some amazing people - Hondurans and gringos.  The struggling, but prevailing lives that ours do not compare and others whose lives have been committed to serving the poor, the parent-less, the widow or single mothers.  Lives that, again, we don't feel like we can compare ours to.  

We've been here for 7 months now and really feel like we are doing good, and still have a heart to serve those at Leadership Center and in Honduras.  With our affiliation to the school, we will be serving young Hondurans for a long time to come.  

Even though a couple months away, going back to the states seems like such a weird thing right now.  Heck we don't even know when we'll be headed back, but we are excited and weirded out at the same time.  After being in a place so long (well, it seems like forever), you begin to feel at home.  And seeing the poverty that we've seen first hand can make going back to the states (or any "wealthy" country for that matter) a weird and even difficult thing.  Our lives are changed from the experience here.

Thank you for your thoughts, your support, and your prayers.  We are truly thankful for all who've made this trip possible and above all else, thank God for our lives and the opportunity to be able to serve others.  I'm making it sound like this is my closing email, which it isn't, but feels like it for some reason...anyway more to come!

Look forward to seeing you mom and lish!

Back in Honduras!

The girls and I left Portland the night January 2nd after a wonderful visit with family and friends in Oregon. We were blessed (again) by the hospitality of Ira’s family. Olivia enjoyed her princess room overflowing with baby dolls and books and Ira, Sicily and I enjoyed a cozy bed with no mosquito nets to struggle through during middle of the night feedings/wake-ups. We also loved that my parents were able to come visit and spend Christmas with us! We enjoyed good company, good  food, and lots of swimming at their hotel :)

We left Houston at about 9am the next morning and arrived in Tegucigalpa around noon. Despite the rough landing in which we hit the runway, took off again, and then entered the “bowl” where the Teguc airport is to try again…we did make it safe and sound. As my hands went numb (probably due to the extreme adrenaline rush that enters one’s body when one realizes that death, I mean heaven could be closer than expected) the Honduran girl next to me assured me it was perfectly normal for the pilot to make several tries before actually landing the airplane.  Anyways, by about 2pm we were on our way to Zambrano with Glen. After a few errands and a balleata (traditional Honduran street food) we were happy to meet Ira (who arrived a day earlier) at our home: the place farther than Los Valles is how we describe it when people ask… “despues de Zambrano, mas larga de Los Valles.”

It feels different coming back, maybe because some things are more new again, maybe because the dynamic is so different with only us, one other volunteer and 11 students on campus. Also, Sicily’s mobility and development have changed so much in the last month. She can walk very well now and the rocks and cement are not as intimidating as we thought they might be, yay! She loves going for walks to see the cows and horses and she is always “mooing” at the cows :) Spending the days exploring the outdoors and Honduran culture with my two little girls is a gift I know I will look back
upon with awe.

The first few nights were so cold but since then, the weather has been hot during the day and comfortable at night. The good thing about cold nights is that there are no mosquitos, I think because they can’t survive.  Ira is enjoying the responsibility and purpose demanded by the job of managing everything at Leadership Center. The girls and I love helping him, working on other projects around campus and visiting neighbors. Olivia, Sicily and I have been taking care of the gardens….watering the vegetables always turns into sprinkler and water play time and I usually end up with two, wet, muddy, giggly girls. Sometimes the girls play in the sandbox and tree fort while I clear land of prickly brambles and collect firewood for burning garbage and cooking. We do a lot of walking…often to the neighbor’s to buy beans and quajada (sp?) (sort of like cheese, but different).

Since we returned, we have been visiting the family I wrote about earlier, the one with three little girls. It is about a 20 minute walk across the river and up the side of a mountain. Currently the mom is working picking coffee up on the mountain so she is only home to care for the kids on Saturdays. The father cares for the girls some but often he is out planting in the fields or running errands. The oldest, Nelly, is 11 and she cooks and cares for her little sisters a lot. She is looking forward to returning to the elementary school in February, it seems like her childhood has been pushed aside by the expectations of her in the home. She says she likes helping her family but she would like to go to high school someday and does not wish to have any children of her own. We will try to help her and play with the three of them as much as we can at least until their mother finishes her job at the end of January and is home more. It will be fun for us to go back to helping at the elementary school when it starts up again too. Thank you to everyone who has sent materials for the elementary school and for the college!

On a completely different note, our neighbor Erlinda and her daughter, Margarita, taught Olivia and I how to make quajada (sp?) today. We put our hands in this huge bucket of cows milk and pulled out the cheese-like substance and squeezed most of the liquid out then mixed it with salt and squished it around. It felt so gross but I really wanted to help so I sucked it up, haha. It was worth it because we had quite a few laughs and Erlinda let us bring some of the quajada home for dinner. While we were there, Olivia and Sicily danced to the music on her radio and they discovered four baby kittens in their corn storage house! They were sooo cute, I really wanted to take one home but they are not old enough to leave their mama yet. I wonder if I can get a flea and tick collar somewhere here so we can bring one home…hint hint Erlinda :) Olivia is wondering how much they cost hehe

Overall our first week and a half back has been reallygood. The improvements in relationships between the students show their growth in character and have continued to make our community more tight-knit and happy as a whole. There has also been a noticeable leap in their academic abilities. Ira and I have been greatly encouraged by all the positive changes we see among the students.

Johana's house and soon mine (well, at least my parents)!

I had a fantastic time visiting with one of our student’s family this weekend before I left (on the airplane now).  As with most families in Honduras, Johana’s family is highly valued and many family members live under the same roof or at least in the same village.  Johana’s brother just recently returned from The States and now lives at the house with his wife and parents.  Though the house is pretty small comparatively speaking (to the US), it was very comfortable for all of us to be there and share space, maybe that was cause I got my own bed and bedroom, but nonetheless, it was comfortable, even when we ate or spent time together in the living room. 

Johana took me on a quick tour of her small community where most people work in the cal business.  From what I understand cal is like (or maybe is) limestone.  Rocks are heating up in a large silo type thing for about 8 days before they are removed and drenched in water.  This causes the rocks to more or less explode into a white powder that is used in agriculture and in cooking.  We also walked to a small dulce “factory.”  Dulce is just the Spanish word for sweet, which is also used for many candies.  Here they extract the pulp from sugar cane, boil it for a while, then pour it in a mold and sell the “caja dulce” – I think that is what Joha called – block candy.  We walked right up to the factory on the street and gave ourselves a tour, including doing some of the work; taste testing!!  It was pretty awesome!  After we returned to her home I was telling her that I’ve always wanted to try actual sugar cane, so she got her dad to get some sugar cane from a farm close by.  Chew on that for a while for a sweet treat!  Yum!

Joha’s mother cooked me some of the best food I’ve had in Honduras, even though it was fairly typical Honduran food and her dad constantly told jokes to the family and me.  I also got to play video games and watch movies with her brother.  I really felt like part of the family.  We also visited her ill grandfather and grandmother who were very sweet.  I got offered coffee, bread and “chi cha,” a homemade jungle juice of some sort.  The bread and the coffee were good.  We also walked 300 meters into a cave that is near her house, and I was able to learn a little bit of Spanish while I visited the family as well. 

On a totally different note…I finally get to see my family today!  Well, at least Sarah, since she will be picking me up at the airport while the girls are hopefully asleep.  The time away from my family has really shown me that life is meant to be spent with others.  And as I wrote in the previous post, maybe we just don’t know that until we have it, then lose it (or in my case, have a 2 week break).  There hasn’t been a day since Sarah and the girls left where I haven’t thought of them several times.  I can’t imagine what life would be like without them for any longer length of time. 

Thank you to Johana and her family for putting me up for a couple nights and showing me a part of Honduras that was new to me!  I loved spending time there.

To my girls

It has been a productive week living as a bachelor.  I have been able to do a lot of things, like studying more Spanish for example, spending more time with the students and teachers and sleeping.  I stayed pretty busy the first few days which kept my mind mostly off of not having my girls here with me, but now, however, things have slowed down a bit and I have more time to think.  And when I usually go home and get hugs or play with the girls, nobody is home to welcome me.  Plus it's just weird when the house is always so empty and quiet (though the quietness is nice in the middle of the night).

The cliche is true though, you don't realize what you have until it's gone (even when it's not gone for very long).  And before Sarah left for the US, I have to admit, part of me was excited to be by my lonesome for a short while, basically so I could have a little more time to myself to get some things done.  And I have, but it almost feels like it's all for not, sort of.  I mean I know I'm doing a lot of good things for me, for the students here and for the university long-term.  But when I walk to the house and nobody is there for a hug and kiss or nobody is getting into trouble or nobody is crying, there is a small void.

I think it has been very good for us to realize the importance of each other while we've been separated.  For example, I had to sweep the house and organize the books that have been out since Sarah left.  And I miss the girls yelling and playing.  I miss Olivia's craziness and her wacky questions, and Sicily copying Olivia and me, and Sarah's gentle nurturing of the kids and me.  But most of all it's the companionship.  The sharing of my life with the others.

I know we will have to catch up when I arrive home, but for now I miss you guys lots.  I love you!  See you soon!

More pictures!

Here are some new pictures of our time in Honduras.  Things are going well.  Sarah and the girls are leaving in 2 weeks to go home for a month.  See some of you soon!

You can see all our pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116056851866020798623

Here are some sample pictures:

Olivia and one of her favorite friends, Jessica.

Sicily and dad 

Sicily and mom in front of the new classrooms 

The girls and dad in front of the new classroom. 

Olivia and her fishing pole

A weekend in Comayagua

Some of the boys from the community

Olivia and one of her friends

Community play by the local school

Community play by the local school

Ouch!  Burn from the moto!

Pinata and pin the tail on the donkey for Martha's birthday

Where am I!?

Yay for birthdays

doggy pinata for Olivia's birthday

candy and cake for Olivia's birthday

On the beach with Martha and her brother

Standing on a cool bridge

Olivia and Martha swimming

driving the golf cart in Belize

Iguana!

beach bum

ya man

October Update - Ira

After another long break from writing, I have a lot of news.  The first is that things are going well here.  We have adjusted pretty well and enjoy being here away from it all.  We’ve been blessed by family and friends who have sent us care packages with food, small toys, and other activities for our girls and us.  They have definitely helped us transition a little easier.  The hardest thing here is that we are far from a lot of people, so when we want to do something it’s a long walk or a motorcycle ride away.  Last weekend however, we were able to get out to a larger town called Comayagua just to get out a little and enjoy ourselves a bit.  We got to have fast internet, cold iced-coffee and hot pizza.  After talking with family on skype we went to the Parque Central to hang out and enjoy the scenery.  We were only there for a little while, but we saw a beautiful old cathedral, browsed the street vendors’ items and sat by the fountain.  It was a nice trip that we will certainly do in the future. 

Travelling in Honduras –

I’m not exactly sure how Honduran buses make money because it is so darn cheap to ride them.  I think we paid about $1 or maybe $2 each for an hour bus ride. And the kids were free.  The one thing they do, do is they pack the buses like crazy.  On the way to Comayagua I stood in aisle while Sarah and the girls shared one seat next to an older bigger lady.  The only reason they got a seat was because a kind gentleman gave his away. 

The main street is under construction and every so often we were stopped for 1-way traffic.  There are people on the street selling soda, cookie things and some other treats for the bus riders.  A few people buy stuff each stop…what a job.  There are also sometimes people on the bus trying to sell things like books to learn English in a week, medicine that cures cancer, and vitamins that make you smarter.  I suppose I applaud the people selling these things if it’s making them money, ok not really, but the people that buy these things...well, that’s essentially the reason that we are down here.  We are trying to educate an un-educated country. 

Coming home for Christmas –

I think I have mentioned this in my last post, but we are coming home for the holidays.  Sarah will be home the very end of November and I will travel home a couple weeks later.  For those Oregonians and those travelling to Oregon, we can’t wait to see you!

I have begun a new role at the school, Dean of Education.  A fancy name for the guy in charge of all school related stuff.  I’ve been doing this for a while now, developing curriculum, managing the other volunteer teachers, developing grading criteria etc.  Some of the stuff is already in place, but I’m attempting to improve what’s already there. One thing that we could use some help with is more business books.  We’ve gotten a couple books from people, but we really need some business books.  We aren’t starting the hardcore business curriculum for a while, but we’d definitely like to get something planned.  Then in several weeks are good buddies, Joseph and Hailey are moving back to the states to have their 2^nd child, so I will then have his role as President also.  And after that another long-term volunteer will return for his second tour of duty and take over as the Dean of Education.  All this to say, there has been and will be a lot of changes since we arrived, but all good things.

We are also trying to finance a once per quarter trip to another part of Honduras for all the students.  These trips will be to get the girls to experience different parts of their country and to get to know their country better.  If they are going to be leaders of their country, they need to know their country.  The trips will probably be a night or 2 nights and will cost around $75 per student.  Total cost of around $1000.  If you are interested in helping please let us know.

Our Cook’s bathroom project –

As everything else in Honduras things are going slowly.  All the materials are purchased, they just need to get the job done.  They are held up now because they don’t have straight boards to use for the foundation.  Joseph and I will go up to the house probably tomorrow to see what we can do to get things going.  Thanks again for those of you who helped sponsor this project.

October Update - Sarah

The last few weeks we have been learning and growing so much. We have been busy, but our lives look so much different here than back in the states. We are not running around to places of work, play dates, church gatherings, or running hundreds of small errands at local stores. We are trying to teach, nurture, encourage, inspire and set good examples for 16 women who have the potential and the goal of being leaders of integrity in Honduras.
Last week Joseph and his family returned to the states for two weeks leaving Ira in charge of the school and many responsibilities on the farm. We have welcomed 3 new volunteers. Ira continues to coordinate the eight classes each day between the 4 teachers and two groups of students. He has learned to be an excellent teacher in many disciplines including English, Math, History, Computer Skills, Leadership, and various other topics that are discussed in conversation classes, creative writing, and group projects. Coordinating curriculum and preparing interesting, creative material for his own classes, he amazes me every day! The girls are learning so much, it is wonderful to see the growth in their characters and skills in just a few months.
We must also take inventory of everything in the kitchen and the storage area making sure there is enough food and supplies for the 26+ people living here. This morning Ira will go on his moto to Zombrano, a town about 30 minutes away, to the nearest vegetable stand. He will pack his backpack with as much supplies as he can ride back with! He is debating whether eggs could make it back on the moto (did I mention the roads are horrible here…seriously though, you must cross at least three rocky riverbeds to get to a vegetable stand?!) since we are out and this is our third staple besides beans and rice. We had a car for a few weeks and we were able to buy groceries more easily on trips to and from the airport (when picking up and dropping off volunteers). Ira also took three of the girls to a dentist in Comayagua (an entire day endeavor)…other than having teeth pulled, apparently two of the girls also have 10 cavities each…eek! I believe they will be making other trips to the dentist soon. Dental and general health care have been import topics in the beginning of the girls’ education here because they simply do not know the importance of things like brushing teeth, washing dishes properly (we must use bleach water after washing with river water because of much bacteria and parasites) and eating healthy food (like not frying everything in vegetable oil). It is not uncommon to see babies with coca cola in their bottles. Several of the little ones at the elementary school have noticeably rotting teeth .

Some of the other things we are learning, to name a few, include making tortillas, harvesting coffee beans, raising chickens, building classrooms with rocks, bricks, wood and cement, and fixing the washed out, dirt roads with rocks. Olivia’s comment on this, “Mommy, why are we making the roads MORE bumpy?!” Haha, good question. Me: “Liv…I think it will be easier for the one car that travels on this road, though it will probably be bumpier for us and Daddy on the moto, but at least there will still be a road.”

We have not had lights for over a week because we had crazy thunderstorms and lighting for a few days that broke one of the necessary parts. We also have not had water for a few days, but the guys were finally able to get through the rivers yesterday to restore our water line. Just kidding, it’s out again. Luckily we have become good at collecting rain water for baths. And there has been a lot of rain! Some days we can collect a 5 gallon bucket in 5 minutes from the streaming of rain water off the roof, it’s awesome! Ironic though how the more rain we get, the less likely we are to have running water.

3 weeks later…I should have posted that last part earlier but I didn’t think I was finished, uhg, sorry.
So lately the girls and I have been visiting a family about a 20 minute walk up the road. There are three teenage boys, 3 little girls, an elderly man and a husband and wife who share the one room home plus bathroom-sized kitchen. Apparently the three middle children (the only ones for which a school is available in this area) are not going to school for lack of notebooks. We have tons of donated notebooks at the Leadership Center so we were able to bring them these and some extra food and some little toys Olivia decided to give away. My friend, and one of the girls studying at LC, Zuelmi, came with me for a visit and we tried to enter negotiations in how we could help this family to make a little income by buying some vegetables and beans each week from them rather than the market in Zombrano. You know you are in Honduras when you ask someone how much for a pound of green beans and they proceed to give you advice on how to cut, cook and eat green beans. You are probably thinking wow, your Spanish must be horrible, but really, asking how much something costs is pretty straight forward AND Zuelmi was there to help translate. We both sat there through the cooking lesson like seriously, what did we just do wrong? Haha I guess the point is, we are trying to find local produce we can buy to help our neighbors out and reduce our trips to the market which is a bit of a trek. Buying food for 26 people each week here involves a large garbage can full of beans, one of rice, and one of potatoes, 8 dozen eggs, a crate of carrots, pataste (a type of squash), cucumbers and a line of onions hung up. Sometimes green beans, plantains, bananas, oranges or a few packages of spaghetti noodles.

A few other fun things that have occurred:
-Olivia has enjoyed riding one of the neighbor’s horses with Celeste (one of the students)
-Liv, Sis and I learned how to bake banana cake in the neighbor’s outdoor oven
-Liv and Sis love swimming in the rivers, especially with some kids behind Candida’s house
-All of the materials have arrived to build Candida and her huge family a bathroom!
-The kitchen for the elementary school is now in construction
-Ira and the guys have been jumping off the rocks into the river at El Salto
-Sicily is almost walking, she has taken her first steps walking back and forth from Ira and I several times and she loves walking around all day holding my hand.
-Sicily can say cow/vaca, chicken/gallina, up, hop, dirty, gato, meow, moo, dada, mama, banana, plantain, bath, thank you and probably a few other words I can’t think of now. She also signs for milk and thank you, we are working on please, doggie, bunny, cat and a few others.
-Olivia is learning how to read, she is now able to sound out many words and we just started addition and subtraction which she is picking up so fast
-Olivia and I have planted potatoes that are growing well (we can’t plant many other vegetables right now because it is too wet and our garden becomes a river when it rains hard). We have basil, peppers and marigolds growing well in egg cartons inside.