I'm still alive :)

Here at the ranch we grow our own coffee and then sell it to the teams that come through to work. We have lots of coffee bushes down by the school. We have many workers come and pick the coffee from the plants. It is then shelled, dryed, roasted, and then dried again I think. I'm not sure of all the details, but the process is something like that. We have drying tables lined up in front of the school. After the beans are picked and shelled, they pour bags of them onto the tables to dry. Today I had the chance to measure the moisture content in the beans. It was fun! you just put them in this little contraption, turn the little knob, and it tells you the moisture content. When they have 12% or less moisture content, they are dry enough to move to the next step. The ones I measured were right at 12%. Actually seeing the coffee and the process it goes through before it is ready to sell is really interesting, but as I'm writing about it, I'm realizing that it sounds kind of boring just to read about it. It' more fun to actually see it happening. Anyways, here's a picture of the coffee beans drying outside the school.

We had a spelling bee last week for grades 2-6. It was fun to see them applying what they've learned in class. Elli, my 4th grader got in 2nd place! I was very proud!

In a couple of weeks we have "semana santa" or "Holy Week" the week before easter. It's a week off of school, so a lot of the teachers are going up to the north coast to La Ceiba for a few days. We got a really good deal on a hotel up there. I hear the beaches there are really pretty. It will be nice to have a little break from school.

Some of you may have heard that I was sick a few weeks ago. There were about 5 of us teachers that had the flu. We think one of the people that came on the construction team brought it to us. I'm slowly recovering. I was out of school for a week. This is my 2nd week back at school after being out for a week. It's been fun to be back, but I still don't have all my energy back yet. I've also been coughing a lot still...coughing so much that it has caused between my ribs to swell a little, making it painful to cough. Thankfully, I can tell I'm getting a little better everyday. I'm not coughing as much, and it doesn't hurt as much when I do. I would appreciate prayers for a full recovery and to have all my strength back. There are a couple of teachers who are still feeling bad. Please pray that they will feel better soon too!

Thanks for all the prayers and support!