Home Sweet Home...finally

You might be wondering what "home" i'm referring to. The longer I live in Honduras, the more it feels like home, but for the purpose of this blog, i'm referring to my home with my parents in Richardson because I'll always consider it home, too.

My trip home was a little stressful, a little fun, and a little adventurous.

Sunday:

It all started last Sunday morning with a knock at my door. When I answered my door, I was greeted by a friend asking if he could take my suitcase to the car. Unfortunately, and fortunately, the knocking had woken me up at 8:45am. There were 4 of us that were supposed to have left at 8:30 to go to church. I was then going to go get dropped off at the bus station after church, so i had to have all my stuff ready to go. I had set my alarm for 6 am, but apparently the power had flashed off for a few minutes, turning off my alarm clock. I hurried to get finished packing (just a few last minute things) and get ready for church. We were driving away at a little after 9am...not too bad.

The airport in Tegucigalpa had been closed for several weeks because of a plane crash, so we had to go to San Pedro Sula (a 4-5 hour drive) to go to the airport. After church, Jae, Abby, and I were taken to the bus station to start our journey. We were going to take the 4 o'clock bus to the airport, get a shuttle from the airport to a hotel, and then leave the hotel in the morning to go to the airport when we were leaving. We ended up able to get on an earlier bus which allowed us to get to San Pedro earlier. It was a nice bus trip...comfortable seats, etc (like a charter bus you would get here in the states for big group trips or something). The only thing is, the bus went to a different terminal and not the airport like we thought. AFter walking around for a little while and trying to figure out if we were actually at the airport or not, we decided we should just take a taxi to the hotel. A girl taking a taxi by herself in Honduras isn't the best idea, but there were 3 of us, plus an older lady who was going somewhere else, so we weren't too worried. Well...I was worried b/c i'd never been in a taxi before and since we hadn't ever been to San Pedro before, we werent' exactly sure if he was taking us to the right place or not. Thankfully after not too long and lots of praying, we ended up at Gran Hotel Sula. It was a nice hotel and fun to spend the night with Abby and Jae.

This was the view from our room:

Monday:

This was the start to my very long day. We got to the airport at around 11am. Jae's mom was coming to visit, so we waited in the arrival part for her to come. When she got there, I was able to help them by bus tickets back to Tegucigalpa. It was cool b/c I got to be a translator for this lady in line in front of us. She didn't know any spanish at all. The lady at the bus counter knew that I knew a little Spanish b/c we had gone to talk to them earlier to ask about tickets. When the lady behind the counter saw me, she motioned for me to come back there and help her communicate to this lady what she needed to do. Now, my spanish isn't that great, but i was proud of myself, that I was able to help this lady in my limited spanish. Anyways, my flight was supposed to leave at 3:45pm, but on my boarding pass it said that boarding time was 2:30. I thought that was a little wierd, but decided to go back there anyways, just in case. It turns out my flight ended up being an hour and a half late, so I wasn't even on the plane until about 5pm. This wouldn't have been too bad, but i knew that Abby was on the other side of security waiting until 1am for her flight to leave. We could have at least been waiting together, but oh well. While I was waiting for my plane, I started looking at my ticket and thinking about my connecting flight to Dallas from Houston and counting the hours, etc. My plane was supposed to leave houston for dallas at 9pm. As it turns out, we didn't land in Houston until 9pm, still having to go through customs, etc. There was no way I was going to make my flight. Thankfully, Continental was very nice and helpful. When i had got my bag from the baggage claim, I along with about 1/2 the flight, was directed to a customer service desk where they gave us new boarding passes and information about a hotel where we'd be staying. They told me just to go out the exit and there'd be a shuttle waiting for me. Well, I waited and waited and a shuttle finally came. The only problem was that there were about 50 of us adn the shuttle could only take 10 people at at time. The hotel had only 2 shuttles and it was about 15 minutes away. When the shuttle would pull up at the terminal again, people would rush to get on, sometimes pushing others out of the way to be sure that they would get a spot on the bus. i wasn't too worried about it b/c I knew that i'd get there eventually, so i basically sat back and watched all the craziness until the last 2 shuttles came. I finally got to my room at about 11:45pm. I was kind of frustrated that I was supposed to be home by 10pm, but was instead stuck at a hotel in Houston, but was very thankful for the helpfulness of Continental and hotel employees. (the shuttle driver said that there were about the same number of people at 2 different terminals waiting for rides too). It was nice to have a night to myself in a nice hotel room...even if it was for a few hours.

Tuesday:

I woke up early so that I would be sure to get a spot on the airport shuttle this time. They were supposed to start leaving at 4:30am and leave every 30 minutes after that. My flight was at 7am. The first shuttle I tried getting on (the 5am) was too full, but thankfully another one came at 5:20. i was able to get on that one and made it in plenty of time. i finally made it to dallas at about 8:30am and was home by about 9:30am.

I was glad to be home!

April-June Newsletter

Here's my newsletter for April to June. If you'd like a more fancy, PDF version, let me know and I'll email it to you.


April-June Newsletter

Scholastic Books
One of our teachers has organized a program through the scholastic book orders for our kids to get more books. Each child will create a wish list of books ranging in prices from $2-$10. If you are interested in donating some money that would go towards children’s books, please let me know and I’ll get you more information. The kids were really excited to see all the possibilities and create their wish lists. To see some scholastic products, visit their website at www.scholastic.com.

Classroom News
April’s been a busy month at school. In science, we started a unit on the Solar System. My students each have a “Solar System Folder.” Every day during science time, we learn about a new planet or aspect of the solar system. The folder is used to take notes and write and draw about what they’ve learned. In our language arts class, my kids have written an autobiography. They made a timeline of events in their lives, developed them into paragraphs, and published these events into a book. It’s been funny to see what things they consider significant. Some funny things include: “The day I ate 5 mangos” “The day I had a mud fight” and “The day I played a prank on Miss Hannah.” My 4th grader decided to include her death in her autobiography. I explained to her that usually when people write autobiographies, they just include up to the current date and don’t write about their death because of course, they wouldn’t be able to write about their own death. She took my advice into consideration and then decided to keep it in her story. It was pretty humorous, including looking over Pikes Peak and then slowly falling to her death, the doctors unable to help her. It’s fun to see some of the stuff that my kids come up with. I’m very proud of all their hard work this year!

New Staff Housing
We have construction teams that come serve alongside us about 15 weeks out of the year. One of the things they have been working on recently is new staff housing for the singles. It’s a duplex complete with 4 bedrooms on each side. One Saturday 4 or 5 of the teachers along with about 10 jr. high and high school girls set aside the morning to help with the house. It was fun to actually help get the house ready that I will soon live in. We sanded, painted, sponged, and plastered inside our house. It’s been fun to see the progress that each of the teams make. If all goes well, I’ll be able to move in this summer!

Fire Days
Growing up in Texas we had about 1 or 2 snow days off of school each year. Well so far in Honduras, we’ve had days off for protests in the city, a hurricane, and now fires. We’re in the middle of dry season, making wild forest fires very prominent. Looking around I can usually see about 3 or 4 fires off in the distance in the mountains. Recently we’ve had several that have become dangerously close to our ranch property. One night, we evacuated our kids and took them to the mission house, where all the medical brigades stay and are hosted. It’s on another mountain outside the city, about an hour away from where we are. Several of the teachers went to help with the kids because a lot of the house parents were away on there 3 days off that they get every month. During the next day, while we were waiting to get the “okay” to come back to the ranch, we took the kids on a “field trip” to the zoo. The zoo we went to was one of the only ones in Honduras. It wasn’t much of anything compared to a zoo you’d find in the states, but the kids loved it. We thought it was funny that some of the kids were more amused by squirrels that were running around outside than some of the animals in the cages. We have been fortunate to have people from the community around us and missionaries that are serving with us to go and fight the fires when they threaten our property. Some days the fires were so close, the air was smoky and ashes would fall from the sky. It was like it was raining, but it was little pieces of burned leaves and things falling from nearby fires. Thankfully, now that we are beginning rainy season, the air is clearer and fires are not a problem anymore. Thank you for all of your prayers for rain!

Graduation
June 4th was graduation day for us! We had 7 graduates at the end of this school year, including 5 kindergartners, 1 6th grader, and for the first time a 12th grader. It was a fun day to celebrate alongside these hard workers. To honor them and draw the year to a close, we had many students perform in dramas, music and reciting scripture. I was very proud of my students. Kevin played the drums, and all Kindergarten-4th graders were in a drama taken from Max Lucado’s book You Are Special. We also honored our other students by handing out “A-B Honor Roll” certificates. I was able to give Julio, Kevin, and Elli certificates for “A-B Honor Roll” for the year as well as an additional one for Elli for just this last grading period. They worked really hard and deserved the recognition.

Summer Furlough
I’ll be in the states from June 30th-July 22nd for furlough, to see family and friends and raise some more financial support for the coming year! I’m excited about seeing everyone again and hearing a little about what’s been going on in your lives as well as sharing a little of what God’s been doing in mine. I hope I can see many of you during these few weeks. I don’t have a lot of definite plans yet. I’m wanting to visit my brother at Pine Cove for a weekend and will possibly be going to New Orleans to visit a friend. Besides that, I’m planning on staying in the DFW area. Please email me if you want to get together!

Prayer Requests:
You may have heard about the plane crash that happened on May 30th at the airport here in Tegucigalpa. The runway is really short and surrounded by mountains making it a really difficult landing. Apparently the plane didn’t touch down until half way down the runway, not leaving enough room to stop. The plane skidded off the runway, down a hill and landed on oncoming traffic on a road below. Only a few people were killed, thankfully. Because of all of this, though, the Tegus airport is closed until further notice and it’s causeing a lot of mix up in people’s summer furlough flights as well as icoming and departing teams with WGO. Please pray that a permanent solution will be found soon so that entering and leaving the country won’t be such a difficult and stressful process. Currently, people are having to leave from San Pedro Sula (about a 6 hour drive from where we are). They are talking about opening an airbase in Comayaga (which is much closer), but they have to get all the customs stuff set up there before they direct the flights there. Please be praying for this whole situation as well as for the families that were impacted by this crash.
Transitions-
We have 3 new teachers coming! Kelly, Megan, and Amanda are coming to teach with us! They are scheduled to arrive this summer! We are very excited to have them come and serve with us. Please be praying for them as they transition into this new phase of their lives.
2 of our teachers are leaving! I guess going to college and getting married are good reasons to leave, but they will be greatly missed! Jenny Brown and Jessi Stover have been great teachers and assets to the ministry and we will miss them a lot! They’ve been great friends to all of us over the past year. Please pray as they transition out of Honduran life and back to life in the states.
One of our teachers feels like God is calling him to serve at the mission house helping with all the medical brigades that come through. In order for him to do that, though, we need to figure out a way for his responsibilities at school to be taken care of. Please be praying that all of this works out and that God’s will be clear in this situation.
Furlough- Please pray that my time in the states will be safe, productive, refreshing, and relaxing!
Praise God that I’ve been here almost a year and have successfully taught my first year of school! It’s cool to look back and see what God has done in and through me and our ministry this year!

Here's a link to some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102402&l=0de30&id=18304898

As always, thanks for all your prayers and support!

The school year's coming to an end

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written anything. Sorry about that. I guess it shows how busy I've been. I'll give you a little bit of info now and then will post my newest newsletter that will have more detail and more pics.

Basically, everything's been going really well lately. I can't believe that I'm about to finish my first year of teaching (or that i've been here for 10 1/2 months). Here's a list of what's been going on the past month or so....
1. Princess party with one of the other teachers and all the little girls on the ranch
2. Elementary science fair
3. Lots of wildfires and smoke...and ashes falling from the sky
4. labeling and inventory-ing (is that a word) new jams, jellies, and teas to sell
5. working on the new single staff housing (my future home)
6. Wednesday community kids program
7. Finishing the school year strong (I'll give you highlights in my newsletter)

I tried adding pictures, but it's not working right now. I'll try again soon!

Here are some exciting things to come:
1. Graduation (where we celebrate the graduation of our Kindergarten and Senior classes by having many of the students perform music, plays, etc, displaying their talent)
2. Participating in a medical brigade
3. Vacation with a few other teachers
4. MOVING to the new house!!
5. Going back to the states for a few weeks(June 30-July ?...maybe the 22nd)

As always, thanks for all of your prayers and support! They've been a real encouragement lately!

Class Pet and Science Project

So, this week we were having math class outside for a little "change of scenery." While we were out there, Kevin saw a really cool looking caterpillar. Then, Julio suggested that we keep him. I decided it was a good idea and we might as well see if we can keep him through the whole "cocoon" process and everything. It turned out to be a fun addition to our classroom. We made a little habitat for him and spent our science period looking up caterpillars on the internet trying to figure out what kind he is. After we got him all set up in his jar, fixing the screen on top, and making sure he had everything he needed. Julio and I enjoyed going around the school showing it to other classes. OH...and my kids decided to give him a name. Guess what they decided on?!

Our caterpillar is now also named Julio. I think it was Kevin's idea, and Julio (my student) LOVES that something is named after him. He thinks it's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Here are some pictures of our new friend Julio.

This is his new habitat.

This is Julio!

We came to school on Wednesday and he had made a cocoon! I'll keep you updated on how he's doing. My kids are loving checking on him everyday and can't wait until he emerges as a moth.

Here's a recent picture of my class:

Spiritual Emphasis Week and Semana Santa

Last week was spiritual emphasis week. The older kids had some really great chapel sessions every morning led by a guest speaker. The younger kids also had chapel every morning led by two of our teachers. The theme for the week for our elementary kids was salvation. The kids learned about how salvation is a free gift, God transforms our life, what it cost Jesus, and how it is permanent. Each morning we had chapel in a new location and included a fun activity for the kids to help them remember. Although I don’t know if any decisions were made, we could definitely tell some of the kids were affected by the messages and were starting to at least think about. Please continue to pray with us for the seeds were planted during this week.

This week we’ve had off of school for Semana Santa (or Holy Week). It has been a much needed and relaxing week. Eleven of us spent last weekend and the beginning of the week in La Ceiba, a beach on the north coast about 6 hours away. It was a fun and relaxing time of rest and fellowship. We got a really good deal on the hotel, too which is always nice. We got back home to the ranch on Tuesday night. The rest of the week has been spent watching a few movies, having a pedicure night, and just getting a lot of stuff done that I haven’t had time to do with school and everything else going on.



I’m excited about this upcoming week as well! I’ll be teaching Monday and Tuesday and then will be returning to the states Wednesday for my friend Allison’s wedding!! I can’t wait to be there for this special occasion! I’m very excited and happy for her. It will be a really quick trip to the states, so I probably won’t get to see most of you. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. I’m arriving in Dallas late Wednesday night, doing some errands and seeing family on Thursday, driving with my parents to Arkansas for the wedding on Friday, coming back late Saturday night, and flying back to Honduras early Monday morning. Please pray for safe travel and that my time in the states will be fun and not to rushed.

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!

Back in Honduras

So, I've been back in Honduras for about 2 weeks now, so I decided it was about time for another blog update.

First of all, I want to tell you about my time in the states. I had a wonderful time seeing my family and friends. I spent my first 2 weeks at home in the Dallas area, spent a week visiting my friend in New Orleans, and then spent the last couple of weeks at home again. I was glad I was able to be home for the holidays. I enjoyed getting to see a lot of you while I was at home. I apologize if I didn't get to see you. I was busier than I thought I was going to be.

I have enjoyed my first 2 weeks of school. It kind of seems like I never left, but that's a good thing. This is a fun month at school. We made January "Color Month," so all the teachers decorated their doors with their classes. Here's ours:

This is also a fun month in that each Friday is a fun dress day. Last week was pajama day and this week was backwards day. The next couple of weeks will be Crazy hat/hair day and Twin Day. Here's a picture of me and my kids on pajama day:

We also celebrated Julio's birthday on pajama day:

That's about it for now. I'll keep you updated. Thanks so much for the prayers and support!