THE RESIDENCY

Living room

notice the ¨fireplace¨. yea!

patio after I cleaned it

Santi reading
Water pump.

Kitchen




other view of living room and front door

back yard. dada making the guard rails and burning the trash. what a multitasker!

our vacuum cleaner! wow, we are rich!

enjoying his snack.

¨Let me out!¨

more of backyard

patio out back

dining room, kitchen

visiting Beverly and Ken

playing with beans. thanks for the idea, Amber!

front garden

The whole point of having Santi in Honduras, besides the fact that it was becuase we´re cheap, was to more easily get my Honduran residency so we don´t have to leave the country every 90 days to renew my VISA. We already paid the lawyer and gave her all the paperwork. She said she´s on it and would call us in a few months when the residency is ready. Well, last night we get a call from her. Apparently for the Honduran government Santi´s original birth certificate isn´t good enough proof that he was indeed born here. I want to tell them that I have a video of the birth if they want to see it. Will that be good enough proof? But alas, the lawyer says we need to get a ¨constancia¨, or letter of proof, from the hospital. OK. So we go to the hospital this morning covered in a lot of prayer becuase I´m thinking, ¨This sounds easy but it´s going to be very difficult for some reason becuase we´re in HOnduras.¨ So I ask at the front desk and they send me to administration who then sends me to another office and there they tell me to wait. So I wait for about ten minutes, not bad.

Then they tell me that the director isn´t in and it could be a few days, blah blah blah. I wasn´t surprised to say the least. Then they begin to ask me some questions. ¨What´s the mother´s name?¨And I´m thinking, Why don´t you just ask me MY name becuase I´m the mother! But I just say, ¨I´m the mother¨. And they say, ¨No, the biological mother.¨ ¨I AM the biological mother, I gave birth here!¨

¨Oh!¨And you could see in their faces it was like the lightbulb had gone on. They thought Santi was adopted. They said he looks nothing like me and usually boys look more like their moms, especially if she´s ¨gringa¨. So they say, ¨Oh, well, it will be much easier for you then.¨ Whew! So they look up the info on the computer and about 20 minutes later we walked out with what we needed, praise God!

We are doing well, enjoying the new house. Beto made a guard rail for Santi´s full size bed which is high off the ground. Once Santi recovered from his intestinal infection he woke up with a cough. So far his snot is clear and he hasn´t had a fever so I´m hoping it´s just becuase of the change in climate.

We have enjoyed having internet in the house and making some more necessary purchases, visiting with friends and ¨brothers¨from church.

Now we have to take the ¨Constancia¨from the hospital and my old passport back to Teguc. to the lawyer. We´d appreciate your prayers that we have no more glitches and the Residency comes out on time without problems.

First Sunday back at Mas Que Vencedores("More Than Conquerors")

Praying for a brother(white shirt) in the rehab center who came forward to accept Christ this morning.

Santi with one of his new friends. He got the star sticker in Sunday school.

The men in the rehab center singing "At the Cross where i first saw the light" in Spanish.

Some brothers in the rehab center recieving award certificates for completing certain phases of recovery.



One member of Rhonda and TR's group sharing with the church.

Aminta, a very good friend.

RHONDA!!!

It was really a blessing to be back today at church in La Esperanza. We are really happy to see everybody and to see the changes that have taken place, some good, some not so good, but for the most part the church is growing and changing for the better. We got to see Rhonda and TR. Actually, TR was in the States for about a year before we went to LA and then we were in the states for a year, so we hadn't seen him in about two years. Rhonda is Santi's godmother and was with me through my entire labor and delivery with him. they have a group here this week from the states that will be working around town and it was fun to meet some of them, and to see one that I met a couple of years back.

After church we enjoyed lunch at the pastor's house with his family and after lunch we got to watch the World Cup match in which Spain beat the Netherlands. pretty intense! and a lot of fun. We have bought a lot of new stuff that we needed for the house this week. We lack a lot of little things and we'll have to buy a new sofa but that all takes time and in the meantime we are borrowing a sofa.

we are anxious to get started working. There is always so much to be done in ministry. please pray for us, for our marriage and as parents to Santi, and please pray for us to do all the work we are called to do and that it will be fruitful.

We went up to see the new site of the Alcoholic Rehab Center. It is very nice so far. There are two buildings up so far that need to be finished and a few spots cleared to build more. It is an ongoing project that has many years ahead of it but is doing well and is exciting to be a part of it.

We did see a couple boys last week in town while we were shopping that we have worked with before and that are the reason we want to start up the home for street children. One of them is now living in town with his aunt and isn't working anymore on the semi trucks(he must be 12 now). he looks a lot healthier. The other younger brother looks the same, not any taller, and is still living with his mom, little sister, and older brother. he says his mom is very sick with gall stones, as i understood it. If we can't do anything else this year, I pray that we can put them in a school this year and that they stick with their studies. Part of the problem is that they would have to enter into kinder studies and they are already 10 and 12 years old. But on my heart is to help many children here get a quality education. Our pastor was talking about it this morning in his sermon, and mentioned how other missionaries talked with him and asked him for his prayers for children here who aren't educated. I am so glad we are here and pray God will use us

to bring many to Him here in La Esperanza, which as many of you have already learned means "Hope". We pray many here will come to know Him as their only true hope and peace.

one week in Teguc

Hey everybody. We've been about a week now in Tegucigalpa staying with my old roomate and very good friend Amber. We have bought a vehicle, gone to a waterpark, been sick, gone to the dr., put our new car in the shop, picked it up, and had a lot of fun. No pictures today since our camara has gone on the fritz. That's another thing we get to buy. We are not sure how much more time we'll be in Teguc until we go to La Esperanza, but probably sometime within the next week.
Please continue to pray for us as we have all been sick with stomach problems, but mostly Santi. He seems to be doing a little better. We aren't sure exactly what he has but hopefully tomorrow we can get some results from the lab tests.
We are very excited to get up to La Esperanza to start working and get settled into "our" house that we'll be renting, and to enjoy to cooler mountain weather!
we have been enjoying our time with Amber, her "son" and her interns. She lives close to a mall that we can walk to to go grocery shopping, eat at Dunkin' donuts, buy Dr. Pepper, and put santi on the carousel. There's also a very nice park up the street from the house where Santi can play. Yesterday we went for about an hour.

even more laguna pics

the two latinos
Santi chillin with Joey

Discussing life

More Laguna Pics

I've been trying to upload videos for awhile now. I'm not sure if some of these are repeats. Either I don't have time at the internet or it is too slow. yesterday I kept uploading pics but the internet kept going in and out.
These are some pics I hope are new to most of you from our family reunion to laguna. Thanks mom especially, and thanks everyone for such a fun year. and especially thanks to God for our wonderful family and the perfect weather we had!

hanging out at wahoo's.

Mom and Beto.

Ben with his energy drink.

My pretty sister.



My pretty nieces.

Dad and Santi playing

Everybody at the tide pools.
Dave at Wahoo's.

Beto and Caleb with food babies.

nearly all of us at the beach.

Admiring the outfit.

digging the biggest hole ever.

The mayan god of the family.