Cafe con Leche

Hello again

2011-07-25T00:11:00.001-06:00

It's been two months since I last wrote and a lot has happened. I've been busy and putting more energy into my facebook account.
To sum up, which will be hard, but for this post, to sum up we got Beto's residency! It was a miracle we got it so quickly, but with lots of prayer and faith God was so gracious! On June 9th my childhood friend Katy Yates, her husband John and their three kids McKenna, Brooklyn, and Josiah came to visit us until the 14th. John spent all his time building 3 bunkbeds for "our" three kids, Jorge, Miguel, and Fatima. It was great for Katy and I to catch up and for Santi to make three new good friends. We had lots of adventures and they brought tons of donations and money to buy pillows, mattresses, etc. to abundantly bless that family before we left Honduras.
The Yates were so gracious to be patient while we sold/gave everything the night before we left to take them to the airport, so we stayed in a hotel our last night in La Esperanza, and then drove to the capitol where we stayed in a hotel that was afraid to give us just enough towels. We needed to be in town a day early since the Yates' flight left the next day around noon.

On June 14th the Yates flew home in the morning and we flew to Guatemala in the PM and stayed with Beto's family for about 4 days. After that we flew to Ft.Worth, TX to stay with Beto's childhood friend and his wife Manuel and Nancy and their new baby Lito, whom Santi, and we, fell in love with. They are spanish church planters which is who we want to be so we were also "doing research". Manuels' sister and bro-in-law are living there too so beto enjoyed being with old friends, and me with new ones.

Finally we arrived in LA on June 22nd and hit the ground running. We've enjoyed swimming in our aunt's pool, going to the library, beach, free concerts in the park, and ofcourse spending time with family, friends, and our church. My best friend and I have even started a cleaning business! (It's called L.L. Clean, by the way, and we're looking for clients!)

The most eventful...well, event, since we've been back that Beto and I have participated in is called Discovery Lab with Kairos Church planting. It was five intense days in a Portland camp where we gave testimonies, led worship, sat through 12 rounds of interviews, and learned about our calling, gifts, talents, strengths and growth areas. Before we left we spent what seemed like about 60 hours answering 100's of questions on multiple tests such as "Prepare/Enrich" for couple's, questionaire's about our pasts, our ministries, experiences, personalities, etc. The best part though was making lots and lots of great new friends.

Santi and Brooklyn on our way home from the airport

Traffic, heat, and jet lag

JOsiah!

The Yates family in "our kids" house with their new mattresses

with close friends at our going away party at church

unloading the new beds at "our kids" house

Making a porch with cement we bought with donations

Play soccer once with them and they're friends for life

Speaking of friends forever...

Delivering the mattresses and pillows

beto and grasshopper

spending time with the fam in Antigua, Guatemala

Lito, Manuel's and Nancy's baby

Meeting our favorite band Third Day for Beto's Father's Day present

Enjoying a free concert in the park

Visiting lifelong friends the Baucums and the Yates kids

There they are!

Hanging out with the Yates kids in Honduras

Soda in a bag!

Celebrating the 4th in Long Beach

At my uncle and aunt's pool

Voo Doo donuts in Portland, a must see.

Hanging out downtown before going to Discovery Lab

Intense DL. We were observed...a lot!

...but it was a lot of fun too. GREAT people!

we took walks...

...and played group building "games".

yea,we love each other

Before going to the airport to return home, our friends hosted us at the Rose Gardens.

Tim and Lisa Blair. Peekaboo!

One of my many favorites

Now it's time to relax a little bit before Beto begins working at our home church Long Beach Church of Christ part-time in August as an "outreach minister". We plan on taking this first year back in the States settling in and adjusting back to life here, praying about our future and seeing what God has in store for us.

My new favorite thing about the US Embassy

2011-05-13T11:57:00.000-06:00

I forgot to tell something really important that happened to us on tuesday. I went inside and when I realized I would be waiting awhile, I went back outside where Beto was and got my book out of the diaper bag. Of course I had to go through security again, but I little did I know I should´ve hidden my book.

¨You can´t take this inside¨, the security guard said.

Now I was losing some patience.

¨Why?¨, I asked.

¨Because you´ll read it.¨

hmmm...at this point there were so many thoughts in my head I didn´t even know what to say.

¨People have missed hearing their number called because they become so engrossed in their book¨, she said.

¨oH, well, I´ll hear my number.¨I said.

¨Ok, take it in, but don´t read it.¨

hmm....so many more options about how to respond!

¨If the other guard sees you reading it, I will get in trouble¨, she said.

¨Oh fine, I´ll just leave it here.¨

Seriously, punishing everyone for the few who won´t hear their number called is absurd. If those other people didn´t hear their number, oh well, that´s not my problem.

Besides, the embassy has TV´s in the waiting room. Hello???

Another fun day at the embassy

2011-05-12T12:55:00.000-06:00

Where to begin? At the beginning, I guess.
Monday May 9th was Beto´s interview appointment for his residency at the US embassy here in Tegucigalpa. What that means is that we´d already turned in his basic information to one office at the embassy, they approved it and sent it on to the consule´s office. That process took a couple of months longer than expected but after making a TON of phone calls to the embassy, one nice lady gave him an early appointment so we wouldn´t have to wait till July.

The appointment went really well. That´s when we turn in all the rest of the very detailed paperwork that I worked on like a part-time job to get together. Tax forms from the last three years, THANK YOU MOM!, and a bunch of other boring forms. The stack of papers was about 3 inches high and probably weighed about two pounds, at least I think so. I felt good that the first girl we saw, behind a window of course, congratulated me on how organized the paperwork was. I wanted to make it easy on them to find what they ask for and make a good first impression.

She then sent it all on the the consul while we waited. About an hour later we were called into a little room to talk to another lady behind another window. And they can´t ever tell us their names. Probably so mad people who don´t get VISA´s can´t look them up! So she had each of us raise our right hands to solemnly swear that everything we were about to say was the truth.

She only asked why we were leaving Honduras. We told her, she requested one more paper, told us to take it to window 2 the next day then see her again at her window 5 and she would give Beto his Residency the next day or WEdnesday.

So the next day Tuesday we went back to the embassy but nothing went as we expected. first of all even though we got there when they told us to come the guard wouldn´t let us in until 10, 30 minutes later. Then he wouldn´t let Beto in. Then instead of going to window 2 I had to take a number and wait an hour for my number to be called. It was called by a different lady at window three. I gave her the document they wanted and she said they would call us in 2 weeks.

I wanted to argue and protest but I couldn´t say anything. The atmosphere in the embassy is so scary and intimidating. Sometimes I have had the guts to fight with them but not this day. So I walked away but started thinking about going back, but when I looked there was already another person there. I walked outside and talked to beto about it and then decided that, no, I should explain to here that I was supposed to see the consul again and she said she would give Beto his residency this same day. But when I tried to go back in the guard wouldn´t let me. He called the lady at window three but she said I already had my chance and I would have to call in the PM. Nah, I didn´t have the energy to do that because I could already predict that they would tell me I would just have to wait.

and all that afternoon and evening I was kicking myself for not having been more aggressive. And being upset about how unorganized the embassy is, each person telling me something different. they should have their information straight!

But i had to leave it in God´s hands and trust that it was His perfect timing. Plus, it was only two weeks! We met a girl that was there with me that was told she would have to wait another whole year, although that´s because of certain issues she has in her history.

So the next day which was Wednesday, yesterday, I´m sitting in the car while Santi sleeps in the back and Beto goes into the bank. His phone rings with an unknown number and at first I hoped it would be the embassy but then I didn´t want to get my hopes up. Sure enough, they said Beto got it approved and we could go pick it up next week! good thing we only live four hours away up a steep, curvy, mountainy road that is being worked on!

We are very grateful for all the prayers. We have just about a month to sell everything, then make a trip over to Guatemala to see family before we move to the States. It is all bittersweet to leave here after so much time, but we are confident that God is in control.

fun in Tegucigalpa

2011-05-12T12:37:00.000-06:00

Learning how to use toothpicks

Waiting for yummy chinese food

AT Chili´s for Mother´s Day

He LOVES iced tea

Pretty fresh flowers on the table. My favorites!

Praying for the meal. Not really. Don´t be that impressed

with Rosi

Our new puppies

2011-05-12T11:46:00.000-06:00

Santi loves holding them

Pantera is a very good mother.

A Day Trip

2011-05-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

Today we went up in the mountains just about an hour above the city. Up there it's like a different world...antique, colonial houses and streets, no conjestion, cooler climate and cleaner air, and simpler people. We picked up our friend Daniel (1) and then he drove our car all day. First we picked up a couple, Daniel (2) and his wife Dania. They left their 7 month old boy, Joseph, at home with family.
Then we drove up to a little town called Santa Lucia where Daniel(1) has a friend Daniel (3) to whom he needed to drop off some papers. We basically ate the old fashioned type of popcicles made with whole natural juice, milk, coconut, raisins (depending on the flavor) and visited with Daniel (3) and his family at his house for just about 30 minutes.

Then we drove about 15 more minutes up to a little tourist town called Valle de Angeles, or Valley of the Angels. There are a lot of tourist traps and good places to eat. We found a great place with a second story balcony where we got to relax and talk for a couple of hours. When we finished we walked to the central park and then headed downtown to Daniel and Dania's apartment where they fed us a really good cake and coffee. I got the biggest piece in honor of mother's day. Yea me and my ever increasing waste line!!! woohoo!

Now we are home again and I am pooped!!! But in a great way! Please pray for us because MOnday is Beto's appointment in the US Embassy for his residency. Tomorrow we're going to church, lunch, then packing up and moving for one night to the mission house that is a lot closer to the embassy.Since we have to be there at 7am I want to be close by. I'm not sure we'll have internet there tomorrow night so I'd like to send out that prayer request now. Thanks!

Two Daniels

Love this typical Honduran house

Yes they're just playing

Friday

2011-05-06T22:16:00.000-06:00

This morning we got to sleep in a little bit, yea! We bummed around at Amber's house since they all left really early, and watched TV. Ate cereal...a nice treat, and did some catching up on the blog. Around 12 we called for a taxi and went to the mechanic's to pick up our car. Run's real nice now and they didn't charge us an "outtatowner" price.

After we had our car we headed for the mission house to pick up a letter of "job verification" for Beto's residency and the keys to one of the rooms where we'll stay on Sunday night. It's a lot closer to the Embassy so we won't have to get up quite as early or sit in traffic as long, which means we may have time to grab some Dunkin donuts and eat in the car on the way. Gross, but oh so tempting!

After that we headed to the store, the bank, got ice cream, went to the internet to print off more papers for the Residency, and finally had dinner at McDonald's where the old folks read the paper and Santi got to play and make new friends for a couple of hours.

today was a good day. Now off to put the real finishing touches on the paperwork and get a good night's sleep.

Down on the farm

2011-05-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

Beto putting on the four wheel drive

the old bridge that's being repaired

Getting ready to go down in the river

Not impressed

Waiting for our friends to come open the gate

Typical day in La Esperanza

Learning how to sit like a guy

Making sure he got it right

aw yea, he knows he's cool

Some of Mr. Ken's plant

Visiting the bunny rabbits

A plaque in the rabbit house. I like.

Fresh, organic

and too good to wait

strawberries too!

really large dog

more guate fam pics

2011-05-06T12:33:00.000-06:00

Sweet Gretel, born about 5 months before Santi. When they go out together people always ask if they are twins.

Antonio

Guess who! Beto!!! Does he look like Santi, or vice versa?

Elida, my closest friend in the family

Nelson Beto's younger brother, grey shirt, and a friend. Nelson is twins with Gretel's mother, and Nelson and Beto look most alike out of all the brothers (8).

My handsome hubby

Alejandro

Santi, courtesy of Joey Heida. Thanks joe

I wish I could fall asleep anywhere like this. HA!

Jairito, rodrigo, and Nelson

With their Uncle Beto

Alejandra (R) is Manuel's sister, and her husband. (L) Sonia and middle is Elida

Celebrating Elida's birthday

Old picture from about 6 years ago. Nearly everybody. Can you find the gringa?

Old Picture of Beto on his graduation day

Beto and Elida graduated on the same day. Here's their celebration dinner.

Gretel loves her uncle!

Beto's oldest sister with her family.

On the bus back to La Esperanza. Only Elmo smiled for the camera.

the Guatemalan Family

2011-05-06T11:54:00.000-06:00

Gretel..."Santi's twin"

Jazmin

Antonio

Mama!!!

Papa!

Gretel

first of many long overdue pics...Santi Playing

2011-05-06T11:43:00.000-06:00

These are probably two months old. This is at THE fast food place in La Esperanza.

One Big Fat Post!

2011-05-06T11:22:00.000-06:00

So much has happened in the last month but while it was happening it didn't seem "blog worthy". But let me fill you in and tell you a little story...

At first we were all three going to go to Guatemala to visit the fam for Holy Week, the week before Easter, and while there spend a couple of days getting some paperwork for Beto's residency. Well, maybe I should start even before this. Nah, let me just say that since we live in Honduras we of course decided to apply for Beto's US residency here at the US Embassy in Honduras. but any/all foreign paperwork has to be authenticated, apostilled, basically signed and stamped till you can hardly even read what the actualy contents of the document reads.
Well, after not hearing from the embassy and getting nervous since we want to move to the states in July, and it was already april and they say it takes three months just to give us an appointment, i called and told them our situation and the very nice lady on the phone was very helpful and got us an appointment for May 9th. Great! But then I started to panic becuase getting all the necessary paperwork is like a part time job and then I was afraid we wouldn't get it in time. the government wants to basically see that Beto isn't going to end up on welfare, but since we don't have enough money to prove that we had to ask my mom to be our "sponsor", which means she had to send us about 5 pounds of paperwork ...tax forms, passport copy, W-2's, proof of job, assets, plus a general form required by the embassy with basic information, and all of that I have to provide too.

so Beto goes to Guatemala alone since we didn't want santi on a bus for 12 hours each way if we were only going to stay for two days. But of course it didn't just take two days since Holy Week fell and everything shut down for a week. So he had to wait till the following week when everything reopened. After he arrived in Guatemala he then traveled on his second day four hours each way to his birthplace to get more birth certificate originals, because the only original he had he already gave to the embassy and they didn't give it back. Note: when "buying" originals, always buy like 10 at a time! So on his third day he goes to the police station to get two different types of police reports, and after holy week he went to the embassy there, and three different places to get them authenticated.

Now, Honduras asks for the "Long, Literal" form of the birth cert., but now Guatemala says they don't print those anymore, so we're praying that the embassy here will accept them. I mean, other countries like the US don't print their certs on long paper, so Guatemala doesn't either.

All this time Beto was sick either with respitory or stomach probs and Santi and I were staying with Amber in TGU also with sicknesses. The air here was so smoggy and smoky that the airport even closed down a couple of times, and us country folk coming from the mountains where the air is always clean, well, i guess our systems just couldn't take it.

Beto arrived two weeks after he left and showed up with a bad virus that's going around in Guatemala city that his family all had too. We were told many months ago of a good ear dr. for me, and Beto had to get a general checkup for his residency interview from one of three dr.'s and one of the choices was at the same hospital as my ear dr. So we already knew about this place, it's close to Amber's house. Well, that same place has a 24 hr. clinic and ER, so in the morning we dropped off some, ahem, samples, and then hung out at the mall, went to a movie, did some shopping, etc. until 4pm when the results were in. Beto got the meds he needed and thank God is all better.

Last Sunday we went back to LE only until WEdnesday. Beto had to get two different types of police reports here in TGU also for his residency since he's lived here for about 8 years. One of the papers he got in about 5 mintues, but the second one took a week. It was ready yesterday. So we called one of our friends who lives here but we know from Southwest School where we all worked in La Esperanza. He lives around the corner from that hospital where we went when Beto was sick. We went to pick him up but then when Beto tried to start the car again it wouldn't start.
thankfully we were right by a place to eat and in walking distance to a mechanic. Beto first had to take a taxi to pick up his police report but GET THIS! He wasn't aloud in in his shorts (cargo shorts, people, not like Richard Simmonds type shorts). So he had to walk about half a mile to the mini mall and buy some really ugly pants, then go back and pick up his paper, which had his name spelled wrong, so thank God they actually changed it right away, because Beto says the lady at the desk was a little "agressive" and not willing to help him out at first, saying it was going to take another week, which we don't have.

so Beto finally made it back to the car and the mechanic helped us push it to get it started just to drive it around the block to the mechanic. Beto called our personal mechanic in LE and he told us how much parts and labor should cost, etc. so we would know we weren't getting ripped off.

Then, the best thing happened!!! Our friend that was with us this whole time called HIS friend who works at a private social club where we got to go and have lunch poolside! too bad we didn't know. we didn't have our suits. but i was ready to jump in with my clothes on it was so hot! There were bout 6 different playgrounds for santi and htey were clean and nice, not like the ones at the mall where parents let their 12 year olds on a playground for 5 year olds and don't supervise them! That really drives me crazy.

At the club our friend saw another one of HIS old friends that we talked to for a couple of hours (I mean, we spent AAAALLLLL afternoon there!) and he gave us a ride back to the mechanic, who said our car wouldn't be ready till today. So we walked to our friends house and hung out there for a couple of hours, then took a taxi to Amber's. I was in bed early I was so tired.

today we are hanging out, watching cable cartoons, until noon when our car should be done, then putting finishing touches on Beto's paperwork, probably eating out at Micky D's or something.

We are really praying that Beto gets his residency on Monday. If he does we want to celebrate BIG! Like a one night stay at the Marriott or other hotel with a pool. Any ideas????

A day Out!!! and etc...

2011-04-10T17:55:00.000-06:00

Not the best picture but to give an idea of how cows are transported to their death....here tis. We saw a larger cow in a smaller truck last week. but couldn´t get a picture of that.

Santi wore his lifevest for about an hour after he got out of the boat, when he went on a walk with ¨Uncle Daniel¨. There were beautiful cabbage and potato fields.

My boat´s crew captain. 11 years old.

This tiny old lady could steer these three mean cows like nobody´s business.

¨the Dock¨

Lake Chiligatoro

I love the brightly colored houses

Mr. Daniel....champion rower

Getting ready to go. I think this was Santi´s first boat ride. this was an unplanned adventure.

Eric, 12, first time seeing a lake.

I really don´t know what´s happening here.

Hiking

Resting. Here Mr. Daniel is imitating the cows across the way.

Wow. What a pretty river.

Picking wild blackberries. YUM! This is Jose. He was one of my first grade students my first year teaching in La Esperanza. He´s in fifth grade now!

Santi really enjoyed being outside! We walked...and walked...and walked...

¨Gala¨

mmmm....NON Poop-flavored carne! yea!

Our old friends invited us to their new property where we BBQ´s and explored.

Enjoying the new homemade playdough and toothpicks

I showed him how to make a snowman and use toothpicks as arms

Santi´s ¨snowman¨

Jorge and MIguel get promoted!

2011-04-07T19:32:00.000-06:00

Miguel introducing himself

And Jorge. Sorry this was the best picture.

Entering into their new third grade classroom.

Jorge was a little apprehensive at first.

Abely, in the green shirt, is a sister from church who teaches special ed at the school and who helped us get Jorge and Miguel ready to be mainstreamed. She is very excited for them and involved in their development still.

She´s a very encouraging speaker. Here she´s introducing us and encouraging all the students in their studies.

Update on Jorge, Miguel, and Fatima

2011-04-06T21:03:00.000-06:00

Miguel and Jorge came by today. They were both wearing their PE uniforms, looking all proud. Yes, that´s right, they´re back in school after a 2 month teacher strike! Praise God! They seem to be doing pretty well. they have matured alot lately. After the death of their mother they have just moved up the mountain a little bit from where they were living and are being taken care of by an aunt. they have running water in the house and say that they take a bath daily, which, by the looks of them today, is true! yea! They proudly showed us their notebooks of work they´ve done and shared with us that their teacher is talking about moving them up to second or third grade soon, even though the school year won´t end until late November...or maybe January since they´ve missed two months. Remember that they are 14 and 13 years old, so this would be great! We have a meeting with the teacher tomorrow morning at 7.30.

Speaking of getting up early, this morning a handful of men from church came to the house at 4.30!!! to pray. I helped the night before prepare two breads, banana and orange, and fry up the beans, and cleaned the house. So I stayed in bed when Beto got up at 3am to scramble some eggs, put them on bagettes with ¨sour cream¨and beans. I also prepared the coffee last night...¨ESPRESSO AMERICANO¨!, SO ALL Beto had to do this morning was ...¨CLICK¨ turn it on this morning.

This is an old tradition that the men got out of the habit of doing and are starting to get into again. Today was the first one in about a year or more and I´m glad we volunteered, because now we don´t have that hanging over our heads...¨should we invite this week¿¨but others will have to volunteer each week now.

I actually really like getting up early. WAIT. I think I just heard my mom faint! In theory more than in practice. Since the men made a little bit too much noise around 5.30 Santi woke up and then wanted to go eat with them. So we stayed up and I got a lot done, which I really needed to do. Santi andBeto took early naps around 10am and Santi went to bed early which means he should get up early, which I like much better than getting up at almost 10. ugh...

I spent most of my day at the computer reviewing a bunch of times all the paperwork that Beto has to have ready for his US Residency interview at the embassy here in May! woo hoo! It´s a lot of details and we HAVE to have it all correct the first time.

Something we have to bring to the interview is proof of our relationship since the beginning and with santi, family, friends, in different settings, etc. So I spent a few hours going through all of our photos on Facebook, our blog, and our computer. I found some of Miguel from when we first met him and I didn´t realize he was so small then and how much he´s grown!!! It´s amazing to look back and see from where and to where God has brought him and his family.

Last Sunday we were taking his older sister and her family back home after church and Beto asked her when was the first time she ever went to church. She said when we took her just a few years ago, and she´s in her early twenties. We had no idea. Sometimes we don´t realize what God is doing through us or that He is using us, but He is always Faithful!

An opportunity to give

2011-04-05T13:19:00.001-06:00

http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2011/03/sudden-illness-claims-life-of-church-member-a-mother-of-five-young-children/

Please follow the link above to read about a Pepperdine graduate that passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. I only knew of her when I was a student at Pepperdine. She was the young mother of 5, from ages 3 months to 8 years old. This story really touches my heart.

Day Trip

2011-04-03T16:26:00.000-06:00

These were a big attraction. See how much we get out?

We paid about $2.50 to have a professional picture taken that came out about like this. Santi is so proud of ¨his¨horse.

We tried numerous times to get Santi to wear the hat but he INSISTED that the hat belonged only and always on the horse.

See? He doesn´t want me to wear it either.

This is my favorite. Truly captures the ¨real¨us.

Santi and his ¨aunt¨Crystal at some fountains in the restaurant where we had lunch. there were also birds, monkeys, deer, rabbits, peacocks, ducks, turtles, maccaws, and some others behind the restaurant.

The birds´area

He asked to get on one and then got scared. Checking them out from far away.

This is how we all felt by the end of the day.

We finally got to take a trip about an hour down the mountain to a little bigger town to celebrate my birthday. . Our first stop? COFFEE! There´s a ¨Starbucks¨equivalent in HOnduras that really doesn´t even compare but it´s pretty good! At least I got to buy three pound bags of coffee which is very good. We walked around town looking for good clothes but alas, unless the used clothes place that brings US brands has anything, it´s hard to find anything good at the HOnduran stores that sell new stuff.
Then we visited the grocery store that sells exotic goods like Cool Ranch Doritos!
It was a good day out!

Glory in the market

2011-03-30T19:37:00.000-06:00

We went to the outdoor market today. I stayed in the car since Santi was sleeping, but even if he wasn´t we would´ve stayed. The prices are cheaper if Beto goes by himself. I´m white, so I´m rich and can afford to pay twice as much as everyone else. Hmm...more on that later.

As I was waiting, I was watching a young mother and her two kids in front of me, unbeknownst to them. She looked to be at least 40 at first glance but the longer I stared at her the more I thought she was probably only in her twenties. This I judged based first on her kids´ages, second on the statistics of this population, and third, on her eyes.

She was shorter than me and was carrying a small child on her back. He may have even been around 2 years old. Her clothes were dirty and her hair really matted, her skin dark, like from hard labor in the sun.

Her older child looked to be about Santi´s age and height, but his arms were half as big but his stomach more protruded. Also his clothes were dirty, but he seemed to be a very happy and loved little boy. The wrap that the younger child was in on his mom´s back was really dirty.

They just struck me as having a really really hard life. They looked like the kind of people that don´t live here in our town, but come down from small villages up in the mountains, and have to take slow busses home with all of their heavy goods after waiting maybe a few hours for the bus to arrive, in the hot sun, or in the rain, on the side of a dirt road with cars passing by blowing up dust.

Then I started thinking and asking myself questions. For example, WOW! I am so thankful to have been born where I was born and have lived the kind of life that I´ve lived. I could´ve easily been born up in these mountains to poor parents or some other third world country. Why was I NOT born somewhere else? And why is the majority of the world living in such uncomfortable conditions? I could think of a few answers but I don´t wish to explore those here.

They left and then passed by a young girl that I´ve seen many times before. I have heard her story from a friend of mine. She was abandoned and left homeless on these streets, for unknown reasons, and therefore has been robbed, raped, attacked, etc. numerous times. Therefore she has learned to be aggressive and sometimes very violent. People are scared of her. She cuts her very short and when I first came across her a few years ago I thought she was a boy. She sometimes looks very dirty but today she looked like she had just had a shower and put on clean clothes. I watched her buy one banana and then stroll into the ¨parking lot¨of a business across the street.

Then a few minutes later I heard someone singing slash chanting...I can´t find the slash on this spanish keyboard. She was kneeling on a piece of cardboard looking up to the sky with eyes open and her fingers stretched out, palms together. I couldn´t really understand what she said from inside the car, but I think I heard a ¨Maria¨and ¨virgin¨in there somewhere. And this went on for about 10 minutes when she started to pray. then a business man came out and handed her some money. I think most of the town knows her and her situation and gives her money when she asks because she doesn´t use it on alcohol. I imagine that becuase of her reputation for violence no one has taken her in and I imagine that´s the same reason for why she´s not in any of the orphanages here.

Beto returned when she was finishing up and I told him, ¨you know, people think she´s crazy, but what would the world be like if we all praised and prayed to God like that, in public or not? If only I had her courage and passion like her. And I´m sure God hears her and takes care of her even if she doesn´t have a home.
Even though that´s a hard concept to get my head around. Why did God allow her to be put in that situation in the first place? Man´s free will? Original Sin?

And then my husband, my wise, loving, gentle husband reminded me that not because of her parents, but so God could use her to get the glory, to show His Glory. I do believe I saw a little bit of His glory there in the market today.

the Third One...finally

2011-03-29T21:26:00.002-06:00

Now I´ll tell a little stroy about how we had ¨no food or money¨ .

Beto and I, I don´t like to brag, but we´ve always been pretty good with keeping a budget, and most importantly, God is always faithful and never leaves us without!

But this month we had Santi´s birthday and in Honduras we celebrated Father´s Day, plus just some other surprises that cost us more than we anticipated. AND, we had also started a separate savings account. Very good.
So last week we were out of ¨in pocket¨cash and the checking account was low. We knew we´d have to wait about 5 more days to have cash in hand. There was ham, eggs, meat, beans, rice, and tortillas. But I tend to see what we don´t have..cheddar cheese, sliced bread, butter, fruit and veggies. So in my mind, we had ¨no food¨.

PERSPECTIVE...many people here, including the family that we do a lot of ministry with, don´t have running water nor ever the money to buy a luxury item like say, a watermelon.

After a day like today when the electricity goes off, on,off,on,off,on,etc. I have to breathe and remember that a lot of people in this area NEVER have electricity.
And I´m so thankful for our blessings that allow us to be able to celebrate special days.

but I think my husband said it well the other day when we were talking about this. I had posted something on Facebook about it and the next day my mom called worried, mentioning that other people were asking about us, and that she´d deposited some money for my birthday and I HAD to use it, for fun!!!
Beto said, ¨We should post at least once a month then something about being low on funds. Good idea!

The Second thing...and the third

2011-03-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

So I didn´t think I´d have time so soon to write about the Second Thing but my second job called to say ¨Come later¨. So I´m at home for a few more minutes.

I´m going to combine the second and third. On my notepad I wrote ¨Candy when hungry¨and ¨no food or money¨. And I put them in quotes on my notepad because ¨hungry¨will relate also to spiritual hunger and ¨no food or money¨ was a little extreme because we actually did have SOME food and money.

I was just thinking the other day about how sometimes when I´m really really hungry I eat candy. And at the moment it suffices, but not in the long run. It´s not real food and it doesn´t satisfy...despite Snickers´claims. And that´s how it is in my spiritual life. When I´m really really hungry spiritually many times I try to ¨fill up¨ on spiritual candy. For me that´s Christian spanish music on the radio, or watching a ¨Baby Faith¨video with Santi. But really what I need is something to really fill me...the Presence of Jesus, being in His Word and praying and meditating. These all sound very spiritual and I certainly don´t do them everyday or everyweek or sometimes not even for a month.

But then I don´t funciton very well, just like physiclaly when all I eat is candy. I get tired and cranky and my family doesn´t want to be around me. But give me a good meal? Well, and they do want to be around me.

Three posts in one...oops, nevermind

2011-03-29T13:28:00.000-06:00

I´ve had a list next to the computer for days of three different things I want to blog about. But I think since I´m eating my baleada and have to go work, like, now, I´ll mention all three here since I don´t think each one will be too long.

ONE
Last week I finally made an orange bread, which is beto´s favorite and he´d been hinting that he wanted one for actually a couple of months. But I put it off because I´ve been making a lot of banana bread with all of the approximately 50 bananas that went brown from the bunch of about 100 that we bought on the side of the road in ¨monkey country¨, as the locals call it, or something like that, about a month and a half ago coming back from Tegucigalpa.
Plus, I have to grate orange peel and squeeze the juice fresh by hand, and I really don´t look forward to that.

So as another hint he bought ¨essence of orange¨. Yes, he does most of the shopping while I´m at work. It´s the only time it can get done.

So I made some orange bread with the essence using an online recipe, but the online recipe called for real OJ. So I guessed at the amount of ¨essence¨....that word is starting to sound like the name of a cheap perfume. Let´s just say that the bread was NOT EDIBLE. Our dogs wouldn´t even eat it. I don´t know if Beto ever even tried it because it wasn´t even at all attractive! It didn´t cook enough in the middle and of course, didn´t really taste ¨orangy¨

and all this got me thinking...what happens when we put ¨the essence of...¨in our lives instead of The Real Thing, AKA Jesus? How do we turn out? Not quite done on the inside. Unattractive...at least to those who have already tasted of The Real Thing. But hear me out...let me take this analogy further...NOT unloveable or unwanted, ok? Something ¨unedible¨or unusable I should say in this sense.
I know I put a lot of ¨essences of...peace, or joy, or even love¨ in my life, in my heart, my mind and what happens? I don´t turn out very peaceful, or joyful, or loving!

Only ¨the Real Thing¨ is what I want.

¨YOU GOT THE RIGHT ONE BABEEEEEEEE....UH HUH UH HUH....¨
Sorry, couldn´t resist....

so number one turned out longer than expected. Two other topics after work...maybe.

My Birthday!

2011-03-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

Yes, it´s true. I turned 32 yesterday! Exactly two weeks after Santi´s birthday. This means I´m going to try to not have any more kids in the month of March. Two birthdays are enough money spent in one month!

But it was nice. At church every week the ladies´ministry raffles off some item. It might be a jewelry box, a lunch, or in this case, a cake with a bottle of coke. Envelopes are passed out to everyone and the minimum is 20 lempiras, or about $1, and whoever puts in the most money wins the item. All of these events are to raise money for the church to buy the property they´re currently using from the mission. So to my surprise, Beto won the cake and coke! Afterwards we invited some friends over, and after they went home full of sugar Beto took me out to a new restaurant in town that was, eh, pretty good, but after we got home I was sick so now I have a bad taste in my mouth for that place, so to speak.
but I think it´s from a parasite that´s been there for at least a week, but that´s for another post.

After dinner we rented a movie, ¨Due Date¨. I think I´m starting to really like that actor Zack something or other with the funky greek last name. Anyways, renting ¨new¨movies here is like our biggest form of entertainment. woo hoo!Here´s some pics from the big day. Hold on, this should only take about 2 hours..

Beto lighted the candles about 5 minutes before I actually blew them out b-c Santi disappeared into his room and we were waiting for him to get his drum. So yea, there was some hot wax on the cake, but I think it got picked off. I think...

the tradition here after singing the birthday song is to sing ¨And now we want cake! And now we want cake! Although it´s just a little piece, now we want cake. And Coka Cola too! And for the old folks, cafe!¨ And they all sang that first! So then I told them they can´t just come to my house demanding cake and coke and coffee...which we didn´t have b-c honestly, do any of us look like ¨old folks¨? ! So here they´re singing me a nice birthday song.

three ¨electricity´s out¨candles, then we added the number 2 candle from Santi´s party. Get it??? 3-2?

Santi had a bad cold

trying not to laugh at the ridiculous photo shoot. Beto took about 8 pictures on this chair from that same spot and I admit, I wanted them to come out ¨artsy¨.

a man and his sunday paper. although this was saturday´s paper, but he was reading it on a sunday.

My steak. eh, it was ok.

Beto´s shrimp. He really liked it.

Something about Nothing

2011-03-26T21:44:00.000-06:00

Tonight I´m just gunna sit down and write. I don´t have any pictures to put up. I´m not really sure who reads this. Sometimes people come up to me in the States and tell me that they really like my blog and I´m very surprised that I have that many readers.
Usually when I sit down to write a blog I have a lot of pictures that I just put captions to. Sometimes I want to write about something funny or interesting that happened during the day, but when I finally sit down at the computer I think, ¨Naw, nobody will think it´s funny like I think it´s funny. Nobody wants to hear about THAT. Forget it. ¨But usually what happens is that I just forget. I know something happened, but after a long day and Santi is finally asleep, I just want to veg in front of Facebook or in front of a movie that I´ve already seen a hundred times, so I don´t write.

But recently I came across some writings that I really really like by someone I have a lot in common with, and she just writes about LIFE...everyday stuff...her problems, bad habits, hang ups, joys, errands, frustrations,etc.

And it´s super interesting and entertaining. I sat at the computer for probably like at least four hours today reading through her posts from the past 4 years. Not that I´m a slow reader but our internet here is sooooooo sloooooooow... I keep a doodle pad next to me now just so I have something to occupy myself while I´m waitin the five minutes for the internet to open, and then another five minutes while the google page opens, and then another five while the site I wanted opens, and then another 10 minutes for Facebook b-c for some reason that page takes the longest. and a lot of times I get up and go to the bathroom, or change Santi´s diaper, or do laundry, or sweep, or wash dishes, or make some food, and then I get distracted and forget that I left Facebook open on my computer, which is why a lot of times I don´t see that a friend wanted to chat with me until 4 hours later and I am sad b-c they are already off line. Probably because they did everything they had to do online in like 5 minutes!

But anyways, so something funny happened today, with Santi of course, but now I can´t remember. It´s late. I think I´ll go watch ¨Mean Girls¨.

I guess I can get out a blog about something about nothing.

Vigil and funeral for Maria, Miguel and Jorge´s mom

2011-03-23T21:30:00.000-06:00

Granddaughter of Maria, daughter of Nora, Miguels and Jorge´s sister

Fatima, Maria´s youngest, who always wears a hat now since they shaved her head because of lice.

The younger of Lilian´s daughters, Yolani

The older of Lilian´s daughters, Belinda

On the front patio. The four walls are the same size as that front one. It´s a one room home.

The kitchen. Lilian is there in the pink shirt. She is the oldest of Maria´s daughters at about 24 years old. Maria was in her early 40´s when she died.

Inside the kitchen. There´s no running water. Lilian has been borrowing water from a neighbor to clean dishes and clothes.

Inside the house where they had the vigil. It is constumary here to hold an all day vigil, then make the procession to a church, and then to the cementary.

Looking out from the front door. Nora, 15,is posing. The kitchen is to the right.

Lilian, Yolani, and a friend

Nora and her 9 mo. old. They moved about 2 hours away with Nora´s husband about 4 months ago where she has a job.

Santi loves cats, and her he is with Fidel and his cat. Fidel is Miguel´s neighbor and friend.

This house was owned by the mother who passed away. She didn´t leave a will but Lilian will for now be responsable for her three younger brothers and sister and they will all be living in this house along with Lilian´s two girls and husband. As you can see, it is very small for 8 people, and there isn´t any running water.
Beto and I right now feel moved to first of all, put running water in their home which will cost around $300. After that, we´d like to build them an outhouse which will cost about $200. From there, a little more spacious and more higienic kitchen, which also would cost about $200. And finally, add on a small wooden room, put in a ceramic floor, and cover their adobe bricks with cement and paint.

If you feel moved to help us out in this endeavor, please send checks made out to Long Beach Church of Christ with ¨Melgar-Perez Families¨on the memo line, and send it to the Long Beach church of Christ at...

3707 Atlantic ave
Long beach,CA 90807

The funeral was this afternoon at a cementary near our home. I´ve never been to a Honduran funeral before and let me just say it was very different from any funeral I´ve ever experienced. First of all, because most people don´t have cars, they walk behind the truck who´s bed holds the coffin from the church to the cementary. The vigil earlier in the day is very quiet, reserved, where people come to pay their respects and pray. At the cementary no one said any words of rememberance. There was a lot of loud wailing and crying mostly by the young daughters, for about an hour. While that is going on, a small group of men are carrying buckets of cement from the place where they mix it on the ground about 10 feet from the plot to the plot. they first fill the plot with dirt and then cover that in cement to make a large square shaped ¨box¨above ground. And this has to be done fairly quickly, so one man is yelling to the others 10 feet away, ¨More buckets! 2 more buckets!¨ Beto led a prayer and then had to rush Lilian, to the hospital for uncontrollable crying and fainting. Jorge and his older brother, who arrived drunk to the funeral, went with him. She was able to calm down and is now resting at home. She hadn´t slept at all last night since her mother arrived at 3am this morning from the capitol city and she had to get the house ready.

To finish out, on the lighter side. When we arrived at the cementary Santi was looking for Miguel. He thought we were going to his home but I explained to him where we were and what it is and why. I´m glad I told him in English because throughout the time there Santi kept repeating, ¨Mama died. Jorge´s mama died. Miguel´s mama died. Miguel cry. Fatima cry. Jorge cry. Mama died. Mama died.¨ He´s just at that stage of repeating things a lot and he was just being matter of fact, but I was relieved that no one else could understand him.

Please be in prayer for this family. It is just so heartbreaking for me to see these young children crying over their mother and to know that their father left them many years ago. So young without any parents at all. I can´t imagine.
We still have yet to talk to Lilian about whether she is going to take legal guardianship of her younger siblings, or if they will go live with a relative or what. There is an orphanage here but we have to do a lot of praying and talking with the family. Please pray for the Lord to give us wisdom in all of this too.

Couples dinner

2011-03-23T20:04:00.000-06:00

The church was decorated beautifully. About 25 couples arrived for a great time of sharing. It was led by our former missionaries, Bob and Kathy, who are licenced marriage-family therapists. They talked about the four obstacles to good communication and how to overcome them. The dinner and dessert were awesome as well!

Santi´s birthday weekend...and beyond!

2011-03-15T17:45:00.000-06:00

¨Surprise!¨His first gift given by one of my student´s families. It´s a ¨cat¨tractor with a ¨drill¨.

Saturday night we attended a wedding reception. Here is Santi with one of his favorite people, the sister of the groom.

The groom with my boys.

Bride and Groom

¨aaa...I love parties!¨

Mmm...good chicken!

first view on his 2nd birthday!

He had just woken up, but he´s excited!

More rehab center graduates Sunday morning

Santi´s invites hangin out.

On the back patio. thanks to Miguel and Jorge for all the cleaning! and to Beto too!

Santi´s teaching Rhonda how to bow and say ¨arigato!¨

Pooh got plundered

My ski hat was the best way to cover the eyes for the older kids.

One kid found this chick by our chicken coop but when he tried to put it in the coop the other chickens only wanted to peck it to death. We kept it one night but Monday morning Santi accidentally stepped on it and it is now buried in the back yard. RIP little chicky

Sunday morning Miguel told us that his birthday is the 14th, so we celebrated his too. I quickly added his name to an extra cake I´d made.

rhonda, Santi´s godmother. Besides me, she labored the hardest when Santi was born. She went 24 hours without sleeping and held my hand for 12 while I squeezed the life out of it every two minutes during my contractions. she will always be a special part of our lives and especially of Santi´s birthdays. She tried to get his attention here but obviously he can only think about the cake.

Santi still focused on the cake.

Everybody!

Ok, now everybody with JOrge

Santi with his ¨Uncle¨Daniel. He´s half Guatemalan too!

The ¨after party¨

Showing off his new underwear, socks, and drum.

Monday morning we walked over to our friend´s house in progress and prayed for them. What a beautiful day!

Making ¨thank'you¨notes

Beto having fun

Early Birthday Presents

2011-03-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kathy lived in La Esperanza for 21 years and just recently moved back to the States with her husband Bob. they are here for a visit and she came over to see us today. she has a 2 year old grandson and really enjoyed playing with Santi.

All nice and snuggly after a bath.

His new ¨moto¨! Got it today with Dada.

Tryin it out outside.

His new high tops

aw yea

Santi turns two on Sunday!

Another weekend

2011-03-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Jorge and Miguel spent the night on Friday. since I was sick Beto ran a lot of errands with them and Santi.

At Rhonda´s and TR´s. Great hosts! And great playmate for Santi, that TR!

Loves the Hummer

With our friend Tanya.

Santi and Dada chillin on the front porch.

Missionaries hard at work, including the very Christian lady, Susie.

Fascinated by the little fountain.

More Uniforms

2011-03-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

The boys are now all set with new uniform shirts that actually fit and complete PE uniforms. They seem more confident, happy, and as Beto said, like they´re gaining back a little bit of their childhood, just being able to go to school. Thanks again to those who have prayed and have given financially to make all this possible.

Sunday

2011-03-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

On the way to church

Our handsome chafeur

Great sermon. Alot of people responded to the alter call to give their lives fully to God and leave behind the ways of the world. Please pray for our church and true committments.

Santi having a lot of fun with his new friend Randy who is here for a few weeks with a group from the States. We went out to lunch after church on Sunday.

Saturday´s are the busiest days

2011-02-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

Cole has become a little spoiled while we nurse him back to health.

The boys helping to make pancakes this morning.

We had a good devotional with the boys, and Santi brought his own Bible.

Cole gets fed one morsel at a time.

And kisses...

Everyone helped wash the car. Well, everyone except me.

¨Re-ro-ro-nee!

¨Since there´s a group here Beto took Miguel and Jorge with him when he took some sisters from church to town to buy more food for the group. Santi and I stayed home and did laundry, ate pepperoni, and other household chores.

Haircuts for the boys

2011-02-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

When we visited the school today their teacher told us they needed haircuts. Since we have our own set, Beto did the cuts himself.

Jorge

PELONES! or BALDIES!

Miguel hated it. After this Jorge went with Beto as chofeurs for four hours to deliver handmade tamales with some sisters from church. they made at least one hundred of them to raise money for the ¨buying the property¨project. Our church property currently belongs to the mission but we´re in the process of buying it. a lot of Members at church ordered them last Sunday. Miguel and Santi had a really good time playing and watching movies together while waiting for them to get back.

Our dog Cole and School visit

2011-02-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Cole escaped and returned the other day with this big gash. We think it´s from a machete but we have no idea why. We´ve been putting a lot of hydrogen peroxide on it, and feeding him advil and amoxicilin. And keeping him tied up, which he hates.

Today we visited Fatima, Jorge, and Miguel at school, mainly to drop off Jorge and Miguel´s snacks. It was so neat to see Fatima in her new uniform. yesterday she got to go for a free eye exam at the Lion´s Club and her eyes are all good...or both good, to be proper.

Enjoying their bread and jam snack. They tried jam for the first time ever at our house just a few months ago and they love it! Something so simple makes them so happy.

Miguel got a little talking to by Beto for misbehaving. When his teacher disciplined him he ran out of class. They have never experienced proper disciplin at home, if any at all.

Valentine´s dinner

2011-02-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

¨Cheese!¨ At one of our favorite restaurants, the only ¨sit'down¨one with a play area. There were actually a lot of couples and families with kids having a Valentinés dinner last night. Notice the pretty flower arrangements on each table!

enjoying the three different meats on the hot plate

a little dark...sorry

santi looooves iced tea!

His new doggie slippers that look just like Cole!

Valentine´s and other loves

2011-02-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Santi took a nap until 6pm last night so here we are all awake at midnight, Santi the only one still going strong!

Santi adores his dada!

Keeping Cole company in his warm bed

Cole trying to be all GQ


Mr. Happy

Jorge, Miguel, and Fatima´s School Supplies!

2011-02-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Praying over women´s ministry coordinators.

Four of the women in the group

Fatima with her new school shoes and backpack. All of their supplies are in their bags with their names on every supply, down to every single colored pencil. As a former teacher I know how valuable it can be to have the student´s name taped to every little supply, in case it falls on the floor.

Jorge with his new bag and shoes.

Miguel with his new bag and shirt. He doesn´t need new shoes yet. We are so excited to finally see them in school. this has been a vision of ours for a few years. We ask that you pray with us for this family. Their mom and sister came with them to church this morning and we pray for consistency in that area. Praise God!

Friday...a new drum and a party

2011-02-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

While we were shopping for school supplies we found this and had been looking for one and couldn´t find one anywhere. Santi is very pleased.

Three of my english students. The middle one and the girl are new students. All are cousins. I promised them a party at the end of each month at which we watch a movie IN ENGLISH. I bring the movie and popcorn, they bring the coke, provide cups,plates,etc. Since Monday is Valentine´s Day, we combined a V'day party with the end of the month party...making up for not having a party in January...Each brought some V'day gifts for each other, including me! I love these kids!

Stefaney...very sweet

The youngest, Sury, trying to suck the wrapping off her lolipop.

¨Miss! Take a picture of me!¨ Johnatan....the funny one of the group.

Cristian, the oldest, wanted me to take a picture of him with all of his ¨loot¨he collected.

Of course, about 2 minutes after we started the movie, the electricity went out in town. Figures! So we played games and sang songs, IN ENGLISH, outside. then I made them clean up their mess. they didn´t like me so well after that.

School has Begun!

2011-02-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

Santi was excited to see Miguel, left, and Jorge. We were so sad to have missed their very first day of school. We were still in Tegucigalpa. We went yesterday to get their list of supplies and then went shopping for backpacks, supplies, and uniforms. It was a lot of fun! We plan on delivering it all later today.

We don´t know where their sister got these uniforms but we are so glad they are starting to take ownership of themselves. We couldn´t find any shirts in their size in stock so until next week...They are really happy to be studying even though they are both in a first grade classroom at 11 and 13 years of age. Please pray for them and their sister Fatima that they will persevere and not give up on school.

Money Money Money....

2011-02-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

Santi admiring his two lempiras

Dada helps him fold the bills. When we went to Teguc he was such a trooper during our loooong wait at the embassy that we decided to buy him a toy but we got him a piggy bank instead. It is a lot of fun to save!

Some daily life stuff

2011-02-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

Tania and Eric are two dear friends of ours. They are brother and sister. Tania is 20 and I think Eric is around 11. they watched our house over Christmas break, kept it nice and clean, fed the chickens, ate their eggs, etc. We have called on them a lot lately, sometimes even if we just go out for an hour or two, and sometimes at the last minute, to house sit since we´re a little more paranoid lately after the breakin. Many times in the past month they have ended up staying for dinner and then spending the night after watching a movie.

We also recently got a dog. then one day Eric came over with his dog and she didn´t want to leave after meeting our handsome gentleman of a dog, so now we have two. But our dog, Cole, keeps running away back to the alcohol rehab center where he came from, so now especially whenever Beto leaves to go somewhere in the car, we have to tie him up.

It is such a blessing to have Eric over to help with odd jobs with a cheerful heart, and watch movies with us. Santi especially loves that! Sorry for lack of pictures right now. I´ve been pretty bad about that lately.

To conclude I wanted to add something about the previous post. After pushing Amber´s car till she got it started, I then had to run down hill to catch up with it and jump into the passenger seat as the car was moving! that was a first!

a recap of Teguc ¨vacation¨

2011-02-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I already wrote in detail about the women´s retreat. But I wanted to write more about our time in ¨the big city¨. going to Tecucigalpa, the Honduran Capitol, is like going to the States. There´s all the restaurants and fast foods one can imagine, malls, cable, movie theaters, etc. plus traffic, smog, noise, angry drivers, etc.

Whenever we go to Teguc, we stay with my good friend and old roomate, Amber. She lives with one teenager whom whe´s raised, one 2 year old, and an intern, Courtney, who is awesome! We had a lot of fun watching US stations on cable, using wireless internet...congrats Amber, by the way...getting to know the city by getting lost a million times, but we thank God for our own car!!! and just spending time with Amber and her family. We got to visit her homeless ministry once and see her in action at home with some kids who are sponsored to go to a private bilingual school that do their homework at her house.

I enjoyed an álmost all girls night out¨ at a real movie theater!!! and an awesome super bowl party, LIVE! Finally Amber and I got to go out just us two and enjoy some traditional Dunkin coffee and donuts. Well, I did anyways, Amber enjoyed her ¨traditional¨ hashbrowns and iced blended, but, whatever.
Afterwards, Amber´s car wouldn´t start so I helped to push it BY MYSELF while the Hondurans honked at us to get out of the way! Thanks for not helping this gringa to push a massive beast of a 1986? Toyota Land Cruiser. THAT´S WHY MY ARMS HURT! No seriously, I have been sore all day and couldn´t remember what I did to make them hurt! Thank goodness for blogging.

I looked in two different Dunkins for take home one pound coffee bags. Finally, on our way home in another city I bought the last two bags. mmmm...waking up to that, there´s nothing better.

on the other hand, we don´t have any running water right now. ah, Honduras.

Santi of course had a lot to love about our week there. McDonald´s became a new normal word in his vocabulary, unfortunately, and that kid has such an amazing sense of direction. Don´t ask me where he gets it! We´d pass a Mcdonald´s and he´d call out...¨McDonald´s!...Slide! ...French Fries!...¨ Yes, we ate way more than our share of fast food. I started a new workout regime today that I like to call ¨Losing Christmas...and other holidays¨.

Monday we got up early and drove the hour to the embassy, which should´ve only taken half an hour, but you know, traffic! Then we waited in the embassy until past noon. Santi was so good though the whole time we went to the local Ämerican Store¨ called Mas X Menos, or ¨More for Less¨, and we were going to buy him a play drum, which they didn´t sell, so we bought him a piggy bank instead, and he loooooves putting coins in there! ¨more money!¨he came and said to me today. uh oh. Look, Santi, I´m glad you like to save, but MAMA CARRIES NO CASH!. He loved playing on any and all play areas in the fast food restaurants we went to, riding the escalators, elevators, and coin operated moving toys, like horses and motorcycles. I also got to buy him some new shoes, slippers,and a Winnie the Pooh video.

The embassy visit went well and they will call us back for an interview within two to four weeks. Please keep us in your prayers!

The Women's Retreat`

2011-02-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well We've been in Tegucigalpa now almost a week and it's been...HOT! We walk around without sweaters at night and people like one of our waitresses think we're cold, but not compared to La Esperanza!
We've had a great time. Today we went to the US Embassy to turn in all of Beto's papers for his US Residency. it took us about an hour to get there this morning instead of 30 minutes because of traffic but we made it on time, found a free place to park! And then waited about an hour. We went to the window and submitted our papers and then went to pay, where we had to wait almost another hour but we saw a gringo friend who was renewing his passport so we passed the time quickly by catching up. the hours for Citizen services is only about two hours int he morning which is when they decided to schedule a meeting. go figure! So we paid and then waited another hour for the paperwork to come back down from being reviewed in the Consular office. We will get a call within the month to go back and have an interview. First stage done!

this past Friday I Laura had the wonderful opportunity to go to a women's retreat. My ex roomate in Teguc Amber had gone to one in October that was hosted by a women's ministry in Ohio called Women of Purpose. I didn't get to go but Amber just raaaaaaaaaved about it so I had to go this time. The US women didn't come but some missionaries here in Teguc hosted it and it was awesome. The theme was basically "Seasons". Each missionary is either bone dry, on fire, or somewhere in between. We're in the desert or the harvest. All in all we all have the same struggles and basic experiences. I feel so alone sometimes in the mountains and feel like our struggles are exclusive to our lives, but they're not! It was so good to find unity. there were about 80 women and many of us were so surprised at how many missionary women there are just in Teguc alone and we all knew of many women who couldn't even come! God is doing amazing works here in Honduras!

We were encouraged by two teaching videos of Angela Thomas mainly teaching about how Jesus is the only One who can fill us, and all we have to do is place ourselves under His stream of living water and we will overflow, but we don't stay filled after one trip to the source! We must keep returning and returning because of the demands of everyday life: family, ministry, etc. We all have a need to have a "secret life": giving in secret, fasting in secret, and praying/communing with Jesus in secret. It's such a strong teaching from Jesus in Matthew 6, His sermon on the mount, that we can't ignore it: the spiritual disciplines. but how does a mother/missionary/wife/teacher, etc? have any time daily for a secret life with Jesus? Even if we have to go lay down in our closet for five minutes and the kids still find us, we gotta do it! We are much nicer people that our kids like to be around and even if they do interrupt us they are left with that mental image in their minds of their mother communing with Jesus.

I know I left feeling refreshed, renewed, rejuvenated, etc. and I praise God for the women who planned, and for the Holy Spirit for ministering to us through each other, through prayer, praise,and worship.

the last day of the retreat was spent at worship stations. One was a circle of pillows for prayer, another was a large bucket of water to "wash" ourselves of all the pressures, stress, expectations,etc. we have as missionaries, and another was a place to write a letter to God and come face to face, literally, with the Truth about who we are in Christ. There were two large mirrors leaning up against the wall next to each other. One was covered with written names of who we are in Jesus: Loved, Daughter, Chosen, Worthy, Graced, etc. and the other mirror was blank, but we filled it with the lies Satan tells about about who we are, and there was a definate theme throughout, showing us that we arent' the only ones struggling with the lies that Satan throws at us. Finally we finished with the leaders washing all of our feet, as Jesus did for His disciples, as a symbol of how we are loved by God.

What a powerful weekend and I hope that this blog at least gives a good glimpse of what happened. It's impossible to fully show what was experienced and felt and learnt.

Hanging out in Tegucigalpa

2011-02-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Playing with Peanut Butter Playdough made by Amber

Santi's new haircut. Finally!

picture catch up

2011-02-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Santi hangin out at an outdoor "mall".

Amber "dressing a wound" at the homeless ministry.

Santi and Rosy playing in the window sill.

Beto talking to some men who came for dinner.

Beto's Residency

2011-02-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

We're in Tegucigalpa! It's always good to get away, even though we've only been back in Honduras for two weeks. We are beginning to process of getting Beto his US residency so we had to come for the week to prepare and present all the paperwork, etc. at the embassy. We are staying with my old roomate Amber in her new house, well, that she's renting. It's really nice and we don't have to feel guilty about her giving us her room and bed! It has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms!

This morning we got up at 6 and were running errands until almost 3. But now that that's done we can relax. On Friday and Saturday I am going with Amber and her intern Courtney to a missionary women's retreat and Beto's going to watch Santi. I'm really excited. I was supposed to go to one in October with Amber but didn't have time and Amber raaaaaved about it!!! So I can't wait! last night we finally went for the first time (beto's second) with Amber downtown to see her ministry building and her Breaking Chains homeless ministry in action. it is amazing! I totally admire Amber and all that she does here in the capitol of Honduras.

We have to go back to the EMbassy on monday morning to present all our paperwork. Please pray that all will go smoothly and we will have all the paperwork we need and that it will be correct, exactly as the embassy wants it. they can be very picky and sometimes the info on their website isn't helpful enough. If all goes as planned he could have his residency within two months.

last Saturday we were home all day. Beto had gone out early in the morning and came back midmorning and left the car parked out front instead of inside the gate since we were planning on going out again. At some point, we don't know who slashed our tires about 5 times with a knife or machete. We think it was just a prank by some of our neighbor kids but we really didn't see anything. Please pray for us to have wisdom and for our safety, and that we will be careful but not fearful. thanks so much~!

January 2011

2011-01-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here we are with öur¨kids at the local fast food place. we took them after church last sunday and they got to play on the play equipment. we have had a very busy two weeks back here in honduras. We´re back in the regular routine of Beto working at the alcohol rehab center and the church gardens and me tutoring in the afternoons. We´ve enjoyed seeing all our friends here.
Last Saturday while we were home someone slashed on of our car tires while it was parked out front. We are not moving houses yet, especially since we´ll be going to the capitol for the week to work on some business stuff. I am very excited to get to go to a missionary women´s retreat there this weekend with my dear old friend Amber. This past weekend we went swimming at some mineral springs about an hour or two out of town. It was a lot of fun but it took me three days to recoup from having been in the sun all day and holding santi in the pool all that time too.

We´re back!

2011-01-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Pastor Aaron and Pastor Raul on either side of two recent graduates of the Alcoholic Rehab center recieving their ¨diplomas¨.
Having a nice Chinese Dinner our first night back with two friends who watched our house, cleaned it, and took care of our chickens and yard while we were gone. They don´t look happy but they are very fun people!

Santi conked out on the hotel bed the night we arrived in Tegucigalpa. We took the red eye and even though he slept the whole trip, thank God, the time change and lack of a bed on the plane made us all tired!

Spent time with some great friends!

We had dinner with our friends the Crons before we left too. We had such a great time catching up with such great friends!

Santi playing with ¨Auntie Rona¨at her house. We had dinner with her and her husband Sherwood also before we left.

Relaxing watching TV before dinner.

We got to visit Uncle Seth at his work and get some Starbucks goodies. We went with Aunt Laura of course!
Overall we had such a fun, relaxing time in theStates but are glad to be back in Honduras as well. We have enjoyed getting reconnected with our church and old friends.
We just got a new dog given to us but he keeps running away. But since he always returns to his old home Beto knows where to go and brings him back. We´re hoping that this morning will be the last time Beto has to do that. We named him Coal. I have pictures but will have to upload them another day.
Blessings to you all!

Joshua Tree and Palm Springs

2011-01-10T00:36:00.000-07:00

For some reason Beto told my mom he'd never been to a desert, so we HAD to take him! Of course, we warned him, it wouldn't look like pictures he'd seen of the Sahara! But beautiful nonetheless. We had a really great time. I loooove the desert sky! It was so cool to be in the desert yet so close to mountains with snow. I guess that's why some pay the big bucks to live in SoCal. These are just a few of the close to 500 pics Beto took. The picture of the palm tree oasis is where the earth split from an earthquake, allowing water to run through it and causing palm trees to grow in the middle of nowhere in the desert! We also got to see my dad's sister, JoAnn, who "winters" in Palm Springs. I'd not seen her since 1985! It was a short dinner but really great to see her! And the very first picture up top is of some very awesome musicians we heard at the street fair that we visited for a couple of hours after dinner. The music was so good Santi stood in that same spot mesmerized for a good ten minutes. There were some interesting people there!

Park and Beach

2011-01-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Last week we played at a park new to us with some friends that know it really well. The slides and play equipment is all covered very creatively in Historicaly Boston replicas. Of course we had to feed the ducks and the boys had to climb stuff. It was really fun!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-08T02:24:00.000-07:00

It's our tradition to open one present each on Christmas Eve. Here's Beto either very excited or terribly alarmed about what it might be.

In the morning we participated in a "fun-run" with friends, and partied with the accordion afterwards!

And there's Santi eating his favorite new food...french fries.

Family Christmas Party

2011-01-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

every year we have our family christmas party the saturday before Christmas. Enjoy

Mission Inn Riverside

2011-01-08T02:11:00.000-07:00

This is a great thing that I had never done: see the lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Around town there was also an outdoor skating rink, decorations, real reindeer, a "fair" like outdoor, well, fair, and of course, Santa.

Dec.2010

2011-01-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

Walking on the pier to take family pictures.

These were taken at home the day before.

A great time with old friends that I first went to Honduras with about 9 years ago. Here's just one of many of us laughing at a video we made that we thought was so good when we made it!

Beto celebrating his birthday at my aunt and uncle's house.

Big Bear

2011-01-08T01:49:00.001-07:00

The first week we were here we went to Big Bear for a day for Beto's Birthday Dec. 7. Here are some pictures

Happy New Year

2011-01-08T01:34:00.001-07:00

I see I've not posted since November! I have a lot of catching up to do. First of all, our house was broken in to on November 30 and our Thanksgiving dinner pictures were on our computer that had all the pictures on it. But on Nov. 27th I think it was we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for our gringo missionary friends and one designated Honduran friend who's spent some time in the states. It was a great time with a LOT of food. Since Turkeys cost around $5 a pound in Honduras we opted for chicken, but otherwise we had most of the usual "fixins".

On November 30 we were very excited because it was only two days before we were going to leave to go to Tegucigalpa to stay a couple of nights before our plane left for CA. I was tutoring in the afternoon and usually Beto's home with Santi but this day he was running errands, tying up loose ends before our vacation. We were gone for about three hours, only a half hour of that time was dark. I walk in the house, look to the right and see the computer's not there. My stomach sunk. I ask Beto"Did you take the computer somewhere?" , thinking "Oh please let him say "yes"." and he said no and asked me the same thing. Then I felt sick to the stomach. He walked into the bedroom and it was a mess. The robbers had thrown everything everywhere and it was very scary. We realized that they tried the two doors but eventually took the bars off of the kitchen window outside. We think they may have been in the house when we drove up because there were some valuable things out in plane sight that they didn't take and some rooms that were untouched. We were told by friends that after seeing what we had that they didn't take they might be back for that stuff, so even though we'd already asked a friend to watch our house at night we had to hire another friend to be there during the day everyday. We are thankful that in the end not too much was taken, or rather, we didn't have much to take. Our computer, camera(didn't work anymore), hair dryer, iron, haircutter machine, santi's new outfit, and my dad's rings that my mom gave to Beto were taken. So far since our visit in the States most of it has been replaced, including the laptop by a very generous friend!

We praise God for our time in the States which has been a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Tuesday

2010-11-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

"Won't someone please read to me?"

Enjoying his morning paper.

Beto and I talked for a long time with Lilian today, Jorge, Miguel, and Fatima's older sister with whom they live. she came to the school with us to enroll the three for next school year which starts in Feb. We are very blessed to have friends who work at the school. We don't have to pay anything to enroll, which I think is true for everyone, but we don't have to pay for their English classes or another class that I can't remember right now.

Enrolling them didn't take long. The office just took down their ID numbers and names. After wards we took Lilian out to breakfast here. It was a very good time. Please pray for this family that is experiencing more difficulties lately.

Church landscaping by Beto Monterroso

2010-11-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a LOT of pictures of the church grounds that Beto's been working on for a few months. with some men from the rehab center. It's taken a lot of work but it looks really beautiful!

Dinner and Games with Discipleship Group

2010-11-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Santi finally gets to touch the drums!

Bible study first...

Santi was a little alarmed at ...

...what the boys were doing.

Eating potluck style...these girls loooooove Santi!

sunday

2010-11-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Beto preached a wonderful sermon and afterwards we went with most of the youth to a brother's house that is very pretty and set on a lot of land overlooking the valley. We had a lot of fun playing and relaxing. there was even the largest tee-ter-totter i've ever seen!

His first hammock ride.

He loves motos so much he had to pet this one.

Three great brothers and friends.

I forgot to take pictures of Beto preaching but I got one of him praying the closing prayer.

One graduate recieving his diploma for finishing his time in rehab. His family arrived to support him, the first time I've seen that.

Another exciting parent meeting!

2010-11-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

Schooooool is out for the sum...winter! That's right, the school year is OVER here in Honduras and you can feel the excitement of te kids wherever you go. Many I've seen walking in town have their t-shirts covered with their friends' "autographs" written with markers.

"Our" kids, Jorge, Miguel, and Fatima are also finished until February. they did well and Jorge and Miguel will enter their age level in Feb. Fatima will stay in special ed. We attended a parent meeting today that was really good. We recieved the three kids' report cards and were told that they can go on Saturday's from 10-12pm until Dec.11. On that day(I think) they will have a grand christmas party sponsored mostly by another Christian brother/USA missionary who works closely with this project of special/deaf children. We are really bummed we won't be able to attend but told the teachers we'd like to help with "supplies" (aka candy for the pinata). The two ladies are mom/daughter who go to our church and direct/administrate this project, as well as teach daily. And they are some of our closest and funnest friends here in La Esperanza. During the meeting they appointed different parents to the "board" of the Parents of Special Ed children and Beto was named President, quickly and unanimously!!! I am so proud! For lunch we went for chinese food with Darlene(daughter on right), her two brothers, and another teacher. mmm...Afterwards we were hanging out and santi sat down on this green bench, patted the place next to him with his hand, and told me "Mum!"(come). And he likes to hold my hand.

Practicing his surfing moves for LB.

Tired of taking pictures.

A field trip with dinosaurs

2010-11-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

This picture was sent to me via email which is why it's so small. Recently a friend of a good friend of ours came to visit from Spain. she had worked in Honduras many many years ago when she met our friend. She recently returned a couple of months ago to pick up her adopted daughter and meet her for the first time! They came over with our friend one night and she cooked dinner for us! We instantly liked her and the next day offered to show her around town. we went and saw a couple of new housing developments of the rich where one property even had their own private dinosaur! We thought we could get a little closer but it was on private property. We had a great day seeing the laguna and after they dropped me off for tutoring they saw the dam and went souvenir shopping. We hope to get more pictures later from our new friend. Our camara was broken and we hadn't borrowed one yet.

Tuesday's Prayer Service

2010-11-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday night our church has a time of prayer, worship, and a short teaching. MOstly it's the youth that come, which is very encouraging. Last night Beto was asked to lead it. Santi is always excited to go and play and see his friends.

Art

2010-11-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

The bulletin board of announcements a few women and I made last month. Pretty soon we'll be changing it for the next three months announcements with a Christmas theme.

Our newly decorated kitchen. We were in dire need of wall decorations so Beto framed two of Santi's very first creations and one of Beto's own drawings of Santi. It feels much more homy now.

church pics

2010-11-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Santi and I waiting for church to start.

This is what we see on our way from home to church, which, now that the road is fixed and rainy season is done, takes about 1 minute. Notice the constant close proximity of wealth and poverty (and I'm not just talking about that new toyota passing compared with our car!)

some pictures

2010-11-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our camara recently died for good, so we borrowed a friend's camara. the first is Santi with one of his best buds from church. He and his friends always take good care of him for us.

santi reading on the way to church

this morning before getting ready for church. notice the major bed head that cannot be tamed!

yesterday celebrating his 20 month birthday at the local bakery. We shared a chocolate muffin, can you tell?

Exciting adventures in TEgu

2010-10-30T07:34:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we visited Tegucigalpa for the first time in the 4 months since we've been back. I wasn't all that excited like I usually am to go because I had to come to pay a fine for overstaying my VISA. My friend had to go to immigration also to pay for an extension, which is a LOT cheaper than paying the fine. We wanted to get an early start so we could get in and out of immigration early and then go to a women's retreat with Amber.
We wok up at 3 when Beto realized he hadn't put gas...er diesel, in the car. He went to the station and it was closed. A worker at the bus station said it didn't open until 6, so we went back to sleep(not me) and left at 5:45. We went to pick up Crystal when I realized I forgot some important paperwork. So we went back to the house. We went to get gas and they told us they'd opened at 4:30! oh well, now we know. So we finally started out around 6:30. Instead of 2 hours it took 5 becuase of road work. We were afraid maybe the immigration office would close at 12 because it was Friday and this is Honduras. We were just praying hard that we could get everything done we needed to get donw. Especially that Crystal wouldn't have to pay a fine for being overdue just becuase we were late.
We didn't even know where the immigration office was or how to get there but Beto had the great idea of dropping us off to get a taxi and he took us quickly. We finally made it and there wasn't even a line!
But then the computer system shut down.
And they told me I had to present my old passport that I used to come into Central America and if I couldn't present it within five days I'd have to leave the country...and pay the fine.
So I called my lawyer who has my old passport because she's working on my residency. She came within the hour with all my paperwork and I was able to also pay for a two month extension until December so that I won't have to come back to pay another overdue fine. It turned out to be way more expensive than expected but still cheaper than leaving the country and coming back again to get my passport stamped, and I can rest easy until we go home in December.
AFter being in Immigration for alsmot 3 hours we toook a taxi to meet Beto and Santi. They had hung out in Pollo Campero the whole time and Santi had a great time in the play area. We went to McDonald's to eat and relax. All this time we'd been trying to call Amber and her son Darwin to see about meeting up with her for the retreat and couldn't get a hold of either of them. So we changed plans and went to see if Darwin was at home. He wasn't but we were pretty sure he'd be home soon. So we hung out at the mall, did some shopping. By this time we were all just ready to crash!
I finally got a hold of Amber using Crystal's phone. She said Darwin's phone had been stolen and gave me his new number. We met him at home and all fell asleep at 8!
Today we go back and i'm excited to get back home to the relaxing and cool environment of La Esperanza!

Invonvenienced

2010-10-26T12:44:00.000-06:00

Life has a way of making you do your chores when you've been procrastinating. this morning the toilet overflowed while i was in the shower. the shower is loud because we have a widow maker. i couldn't hear the toilet and even if i could've I wouldn't have known that the water was coming out of it.
we're not supposed to put toilet paper in our toilets here. i admit, i've put a little bit in here and there, but not today! i promise!
Beto and Santi were outside. When i stepped out of the shower the first thought was that the shower is a little clogged but it didn't overflow out onto the floor! Then I realized! o noooooooooooooooooooo!!! ah, my pijamas and slippers on the floor: soaked. The rug in the hall: soaked. The diaper bag in our room: surprisingly not soaked but wet. The rug in Santi's room: partly soaked. So it overflowed into two rooms and the hall, well three rooms if you count the bathroom, which you have to do.
I was standing in about 2 inches of water when i called loudly for beto. well that scared santi so he started to cry. since it's dry season there was already a lot of dust int he house so now with the puddle int he house, we had mud!
So we spent most of the morning getting all our towels sopping wet and mopping a million times half the house. Beto brought in our "vacuum cleaner" which helped a little. Since the water was dirty and stinky, i couldn't just use the mop to do a final mopping with bleach and cleaner. i had to clean out the mop, ring it out, over and over until the MOP was clean, and it's one of the long stringy mops that make me wonder if all my mopping is all in vain.
Finally i felt like i got most of the dirty water out and could do a final fun through with cleaner. AFter that, I did one large load with LOTS of soap on heavy duty cycle with all the towels adn rugs. Then I had to hang out Santi's large bedroom rug and spray it down with the hose. now it's drying in the sun.
By this time it was almost 11 and i was wondering what i would've done with the whole morning anyways!
I started lunch and realized I probably would've just procrastinated against mopping by wasting even more time on the computer.