Daily life

The large living room at our house--the girls watch a bit of a movie. Those chairs were all we had to sit on (except our beds). 

It's 96 degress outside. Which I think might be cooler than what some of you had recently, but we don't escape it(93 in the house). And we are used to sweating. The heat isn't high on my list of hardships. Guess what thing I miss the most? A couch.

The house they rented for us is brand new. They found us a stove, a small fridge, a table, wooden chairs and beds. But that's all the furnishings. And the house is good sized. Three bedrooms, all larger than any in my home and a large great room type of thing that is the kitchen, eating area and sitting area except there is nothing to sit on...the girls play soccer there! There are no closets in the bedrooms and no mirrors in the bathrooms ( we bought a little 8x10 mirror to share, but most days I have no idea what I look like unless I catch a glimpse of myself in the car window). We keep all of our clothes neatly folded in our suitcases (just kidding they start off neatly folded but don't last). The windows in this house are big and they don't have curtains so we hang sheets and towels over the windows so the cowboys tending the cows can't see us! The flooring everywhere is tile (I've never seen carpet here).

It gets dark earlier near the equator and light earlier. Our hours are more like 9 pm- 5 am. Some evenings we get go to the bed earlier because we can't stand sitting on these hard wooden chairs any longer and honestly, there are too many bugs on the floor to want to sit there for long.

Tia Maria washes the clothes and then hangs them on the line. Sometimes the humidity
 is so high it takes more than 24 hours for them to dry. 

Our tia washes our clothes by hand. Our whites are shining, but most clothes are stiff from soap residue and my favorite shirt got ruined by bleach (probably shouldn’t have brought it but last year I did my own laundty in a washing machine and never even saw bleach). We take our garbage to the dump where we literally dump it on a site with lush tropical mountains surrounding it and vultures on every hill top of rubbish. Families will walk to the dump to scavenge for food or other treasures.

I am hands down the favorite in our family among the bugs of Honduras though recently they have taken a liking to Hadley's behind (no joke, right through the shorts and the undies). And poor Hadley-- she so rarely gets bug bites (like Chris and Tom)-she is very unhappy. Kassy's hives and big reactions to bug bites have disappeared. I am the only one still wearing layers of insect repellent. When the bugs do bite, I never see them. The mosquitoes here aren't like Minnesota where the joke goes, "The state bird of Minnesota is the mosquito." But their bites are painful-they itch for two weeks and take a long time to heal. I wonder if some of them will leave a scar. I am told the bugs are a reason many Hondurans walk around in jeans. I get their thinking but it is still unfathomable to this northerner.

This trip is totally different from last year. We exist mostly on our own. We buy our own groceries and drive in a Durango they lent us. I see the kids every day and the Spanish teachers at the school, but can go a week without seeing Del or Jeannie (at least while this team of high schoolers is here). We communicate with our Tia in broken English and Spanish. There is not always much for us to do.

I’ve been puzzled and amazed by my lack of ability to let go of expectations and to instead, allow the missing creature comforts to bother me. Seems like a Christian should be able to live to glorify Christ and not waiver with circumstances. I am reading a book by DL Moody (yes there is time to read here too) called the Overcoming Life. He reminded me that we are in a battle and that faith will overcome the world, but it won’t happen suddenly. While on earth, we are not made completely new in an instant.

Honduran enchilada: tostada shell, meat, cabbage, cheese, egg, and sauce. 

Our life here is simple. A week ago I was ready to go home. Now I am relishing this time, with it’s slow pace and opportunity to love on more kids everyday. With a tia who cooks and cleans and only 3/4 day of responsibility, my thought life is cleansed. It isn't bogged down with lists of things to do, buy, or solve. For all needs we wait for the Lord because we can't go buy our way out of it. Every rain cloud or drop in temperature is a gift from above. There is time to pray, read my Bible, and play a game with my kids, or stare at the cows during the sunrise. This isn't a typical vacation, but it is a vacation.

Kassy has a crazy look in this picture! She is holding baby Stephanie,
the youngest child at Casa Cielo. She is between 3-4 months old. 

Henry is 3; he is Ethelyn's twin. He is a quiet troublemaker, but very sweet too.