More random thoughts on life by the rainforest..

Written Saturday night:

Sweat was pouring off my scalp this afternoon as I held a sobbing Hadley.

She woke up two nights ago and waddled into our room, waking from a bad dream. She gets a few of these a year, so I wasn't surprised. I waddled with her back to her bed and snuggled until she fell asleep again. While we waiting for sleep to return she told me it was the worst dream ever....she had to leave Copper. "At least," she whimpered, "I'll always have Copper, he'll just be at the orphanage." Gulp. I tried not to cry and not to respond, we hadn't told her yet that Papa wasn't keeping Copper. And at 3 am I didn't want to tell her. After all, her bad dream wasn't so much a dream as the guaranteed future.

Tom told Hadley this afternoon, hence the sobbing child and sweating mother. Poor girl loves that puppy and insists we can't leave Honduras.

Making spiders. 

I am so American. It's embarrassing. I consume mass quantities of goods and am snobby about my food.

I raised my girls with easy access to paper of all kinds, scissors, glue, crayons , markers, feathers, clay, etc. They've always created. The school here has shelves filled with donated craft supplies. While Pam and I were planning lessons for the week this morning, the girls went into the other classroom to play. They found art supplies and started creating. They didn't know any better, they used about 10 sheets of paper, a pile of cotton balls and glue.

Pam copies a worksheet. 

While planning my lessons lately I've been thinking about how I teach like an American. I use a lot of paper, include creative art projects and want everything to be fun. It's been hard for me to plan here because while I have paper, there is no printer, no copy machine. Every worksheet or activity we have made we hand traced....one for all 18 kids. We easily have used three times the amount of paper that the afternoon Spanish teachers use. But I don't know how to change. My brain can't (at least not yet) think differently about what I want to happen in a classroom. I hate the copying and repeating typical of the Spanish classes. Yet I am consuming their paper resources that aren't easily replaced.

So when the girls showed up with paper and craft projects I wasn't very happy. Ok, I over reacted. They didn't know any better. Jeannie told me to relax and trust God to replace the supplies.

The kids eat their lunches, supervised by some of the teenage volunteers. These kids eat everything on their plate. They don't whine to  be fed and their snacks are minimal---maybe 2 apple slices or a quarter of a banana. 

We eat extravagantly too. We buy our own groceries here. I am shocked and dismayed at how most of the food staples we want are priced similarly or higher as Meijer. Fruit is cheaper. Most Hondurans don't eat meat. They eat beans, rice, tortillas and fruit. But us, we get tired of rice, beans and tortillas. We have meat most meals. We get really excited about chips. We love milk (almost $4 a galloon..just like gas for a car here). Yet the average Honduran worker earns at $10-$15 a day. I get embarrassed at our extravagant tastes and how we prefer peanut butter and jelly (a small jar of PB is almost $5) to left over beans and rice. I'm not doing anything about the embarrassment since I am leaving in a week and my family still wants their PB & Js.

After living here for a month, I think when I get home I will have an urge to get rid of about half of our stuff. It's so freeing to have few belongings.


Written Monday afternoon:

Chelsea, the newest family member. 

Saturday evening we took the 4 oldest girls ( all 5-years-old) to our house for a sleepover. I felt so proud of myself setting six girls fed, showered, and to bed. I only had to get up once in the night to fill Hadley’s water bottle. The morning was long as it started at 6 am and church wsn’t until 10. The girls are charming. And so small. My girls tower over them. Some of these girls wear a 3T! My pride diminished as I thought of dressing or showering 20 kids. And Mama and Papa never get a full night’s sleep as there is always a baby in their room. Child number 20, a 4- month- old girl named Chelsea, arrived Friday (that means there is a 3 month old and a 4 month old in their room). Part of me thinks they are crazy taking in more but these people know how to lay down their lives.

As Papa says, they are vehicularly challenged here. Money for a new vehicle is desperately needed, at this point most anything will do, but little Jose, who is five is believing God will give him a bus. He talks about it all the time.

Pam and Chris leave Thursday morning and with them—the computer. We fly out Tuesday morning, August 3rd. Not sure if I will post again.

Thanks for your prayers.

For my family, yes my sugar numbers are fine. I actually had to lower my insulin units a bit. Kassy is having no problem eating gluten free. Our tia is a great cook who can make all things with corn flour (it's the main ingredient of most tortillas here).

For Jackie: Don't worry I took a picture of the house. I think you will be surprised at how big our house is. I never wrote about our great wrap around porch and the best seat in the house: the hammock. We bought one...but with six people, I rarely get to sit in it. I will post pictures sometime when I have faster internet.

Javier is five. He's all boy, loves to please, to ask questions and
to make noise. 

Karen is four. She's cuddly, observant, and has a huge smile.
Somehow she is always on somebody's lap. 

Breysi is 5. She is observant, quiet and independent.