I'm a Honduran!

This has been one great (and rainy) week!  The team got here Monday and we headed out to SBV for a quick tour before the tormenta started! Almost every day this week we have been caught in a huge rain storm and soaked the bones! But every minute has been fun-- except for the forty-five minute ride home in our soaking clothes!

We had a great work day Tuesday! The team dug four more holes around the new play area and built a ton more rebar!

Wednesday we went to the weekly devotional in Flor del Campo at the school.  We sat among the kids this week.  This was one of the best devotionals I have been to at the school.  Looking out over the barrio and filling the air with our joyful praises is just so beautiful.  We sang and sang and sang! One of my favorite parts of the whole day was singing with the children and teachers at the school!

I had a new friend to comfort during devotional

 "Recibe toda la gloria! Recibe toda la honra! Precioso Hijo de Dios!" Just imagine singing that over and over with almost 175 other people over the city. I truly felt the Holy Spirit there blessing all of us, especially the children of such an impoverished area.  These students and professors come from some horrible circumstances but have such a light inside them when they are at that school.  I know that they will carry that out into their homes and share it with others!

Thursday and Friday we have been back out at Casa Hogar.  Yesterday we filled all the holes around the play area with rebar and cement! The project is really coming along! It is so great to see so much progress in such a small amount of time! The big project for this team has been shoes for everyone! So we handed out shoes to the kids on Thursday and to the staff on Friday! Everyone was SO excited for new shoes!

Daniel giving thanks for the shoes

Moises with his super cool new shoes

Raul showing off his new shoes

Of course, Thursday was July 4th! It is my favorite holiday and I am a little sad I couldn't be home to celebrate. Mom and I didn't do the Peachtree Road Race as planned. Although there was some discussion of me running from the bottom of the hill all the way to the boys' cabin- which would have been ten times worse than running up "cardiac hill" in the Peachtree!  We did get a little taste of celebration with a beautiful American flag cake! It made being out of the country a little easier.

Feliz Dis de la Independencia!

Today we finished up work and of course went right to the cancha for some futbol.  After watching for a while and cheering everyone on, I joined the game! We were playing Hondurans versus North Americans and the kids insisted that I be on the Honduran team! (This is a BIG deal!) I was so happy to be considered a catracha! And then I even scored a goal! (With the help of Tony during penalty kicks! But a goal is a goal!)  The best part of my day was being named a Honduran!

Futbol!

Tomorrow we are going to El Picacho which is a big Jesus statue, similar to the one in Rio. That is always a great way to spend time reflecting and admiring the view!

♥

Here I Am...

  Well, I have been going going going for the past few weeks but it has been amazing!

   Last Thursday I was supposed to leave but I did not make it on the flight (hazards of being on stand-by). And today, Amanda took me back to the airport today and yet again I did not get on the flight.  Yesterday, we all said if I don't make it on the flight today then God wants me to stay longer.

So here I am!

It has been so emotionally draining: the ups and downs of saying goodbyes and coming back! But it is so beautiful and heartwarming to see the smiles of so many people when I return.  Those smiles assure me that I am doing something right here! The theme of my past few weeks has been of my personal searching.  I am still trying to figure out what I am doing and what I am going to do.  But what I know now is that I am here and I want to be here and that I should be here.

What has been hard is knowing that I am missing things at home.  And more importantly missing people.  Tomorrow, my family is going to the Braves game in a belated celebration of father's day.  On July 4th, I was supposed to run the Peachtree Road Race with my mom and go to a party with our family friends.  I am sad to be missing these things and the time that I would have spent with my loved ones. But God has me here. And I am oh so happy to be here!

Here in Honduras with my beautiful family that I have grown so close to! This country and this ministry have so much to offer and I am just so thankful for this opportunity and this life!  On this trip I have learned so much about myself and more importantly, about God.

Thank y'all so much for all of the support!

Here are just a few pictures of my sweet friends and family here!

Selfies with Nohelia!

My sweet Marvin!

Alexander!

Dulce!

Julio and Sergio: my boys!

Cute little Noe!

Crazy Week!

 This has been a very crazy, exciting, and fun week! And busy!

    On Sunday, we headed out to Casa Hogar for church and the baptism! It is always such a joy to sit in church with all of the kids. You always have someone to share the prayer book with and hug at the peace! The baptism was beautiful and I am so happy Maya was blessed with her adoptive parents to love and care for her for the rest of her life!

Maya's Baptism

It was Yonibel's Birthday

Sending prayers forward

     Monday I took the construction team out to SBV while the rest of the team went to the medical brigade. We got started on our painting and sanding project for the week. Some of the boys started working on a ramp on the side walk for Aaron Joshue!  Duke even started on haircuts for the some of the boys! They all wanted the "espanol" which is the hair cut all the famous soccer players have.

Our Painting Project

Moises was a little nervous

The finished product

Duke at work

After new Backyard Bible Study

   Tuesday I went with the medical brigade to Pastor Silvia's church.  We saw lots of patients and took lots of pictures of all the families and even printed some for them!  Tuesday was also Lucy's birthday so we of course had a little party for her! Complete with pinata!

Suzy and Noe together again!

She was 28 days old!

Harriet was tired

Our beautiful patients waiting to be seen

View from the clinic

Happy Birthday Lucy!

  On Wednesday, I took the construction team to Flor del Campo to the God's Littlest Lambs School where we heard from Suzy about the area and the Gabriel and Henry explained and shared stories about the Micro-Finance program.

Suzy and Gabriel

Marvin carried Joshue all the way up the hill ♥

   Thursday was our last work day.  At the construction site we finished up the painting project and did a couple more concrete projects filling in places in the road.  All of the kids prepared a program for us in the afternoon.  The oldest girls did a dance for us.  The little boys also did a cute little acrobatic dance for us.  The younger girls also did a drama for us about Jesus raising a little girl from the dead and teaching about faith.  Sala Cuna sang us a song while wearing the cutest and sweetest costumes! Then Daniel gave a speech for the older boys thanking the team and closed it out with a prayer for us.  Mary Crawford spent Thursday getting this year's interns from the airport and preparing for their six week stay so we got to meet them in the afternoon as well!

Older girls' dance

Yarerli's costume for the little girls' drama

 After our goodbyes at Casa Hogar, we raced back to Casa Lamb to get ready to go out to dinner. We got back right in time for it to be pouring and for us to be locked out! But we remedied that with a quick trip to get granitas! By the time we got back the other team arrived to let us in! After we got all dressed up we took a drive through the city up into the mountains. Getting up to this restaurant was an adventure itself! The drive way up to the restaurant was pretty steep and the vans could not make it! We even started sliding down the hill! But Jose David had everything under control and we eventually found an alternate route and made it to the restaurant!  Oh my was that a gorgeous view! We were up so high all we could see were lights every where and the shadows of the hills and mountains! This was the nicest place I have ever been to in Honduras.  We had a great last night with the team!

Our restaurant night

   Today we dropped the team at the airport and said our goodbyes.  Tomorrow the Atlanta team comes! I am so excited to see everyone!

   I have also spent this week marveling at how much these children have grown up since I first met them six years ago!  They have grown up so fast! I'm so lucky to know them and see the beautiful people they are all growing up to be!

Julio was just a sweet little boy

And now he is an even sweeter young man!

And look at Moises now!

My heart is full of happiness and love!
♥

Busy Busy!

   Oh my have we been busy the past few days! A flight that was supposed to come in Thursday was cancelled so the team members have been trickling in over the past few days and eight more come tomorrow! We will have a huge group by then!

   Yesterday, the first ten of the group got here (and Betty was the only one who was able to make it in on Thursday).  We took a trip out to the children's home yesterday and got to hang out with the kids! This was the first time I was able to see some of the kids this week! We played and laughed and talked and did everything kids do!

Noe! 

Blurry but this is what the older boys' cabana looks like now!

   When we returned to Casa Lamb it was time for Suzy to get a hair cut! One of the men on this team is a professional hairstylist so this was the time for Suzy to get a "fancy" hair cut before her trip to Guatemala next week!  Watching this was hilarious because of all the facial expressions she was giving us! She told us she usually goes and gets a two dollar hair cut in Flor del Campo!

The Before Shot

She likes it!

      Later that evening we had some great fellowship with the group! We had a nice time during Compline and shared some stories from our day! Later on we pulled out the Wii and had a few games of Just Dance.  MC and I played and to no surprise I lost- big time!

Just Dance

   Today, we had our first work day at SBV! We worked on sanding some railings and doors to prepare them for painting this week.  The team also put some screens on the windows of the kitchen and cut some boards as extra support for the toddlers' beds!

MC sanding up high

Alex had his own work to do too!

    Since today is Saturday, we had a short work day and after lunch we got to hang out and play with the kids for hours! We played kickball, soccer, jump rope and all sorts of fun activities! For kickball: Mary Crawford and I were the captains of our own teams and led the children.  In one inning my team scored about ten runs! After that we stopped keeping count and played more for fun.  But of course after about half an hour of kickball the kids wanted "futbol! futbol!" so we caved.  I even played soccer for about two and a half minutes then the kids realized why I always tell them I can't play!

One of the games turned into "lasso the norteamericanos!"

 Noe put on my hat and opened my umbrella all on his own! He knows how to be extra cute!

   After soccer, I retreated to the shade and hung out with some of the older girls who had returned from school (school on Saturday-ugh!).   We even ventured up to the church where we found Julio playing music. We forced him into playing some songs for us on the piano but we will hear many more tomorrow at church!

This piece commemorates the children who were Confirmed earlier this year

    We left the children's home and came home to Casa Lamb to be greeted by our newest arrivals for the medical brigade! I am so excited to have to opportunity to work on the medical mission and see other parts and people of Honduras! I can't wait to see them and see what kind of impact they will have on my life!

-Having a beautiful and blessed time!
♥

also can't wait for these guys to get here!