Anybody have an ark?

Its been raining for days...and days...and days...

I think it started raining last Thursday.  I've seen the sun twice, when its peeked out from behind the clouds and quickly hid itself again...what a tease!

I do love when it's raining and I'm falling asleep/asleep in my nice cozy bed with mountains of blankets...that's the up side.  The down side to the rain is walking around the muddy streets trying to avoid the puddles (is it still a puddle when it covers 95% of the road?).  Not to mention drying clothes takes days, hence the Mt. Everest of dirty clothes I have.

Every day I catch my self humming "The sun will come out tomorrow..."  One can dream right?  :)

Change and Fees

Today at school I was asked to help with the sixth grade...remember...I'm a kindergarten teacher!  They want some extra help with grammar and reading...not sure if I've mentioned this, but grammar makes me a little nervous.  Yes, I speak English without problems, but when it comes to teaching grammar, parts of speech, rules, blah, blah, blah...it makes me nervous!  Please be praying for me as I study and brush up on my grammar.  I'll be teaching one sixth grade class before my usual kindergarten class and then also once I'm done with kindergarten, back over to sixth grade to finish up the day.

Also, a prayer request...I found out yesterday there is a fee to pay for getting married.  This fee is placed on foreigners and the cost depends on the distance from where you're coming from....i.e. if you're from Europe it's one fee, Africa another, Mexico, Canada, United States, another.  I spoke with someone yesterday and she said the usual fee is between 13,000 and 15,000 Lempiras for someoned from the USA (between $650 and $750), she is going to try to see if she can get this fee reduced...pray that it be reduced drastically!

Good morning!

This is what I woke up to gobbling outside my front door!  Only in Honduras...

Home Sweet Home

It's so good to be back!  After a looooong day of travel yesterday it was so nice to get off the plane and into the warm Honduran weather!  :)  All of my luggage arrived undamaged, I also successfully transported my wedding dress, invitations and other decorations...that in my books is cause for celebration! I think I'll break out my chocolate orange that was in my stocking!  :)

Today I got to see all my little angels, I missed them so much!  I can't believe we're just about half-way through the school year...time sure does fly.  Soon we'll start preparing for the kinder/prepa graduation, is there a way to slow time down?

After school I came home and cleaned the house and relaxed for a bit then some of Carlos' cousins came by for a visit.  I feel like I haven't seen people in such a long time, I was gone for 3 and a half weeks, but it felt so much longer!  After a while some of the girls went to play soccer on the field here at the camp and a few stuck around and we chatted and made pizza!  Everyone here is always so impressed that I can make homemade pizza dough...of course once they realize how easy it is and most of the ingredients  they can get at the local pulperia, it's not as impressive!  :)

On the road again...

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...(continue singing along in your head if you'd like :)

I'll be flying out tomorrow morning at 6:05 AM and making a connection in Atlanta and then finally in my dear warm Honduras around noon!  :)  It's kind of a tight connection-pray all flights are on time...or at least my flight from Albany, the one from Atlanta can have a slight delay.

Please be praying as I travel...I'll be traveling with some of my wedding stuff and would love for it all to arrive undamaged.  My dress is taking up one of my carry-ons and my other carry-on is full of invitations, fake flowers, ribbon, my big puffy slip for my wedding dress...with of course my laptop and all other important stuff squished in there!

It was a nice few weeks here in the States (even if I did feel like I was freezing to death at certain points), I am also so excited to get back to Honduras to see my fiance, my friends, my church family, and of course my precious little students!  :)

Happy New Year!!!

As the previous year has come to an end and the New Year is in full swing, I wanted to send out a little update on life in Honduras....yes it has been FOREVER!!!  My commitment to the new year is to communicate more while I'm in Honduras.

Living in a foreign country always brings its little adventures.    I’ve had a few iguanas break in my house…head to tail I’d say about 2 feet long each.  I’m thankful for the caretaker where I live; he graciously escorted my unwelcomed guests out of my house.  There have also been a handful of other creatures that have tried to wiggle or crawl their way into the house…the least favorite was the tarantula that wanted to catch a ride on my pant leg!  I hope this doesn’t deter any of you from coming for a visit…these unwelcomed houseguests really aren’t all that frequent!  J

Aside from the creatures that always provide a sense of adventure, there are the daily operations of life. 

I continue to work as the kindergarten teacher at the bilingual school in town, and also currently the director of the preschool and kindergarten.  It has been such a blessing working with the preschool teacher and my kindergarten assistant and couldn’t ask for a better team.  We have the opportunity on a daily basis to show the love of Jesus to these precious little children, some of the kids do come from strong Christian homes, however some do not.  My prayer is that through these children and the relationships that we build with their parents that we have a Kingdom impact.

We are also in the brainstorming phase for a new ministry opportunity at the church.  There are many poor people in our community and the ministry we are looking at will be to minister to the poorest of the poor.  Our church currently isn’t in a position to take on financial responsibility of another ministry, but we feel like it is something very important especially with the financial difficulties currently.  The aspects of this ministry will be distribution of food, medicine, clothes and other basic needs.  And more importantly it will have an element of discipleship as well, either through group bible study or one-on-one discipleship.  Please be praying as we develop this ministry and for those that will be served.

In September my boyfriend, Carlos Daniel, asked me to marry him…I of course said YES!  We will be getting married April 20^th in Honduras.  Many of my family and friends will not be able to make it to Honduras for the wedding, so we hope to have a reception in the States.  This is a matter of prayer since obtaining a travel visa for Carlos Daniel may take some time and as with all paperwork in Honduras a lot of frustration.  Please be praying even now that when the time comes for all of this paperwork all things go smoothly.

Many of you know, last year I was the foster mother to a little boy, Gerson.  I just want you to know that he is doing amazing!  He is currently living with one of his aunts about 45 minutes from my town.  I am in frequent communication with the family as well as his doctors and all reports are great!  Thank you for your prayers this past year.  It is an awesome reassurance knowing there are people back home that I can count on when I have prayer requests.

There are a number of prayer requests for this coming year:

·         -Pray for us as we plan our wedding
·         -For our marriage that it always remains Christ centered
·         -For our involvement in the church (youth group, visitation outreach, evangelism outreach, community bible study)
·         -Carlos Daniel will begin learning English, pray the program and teacher communicate clearly
·         -Carlos Daniel will need hernia surgery in the near future, pray for the finances of that as well of peace of mind for Carlos Daniel
·         -Our ministry to the poor and financial support we will need to sustain it
·         -I have some issues with my visa and need to leave the country every 90 days, it causes a financial burden as well as a little stress finding coverage for my classroom 
·         -Please pray for our finances

Thank you as always from the bottom of my heart for your continued prayers and support.