a walk in the jungle

the other sunday we were invited down to david's property in another village to spend the day. david has been working with jason and sarah from the time they started down here and works on most everything agricultural. it's a huge property with places to swim and hike so we were pretty excited to go. all the kids on the property came along with the house parents, will and sinndya, david and his wife olga, another family from the village with their three girls and us volunteers {minus brayden}.wow. did we have a party! 

this is the point at which javier spotted an iguana...

at which time the guys went charging after it into the river...and caught it.

...and then we ate it. doesn't get any fresher than that!

baby kelly just waking up from her waterside nap!

the kids {and adults} had an absolute blast. it was great to spend time just playing and hanging out with some favorite people all day. i have a feeling we'll be doing that again!

one year ago

one year ago this week i went on a short trip to honduras with a few of my friends to serve and encourage the medical team there. we ended up working with a couple, monica and kelvin, who also had long term missions on their mind during the trip. i had left that place feeling the most fulfilled and purposeful and thought to myself, "hm, this could really be something." i thought maybe working for a year or two at home and coming back to honduras some time later would be best. turns out that was just not the way it was supposed to be. a few months later i found myself down here again with monica and kelvin. this time for a little bit longer. and it couldn't have turned out any better. God's plan is always better.  it just is.

the typical {and the not so typical}

thought i'd share a few scattered picture that haven't quite made it up here in the past month...

valentine's day was spent making cards for all the guys while they were out running errands in town all day. except for my valentine, he was taking a nap and playing with markers on the floor.

the kids learned how to make chocolate chip cookies with melissa who brought her family down from good ol' wisconsin to serve and encourage the team down here. thank you again!

sunday soccer day in urraco

we are so proud of our gringo goalie!

also, fun fact, i was also asked to play defense on the women's urraco soccer team. i warned them. i did. and yes, i played one sunday. i have a feeling there won't be another invitation, no matter how desperate they are for players!

hanging out with the babes that aren't so small anymore! josiah and kelly are right on track for soul mate status. and i promise they're not in jail -- it's just our front door!

if you didn't know, we are filming the new flinstones movie right here in the valley with those monstrous lamb ribs we've got.

monica and i have taken to cooking experiments lately. this is one of our unexpected successes -- bagels! the first time they were nice and small and just plain. this time we added in a little cinnamon raisin fayvah and got a hold of some cream cheese to make it a pretty magical experience.

one of the many oh so loved scorpion visitors in our house. every time it rains. kelvin's new tactic is his pocket knife and clothespin combo. seems to work pretty well. at this this one is not in my hair.
 or inside the toilet...

my new hobby is making a corn hole set -- working on hand sewing the bags. i think i've been working on it a little too long. by the time the swimming goggles end up on my face it's gone too far.

 ginormous grasshopper number four in our house this week. to the hondurans, this is good luck. i'll keep that in mind {even though there is no such thing} instead of focusing on the
jurassic park size insects in our kitchen!

it's times like these that make every ounce of this worth it. three four year olds, baby kelly, and tia eva and tia monica all on the hammock together making funny snoring sounds and laughing. not quite convincing tio kelvin that we are actually sleeping.

speaking of tio kelvin...he looks less scary post-shave.

the end!

schools back for summer

school has been back in session for about a month now and life has gotten a bit busier around here. the two oldest kids that we have living with us have started attending the local school, Carolina in 3rd grade and Javier in 1st. so far, they've done really well with their schoolwork and have made a bunch of new friends 

from the community. 

monica, another volunteer here at Give Hope 2 Kids, and i have become the english teachers for the third through sixth grade classes at the school. we have so enjoyed getting to spend some extra time with the kids we already have formed relationships with and getting to meet a few new friends. we started with colors and numbers, playing bingo and teaching new songs. {dear seventh grade spanish teacher of mine, thanks for all the ridiculous songs you taught us to help us remember your material. i still remember them and now all the kids in a  village of rural honduras are singing them too.} for the older students we've started with simple verbs. they are so excited to learn and practice their english sentences with us. we've even given out a few quizzes already ;)

the kindergarden program at the school has been on hiatus for a while now. in light of that, the three 4-year-olds {the triplets we call them} don't have any form of schooling. to sort of fill in the gaps, we have started a small "kinder" program for these three on tuesdays and thursdays. Carlitos, Lilian, and Fernando have their own backpacks and notebooks to practice shapes, letters and coloring projects. we also spend some time playing games outside and reading all the wonderful books we have access to in our library. this has proved to be an awesome way to get them a bit of a head start so they will be more than ready when it comes time for grade school. 

since the library addition has been finished, our library program has been a bit revamped as well. we've got new books, a new computer teacher, new structuring and the discovery of a mountain of good resources for  all the students who come. 

there are about twenty students in the computer classes now. this has been an awesome program that supplements the computer class at the high school and helps prepare younger students earlier. the computer skills they are learning are so valuable for future job opportunities and furthering education.

after teaching up at the school and being part of library every week, we began to realize that some of the grade school kids had a lot of trouble reading. the problem is they tend to get passed from grade to grade without being taught how to read and they quickly run into problems. 

the positive part is, with all the resources we've been blessed with, there's opportunity to spend extra time with these kids and help them get a better grasp on getting through books and quizzes. i don't have to do much convincing for you to believe that knowing how to read changes the game academically as well as in ever aspect of life. 

just writing about some of the things we're doing with the kids here gets me so excited about their potential and opportunities. thanks again to all of you who have shown your support prayerfully and financially. it's been incredible to continue forming relationships with the kids and watch them learn and discover new things every day!