The Biggest Loser

As many of you know, Mike is the biggest loser in our family. As of today it is official. He has lost 50 pounds since we left the U.S. When we left for Costa Rica in August of 2007 Mike was the heaviest weight of his life at 235 lbs. As of today he weighs 185 lbs.

August of 2007


July of 2008


He has gone down four belt loops and his clothes are hanging off of him. The worst part about it all, is he eats whatever he wants…how annoying.

Cooking/cleaning

My new frig and stove


Double sink for soaking in bleach

For the first time in a year, I have a "normal" size kitchen with "normal" sized appliances. In my apartment in Costa Rica I had a Barbi sized stove and oven, that was more than 30 years old. My refrigerator was also Barbi sized, and it shocked us each time we opened it. Cooking was a challenge. I have so thoroughly enjoyed having the "regular" things to cook with. I realize this seems like such a small thing, but it's HUGE in our household! I made chocolate chip cookies for the first time in a year! It was so much fun! Also, we have the pleasure of having a few fruit trees on our property. In our front yard we have a coconut tree that Madison has enjoyed taking down and opening up and drinking the water inside. In our backyard we have a small little avocado tree. Don't know if we will get any fruit or not. We also have a guyaba tree and a lime tree. However, this is like no lime tree you have ever seen! At first I thought it was a grapefruit tree, but after taking it off the tree and cutting it open - it is a lime tree indeed!

Another interesting tidbit - the tap water is not safe to drink. Even the Hondurans will tell you that. So - you must drink bottled or purified water. We have not been able to get out to the store to get water until today, so I've been boiling my water for 20 minutes on the stove, then chilling it in the frig for our drinking water. Also, all our fruit or uncooked veggies must be soaked in bleach water for 20 minutes before eating. Finally, after washing my dishes, I have to rinse them in bleach water as the last stage of cleaning! Nothing is "quick" around here - especially as no one has a dishwasher!

My grapefruit sized lime. Yum!

Whistle While You Work

Yesterday Madison and I spent six hours cleaning two rooms in our new house. It´s that dirty. Kitchen...check. Madison´s bedroom...check. The house hasn´t been lived in for months and months. So there is lots of dirt and bugs.

Yesterday we purchased 12 beds...two for us and 10 for short term missionaries to sleep in. This morning we have purchased a sofa, refrigerator and coffee table. We have priced and compared everything and are going to the least expensive stores. Mike is working his cheepskate magic and begging for and receiving discounts.

Got a big rain yesterday and noticed that the backyard floods pretty well. But, in that kind of rain anything would flood. One more thing for Mike´s to-do list. Today the internet is supposed to get installed and the workers are supposed to be done with the repairs. They still have a leaking toilet and a few other things to fix.

We will likely be cleaning fulltime for several more days. However, we think that Saturday will be our first night in our new place.

Atlantida Public Hospital

This public hospital in La Ceiba, Honduras sees nearly 200,000 patients each year. They are under staffed, under funded and they do not have the resources to treat all the patients. In addition, many of the patients don’t have the funds needed to pay for some of the basic services offered here. This hospital is where the poorest of the poor come to be seen.

One of our many goals is to provide services at this hospital. Our first medical team from the U.S. will be arriving in less then three weeks. This group of doctors and nurses will be working for several days at this hospital to provide treatment for the underserved.

Take a look at this 2 ½ minute video to see what Atlantida Public Hospital is like:

Update

Just an update post.

Still no house - we are praying for the keys on Wednesday. That's the latest, but we shall see.

I'm changing my name. Sort of. Here, Erin is an unheard of name. Not Latin/Spanish at all. Many people struggle with saying it, and when they can say it, they don't remember it. Think of yourself when you have been introduced to someone with a VERY foreign sounding name. Odds are you mis-pronounce it, and you don't remember it. It's the same here. So - my mother - in some fore-seeing event - chose a Latin/Spanish middle name for me: Teresa. So - henceforth, around here, I will be going by that name. I've now come to introduce myself as Teresa, and said with a Spanish accent it sounds quite nice :-)

Washing clothes in buckets, cooking on an electric skillet, walking or taking taxi's everywhere, all sleeping in our little place. Those things haven't changed. We are getting accustomed to La Ceiba - where things are - where to get things we need. The weather has been on/off HOT. Today, for example, is a nice warmish day. No sweat from me yet. However, I AM writing this at 8:30 in the morning - so we shall see what the day brings.

That's it for now. More pics to come.

Here Is The House

For those of you playing the house game the winner was House #2
$550/month…on the largest and busiest street in La Ceiba (good – you can easily get taxis, bad – noisy)…4 bedrooms (master is HUGE and would be used as a dorm room), plus a loft…3 ½ baths…1 of the bedrooms is a separate building in the back with its own bathroom…2 stories…unfurnished…could house 20 short term missionaries with bunks.

We signed the papers, gave a deposit and provided a letter from MTW. We were supposed to get the keys this week. But, due to work that needed to be done on the electrical we will not be able to move in until late next week.

Here is a 5 minute tour of our new home:

Public Hospital

Today Mike and I went to the local public hospital to meet with one of the doctors there. Our intent is to build a long-term relationship with the hospital. This meeting was to gather information for the short-term medical team that will be here at the end of this month. They will be working in the public hospital for 3 days, then do a medical clinic in a poor neighborhood for the local children there. This hospital serves the poor, and would never meet any standard of care in the U.S. We toured the hospital, seeing all the primary areas - womens ward, mens ward, pediatrics, etc. It sure reminded me of what a true "ward" looks like (see pic). We met with several physicians and are excited to continue a relationship with both the hospital and the doctors. We plan on working a lot with them in the future.

Women's Ward


Meeting with Dr. Perez


Pediatric ward - the nicest area in the entire hospital