Madisons first day of school

In Honduras, schools only go through 11th grade. Because of that, Madison and I will be homeschooling her final year to prepare her for her GED. That being said, she started 10th grade, which in the States would be her Sophomore year, but here in Honduras they are called Juniors. So - she started her first day of Jr. year today. But - nothing could go without a hitch. Yesterday we were putting together her uniform, everything was ironed, and set to go. This morning, however, the one thing we didn't think of last night - her shoes. Madison has a size 9 1/2 - which is almost impossible to find here, so we specifically purchased shoes in the States while we were there. Well...we brought them back in February - and let's just say - they were no where to be found. We searched and searched and searched. We don't know if they were put into our ministry clothes closet (although I looked all through them), scattered or stolen when the thief invaded our home, or what - but they were no where to be found! So - what did we do? We managed to find a an old (yet usable) pair or shoes in the clothing closet. So - we are off to the mall after school today to prayerfully find a pair of shoes. Madison has gringo size shoes - so what we have found here is that shoes only go up to about a size 8. So the hunt is on.

Madison In New York City

Our daughter Madison just returned from spending the entire month of July in New York City. She served as a Cross-Cultural Intern at MTW's missionary training. She helped to prepare missionaries and missionary kids for their service around the world. It was a very busy and enjoyable time of service for her.

Watch this 2 minute and 50 second video of Madison's time in New York:

Tuesday with Rincon Mountain

Day 2 of full-time ministry. Today we continued with construction on a house, construction on our ministry project, and a full day of clinic. Today we had two provider stations, saw about 30 patients, and placed stitches on a young boy who severely cut his toe with a machete. All in all within the last 4 weeks we've done 1 set of stitches a week. Not so sure I like this trend - but what a GREAT service to provide to people who would otherwise not receive them, nor antibiotics. There were no medical "issues" today - everyone was VERY conscious about drinking water and staying hydrated! Yeah! A hard lesson learned, but it was taken to heart. In the afternoon we had a GREAT Kids Club with lots of kids in attendance, very fun craft, and lots of hanging out with kids! We ended the day at a local restaurant where we had baleadas (a national dish), tojadas (fried plantains), and ice cold soda! Yum! Everyone is now back at the dorms, probably talking about the day and getting ready for tomorrow. Sleep well everyone!

Rincon Mountain and the first day

So...if you are a frequent reader, you've noticed a number of ways in which the Enemy has been striking the team here in Honduras. But - he's not picky about who he goes for, this week, he is selecting our visiting team - Rincon Mountain Presbyterian Church. And it's only day 2. They left on their adventure by being split up - first 12 arrived Sunday night (after a delay) and the remaining 5 arrived Sunday morning. The 12 had no luggage, the 5 did. A trip to our house was made to hit the clothing closet and provide them with at least a set of clothing, some shoes, toothbrush and toothpaste. Then came Monday. Monday is a construction day, and clinic. This day consisted of Heat Exhaustion (IV started and 1,500ml's of fluids), displaced patella (that's the knee cap), another mild case of heat exhaustion, flushed a foreign body out of an eye - and no...those are NOT the patients that came to clinic, that was from the visiting team. We saw 23 patients in the clinic - removed some stitches on two patients, breathing treatment on a pretty sick baby, lots of skin infections, etc. Our construction crew worked on starting the walls for a house for a single mom with three kids, and the other construction crew is working on a wall at our project. The end of the day saw them hosting an English class and then dinner at our team mates house. WHEW!!! I'm exhausted just writing this! But everyone was a trooper, hardly a complaint by any. It's Tuesday, and we shall see what the day brings.

Cooking

So...on my day "off" I try and take a little time to do some things for myself. It's been a bit challenging as of late because I've been going out with the team most every day, getting back late, then prepping for clinic each night. I'm not able to finish up until about 8:30 or 9:00 each night, which leaves little to no time to do "stuff". On top of that, my housekeeper has been gone this whole week, so even doing things like laundry has been quite the challenge - much less any other house chores. So, my days off are filled with paying bills, buying groceries, cleaning house, doing laundry, etc. But - I did take about an hour to do something I love to do. And that's cooking.

I have a beautiful basil plant in my back yard I've raised from seed...I'm quite proud of it. It's doing so well, I thought I would finally put it to some good use. I made home made pesto sauce. Trimmed off about 1 1/3 cups of fresh basil leaves, added all my other needed ingredients, and got to work. A freshly made pizza dough, olive oil grilled zucchini, grilled red and orange peppers, fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes - and you have a pizza ready to be cooked. I was quite happy with the end result, and will definitely include this in future dinners to come.

Fresh pesto sauce

Right before going in the oven

End result with fresh basil placed on the pizza after it's cooked - with a sprinkling of Blue Cheese - YUM!

Intruder

It's days like this that just make you grumpy. We were out in Armenia Bonito, the village we work in, with a 20 person team. We were busily doing construction, I had a group in the clinic working with patients, when I get this phone call from Mike. He was on his way back to our house. We had just been robbed. Apparently someone scaled our fence, took a sledgehammer to our front door, stole Mike's computer, trashed the ENTIRE house, stole some cash, and took off. Our gardener had been near by and saw the fence wide open. He quickly went over to our team mates house to get our team mate and she called Mike. One thing we are meticulous about is safety. We live in Fort Knox, afterall. But bottom line is this - if someone wants in your house - they are getting in your house.

So Mike was giving me the update and I must have gone through the stages of grief in about 5 minutes. I was first shocked. Really?! How in the world did this happen? How was my dog? Then I started crying. Imagining what a mess my house was in. Then I got mad. Like really mad. Like narrow my focus down to seeing red kind of mad. Then I got to "acceptance". Acceptance because what can you do? We are getting a new front door, an additional security door in front of that, additional razor wire for the top of our fence. So that's where I sit...balanced between mad and acceptance. I find that being mad is helpful to me - a much better sense than feeling sad and depressed. Wednesday is when we start to get these new things - and I hope with it, a better sense of feeling more secure.

Our team has been riddled with things this summer. Two of the four ministry vehicles have been on the fritz, illness all around, and now this. We are busy doing God's work, and the enemy is NOT happy about it! So I rejoice in that - will continue the fight and see what's next :-)

Grace Community Church Mission Trip to Honduras

July 16-23, 2011 we hosted a short-term mission team from Grace Community Church of Mobile, AL. The team put on three medical clinics in Armenia Bonito and treated 140 patients. They also did construction on a house and a ministry center, taught English and organized Kids Club.

Watch this 2 minute 15 second video to see them in action: