Adventures In Travel

Yesterday was a very long day and today may prove to be another.  I awoke at 3:30 yesterday with my mind racing.  I jumped out of bed and my body raced until 9:30 when we left for the airport. 

My plane left Tegucigalpa late and I knew I had a tight connection in Houston.  I arrived in Houston 20 minutes behind.  Thankfully, the customs line was short and I breezed through.  Rechecked my bags, rode the train, and got to my connecting gate with time to spare.  The Amarillo flight was one of few that was still on time.  We boarded on time and the cabin door was shut.  But we didn't leave.  The maintenance people were servicing the plane.  That only took a few minutes.  And we still didn't leave.  In those few minutes a fast moving fog had rolled into Amarillo leaving 1/4 mile visibility.  We deboarded.  All Amarillo flights were cancelled.  There were weather related problems all over the country causing delays and cancellations.  The customer service lines were not short and the customer service agents were few.  One thing I have learned is "it is what it is."  Not everyone has learned that.  There were some really angry people and some were not very kind to the customer service agents.  I waited in line for over two hours.  I visited with a man and his wife from Amarillo.  They work for Cal Farley's Boy Ranch. 

If one treats the customer service agent kindly, one can expect to receive the same treatment.  That certainly worked for me last night.  The man tried every way to help but all flights to Amarillo were already full until Tuesday.  Hotels are not comped when it is weather related.  The man gave me a coupon for a discount at a hotel and told me to call while he worked on my ticket.  Both of us were on the phone for over 15 minutes.  Getting to Amarillo on Tuesday was not, is not, an option for me.  I am flying to Oklahoma City this morning and driving to Amarillo.

You can't retrieve your luggage when flights are cancelled.  I was told my luggage would go where I go.  We will see in about three hours, won't we.

I waited over an hour for the shuttle to the hotel.  And, yes, it was a discounted rate, for which I am very grateful.  I was not the only person whose flight was cancelled or delayed staying at the Red Roof Inn.  Another line and another delay.  Most of the people in that line were laughing about the circumstances.  Many, like myself, had not eaten.  Some people were walking to the nearby restaurants to get a sandwich or something.  They also were quickly returning empty-handed because the restaurants were closed.  I had no intention of walking around Houston by myself at night for food or any other reason.  I was thinking vending machine.  By the time, I got to the room, I was thinking hot bath, only to find no bath tub, only a shower.  The internet at the hotel was down due to the weather.

Exhausted, I fell into bed and got six good hours of sleep.  Amazing, how just a little sleep gives you a whole new outlook.  But, I was really, really hungry.  I had a good fresh sweet roll and got back on the shuttle.  I now sit in the Houston airport.  I hope to be in Oklahoma City by 11:30 and on my way to Amarillo.

My mom is better.  I appreciate all those prayers.  Let's just keep praying.

Terri

Pre-School At Casa

Casa has three four-year-olds and a two-year-old.  Doris and Reina are not going to school this year because they were not advancing.  Nicole promised Teleton she would work with them at home.  And then there is Haley, who is also 2 years old.  Nicole looked around and saw a need for a preschool. 

Since we no longer have a counselor, we took some things out of the counseling room and added some things and made a preschool room.  Nicole has preschool four mornings a week from 8:30-11:30.  No preschool on Thursday because that is Nicole's day off.  Monday, February 13 was the first day of preschool.  Nicole is fluent in spanish and talks to the children in spanish, but most of the lessons are in english.  She is hoping to teach the kids a little english, numbers, letters, and how to sit in class.  How to sit in class is a big task, I might add.

 Nicole has learned a lot this week.  She has learned some of our four-year-olds don't know how to work a puzzle.  Of any kind. 

This week, she is teaching about the animals that God made.  Tuesday, the children were suppose to make an animal out of play-do.

Haley made a butterfly

Cris made a snake, a really big snake.

I am not sure what animal Reina made, but it is biting her right under her nose.

Doris and Reina have schools desks and the other children sit at little tables.  Doris and Reina have some specialized work, not just the preschool work.  Reina still wants homework to do when the other kids are doing homework.  Nicole is giving her homework she can do.  The staff and Reina do not have to stress over this homework the way they were with real homework from school.  

Doris could not function at even a first grade level in school.  Yet, she was sad when she found out she was not going to school.  She is very happy to be included in this school.  Today was Thursday and there was no school.  Doris had no reason to get up since there was no school.  So, she didn't.  She slept through devo and breakfast.

Please pray for Nicole as she prepares and teaches and for the kids as they learn.

Terri

School Supplies

Yesterday was Tuesday, my day off.  And, I had so much fun.

The Casa kids have started school.  We have been busy buying uniforms and their supply lists are just starting to come home.  I expect to make two or three more trips to town before we can say that is done.  Yesterday, I spent the day buying school supplies, but not for the Casa kids.

Recently, we received a container from Fairview Heights Church of Christ, our sponsoring congregation.  On that container were many backpacks full of school supplies.  Not everyone wanted to buy supplies and put on that container.  Many sent money to buy school supplies.  Much of that money came last year after school had started.  Parkview Baptist school in Baton Rouge had a huge drive to raise money.  Those kids worked hard and raised over $2000.00.  They sold cookies and all sorts of things.  Vanessa Hill raised a lot of money for school supplies.  Money came from other places as well.  In May or June, we can't spend that much money on school supplies.  The need is not there in the same way it is in February.  That money was held until now. 

I decided to start spending some of that money.  We are grateful for the backpacks sent by Fairview Heights, but there are so many more children that need supplies.  Matt went with me, as did Melissa and Mary.  I decided to go to Utilies de Honduras.  I can walk in the door and hand them a list and they start pulling the product. 

We had two lists.  The caretaker at the farm, Roberto, has four children that needed school supplies.  Marc said he would take care of it.  Melissa had a very detailed list for his four children.  Melissa and Mary handed that list to one clerk.  And I handed mine to another.  Marc told me to spend $2000.00 now.  I was thinking, "oh, let's spend it all now."  Thankfully, I listened to Marc.  I decided to not buy the specialized notebooks, but just the basic supplies for 100 children.  100 blue pens, 100 red pens, 100 erasers, 100 pencil sharpeners, 200 pencils, 100 scissors, 100 glues, 100 boxes of colors and colored pencils, 100 notebooks, 100 packages of construction paper.   The looks on some of the clerks' faces were quite amusing. 

A clerk is helping Melissa and Mary fill the order for Roberto's children.  Five of those small baskets were filled with that one order.

100 boxes of crayolas and 100 boxes of colored pencils

Pens, pencils, scissors, and glue

Checking out was fun.

That looks like a large total, but it was about half of what I wanted to spend.

After all was said and done, I had only spent about $1000.00.  I said to duplicate this order while we take the first load to the car.  Some of the clerks said,"is she serious?''  One clerk grabbed the list from my hand and ran for the back of the store.   We headed for the car.

This is the first order.  One more to go just like it.

All of this went into the trooper fairly easily.  Had there not been another car, it would have been a tight squeeze to get all of both orders in my car.

We went back inside and there was a different kind of busyness.  We had depleted most of the stock and they were having to haul cases of school supplies right through the middle of the mall and into the store.  Again, check out was fun.  We made the second trip to the other car.  There was still room in both cars for us to ride, but I am sure glad we didn't try to spend all the available money at one time. 

I did not ask for anything from Utilies but for them to fill my orders.  I did not know it until after the second order was paid for, but they graciously gave me a 10% discount.  I think I just became a customer for life.

I probably will not participate in distributing these supplies, but I had fun just knowing 200 more kids will receive them.  

Thanks to Parkview Baptist School, Vanessa Hill, the ladies' Bible class at Borger Church of Christ, and all others who donated to buy school supplies.   

Terri

Soccer

In Honduras, soccer is the only sport.  Or the only sport that matters.  Everyone loves soccer and every child loves to play soccer.  Brayan and Antonio had had an opportunity to play on a team the past 3 months.  They practice on Wednesday and play on Saturday.

John Baird is a friend of ours.  His ministry is to kids, mostly in Ojojona, but he asked our boys to play on his team.  The discipline of practice and games has been good for the boys.

John is a Christian and incorporates Bible study into everything he does with the kids.  The kids have had fun and learned a lot.  But it is a "Bad News Bears" type of team.  They scored a goal or two.  The whole season. 

Today was my first opportunity to watch Brayan and Antonio play.  I thought it was going to be a long afternoon when the other team scored four goals in the first five minutes.  Our guys settled down and only allowed one more goal to be scored against them.  And they were not able to score this game. 

Brayan is good player and was hustling all over the place.  He made some good plays.  Antonio is not quite as good of a player.  Today, there was not a lot of action in his part of the field and when there was, he often backed away from it.  Near the end of the game, when John subbed him, Antonio changed his clothes and was through. 

Even though there was no victory today, it was fun to watch the kids play.

Terri

Another Injury

Anyone that has ever been here, knows our little Katy is fearless.  A couple of days ago, she was on rollerblades and decided to be pulled behind a bicycle.  I don't know the exact details of what happened, but she ended up burning her arm on the tire of the bicycle.  It was a huge nasty place on her arm. 

Last night, Dilma took her to Karen's apartment because it had pus and junk in it.  Karen bandaged it.  I was changing the bandage before school this morning and it started gushing blood.  Not just a little oozing, there was blood everywhere.  There was blood on her skirt, her white socks, her school shoes, all over the floor.  I took a clean rag and wrapped around her arm and applied some pressure.  But nothing was working.  Some of the other girls were in the bathroom watching all of this.  Some of the girls were starting to get quite excited with the amount of blood.  I was too.

Karen put her in the van with the other kids.  She took the kids to school and then took Katy to the doctor.  We were expecting to get some kind of ointment with which to doctor Katy's arm.  Soon Karen called and said they wanted to keep her at least overnight.  Karen came home to get books and toys, crayons, underwear, toothbrush.  All those things.  When she got back, Miss Katy is in a private room working puzzles and having the time of her life.  She told Karen she might just stay a week. 

Elena is with Katy tonight.  The dermatologist comes tomorrow.  We hope Katy is back home tomorrow.  Please pray for her.  But don't feel too sorry for her.  She is down there having a party and living it up.

Terri

First Day Of School

Weeks ago, we began getting ready for the first day of school.  All the uniforms were pulled out and Elvia began trying them on each child.  She put names in the uniforms and marked each one that needed to be hemmed or altered.  She then got the sewing machine and began to hem and all those things.


A list of missing uniform pieces was made and I went to town to purchase those.  That is never ever accomplished in one trip. 

Yesterday, there was hair to be cut, shoes to be polished, uniforms to be ironed and made ready for this morning.  Karen had each child hang his uniform on their bed.

Well, the idea was that they would be ironed first and then hung on the bed.  This one got done in reverse.

Elvia was still sewing yesterday morning and Doris was still ironing last night.

They were eager this morning and got out of bed easily.  That won't last long.  Soon there will be groaning at 5:45.  Devo, breakfast, chores.

Baby Korbin was content in his pouch as Karen did hair.

Daniela needed a last minute bang trim.

As they get ready, they place the backpacks by the door.

Soon enough, new white socks, polished shoes, hemmed skirts, braids and all, they are ready to go.

The excite chatter begins to move from the house

to the van.

A group shot

The seventh graders as they head off for the 2nd day of orientation

After a couple of kids jump out of the van and run back to the house for a forgotten water bottle and a forgotten notebook,

they are off to the first day of school.

Terri

Seventh Grade Orientation

Today, tomorrow and Friday is seventh grade orientation.   Another first for Casa de Esperanza.  Pamela and Brayan are our seventh graders.  Seventh through tenth grade is high school, not junior high or middle school, as we know it.  The kids did not have to wear uniforms today.  But they were certainly dressed nicely.

Both of the kids were excited and anxious and all those emotions seventh graders experience.  Brayan was just plain silly and giddy.  I drove them to school this morning.  I was expecting one or both to balk at getting out of the car.  But, they got right out of the car.  Tomorrow, they ride the bus.

Please pray for Brayan and Pamela at this important crossroads in their lives.

Terri