Insanity Reigns

I have been without internet for over a week and only have it today because I am in town. There is no way to tell everything that has happened in the last week. I am not sure I can even hit the highlights.

On Thursday, it began to rain. And rain and rain. I thought we should start constructing another ark. That is the day we lost the internet. It is hard to have much news without the internet, but we learned a tropical storm or a hurricane named Alma was the reason for the torrential rains. Alma dumped rain for three days. Silly us. We thought when the rain stopped, we would have internet again. Welcome to Honduras.

Friday, May 30, Matt, Nicole and I were headed to town to run some errands and get two of our interns from the airport. We were stopped by the police and told not to go near the airport as a plane had crashed. We knew by the time of day it was that it was the first TACA flight that had crashed. My first thought was to get word to our friends in Illinois that it was not the American flight on which their children were flying to Tegucigalpa. I did not have any US numbers stored in my phone but managed to come up with one from a recent call. I called Donna and asked her to let everyone know.

I came to the Mi Esperanza house to get on the internet. Many people were at the house, using the phone, the internet and watching the television coverage. I opened my email to find an email from Illinois that the plane from Miami to Tegucigalpa was delayed. I knew the news of the crash had reached CNN, but it had not reached everyone. For that, I was thankful. After many calls back and forth to the states, our interns were able to fly into San Pedro Sula Friday night at 7:45. I called Marc and asked him if he wanted Matt, Nicole and I to drive over there and he said yes. He was dealing with other problems and issues.

At the same time I was learning of the plane crash and trying to call Illinois, Karen also called. She also had bad news. The parents of the five brothers had requested to regain custody of their children and it had been granted. These five boys, Yovani, Marvin, Mario, Francisco, and Antonio were the first five children that came to live at Casa de Esperanza. They had been there for two years. The father was in prison. He is now out of prison. We only hope and pray this is the best decision for the boys. Nicole was here in Honduras and got to go pick the boys up and bring them to Casa de Esperanza. She was beyond consolation, as we all were. We were being allowed a chance to tell them goodbye. We went to where they were before we left for San Pedro Sula. Yes, there were many tears from everyone, including the boys.

We left for San Pedro Sula and it took an hour and a half to get across town. With all roads that led to the airport closed, trafffic was the worst kind of nightmare. The highway from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula is a curvy, mountainous one. In addition, it was rainy and foggy and getting dark. It goes without saying, it is only two lane. It was a challenging drive and I was thankful I was not alone. We got to San Pedro Sula and found only one of Nolan's bags came and none of Karis's. I drove all the way back except for the last hour and let Matt take over. It was 3:00 a.m. before we arrived safely home. With the airport closed, Marc was having to leave for San Pedro Sula to get our group that arriving from Topeka, Kansas. I like to meet our groups as they arrive, but since Marc was leaving at 6:00 a.m., I politely declined.

There have been many phone calls and trips to the airport about the luggage. I retrieved all three pieces this morning from the Tegucigalpa airport.

The arrival of the Topeka group began our busy summer season. Most flights are being diverted to San Pedro Sula. At this point, we do not know the logistics of getting everyone from San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa. I think this is going to be a great summer and God is going to do great and awesome things and satan is quaking in his boots and throwing as many darts as possible to keep God from reigning supreme.

Yes, many crazy things have happened and we all feel like we are going insane, but we forget who is in charge. God had to remind us it certainly is not us.

Pray for the boys that are no longer at Casa de Esperanza, the new children that will soon be coming, the summer groups and the logistics of getting them here.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Terri