Relaxing in Hot Springs Village

We arrived safely in Little Rock on Thursday night. Both flights were uneventful, thankfully. Friday, I bought some groceries and began to prepare food for our celebration on Saturday. I also got a much needed haircut.

Friday night, the College of Bible and Religion had a blessing ceremony for their graduates. One of the professors read a blessing for each of the graduates. It was a very sweet, very meaningful ceremony.

Saturday was a grand day. It was better than I could have imagined. To see both of our kids walk across that stage and hear their names called as they each received their college diplomas. Happy does not even begin to describe how I felt. In addition to Marc and I, the kids had their spouses, their in-laws, grandparents and aunts and uncles. There were seventeen of us at graduation. After I took all the pictures the kids would tolerate, we moved our celebrating out to Skip and Susan Grace's house, where some of the kids friends joined the family. We ate and enjoyed visiting with family and friends on this wonderful occasion.

Sunday afternoon we came to Hot Springs Village for a few days of relaxing. Sweet Camille and Marc's parents are with us. We are enjoying this wonderful time with our granddaughter. She is such a delight.

I knew I was tired. I had no idea how exhausted I really was. Today is the first day I have even begun to feel normal. I have sat around, unable to anything. Not read, not blog, not anything.

This morning I walked out by the lake. The lake was clear and glassy. I saw many different birds and listened as they squawked at each other. My father-in-law and Camille are throwing bread off the balcony and watching as the squirrels below quickly grab the bread and nibble on it.

We are enjoying this time of relaxation.

Terri

Leaving for Little Rock

When the Continental Airlines flight leaves at 12:30 tomorrow, Marc and I plan to be on it. We will be in Little Rock before 10:00 tomorrow night and then go on to Searcy. Not only will we be spending some good family time, but on Saturday morning, we get to watch both of our kids graduate from Harding University. How exciting. I can't wait.

But how can this be? How can they be graduating from college? Where has all the time gone? I promise, it feels like last month Nicole and I were getting ready for prom, presentations, and high school graduation. I think a couple of months before that, they were in seventh and eighth grade. Between football, basketball, cross country, and band we were at the school or on the road almost every night. Those were fun times. I thought I would miss all of that, but I haven't.

Maybe six months ago, they were in kindergarten and first grade. After a busy week the week they got out of school for Christmas break, I thought we would all sleep in, maybe until 7:00. I did. They didn't. At 6:30 in the morning, Nathan decided to sell his Christmas candy that he received at the school party the day before. He convinced Nicole to go with him. He did the talking and she had on her pjs, a bedhead and a smile. While I might be laughing about it now, I was horrified back then when I found out.

So many memories of them growing up together. Too many to share here. Watching them experience tragedy and triumph, victory and defeat, struggling through many difficult things, sometimes together and sometimes independently.

I have rejoiced at their baptisms and marriages, wept with them over the hurts they have experienced. I am proud of the partners they have chosen for the rest of their lives. I beam with pride that they finally became friends and no longer rivals.

Today, they both took their last final. Even from here, I thought I heard them joyfully shouting.
I am proud of them and the people they have become and are becoming. I am their mother and I have every right to be proud.

Saturday will be a great day in the Tindall household as we watch both of our children receive their college diplomas. I still don't know where all the time is gone. I hope I made good use of it.

Terri

The First 100 Backpacks

When we unloaded the container last week, we just unloaded it and didn't try to organize the boxes. In a perfect world, I would go to the warehouse and organize everything before we gave anything out. We do not live in perfect world. Yesterday Marc told me we needed a 100 backpacks by Wednesday morning. This would be an almost perfect world. My plan was to run a few errands and get to the warehouse and organize a little, pack backpacks, and organize some more. On the way to town, Marc called and said I needed the backpacks by 4:30. Welcome to Honduras. My errands were those that could not wait.

I got to the warehouse before 11:30. I organized a little and began to pack. How fun this was. With every box of crayons I packed, I remembered my friend Kathy writing, "remember how fun it was to open a brand new box of crayons." Some of these kids that received backpacks today have never had a brand new box of crayons. Think how fun that must have been. When I got hot, I thought of my friends that loaded that truck on a horribly cold day in February. Things went smoothly and I was having a great deal of fun.

Marc was going to meet me at the warehouse at 4:00 and we were going to load the truck and leave for Central Park. Literally, as I was zipping the 100th backpack, my phone rang. It was Marc. I looked at my watch. It was 3:00. Thinking I had an hour to organize before the next packing session, I breathed a sigh of relief. But, not to be. Marc had locked his keys in his car at Mirador Oriente. I jumped in the car and drove out there. No small distance. We all got back at exactly 4:00.

We quickly loaded the backpacks in the back of the truck. We were giving the backpacks, filled with school supplies to the children of the shoe shiners. The shoe shiners work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m in Central Park. They charge twenty limpera for each pair of shoes they shine. That is about a dollar. Compared to many, they actually make decent money. But for most of them, it still is not enough to buy school supplies for their children.

The shoe shiners helped us unload the truck. No one thought of trying to a take a backpack before they were told. Some of the shoeshiners had their children with them in the park and some did not. We got to meet some of the shoe shiners. They were all nice and all grateful for what we were doing. These are hardworking people.

When it was time to start handing out the backpacks, everyone waited patiently. There was no pushing or shoving. The men who did not have their children took exactly the number of backpacks as they had children. The children that were there, were unzipping those backpacks and squealing with delight.

I am always in awe how grateful people are. Many of the kids and the parents came to us, shook our hands and said gracias.

I am so tired, but it is a really good tired.

Terri

On A Sad Note

We do have electricity today, and, not knowing how long it will last, I am frantically scrambling to get as much done as possible. Trying to do to much multi-tasking means not much is being accomplished.

Different people saw Rudy on two different days over the weekend. The sad news is he is once again living on the streets of Tegucigalpa. He was dirty and probably hungry. He refused to acknowledge any of the people that saw him. I am sure, as much as we are in town, we will eventually see him. He may not acknowledge us either.

It is so difficult for us to understand that an eleven year old child would give up warmth, food, bed, clothing, education, and love to live on the streets. Once this lifestyle gets in their blood, it is so hard for them to turn away from it. Now we pray some more for Rudy. Not only that he will be fed and be warm and have a bed at night, but that this young, hard heart, will eventually be softened.

Terri

Challenges

As I mentioned not long ago, the price of diesel is continuing to rise. Right now, there are diesel shortages all over the country. A large number of buses cannot find diesel and, therefore, are not running. All of our employees were late to work yesterday. Some of our vehicles run on gasoline and I filled the trooper on Friday afternoon. I took the employees home yesterday afternoon. There is no telling how long it would have taken for them to get home if i had not taken them. What we are hearing is there won't be any more diesel in the country until Wednesday. All buses and trucks and most cars in Honduras run on diesel.

This morning I was checking my email and right in the middle of replying to one, the electricity went off. This happens frequently and I thought it would be back in just a few minutes. It did not come back on this morning. It did not come back on until just a few mintues ago. With water so precious right now, I do not shower everyday, but always on Sunday morning. With no hot water, I chose not to shower this morning. I certainly would have conserved water had I got in that ice cold shower. I conserved even more by not turning on the water. Good choice or bad choice I am not sure.

We found out at church that our electricity may be blacked out during the day every day. It will be on a short while of a morning and a short while in the evening. If this is so, our electricity will probably go out at 10:00 tonight, or even sooner. This, of course, will pose challenges for everyone. I don't know when and if I will have email or be able to blog. I don't know how often I will shower or wash my clothes. As inconvenient as this may be for me, it is nothing compared to what it does to the Hondurans. If buses cannot get diesel and aren't running, how can someone get to work? If they do not work, they will not earn $5.00 for that day. Without electricity, people that own the pulperias can't keep their coolers running so they can sell water for ten cents or cokes for 50 cents. I would guess if there is no electricity, the kids will not go to school tomorrow and they have not been since Wednesday.

We have heard there may be strikes over these situations. I hope not. I also hope, there is a solution to all of this soon.

Terri

Container Pictures

Here are some pictures of the container that go with the blog below.

Por Fin, Por Fin (At Last, At Last)

I am thinking that you people that bought school supplies are wondering what happened to them. Am I ever going to mention them again? Several of you have emailed me asking me "what about the school supplies?" I had no answer. I did not know.

Last week, the container finally arrived in the country, not here in Tegucigalpa, but in the country. After all the paperwork was complete with all i's dotted and all t's crossed, we had a firm time to unload the container. Tuesday at noon. I was on my way to the warehouse, and Marc called and said hold that thought, the container has been delayed. Just at the moment the container was to be released and on its way to our warehouse, someone asked about another fee that had not been paid. A brand new fee that the government has put in place. No one knew about this fee, not our lawyer that prepares the paperwork for release, not anyone. Welcome to Honduras.

Yesterday morning Marc went to the office where the container was and it was opened and inspected on site. Containers are usually inspected when we open them at the warehouse. Marc called at 12:30 and said it would be ready to unload at 2:00. Marc and I were at the warehouse at 2:00, but no container. No surprise here. It showed up a little after 3:00. Not too bad for Honduras.

A few Hondurans that needed work were there to help us unload. I have unloaded several containers since I have been here. We did not have that many helpers and this was, by far, the easiest container to unload. We were through in just over two hours. Amazing.

The workers we had were amazing. There were three women and two men our friend Gina Larios asked to help. Each one took a dolly and, once it was loaded with boxes, would run back to the storeroom, leave the boxes and run back. Thinking of other containers that took several hours to unload, I was hoping they would slow down and not tire themselves. They pretty much kept that pace for the whole time.

I have been asked, since school has started will be able to distribute the school supplies. The answer is definitely, yes. With the rising food prices, the arrival of school supplies will help some families keep their children in school for the remainder of the school year. There are many places we will be taking school supplies. I will keep you updated.

To everyone that bought school supplies and sent them to Illinois, I thank you. To those that sent money, I thank you. To my friends in Illinois that took the money and purchased more supplies, inventoried, repacked and prepared everything for shipping, I thank you. And forgetting this was being done in the United States, not Honduras, plans changed. The container had to be shipped from Nashville, not Illinois. A big thanks to all those people that loaded a truck on bitterly cold and windy February afternoon. And thanks to Ron Ashby and Jerry Carter for driving that truck to Nashville. Thanks to everyone of you for your part in this shipment, for the heart that wants to see these children here in Honduras have a chance at an education. This shipment could not have been done without each and every one of you.

Now, I am ready to get back to the warehouse and get these school supplies out of there and into the hands of those that truly need them.

Terri