Before I really get started on this blog I have a few other comments. First, there are very good doctors that are highly trained in this country. We have seen good doctors and Marc is in capable hands. We do not go to Hospital Escuela.
We did have the vehicles registered by 10:30 Tuesday morning. Registered, not with metal plates. That is another line 15 days away. Don't ask, because I don't know the answer.
Pam V. is there an email or blog where I can get in touch with you?
In Honduras there is basically two seasons, rainy and dry. The rainy season is from May to November and is very rainy. The dry season is from November to May and is very dry. People who have lived here know what to expect as we have seen people trimming and cutting dry brush, grass and weeds in an attempt to get rid of as much kindling as possible. I have never even visited Honduras this time of year. Since we returned from the states, we can almost see a difference daily in the way the land looks. It is getting a golden brown. The rivers, creeks and streams are already low and not flowing. Friday night we could see a fire blazing. Had it been several hours earlier, we might have thought it was a glorious sunset. There was nothing glorious about this, though. Saturday morning when we went to the fruit market, we could still see a long line of smoke. The fire was not totally extinguished. Yesterday, after we saw the opthamologist and were driving back up the mountain, we could see several fires burning on the mountainsides, most of them quite large.
This is only January. It is going to get much worse before it gets better. There will be houses and land, and livestock, and probably human life lost. People that have so little, will lose everything. We are expecting ministry needs and requests to be great the next few months. Please pray that the fire season will not be as brutal as in years past and that we can minister to those in extreme with great compassion.
Terri
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Another Day at the DMV
Oh my! It is hard to know what to blog about tonight. I will try to weave it all in.
There is just no adequate way to describe the DMV here. We have tried to get the vehicles registered before, without success. Our car and the children's home van were both shipped here from the states, which means there are more steps to complete the registration process. We were driving with the import papers and other documents to show that the vehicles were in the country legally. Until about a week and a half ago that is. All the papers were taken to the lawyer to try to speed up the process, which it probably did speed things up, but we were without papers and could not drive either of those vehicles. Challenging to say the least. Friday afternoon the lawyer called and said the papers now had the proper stamp and both vehicles had 9:30 appointments for inspection. The lawyer even had someone bring the papers to us so we could drive to town this morning. Of course, this was a different place than where we went before and we found it and were there by 9:00. My husband, ever the optimist, says since we are early, it probably won't take long. We quickly discovered 100 vehicles had 9:30 appointments and we were numbers 54 and 55. I honestly thought we had driven into a used car auction. All the cars had their hoods raised. We raised ours, too. Mr. Optimist says this may take a couple of hours. People that did not even work for the DMV were checking under the hoods. Perhaps for something to pass the time. Our van drew many lookers and even a few tire kickers. When the inspector (note, I say inspector, one) began inspecting a vehicle it drew a large crowd. We had our lawyer and her assistant there to help us through the process. Thank goodness. Because of the lawyer, we got moved up about 15 places, making about 15 people not too happy. After living in states that require vehicles to be inspected, I am expecting the brakes, wipers, headlights, tail lights, etc. to be inspected. But no. They check to see if the VIN matches the one on the paper work. They check the motor number and the chasis number. Then they take pictures of these numbers. After each car has its VIN photographed, the photographer walks over to have the pictures developed. What do we do while the photographer is gone? We wait. When he gets back, he charges you for the pictures. Marc had a dentist appointment at 2:00 and took a taxi long before the pictures were taken and developed. He called me when he got to the dentist to tell me where to park. Again, I am thinking he is being awfully optimistic. Marc has had a toothache for several days and some bad places on his head and one eye. He also had a dermatologist appointment at 3:30.
After we pay for our pictures, more paper work has to be filled out and then we go stand in a really long line. It is almost 3:00 before we get to the long line. Marc calls to say he has no cavities, but the dentist wants him to see the dermatologist before she decides anything further. Another cab ride for Marc as we wait and wait. Somewhere around 4:00, as we have made very little progress, Marc calls to say he has shingles. Yes, on his head and in his eye.
We finally get to the front of the line. All of our paperwork is in order, but we do not have all the copies we need. We need so many copies, we are told, there is not time to leave, make the copies, and get back before 5:00. Illinois and California DMVs have nothing on this system. Trust me. We leave to go get copies made, and, of course, the copy shop is full of people from the DMV. And, there is no such thing as self-service copies. So we wait some more. Marc has walked partially from the dermatologist's office back to the dentist's office and is waiting in a coffee shop. He sees I am not going to make it, and walks the rest of the way to the dentist's office.
Our copies are finally made, and, being the receipt nazi that I am, I ask for a receipt. I have been watching as paper comes out of the cash register every time a transaction is made. She picks up every single piece of paper to show me they are blank. No ink in the machine. Not giving up that easily, she had to write me a receipt.
I am finally ready to get Marc and leave in 5:00 traffic. Marc calls right before I get to the dentist's office to say he is on his way to the pharmacy. The toothache is a little gum erosion.
Upon getting to the pharmacy, we find this pharmacy does not have the meds Marc needs, a not uncommon thing here. We got really lucky to find most of them at the second pharmacy. One of the meds he needed was for 42 pills and the pharmacy only had 26. But that was more than enough for tonight.
So we finally get home twelve and a half hours after leaving this morning. And what does tomorrow hold. What we know of right now: finishing at the DMV, Marc has an opthamologist appointment since he has shingles in his left eye, one child has a counseling appointment and Karen comes back tomorrow and will need to be picked up at the airport.
I hope that is all.
Terri
There is just no adequate way to describe the DMV here. We have tried to get the vehicles registered before, without success. Our car and the children's home van were both shipped here from the states, which means there are more steps to complete the registration process. We were driving with the import papers and other documents to show that the vehicles were in the country legally. Until about a week and a half ago that is. All the papers were taken to the lawyer to try to speed up the process, which it probably did speed things up, but we were without papers and could not drive either of those vehicles. Challenging to say the least. Friday afternoon the lawyer called and said the papers now had the proper stamp and both vehicles had 9:30 appointments for inspection. The lawyer even had someone bring the papers to us so we could drive to town this morning. Of course, this was a different place than where we went before and we found it and were there by 9:00. My husband, ever the optimist, says since we are early, it probably won't take long. We quickly discovered 100 vehicles had 9:30 appointments and we were numbers 54 and 55. I honestly thought we had driven into a used car auction. All the cars had their hoods raised. We raised ours, too. Mr. Optimist says this may take a couple of hours. People that did not even work for the DMV were checking under the hoods. Perhaps for something to pass the time. Our van drew many lookers and even a few tire kickers. When the inspector (note, I say inspector, one) began inspecting a vehicle it drew a large crowd. We had our lawyer and her assistant there to help us through the process. Thank goodness. Because of the lawyer, we got moved up about 15 places, making about 15 people not too happy. After living in states that require vehicles to be inspected, I am expecting the brakes, wipers, headlights, tail lights, etc. to be inspected. But no. They check to see if the VIN matches the one on the paper work. They check the motor number and the chasis number. Then they take pictures of these numbers. After each car has its VIN photographed, the photographer walks over to have the pictures developed. What do we do while the photographer is gone? We wait. When he gets back, he charges you for the pictures. Marc had a dentist appointment at 2:00 and took a taxi long before the pictures were taken and developed. He called me when he got to the dentist to tell me where to park. Again, I am thinking he is being awfully optimistic. Marc has had a toothache for several days and some bad places on his head and one eye. He also had a dermatologist appointment at 3:30.
After we pay for our pictures, more paper work has to be filled out and then we go stand in a really long line. It is almost 3:00 before we get to the long line. Marc calls to say he has no cavities, but the dentist wants him to see the dermatologist before she decides anything further. Another cab ride for Marc as we wait and wait. Somewhere around 4:00, as we have made very little progress, Marc calls to say he has shingles. Yes, on his head and in his eye.
We finally get to the front of the line. All of our paperwork is in order, but we do not have all the copies we need. We need so many copies, we are told, there is not time to leave, make the copies, and get back before 5:00. Illinois and California DMVs have nothing on this system. Trust me. We leave to go get copies made, and, of course, the copy shop is full of people from the DMV. And, there is no such thing as self-service copies. So we wait some more. Marc has walked partially from the dermatologist's office back to the dentist's office and is waiting in a coffee shop. He sees I am not going to make it, and walks the rest of the way to the dentist's office.
Our copies are finally made, and, being the receipt nazi that I am, I ask for a receipt. I have been watching as paper comes out of the cash register every time a transaction is made. She picks up every single piece of paper to show me they are blank. No ink in the machine. Not giving up that easily, she had to write me a receipt.
I am finally ready to get Marc and leave in 5:00 traffic. Marc calls right before I get to the dentist's office to say he is on his way to the pharmacy. The toothache is a little gum erosion.
Upon getting to the pharmacy, we find this pharmacy does not have the meds Marc needs, a not uncommon thing here. We got really lucky to find most of them at the second pharmacy. One of the meds he needed was for 42 pills and the pharmacy only had 26. But that was more than enough for tonight.
So we finally get home twelve and a half hours after leaving this morning. And what does tomorrow hold. What we know of right now: finishing at the DMV, Marc has an opthamologist appointment since he has shingles in his left eye, one child has a counseling appointment and Karen comes back tomorrow and will need to be picked up at the airport.
I hope that is all.
Terri
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Moving Home
A couple of years ago, after Casa de Esperanza was finished, a little duplex was built on this property. Rough, rustic, crude are few adjectives that come to mind to describe this duplex. One side was never finished inside. One side had one coat of stucco and then painted pink, blue and several other colors. Noel and Joanna lived in the partially finished side while Noel was the preacher here in Santa Ana. When we moved here, we lived in the unfinished side. Cinder block walls. When Noel and Joanna went back to Nicaragua, we decided to knock down the wall and finish the whole house. When we left for the states in December, work began. They, of course, began work on the empty side. All the paint had to be removed from the walls to get another layer of stucco on. They chipped holes in the paint about half inch apart and then after that I am not really sure how the paint was removed, but it took a long time. Then two layers of stucco. A beautiful arch was made in the adjoining wall. A tile was laid. Not really the tile, Marc and I picked out before we left, but that is ok. I still liked it a lot. They they moved everything from the side we had been living in to the other side to do all this work again and then some because the bathroom was enlarged. The first side was not complete when we returned from the states on January 1.
Then there was the problem with the unlevel floor. That took a lot of extra work and time. This
week we have seen an amazing amount of work accomplished down there. All work was complete today. Since we got some painting done last week, we were just a bit ahead. Marc and I sanded and painted all afternoon. I was energized knowing tomorrow night I would be in my home, in my bed. Appropriately, I had on a t-shirt that said "Extreme Home Makeover Honduras Edition". We still have a whole side and a bathroom to paint. But we can set the bed up in our bedroom tomorrow. I can start making this house our home. I can put out pictures of the kids, hang my grand canyon picture, use my new cabinets, have company, settle in at last.
My house is beautiful. Timoteo and his crew did a wonderful job. I now have a vanity in my bathroom. I think the vanity and the arch are the crown jewels. Everything is perfect except for one thing. The wrong tile was put on my vanity, but it is what it is.
I am so nasty and a shower will definitely help, but this would be a great night, for a hot bath. But that is not to be. No bathtubs here.
In just a couple of days I will have extra bedrooms. Anyone can come see us anytime you want.
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home. And I am so ready to be in my new home.
Terri
Then there was the problem with the unlevel floor. That took a lot of extra work and time. This
week we have seen an amazing amount of work accomplished down there. All work was complete today. Since we got some painting done last week, we were just a bit ahead. Marc and I sanded and painted all afternoon. I was energized knowing tomorrow night I would be in my home, in my bed. Appropriately, I had on a t-shirt that said "Extreme Home Makeover Honduras Edition". We still have a whole side and a bathroom to paint. But we can set the bed up in our bedroom tomorrow. I can start making this house our home. I can put out pictures of the kids, hang my grand canyon picture, use my new cabinets, have company, settle in at last.
My house is beautiful. Timoteo and his crew did a wonderful job. I now have a vanity in my bathroom. I think the vanity and the arch are the crown jewels. Everything is perfect except for one thing. The wrong tile was put on my vanity, but it is what it is.
I am so nasty and a shower will definitely help, but this would be a great night, for a hot bath. But that is not to be. No bathtubs here.
In just a couple of days I will have extra bedrooms. Anyone can come see us anytime you want.
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home. And I am so ready to be in my new home.
Terri
Friday, January 25, 2008
Happy Birthday Dilcia
At Casa de Esperanza, we love birthday celebrations. Yesterday, we celebrated Dilcia's birthday. Dilcia was our very first employee. We hired her before we had kids. About 4 months before. We knew she was a good employee and hard worker and didn't want to lose her. Oh how she loves these kids and loves us.
We found out her favorite kind of cake was chocolate. On Tuesday, Marc ordered a chocolate cake from the bakery. Yesterday, before lunch, Marc and I walked up to the bakery and got the cake. When we walked in the door, she was so grateful. The kids sung happy birthday and everyone got a piece of cake.
Most days, Dilcia and her sister have to ride the bush two and a half hours to get home. As another surprise, we were taking them home. What they did not know, was we were stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken and buying enough chicken and french fries for their whole family. We did this. It was two huge bags of food. When we got them home, they got out of the truck and they were so appreciative. They thanked us and hugged us and thanked us and hugged us. Seeing that kind of gratefulness brought tears to my eyes before we drove away.
I am sure that family enjoyed every morsel of Dilcia's birthday meal.
Terri
We found out her favorite kind of cake was chocolate. On Tuesday, Marc ordered a chocolate cake from the bakery. Yesterday, before lunch, Marc and I walked up to the bakery and got the cake. When we walked in the door, she was so grateful. The kids sung happy birthday and everyone got a piece of cake.
Most days, Dilcia and her sister have to ride the bush two and a half hours to get home. As another surprise, we were taking them home. What they did not know, was we were stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken and buying enough chicken and french fries for their whole family. We did this. It was two huge bags of food. When we got them home, they got out of the truck and they were so appreciative. They thanked us and hugged us and thanked us and hugged us. Seeing that kind of gratefulness brought tears to my eyes before we drove away.
I am sure that family enjoyed every morsel of Dilcia's birthday meal.
Terri
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Speaking Spanish
Speaking spanish is still very hard, as is listening, understanding and reading, and I do not even attempt to write yet. But I am improving. I have been able to pay the employees. I have asked Dilcia many things about ordering the food and been here to pay for those deliveries. I discussed some receipts on my house with Timoteo and understood most of what he said. I had Marc standing there as backup. And it is definitely baby talk spanish. Timoteo said I was doing good. He was just being nice. I can go to the grocery store without my spanish english dictionary. That is the only place I can go without my dictionary. I am understanding most of church these days. At least, I can get to the scripture references. That helps a tremendous amount in knowing what the sermon is about. I still provide a great deal of entertainment for the Hondurans when I say things like "Nicole is my eye" instead of Nicole is my daughter. They laugh with me, not at me. But, they are kind and patient with me and are trying to help me learn.
My vocabulary is growing daily. Some words, though, I will never have a chance to use. For instance, I don't think I will ever be able to use the words for sugar mill and oil cloth. I still have a very long way to go. I may not ever learn all the tenses, or all this masculine or femine stuff, but just the fact that I am slowly improving is enough encouragement to keep trying.
Terri
My vocabulary is growing daily. Some words, though, I will never have a chance to use. For instance, I don't think I will ever be able to use the words for sugar mill and oil cloth. I still have a very long way to go. I may not ever learn all the tenses, or all this masculine or femine stuff, but just the fact that I am slowly improving is enough encouragement to keep trying.
Terri
Monday, January 21, 2008
Trusting God
Trusting God. That is what we are suppose to do in all things. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is not. Right now we are facing trials personally and at Casa de Esperanza.
Thursday, Nathan called to let us know that he and Julia are expecting another baby. Oh how excited and delighted we were. Last night Julia called and all things may not be ok with this pregnancy. How hard it is to not be able to get to my kids. I have to trust God on this one.
Brayan, one of the boys here at Casa de Esperanza, had blood in his stool last night. He has already seen the doctor on the property this morning. We will be taking him into town to the lab tomorrow. May be appendicitis, may be something else. We have to trust God and place Brayan in His hands.
In July 2005, we broke ground on Casa de Esperanza. We took our first kids in June 2006, a miraculous feat in itself in Honduras. Our first 5 kids are brothers. Oh! How we love everyone of them. Their dad was in prison for murdering someone and at least one of these precious little guys witnessed this. In addition to having murdered someone, he is an alcoholic and abusive and has anger issues. The dad is now out of prison. At this moment, we do not know if we will get to keep these 5 little guys. They may be placed back in the home. All of us are tense and anxious. All of us are saying many prayers and shedding many tears. We need strength, courage, and wisdom. We have to trust God that He will do the very best things for Yovani, Marvin, Maurio, Francisco, and Antonio.
Nothing can prepare us for these kinds of events. We will trust in God and God will give us peace.
This week we solicit your prayers for the above mentioned precious souls.
Terri
Thursday, Nathan called to let us know that he and Julia are expecting another baby. Oh how excited and delighted we were. Last night Julia called and all things may not be ok with this pregnancy. How hard it is to not be able to get to my kids. I have to trust God on this one.
Brayan, one of the boys here at Casa de Esperanza, had blood in his stool last night. He has already seen the doctor on the property this morning. We will be taking him into town to the lab tomorrow. May be appendicitis, may be something else. We have to trust God and place Brayan in His hands.
In July 2005, we broke ground on Casa de Esperanza. We took our first kids in June 2006, a miraculous feat in itself in Honduras. Our first 5 kids are brothers. Oh! How we love everyone of them. Their dad was in prison for murdering someone and at least one of these precious little guys witnessed this. In addition to having murdered someone, he is an alcoholic and abusive and has anger issues. The dad is now out of prison. At this moment, we do not know if we will get to keep these 5 little guys. They may be placed back in the home. All of us are tense and anxious. All of us are saying many prayers and shedding many tears. We need strength, courage, and wisdom. We have to trust God that He will do the very best things for Yovani, Marvin, Maurio, Francisco, and Antonio.
Nothing can prepare us for these kinds of events. We will trust in God and God will give us peace.
This week we solicit your prayers for the above mentioned precious souls.
Terri
Saturday, January 19, 2008
A Nice Drive
This week has been busy for both Marc and I. Starting with the painting of the kindergarten, an outing to town, paperwork, errands, getting clothing to a child that needed some just to name a few. Yesterday we began sanding the stucco in our house, a really dirty job. After some unplanned events, we both frantically took off in different directions. This morning we sanded some more and began to paint. A side note on the progress of our house. Wednesday we were told it would be finished on Tuesday. I was thinking "no way." Today, we were told it would take all next week. Perhaps. Sounding more and more like "The Money Pit" isn't it?
After working until around 2:00, and then cleaning up our mess and ourselves, we took a little country drive. One of my favorite things to do. The road was much better than the major Honduran highway to Copan. It was a pleasant break. We live on top of a mountain, so any direction we go immediately leads into a valley. We headed toward San Buena Ventura. Almost immediately we saw the most amazingly beautiful bluffs. There were orchards and flowers and vegetation. That was surprising in itself, as we are in the dry season. We drove and drove and drove and could have kept going, but knew we needed to turn around in order to get home before dark.
Not only will we do this drive again when we need a little break, but probably there will be a food distribution out there this summer. I don't think too many people have done food distributions out that far.
I hope everyone takes a nice little break this weekend.
Terri
After working until around 2:00, and then cleaning up our mess and ourselves, we took a little country drive. One of my favorite things to do. The road was much better than the major Honduran highway to Copan. It was a pleasant break. We live on top of a mountain, so any direction we go immediately leads into a valley. We headed toward San Buena Ventura. Almost immediately we saw the most amazingly beautiful bluffs. There were orchards and flowers and vegetation. That was surprising in itself, as we are in the dry season. We drove and drove and drove and could have kept going, but knew we needed to turn around in order to get home before dark.
Not only will we do this drive again when we need a little break, but probably there will be a food distribution out there this summer. I don't think too many people have done food distributions out that far.
I hope everyone takes a nice little break this weekend.
Terri
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)