Dedication Of The Darryl Jinkerson Memorial Mission House

Years ago, while living in Columbus, we came to know the Jinkersons from Starkville.  At some point in time, all of their kids came to Honduras with us.  Eventually,  Sylvia and Perry did too.  Then we moved to O'Fallon, Illinois.  The first Sunday we were there, we went to church at Fairview Heights.  We met Lee and Laverne Jinkerson, Perry's mom and dad.  And, we became friends with more Jinkersons. 

Right before we moved to Honduras, Mr. Lee died.  During that time, we met more Jinkersons.  We decided that in the summer of 2008, a memory house for Mr. Lee would be built.  Mrs. Laverne, Perry and Sylvia, Darryl and Richard and some of their kids came to Honduras that summer to build the memory house.  At the time, we got to know Darryl better and became fast friends.

Darryl was teaching business at Abilene Christian University.  He had a passion for Honduras.  Even though he taught business, he often taught his students to give.  To give their time, as well as their money.

In October of 2012, Darryl suddenly and unexpectedly died.  I just could not believe it.  Shortly after that, we began our long-in-the-dreaming-and-planning mission house.  We could not think of a better way to honor our friend than to build the mission house in his honor.  Marc talked to Cindy and she thought it was fitting. 

Cindy, Mrs. Laverne, Amanda, Perry and Sylvia, and Phil Vardiman, another professor at ACU and one of Darryl's best friends are all here this week.

I started crying when I saw Cindy.  And have cried many times since. 

Tuesday the family built a memory house for Darryl and that night we formally dedicated the mission house.  True to form, I cried some more.  It was very short, sweet, and simple.   After the mission house is completely finished, we will place a plaque on the gate.

After the dedication and prayer, we celebrated with cake.

 Marc, Cindy, Sylvia, Perry, and Amanda.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Laverne was very ill.

It Has Been Another GREAT Day In Honduras

But, not because it is my birthday.  Though, many of you made it special for me.

I changed hats many times today.  Changing hats that many times is sometimes exhausting.  The Starkville group is here.  And Borger.  The Toillions and Maria and Billie are here, too.  One group was leaving and the Jinkersons were arriving. 

The ones that were already here went to church in Santa Ana.  After church, the plan was to take the Casa kids to town to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken and then to play soccer.  As soon as church was over, my mind was racing with details.  I knew that a baptism was about to take place.  As I was thinking about getting all the kids on the bus and..., and..., and...., and..., I wasn´t thinking about the baptism or even who was being baptized.  I only walked toward the front of the church to ask someone a question.

It was at that moment I realized the person about to be baptized was Belinda, Karol and Kelin's mother.  Many of you know Karol and Kelin.  They work for Honduras Hope.  And, I believe they are the kindest, sweetest, most beautiful Christians I have ever met.  I can´t remember if it was Dorian or Noel that studied with them and baptized.  They have been part of the Santa Ana church for a long time.  Like many, their story is hard one.  And, so is the story of Belinda.  There is a lot of brokenness and hurt and heartache.  But, today all of that was wiped clean.  Erased.  Forgotten.

It was a beautiful baptism.  Karol and Kelin were crying tears of happiness.  So was I.  I am sure others were too.  I am sure the angels in heaven were rejoicing as well. 

And, that is why it was another great day in Honduras.

Indian Day

Chief Lempira is a national hero in Honduras.  Every year on July 20 every school in this country honors him.  Our kids school is no exception.

Getting 14 kids ready for school is no easy task any day, but some of them have to go in costume, it is even more difficult.  Kathy came in at 7:00 this morning to help.  Kathy worked on hair.  All the girls needed braids this morning, so, that took a while.  Pamela did makeup and I tried to make sure their chores were done.  No one wanted to do chores.  They wanted to watch other having make up done.

Even Indian princesses have to do chores.

Pamela always does a good job on makeup and everyone was beautiful when she finished.

Dilma made Guadalupe's costume.  I can´t imagine gluing all that corn on to the dress.  Many costumes were even more elaborate.

At last, all the Indians were ready to go to school.

We were late this morning.  But we weren´t the only ones.

It was a cold, windy, rainy morning.  And the program was to be outside.  What do you do when a program is scheduled to be outside and it is raining?  In Honduras, you wait for the rain to quit and start the program an hour and forty-five minutes late.  

Guadalupe

Cris

Maryuri

Fernando

Daniela

Jose

Cindy

Morning Visitors

We have kids in kindergarten through eight grade.  Someone is always needing money for school.  They are suppose to tell me the night before.  I get it ready and take it to them when I do the 6:00 medicine.  Often, someone forgets to tell me and comes running down here after devotional or after breakfast or sometimes as they are loading into the van.

Marc and I were sitting here talking, a rare event in the summer, and we could hear footsteps coming this way.  Marc said here comes one of the kids.  As they neared, I said a whole herd of kids.  I thought it was two or three.  It was a whole herd.  It was everyone.  And Karen. And Dilcia. And Dorian and Korbin.  Of course, I thought they were coming to sing happy birthday to Marc.  They were.  But, they were also coming to sing happy birthday to me since mine is Sunday.  Their sweet little voices sang to us in both spanish and english.  Then they gave us some cupcakes from Cinnabon. Thank you, Karen.

I was hugging each child, when I heard the first egg break.  Marc got it twice.  Egging on one's birthday is a Honduran tradition.

Guess what I had for breakfast?

Reina's Graduation

In March 2009, I took Reina to her first Teleton appointment.  Since that time, she has been in education classes and self-esteem classes, among other things.  She has progressed more than any of us thought she could.  Friday, Reina made her last trip to Teleton.  Friday was graduation for 53 students who had finished the program.  Most of those were too old to continue in Teleton, including Reina. 

Teleton has always emphasized making the child feel good, no matter what their abilities are.  There was a huge graduation ceremony, much like sixth grade graduation.  Only not as long.  Reina was all smiles as we left.  She was all smiles all day.

Reina has always liked going to Teleton and is a bit sad she won´t be going any more.  We are not sure what is next.  Nicole and Deborah have visited a couple of programs and there are a couple more still to visit.  In this country, it is hard to enter kids into schools and programs mid-year.  Since the third partial just began, we probably can´t do anything until February.  Until then, Reina is going to spend some one-on-one time with Deborah learning to cook.

Congratulations, Reina.

Birthday Girls

On July 11, Emma Kate turned one.  On July 20, Haley will turn 4.  On July 16, Matt and Nicole leave for the States.  The girls will have a birthday party in Baton Rouge next Saturday.  Haley wanted to have one here, too.  I was glad for that.  Today was party day.

We had a girl party.  All the Casa girls, Richard's girls and a few neighbors came.  Haley even invited the pulperia owner and she came.

Nicole had the girls dressed in matching dresses.  They were so cute.

Everyone got their nails painted.

A game of pin the bow on Minnie Mouse.

 Someone missed the board.

No party in Honduras would be complete without a piñata.  Matt bought a huge piñata of Dora. I began to hand out ziplocks for the girls to put their candy in.  Rosy told me no.  She did not need a bag.  She brought her own.

Much bigger than everyone else's ziplocks.   That girl came prepared to get a lot of candy.

Emmy went first.

Then Haley.

Everyone got then swings.  Some tried to beat poor Dora to death and no one could make the candy fall.

After everyone had tried, unsuccessfully, Nicole hit Dora until she broke it open and the candy fell.

And, then there was girls all over the floor.

Haley and her bag of candy.



We had a few uninvited guests,

but Poppy ran them off with his broom

The birthday girls and their cake.

It is a Honduran tradition to have a little frosting put on your nose.

Haley got the first piece of cake.

Birthday girls enjoying their cake.

Haley made sure Baby Sister got her cake.

Soon Emmy began to feed herself.  She loved it.

Another great day in Honduras.

And A Little Child Shall Lead Them (Us)

I think I said that recently on this blog, but it happens frequently that a child sets an example we all should be following.

Our sweet Camille really needed to talk to Marc after he was robbed.  She said, "Poppy, I cried when I found out you were robbed.  I cried when I found out the money was for people's houses and they would not get a house.  Poppy, I want to give all my savings to help those people get a house."

I cried when I found out Marc was robbed.  I cried when I saw the wrecked vehicle.  I cried when I found out how much money Marc had and that is was for houses.  I cried when our sweet little granddaughter gave her whole savings account.

And a little child shall lead us.

Thanking God for sweet Camille and for everyone who gave to replace that stolen money.

Terri