Christmas Shopping

I do not like finishing things at the last minute, much less starting them at the last minute.  But, the last couple of years, that is the way I have lived.  Doing everything at the last minute and then rushing on to the next deadline.

Christmas just got here.  I don't know where the time went, but it is gone.  I online shopped for Camille.  I really would have liked to get her a couple of more things, but I spent so much in the extra shipping that it was not possible to do anything else right now.

We are having our family Christmas Monday night.  To find something for the girls, it was now or never.  I stopped at the pharmacy and the grocery store and arrived at the mall before 11:00.  There was still plenty of parking.  I thought that was a good sign.

I cannot remember the last time I looked around and shopped and had a good time shopping.  I always rush in get what I need and rush out.  I decided I was going to take my time and enjoy today. 

I sort of knew what I wanted for Haley and had no clue what to buy for Emma Kate.  I thought buying for the girls would be the hardest.  After going through a couple of shoe stores, I went into Lady Lee.  I expected to be able to mark several things off the list in that store.  I did, but not as many as I had hoped.  But I had something for both Haley and Emma Kate.  I hauled it to the car and started round two.

I thought I could probably finish in Mendel's.  That was pretty much a bust.  And, it was nearing 1:00.   I bought myself a shirt and the check out lines in Mendel's were long.   Ok, I had had some fun looking around and checking out stores.  Now it was time to get down to serious business and starting checking things off that list. 

I roamed around and finally decided on another department store.  I left there with pretty much everything, though I am not happy with all of it.  Then, I went back and bought the very first thing I saw for Nicole. 

And, then, as I was walking back to the parking garage, I bought myself some fresh hot popcorn.  That was my gourmet lunch.  

The mall was crowded.  The parking garage was crowded.  The streets were crowded.  I had one more errand to run in another part of town.  It was very slow going.  And, even slower getting home.

I really enjoyed shopping today.  Even more, I am enjoying being home, in my house shoes.  And, I really hope I do not have to go back to Tegucigalpa until after Christmas.

Second Treatment

It has been almost two years since Olman and Josue came to Casa de Esperanza to live.  They had been born prematurely.  They were two months old when they arrived.  Olman weighted 6 pounds and Josue weighed 4.5 pounds.  They were so tiny.  Both needed so many things and so much care. 

Olman soon began to put on a little weight, but Josue stayed tiny and fragile.  And, he was sick often.  Like most of the time.  The pediatrician put him on vitamins and minerals.  We saw doctor after doctor.  He was still sick often and still so tiny.

We are still seeing many different doctors, but we have found an immunologist that is really helping.  It has been determined Josue has an immune deficiency.  The tests to determine exactly which one are not in Honduras.  While knowing that would be helpful, it is not essential.  We know his little body was not able to fight off any bacteria or anything.  He is going to have to be vaccinated for almost everything because normal childhood diseases could kill this little one. 

The immunologist suggested an immunoglobulin treatment and a date was scheduled.  Before that date arrived, Josue had to be hospitalized.  He had pneumonia.  While he was in the hospital, the first treatment was given.  After returning home from the hospital, we noticed an almost immediate improvement.  An increased appetite.  An immediate improvement in walking and other activities.  He started talking, or making those first sounds that lead to talking.  We saw a huge change in his personality.  A change for the better.  Laughing, clapping, silly little things that babies should do.  We were amazed.  The immunologist said it has not been proven, but research is starting to show that this treatment may have positive effects on the central nervous system.  In this case, it looks like it might have.

At two plus years, Josue now weighs about 23 pounds.  He is still so tiny, but we are so excited at this recent weight gain.

Yesterday, Josue had the second treatment.  Nicole was at the hospital with him all day long.  The third and final treatment is scheduled for three weeks.  These treatments are quite expensive. 

We are Praising God that He led us to this doctor and that so many things the doctor is doing is working.  We are also trusting God that He will provide the resources to pay for these expensive treatments.

Kindergarten Graduation

Today was kindergarten graduation.  Any and Josue graduated.  Mirian, John, Matt, Nicole, Marc, and I went to this big event.  John was Any's padrino and I was Josue's madrina.  Marc led the prayer.

 Nice black sandals Any has (see yesterday's post)

Graduation was to start at 1:00 p.m.  We left here at 1:15.  We were still the first ones there.  Graduation finally started at 2:40.  That was much better than the year I went to Maryuri and Nohemy's graduation.

Since we had so much time, we took lots of group shots.  I really liked this one.

Kim, I especially thought you would want to see the decorations.

After the children were escorted in by their padrinos or madrinas, each child had a small speaking part.  During the speaking, there was quite a bit of entertainment.  Two boys began scuffling with each other.  One fell out of his chair.  I was so thankful our children were behaving.

 Josue spoke better with his head tilted

Any receiving her diploma.

Josue signing the book

Josue received an honor diploma.  I don't think we have ever seen one of those at Casa de Esperanza.

Then there was a little dance.

Unexpected to me, the padrinos and madrinas had to dance, too.  I did my part.

Last, but not least was the gifts. 

I think that was the favorite part.

It was a special day and I am glad I could be part of it.

Black Sandals

Graduation in Honduras is important.  And, it does matter what graduation; kindergarten, sixth grade, high school.  Whatever graduation it is, it is important.  Often the girls have to all have the same color dresses.  Everything has to be just so.

Tomorrow Any and Josue graduate from Kindergarten.  Any has a lavender dress.  It was Guadalupe's graduation dress and it has been completely remade to fit Any.  Josue's lavender shirt and black pants have been ironed.  His black shoes shined to perfection.  All things were in order.  Or so we thought.

Nicole thought Any needed black shoes and she was going to wear Haley's black school shoes.  Dilma told me at 4:30 Any needed black sandals, not black shoes.  Dilma said Mirian told Nicole.  Nicole insists she said black shoes.  Who said what and who heard what was really immaterial.  I had to find black sandals, little bitty black sandals, and I had to find them soon. 

I was thankful graduation is at 1:00, not 10:00.

Weighing my options, I could leave for Tegucigalpa and know with certainty, I would not get back in time for my 7:30 Bible study with Camille.  I could leave for Tegucigalpa early tomorrow, be at Wal-Mart when it opened and pray like everything that I found little black sandals at Wal-Mart, and hope I got back in time.  I opted for the morning run to Tegucigalpa with hopes I could figure out something else before morning. 

Nicole has lots of boxes and suitcases of stuff at her house that the groups have left.  She began going through those.  We began asking the neighbors that have little girls if they had black sandals we could borrow.  I was not in the least ashamed of this action.  And, I was telling everyone I was praying for black sandals to appear.  I did not want to go to Tegucigalpa in the morning.  Ana came back from the preacher's house with black sandals in her hand.  I began praising God.  A bit prematurely.  The sandals were black and they were little.  A bit too little.  Ana returned the sandals and they looked for another pair, to no avail.

I was earnestly praying for black sandals, when I had the most marvelous idea ( and I do know where that idea came from.  Thanks be to God.).  Remembering that two years ago all the girls were in Byron and Pamela's wedding and all had white sandals.  There were so many pairs, surely one would fit Any.  I found one pair that was a perfect fit.  Now to find the shoe polish.

The first two tins of black shoe polish were empty or dried up.  We looked in the pantry.   We looked in the bodega.  And found a brand new tin.  Black shoe polish had never looked so good.  Doris took a rag and the black shoe polish just smeared across the sandals.  This was not going to work.  Dilma kept saying this was a really good idea.  But, it was not working.  Someone remembered chemcol.  We had chemcol, but it was white.  Not exactly what I needed.  With a little bit of money, Doris (the employee) went rushing off to the pulperia.  I was just pacing.  I did not want to go to Tegucigalpa tomorrow.

Finally, Doris returned with black chemcol, a shoe dye.  She began putting it on the white sandals.  And, it was working.  I was so excited.

Any will have black sandals tomorrow.  I am so thankful for chemcol and that I don't have to go to Tegucigalpa tomorrow. 

It will be a great day tomorrow as we watch our two little kindergarteners graduate.

Terri

City Mall

Friday, the kids got a big surprise.  The group that came for the Jesus Banquet took them to City Mall to eat lunch.  City Mall is the newest mall in Tegucigalpa and has rides and games on the top floor.

I did not know about this outing until Thursday night.  And, I decided not to tell the kids until it was time to change clothes and leave.  I did tell the housekeeping staff they did not need to prepare lunch.  The original plan was to leave about noon.  Rarely, do we stick to the original plan.  Marc called at 9:30 and said we were leaving between 10:30 and 11:00.

I told the kids that the group wanted to take them to lunch.  I did not say where we were going and I did not say anything about the rides.  There was jumping and screaming and hugging.  I went to the other house to tell them.  Same reaction.  Because all of the other kids were jumping and screaming, Baby Josue tried to jump, too.  We all cheered for that since we had never seen him try to jump before.

Thanks to Abby Aurigema,  most of the girls had new clothes, or new used clothes.  But they were new to the girls and they dressed to the nines. 

Everyone is dressed up and ready to go to Tegucigalpa.

I decided everyone could go, even the twins.  I knew this might be a disaster and they might scream the entire time.  They are two years old and have never been on an outing like this and I decided to risk it.

The bus that the group was on had a break down and they were not even out of Santa Ana.  Welcome to Honduras.  At least, Cafe Gringo benefited from the break down.  I asked for one brave volunteer to ride in the van with me.  Kaye Messer volunteered.

We waved at the group and hoped they would join us soon.  I drove slowly down the mountain as I was hoping the bus would catch up with me.  I really was not looking forward to escorting 20 kids into the mall with only one other adult.

As we drove toward the mall, there was excitement in the van as they realized we were going to the mall.  

Cris saw the ferris wheel on the roof and got so excited.

We parked and made it across the parking lot and into the mall without incident.  We were greeted by Nicole, Haley, Emma Kate, and Guadalupe.  We are now three adults and 23 kids.  And the gringos are still in Santa Ana.  

The mall is beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Nicole and I began to pose the children in front of everything for pictures.  It was great entertainment.  For a few minutes.

No one can imagine what herding 23 kids through a mall is like.  And no picture does it justice.

With big eyes, some of the girls did some serious window shopping.

While the group was still sitting in Santa Ana, at least Marc arrived and escorted us to the food court.

Olman began to cry when we went to the bathroom, but at least the hand dryer was a big hit.

Once we knew the bus was almost to the mall, we took the kids upstairs.  If the screams were loud when I told the kids we were going to Tegucigalpa for lunch, it was nothing compared to the screams when they saw what was happening next.  Marc bought tickets and in we went.

First ride, the ferris wheel.

Almost everyone rode this.  Then they paired up with a gringo friend and went separate directions.

Yair was excited he was tall enough to ride the roller coaster.

 

The teacups were another big hit.

Rosy like all things spinning.  And the faster, the better.

The fun continued

Cindy may have been smiling before this ride, but she certainly wasn't when she got off.  But, a sucker quickly made her forget her fears.


And then, there were the games.

New friends.

After all the fun and excitement, we went for ice cream.

No, Olman did not eat that whole ice cream cone.

All of the kids had fun.  All of the kids, even the twins, behaved well.  I was proud of them.  I just did not think I could get everyone back to the van by myself.  I asked for help.  I had plenty.  We got into the parking lot and the kids scattered.  I gathered them back together and we got to the van.  Everyone was in the van and, immediately,  a fight broke out.  It was amusing.  And, it wasn't.  After that little issue was resolved, we started home.  A couple went to sleep. 

It was a great day and many, many thanks to the group for such a special day.