Before I ever came to Honduras, I had a nice little hammer that was used only for putting a nail in the wall on which to hang a picture. I was not proficient with a hammer and would have failed hammer using 101. The first year I came to Honduras, I wanted to work on a house and I discovered there were many useful tasks in house building that did not require the use of a hammer.
As time passed, I gradually got better with a hammer and I have become fair at nailing siding and flooring. But, of course, I use a girl hammer. The kind that most guys would be ashamed to be caught using. A couple of years ago, Lanetta taught me how to get the hinges on the doors and windows. I was really moving up in the world of hammering since those are four inch nails.
Recently, Karen and I have purchased new merchandise for the Casa store. Something had to be done about our store to get the new merchandise displayed. We bought some pegboard from one of our suppliers. Yesterday I bought some S hooks and other hardware that I could get into the pegboard and we could display keychain, necklaces and such. The pegboard was hung while I was in town.
Today, I was a woman on a mission. I was going to get the store ready for these last groups of the year. I immediatly encountered a problem or two. The S hooks were bigger than the holes in the pegboard.
I am a person who thinks inside the box and my mind doesn't wander from that box too often. To me, this problem seemed like it could not be overcome.
Marc took a hammer and a nail and showed me how to enlarge the hole and get the S hook in. He said after you get the hole the size you want it, just tap the hook a couple of times and it will go right in. Sounded very easy.
Marc left.
Nothing is as easy as it seems. First of all, Marc's hammer is a fat max, not a girl hammer. I could barely pick the thing up. Second of all, enlarging the hole was not near as easy as it was when Marc did it. And when, I finally got it done, I had to do more than tap the hook a couple of times to get the hook in.
After the first 30 minutes, when I did not have the first hole enlarged, I was becoming quite frustrated. I was ready to scrap the whole project. But I decided I was not going to let some pegboard and some S hooks beat me at this game. With determination, I enlarged that hole and, with all my might, pounded that S hook in the hole. It may not ever come out. But I may not ever want it out.
The next one only took five minutes. Yay! I was on a roll. I got several more hooks into the pegboard. I didn't get completely finished before I had to go on shift with the children, but I sure made good progress. My decorator friends may not think so.
Now that we all know I can use a fat max, I think I will go back to using my girl hammer.
Terri
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Remember The Necklaces
The necklaces are arriving. It is not too late to order one. Remember each necklace purchased helps the seven ladies at the dump who are trying to find a way to earn a living other than working in the dump. It also helps Casa de Esperanza. There are several new, fun pretty colors.
For more information about these necklaces or to order one, please email me at terriltindall@yahoo.com
A big thanks to those people who have already ordered one or more.
Terri
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Gratefulness
This time of the year, most of us Americans are thinking of things for which we are thankful. Because we are so blessed, it is easy to do.
Many times in Honduras we find people that are truly thankful for things we sometimes take for granted. Today was one of those days.
Minimum wage just went up. By American standards, minimum wage is not much and, by those same standards, the raise was small, extremely small. The minimum wage law was just passed but was effective September 1. Therefore, we had to pay the raise portion of the salary retroactively.
As I paid employees today, I was explaining the raise, then the retroactive portion, then their salary for the last two weeks. One employee is extremely sensitive and cries easily. She burst into tears after I gave the retroactive portion of the pay. I began asking what was wrong, was everything figured correctly. I was getting no answer, just more tears. I was thinking I had done something horrible to offend her. She finally pulled herself together and told me she was so grateful for the raise and the extra pay. She had so many expenses. She told she was not sad or mad, but happy.
Her raise was 11 lempiras a day or fifty eight cents. Fifty five lempiras a week or two dollars and ninety cents a week. The retroactive raise for September and October was just over $25.00. And she was weeping with gratefulness.
I can waste her week's raise without even thinking about it or knowing where I wasted it and she was thinking of all the bills she could pay.
And she knew exactly who to thank. She thanked me, but her biggest praise was "Gracias a Dios" (thank you God).
Terri
Many times in Honduras we find people that are truly thankful for things we sometimes take for granted. Today was one of those days.
Minimum wage just went up. By American standards, minimum wage is not much and, by those same standards, the raise was small, extremely small. The minimum wage law was just passed but was effective September 1. Therefore, we had to pay the raise portion of the salary retroactively.
As I paid employees today, I was explaining the raise, then the retroactive portion, then their salary for the last two weeks. One employee is extremely sensitive and cries easily. She burst into tears after I gave the retroactive portion of the pay. I began asking what was wrong, was everything figured correctly. I was getting no answer, just more tears. I was thinking I had done something horrible to offend her. She finally pulled herself together and told me she was so grateful for the raise and the extra pay. She had so many expenses. She told she was not sad or mad, but happy.
Her raise was 11 lempiras a day or fifty eight cents. Fifty five lempiras a week or two dollars and ninety cents a week. The retroactive raise for September and October was just over $25.00. And she was weeping with gratefulness.
I can waste her week's raise without even thinking about it or knowing where I wasted it and she was thinking of all the bills she could pay.
And she knew exactly who to thank. She thanked me, but her biggest praise was "Gracias a Dios" (thank you God).
Terri
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Church In Desamparados
When Matt and Nicole moved to Costa Rica, their sponsoring church, South Baton Rouge Church of Christ, said they knew the minister at a church in Desamparados and that Matt and Nicole should meet him. Matt and Nicole did call him and the church is not only the nearest one to their house, it is quite close. It was a pretty easy decision to go there since they are in Costa Rica without a car.
The whole weekend I have been stunned by how much more wealthy Costa Rica is than Honduras. Yes, there is poverty here, but it is hidden. Costa Rica is far more Americanized than Honduras. Realizing that Costa Rica is more wealthy, I was still amazed when we arrived at the church building this morning. The building was far nicer than I expected to see in Latin America and it had a parking lot with several cars parked in it. The building would not be large or grand by American standards, but by the standards by which I now make these judgements.
The people were lovely, so warm and welcoming. Just as church should be. They loved on us and it was plain to see that they love on Matt and Nicole all the time. Everyone was loving on and complementing Haley. Anyone who thinks Haley is grand, is good in this grammy's eyes. I think they have never had a gringa baby to love on for a whole year.
There was about 120 in church this morning. The singing was nice, but I like singing at my church in Santa Ana much better. At Santa Ana, we may be fewer in number, but we are sitting together and blending our voices as one. Everyone was too spread out this morning.
It was so difficult for me to hear this morning for several reasons. One, I knew it was my last day here and I was watching Haley. Everything she did was so cute and sweet. Two, the accoustics were kind of funny and it was just hard to hear. And three, in much the same way after I moved to Illinois from Mississippi and no one could understand my deep south english, after hearing Honduran spanish, Costa Rican spanish was just hard for me to understand every word. In spite of that, the fellowship was sweet.
As the offering plates were passed, all the children go up front to give their offering. Nicole took Haley up and she put two little coins in the basket.
I am pleased Matt and Nicole have found a church in which to worship the next year. I am glad we visited this morning. It is always fun to visit other churches.
Terri
The whole weekend I have been stunned by how much more wealthy Costa Rica is than Honduras. Yes, there is poverty here, but it is hidden. Costa Rica is far more Americanized than Honduras. Realizing that Costa Rica is more wealthy, I was still amazed when we arrived at the church building this morning. The building was far nicer than I expected to see in Latin America and it had a parking lot with several cars parked in it. The building would not be large or grand by American standards, but by the standards by which I now make these judgements.
The people were lovely, so warm and welcoming. Just as church should be. They loved on us and it was plain to see that they love on Matt and Nicole all the time. Everyone was loving on and complementing Haley. Anyone who thinks Haley is grand, is good in this grammy's eyes. I think they have never had a gringa baby to love on for a whole year.
There was about 120 in church this morning. The singing was nice, but I like singing at my church in Santa Ana much better. At Santa Ana, we may be fewer in number, but we are sitting together and blending our voices as one. Everyone was too spread out this morning.
It was so difficult for me to hear this morning for several reasons. One, I knew it was my last day here and I was watching Haley. Everything she did was so cute and sweet. Two, the accoustics were kind of funny and it was just hard to hear. And three, in much the same way after I moved to Illinois from Mississippi and no one could understand my deep south english, after hearing Honduran spanish, Costa Rican spanish was just hard for me to understand every word. In spite of that, the fellowship was sweet.
As the offering plates were passed, all the children go up front to give their offering. Nicole took Haley up and she put two little coins in the basket.
I am pleased Matt and Nicole have found a church in which to worship the next year. I am glad we visited this morning. It is always fun to visit other churches.
Terri
Volcan Irazu
The view from the top of Volcan Irazu
Yesterday we decided to see some of the sights near San Jose. We chose to go to the nearest volcano. It is Costa Rica's tallest active volcano, even though it has not erupted since 1963. The drive was about 60 kilometers from Matt and Nicole's house. It was a pleasant drive, but anything would have been as long as we were with Matt, Nicole and Haley.
The guide books all stated that on a rare clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. Since we could see the clouds sitting on the mountains when we left San Jose, we did not expect it to be that rare clear day. Mr Optimistic kept saying the fog was burning off and we would see both oceans. No one got their hopes too high.
When we got to the top, all we saw was clouds. I don't know what else you really expect at 12,000 plus feet above sea level. We were thinking perhaps we did not get our $7.00 per person's worth. We drove down slightly lower to the visitors center and got to walk the rim of the crater and and were able to see a lot more sights, thinking that became a lot more worth $7.00. The crater was 300 meters deep. The pictures in the gift shop showed a crystal clear lake at the bottom. I did not see a lake, but still saw some spectacular views.
While we did not get to see both oceans, we saw the best sights of all, Nicole, Matt and Sweet Baby Haley. And that is what we really came to see.
Terri
Yesterday we decided to see some of the sights near San Jose. We chose to go to the nearest volcano. It is Costa Rica's tallest active volcano, even though it has not erupted since 1963. The drive was about 60 kilometers from Matt and Nicole's house. It was a pleasant drive, but anything would have been as long as we were with Matt, Nicole and Haley.
The guide books all stated that on a rare clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. Since we could see the clouds sitting on the mountains when we left San Jose, we did not expect it to be that rare clear day. Mr Optimistic kept saying the fog was burning off and we would see both oceans. No one got their hopes too high.
When we got to the top, all we saw was clouds. I don't know what else you really expect at 12,000 plus feet above sea level. We were thinking perhaps we did not get our $7.00 per person's worth. We drove down slightly lower to the visitors center and got to walk the rim of the crater and and were able to see a lot more sights, thinking that became a lot more worth $7.00. The crater was 300 meters deep. The pictures in the gift shop showed a crystal clear lake at the bottom. I did not see a lake, but still saw some spectacular views.
While we did not get to see both oceans, we saw the best sights of all, Nicole, Matt and Sweet Baby Haley. And that is what we really came to see.
Terri
Friday, November 12, 2010
We Are In Costa Rica
We finally left Santa Ana around 2:00 p.m. Wednesday. I had hoped to leave a bit earlier, but it is what it is. Crossing the border into Nicaragua was easy. Easy as long as we paid someone to help us. That was ok, it did not cost much and when we saw the line of truck, it was well worth it to not wait in that line.
By the time we got into Nicaragua, it was dark. I just love to see where we are, especially when it is somewhere I have never been. We got to Leon with a problem and stopped at On The Run for a sandwich. We continued to follow the signs to Managua. There was traffic and mileage signs and Holiday Inn signs. And all of a sudden, it was all gone and the "highway" went to pot, literally. Marc said "I think we missed a turn somewhere." I commented that I wished it was daylight so we could see all of this. Marc said you only get to do this road at night, because you don't miss the sign in the day.
We found a nice, clean, inexpensive place to stay that included breakfast. But we left way before breakfast was served. We were just a little excited to get to San Jose. Again, we went to On the Run and ate some breakfast. Marc bought a paper and the headlines were declaring Nicaragua is declaring war against Costa Rica. Lovely.
We kept stopping at gas stations to ask where the road to Costa Rica was. Everyone kept sending us north to go south. They were right and we discovered the road we had come in on, was the road we should have been on. I still find it amazing that major highways are that bad. We enjoyed driving along, visiting and singing. Some things in Nicaragua are vastly different and some are the same.
We had a flat just as we got to the Costa Rican border. We definitely could not have negotiated the system without paying one of the "bringers." We had made sure all of our paperwork was in order before we left Honduras. And it was in order. It was easier for us to enter Costa Rica than our car. We could not have ever negotiated all that. By the time Marc changed a flat, we spent that much time at immigration and customs and then we ate lunch (at some place other than On The Run), we had spent three hours at the border. Not exactly what we had planned.
We saw wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and lot more americanized than Honduras.
As Tindall's law would have it, we arrived in San Jose at 4:50, just in time for evening rush hour. We had directions from the Costa Rican border to Nicole's house. All was well, as long as we were on the highway. Once we exited the highway, we quickly discovered the direction were useless, as, just as in Tegucigalpa, there are no street signs.
We stopped at McDonald's and Marc called Nicole. Nicole said I will get on the computer and try to find better directions. Marc said no you want, you will get in a cab and come here and then we will get to your house. You think Marc was just a bit tired. I never thought I would see the day when Marc would not be bound and determined to find something by himself.
Matt and Nicole and Sweet Haley finally arrived at McDonald's. It even took the cab driver a while to find where we were. I went running to the cab. Nicole and Haley jumped out and I was hugging on them while Matt payed the taxi driver. The drive drove off with Nicole's keys laying on the back seat. Fortunately, Matt had his keys and the only thing that can't be replaced is the key to my storage unit in Mississippi and we can break that lock.
Matt and Nicole are pedestrians . They do not have a car. They know their neighborhood well, but not much else. They did not have a clue how to get back. We saw a whole lot of San Jose last night. And it looks pretty much like any big city in the U.S. When we finally found their neighborhood, we had a great big pizza and then came home. It was close to 8:30 and we were glad to be here. Thank you God for giving us a safe trip and as always, making it an adventure for us.
Terri
By the time we got into Nicaragua, it was dark. I just love to see where we are, especially when it is somewhere I have never been. We got to Leon with a problem and stopped at On The Run for a sandwich. We continued to follow the signs to Managua. There was traffic and mileage signs and Holiday Inn signs. And all of a sudden, it was all gone and the "highway" went to pot, literally. Marc said "I think we missed a turn somewhere." I commented that I wished it was daylight so we could see all of this. Marc said you only get to do this road at night, because you don't miss the sign in the day.
We found a nice, clean, inexpensive place to stay that included breakfast. But we left way before breakfast was served. We were just a little excited to get to San Jose. Again, we went to On the Run and ate some breakfast. Marc bought a paper and the headlines were declaring Nicaragua is declaring war against Costa Rica. Lovely.
We kept stopping at gas stations to ask where the road to Costa Rica was. Everyone kept sending us north to go south. They were right and we discovered the road we had come in on, was the road we should have been on. I still find it amazing that major highways are that bad. We enjoyed driving along, visiting and singing. Some things in Nicaragua are vastly different and some are the same.
We had a flat just as we got to the Costa Rican border. We definitely could not have negotiated the system without paying one of the "bringers." We had made sure all of our paperwork was in order before we left Honduras. And it was in order. It was easier for us to enter Costa Rica than our car. We could not have ever negotiated all that. By the time Marc changed a flat, we spent that much time at immigration and customs and then we ate lunch (at some place other than On The Run), we had spent three hours at the border. Not exactly what we had planned.
We saw wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and lot more americanized than Honduras.
As Tindall's law would have it, we arrived in San Jose at 4:50, just in time for evening rush hour. We had directions from the Costa Rican border to Nicole's house. All was well, as long as we were on the highway. Once we exited the highway, we quickly discovered the direction were useless, as, just as in Tegucigalpa, there are no street signs.
We stopped at McDonald's and Marc called Nicole. Nicole said I will get on the computer and try to find better directions. Marc said no you want, you will get in a cab and come here and then we will get to your house. You think Marc was just a bit tired. I never thought I would see the day when Marc would not be bound and determined to find something by himself.
Matt and Nicole and Sweet Haley finally arrived at McDonald's. It even took the cab driver a while to find where we were. I went running to the cab. Nicole and Haley jumped out and I was hugging on them while Matt payed the taxi driver. The drive drove off with Nicole's keys laying on the back seat. Fortunately, Matt had his keys and the only thing that can't be replaced is the key to my storage unit in Mississippi and we can break that lock.
Matt and Nicole are pedestrians . They do not have a car. They know their neighborhood well, but not much else. They did not have a clue how to get back. We saw a whole lot of San Jose last night. And it looks pretty much like any big city in the U.S. When we finally found their neighborhood, we had a great big pizza and then came home. It was close to 8:30 and we were glad to be here. Thank you God for giving us a safe trip and as always, making it an adventure for us.
Terri
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
My God Is A God Who Hears And Answers Prayers
About 4:30, one of the employees realized two of the boys were missing. We did not know how long they had been missing, maybe up to two hours. Normally, we could not go that long without missing kids. We had so many employees working this afternoon and helping the kids study for exams that everyone thought the two in question were with someone else. When Karen realized what was going on, she called down here to tell me.
I grabbed my jacket and to join the others looking for them. Brayan went to look in their closets and discovered shoes, blankets and toys were gone. We also found out that one of them had some money. We were thinking they had got on a bus and were already in town. That makes it much harder to find them. By the time we drive to town, where do we even begin to look.
Dorian and Ivan left in a car, headed to town. Marc was thinking about driving the other direction. We stood on the back porch debating what to do and whom to call. Marc said lets pray for our boys. Marc, Karen, Stacey, and I held hands and prayed for the kids. We prayed for their safety and their quick return. As we finished, Karen decided she better go ahead and call IHFNA.
Before she could make that call, Dorian called and said he had them. They had their bags packed and were playing with some friends from school. The school is a good long way from here and they were further than the school. Thankfully, they had not got on a bus.
God heard our prayers and answered quickly. All praise to God for keeping the boys safe.
Terri
I grabbed my jacket and to join the others looking for them. Brayan went to look in their closets and discovered shoes, blankets and toys were gone. We also found out that one of them had some money. We were thinking they had got on a bus and were already in town. That makes it much harder to find them. By the time we drive to town, where do we even begin to look.
Dorian and Ivan left in a car, headed to town. Marc was thinking about driving the other direction. We stood on the back porch debating what to do and whom to call. Marc said lets pray for our boys. Marc, Karen, Stacey, and I held hands and prayed for the kids. We prayed for their safety and their quick return. As we finished, Karen decided she better go ahead and call IHFNA.
Before she could make that call, Dorian called and said he had them. They had their bags packed and were playing with some friends from school. The school is a good long way from here and they were further than the school. Thankfully, they had not got on a bus.
God heard our prayers and answered quickly. All praise to God for keeping the boys safe.
Terri
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