Well peeps (2 updates in a row I was able to work that in.
You guys should be proud), I’m down to less than a week. In some ways, I feel
like I just got here, but on the other hand, I feel like I’ve lived here for
years. I guess every time I left, my heart stayed down here. So in some ways,
it is like I’ve been here for years. I know certain people have been begging me
to come live here for a long time and people in the States have been saying for
a while that I’m just going to end up down here. I just can’t say thank you
enough or even describe how amazing this trip has been, how awesome my friends
are down here, and how incredible my friends and family are in the States to
give me up to come down here. The doors that are being opened are just one
right after the other. When I first started this blog back in February, I was a
complete wreck (well, better than I was in Aug. but not by much), needed to get
a break, a change of pace. I got just that. I had mentioned before about how
God was putting together connections way better than I could ever imagine and
that has just been continuing left and right. I honestly can’t even keep up. So
I know I sound like a freaking broken record, but thank you to everyone who has
been a part of this journey: for listening to me ramble about everything that
has happened this past year, being there when grief hit, hanging out and having
so much fun, putting together camp for the kids, translating for me at clinics,
listening to me vent, having long talks, helping to allow my dreams to grow for
how to help in the future, getting medical teams set up, allowing me to be a
part of the medical team the first week I was here, Belize, and now Honduras. The
list goes on and this post is already turning into a beast, so I’ll chill. So
much has happened while here and I know my blog posts tend to be on the longer
end, but I swear, I’m leaving out so much. But I will tell you this: I haven’t
laughed this hard in a long time. They all know down here now about how I laugh
when I’m tired, I can find about anything amusing in some way, shape, or form,
and I may or may not get ridiculously red when laughing really hard.
Last Friday at clinic, Peter and I saw a bunch of kids with
fever, diarrhea, cough, and sore throats. There was a doctor visiting from
Canada who is thinking of moving to Guatemala and we put him to work. Clinic
was busy that day with 47 patients. Afterwards, we went on a house visit to one
of the elderly women in the village. When we got there, she had crawled out
into the sun. That was the first time I had seen her outside on her own. But
because of some grief she gets from others, she doesn’t like to use her walker,
wheelchair, or bedside commode. We changed her bedsheets, swept out her house,
and plugged some holes on the roof. I went outside and knelt on the ground to put
cream on her arms and feet for her arthritis and then we helped her walk back
inside, rather than making her crawl on the hard dirt ground. In the afternoon,
Yelsi, Peter, and I walked around town, got some gifts for people in the
States, and hung out at a coffee shop until we had church that night. That
coffee shop had some pretty good hot chocolate.
Yelsi and I had a lazy Saturday. We have been so on the run
since I got here over 2 months ago that we haven’t had much time to take a day
to do not a lot of anything. But even then, I still got a lot figured out with
Peter for our medical trip in October (as long as we can all take some nights
off at the same time. New ED building…excellent). Sunday consisted of going to
church, dropping Peter off to pick up the truck at the mechanic, dropping off a
friend at home who came with us to church, grocery shopping for dinner, and
then going to Peter’s house for our last big group get together. We had a great
time hanging out, pigging out on food (I may have gone overboard: 2 pizzas,
orange salad, potato wedges, chicken, pico de gallo, guacamole, nachos, and
brownies), messing around with guitar, and watching a movie.
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| Not every day you see a dog in a pila just chilling |
Monday was my last day at clinic. Feels so weird to not be
going back for a while. We had a bunch of kids with the same symptoms: fever,
cough, and diarrhea. Afterwards, we went to the same woman’s house that we went
to on Friday, along with some people who were on a mission trip with the
feeding center that was down the road. We prayed with her, put on lidocaine
patches for her pain, and brought more Tylenol for her. She is such a sweet
woman, even despite some crap that she gets from people around her since it’s
not socially “normal” to use a walker, wheelchair, or bedside commode. I have
really enjoyed helping to care for her over the past few months. That
afternoon, Yelsi, Peter, and I went down to his hometown to try to get some
things set up for a team that is coming from the States in a few weeks and to
make sure that the one kid who had his appendix removed was going back to
school, despite the doctors saying he shouldn’t go until 2 months post op. And
of course, his mom is amazing and fed us mangos. Winner in my book. On the way
home, we went to Antigua for some amazing food. First, we stopped at one
restaurant, started talking about another one, and since we didn’t want to be
completely rude, we ordered some hot chocolate. And Yelsi and I were apparently
tired since we couldn’t stop laughing. We thought for sure we’d get kicked out
for being too loud. After we chugged our drinks, we went to the other restaurant
that had amazing crepes. I keep talking about Tomcat Café and Yelsi has been
there and keeps agreeing that everyone needs to go. I pulled up the menu and
convinced Peter that he really needs to get his butt up to PA to eat at Tomcat.
Tuesday morning, we went to Antigua to pick up some things
to prepare for our trip to Honduras. This shop we stopped at had some sweet
chocolate combinations. Cindy said they’re amazing. So I accidentally bought
quite a few to bring home with me. That afternoon, Cindy, Jenny, and I went to
a building where a guy gets shipments of Sunday school material and Bibles once
or twice a year. They had skids full to the ceiling with so much stuff! It was
insane. We got some stuff for Peter’s family ministry and Jenny went nuts with
what all she got! The Jeep was jammed packed with boxes of Bible tracts, books
for kids and youth, Kids Action Bibles, Sunday school materials, and I don’t
know what all we loaded into the Jeep. Just when we thought we were done loading
up, she would find something else to take with us. It was amazing and this
ministry that this guy is doing is incredible! I thought we were going to be
paying for this stuff. But when we went to leave, I said, “Oh. It’s free?”
Cindy said, “Yup. That’s his ministry.” What an amazing blessing and gift for
these people! Isaiah and I also worked on a fort out of tree branches and pine.
Wednesday morning, I baked up a storm for our trip and for
dinner that night. I made blueberry muffins, gluten free m&m muffins (didn’t
have any more chocolate chips), rolls, pizza dough (for Jenny and Carla to make
a pizza while we’re gone…they’re not fans of cooking), slow cooked southwest
chicken, and shoofly cake. I finally cracked down that afternoon and packed for
our trip to Honduras. At 3am on Thursday morning, we packed up the van and
started our trip. 4 different seats, a few pit stops, almost passing right by Guatemalan
immigration without stopping (legit tiny office on the side of the road),
stopping to find a map of Honduras…3 times (with no success. No one sells
maps?), we arrived to our destination in Honduras: Siguatepeque (which once
again, we were corrected on the pronunciation of the word…it’s like the town in
Belize all over again). Earlier on Wednesday night, I was trying to say Sacatepequez
(in Guatemala) and it pretty much sounded like sack of potatoes.
In Honduras, we were pleasantly surprised that we were
higher in the mountains. So it’s much cooler and not nearly as humid as we were
expecting. The hotel is beautiful. There is a conference being held at this
hotel for other people working with children who are “in the system” of foster
care, orphanages, children’s home, etc who have been traumatized or abused. I have
been helping to watch the kids during the conference on Friday and Saturday. We
played a bunch of games, including soccer and apples to apples…which Moses
kicked my butt. Like I said before, don’t underestimate a 4 year old who can’t
read much yet. Playing soccer in a skirt on Saturday was quite the
entertainment. I may end up with a bruised shin from kicking at the same time
another kid did. Let’s just say we’re both competitive. While we were playing
phase 10 on Friday, Moses came in and vomited all over the floor…and then the
bathroom. I was barefoot and walked right through it to get him out of it and
to the bathroom. Meanwhile, while I was helping Moses in the bathroom, I heard
Yelsi walk into the room. She had stopped right in the middle of the vomit and
didn’t even notice. I peeked my head out of the bathroom and told her she didn’t
want to stand there. As she was half spinning in it, she asked why. I told her and
she proceeded to dry heave. I cleaned Moses up, the floor, and the bathroom,
and got him settled in bed. That afternoon, I went to a session about
traumatized children. So much great information that makes a lot a sense about
a lot of the children that we come into contact with. It explains a lot as to
why just asking them to put their shoes away, may lead to them having a
complete meltdown for hours. The speaker also explained why a lot of these kids
come to us and they may be 12 years old, but behave on a 3 year old level. They
had CT scans of the difference between a normal brain and one of a neglected 3
year old. That night, we went out to eat at this local place that had picnic
tables set up in the back. Such amazing plantain chips, salad, and meat. Yelsi
and I sat at the kids table, played blink, and laughed over not much of
anything. At one point, the one boy was explaining that I was a lot like his
grandmother and his brother said, “She’s not like our grandma! She doesn’t have
metal knees!” Mo has since started with some nasty diarrhea and is now on
antibiotics for that and we’ve just been having a relaxing Saturday, watching
soccer, played some soccer, phase 10, and dutch blitz. And I now have a great-great grandson. Yelsi has adopted Noah as her child. So the family tree keeps on growing! This is what happens when I am in charge of kids...the family tree expands.
Tomorrow we head back to Guatemala and then on Monday, I say
my final goodbyes to people. My trip back to the States starts early Tuesday
morning and then I’m heading to Oklahoma for softball. Like I have said before
and I’m sorry to repeat myself so much and probably bore the crap out of most
of you, but thank you to everyone who has supported me and pushed me to do this
trip. I needed it more than I realized until I got down here. God has used so
many of you to get me to this point of healing and peace in my life. I’m so
excited about what’s to come and how each of you can be a part of it in the
future! Here are some more pictures of our trip from Honduras:
 |
| Mine |
 |
| Moses kicked my butt! |
Last Friday at clinic, Peter and I saw a bunch of kids with
fever, diarrhea, cough, and sore throats. There was a doctor visiting from
Canada who is thinking of moving to Guatemala and we put him to work. Clinic
was busy that day with 47 patients. Afterwards, we went on a house visit to one
of the elderly women in the village. When we got there, she had crawled out
into the sun. That was the first time I had seen her outside on her own. But
because of some grief she gets from others, she doesn’t like to use her walker,
wheelchair, or bedside commode. We changed her bedsheets, swept out her house,
and plugged some holes on the roof. I went outside and knelt on the ground to put
cream on her arms and feet for her arthritis and then we helped her walk back
inside, rather than making her crawl on the hard dirt ground. In the afternoon,
Yelsi, Peter, and I walked around town, got some gifts for people in the
States, and hung out at a coffee shop until we had church that night. That
coffee shop had some pretty good hot chocolate. 
Monday was my last day at clinic. Feels so weird to not be
going back for a while. We had a bunch of kids with the same symptoms: fever,
cough, and diarrhea. Afterwards, we went to the same woman’s house that we went
to on Friday, along with some people who were on a mission trip with the
feeding center that was down the road. We prayed with her, put on lidocaine
patches for her pain, and brought more Tylenol for her. She is such a sweet
woman, even despite some crap that she gets from people around her since it’s
not socially “normal” to use a walker, wheelchair, or bedside commode. I have
really enjoyed helping to care for her over the past few months. That
afternoon, Yelsi, Peter, and I went down to his hometown to try to get some
things set up for a team that is coming from the States in a few weeks and to
make sure that the one kid who had his appendix removed was going back to
school, despite the doctors saying he shouldn’t go until 2 months post op. And
of course, his mom is amazing and fed us mangos. Winner in my book. On the way
home, we went to Antigua for some amazing food. First, we stopped at one
restaurant, started talking about another one, and since we didn’t want to be
completely rude, we ordered some hot chocolate. And Yelsi and I were apparently
tired since we couldn’t stop laughing. We thought for sure we’d get kicked out
for being too loud. After we chugged our drinks, we went to the other restaurant
that had amazing crepes. I keep talking about Tomcat Café and Yelsi has been
there and keeps agreeing that everyone needs to go. I pulled up the menu and
convinced Peter that he really needs to get his butt up to PA to eat at Tomcat.
Tuesday morning, we went to Antigua to pick up some things
to prepare for our trip to Honduras. This shop we stopped at had some sweet
chocolate combinations. Cindy said they’re amazing. So I accidentally bought
quite a few to bring home with me. That afternoon, Cindy, Jenny, and I went to
a building where a guy gets shipments of Sunday school material and Bibles once
or twice a year. They had skids full to the ceiling with so much stuff! It was
insane. We got some stuff for Peter’s family ministry and Jenny went nuts with
what all she got! The Jeep was jammed packed with boxes of Bible tracts, books
for kids and youth, Kids Action Bibles, Sunday school materials, and I don’t
know what all we loaded into the Jeep. Just when we thought we were done loading
up, she would find something else to take with us. It was amazing and this
ministry that this guy is doing is incredible! I thought we were going to be
paying for this stuff. But when we went to leave, I said, “Oh. It’s free?”
Cindy said, “Yup. That’s his ministry.” What an amazing blessing and gift for
these people! Isaiah and I also worked on a fort out of tree branches and pine.
In Honduras, we were pleasantly surprised that we were
higher in the mountains. So it’s much cooler and not nearly as humid as we were
expecting. The hotel is beautiful. There is a conference being held at this
hotel for other people working with children who are “in the system” of foster
care, orphanages, children’s home, etc who have been traumatized or abused. I have
been helping to watch the kids during the conference on Friday and Saturday. We
played a bunch of games, including soccer and apples to apples…which Moses
kicked my butt. Like I said before, don’t underestimate a 4 year old who can’t
read much yet. Playing soccer in a skirt on Saturday was quite the
entertainment. I may end up with a bruised shin from kicking at the same time
another kid did. Let’s just say we’re both competitive. While we were playing
phase 10 on Friday, Moses came in and vomited all over the floor…and then the
bathroom. I was barefoot and walked right through it to get him out of it and
to the bathroom. Meanwhile, while I was helping Moses in the bathroom, I heard
Yelsi walk into the room. She had stopped right in the middle of the vomit and
didn’t even notice. I peeked my head out of the bathroom and told her she didn’t
want to stand there. As she was half spinning in it, she asked why. I told her and
she proceeded to dry heave. I cleaned Moses up, the floor, and the bathroom,
and got him settled in bed. That afternoon, I went to a session about
traumatized children. So much great information that makes a lot a sense about
a lot of the children that we come into contact with. It explains a lot as to
why just asking them to put their shoes away, may lead to them having a
complete meltdown for hours. The speaker also explained why a lot of these kids
come to us and they may be 12 years old, but behave on a 3 year old level. They
had CT scans of the difference between a normal brain and one of a neglected 3
year old. That night, we went out to eat at this local place that had picnic
tables set up in the back. Such amazing plantain chips, salad, and meat. Yelsi
and I sat at the kids table, played blink, and laughed over not much of
anything. At one point, the one boy was explaining that I was a lot like his
grandmother and his brother said, “She’s not like our grandma! She doesn’t have
metal knees!” Mo has since started with some nasty diarrhea and is now on
antibiotics for that and we’ve just been having a relaxing Saturday, watching
soccer, played some soccer, phase 10, and dutch blitz. And I now have a great-great grandson. Yelsi has adopted Noah as her child. So the family tree keeps on growing! This is what happens when I am in charge of kids...the family tree expands.
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