Although I’m already back in the States, I’m going to write one last blog on my Honduran experience. I’ll admit that it’s been hard to comeback, and so writing this has graciously allowed me to revert back in my mind to those dusty streets, rainy afternoons, and smiling children. As opposed to writing about what I was learning while there, I’m going to tell a little about what I actually did during my time at La Providencia. As an intern, my role was to teach English. Starting at 7:30 in the morning when I hopped off the school bus with the children at Academia La Providencia, I was attempting to instruct our difficult language to several eager students. My first “class” was with one set of house parents. Despite the four children playing noisily on the porch, stacks of dirty clothes to be cleaned, dishes piled, beds unmade and a to-do list a mile long, these two servants gathered excitedly every morning with me. We memorized flash cards, practiced greetings, and laughed about pronunciations. After playing and hugging goodbye to each child, I walked across the path to the other orphan home to work with that precious mother. She’s taking an English class right now and so we muddled through her homework and attempted to understand past tense, positive and negative commands, and how to ask proper questions. It was comical as we navigated the ins and outs of English grammar. With both these sessions, inevitably our mornings turned to Spanish conversations about our lives and the faithfulness of the Lord. These were precious times for me as I got a glimpse into the hearts of beautiful friends who are seeking to serve the Lord daily. I’m not sure how much better they will be at speaking English. I’m not even sure if they’ll remember the English words for “sink,” “shovel,” and “welcome,” but I do know that I am a better person because of the mornings I got to spend with those three special people, and I am very grateful!

After a little work in the library at school and a quick lunch with the Academia La Providencia students, I piled on the bus with the little ones at noon and headed back to the Agua del Padre neighborhood. My next class consisted of youth and adults that were some way connected to La Providencia. Whether the mother or sibling of a student at ALP, a neighbor or a friend, each of the 8 committed students came every day eager to learn. We had a great time together. The good thing was that they all came with the same level of English…zero. The hard thing was that with that level of English, the amount to learn is almost daunting! We took it little by little learning numbers, colors, verbs, adjectives, and a lot of vocabulary. By the end of four intensive weeks, the students could say basic English phrases with confidence, which was such a success! The relationships that were built along the way are priceless. While playing games and taking notes, we broke down language and cultural barriers to form true friendships. On the day of our last class, I surprised them with certificates for their accomplishments in English. In turn, they surprised me with wonderful gifts and notes to remember them and their native country. It was a very unique and awesome group of students and I miss them every day! After those students filed out to pick up their kids off the ALP bus, I spent time tutoring a couple of those students one-on-one. For some students a bilingual education is amazing, for others, it provides such confusion that mastery in either language is very difficult. Therefore, I worked with a couple of those students to help them with the alphabet, phonics, and grammar of English. It was both rewarding and frustrating, and I pray that the Lord will guide them in their educational endeavors. My day ended with the administrator from La Providencia and his wife. Inevitably, it was also the time when a big storm usually rolled in, so we spent our late afternoons huddled under the roof of the church trying to practice English without electricity. Gratefully this couple, especially the wife, is very good at English. We learned a few basic word structure tricks, but mostly we practiced listening and speaking. I would transcribe songs from my iPod, leaving blanks for certain words. Then, while listening to the song over and over, the couple would proudly fill in the blanks of the song. We loved this activity and ended up singing American songs to each other all month long. Just as with the other classes that I taught, this time was more relationship building than anything else. I loved hearing their stories and learning about the Christian Honduran culture through their experiences.

They are both dear believers and now very dear friends of mine!

It’s hard to describe what a privilege it was to teach each one of these students. I loved the adventures that each day held and am so grateful for the time that I was able to spend in Honduras. Those friendships will forever be a part of my life and I have no doubt that I will be united with them as soon as I can get back down there!

My Adoption Learning!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about adoption since I’ve been here in Honduras. It seems that it has come to my mind in three main ways. Primarily, because I have been spending so much time with the families here at La Providencia, I have experienced the reality of adopting orphans first hand. Each family here has six children in the home, at least four of whom are adopted. It is amazing to watch how the families work. The parents have a set schedule for the kids and they discipline them in a Godly way to train them to be respectful and obedient. The kids are fed, bathed, clothed, and provided for in every way physically. They are also loved unconditionally and encouraged according to each of their needs. Both sets of parents are Honduran and have committed to serve here at La Providencia for the next sixteen years. Not only have they adopted these children to be a part of their families, they have also adopted a new way of life and have made many sacrifices. Adoption requires a heart that is willing to put others before self and a willingness to change in order to love and accommodate others.

Not only have they adopted these children to be a part of their families, they have also adopted a new way of life and have made many sacrifices. Adoption requires a heart that is willing to put others before self and a willingness to change in order to love and accommodate others. adopting orphans first hand. Each family here has six children in the home, at least four of whom are adopted. It is amazing to watch how the families work. The parents have a set schedule for the kids and they discipline them in a Godly way to train them to be respectful and obedient. The kids are fed, bathed, clothed, and provided for in every way physically. They are also loved unconditionally and encouraged according to each of their needs. Both sets of parents are Honduran and have committed to serve here at La Providencia for the next sixteen years.

Secondly, although I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, I’ve been adopted here in Honduras! In my last blog I wrote about how slow the pace of life is here. That still holds true except for in one area: relationships. After being here less than a week, I was called to the front of the church where the whole church sang to me for my birthday and prayed for my life. They threw a surprise birthday dinner and have made me feel so loved. Everyone has embraced me with open arms and it has been amazing. The couple that I’m living with call me their “American daughter” because they have “adopted” me and take care of me as if I’m their own child. Even the director of the ministry told the groups that his church has “adopted” me for the month and that is exactly what has happened. The truth is that I know they treat every person this way who comes to serve here for an extended amount of time. It is in their nature to encourage and embrace others before themselves. I can’t explain how blessed I am to be on the receiving end of this “adoption.” Although I’m miles away from my own, I know that I have family here in Honduras—even in less than two weeks!

I think that the most important thing that I’ve learned about adoption is that it’s not humanly. The reason that these friends are able to adopt people into their lives and hearts is because they know that they have been adopted by our Heavenly Father. Ephesians 1:4-6 says: For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. We’ve all been adopted because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. That’s why the people I’ve encountered here can adopt and love so freely. They understand that they are so freely loved, forgiven, and that we are all children of God.

Adoption is now synonymous with the word “sacrifice” in my mind now because of what I’ve experienced here. I will never forget my adoption here in Honduras because I know that these new friends will always be a part of my family.

Living the Gospel

5:30 am. alarm. limited quiet time. get ready. breakfast. pack lunch. out the door. work. students. standardized tests. pressure. preparation. teaching. stress. relationships. busyness. cell phone. texts. email. constant communication. planning. meeting. coffee date with friend. grocery store. list. tasks. hurry. shop. talk. wait in line. self-checkout. fast. next stop. home. cook. late. take food to friend. enjoy friend's baby. agenda. next stop. ice cream with friend. meanwhile. talk/text/communicate. rush. home finally. laundry. roommates. email. read. sleep.

Whew! It stresses me out to even think of the pace of life that I maintain in the States. It is a wonderful life and i am very blessed, but sometimes it's exhausting.

Now, I'm here in Honduras an time has slowed down so much that i don't even wear a watch

There's not a deadline, a schedule, a time frame...no rush. Yesterday, I spent all day sewing with a co-worker. We made 3 bags all day, and it was a great accomplishment. We med

med a friendship through laughter, miscommunication, and sewing needles. No cell phone interruptions, no meetings, no stress. The day before that I played with precious children. Adopted orphans and biological alike, we

played futbol, ate chicken & rice, fed the hens, washed the dishes, laughed, sang, and rested. Again, no interruptions, expectations or tasks to accomplish. I know that life isn't always so simple here, however. People have jobs, cell phones,

obligations, etc., but it seems that God has removed those things from my life for a month to grab my attention. Rarely do I have the time (or take the time) at home to self-reflect, examine my heart, and listen to the Lord. What am I idolizing? Who/what gets my attention, my energy, and my focus instead of Him? Who am I serving? What are my priorities? When you sit at a sewing machine for five hours, it becomes pretty obvious where your heart is wandering. It's time to take a deep breath and allow the Holy Spirit to convict, reveal & purify where my heart has lost its way. For this time, I am grateful. For these people who have opened their homes to me with open arms, I am indebted.

The Lord has grabbed my attention in these past 4 days and I am learning to slow down and refocus on Him. May the Holy Spirit continue to work throughout my time here. I cannot truly serve the Lord until I surrender to Him. One day at a time..

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love!

Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

(Written Thursday, June 10th)

Summit Orphan 2011

Estamos en las conferencias de Summit Orphan, en las instalaciones de la iglesia Southesast Christian Church que tiene la iglesia una membresia de 25,000 y que tiene instalaciones grandes, grandes, grandesssssss.. Si el salón de adoracion tiene una capacidad como para 5,000 personas estilo teatro, tres niveles, 8 pantallas gigantes y como 6 torres de parlantes asi como su propio sistema de transmisión en las pantallas con cámaras profesionales y audio de primera. Que comenzó con una banda de Rock-alternativo cristiano que tenia buen ambiente y que hacia que el estruendo del bajo rebotara en el pecho de las personas que estuvimos en el concierto de este grupo llamado The Dessperation Band..

Hemos podido asistir a diferentes conferencias sobre muchas cosas que debemos saber para el mejor y eficaz ayuda hacia los huérfanos, aunque a mi en especial no me gustan las estadísticas les contare que hay diferentes cifras de cuantos huérfanos hay en el mundo, pero el promedio oscila entre los 163 a 166.5 millones de huérfanos alrededor del mundo. Y el hecho que miles de personas se reúnen para compartir ideas e información sobre como mejorar la vidad de estos es de por si algo impactante.

Las pequeñas cosas que hacen la diferencia

Esta es la primera vez que se me ocurre la idea de escribir sobre las diferencias culturales que encuentro al venir a estados unidos, básicamente porque es mi segunda vez aquí…. La verdad que aparentemente este es el país del sí se puede y de los más desarrollados del mundo, no me mal entienda la verdad que si lo es; pero también es cierto que están orgullosos de mostrarlos en cada situación.

Este el país que todo lo tiene todo lo puede, aunque todavía no he encontrado una buena baleada o plátanos fritos pero si bastantes sándwich, de pollo, de jamón, de pavo, de cerdo, hasta me encontré un sándwich de ensalada de pollo… imagínense hasta las ensaladas tienen sándwich!!!

Este es el país en que la coca cola y el café, le agregan otros sabores para ocultar el hecho de que no son tan buenos como en Honduras... la coca cola sobre todo no tiene tan buen sabor como en casa. Lo que si es bueno es que uno puede ir a la mayoría de los baños y sentarse en el asiento porque para empezar hay asiento y que está limpio y en buenas condiciones, lo raro es que no hay papelera, la verdad es que el papel va adentro del servicio..

Después siempre hay agua para tirar papel, para lavarse las manos y mejor aun jabón para lavarse bien, cosa que deberíamos de imitar, no robarse el jabón o las toallas de mano para secarse; este es el país también en que es permitido ir hablando por teléfono mientras maneja, en donde todos respetan las señales de Alto y los semáforos.

El aeropuerto de Houston es algo exagerado, estaba esperando que al salir de migración estuviera mucha gente esperando a sus familiares, pero la verdad no fue así; no habían cámaras despidiendo a sus familiares o grupos de familia recibiendo a los viajeros, de hecho al salir del aeropuerto recogí mi equipaje y busque la puerta en donde tenía que hacer la conexión y me tomo como 10 minutos el llegar a un tren que pasa de edificio en edificio de las 5 terminales (Edificios) que tiene el aeropuerto… nada que ver con SPS o Tegus.. La verdad me asuste un poco porque no llegaba a tiempo.

The Study of Orphan Care Leads to Humility

Plato once said, "The study of Astronomy leads to humility." That is definitely true - just one look at pictures from the Hubble telescope makes this point clear.

Similarly, as I have found in the last few years, the study of how to bring excellence to orphan care also leads to humility. It is easy to get lost in the numbers of the orphan crisis (e.g., over 167,000,000 orphans in the world) and give up. To say that we simply cannot do anything about it. That there is no way we can figure out how to address it as a comprehensive whole. That we simply cannot understand it. That we can't get families for all of these kids. That [fill in the blank with countless other reasons not to engage].

People have said similar things about the heavens over the centuries. That we cannot even begin to understand the universe surrounding us. But other people, like Galileo, Ptolemy, Copernicus, and the inventors of the Hubble telescope, to name a few, said that it is not OK to simply accept defeat in our understanding of the heavens. Even though they accepted the fact that the universe is HUGE and that they likely would never figure it out, they said, "We can work to understand it better." There are answers to our questions. While we personally might not be able to figure all of them out, we can start working to find answers, ask more questions, discover more answers, and so on. They said that they could take baby steps to figuring out the heavens and they saw any additional knowledge, no matter how small, as a victory, all the while knowing that it was extremely unlikely that the answers to all of their questions would be solved in their lifetime. (Part of this is that I believe there simply are certain things that we as humans are not supposed to understand.)

Because these guys that didn't listen to the naysayers, we have slowly progressed over the years as they built on each other's discoveries, and today we can see stars billions of light years away through the Hubble Telescope - we are closer to an understanding of what is going on out there. If people wouldn’t have said that we can begin to figure it out, then the Hubble never would’ve happened

We need to apply that same mindset and ingenuity to the improvement of orphan care! While on the one hand we need to recognize the magnitude of the problem and face the fact that we can't solve it on our own, we also need to work to understand it better and seek God's wisdom and discernment on how to develop solutions.  We need to work together, collaborating together to understand the vastness of the crisis and the best way to develop the kids' lives to give them an opportunity to be leaders in their communities. We need to continue asking hard questions and analyzing best practices with the same commitment as we would if our own children were in an orphanage. We need to think bigger and with more excellence (e.g., family-based orphanages, top-quality schools, great medical care and nutrition, and participation in their local community), which will enable us to begin shifting the paradigm surrounding orphans from one where they are seen as a waste of resources to one where they are treated as investments. Only then will we really be making in-roads to making orphanages and orphan care better.

Or, in the alternative, we can keep wading in the current problematic paradigm seeing the orphans as second-rate humans, as a drain on society, as trash, as a waste of resources, AND we thus will keep viewing the orphan crisis as a universe that is way too big to understand, address, and work within.

So, yes, the study of orphan care leads to humility. But, fortunately for the millions of orphans around the world, it doesn't lead to futility.

I Will BLESS YOU AND YOU WILL BE A BLESSING (WORD OF GOD)

In this month of January the Lord has allowed me to have the opportunity to be a blessing to a new set of children, by giving them the chance to have lower extremities orthopedic surgery

.

It has been such a blessing for us who are able to participate with the medical teams. To freely give your time and energy to serve someone else, to be able to actually put into practice the word of God: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. It is an accomplishment in our lives to see firsthand these children’s lives change right in front of us. Children coming in with disabilities and after a six week recovery are able to start their life differently, with more opportunities and new hopes.

One unique case we had this Janua

ry was a set of twins around eight years old. They both had a deformity on their feet since the day they were born. Their family lives in a community far away from the Siguatepeque area in Honduras, and they did not have the opportunity of having a surgery. Thanks to the Lord and the help of an organization they were able to come to our clinic and were chosen for

surgery.

On the first day of changing casts from the previous surgeries in January, we were able to witness the expressions of happiness in her eyes when she was able to see her feet for the first time in six weeks. It was so touching to hear and see the excitement when she told her mom “Look mommy at how pretty my little foot is”. The emotion of happiness was overflowing, I felt so small being able to witness it all. I honestly did not realize how important these changes were for each individual case, it made me appreciate how much one person can make a difference in another life. Without a doubt these expressions of happiness from parents, patients, families, and friends allow to us realize that it is well worth it to have medical teams come and willingly donate their time, energy, hard work, and skills to help in a way that literally changes the lives of their patients.

Medical team’s Thank you so much for giving these patients new dreams to look forward too. Thank you for changing their lives, as well as the lives of their families. Giving a child a new opportunity at life with new hopes and dreams is a priceless gift. THANK YOU THANK YOU!