The Wheels on the Bus go Squeak, Squeak, Squeak

Since Nathaniel only has to teach at Destino on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually ride the bus to and from school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the mornings, this is fine because the walk is not far, and they have 2 different buses that pick up all the kids and teachers. The afternoons, however, are a different story. They only have 1 bus that takes home alllllllllll the destino kids, teachers, and even some workers (except kinder and prepa because they leave at 12). So, you can imagine, the bus is very crowded!

So, I ride the bus in full Honduran style on those days...4 kids to a seat. You'd never see that in the States! Usually, I'm standing in the aisle, because I prefer it over sitting next to 3 sweaty, dirty kids. Let me just show you a picture of what I mean...



You may think that this picture looks like the kids have just gotten on, maybe they're getting settled and then it won't look so chaotic- WRONG. Now do you see why I prefer standing in the aisle? Its because I don't wan to look like this:



When the workers ride the bus, they take home anything and everything...like the other day one of the workers was holding a live duck (its body was in a plastic bag, its head was sticking out and no, it didn't look happy), and a melon. Life is very interesting here. I wish I could've gotten a picture of it, but I didn't have my camera.

Soon to come- some lovely Skype pictures, and more news on our crazy lives! Love you all!

A Turn of Events

As most of you have probably alreay heard, Nathaniel and I got robbed a couple of weeks ago. The thieves stole our laptop, digital camera, and other smaller items. we are doing well, though, thanks to all of your prayers. We have not been living in fear, as thieves in Honduras won't usually come when you are home. They wait until you leave becasue they don't want confrontation.

Despite this horrible event, life goes on. We have been careful to remind ourselves that they are just "things", and that the work we are doing here is much more important. Rhonda advised us that we must always hold everything God gives us lightly in our hands. How true that statement is! We have heard stories of previous missionaries who have left the country due to similar circumstances, and we will not let that happen to us. The precious souls of these children are much more important!

We have been learning about God's provision at church. The idea is that God knows what we need and the problems we will encounter before they happen, and that He goes before us and has the solution before we even know we need one. Well, we saw this first hand when we visited a friends church in San Pedro Sula, and they took up a special offering for us to help replace the items we lost. It was so amazing. That pastor gave us the money and said it was a "symbol of God's provision." How awesome!

There was a special holiday on thursday, September 10th called "dia de los ninos", which means "kid's day". It was quite the interesting and chaotic event. Hondurans are known for going all out for any occasion, so there was cake, coke, pinatas, candy, more candy, and lots and lots of chaos. the kids were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted allllllllllll day...and it was a very long day. Here are some pictures of the fun.





This is a good picture of Nathaniel teaching P.E.



And one of me teaching.



This little boy's name is Hairo. He looks a lot like my nephew, Adan. He's so sweet and adorable!



More to come soon! Love you all

The calm before the storm...

School is about to start on Tuesday, the 1st of September. Therefore, I wanted to get one more blog in before the chaos starts. We have had some interesting run-ins with animals while in Honduras. Cows wander the streets here like its nobody's business, and occasionally they wander into places they shouldn't be. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the cow who wandered into Destino, but I do have a picture of the ones that like to graze outside our gate. This one wasn't thrilled that I was taking its picture.



Next, we heard some commotion one afternoon during the teacher's training. A few boys had brought a burlap bag with something in it to the school that was causing all the women to scream. When I went to check it out, this is what I found:



Yes, it is a boa Constrictor, about six feet long. It was found eating the eggs in the Destino hen house. Don't ask me how they got it in that burlap bag. Here's a couple more shots of it.





There's nothing strange about these guys, but I wanted to put a picture of our doggies on here. Their names are Pebbles and Patches.



On a different note, we have been attending a bilingual church called Grace Life. In this picture, we only arrived 15 minutes early, and the pastor himself was just getting there. As you can see, we are the only ones accustomed to being early.



And one with the other American teachers:



Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to show you pictures of some of my students next time. Love you all!

Getting Down to Business

On friday, Nathniel and I went to Destino to help them get some work done for the other American teachers flying in today (august 15th). They are renting a house in Siguatepeque, and they needed help moving a bunch of furniture from Destino to the teachers' house.

First of all, here are a couple of pictures of Nathaniel and I with some of the adorable kids at Destino.



This little boy's name is Sammy. Is is quite the clown of the house. Last time I was at Destino, he was a newborn baby, and I got to hold him. It was great to see him so much older.



more kids...



And now, some pictures of Nathaniel working hard.





Well, off to the grocery store. We start training on Monday, so there will be more to come soon!

Hola from Honduras!

Hola from Honduras! This is our first official Honduras post on the blog! Things are going pretty well here, and we are beginning to settle in a little bit. There have been a few bumps in the road, but they have all been minor. Its been really tough trying to communicate with the locals around here not knowing much of the language. As I am writing this, the gardener is here mowing the lawn (Isaias is his name). It was lots of fun trying to communicate with him when he showed up at the gate. Luckily, we think hes pretty trustworthy (you never know around here). Here are a couple of pictures of the house we are staying at.



this is a shot of the living room and kitchen as you walk in the front door. Notice Nathaniel being silly with his beloved banana pop.



And another one of Nathaniel with his giant banana pop.

Kittens

Well, now that I can FINALLY put pictures on my computer again, I'd like to show you a couple of pictures of the litter of kittens I rescued this summer. They were living under the foundation of a house down the street, and I would go over there to feed them a couple of times a day. They were very ferile (wild) and didn't trust me very much. You could tell the mother had been someone's pet at one time because she was friendly, but VERY protective of her kittens.

When I called the landlord of the house, he said that they were going to seal the foundation that day. So, I asked him if I could try to catch them so they wouldn't die. He had his construction employee bring out some live traps and we caught all but one (the most shy of the litter). Here is a picture of all the kittens in my bathtub. They were terrified!



So, for the next 3-5 weeks, I tamed the kittens one by one, and gave them away. It wasn't until about a week after catching these that we finally caught the last kitten. She was the most beautiful, but also the most terrified of them all. It was hard work socializing her. I didn't want to give her away to anyone because I knew she would be too scared, so I kept her until she was the only one left. By the end, she would sleep on my lap in the living room and BEG to be petted. It was such a fun and rewarding experience. Mindy ended up naming her Kalena, and I brought her to Virginia with the rest of my pets. Now she adores Mindy and is loving her new life.

This is one of the bravest kittens of the litter



another one of the more adventurous ones...I actually had to dig this one out of the foundation of the house after being stuck for 2 days. MY knuckles were bloody, but I felt good to have saved its life.



This one stole my heart quite a bit. She didn't like to be held much, but she loved to be petted, and was quite the talker. It was really hard to give her away.



I do have pictures of Kalena, but they aren't accessible right now. I'll have to put them on later.

In other news, Nathaniel and I are now living in Honduras! Today we are traveling to our temporary house in Siguatepeque. It should be exciting! I will post about that later, when I have more pictures.
We love you all!

Graduation!

Well, it finally happened! May 9th, 2009 I finally graduated from Ball State with my Bachelor's degree in Music Education. Yay! I can say, that although it took a while and was not without it's bumps in the road, I learned so much about myself and life, and I would not trade any of it for the world. It does feel really good to be "done" though. I say "done" because I only have my initial practitioner's license which expires in 2 years, I still have to take 5 credit hours every 5 years to keep my license current, and I have to renew my CPR certification every year. Whew! I guess education will always be a part of my life. Isnt that what being an educator is all about?

Here is a picture of me walking in during the full outdoor ceremony.



And here is me afterwards.



In other news, I currently have 6 kittens living in my bathroom. they are adorable, and as soon as I get the camera dock working again, I will post pictures of them. I have found homes for 2 of them, but I am still looking for homes for the rest (Any volunteers??).

Love you all!