We’re home – in Honduras that is!

For the past two weeks, my daughter Hannah has been saying, “Mommy, how many days until we go back to Honduras?  I want to go see my friends.”   I’ve heard MK’s say that over the years but never really understood why they would prefer to go back “home” to a foreign country.  But, now I understand.  Honduras is her “home”  and she was soooo excited to go back.  The day after we returned I heard her saying to Daniel, “Daniel, we’re in Honduras!”

Yes, deputation “fun” is over and we are back in our house, using “our” dishes, “our” beds, etc.   We had a nice time visiting family, which always makes saying “goodbye” a little difficult.  We also had the chance to meet and greet many people as we traveled to the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, and New York.  We also had the privilege of being at the ordination of my brother, Stephen, in Albany, New York.  We also were able to take in a few sights along the way including the Louisville, KY zoo, Niagara Falls,  Cabelas in West Virginia, and Hershey’s Chocolate World.  We made lots of visits to Walmart (Ha-Ha) and some of our favorite Restaurants.  The kids enjoyed playing at various parks which is about non-existent here in Honduras.  All in all it was a great summer and the Lord protected us over the many miles and helped in our deputation services.   But, even though it was hard to say those last “goodbyes,”  we’re thankful to be home.

Please keep us in your prayers.  We almost delayed our return due to the political mess going on here.  But, it was going to cost way too much to change our tickets so we felt like we should go ahead and return.  Today the ex-president tried unsuccessfully to return to Honduras (for those of you who have been following the news).  We don’t know what he will try next.  Things are pretty quiet and business as usual here around San Pedro Sula, but that always could change quickly.   We are unpacking and settling in (while keeping in mind that we may have to evacuate at a moment’s notice) and will soon be busy with school preparations.  We are still trusting the Lord to send us the teacher that we need in the school.  Mommy is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new baby and hoping it’s sooner than later.

I’m sorry that we didn’t have any updates this summer, but internet access was VERY limited.  Thanks to those that have prayed for us and please keep it up!

And that’s what’s happening in “our” corner of the world……………

We’re home!

Home for us most of the time is in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. But we are thankful to be “home” in the USA!   We don’t really have a place to call “home” while we are here, but just being back on the soil of the United States again is wonderful.  And I’m looking forward to a trip to Walmart!  We arrived at JFK at 1:00 am, Wedneday morning and didn’t make it to my parents house until 5:00 am.  So we are very tired, but thankful for God’s protection during the flight and for His strength to get everything put in place in order to leave Honduras for 7 weeks.   And Grandma and Grandpa are already having a blast with the grandkids!

Earthquake!

It’s a pretty startling to be sound asleep only to come to the sudden realization that the nice comfortable bed that you’ve been sleeping on is MOVING!  Then you jump out of bed and realize the whole house is MOVING!  And it doesn’t stop for 30 seconds!  Let me tell you, if you thought 30 seconds was a short time, it’s very LONG when you are experiencing a earthquake – 7.1 on the Richter scale.   What I can remember the most was the sound – a dull roar as our house groaned back and forth.  We thank the Lord for His protection to our family and our house and the school.   Both buildings suffered a few cracks, but nothing as bad as could have been.   Thank the Lord for His faithfulness and mercy!

Because of a succession of late nights and little sleep, trying to finish up the last week of school, we really didn’t react as we probably should have.   We grabbed the kids and put them in our bed, then flipped the radio on to see if there was any news.   Since it was too early for any news we thanked the Lord for his protection, figured it was just a tremor and went back to bed.   (While we were in Costa Rica we experienced tremors, but nothing like this).   About 4 hours later as we were getting ready for school and had our cell phones turned back on, people began calling us.   We found out it was not a tremor at all but an earthquake.   A bridge had collapsed, keeping 2 of our students home.  Another family had been standing outside their house all night so were going to bed. (Actually most of the people were outside of their homes for several hours.) And the government had closed the schools.   This had all happened while we were calmly trying to wake up and prepare for the school day.   Also more than 4 tremors had happened between that time.  So, I guess you could say that God gave us peace in the middle of the storm and hid us under the shadow of His wing.   It was an experience we will never forget and will be the main topic of discussion for days to come.

The headline title of the newspaper the next day was:  “God protected us!”   He certainly did!

Too busy to blog!

Yup, that’s right.  I’m entirely too busy to blog.  But the good news is that we leave for the United States in just 10 more days!  And school is finished for us, next Friday.  Wahoo!!!!!  Our “to do” list is huge, though.  One of which includes making a prayer card for deputation.  So, we had to get pictures taken today and here are some results.  Not a great idea when you are 27 weeks pregnant, but they didn’t turn out too bad.

My cutie pies!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

My “baby” girl turned 4 years old today!  She has looked forward to this day for many weeks while Mommy wishes the time would slow down a little.   I told her this morning that I was sad because she’s growing up too fast.  She told me, “Don’t be sad, Mommy.  I NEED to get bigger so I can be a big sister to the new baby.”    Ha-Ha.  We are so thankful for the blessing she has been in our home and in our lives.

Happy Birthday

Hannah Grace!

(This was her favorite gift – a box of coloring stuff from Nicole  – my brother, Tim’s, girlfriend)

(She wanted a “heart” cake which I had planned to make but ran out of time so this is what I came up with and she loved it)

(Her second birthday request was a piñata.  She and Daniel are enthralled with “Clifford” books right now so when we saw Clifford in the store it was the choice piñata. (Daniel is scared of it!)  She wants to have her friends at school help her hit it open and enjoy the goodies inside.)

It hit me today as the church people were singing to her that she has only celebrated her first birthday in the U.S.A.  The 2nd one was in Costa Rica and 3rd and 4th here in Honduras.  So I guess it’s more approriate to say,

Feliz Cumpleaños!

More Birthdays

The month of APRIL is a month full of birthdays between our two families.   So I want to pass along some more birthday greetings

Happy (Belated) Birthday to:

My father-in-law

Don DeLong

(April 16)

Happy Birthday (TODAY!)to:

my  brother

David Mills

We love you and hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you!

Trip to Guatemala

We had the privilege of going to Guatemala over Palm Sunday weekend to visit the only church our group has there.  The pastor is from Honduras and was sent there to pastor the church.  He married a Guatemalan wife and now they have a 2 year old daughter.  They were actually here in Honduras visiting family so our family and their family all piled into our double cab pickup for a LONGGGGGGG ride to Amatitlan, Guatemala.  Not only was it no fun having 3 kids to entertain with no carseats to contain them, but it took us 13 hours from the time we left San Pedro until we arrived at their house.  It was a very exhausting day but it made them very happy that we took the effort to visit them.

(Crossing the border into Guatemala)

(Cattle crossing on the main and only highway.)

Except for being exhausting, the trip went well UNTIL we got to Guatemala city.  It seems there is no direct route to get through the city and if you don’t know your way through, tough luck.  The pastor only knew it by the bus routes so he proceeded to get us quite lost at 8:00 at night.  He finally got out to get directions and got the bright idea to get a taxi driver to lead us where we needed to go.  But the problem was that he also needed to ride with the taxi driver.  Our cell phone did not work there so we had no communication in the middle of the busy, busy city.  The pastor told us, “Stay close and don’t let anyone in between us.”  Yeah right!   If you could have seen the way people were driving you wouldn’t wonder why I was instantly fearful.  So, Steve learned how to drive like a city taxi cab driver!  He whipped in and out of traffic, cutting people off and blowing his horn, staying right on the bumper of the taxi.  And his dear wife was in the back seat holding on to my kids as tight as I could, praying up a storm, and biting my tongue.  Thank the Lord, He helped us through and we found our way out of the city and on our way to the pastors house.  I was able to get a picture of the cabs and the city on another day.

We had told the pastor that we would stay in a motel for two reasons – 1. The last time we stayed there, the four of us were given a lumpy double bed to sleep on in a stuffy hot bedroom and we didn’t get any sleep. 2. When they came to visit in Honduras they didn’t know that we would be going back with them so I knew there was no way the wife had the house prepared for us and I didn’t want to make it difficult on her.  But after an hour trek around the tiny town, there were no rooms to be rented.  So, we went back to their house, and she cleared out the same tiny stuffy room and gave us the same lumpy mattress to sleep on.  But, this time I was prepared.  We had taken a mattress for the kids, sheets for the beds (they have no sheets), and a fan.  Thank the Lord the weather was a little cooler this time, and the Lord helped us to get some sleep.  But it was a rough couple of nights.

On Palm Sunday we visited another church in the area and then had service back with the Pastor that evening.  They hold the service on the front porch of their rented house.  Not too many people came but they were thrilled to have us there.

(This is not a very clear picture, but this is the pastor, Franklin, and his little girl, Priscilla, looking out the door of their house. The girl in the back is a neighbor.)

My task for the service was to play the old dusty keyboard that they drug out from somewhere and to lead the singing – in SPANISH. Yikes!  But the Lord helped and I was even able to make some comments between the songs.  It was amazing to myself to see the difference in my Spanish from when we were there a year ago and I had to do the same thing, but without being able to say too much.   I guess I’m learning something!

After service Irma, the pastor’s wife made tortillas and refried beans to make Baleadas – Honduran food that she knows her husband loves. A lady from the church was helping her.

On the way home we went by Jalapa, where EFM has the mission headquarters in Guatemala.  We were able to spend time with James and Rachel Rickenbach and tour their ACE school.  The road getting there made me quite nervous as we followed it up the winding mountain.  Of course there were no guardrails!

(EFM’s school)

(Daniel enjoying some homemade granola at the apartment in Jalapa where they let us stay overnight. )

The end of the story is that it took us 3 days to get home.  We left Amatitlan on Monday, earlier than we had planned because Daniel was sick with a fever.  We stopped at Jalapa and left there late Tuesday morning.  We got to the border of Honduras/Guatemala (only 2 hours from home) only to find out that it had just closed (6 p.m.) and we could not pass through until morning.  So we had to go back to a nearby town and get a motel.  We finally got home around noon on Wednesday after stopping by the coast for a few minutes to see the ocean.  I felt like we had been gone for 2 weeks and was so glad to see “home” again.  But, we thank the Lord for the privilege to get out of our comfort zone and minister for His glory!

Easter

Easter is not celebrated in Honduras the way it is in the United States.  It’s actually kind of depressing because there are very little Easter decorations to be found and nothing out of the ordinary happens on Easter Sunday – no dressy clothes, no programs, no Easter songs, and many times no sermon in regards to Easter.  The big celebration takes place during the week with the highlight being on Friday.  The schools are closed the whole week, which is referred to as “Holy Week.”  The businesses usually are closed on Thursday and Friday, with mostly everything shut down on Friday, even the bus routes.  People usually aren’t being too “holy” though. Many of them head for the beach or drink the weekend away with what they stashed up before “Holy Week” since the stores are forbidden to sell liquor during this week.  The Catholics make such a big deal about it with processions in the streets and other forms of celebrating, that it seems like the evangelicals shy away from doing too much for fear of being associated with the Catholics.   So, we try to focus on the reason for the season in our hearts and in our home.  I’m just glad that the story, as we know it, didn’t end on Friday.   Our hope and reason for living is because SUNDAY CAME – the day our Lord triumphed over the grave!    Also, although Easter bunnies and eggs are a fun, traditional part of the Easter season, we know that the real celebration is in the remembrance of Christ’s sacrificial love for us.

To have a little fun with the kids, we did incorporate a little of “tradition” into our celebrating.  I actually did find some plastic eggs and candy in a couple of the stores.  My mom had gotten stuff on the clearance rack after Easter last year and had brought them to us, so we had a few “traditional” items.   Hannah enjoyed hunting eggs around our yard, and Daniel toddled after her shaking the eggs that she found.  They both enjoyed their Easter baskets and the few items we put in them.

On Sunday we listened to a church service online to be able to feel like we were part of an Easter service.  Then we opted out of going to our regular church and instead went to an non denominational English church that we attend once in awhile.  My heart was thrilled to be able to join in worship with them as they sang most of the hymns of resurrection.   We were also able to take part in their communion service.  This helped us to feel like it was Resurrection Day after all.

It’s good to know, though, that no matter how the day is celebrated, you can know 365 days of the year that our Lord is alive!  Because He lives we CAN face tomorrow!

And she’s off – 40 eggs to find!

“Um – which one was I supposed to find – the egg or Princess’ ball????”

The two cutest kids in the world! (Mommy pride!)

Mommy’s little Princess

A rare sight – Daniel in a suit.  Only possible because the English church has air conditioning. He looked so adorable!

Thank you God for our family! (Four of us, soon to be Five)

First Haircut

Thursday night was a sad and a momentous occasion in our household.  My little “baby” passed from babyhood into toddlerhood with the cutting of his cute little baby curls.  His hair was getting quite long but I just hated to cut those beautiful curls.  But, as hot as it’s been and as much as he sweats I figured he would appreciate a little less hair on top.  Besides I didn’t want someone asking me, “Is it a boy or a girl?”   So, the baby curls are gone and Mommy successfully cut his hair without doing too bad of a job.  P.S.  The lighting was terrible, thus his hair looks bright red, but it really is more strawberry blonde.  And since we cut it it looks almost white.  In fact, afterwards Hannah asked me why he had yellow hair. Ha-ha