Look who's 2!

This sweet boy turned 2 last week and yesterday we went to a hotel on the beach to celebrate.

 I thought I would give you a little glimpse into life with W. First of all he loves trucks and especially buses. The highlight of his week is going to church in the church bus. Anytime a bus passes he says, "bus, bus". He also loves to ride in the car. He is my buddy who loves to run errands with me and gets sad and cries sometimes when he can't go. He also loves to read and do puzzles. He loves to swim and go to the pool and with his float on has no fear of the water. His favorite English word is "swim" and anytime we pass by the pool he says it over and over again. He also repeats everything I say to him in English. Last night we were driving to church and he said "luna, look, luna". I said, say 'moon' so he changed it to moona! Right now he is currently obsessed with the song "Old McDonald" and anything farm themed he calls "e, i, e, i, oh". Anytime you ask him what he wants to eat he says french fries. He loves little J like a sister and when she isn't home he roams the house calling for her, "yuli, yuli" He is sometimes a serious boy but anytime you tickle him he dies laughing. He is starting to become less of a baby and more of a little boy and anytime a man is around and trying to fix something he is in the middle of it. I love this little guy and can't believe how much he has grown since I first got here!

Photo Shoot!

Everyone: the house moms, the girls, the babies, Shannon and me

The babies

The girls

The house moms

C and W

K and O

Y and J

B and C

sorry buddy, sometimes it happens

Westminster Presbyterian comes to Honduras!

I'm so excited that my college church got to come to Honduras for a short-term missions trip. It was great to catch up with friends, have some familiar faces around, and show them my ministry here..and as an added bonus go to Copan with them! 

The girls are always excited to have visitors, especially Y when she is able to give pedicures:)

You feel less guilty about having people hold screaming babies when they are friends:) Just kidding Katie and Amy seem to be enjoying the momentarily quiet 'twins' of the house.

These guys had brought a ton of good clothes for the used clothing store so we went to drop them off and Amy posed for a picture with the girls who work in the store and Y!

Again I emphasis, momentarily quiet baby:) Really guys they had a tough day at Puerta de Esperanza:)

William, or should I say Pastor Jim, found a new friend

They even got to spend some time with the Peter Project boys and make balloon animals 

Before the team came I had told the girls that this was my church coming and that one of the people coming was a girl that I babysat in college. The first words out of each of their mouths as they met the team was "which one is the one you babysat?" Well, here she is, sweet Ams.....they were all incredulous that just a few years ago I had been her babysitter (and the best one I might add:)

And at last the added perk of your church coming to visit...getting to travel 8 hours to Copan to the Mayan ruins.

Full House

I returned to Honduras last Monday and last Wednesday we moved a new girl into the house! K is 16 and her son O is 5 months. This gives us 4 girls and 4 babies and makes Puerta de Esperanza full to capacity!

K is inexperienced at this whole mom thing but is open to suggestions we give her and wants to do what is best for her son. She has a very calm and laid-back personality and is getting along well with the other girls and adjusting to life in the house. The girls are treating her like a little sister and giving her advice and helping her with the baby and she is soaking it all in. It is great to see them accepting her as part of the family.

K has only ever been to school through the first grade so Shannon and I will be tutoring her through the second grade so that she can enroll in third grade when the new school year starts in January.

Pray for K and O and their continued adjustment and pray for Shannon and I as we teach Honduran second grade all in Spanish (something we never attended).

Campamento

Last week the church we attend here in La Ceiba hosted their annual "Campamento" in San Pedro Sula. We were able to go and take not only the girls who live in Puerta de Esperanza but also the girls who work at the used clothing store run by PDE. So off we went to conference, Shannon and Lester and their 2 kids, me, 5 girls and 3 babies. (All in 2 cars...did I mention we don't use car seats or really even seat belts here?) It was great to spend time with the girls outside of normal life. We were able to hang out at the hotel pool, and go to the mall for lunch, and talk about what they were learning at the conference.

Part of our group at Campamento

Yep, this is how we ride in the car, screaming baby and all:)

Nicolle (Shannon and Lester's daughter and my unofficial niece...aka the reason I could never leave Honduras:)

And we returned from San Pedro with a pleasant surprise, C's cousin B who has a 3 month old baby and has been working in the store moved into the house! Pray for B and her baby G as they adjust to life in the house. And also pray for the hearts of all 5 girls we took, that they would apply what they learned and that they would seek the Lord. 

B and G

Meet M

This past Sunday we moved a new girl into the house! Her name is M and is 23 years old. She has a 5 month old daughter named S. They are from the community of La Fe where some of my teammates work. They had been living in a small house with M's mom, younger sister, older sister, and her older sister's 3 kids. She was very determined to find Shannon and is very eager to know more of the Lord. A neighbor told her she should find Shannon a few weeks ago and told her where the used clothing store run by Puerta de Esperanza was. Even after going to the store and the girls telling her they couldn't give her Shannon's number she wasn't discouraged. Somehow she found out where Shannon's fiancé works and showed up at his garage. That is determination! The first time Lesther brought M to meet Shannon and I we had a short-term team from the states and were out to dinner with them. M hadn't brought any diapers (because she was out and had been using t-shirts as cloth diapers) so I walked to a gas station next door and bought her 8 diapers. A week and a half later when I picked her up for church she told me she still had diapers left. How? Because she was still using her make-shift cloth diapers at home and saving the real ones for when she left the house because they are easier. 

From the first time we met her 2 weeks ago she said she wasn't a Christian but would make comments like she was. So, last week when we took her to visit the house and then out to lunch Shannon clearly explained the gospel and M prayed with Shannon! Pray for her as her life is going through big changes right now. Pray also for C and Y as they are feeling a little jealous of all the extra attention she is getting. Pray for their hearts and that they would have grace for her and remember that they were where she was not too long ago.

Busy Days

This week the house mom is on vacation. That means that both girls and babies are staying with us. Add in Shannon's soon to be children and we have a full house of kids. Just thought I would share a few funny moments from the past few days.....
8 year old Angel went with me to the ATM yesterday. The first ATM we went to was out of money (of course, why would an ATM have money??) so I said, "Well they were out of money so we'll go to a different one. We get to the next one and it gives me my money. Sweet Angel says, "Oh look, your money was in the this one that's why the other one didn't have any." We get back home and he tells everyone, "We had to go to 2 ATM's to find Jennifer's money!"
Later that afternoon one of the kids asked where Kate was. We said, "She went to Hawaii to visit a friend." Nicole says, "Oh, she went to 'howareyou' to visit a friend."
W got made because the older kids were playing Wii and wouldn't give him a controller so he found a toy shaped like a controller and proceeded to stand between the other kids and the TV with his toy and dance.
J got to learn about Pinterest this morning. She was sitting with me on the couch and saw a picture that had bright colors and said, "ooooo". I said, "J do you like that pretty picture?" She replies, "Si, me gusta!!" This funny girl understands all our English but mostly responds in Spanish.

In the midst of all this craziness we also met a potential new girl to come a live at the house. M is 23 and has a 4 month old baby daughter. Pray for her and for decisions to be made. She went through a lot of effort to find Shannon including going to the store where the girls work and eventually going to the garage where Shannon's fiance Lesther works.

School Supply Drive

The Honduran school year runs from February to November which means that the new school year here is getting ready to start in the next few weeks. This past Saturday in the community of Armenia Bonito due to generous donations of both supplies and money to purchase supplies our team was able to give out school supplies free of charge to about 500 kids! Below is a short video.

Crazy month of celebrating

Its been a while since I blogged, mostly because its been so crazy around here. Y graduated from beauty school and is doing her 'practice' at a salon and C finished her first semester of university and passed all her classes. We took Y and some special invited guest out to dinner to celebrate and she was overly grateful for all of the beauty themed graduation gifts she received. 

We interviewed 2 new girls in the weeks before Christmas too. One has moved back in with her boyfriend and is no longer interested and the other, S, we are still waiting to hear from. She is 14 and is 3 months pregnant. Be praying for her and for guidance.

Then on Christmas day we were able to have both girls and babies along with some other friends over to our house on Christmas day. We opened presents, cooked sweet potato casserole, chicken, rice and gravy, and other goodies, and just spent the day playing board games and watching Christmas movies. J got a doll and stroller that she is now attached to. Anytime she leaves her house she has to bring her 'daughter' along:)

J opening a gift while her 'daughter' watches close by

Then came the new year. Y and little J spent new years with us while C took W and visited some family out of town. We went to the river and spent the day swimming (have I mentioned I live in a beautiful country with both beaches and mountains with awesome rivers nearby).

The beautiful river in the mountains near the city

So, as you can see, its been a crazy past few weeks here in La Ceiba:)