The pool exploded

This morning I got into my car and noticed that Walter seemed very somber.  I asked if he was tired or not feeling well.  He said no to both, then told me he had bad news for me.  I told myself to stay calm, but I was pretty worried.  He said there was an accident at the church.  My first thought was that someone ran into my car yesterday and we didn't notice it at the time.  I was trying to imagine where the car had been hit and how badly it was smashed.  Then he said Don Juan called him last night to tell him that the pool exploded.  My immediate response was no.  He laughed and said that's exactly what he said when Don Juan called him, but it was true - the pool exploded!  I asked how the pool could explode and he said he wasn't sure.  Don Juan had several theories.  But the day I and all of the kids from Los Pinos had been looking forward to since last year was not going to be a day of swimming.  The pool exploded.  Part of me was relieved.  My car was fine.  But what were we going to do?

This is what we saw when we pulled in:

Jairo showed me what happened:

Jairo was really sad about the situation

I took a million pictures of what proceeded to happen.  Then Walter took me to get my residency card.  Finally the machine was not broken!  I was so happy when they handed me my residency card I was jumping up and down in the crowded immigration building.  Then we went to the transit place (think Honduran DMV).  We talked to a bunch of people and found out that I have to get an eye exam, blood test so they know my blood type in case I ever have an accident (makes sense, right?), 2 passport size photos, copies of my residency card and passport.  I paid money to get an appointment on July 16th.  Then I show up with those things at 9:30 in the morning and I think I get my drivers license.  It feels so great to have all of these things falling into place!  I'm going to really be official soon.

I told Walter he can keep my car until I get my license.  Yesterday and today they had a road block outside the church.  This morning there was a lady sitting there looking very disgruntled.  I do not want to be that lady.

Here are photos of today, and of my friend Marlin's birthday party which was also today:

Lourdes set up the hose

After the kids started shivering we bathed them.

And washed the girls' hair by hand for them

Memo was chilly

Cindi didn't like going under the hose

Then Josselyn had a brilliant idea!

A water slide made from the sides of the pool!

Vanessa

Jarvin

Memo

Cristian

Pierce

Luis

Kenia

Vanessa

Lesli

Marlin's Birthday Party:

Baptisms!

Baptisms were scheduled to happen while I was in the US, but were postponed until today so I was able to be here!  I was so happy.  My friend Marcela, my landlord's daughter, chose to be baptized today.

The boys from El Sembrador were visiting for the week.  Lourdes and Jairo said good bye to them and told them if they want to go to college in the US, they should work hard and will always have a place to stay with the Sarmientos in California.

Photos of today's baptisms:

Chema's son chose to be baptized.

Deborah and her father, Dr Gustavo

Marcela and her father, Carlos, as he spoke to her before her baptism

Jairo praying

Submerging

Hugs for Marcela!

Marcela and her father

Walter and Marcela

Joss and her best friend, Marcela

Lourdes and Annette

Jairo

Tomorrow will be one of my favorite days at the Breakfast Program.  The kids will get to swim in the pool that we used for the baptisms.  They love it!  Can't wait to share the photos.

God was hard at work while I was on vacation

I am now back in Honduras, and very happy to be here.  The strange thing is, I was equally happy to be in the US.  It was a super good vacation filled with lots of quality time with friends and family.  I am really grateful that I can spend time in the US like I do.  At the same time I am so happy to be back home!

The first part of my vacation was spent in Telluride, CO, where I camped with friends for 11 days and went to the 40th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.  I love seeing those people every year.  My brother and his family were there.  The music was great but one of my favorite moments was when a band started and my nephew, Jack, said, "Yikes!  Music!  We've got to dance!!!"  He grabbed my hands and started spinning us in circles.  When we got home I asked him about some new friends he made at the festival and he said, "Well, I mostly played with you."  Awwww...  I was planning not to go back to the US for Christmas.  I would like to experience Christmas in Honduras.  But when I told Jack I won't see him for a long time he asked, "Won't you be here for Christmas???"  Uh oh.  Now I'm torn.

After that I went to Salt Lake.  That was amazing!  I wasn't there long, but I was able to enjoy real quality time with friends.  I got to see my friend Kate, who was due to have her baby girl in 9 weeks.

I met my friend Sandrine for coffee, Heather for dinner, went to the dentist and learned the I didn't have a single cavity - thank you God!!  (I was told I had 11 cavities by a different dentist.)  He recommended that I buy an electric toothbrush, which I found on sale!  My teeth will be well cared for until I go back to Salt Lake again.

My friend Jody dropped everything and gave me a great place to stay.  I even had a car at my disposal!  We swam, watched movies and had a great time together.  She and her husband, Steve, even threw a pool party at their house so I could see all the rest of my friends.  I was amazed by how many people came.  It was super fun!  My time in Salt Lake was perfect!

Lastly I went to Denver to spend time with my Mom and my brother's family again.  My friend Anthony picked me up from the airport and took me out to dinner.  I hadn't seen him since 2008, but it felt like only a few weeks since we last saw each other.  My brother and his wife, Dina, went out of their way to spend as much time as possible with me while I was there.  Dina made a delicious dinner one night which Jack described as "not as good as ice cream, but better than macaroni and cheese" - which is high praise.  We saw a band, laser show, and fireworks on July 3rd.  My friends the Dooleys drove up from Colorado Springs that night.  We danced, talked, played with glo sticks and put on fake tattoos. It was a fun night!

On the 4th of July Mom, her friend and I went to a pancake breakfast at my brother's firehouse.  Afterward we watched the parade.  At the end my brother pulled up driving the ambulance.  He stopped and asked if Jack, Joey and I wanted to jump in.  We rode in the parade and threw candy to the crowds.  The boys loved it, but I think it was even more special to me.  When I was little my Dad was the ambulance chief.  Every 4th of July I got to ride in the ambulance with my Dad, throw candy and blow the siren.  I loved doing that!  Now my nephews are doing the same with their Dad.  I was so happy to be invited to go with them!  Later, Mom and I cooked a nice dinner and were able to see NINE different firework shows across the lake from her balcony.

The night before I flew home I slept my friend Julia's house.  We had a nice dinner and got a few hours of sleep before she took me to the airport at 3:30 a.m.  My purse fell out of my suitcase in her car, so I ended up flying back to Honduras with no money, no credit cards and no driver's license.  I do have my passport.  Julia is sending the stuff from my wallet tomorrow.

In the meantime my Honduran friends are caring for me well.  My landlord had already shopped for some food for me to come home to and today she bought minutes for my phone.  She and her family are so kind to me.  Walter has been really nice about driving me around since I don't have my license.  Tomorrow we are going to see if I can get my Honduran driver's license.  If not, I can wait until mine comes from the US.

My brother, Bob, and his son Joey in the ambulance

Joey, Jack and me after getting drenched by super soakers in the ambulance

As I rode home on the plane two good things happened.  A man offered me $20 so I'd have some spending money to get to Honduras.  Later I found out that my Mom had been lying in bed praying that someone would give me $20.  I also had a lot of time to think.  The thing that really hit me was how blessed I am with so many amazing people in my life.  I have more good friends in the United States than I ever realized.  They all showed me so much love.  Then I got off the plane and the past 24 hours has shown me that I am more loved here, in Honduras, than I ever realized too.  Everyone was so happy to see me!  They even clapped when Jairo announced to the church that I was back from vacation.  They said they missed me and asked all about my time with my family and friends.  I've never felt loved by so many people in my life.  God used this vacation to show me how many people in the US love and care for me.  Then as I got back home He showed me how much the people in Honduras love and care for me too.  It is a new experience, I am able to be completely open to it, and it feels great!

Feels like home

Every time I come back to Salt Lake I am amazed by how much it feels like home.  It sneaks up on me.  I never expect it.  If I weren't so happy in Honduras I would probably want to move back here.

Today I was driving around, visiting friends and running errands.  For a moment I felt sad that this is no longer my home.  But then I remembered how happy I am in Honduras and decided to just soak it all in and appreciate that I am able to visit.

I had coffee and chatted with my friend Sandrine for four hours.  They closed the coffee shop and put away all of the chairs so we talked in the parking lot until her sister called from France.  Then we finally said good bye.  When I got home Jody, Steve and I went for a swim in their pool.  It's really hot (around 100 degrees) here every day lately.

For dinner my friend Heather treated me to sushi!  I was so happy to see her I didn't even notice she could barely walk as she came in.  She broke her toe today at work.  I haven't seen Heather since I moved to Honduras.  We had a tearful hello, then sat and chatted like it hadn't been a year and 1/2 since we last sat across the table from each other.  We ended up closing down that restaurant too.

On the way home it felt strange to drive through the city with the windows down.  In Honduras the first thing you do when you get into a car is lock it up and close the windows.  But tonight I drove through big, bad Salt Lake all by myself with the windows down.  It felt very unnatural, but good.

Back in the US, Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Just got back from 11 days of camping with good friends in Telluride, Colorado.  My brother and his family came too, but they stayed in a condominium.  We all went to a four day music festival and had a great time together.  Tomorrow I am headed for Salt Lake City for four days, then back to spend the 4th of July with my family.

My nephew, Jack, and me

Jack picked out his Honduras shirt

Joey and his Daddy, my brother, Bob

Jack, me, Bob and Joey

Jack and his new good buddy Gene

We howled at the moon!

Joey in his Honduras uniform and tie dye

Jack in his Honduras unniform

Bridal Veil Falls in the backdrop

Joey

Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Telluride Bluegrass Festival

A parade!

Tina and her sister, Adela in the parade

Our whole clan

Beautiful place for a festival

Saying good bye for 3 weeks

Today the group that is visiting had a story time, lots of activities, singing and dancing that even the older kids enjoyed and stickers for everyone who learned the bible verse that went along with the theme.  After the team left the kids were still asking if they could tell us the verse to earn a sticker.

Every paid close attention - big or small

Sometimes our human behaviors can distance us from God
But all we have to do is JUMP back in and ask forgiveness

Christian won a contest with his shoelaces!

My friend Shelly graduated today.  She is now officially a dentist.  Wow.  What an achievement!  A doctoral degree.

Jose invited me to go to my first fútbol game tonight.  But at some point I have to clean the house and pack.  I leave for the US tomorrow morning.

Saying goodbye to everyone was different today than it was even 6 months ago.  I had to turn down dinner invitations, Christian's mom sent me fresh cheese.  Christian was so funny.  He sat down next to me and handed me a package wrapped in tinfoil inside a plastic bag.  He said, "Guess what it is?"  I picked it up and squeezed it.  It was heavy and firm with a little give.  He said he wanted to give me a cross necklace, but his mother made him bring me this.  I opened it up and said CHEESE!!!  I love cheese!  (I do, but I was worried how I could eat it all before I leave.)  He said, "My Mom said safe travels and we will miss you!"  And then he ran away to play.

I got lots of hugs and well wishes.  Lots of genuine "I'll miss you's".  I will miss them too!  3 weeks feels like a long time to be gone.  I didn't feel like this last time I left.  This time while I am gone I will miss a trip to Nicaragua.  I won't be here when Marlin finds out the sex of her baby.  Clara is going through a tough time and I'll be gone.  Lourdes and Jairo have stuff going on that I would normally help with.  There are two meetings and a final presentation for the Christmas event for Samaritan's purse.  And I'll miss the Honduras vs. US fútbol game.  Before I was never this involved.  Now there is so much I won't be a part of.

There was another death on the way home today.  I have never seen any deaths in the street before and now I've seen two in two days.  Yuck.  Yesterday's was in the newspaper today.  Two men on a motorcycle shot a taxi driver because he wouldn't pay them extortion money.

On the way to work a taxi tried to pass a car on the way up a hill and smashed head-on into a bus as they crested the top.  Taxi drivers are not known for their safe driving skills.  I didn't see anyone hurt there, but let me tell you, that little car was smushed.

Well, I'd better get to packing.  Tomorrow morning will be here soon! 

Things don't always go as planned

Nothing went right today, but somehow it never bothered me a bit.

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. from a really bad dream.  We had a meeting tonight from 5-9 p.m.  Who has meetings at that time?  (They didn't serve any food or even have a stretch break!)  I was not thrilled about being awake at 4 a.m., knowing it was going to be a long day.

This morning I had to pick up Walter at 8:30.  Usually I'm prompt but somehow I didn't get out of the shower until 8:40.  When I finally passed by to pick up Walter at 9 he kept me waiting outside for 10 minutes.  He is usually timely too so I kept the motor running and waited and waited...  Good thing I was late.

We went to immigration to pick up my immigration card.  First the boss wasn't in.  Then the machine was broken.  We left empty handed.

I wanted to go home and take a nap, but instead we headed to the church.  There is a group visiting this week and they are doing great things.  They are very hands on, singing and teaching and drawing with the kids.  They have different things planned for all week.  The kids are having a blast with them.  I love seeing all of the kids, from 2 years old to 14, enjoying themselves.  Today was pupusa day.  They seemed extra yummy today for some reason.

I got an email from the car dealership saying that after all this time - a month and a half - I have to go myself to register the car.  I knew that did not sound right, so I emailed all of the emails I have sent to the dealership, pestering them for the documents, to my friend who has been helping me with all of the car related things.  After I sent the emails I called him.  By the time he answered his phone he had already read the emails and had his assistant helping him.  He said he was about to call his lawyer.  He said the lawyer should have the papers by Friday at the latest.  I am in good hands!

So no residency, no car registration, and I was exhausted.  I tried to take a nap at the church after the kids left, but I just can't.  Don Juan even came and put a blanket over me.  It kept the mosquitoes away but didn't help me sleep.

Jairo asked if he and Lourdes could have a ride to the meeting.  I said sure!  He has driven me around for over a year.  Finally I was able to return the favor.  We stopped to pick up a prescription.  Normally it takes 2 minutes.  Today it took 10.  Jairo was worried about us being late so we took a short cut and came upon a murder in the middle of the street.  It was the first crime I have really come close to.  I was driving, so I couldn't see much, but Jairo said a cab driver got shot.  I made a quick decision and did a three point turn to get away as crowds of people gathered around in front of us.

We made it to the meeting just in time and got seats for all of us together.  The organization is called Samaritan's Purse.  They are based in the US have a lot of projects going on.  This is a Christmas gift for extremely poor kids.  But it is much more than a gift.  Their mission statement sums it all up - "To show the love of God in a tangible way (the gift)to the kids who need it most in collaboration with the local church."

The project asks the church to do the foot work and asks us to cover some of the cost, but they offer twice as many gifts as we have children in the church.  They told us to ask the kids to bring a friend to the Christmas party.  In the time before the party we ask the kids to pray for the friend they are going to invite.  The kids have a beautiful Christmas celebration learning about God and His love for them.  Then they receive a gift that comes from His provision.  They even talked about the attitude that we need to have when we prepare for the party.  They talked about how important kids are to God, how important hugs are to kids, and that no matter how much time we spend preparing a lesson, if we are only about getting the lesson across and not focused on the kids, we are not meeting their needs.

All in all it was a good meeting.  There are two more before we have a ceremony and are officially part of the program.  I am thinking I will spend Christmas in Honduras this year.

Joss and Belinda rode home with me.  It was nice to have some time to catch up with Joss.  She is incredible.  Now I'm tired and ready for some sleep.  Tomorrow will be my last day at the Breakfast Program for a while since I am headed back to the states for 3 weeks.  I'll miss the kids.  I'll miss my friends.  Tonight 3 friends called to make sure they said goodbye before I left.  I have a good life here, with good friends, doing good things.  Even when everything doesn't go as planned, it is still a good day.

A heart full of gratitude

Did you ever feel so grateful you think that your measly human level of gratitude is not sufficient to express you thankfulness?  That's how today was for me.

Two bad things did happen.  I found out a friend has prostate cancer and another friend with leukemia is 4 months pregnant.  But otherwise today was completely amazing.

This is my friend Dave and me at Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2012.
I expected to see him again on Saturday at this year's festival.
For about the past 9 years Dave has camped there with my group of friends.
Due to his recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, he won't be at Telluride this year.
I am praying that we will see him next year, restored to full health.
For now, he will be greatly missed.

I finally got to really test drive my car on an uncongested highway.  It ran like a dream so I slowed down when I saw I was going 120 km/hr in a 40 km/hr zone.  Oops!

We had the most incredible time of worship at church.  I'll admit that usually I am done with singing after about the 4th song.  Today we say 9 or 10 songs and the spirit was really moving among us.  It was great!  Jairo was not supposed to speak today.  He is still officially on medical leave.  But he got up to say that he could feel the spirit moving and he knew big things were going to happen today in the church.

Luis Urbina spoke.  He has a gift for preaching, although it is not his official "job".  In his message he asked if we are aware of what we really want in life?  And if we do know what we want, then do we seek after God with our whole hearts to pray for those things?  (Jeremiah 29:11-14)  There was a lot more to it.  People were really, really moved.  Myself included.  He said do you have needs?  Are you sick?  Are you without provisions?  And if you do have everything you need do you seek after God with all your heart to share your prosperity and blessings with others who need it? - that's where I thought I fit in.  It was a beautiful service.

After church a friend of Lourdes and Jairo's split the cost with me and we took the Sarmientos, Belinda's family, and Walter out for pizza.  I told Jairo he should choose the place because of his dietary restrictions.  He said pizza is less greasy than Chinese food, so we went to Al Padrino.  It was a nice lunch.  Jairo said he thought it was even more tasty today than usual.

As we were leaving Jairo came to my car.  He told me that tomorrow he needs to go to the bank.  I didn't really understand why he was telling me this until the very end.  Basically the church would like to offer me some financial assistance for my time in the US!  I sat in shock as he turned and walked away.  I didn't even compose myself enough to say thank you.  Then I burst into tears.  And my car was parked behind Jairo's so they couldn't leave until I got myself together enough to drive.  I still become tearful thinking of this.  The church doesn't have money.  I don't know how they can afford to help me like this, but it is not my place to ask.  I can only be grateful.

Sometimes I have problems with self worth.  When things like that happen (the church offers me money), or when someone from the church whom I barely knew offers to pay my car insurance for a year, or when 4 people ask if I need a ride to the airport, and many tell me I will be missed when I go to the US this week, or when Christian (Conejo) asks his Mom if he can go to the US with me, or when Lourdes meets me at church this morning with a box FULL of jewelry she made for me (then compliments me on how nice I look when I wear it), or when a friend from the US tells me she is excited to talk to me on the phone - sometimes these things surprise me.  I am not good at receiving because I don't feel worthy.

We all went back to Lourdes and Jairo's house.  I collapsed in a pile of tears when they walked into the house and I tried to thank them.  They told me the church's money is God's provision for me.  I explained sometimes I don't feel worthy of such good things.  I don't remember exactly what Lourdes said because I was sobbing and trying to explain in Spanish how I felt, but at one point she said something about a husband for me.  That sobered me up quick.  I stopped crying and said, "Thank GOD I do not have a husband yet because until I learn to value myself more, I can't choose a man who will be good for me."  She agreed.  I am praying this will be my next area of personal growth.  Not the husband, but that I can know my own self worth.

Lourdes did some spring cleaning.  She gave me a ton of shoes for every occasion, some dressy jackets, warm jackets, even a full length coat.  She gave me purses and blouses and a cool bible bag.  I needed help to get everything out to the car.  It reminded me of when I was leaving to move to Honduras.  I gave away almost everything that I couldn't fit into my suitcases.  I came here with 2 suitcases.  Now I have a full wardrobe with more clothes than I need.

Lessons for today:  God always provides.  I am appreciated and loved.

Thank you for reading!  Another lesson in self worth - I am always shocked to see that an average of 40-50 people from literally all over the world read my blog every day.  Thank you for caring about what is going on in Honduras.  And thank you to those who care about me.