Perfect 10

I count a lot here.
Don't worry, it's nothing too hard, just counting to see if we know where all the kids are. But over these 6 months, I constantly have to ask "how many kids do we have?" It's hard to know when to stop counting if you don't know the number your counting up to.

When I visited the Villa in June of 2009, there were 11 kids and 3 staff. When I returned in February 2010, there were the same 11 kids and the same 3 staff. Nothing had changed for 7 months and then...

...well the Villa became a bit like a revolving door.

Let me give you quick run down, starting with 11:

TEN
Then Betsy decided that Julio (who was 13) would be better off at her house with her teenage sons as role models

EIGHT
We found out in February that the mother of Vanessa and Genesis (ages 10 and 8) had died. Elvia took the girls into her house so that they would have a better time adjusting.

NINE
In March, Paola came to live with us. She is Julio's younger sister (11 years old) and had been living with her parents outside of Tegucigalpa. Although she was attending classes at Jericho school, we all felt that she would do much better at the Villa.

EIGHT
Jasmine (age 13) had been at the Villa for over a year even though she had family that was willing to take her in. But in April her aunt and uncle decided that they wanted Jasmine to live with them and away she went.


NINE
Add Sara into the mix. Sara came to us in May through a teacher at Jericho school. She was 16 and rebellious but has truly blossomed at the Villa.

ELEVEN
Maribel and Fernando came out to the Villa when I was in the States. Maribel (24) entered the program and brought her son (almost 1 year) with her.

TWELVE
With the arrival of Margarita at the beginning of July, we hit our highest number of "kids". Margarita (age 20) also entered into the program.

NINE
At the end of July while I was on a break, Margarita decided to leave Jericho. Maribel and Fernando followed four days later. We were so sad to see them leave, but we decided that it was the will of God and trusted in Him.

TEN
On Wednesday, Angie arrived bringing us up to a perfect 10! Angie is 14 and comes from the same community as Paola. She is beautiful and I think she will be a great addition to the family.

As far as the staff team, we are up to 5 now: Hae Young, Rosa, Eduardo, Miriam, and myself. With 10 kids and 5 staff, we fit just perfectly into our 15-passanger van!

What a wild ride on ins and outs...we know that it's God giving and taking away and we continue to rely on Him and trust in His plan for us!

Day Off

Those words are fantastic to hear. My first four months in Honduras, I averaged 2 days off every five weeks…it made for a couple breakdowns and several days with a less than enthusiastic Miss Katie.

But now we are 5 staff strong at the Villa and since there are no women, we have a 2:1 kid to staff ratio. It’s great and means that each of us has a day off each week!!

My day off begins Monday as soon as I finish my English classes (about 10 am) and I don’t technically have to be back until Tuesday at about 4 pm. We’re only two weeks in, but so far so good.

My last day off was a big adventure all rolled up into less than 24 hours. It included me driving a KIA pickup truck (my little Golf would fit in the back with plenty of room to spare) for the first time. Also, it included me driving in Tegucigalpa, something that I had only done once before…at 8 am on a Sunday morning when there was basically no traffic. Oh, and I was taking home two Americans who had come to visit for the weekend.

Thank God they’re good prayers!
But seriously, we made it into town just fine and we didn’t even get lost. I think the whole Jericho staff was a bit surprised to see us show up on time with smiles on our faces.

I was so blessed to be able to stay with a good friend of mine and her beautiful family. Jaime is a Canadian who moved down to Honduras 10 years ago to teach English at one of the Universities. She got married, had two kids, and then met Betsy and became the teacher of Jericho Christian High School. I was Jaime’s shadow my first summer here and she has been amazing to me ever since. I haven’t been able to see much of her since she lives in Tegus and I live out at the Villa, but now that I have regular breaks, I get to spend them at “Hotel Mendez” with her and the family.

What else did I do?
I ran errands (to pick up groceries and school supplies for the Villa), RELAXED!!, and spent the Tuesday morning with Jaime. Although Jaime was in charge of the high school, she felt a calling to work at the opposite end of the spectrum. She is now in charge of the Jerico Early Learning Center, or as we like to call it…JELC.
So I spent three hours jumping around, singing, playing and having snack with 4 precious 3-year-olds who are learning English and learning about God. It was a fantastic morning to say the least.

Although I don’t know if I’ll go into Tegus every week for my break, I am so thankful for the time off where I can run personal errands and get away from things for a bit. I think it helps the moral of the staff team as well…as much as we love the kids, it’s nice to have a little time away. And the time away definitely helps us re-energize for another week with the kids!



This is Jaime...I love her a lot. She takes good care of me since I'm so far away from my family and friends.


This is Dany...Jaime's baby. He must have gotten into "Canada mode" because it was definitely not cold enough out for that outfit. But he is super precious and I love spending time with him and his brother Jonah.