2011 In Photos

I've officially been home three weeks, and have finally started sifting through the hundreds of photos that I've taken in Honduras. It's brought back a lot of memories of some great times we had in 2011 and I just had to share them. So here are some of my favorite moments and memories of 2011 (in random order).

In 2011...

We found a taco place in Danli. We found out we could feed 15 people for under $25 and the tacos were FANTASTIC!

The kids learned how to swim. Once they learned, we threw them into the water...so much fun! This picture was taken at the beginning of December, it's ok for you to be jealous.

The boys taught me how to climb trees. They are still way better than me, but there's something great about picking your own mangos and avocados!

I completed a quarter of a century! I was treated to three cakes and a LOT of cards. Wonderful memories.

The kids started a band. Leftover wood was converted into guitars, microphones, and even a piano.

God spared the Villa from a nasty fire. It got close but thankfully nothing was damaged.

The girls performed a drama in front of thousands at the baseball stadium. They let me be in it too!

Carmen celebrated her 15th birthday. It's called the "quincenera" in Honduras and is a pretty big deal. Carmen is the second from left in the top row.

Teams came to visit us! We love when groups come, especially when they come from different countries. So we hosted an international fair with food from all over the world. BIG success and happy tummies.

We visited Picacho. Betsty and Haeyoung went to the States for a bit, so Marlyn and I took our kids (I had 10, she had 8) to a local park for a picnic and afternoon of fun.

The lights went out. Sometimes it was the fault of the electric company, sometimes it was the fault of the weather. We cooked outside, and learned how to do lots of things by candle-light.

We took home the prize. On my days off, I volunteered at a bilingual school. I helped coach some of their students for a big Bible competition and they won first place!

We said good-byes. My dear friend Jaime and her family went back to Canada after 10 years in Honduras. It was bittersweet.

We lost a dog and gained a dog. In January our dear dog Carl died. And then in March we brought home a new puppy who the kids named "Brownie". He is a sweetheart, but after realizing that he snored, hogged the bed, and woke me up at 4:30 for breakfast...it was time for him to find his own bed.

Angie turned 15! Angie was the first of our girls to turn 15 (on February 4th). We all got dressed up, had a fantastic lunch and celebrated her special day!

English was learned in non-conventional ways. How better to learn the names of clothing than a competition to see who can put on the most clothes? The kids loved the "fashion show" and I had a blast watching them put on ridiculous amounts of clothes!

I came home. On December 12th, the Jericho family came to the airport to send me off. It was a time full of tears and laughter (I'm sure security was a little freaked out at the huge crowd of people).

So there you have it. One year in pictures. So much has happened, so much will continue to happen. Thanks for joining the adventure.

Culture Part 3: The People

I love the people of Honduras! For the most part, they are good people who work hard and who always have time to talk.

Like I stated, it is good manners to greet everyone when you walk into a room of strangers. When entering a room of friends, it is custom to not only greet each person in turn, but to also give then a "beso" or kiss on the cheek. The Hondurans that know me throw in a hug too (because they know that hugging is an American thing).

Hondurans also have a knack for making me feel welcome, not laughing at my Spanish, and sharing their lives. Once Noe and I went to get baleadas (tortillas with beans, eggs, and avocado...yum) and ended up talking almost 20 minutes with the woman who was making them.

And when visiting a house, it is custom for the visitor to bring something for the host, usually some kind of bread or sweet treat to eat during coffee time. And the host almost always invites the guest in for a "cafecito" (a little coffee). Strangers become friends around a cup of coffee...I think that's a universal thing, but Honduran coffee with a little sweet bread seems to make the custom so much better!

Then thing I will miss the most about Honduras is the people. I have made so many wonderful friendships here, and have never felt like the outsider. Plus I already have 5 offers of places to stay when I return.

I guess I'll have to come back soon!

Culture Part 2: Driving

At the beginning of my time here, I wrote several blogs about learning to drive. Well after a year and a half, I am quite good at driving in Honduras (although I may have to re-learn to drive in the States).

The rules of driving in Honduras is that there are no rules.
Police are not on the highways, they are stationed at the entrances to the city so anything goes on the highway.
For example, the speed limit is 60 kph(about 37 mph) on the highway. Most cars wouldn't dream of going any slower than 80 kph (50 mph) and usually drive about 100 kph (62 mph).
Those median lines? Forget about them.
No passing zones? No one follows them.
And driving is like one big game of chicken. I've seen the two lane highway fit four cars passing each other. No big deal.

If I drive like that in Wisconsin, I will be arrested, or at least heavily fined.

Driving in the city is another matter. There is A LOT of traffic, no matter what time of the day it is. People continue to drive fast and weave in and out of the lanes. Motorcyclists drive in between cars like they're threading a needle. And merging becomes a game of "my car is bigger than your car"...the biggest (or the least expensive) always wins.

Want to merge? Roll down the window and wave your hand. If the others are willing to let you in, they signal by flashing their lights. To show your appreciation, you give two short honks on your horn. I'm good at merging because I am a "rubia" aka I have lighter hair and skin...people are nicer to me when it comes to letting me in.

Another common trait for driving is being "conchudo". In English this word describes people who are rude and who don't necessarily consider others. For example, cars that pass on the shoulder of the highway because you are going to slowly. Or a car that merges when it is clearly not his turn. Or making an opening to pass when there is clearly not one. These people are conchudo. I have learned to be conchuda. It's not always a bad thing and is often necessary for driving in Tegucigalpa.

I am truly a Honduran driver, now that I have un-learned all the good driving techniques my parents taught me. Maybe they'll have to enroll me in driving school again?!

Culture Part 1: The Waiting Room

Any kind of "appointment" is a cultural experience here. I use quotations because appointment is a loose term here. Basically you tell the doctor you're coming, the doctor tells you when he/she will arrive and then you wait your turn.

Doctors/dentists/hair dressers usually work out of their house. Their place of practice is normally a room that is added on to the house or a building within walking distance.

Once I took Angie to the dentist. We arrived at noon to find the place completely locked up, even though the dentist said she'd be there at 12. She arrived at quarter to one with all her kids. In the morning our dentist is a public school teacher, in the afternoon she cleans and pulls teeth. Don't try to figure that one out.

The one thing I love about Honduras is the waiting room. When a person enters, it is good manners to greet everyone with a "good morning" or "good afternoon". Perfect strangers can become good acquaintances after an afternoon in the waiting room. And because there are no set appointments, you might just end up spending the whole afternoon there.

I especially love when I go to get my hair done, because there is no waiting room. The whole hair salon is one room so it's like one big social event. I went to have my hair dyed last week and what an experience it was.

I entered to find two women ahead of me. Since there are 3 hairstylists, this normally wouldn't be a problem, but one hairstylist was already dying the other hairstylist's hair so I had to wait.

Three more women entered behind me and suddenly we had 6 customers for 3 hairstylists (2 of whom I mentioned were busy doing each others hair). Now things get interesting because it becomes a competition. I was already sitting in a chair so I got first dibs. Then things went a little like this.

- Hairstylist 1 is mixing my color while the first client waits for her color to set.
- Hairstylist 1 leaves me to take client 1 to wash out her hair. Client 4 (I am number 3) slips into client 1's chair.
- Hairstylist 2 dyes my hair and leaves it to set, then goes to wash out her own hair with hairstylist 3. Client 1 returns to find her chair occupied, and takes a seat on one of the waiting couches.
- Hairstylist 1 starts working on client 4. Hairstylist 2 takes me to wash out my hair. Client 1 grabs my chair.
- I come back from getting my hair washed and take the couch since my sets has been robbed.
- Client 2 finally evacuates her chair and as I go to grab it, client 5 swoops in and steals it. But Hairstylist 3 tells her that I was first and the chair is relinquished to me.
- Finally my hair is dried and straightened. I pay (not really sure who to pay) and get out as another woman fills my chair.

So there you go. In the course of 75 minutes, I sat in all three chairs and had my hair done by all three hair dressers. I also made friends with all the women in the salon, talked about my "kids", discussed hair styles and caught up on my Honduran "gossip". All for about 30 bucks.

Not bad for a day at the salon.

Silence

It wasn't intentional, but my life in Honduras has seemed to revolve around numbers. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I always seem to be counting to see if we are all "here".


21: different beds that I have slept in during my time in Honduras.
32: weeks of my bible study at church
18: trips I took to immigration to ask permission to stay in the country
80: minutes driving between Tegucigalpa and the Villa
3: movies in the Narnia series that we have watch countless times
25: pounds in the bag of rice that we buy nearly every week
24: people that we fit in the 15-passenger van for a trip to La Tigra
73: blogs about my adventures

And now just one number remains...FOUR

FOUR
In exactly four weeks, I will be on a plane bound for Atlanta, GA. In four weeks (minus a day) I will be packing two years worth of life into two suitcases. In four weeks there will be tears, and hugs, and a chorus of "Miss Katie, don't go".

And I won't want to go. I will want to stay and continue to be a part of raising a dozen kids. I will want to be here for Kimberly's birthday in December and the beginning of the new school year in February.

But it's not about what I want.
God said "go"
and I went. Now He is calling me home.

"How long?" I ask at three o'clock in the morning when I am on my knees. And there is silence.
"Will I get to see the girls graduate?". And there is silence.
"Who will teach English without me?" And there is silence.
"What am I going to do in the States? Where should I live?" and there is silence.

Silence. Silence. Silence.
I have learned to accept God's silence. It is not because He is punishing me, but rather because He knows that it's not yet time for me to know. He keeps silent before my downpour of questions. He will give me the answers when I am ready and able to receive them. And some time in the future He will begin to answer my questions when I least expect.

Psalm 37:7 says "be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.". In Spanish, the same verse starts out "be silent before the Lord..."


Four weeks...

Four weeks to pack up my things, finish my bible study, say my goodbyes, find my "lost" items, and give the kids their English exams.
Four weeks to be silent before God, trusting in His next steps for my life.

Mama Bear

I know that I'm only 25 years old and that technically Haeyoung is the "mama" of the Villa, but in the past two years I have definitely taken on some "mama bear" qualities.

1. I am quick to defend my kids to others, even if they are saying the same thing that I was just complaining about the other day.
2. Call it a 6th sense but I always know where all 12 of them are and I seem to always know when they are about to get into trouble.
3. When we are in sketchy places, I definitely grow claws. They can tell by my face that I'm no-nonsense and they'd better not mess with me.
4. I become proud mama bear whenever our girls perform.

Let me explain that last one.

In August 2010, Angie came to the Villa and we discovered that she had a talent and a passion for dancing. So we channeled her dancing towards the other girls and BAM, we have a group of girls that worship God through dance. SO COOL.

First, they performed for Elvia's birthday celebration. The pastor was so touched, he invited them to share it with the whole congregation.

Then the girls choreographed some more songs and performed them at several outreaches in 4 different pueblos/cities.
A teacher at one of the major bilingual schools loved how the girls worshipped through dance and asked them to perform at her school in front of over 500 students.

And just this weekend the girls performed a drama in front of thousands of people at a city-wide outreach day. The girls rehearsed for hours every day and did a fantastic job when their time came.

I was able to watch them from the wings of the stage and was brought to tears. How beautiful are my girls. I am so proud to see how far God has brought them.

Our 7 girls came to us with major attitudes and a lot of emotional wounds that needed healing. Sara refused even a hug when she first arrived. Kimberly's first months were basically silent, and Paola used to break down in tears when she was addressed.

Then and now
A lot of stories could be told about how they were, but we focus on how they are now. I have grown to love these girls, my emotional bunch of teenage girls. They make me so proud. They love God and they serve Him.

God has brought them so far, and oh how far He will take them still!

Little Women

On Saturday Haeyoung brought home the movie "Little Women" to watch with the girls.

I don't know why, but I never read the book when I was young but I decided that I wanted to read it before I watched the movie. So I woke up early on Sunday morning and started reading. I read, and read, and read. I laughed, I cried, I threw a pillow and I drove Carmen and Lisel crazy making predictions.

Finally I finished. I loved it! The book is well written, has dynamic characters, good morals, and experiences that everyone can relate to.

Then came time to watch the movie, I was so excited to see the characters and the plot played out.

And I was so disappointed.

Seriously. I was really disappointed. Actually I think the word I used was deceived. How dare those movie people take such a good book and ruin it! The best parts were taken out, everything was out of order and squished together, some parts were invented, and the characters didn't look anything like they looked in my imagination.

Just another lesson that the book is always better than the movie.
Sigh.
That's how it is in my life too. I read the Bible and I get so encouraged by the people who make up those pages.

Ester: she risked her own life to save her people
Ruth: she left her family behind to follow God
Paul: he faced ship-wrecks, a bite by a poisonous snake, 40-lashes minus one, and imprisonment and yet still wrote one of the most "joyful" books of the Bible (Philippians)
David: he was a man after God's own heart
Daniel: he slept with the lions

Countless men and women who have walked before me and found favor in the Lord's eyes. And then I try and feel like a failure.

The book is better than the movie.
I want to live without fear, full of joy, facing the trials head-on. But sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning is a chore. I want to write and encourage and speak truth into people's lives but first I have to pull the log out of my own eye.

And yet some day I will get there. Maybe I won't be asked to walk in the fire, or to lead an army, or be imprisoned. But I will do something great. I know this because we will all do something great.

God wants us to be great for Him. He wants us to be brave for Him. He wants us to serve Him.

And we will, we will. In His perfect timing.

Someday my movie will be just as good as the book.