Friday, June 11, 2010

Picture Therapy!

Ask your 2nd grade students to draw you, and this is what you get. Some are encouraging, some are heartbreaking, and some are just straight up hilarious. Enjoy! There are a lot to see. I just could not chose! DSC09306 DSC09307 DSC09308 DSC09309 DSC09311 DSC09313 DSC09314 DSC09315 DSC09316 DSC09317 DSC09318 DSC09319 DSC09320 DSC09321 DSC09322 DSC09323 DSC09324

Let the rainy season begin!

This is my outside of my front door during rainy season :) and by rainy season, I mean it rains every afternoon around 4pm. and by rain, I mean BUCKETS and BUCKETS of water from the sky. Its painful and scary to be outside!

DSC09327

and a still picture for your viewing pleasure :)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Kmart Kicks!

DSC09220This could quite possibly be the best picture I have taken in Copan.

Remember Jimmy, the little boy at the rodeo who won 20 USD? Well, Jimmy’s 9th birthday was last month and thanks to my special friends, the Kiblers, I was able to give Jimmy a very special birthday present that left him smiling and strutting his new kicks.  I mean, just check out that pose. Hello America’s Next Top Model, I found your next contestant.

I was taking a shower and heard people singing “Happy Birthday” on my roof. Turns out that 2 of my friends were up there hanging out with Jimmy and singing because, well, it was his birthday! It was so fun to get to wrap up some presents (thanks to some clothing donations from friends in the USA!) and watch Jimmy unwrap what might have been his very firsts birthday presents. Socks, underwear, shorts, t-shirts and shoes!. Jimmy could not have been happier. What a sight it was! He proudly stuffed all of this new things into his school book bag and asked for help to zip it shut :)

I have been so touched by knowing Jimmy. He has nothing, yet, I have I never seen him without the world’s biggest smile spread across his face. It is the Spirit of the Lord in Jimmy’s life, whether he knows it yet or not. I am so thankful that the Lord loves the little children like Jimmy!

“Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like Jimmy….Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.” Mark 10: 14-16

Monday, June 7, 2010

Dia del Arbol

What do you get when you combine Tree Day, 150 students (all with plants of some type), and 30 minutes?

CHAOS.

AKA Dia del Arbol at Mayatan.

 DSC09290

To celebrate Dia Del Arbol, Mayatan asked that each student bring in some type of tree or plant to plant in the ground in Mayatan’s campus. We were allotted a 30 minute time slot to achieve this. Needless to say, it was quite a failure. I think we got 3 trees planted in my group (due to my lack of skills with the 5 foot long heavy iron rod that they gave me to use to dig holes. I don’t know about you, but I always had a personal hand held shovel to help my mom plant pansies and this iron rod thing was new for me.) But hey, three out of 25 isn’t that bad, right?

I like the idea behind it though. It helps get the kids excited about the Earth (at least for a day!). But then, I am afraid, it is back to throwing trash out of bus windows. Oh man.

  DSC09291

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Mixed Emotions

Llegamos al final. We made it to the end. We have reached the last day of school. Wow.

I’m not sure that it has completely sank in with me yet. I have spent almost every day with my little 2nd grade friends for the past year and then at 11:30 tomorrow, it will end. My interaction with them is over. I won’t greet them every morning with a high five anymore. We won’t read the morning message and have morning meeting. I won’t have to tell Gandhi to stay in his seat anymore or Ritzy to raise her hand if she has a question. I won’t get to watch them laugh and play during recess or get really excited when they know an answer to a question and earn a point for their table. I won’t have to break up any fights or take away their mangos during reading because they are eating in class. I won’t get to dismiss them at the end of the day and receive hugs and goodbyes from some of the sweetest Hondurans I know (granted I don’t know all that many!) and then remind them not to run to the bus!.

I truly will miss them. I feel like they have become my actual children. I tell them this a lot and I think they think I am crazy!

I think one reason I am really sad is because I want to see my kids grow up. I want to see their English improve even more.  I want to see them going to high school. I want to see some of them break the cycle of poverty in their families because they can get better jobs than harvesting crops in the hot sun because they can speak English. I want to see Kensy and Milton live in a house made of cinderblock one day instead of mud.

I was making a memory album for each of them this afternoon to give them as a present. In it I have a picture I took of them on the first day of school and a picture that I took of them on Monday. I seriously cannot believe how much they have changed and matured in 9 months! It just seems like life goes so quickly.

I am so thankful for this time I have had in Honduras and I am so thankful that I still have about a week and a half to close up my time here. I am also thankful that I can come back and visit in a few years. :)

It is so funny how the Lord works through EVERY situation and how He led me and Allan to this place. Its so great how the Lord created relationships and enables us to build them with people of all ages. Its neat how I feel like I have learned just as much from my students as (I hope!) they have learned from me.

My mom made me a shirt with a picture of Honduras on it and a little heart where Copan is. I think it is a great representation of how I am feeling right now.

DSC09330