Blessings

You might not be able to tell by reading my blog, but honestly, we have been having a hard time. There have been times I just didn't want to post anything because I didn't feel like I could find something nice to report. It has been a struggle. Many days, I have a hard time remembering why we are here. We have been stretched and tried until we feel like we are breaking and we don't have anything left to give. I'm telling you this now so that you will understand why this post is important. It has been hard for me to see the tapestry that God is weaving here. Right now, I'm looking at the back and it looks like a big mass of knots. I can't see the beautiful picture on the other side.

It popped into my head this morning that I should make a list of ten good things about being here to post on the blog. In my depressed state, I thought, wonder how long that would take? I couldn't think of much to put on the list.

Tonight I chatted with my sister and as we talked, I realized that He is blessing us everyday and that I do have so many things that I can count as blessings. It was a good wakeup call for me to focus in the good and not let a negative, bitter attitude spring up in me.

So here goes. Ten blessings...

1. My children now appreciate having a clean bed


2. A good friend came over tonight with a tortilla press and a plastic tub for bathing the little kids in. Very nice!


3. We now have warm showers! What a blessing! The kids are excited about not having to use the so-cold-it-takes-your-breath-away-water. Because they can stay in it longer now, they come out clean! Clean is a wonderful thing!


4. The refrigerator in our apartment works. We had the repairman come yesterday. Hopefully, now it will keep things cold AND not make a big puddle of water on the floor.


5. We can get ripe mangos at the fruitstand for about 50 cents a piece. They are SO yummy.


6. The kids are picking up more Spanish everyday. I hear them explaining things to each other and sometimes they can actually get thier point across to one of the workers who only speak Spanish.


7. My husband is so talented! Among other things, he was able to build a nice headboard for our bed so I don't have to worry about creepy crawlies coming down the wall onto my pillow at night.


8. We moved into our "apartment" this past week. The first morning, the older kids said they felt at home here and they had slept very well. It is so nice to have our own space.


9. I am getting better at washing our clothes by hand, the Hoduran way. At some point, I will probably hire someone to help with this chore. It's a major undertaking to keep clothes clean here and with six of us, the laundry piles mount up quickly. At first, I was super slow and things weren't very clean when I was finished. But, I'm learning and getting better and better at it.


10. We have not had any major infestation of ants, scorpians, or other "insectos" in our apartment since we moved in. Thank you, Lord!

Insectos!

Insectos, a spanish word we are becoming more and more familiar with. The biggest hindrance to getting our building ready to move into this week, has been ants and termites. Brian has sprayed and sprayed and they keep pouring out of cracks and holes. They have slowed down, but they aren't as GONE as we would like yet.... but we're hoping that very soon they will be a thing of the past!
Last Sunday night Rachel stepped out on the porch and suddenly started screaming. Apparently she got too close to a scorpion and he let her have it. If you know me, you know that this has been the one thing I have really been nervous about. But GOD IS GOOD! It got her right in the heel and I think because there isn't much meat there, she didn't get much venom. She was in terrible pain for a while, but she never had the numbness and tingling feeling that most people get. And by the next morning she was fine. So, it was a hard experience, but now I feel a little better about how to deal with this. I hope I don't have to any time soon or ever!
On the insect subject, pray that Andrew will stop scratching! I think he still has every bite that he's gotten here becuase he won't stop picking them long enough for them to heal. I make him wear pants most of the time so his legs are looking better, but his arms still look bad.
Thanks for your prayers. Keep it up! I'll write when I can! Still no internet a home!

Here we are one week later and I'm finally able to post again. We still don't have our modem. We did have it earlier this week, but something was wrong so we are back to square one and waiting again. Today we are borrowing a modem from a friend. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have this link to you all back home. It will be such a blessing when we can do this on a regular basis.
Here are some more praises and requests:

• This afternoon our fellow American friend showed up with some helpers and two bunk beds for the kids. What a huge blessing! Brian had planned to build some, but time and wood are both that things we're short on.
• We are getting closer to moving into our building. Brian got more painting done this week. Pray that things will go smoothly and we'll be able to move in soon!
• We are starting to have more contact with the families Little Hands serves. This week I got to do some doctoring by treating an infected toe of one of the mothers. Our kids have been able to meet some of the kids we've been praying for and spend time playing with them. Brian continues to fix things and be the main driver for everyone here. Pray for more time to grow these relationships.
• Usually we eat Honduran food for lunch and American food for supper. We have fruit everyday and we aren't tired of all that fresh pineapple yet! We also eat alot of watermelen and cantalope. Sometimes the kids are tired of unfamiliar food, but for the most part they are handling that fine.

Well we just lost electricity so I only have a short time before the battery on this laptop dies. Someday, I hope to post every couple of days or so. Until then, please keep us in your prayers and check in here. You never know when I'll be able to write again. Thank you, thank you, for your encouraging comments on my last post. I finally got to read them last night. What a blessing!

We're Still Alive and Well!

We're really sorry to be so out of touch with everybody. We still don't have internet access in Trujillo and our transportation is unreliable at best so trips to the internet cafe have been few. We're back in San Pedro Sula for the weekend to do some shopping. I hope to get our e-mail prayer list up and running at the hotel tonight. Real quick here are a few highlights and prayer requests:

• Things are moving at a snail's pace, a very ill snail! We are trying to adjust to life here, but we're having a hard time coming from a place where things GET DONE! Most days we feel like we're taking two steps forward and three backward. Pray that we will be able to get the rooms that we're to live in ready so we can have a place to really settle in. Now we are camping out in one room in the dorm and have our things scattered between several buildings. It will be so nice to have a few rooms to call our own! Pray for patience!
• We have been quite healthy and we're thanking God for that! We have been taking alot of grapefruit seed extract and I'll write more about that later. We think that because of that and God's mercy toward us, we've avoided for the most part the dread diarrhea. Praise God for good health and safety!
• We've met another gringo family from the states. They have been a huge encouaragement and help to us. The kids have enjoyed talking to other kids that speak English and Brian and I appreciate having another couple that can understand where we're coming from, litteraly!
• We are all picking up more and more Spanish. We hope to do some classes once we're settled. Brian is really doing well and I'm impressed with the kids as they play with the Honduran kids and try hard to communicate.
• We 've had several run ins with local wildlife, mostly good, but some annoying like the "Night of the Ants ...and the cockroach". But that's a story for another day! Jonathan has enjoyed the lizards and we all think the leaf cutter ants are really cool!

Well, times up. More later if I can! We miss you all and love you! Take care and God bless!