When I got to work yesterday morning, Karen and Dorian were not here. They had gone to the hospital to try to stop labor, but at 10, my dad called and said they could not stop labor, but the baby was breech, so they did a c-section. At that point, I gathered the staff and all of the children and told them that Karen was going to have the baby now, and that we all needed to pray for her health and for the baby's health. We all gathered in a circle and held hands. I prayed first, and allowed everyone else in the room who wanted to pray.
All but one or two kids wanted to pray, even little Josue wanted to pray for his mommy Karen. When Dilcia, one of our employees prayed, she cried and cried with worry for the baby and for her dear friend Karen. Each child said the most heart felt prayer. After they were done, it was obvious that many were very worried about the situation. Some were reserved and quiet, yet others were just plain ornery with their nerves. When we received news that Korbin was born and he and Karen were healthy, everyone cheered.
Even this morning, I did a project where the kids wrote things they were thankful for, and they all wrote that they were thankful that Korbin was healthy.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sisi
The past week Sisi has been really down in the dumps. She has always cried very easily, but this week it has been worse. Today, she was crying and wouldn't stop. She wasn't in trouble, she hadn't been in a fight, and no one had said anything mean to her.
I finally found out why she was crying, but I knew it was something more. I knew she had told my dad earlier this week that she wished that she had a family. I asked her if she was feeling sad and felt like she needed a mom. With big tears in her eyes she said yes. I told her she could call me "Mommy" and that I loved her. With that she smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen. She really needed someone to tell her that they love her and that she is part of their family.
Matt came up to her and said he would be her daddy, and she embraced him tightly. Pray for Sisi this week. Pray that she knows how special she is and that she has someone to love her.
I finally found out why she was crying, but I knew it was something more. I knew she had told my dad earlier this week that she wished that she had a family. I asked her if she was feeling sad and felt like she needed a mom. With big tears in her eyes she said yes. I told her she could call me "Mommy" and that I loved her. With that she smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen. She really needed someone to tell her that they love her and that she is part of their family.
Matt came up to her and said he would be her daddy, and she embraced him tightly. Pray for Sisi this week. Pray that she knows how special she is and that she has someone to love her.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Summer Vacation
Here in Honduras, the kids are on summer vacation. There are only 2 seasons here in Honduras. The rainy season is winter, and the dry season is summer. The kids just got out of school, and they will go back about mid-February. We made a weekly schedule of what they will be doing to occupy their time during the break. Recently, I have been deciding each day exactly what we will be doing.
Last night I planned several weeks of Tuesdays, art day, and Thursdays, exercise day. The next several Tuesdays we are making several different Christmas crafts. We will be making journals for them to write out their life stories, and we will be making a children's book.
On Thursdays, the children will be occupying their time with obstacle courses, relay races, and silly games. I am also trying to incorporate some self-esteem building activities.
If you have any neat craft, exercise, or self-esteem building ideas, please let me know.
Last night I planned several weeks of Tuesdays, art day, and Thursdays, exercise day. The next several Tuesdays we are making several different Christmas crafts. We will be making journals for them to write out their life stories, and we will be making a children's book.
On Thursdays, the children will be occupying their time with obstacle courses, relay races, and silly games. I am also trying to incorporate some self-esteem building activities.
If you have any neat craft, exercise, or self-esteem building ideas, please let me know.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Rosy and the dog
Rosy is a young lady here at CdE. She is deaf and cannot speak, but she is not mute. We can all hear her very well when she is excited or mad about something. She goes to a deaf school in the city, and often is left out of things that are going on here. All though she is in the room, she cannot participate in devotional or hear what is happening in the movie. One things she can communicate with well however, is Tibbie. It is like she pours every ounce of love she has into the doggie.
She can communicate everything she wants to Tibbie, and the dog always listens to Rosy. It often times is hard to get Rosy to help with much of anything, but when it comes to Tibbie, she always wants to offer a helping hand. I am thankful that Tibbie can be a good outlet for Rosy. I am praying that one day I will learn sign language and be able to effectively communicate the gospel with her.
She can communicate everything she wants to Tibbie, and the dog always listens to Rosy. It often times is hard to get Rosy to help with much of anything, but when it comes to Tibbie, she always wants to offer a helping hand. I am thankful that Tibbie can be a good outlet for Rosy. I am praying that one day I will learn sign language and be able to effectively communicate the gospel with her.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Our Newest Family Member
We have a new family member. She ways about 11 pounds and has blonde hair. She was a gift to us. Her name is Tibbie. She comes from a champion line. She and Haley love each other. Many times it is interesting to have a toddler and puppy at the house.
The other day when I was at the hospital with my mom, Tibbie peed in the floor. As soon as she did that, Haley pulled down her pants and peed in the floor. When Matt told her she couldn't pee in the floor, she looked at him with a confused look and said, "Tibbie peed floor first."
The kids here at Casa love Tibbie here too. They are always wanting to play with her during play time.
The other day when I was at the hospital with my mom, Tibbie peed in the floor. As soon as she did that, Haley pulled down her pants and peed in the floor. When Matt told her she couldn't pee in the floor, she looked at him with a confused look and said, "Tibbie peed floor first."
The kids here at Casa love Tibbie here too. They are always wanting to play with her during play time.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Adventures with Teleton
I think I have mentioned before that one of my responsibilities here at CdE is taking 5 kids to their Teleton appointments in the city. Maryuri goes for numerous reasons and several times a month. Their appointment booklets, especially hers is at times confusing. It is not in date order. Maryuri was scheduled for appointments on both November 9 and December 9. On Monday when I was checking to see what time we needed to be there, I looked at the time for December 9, and it said we needed to be there at 6:00 AM.
I woke up at 4:30, cleaned Tibbie's poo and pee in my parent's house, brushed my teath and hair and was ready to go at 5:00 as planned. Because we left so early, the 2 hour trip in heavy traffic only took 45 minutes. We got in the line to secure our appointment, and about 30 minutes later, I was looking at Maryuri's booklet while we were in line only to realize that Maryuri's appointment for November 9 started at 11:30. I planned on being back in Santa Ana to pick Matt up from the hospital when he got out. As usual, in Honduras, nothing went according to plan.
I had to figure out what to do for the next 5 hours with a 7 year old. I didn't want to spend much money or gas. I decided that first we would go to Dunkin Donuts. Maryuri was so excited to get to pick out her own flavor of donut. She had a strawberry one, and I ate my favorite - doble chocolate. That lasted all of 30 minutes.
We stayed there and talked until 8 when the pharmacy opened and I could buy new minutes for my phone. My next plan was Mall Cascadas. I figured that I could easily entertain her in Wal Mart and the play ground until time to go to her appointment. (Walmart is the only store in the mall open before 10). Maryuri played for about 10 minutes before she told me she was ready to go home. I convinced her to keep playing. At 10, my dad called to tell me he would meet me in 30 minutes with Matt and Haley.
We got back to Teleton a few minutes after 11. At 11:30, I went to the psycologist's door and knocked, but didn't receive an answer. I asked a nurse if she was there today, and I was assured that she would be out in a minute. Thirty minutes later, Vilma came out and told me that they had a meeting since 10. She had tried to call the number that Maryuri was registered with, but that is a number of an employee that no longer works at Casa.
As annoying as Teleton appointments are sometime, the thing I like most about them is the relationships I build with the children. I especially love when it is just me and Maryuri. She becomes very clingy to me for many days following her appointment. Today, when we walked into the psychologist's office, she said "This is my mommy." This afternoon, she wanted to be right by me, and if one of the other kids asked her to play something else, Maryuri would say, "No, I am with my Mommy." While my plans were changed to day, (like always, I live in Honduras), it was special to give Maryuri a little bit of special attention.
I woke up at 4:30, cleaned Tibbie's poo and pee in my parent's house, brushed my teath and hair and was ready to go at 5:00 as planned. Because we left so early, the 2 hour trip in heavy traffic only took 45 minutes. We got in the line to secure our appointment, and about 30 minutes later, I was looking at Maryuri's booklet while we were in line only to realize that Maryuri's appointment for November 9 started at 11:30. I planned on being back in Santa Ana to pick Matt up from the hospital when he got out. As usual, in Honduras, nothing went according to plan.
I had to figure out what to do for the next 5 hours with a 7 year old. I didn't want to spend much money or gas. I decided that first we would go to Dunkin Donuts. Maryuri was so excited to get to pick out her own flavor of donut. She had a strawberry one, and I ate my favorite - doble chocolate. That lasted all of 30 minutes.
We stayed there and talked until 8 when the pharmacy opened and I could buy new minutes for my phone. My next plan was Mall Cascadas. I figured that I could easily entertain her in Wal Mart and the play ground until time to go to her appointment. (Walmart is the only store in the mall open before 10). Maryuri played for about 10 minutes before she told me she was ready to go home. I convinced her to keep playing. At 10, my dad called to tell me he would meet me in 30 minutes with Matt and Haley.
We got back to Teleton a few minutes after 11. At 11:30, I went to the psycologist's door and knocked, but didn't receive an answer. I asked a nurse if she was there today, and I was assured that she would be out in a minute. Thirty minutes later, Vilma came out and told me that they had a meeting since 10. She had tried to call the number that Maryuri was registered with, but that is a number of an employee that no longer works at Casa.
As annoying as Teleton appointments are sometime, the thing I like most about them is the relationships I build with the children. I especially love when it is just me and Maryuri. She becomes very clingy to me for many days following her appointment. Today, when we walked into the psychologist's office, she said "This is my mommy." This afternoon, she wanted to be right by me, and if one of the other kids asked her to play something else, Maryuri would say, "No, I am with my Mommy." While my plans were changed to day, (like always, I live in Honduras), it was special to give Maryuri a little bit of special attention.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Terribly 2
Today and many other days I am at a loss of what to do witj Haley. She is such a sweet little girl. But she has a mind of her own. No discipline that we do to her seems to work. Although, we try to be consistant.
The biggest thing right now is in the car. She doesn't want to stay in her seat, and is quite the Hudini of getting out. Today, I went to TeletOn with Guadalupe and Fernando. With Matt being in the hospital, Haley got to make the trip with me.
From the city, back to Santa Ana, Haley got out of her seat at least 6 times. Each was follewed by a spanking, an explaination of the danger that is involved in getting out of her seat, and me re-strapping her in as tight as I could. I would get out of the car and Ask what was going to happen. She responded "pow pow." I would ask how many, and she would say 3. Then after three firm swats on her hiney, she would look at me like nothing had happened to her.
Later, she purposely poured water on on the ground and the furniture and for the next several minutes kept leaving her timeout area until I finally held her there for a complete timeout duration.
I love her and she is the biggest blessing. I just don't think any discipline sinks in with her. Advice is welcome.
The biggest thing right now is in the car. She doesn't want to stay in her seat, and is quite the Hudini of getting out. Today, I went to TeletOn with Guadalupe and Fernando. With Matt being in the hospital, Haley got to make the trip with me.
From the city, back to Santa Ana, Haley got out of her seat at least 6 times. Each was follewed by a spanking, an explaination of the danger that is involved in getting out of her seat, and me re-strapping her in as tight as I could. I would get out of the car and Ask what was going to happen. She responded "pow pow." I would ask how many, and she would say 3. Then after three firm swats on her hiney, she would look at me like nothing had happened to her.
Later, she purposely poured water on on the ground and the furniture and for the next several minutes kept leaving her timeout area until I finally held her there for a complete timeout duration.
I love her and she is the biggest blessing. I just don't think any discipline sinks in with her. Advice is welcome.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Hard Week
Right now I feel like Satan is trying to attack our family. Last weekend, my mom and I went to a very uplifting retreat. We got back Saturday evening excited that 4 of the kids at Casa were going to be baptized Sunday afternoon.
Sunday morning my dad called me very early to tell me that my mom was in the emergency room in Tegucigalpa with symptoms very similar to those that she had a year and a half ago when she had a serious operation. We needed to be at the children's home at 7:00 to be with the kids. I was stressed and worried about my mom. I think the kids felt my stress.
As soon as we could, we headed down the mountain to see my mom. The traffic going in to the city was at a standstill because a bus had collided with a car. When we got passed that, we quickly got to the hospital. Monday we we worked until about 4 then I dropped Matt and Haley off at home and went back to the hospital. At 7:30 a Dr. came in and said he thought they would operate on her at 9 that night. So, instead of going back home, I stayed the night. At 9 the Dr. came in and said they wanted to wait to do the surgery on Tuesday because they weren't exactly sure what the problem was.
Matt and I left the hospital at about 11:30 to go for some lunch and we planned on picking up some groceries of our own because the Dr. had told me they would decide by 3:00 what type of operation they were going to do. I thought that meant we had at least until 4 before they operated on her. At noon, right as we sat down to eat, my dad called to let me know they were going in to surgery. We ate our food and went right back to the hospital.
We spent the rest of the day at the hospital. Wednesday, we were with the kids of a morning, and we drove to the hospital again that evening. I spent the night there, and Matt stayed at home with a sad Lili who was missing her mommy.
The room where my mom was staying was hot. It was on the 6th floor. Even after the nurse turned the air conditioner on, it was still really hot. After Matt came to pick me up on Thursday, we went back to the children's home to work the evening shift.
We worked Friday, and went again to the hospital. Friday morning, it looked like Matt had a bite on his leg, but by yesterday, it had covered most of his calf. We decided after I went to several hours of meetings at the kids' school that we would go to the hospital. Honestly, I thought they would prescribe some pills and a cream for him and we would be on our way to town to get the groceries and some stuff for the dog.
However, Matt went back there to see the doctor, and about 45 minutes later, a cleaning lady came back to the waiting room to tell me that my husband wanted to see me but I couldn't take Haley back to the room where he was. I was at a loss of what to do. Do I leave Haley with a stranger to go see Matt? Or do I take Haley to my parents then go see Matt? I ended up leaving Haley with the cleaning lady and going to see Matt.
He told me he had a staph infection, and they were going to have to keep him there for three days. I can't visit him but 3-5. He has to have shots every 6 hours and heavy antibiotics. Please pray that his leg heals and that the infection doesn't spread.
Yesterday, we were both at our limits on stress. We were pretty snappy at each other for very small things. Then to top it all off, Matt ended up having to stay in the hospital yesterday. I was very stressed out yesterday. Please pray that this week is much better.
Sunday morning my dad called me very early to tell me that my mom was in the emergency room in Tegucigalpa with symptoms very similar to those that she had a year and a half ago when she had a serious operation. We needed to be at the children's home at 7:00 to be with the kids. I was stressed and worried about my mom. I think the kids felt my stress.
As soon as we could, we headed down the mountain to see my mom. The traffic going in to the city was at a standstill because a bus had collided with a car. When we got passed that, we quickly got to the hospital. Monday we we worked until about 4 then I dropped Matt and Haley off at home and went back to the hospital. At 7:30 a Dr. came in and said he thought they would operate on her at 9 that night. So, instead of going back home, I stayed the night. At 9 the Dr. came in and said they wanted to wait to do the surgery on Tuesday because they weren't exactly sure what the problem was.
Matt and I left the hospital at about 11:30 to go for some lunch and we planned on picking up some groceries of our own because the Dr. had told me they would decide by 3:00 what type of operation they were going to do. I thought that meant we had at least until 4 before they operated on her. At noon, right as we sat down to eat, my dad called to let me know they were going in to surgery. We ate our food and went right back to the hospital.
We spent the rest of the day at the hospital. Wednesday, we were with the kids of a morning, and we drove to the hospital again that evening. I spent the night there, and Matt stayed at home with a sad Lili who was missing her mommy.
The room where my mom was staying was hot. It was on the 6th floor. Even after the nurse turned the air conditioner on, it was still really hot. After Matt came to pick me up on Thursday, we went back to the children's home to work the evening shift.
We worked Friday, and went again to the hospital. Friday morning, it looked like Matt had a bite on his leg, but by yesterday, it had covered most of his calf. We decided after I went to several hours of meetings at the kids' school that we would go to the hospital. Honestly, I thought they would prescribe some pills and a cream for him and we would be on our way to town to get the groceries and some stuff for the dog.
However, Matt went back there to see the doctor, and about 45 minutes later, a cleaning lady came back to the waiting room to tell me that my husband wanted to see me but I couldn't take Haley back to the room where he was. I was at a loss of what to do. Do I leave Haley with a stranger to go see Matt? Or do I take Haley to my parents then go see Matt? I ended up leaving Haley with the cleaning lady and going to see Matt.
He told me he had a staph infection, and they were going to have to keep him there for three days. I can't visit him but 3-5. He has to have shots every 6 hours and heavy antibiotics. Please pray that his leg heals and that the infection doesn't spread.
Yesterday, we were both at our limits on stress. We were pretty snappy at each other for very small things. Then to top it all off, Matt ended up having to stay in the hospital yesterday. I was very stressed out yesterday. Please pray that this week is much better.
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