Monday, December 29, 2008

Surpise Time!

Well, I figure it's probably time for another post :)

I am writing from the beautiful ...yet freezing...northwoods of Wisconsin! I was blessed to have someone offer to fly me home, so that i could be with my family for Christmas! That was such a fun surprise for me to have that offered, and then I decided it would be a fun surprise for the fam, also! So, on Christmas Eve, after driving in tons of icy road conditions (who's ever heard of a towing ban?? i hadn't before then!) i made it safely and surprised my family. It was wonderful, and we have had a great time catching up and hanging out, and of course lots of playing in the snow. (i think i'm frozen to the core....but i think i may have just become a wimp ;)). I've been here in the states about a week now, and start my 2 days of travel back to honduras tomorrow. It's been wonderful!

Things at the ranch and in the ministry are going well. I have adjusted back to my old job, as relief parent, and ranch nurse. This quarter i will also be taking up being Highschool P.E. teacher. I did this last year for a semester, and loved it...so the principle asked if i would be willing to teach it again for a quarter...of course i would!

My 4 boys that i had for awhile are doing very well in their new homes...thriving. I miss them, as expected, but it is a good thing for everyone involved. They will always have a piece of my heart though!

We had highschool graduation for two of the kids this past November. Nilsy and Oscar both graduated, and now will be moving on to "college life." They are both great young adults, and love the Lord. Oscar also chose to be baptized in mid-Nov and that was just an awesome thing, also.

I feel like the past 2 years has gone incredibly fast, overall, and now am getting the question repeatedly: What's next??Well, now that most the people i live and work with know, i am going to answer the question on here, so that you can all be informed, praying, and excited too. My contract is up with WGO mid-march, and so I've made the decision that i will not be staying with the ministry there in teguz...at least for now :)
I will be going to Language School to study spanish (of course) for the next 3-4 months to start out with, starting in April. My goal is to be able to have spanish "under my belt" so that i can use it in the future, in jobs and ministry. I absolutely love speakign the spanish language, and have caught on relatively quickly, so want to take advantage of this time when i am not commited to much, to become a little bit more bi-lingual. The Language School is located about 7 hours north of where i live now...it is located in a city called La Ceiba, Honduras. It is a city right on the coast of honduras, and just a beautiful place to study! I will be living with a host family (all spanish speakers), and be taking classes with about 4 other students or less. I am very excited about this, and would covet your prayers for my move to this new (tho safer) city.

It will be extremely hard to say goodbye to everyone that i am close to at the ranch....and it is something i cannot think about to much, or i get pretty bummed. I've been cherishing each and every moment...almost becoming extremely sentimental :) Time is precious and i am loving every moment these days.

After language school i have no idea where i will be going or what God has for me. :) It's part of the wild adventure called life!

p.s. i will try to add pics to this post once i'm back in honduras, on my computer.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Vacation





I was delighted to be able to go on vacation to Roatan with 9 other missionaries here on the ranch. Roatan is a very popular "touristy" island...a 15 minute plane ride off the coast of mainland honduras. Typically it is not a very cheap place to go, but us living in honduras, were able to find some sweet deals, and it worked out well for us all!! Here are a few pics:

just chillin' one night!
beautiful sunsets most nights!

view of the island from the plane

view of some reefs from the plane

all the girls one night before dinner
l-r: elli, me, shelly, hannah, abby, kelly, jaylene

on a water taxi heading to West Bend

beautiful sea

on the plane...sad to go home...at least i was!!