Thankful

I am so thankful for the people that God has brought into my life here in Honduras, and in the USA. Lately I've been having some pretty honest, deep, truthful, meaningful and sometimes life-changing conversations. I am so thankful for people who are willing to speak truth into my life, and also to receive it spoken into their life. Yup.

Last night we went to a Superbowl party at the Bridge House. (The house in the city where the young adults of the ministry live so they can attend college/work etc). It was a good time...I didn't really end up watching most of it (i know...shocker since i do love football!!)...instead I once again had some very good conversations, and hung out with people.

Before the Superbowl we went to the mall and did some grocery shopping and stuff...i didn't really have much to do....so i just tagged along for the ride. The good ol' Trooper got us to and from the city safely again so we were thankful.

This month will proove to be a busy one ...lots of relief parenting, sub-teaching, teaching, nursing, and savoring each moment that I am here still!

Well, I think that's all for now. Have a great week! LEAVE COMMENTS....i'm starting to think no one reads my blog anymore ;) By the way...how do you like the new look?!?

Caution: Random Pictures :)

I've just been lookin' thru pics on my computer and so thought i'd share some more on here :)

Brianna and I on her wedding day! I'm so thankful I was able to plan my furlough time to be there to share in her special day!

Haha..this is a very Random picture of my first manicure ever :) (Nov 2008)

A pic of us girls in Roatan ready to walk down the beach to dinner! ( Nov.2008)
l-r: elli, me, shelly, hannah, abby, kelly, jaylene

Me and Nancy chillin' on the ranch

My baby boy and me! He love's chattin on the "telefono"

pictures!

Here are just some random pictures of some of the kids here and the ranch.

A view of the ranch from the school...includes coffee beans drying on tables, coffee plants to the left, mora plants in the back.

Jen-Jen: 5

Nancy:18

Oscar: 18

Deisy: 3

Junnior: 6

Cristian: 4

Obed

savoring the moments...a good way to describe it!

YEAH! FINALLY GOT PICS TO UPLOAD :) ENJOY!Me and my boys. Just was reminiscing so thought i'd share the pic.

All the missionaries at the Ranch. This was after a 5 hour meeting so if we look a bit tired..that's why :)

Karen, Obed, and I. Obed is my soccer trainer...:)

Audrey, Brayan and I at band practice.

Okay..NO idea why this pic is this way...but so be it. We've been hanging out playing GameCube alot lately...so here's a pic of "the gang" playing :) Me, Brayan, Shelly, Steve.

So life lately has been busy but good. Last week i was relief parenting in the "Casa de Jose" again. This is the house that I originally came down to be a relief parent for (and then became relief parent for all homes :)), and the boys just amaze me at how much they have grown up in 2 years. It has gone from the boys (all of them) waking up at INSANE early hours of the morning and screaming and yelling and "play fighting" in the house...to the point where the neighbors woke up because of the noise....to now, I have to wake them up at 7:15am to get ready for school! This growing up thing...it's beautiful :) Those boys are great though, and we had a good week.

The weather has been great lately! Until today :) Today we really are in the "cloud forest" ....i feel like i'm sitting in a cloud. And although i've always thought it would be fun to play in a nice big fluffy cloud...i'm learning it is just very wet and damp and makes me want to stay in bed all day :) haha!

My high school P.E. class of 10 students is finishing up their segment on Volleyball. It's been a good 2-3 weeks of improving their skills and really learning to work as a team! I'm really proud of all of them....we've had lots of laughs, too. They will be taking their quiz on Thursday...crossing my fingers that they at least look at the information that it will be over! :) I am loving teaching that class....and trying to figure out what we will focus on next.....baseball??? ultimate frisbee?? Shooot me your ideas of what to do for P.E. with a class of 10....

Yesterday I subbed all day for one of the Honduran teachers...Yessica. She teaches spanish, honduran social studies, highschool psychology, biology, and literature.....all in spanish. It was really fun...I really enjoy subbing for the spanish speaking classes....it tests my own spanish! I also was able to have a good talk with one of the kids here.

Now, I'm not one to really talk much about US politics (cuz you all know my heart really is here...) but I was SO upset to hear that Obama put back into place a law or something saying the US will be helping out financially international organizations that perform abortions. This is SO wrong in SO many ways...and has me absolutely disturbed. Ugh. Anyone else know more about this? Please tell me I am wrong and this did not pass...

I think that about wraps it up for now. I'm still savoring every moment....the way I feel we all should live life...you never know when that moment will be your last...


Okay i've tried 2x to upload pics but i guess all the fog is getting in the way :) so you'll have to wait on them....

Oscar moved to the Bridge House, in Teguz, on Saturday the 3rd of this month. He will now attend university in the city and transition into the life of a working college student.
L-R: Jaylene, Will, Me, Brayan, Oscar, William, Steve.

At the bowling alley, before we dropped Oscar off at the Bridge.
l-r: oscar, me, brayan.

Around 12:15am on New Years!
L-R: emily, johana, me, brayan, edgar, audrey, matthew, eric

Emily, Me and Johana on New Years Eve at the bonfire

And a pic of my precious darwin, whom i miss so much! love you baby!
(he's doing great in his new family, by the way!)

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.

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!!