we're off again

Its still surreal to say, but yes we are heading back to Honduras.  In fact we are leaving later today.  So i thought we should let you know that.  A few months ago we decided we had to come back.  Some of the families we are close to were struggling and our hearts went out to them.  Katlyn, Dan, and I looked up prices and the tickets were cheap enough that we could go.  Of course tonight we will have to spend the night in the Atlanta airport, but there is always a cost to cheap plane tickets.  We are so excited.  This semester of school was really difficult.  Classes were hard, I was working a lot in the hospital, and was busy just about all of the time with young life.  But it was also a sweet semester.  Christ was good in all of it and continually drew me closer to him. And now he is giving me/us a break. I am excited to go back to Honduras. I am excited for the warm weather and for the peace the simple life there brings. But I am the most excited to see friends.  I am excited to finally meet baby allison.  Amazingly, Milades gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby allison a few weeks after we left.  I am excited to see our kinder kids, to see the twins, and all of our little friends.  I am not sure what updating the blog will look like since we are only there for 10 days.  I probably won't want to spend much time on the internet.  But I will do my best.  This time we are mainly going just to visit and help out some of our friends.  Our plan is to build a chicken coup or two and buy some chickens for some friends.  Its funny because none of us know what that looks like.  How do you build a coup? But thats what we said about the bunk beds and that turned out perfectly fine.  So here we go.  another adventure.  We are blessed, we know that.  We ask that you continually pray for us as we figure out what God wants out of these few days there.  This is the best christmas present any of could have asked for.

we're back. (post from airport)

(This blog was written 2 days ago... we are home now.)  I am sitting in the Atlanta airport right now.  It is 4:44 am in the morning and I am tired and freezing, but mostly freezing.  But I have done this before.  The whole sleeping in the airport is not new to me since a 16 hour layover always calls for a cheaper plane ticket.  Believe it or not- I am enjoying it this time.  Dan is sleeping on the floor, Katlyn is sleeping on the chairs, and the little boy Jason who we are taking home is sleeping next to me.

This time is giving me time to reflect.  A friend texted me when we landed in Atlanta and asked how my trip was and I responded ‘good, but I have to process.’  I think this layover has been a good time to process.  Especially since I haven’t blogged since Nicaragua, I have a lot to say.  So first, Nicaragua.

Nicaragua.

The 10 days spent traveling in Nicaragua were crazy.  They were crazy for multiple reasons.  First, we were able to see so many old friends.  Douglas, Karla, Lenin, Serigo, Aracelly, Oscar, Jessy, Ernesto, Eduardo, David, Ludem, Aaron, Karla, Carla, and so many more.  We were able to do so many things.  Dan surfed in the Pacific, I got incredibly tacky fake nails compliments of Karla, and Katlyn was able to practice her dance moves.  The three of us learned what a tight budget meant and we learned that sometimes food can be sacrificed and you can still live.  We traveled by bus almost every day which became quickly exhausting.  We crossed the boarder (which is super stressful by foot FYI).  We took extremely scary taxi rides, kind of sort of went to an important soccer game, ate a lot of Tip Top chicken, laughed a whole freaking lot, got mad at eachother, fell more in love with eachother, and more in love with our friends.  These Nicaraguans really mean so much to us and I cannot really start blogging about each stop and homestay individually.  I don’t want to type that long and you do not want to read that much.  Just ask in person. Here are some pictures of our sweet friends and good times.

Back to Porvenir.

One thing we did realize while traveling so much, was how bad we wanted to be back in Porvenir.  Not that we didn’t love Nicaragua, its only that while we were traveling, we realized how much we had fallen in love with the people of Porvenir and the town itself.  Also, the beach house felt safe.  We had a bed and a door that locked and for once we could all fall asleep without taking shifts.  It felt so good.  Plus, the last four days in Porvenir were the best (minus the infestation of lice).

dan and i with our lice caps on...

Kinder.

Kinder was hard to leave.  We had two more days when we got back to finish Kinder and it was sad.  We LOVE these kids.  On the last day we distributed backbacks with toys and school supplies in them that were donated by friends and family and people we don’t even know (thank you.) Each and every single one of them looked precious as they walked home smiling and jumping around but it was so sad to walk the kids home from kinder knowing it was our last time.  I do not know how Katlyn did it without breaking down.

Surprise Party.

The last four days in Porvenir also included a few parties.  The biggest one was a surprise party that all of the mothers in Porvenir threw for Katlyn.  Rosa (the kinder teacher) and Dan and I had talked briefly about a surprise party before we had left for Nicaragua but I had no idea how big and amazing of a surprise party she had in mind.  Although multiple times the party had been given away to Katlyn and I thought she had to have known about it for sure, she never found out.  The surprise party was a surprise to me as well.  It was huge.  The mothers made enough food for over 100 people which was such a sacrifice and so beautiful to see.  The kids dressed up and sang and danced.  The twins and Bessy also put on beautiful dresses and danced a traditional dance.  There were really emotional moments but always broken up by something funny or cheerful.  These moms were in the best mood.  Seriously.  They were all on their ‘A game’ dancing around and being hilarious.  You could see in their eyes how much they loved and appreciated Katlyn which was incredible to see for me.  I wanted her to know how much she was needed and wanted in Porvenir and this party was the way to do it. 

dance party

sweet abuela who we love so much.

Best Date ever.

Dan and I were able to go on a date before we left.  We went to Cayos Cuchinos which are a group of islands that seem unreal.  They look as though they are pictures taken from a magazine.  We were able to snorkel around some incredible reefs and see some pretty incredible things.  The trip in general was also needed.  We both were aware that we had so much on our hearts and minds and Cayos Cuchinos was an excuse to be together and relax and have minimal tasks to complete except for play with the local children and snorkel.  It was really an incredible date and I felt so loved by Dan that he didn’t see it just as a trip, but as a date that he really wanted to go on with me.  Just me.

struggling...

Final Day.

Our last day in Porvenir was bittersweet.  I will always remember this day.  It wasn’t out of the ordinary except instead of saying see you later to some of the families, it was goodbye, and goodbye always sucks.  Mothers and Grandmothers who have become so dear to us were in tears and holding onto us tight.  And I loved and hated that all at the same time.  Milades, who went to the doctor while we were in Nicaragua was told that her baby girl is due the 28^th.  We were so happy to hear that she said she will go to the hospital when her time comes which is such a gift from god, so thank you for praying that.  She is scared of course, but she understands that it is necessary especially since we will not be there.  Her sweet self threw us a goodbye lunch at her house and we were able to spend a few hours with her and the children.  Dan and I talk about these children non stop.  They are so precious and truly show me the love of Christ.  They are fragile and perfect and strong and joyful and incredible.  Spending time with them was the perfect way to leave Honduras.  Something happened during that time that I will never forget.  Milades had never really knew my name, and I knew that.  But since we spent so much time together, it was one of those things that it would have been weird for her to ask me this far into the relationship so we worked around the obvious.  Also, Milades did not have a name for her baby.  We had spent some time talking about the baby’s name, but she said her mom had named all of her other children and since her mom has passed and this is her first child since her mom passing, she didn’t have a name.  When we were at her house that final day, she looked at Katlyn and said, what is your sister’s name again?  Katlyn said Allison and then without hesitation she looked at me and said, that is what I am going to name my baby girl.  Allison.

Here are some pictures from our last day at Milades house

katlyn and i with milades!

Processing.

Like I said I have a lot to think about.  A lot to process.  Obviously.  I will try to blog about that soon as soon as I sort it out in my head.  Writing this blog brings a lot of emotions and suddenly this airport is the last place I want to be.  I want to be wrangling up kids in the kinder, building bunk beds with Victor, taking Milades and Fanny’s kids to the beach, holding Roiley, teaching the twins and Bessy English.  I even would rather be sitting in the beach house picking lice out of eachothers hair by candle light when the power goes out.  Anything there, not here.  Honduras was hard at times- actually it was the hardest.  But it was the sweetest.  I pray I can go back soon.  I pray that sweet baby girl Allison is born safe and healthy.  I pray that I will never forget what I have learned.  I pray that Dan and I never take for advantage the 5 weeks we spent there. 

Travel

so it has been about a week since i last blogged but that was because that we were traveling all over Nicaragua for the past 7 days! it was an incredible experience and we got to see all the people that we know and love from Nicaragua, there were a couple that the girls and i didn't get to see but there is always next year i guess! we Traveled to Esteli, Managua, Leon, Matagalpa, and San Ramon and stayed with all the young life leaders on staff from those cities and had and incredible time with all of them! Every city was so different but i have to say that my favorite was Leon the city was very well kept and the buildings and history there was all so beautiful! From Leon we also got to go the the Beach! first time surfing in the Pacific ocean for me! and i must say that the waves were huge! i would say like 6 to 8 feet breaking off this pretty dangerous jetty that you basically had to stand on in order catch the waves but it was incredibly fun! we will be back on a little later to upload pictures but for now the internet is very slow and hard to upload this blog! coming home in 5 days!!!
   p.s Allison and I have had great pleasure in laughing at Katlyn for her infestation of Lice in her hair.... Come to find out as of 10 minutes ago ALLY AND I DO TOO!!!!! at least our aren't black! or the "mother lice" as Anne Frann says!

Nicaragua at last

I can't really believe we are here. If you know me you know how much Nicaragua means to me. The first time I came here was in 2004. I haven't missed a year since. This place redirected my life in so many ways and for that this place will always be feel like home in so many ways. Leaving porvenir was hard. We finally took milades to get an ultrasound to find out that her baby will be breached and the umbilical cord is wrapped around her neck. So we went to the hospital to wait for 6 hours for the doctor to say he couldn't see her. Messed up. We are not sure what will happen but the ultrasound did show that the baby still has about 3 to 6 weeks based on age. Anyways we are now here in nica. We spent yesterday in esteli but are temporarily in managua picking up a dear friend jt who us going to spend some time here. Were at the airport hence the Internet connection. Since arriving here we have had so much fun. Duh. Being reunited with such incredible god loving people us always needed but especially now .tonight we will get to see so many more of our friends who we miss so much. Dan looked at me yesterday and said... Ally you look happier. I am. Nica does something to you. It helps you breathe and see a little more clearly. At the same time we are all thinking so much about milades and her sweet baby are safe. Please please please keep them in your prayers. We will update you all on our precious time Here in Nicaragua when we can.

BUNK BEDS ARE FINISHED! (from dan)

    well after two long weeks of working on them they are finally done! i feel like God has given me nothing but strength and encouragement through this time of the building process! when I first came here i though that we were going to slap a couple 2x4 together and BOOM you have yourself a bunk bed! but NO God chose someone truly dedicated to these beds. and he had a bit of a different plan.

these were the finished  product minus the bed boards.

These 4 beds took about two weeks of solid work with the last two days of work being 10 to 12 hour days!
Now i don't want you guys to freak out(Mom and Dad) but those last 3 or 4 days of work i was pretty sick with a really sore throat and chest and from all the sawdust hitting my eyes one of my eyes got a pretty irritated for a good 48 hours. because of that i had to miss one morning session, But throughout that whole process i felt fairly good and was able to keep working.
   Delivering the beds was an amazing feeling! not a feeling of accomplishment or being proud. more like a awestruck at the fact that for some of the families the beds took up a large portion of their home! It was not something that i was upset to see because that were all very happy and some even tearing up about it!  but for someone like to me to come from a very nice house and see that these families houses and the fact that it was a bed and possibly refrigerator was a little sad! but all in all this was an absolutely incredible experience and I would start all over again tomorrow if i had to! here are some more pictures of the families that we delivered to and the bunk bed making in general.

Transportation

All the kids behind me are just some the ones that will sleep in this bed. 

tight squeeze!

Miladies family missing some of her kids

The view we enjoyed while delivering the beds to the first two families.

Fanny's family and Victors Kids

me and my Buddy Jorge taking a picture with the old and new beds.

Third family A.K.A "Skinny Family"

fourth family (they have 15 kids!!!)