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. |
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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).
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| 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.
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| dance party |
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| 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.
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| 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 28th. 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
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| 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.
