Tuesday

Today we started out at the orphanage. We switched groups, those that painted yesterday did songs and a Bible story and then went to the baby room. Those that were in the baby room painted today. We used stencils to paint soccer balls, race cars, animals and such on the walls. They really could've used a fresh coat of paint, but at least the little we did do helped brighten up the rooms a bit.
It was really neat seeing kids that we met yesterday. They were so excited to see that we had come back. They would run up and give us huge hugs. Anna told us that before we got there several asked her, "Are the gringos coming back? Are the gringos coming back?"

Around noon we headed to a mall to have lunch and then we went to a "Super Wal-mart" and did some major shopping for the orphanage. Thanks so many of you we had a good chunk of change to use to buy things for the orphanage. It was so fun! Thank you!

The picture above is of Janell getting popcorn and pop. Tomorrow we are doing a pizza and movie event for the teenage girls. We are excited to do something special for them.

Baby bananas for the baby. :)

Part of the group with just part of what we bought. We were getting lots of looks from people. I'm sure it looked funny- one cart for instance had a ton of baby food and lots of sanitary pads (for the teenage girls) and then another was filled almost completely with diapers.

Our total was 23,815 dollars...just kidding! It was 23,815 lempira which is about 1250 dollars. We got so much stuff for that amount. Lots of clothes, shoes, food, diapers, toys, balls, hygiene items, baby formula, etc. Again, we were only able to do this because of your generosity.

After shopping we came back to our guest house and we learned more about the orphan crisis in Honduras. We learned about the project that we are working with and what their role is. The orphanage is goverment run, but the project we are working with is a non-profit that has their offices there. They have lawyers, social workers and psychologists that work on the kids cases to help get them out of institutions and into families. The government doesn't have the money to do the necessary paperwork and formalities that is needed to get these kids through the process. That is where this project helps. We saw a great video that I am hoping to be able to upload so that you guys are able to view it.

As Jessica mentioned yesterday, we are all called to care for the orphan- what will your role be?

Day 3 but Day 1 at Casistas Kennedy

Where to even begin today...how about breakfast. We once again our getting fed very well, we had something like a breakfast burrito that turned out be a much needed ¨bigger¨breakfast for what we would be doing today. We have finally had our first day at the orphanage. Half of us spent the morning painting graphics on the walls to cheer things up and the other half of us went into the baby room. Painting was often interrupted by kids coming to see what the ¨gringos¨were doing and hoping they had candy. The baby room has 10 babies (couple months old up to about 2 years) and then there is a separate special needs room which has 4 children; however we only met 3 today. Two of the children were siblings with Cerebral Palsy and possibly something else and the other was a beautiful girl who is blind and has a clef palate. While heartbreaking, all that went through my mind was these are all God´s children whom He loves dearly but chances are they will not be shown as much. We are learning that the class system is alive and well in Honduras and I can only imagine how these children will be treated as they get older.

By the way, this was written by Jessica not Casi so please excuse any errors or lack of info you were hoping to read :)

In the afternoon, we had set up a craft room in which the ALL the kids got to make bead bracelets and they seemed to love this...we had to limit them to 3 a piece. When the kids were not in the craft we just played soccer, jump rope, frisbee, catch, on the playground. In this time, I think all of our hearts were broken! Despite the language barrier we were able to learn some of the kids stories. The little girl who cried and just kept repeating how she was missing her mom and Casi was so gracious and just had this little girl on her lap hugging and comforting her. Gail who learned about one of the boys whose parents had just dropped him off and telling her how no one loves him. We each have a story about a kid. The kids whose parents are in jail, to poor to take care of them, under investigation for abuse...ahh learning all this in one day too.

Did we really mean what we prayed? ¨Lord break our hearts for the things that break Yours¨ Yes, all of our hearts have already been broken, tears have been shed and now the question remains...¨But what will we do with this ¨new knowledge¨ that we have?¨ I think we all fear that we will go home and fall back into our routine but that is something we are all praying that will not happen. Yes, this is the beginning of our experience but we don´t want it to just end on Saturday and we don´t want this to be something you just read. We are being challenged and broken...yet having the most amazing time. We want you to get involved at whatever level you can be but hopefully it will be one that will take you out of your comfort zone and allow you to be vulnerable to what and how God wants to use you.

Unfortunately, we are not able to take pictures at the orphanage so we aren´t able to put names and faces together for you, but trust us when we say these are beautiful children. They do not deserve what they have experienced in their short lives so far and some will need a lot of support to get through it all. God has told us that we are to take care of the orphans. So, I end this asking you, ¨What will you do in taking care of the orphans?¨

Sunday- Part Dos

After church we had lunch at a Pupusaria (sp?). It was delicious. While we were eating there was a bad motorcycle accident that happened outside of the restaurant. The traffic is crazy here! There are no rules really...well Anna told us there are rules but they aren't enforced and people don't follow them. She also mentioned (and we witnessed) there isn't really a 911 here. The ambulance took forever to get to the accident. Hopefully the guy was okay, but we don't know.

After lunch we headed up into the mountains to a touristy town called Valle de Angeles. The drive to and from was interesting. It was beautiful scenery, but windy roads that made us a little fearful that we would fall off the edge. There were also many animals just wandering around (cows, donkeys, horses, dogs). They didn't seem to belong to anyone.

It had a few streets that were filled with shops and cafes and restaurants. In the middle was a square where there was live music and lots of people milling about. We spent a couple of hours there milling around.

After coming back from Valle de Angeles we had dinner. All of our food thus far has been delicious. We were all excited to see that we were having pupusas for dinner (that is what we had for lunch also). After dinner we spent some time as a team praying for our first day at the orphanage tomorrow and then a lot of us played a very fun game called Telephone Pictionary. There were lots of laughs and come crazy drawings.

We are all so excited for our first day at the orphanage. We have spent a lot of time planning and in prayer. We pray that God will use us to show His love to the children. The orphanage we will be spending time at, Casitas Kennedy, is a transitional orphanage. It is the first stop for most of the kids and then they move on to another orphange, into foster care or into the adoption process. We are praying that we can plant seeds of God's hope in their hearts. I also pray that God will open our hearts to the bigger picture of the orphan crisis and what He is calling us to do.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. Don't forget to check out Andy and Janell's blog.

Sunday

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24.

Today was our free day. Typically they do them at the end of the week, but Anna -our project coordinator -decided it was best that it be today because there isn't a lot of staff at the orphanage on Sundays and it would've been too chaotic for our first day. It worked out well because we were able to go to church with her. We all really enjoyed worshipping with the Hondurans. It was a Spanish speaking service but Anna's husband translated for us. It was awesome hearing songs in Spanish that we know in English. We sang "How Great Is Our God" and a few others. The service was held in an outdoor facility with an incredible view. The people were very friendly and welcoming. The service was a tad bit longer than we are used to (about 3.5 hours long) but it was a great experience!

The view from the church.

Part of the group with the Pastor and our translator, Nahun.

To be continued....

More pics

We made it!

We made it! Last night we met at an airport hotel (since we were flying out so early today). We had some yummy carrot cake to celebrate Andy's 30th birthday and then spent some time in prayer. We were up before 3 am this morning and on the shuttle by 3:20am. As mentioned in an earlier post we sat on the plane at the gate for a little over an hour. Once we took off we were told that our scheduled arrival was 11am which was exactly when our connecting flight was supposed to leave. We were concerned because we weren't sure how many flights left out of Miami for Tegucigalpa each day. We got to Miami and realized that we were going to be on the same plane, so they couldn't leave without us! :) It was totally God because once we were on the flight they told us that flight was supposed to be on a different plane but it was out of service. Worked out well for us!
Our 2nd flight was a bit more adventurous than the first. There was one point that the plane dropped and I started looking around to see who else was in the back half of the plane with me to see who was going to be group if we ended up with a LOST situation. :) We survived the flight and survived the landing which was on the 2nd scariest runway in the world.
We arrived in Tegucigalpa with only lost bag....not too bad for the amount of luggage we had. Our guesthouse is only a few minutes from the airport. We got dropped off, had lunch, had a meeting and now we have some down time to rest.
We are all so excited for this trip!

Sorry my pictures are out of order. I have to figure this thing out. :)
On the way to the guesthouse

Our room

Andy's birthday cake

What were they thinking when they put the three of us together on the plane?!

on our way- part 2

We made it to Miami and our connecting flight is on the same plane as our flight from Chicago- so it worked out perfectly. PTL!