Well Wednesday I returned from 2 weeks home to help out with our Jovenes en Camino Fiesta 5k (more in a minute), experience fall, and have a quick (very minor) oral surgery. Things went really well, and my mom even stole me away to the beach on her fall weekend break while I was recovering from my surgery.
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| Our long sleeve dri-fit shirt for the race |
I had to rush back for parent/teacher conferences and the International Fair at the ABSS (boys' bilingual school), so I hit the ground running.
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| the "Little Honduras" table at the race |
Our 5k went super well. We were really pleased with the turn out since it was a busy fall weekend and many who love JEC were unable to attend. We had approximately 150 people and about 30 volunteers, bringing in a grand total of ~$16,000!!! We had an incredible morning with so many people who love and care for these sweet boys in Honduras. Please feel free to check out all our amazing pictures (David Thomas Creative) on our JEC Facebook Fan page.
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| mi familia |
As some of you may be aware of also - the morning of the 5k marked the last day in our 100 days campaign to raise $100,000. I am so pleased and grateful to announce we REACHED OUR GOAL and surpassed the $100,000! God is so good, and my heart swelled when my boss here, Ronald, announced this to our employees. They are so deserving of decent salaries, because the job they do is so unique and really takes special, special people.
Yesterday was Luis Fernando and Junior's birthday. Luis F is one of the boys I work closely with each day since he attends the bilingual school. Being a private school, almost all parents bring something on the day of their child's birthday to celebrate with their class after lunch. Usually this is just a cake and coke, but sometimes people go as far as bringing piñatas and goodie bags for all their classmates. In the past sometimes the administration has provided a cake for the scholarship boys (Luis being one of them), so I emailed the director in the morning to see if they had anything for Luis. They had forgotten about it, so I rushed to two stores before finding a cake that would do the trick. I had to speed (sorry, mom) to make it back to the school in time (I had already gone to drop off their lunches and had to leave again to get the cake). Luckily I walked into the cafeteria with 2 minutes until lunch ended, and what happened literally made my day.
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| We made Fredy a mexicano for the day (2014 Calendars) |
People know me as the Jovenes gringa, so since they had heard it was Luis Fernando's birthday and saw the cake box, obviously all the kids put two and two together. All the sudden EVERY KID IN THE CAFETERIA started to chant Luis Fernando's name. Once he finally realized what was going on, he turned bright red and couldn't hide his smile. It was the sweetest, most innocent thing I have ever seen from him. The fact that everyone turned their attention to him for just a few minutes before the other classes were dismissed obviously made his day. It might have even made his week.
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| Post birthday celebrations |
We sang happy birthday and then cut the cake. It's crazy how fast kids can eat cake. Anyway I didn't have my phone on me, so these pictures were taken by another teacher's camera phone - sorry for the blurriness.
Needless to say it was a great day. We are preparing to celebrate October birthdays next week on Halloween and holding a big costume party. I went shopping today after parent teacher conferences for supplies. It's going to be great!!!
