6 Things I Learned This Year

What a year. It's hard to believe 2013 ends today.

It's been a pretty amazing year. I have been blessed in so many ways. Each year always brings its hardships, and I've had my few. Although they seemed overwhelming at times, God always helped me through them, and I learned something valuable in the end.

I wanted to share a few things I learned this year.

1. You can have multiple homes
I've always said Nashville is my home. Which it is and always will be. But the difference is that, now, I have another home. Jovenes en Camino is my home and always will be. I feel so comfortable coming back here time and time again. So this is where I would say "home is where your family is", because these boys are my family, and this is my home, too.

2. Humility never gets old
This is always something I would say is my favorite quality in a person. I've always found this as a super attractive quality mainly because it reminds me of Jesus. I try to be humble, but the truth is as humans we are very prideful. I would even say here in Honduras this is definitely something most people (men especially) struggle with. They are a proud people, but its so refreshing to see some of these boys learn humility from their houseparents and the other boys here. My heart swells so much when I see them start to adapt this quality.

3. Plan all you want, but its usually useless
I'm a type-A planner for sure. Always have been. I have definitely had to loosen up since living here full time (mainly because things never go the way they are supposed to here). But this year has been full of ups and downs, road bumps, and just plain "almost running off the roads" situations. But through it all, my planning never seemed to help, because God has a way of showing you the right way - only if we are listening and willing to follow - time and time again. People frequently ask me "what's your timeline" or "what's your plan for being at Jovenes". The truth is I don't know. I'm just taking things day by day and enjoying the time God has given me here with this family.

4. Children often teach us more than we teach them
I'm not a real mother, but I sure have learned how to inherit certain traits of one. The craziest thing about it all is that I have learned so much from these boys that it seems they end up teaching and helping me more than I do them. The biggest lesson I have learned is to never give up on them. Sometimes I feel defeated and want to give up, but they have taught me they can and most likely will always surprise me.

5. Kindness always wins
I've had moments this year where I wanted to be just mean. Mean to the mechanics mainly (car problems was the theme of 2013), but also mean to people who were mean to me or the boys. I get frustrated easily and my first reaction is to get angry. I'm grateful that this year God showed me in many ways that kindness is always the best medicine - whether that was someone showing me kindness when I wanted to be angry or me dishing out plate-fulls of kindness to those who were ugly to me. Kindness wins.

6. Don't get comfortable
Strangers can teach us more than we think. This is mainly because after being in a certain position for a long time (whether a job, routine, family, etc) one starts to lose the appreciation you may have once had. This was true for me this year, and maybe the hardest lesson to learn. I have always loved and appreciated Jovenes, but even for me - after 2 1/2 years - I started to get comfortable. Through strangers who visited JEC, I was able to see them fall in love with this place. This had a waterfall affect on me, causing me to fall in love with the place all over again. I'm so grateful for God using those people to remind me to be grateful every.single.day.


Thank you for all your support this year. I'm so appreciative for all of you who read my blog, pray for me, or support me financially. I count myself amazingly lucky to be 25 and do something I'm incredible passionate about.

Happy new year to all. I hope 2014 is your best year yet!

Holiday Season - MVP Shoutout

What an incredibly busy time since my last blog. I really think the months of November and December are two of the busiest of the year. This says something considering we don't have near as many visitors as we do in the summertime, but lots of activities within JEC because of the boys' year end schedule.

November marks the end of the public school year for the majority of our boys. This means exams, class parties, etc. This year all but two passed all their classes in high school and all our elementary boys are continuing on to the next grade.

Three baptisms in the month of November!!

This may seem like something expected in the US, but here in Honduras this is an incredible feat. Where the education system is sub-par, many times it is expected of students to fail at least one class in high school and possibly repeat grades (multiple times) in the younger grades.

Renovations on camps - big things to come!

When I first joined on full time at Jovenes, there were several boys who could not read nor write and had repeated lower grade levels several times. And because of God's never-ending goodness and the hard work of our houseparents and education director, those boys can now read (including a 20 year old who never learned to even write his own name), write, and not be ashamed to attend class and be made fun of by others.

Our on site advisory board meets every month, but the November meeting has the possibility to go either way. It can be super uplifting or even a little discouraging. This year we were so blessed to have seen the growth in each boy, including a special case of Selvin.

Had to use Selvin's headshot - never lets you take pics

Selvin was one of those boys who could barely read or write when I first arrived at JEC. He had repeated grades a few times, and you could tell he wasn't exactly happy. Selvin, two school years later, is passing with flying colors. This year he even finished on the honor roll. We could not be more proud of the change he has made in his life. It took some hard work, but with the support and encouragement of everyone around him, you can noticeably see he is proud of himself. It warms my heart to know this was a changing point in Selvin's life - to see the challenge, overcome it, and change his future forever. The best part is Selvin's voice is starting to change... reminds me he's not this little baby boy I used to know anymore, but rather growing to be a young man with an incredible future ahead of him. So proud of you, "Chocolate".

Back when Selvin let me hold his hand :)

While I'm giving out MVPs this year, I have to give a shout out to another boy. Jose Carlos (15) really had a tough end to 2012. His older brother, Luis Alexander, decided he no longer wanted to be at Jovenes. So Luis left to return home with his mother (who lives in extreme poverty). This was obviously extremely difficult for Jose Carlos considering his only family (by blood) left him and chose to leave him behind.

We were worried this would have a negative effect on Hueso's (Jose Carlos' nickname) grades and attitude, but he humbly proved us wrong. This boy is so talented. He realized at a super young age the opportunity he had been given, and he is taking full advantage of all that Jovenes has to offer. He attends carpentry shop in the morning and has become an incredibly talented carpenter (please see our JEC promo video and see Hueso talk about what carpentry has taught him). He made great grades this year in high school. And on top of his good behavior and talent as a carpenter, he is taking art classes on Saturdays in Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras). He rides a bus with 3 other boys by themselves each Saturday morning to take classes there. His next goal on his to-do list: learn english.

And by all means, I know this boy can do anything he puts his mind to. 

Jose Carlos, I am so incredibly proud of you and humbled by your outlook on life.

I am currently home for Christmas until the 30th of December. I will return to spend NYE with the boys. We will have our summer interns down to ring in the new year, so the boys are ready to party!

While you are spending time with your families this Christmas, please remember our boys and staff. Many would say "poor things don't have any family", but this is a common misconception. We are a family of 56 boys and 25 staff members. Jovenes is home, and we are each other's family. We simply ask you thank God for the people He uses daily to keep this home open and changing the lives of these sweet, sweet boys.

Merry Christmas to all, and happy new year!!