Photo Update

"if you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, and set out on a truth seeking journey, and you are prepared to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you" -eat, pray, love

Hands and Feet

This may sound like a typical missionary cliche, but I am so immensely blessed by living here in this country, working with this team, and having 55 little brothers. I am also incredibly blessed by the support we receive here at Jovenes by our brothers and sisters from home. Compared to most centers like ours, we receive MUCH more help from the US, including financial gifts, physical gifts, and just being present.

As any young child or adult, the boys can easily get carried away by gifts or “material things”, especially since most of them grew up without. But from what I’ve observed by being here almost 1 year is that what matters most to them is that one simply “shows up”. I recently wrote an e-mail to some friends who came down to visit, and my biggest point in the e-mail was that they are heroes to these boys because they showed up. A lot of the parents of these boys (those who are still alive) have failed to do simply that - be present in the lives of their children.

Some, unfortunately, have no option. They simply cannot make enough money to sustain their children, and they have taken what they believe is a better life for their son. Another unfortunate matter is that this parent is few and far between in the case of our boys. Every Saturday parents are encouraged to come visit and spend the day with their boy(s). The usual few families come, but its not more than 3 or 4 on a good day.

So now maybe you can see why simply being present in these boys’ lives is extremely important. I mean, isn’t that what Jesus does in our lives? He shows up. Every day. He’s there for us. He is the only one who will never ever let us down. And why is that? Because he is “omnipresent”. He is always there for you. That is the beauty of one’s relationship with God. We can ignore him for days on end, and when we “need him”, he’s still there- just waiting for us to come home. This is why we love visitors here at JEC. The boys love to feel loved. They want to feel wanted. With almost 20 boys in each house, that sometimes becomes difficult. We want the best for them, but sometimes we cannot fulfill that constant need for attention which all children have. So when one of you comes to visit these boys, you are just that - Jesus. For one moment, one hour, or one day, you become Jesus to them. You sit with them. You share a snack with them. Perhaps you don’t have a single clue what they said, but you are THERE. That is what matters. Just like Jesus, you show up.

So thank you. Thank you to all our visitors for being here. We love you, we cherish you, and we can’t wait to see you again someday.

Back in Action

Here I find myself again in Honduras, "living la vida loca" as the great, Ricky Martin, once sang about. Some things have changed since 2011, but 2012 seems to be heading off to a more positive start (if that is even possible). I still have 3000 plus ants living in my room with me, so maybe one day I'll have the room all to myself. My furniture for my room did however take a huge upgrade, which will come with pictures in a later post. For now - the boys. The reason I am actually living in a foreign country, sweating my butt off every day, eating LOTS AND LOTS of rice and beans, constantly walking everywhere I go, dealing with people being late all the time, etc etc. It all becomes worth it because I get to spend every day with 55 brothers. I also get the added bonus of working with an incredibly Godly staff who work here for the same reason as me - not because of the money or the image, but because we get to actively participate in the enrichment of these little boys' lives.

We're currently at 55, with two new ones that have come since the beginning of the year. We're hoping to reach 60 (full capacity) shortly, but until then... God bless our souls. It's exhausting every day, but like I said - I am so blessed by their lives and their love.

These 5 pictured here (plus one more - Daniel - who was being a pouty face and wouldn't get in the picture this day) are the 6 total that I have the joy of basically being their mother during the day. I take care of all their school needs, taking their lunch, going to parent-teacher conferences, participating in school activities, picking them up from school, monitoring them for after-school activities, doing homework each night with each boy, & sometimes reading a book with them as they fall asleep (if I'm lucky). They attend the Alison Bixby Bilingual School - which has been mentioned in many of my blogs from last year. We at JEC (Jovenes en Camino) feel extremely blessed to have this partnership with this school. They are so supportive and patient with us, even their classmates' parents help us out on occasion. At Christmas the entire school organized an event where each student was paired with a name of one of our boys at JEC. This way, each of our 55 got one present extra from their friends at Alison Bixby. I can't say again how grateful I am for this community/school and their support. This is as much as I can update for now - got to go finish being a mom for the day. Tomorrow 2nd grade has a "Honduran Breakfast" so the students can learn about what a typical breakfast was like many years ago before electricity, ovens, etc. I am in charge of the table decorations. Wish me luck! Now that I have finally been able to open my blog and write, I am hoping to update more regularly. Fortunately (for me) and unfortunately (for my blog) I have a group of friends from Nashville coming this Friday! It's the same group that I always came with on spring breaks and Christmas trips. Pictured here was last year's spring break trip. Pray for us as we spend a week in the city, the slums, the orphanages, the dump, and at Jovenes (my home) trying to show Jesus to others.

God bless!

Reading Month

As the month of November closes, I reflect back on all the fun stuff I was able to do with the boys at the Alison Bilingual School. Ever since I arrived (for full time) back in August, the boys want to read more and more each day. At first, it was like pulling teeth. This was understandable when some of them couldn't even read their own language and are in 2nd grade. 3 (of the 6) of the boys are much more advanced than the others.

The oldest, Nelson (pictured above), is in 5th grade and basically fluent in English. He has enough potential to be the next president of Honduras in my opinion, but maybe that's the mom in me speaking. Either way - I believe it wholeheartedly. He can have a bit of a temper, but we're working on that. This picture was taken back at the International Fair in October - where Nelson and I proudly made an Israeli cocktail (minus alcohol, clearly). He was so proud we sold every last drop.

There are 4 in second grade - Daniel, Cristian, Norman and Luis. The best way to describe them is that they are all freaks. I love them for this. I'm a bit of a freak myself. They exhaust me. But "valen la pena" - which translate to mean "they are worth it". This picture is missing Luis, but includes Jose Alexander - who is in 1st grade. This was taken the night I took the boys to the "pajama party" at school. We got to wear pj's to school, read books to the kids, and drink hot chocolate and eat Christmas cookies. SO FUN!

This picture was taken this morning at "Dress as your favorite Character in a book" day. That's a mouthful, but as you can see - it was precious. All the boys dressed up as superheroes. These costumes are the greatest - shout out to whoever donated them a while back. This is Luis and Daniel and one of their classmates. Needless to say, it was a great month at JEC and at Alison Bixby.

On a different note, I head home in 13 days. I can't wait to be with all you beautiful people.

My Week in Pictures

Too busy to post a blog - hope you enjoy the pictures :)

Nelson, Juan David, and Luis after they decorated their first Christmas tree

Sweet Shelly let me paint her fingernails at the soccer game.

LOTS of Christmas decorating going on. All thanks to Harpeth Hills Youth Group!!!

Took these boys to a Pajama Party at their school on Thursday.

My own personal Christmas cheer :)

Yummy food.

Things I Miss

While I do absolutely love being here in Honduras (mainly because of these boys and how easily they have stolen my heart day-by-day), there are a few things I dearly miss. This is my top 20.

1. My family

2. My friends

3. TJ Maxx & Target

4. Real cheeseburgers (not fast food)

5. WALGREENS

6. Eating foods that 1 of the main ingredients isn’t OIL

7. the YMCA

8. Driving a car

9. HOT SHOWERS

10. Chick-fil-A

11. Tank, Maddux, Wig & the cats

12. Speaking english (every now and then)

13. JULIA PARTIES.

14. My grandmothers

15. Church worship... songs here don't actually have a tune

16. Watching the leaves change colors as it gets colder

17. High school and college football

18. Mrs. Wanda's home cooking

19. LAS PALMAS

20. Cooking my own food

Halloween Recap

For those of you who know me, you're well aware Halloween is my favorite holiday (second best only to the birth of Jesus Christ - which I fully celebrate). This picture should come to no surprise to any of you. I had little resources here, and I had honestly planned on not celebrating the holiday entirely until some friends informed me they would be throwing ME (hehe) a halloween party. I decided to buy simple black and white paint and go for it.

I was inspired by the Jay Z music video, "On to the Next One", that I saw "back in college" (that sounds weird). The guys face was painted all white with only teeth and black eyes. As weird as it is to say, I fell in love with the idea for Halloween. Here was my perfect opportunity, and I sprinted full speed ahead with it. I simply added a skeleton nose and was done with it. Hope you like :)