in spite of us - B+

Every few years God likes to take what I think I know about living and shake it up until I am left reeling with uncertainty and oddly teachable. This week had been one such time for me, as we more fully emerge ourselves into the lives of our neighbors.
Daily, after classes at the local public school I feel like the pied piper, wondering our dirt road with rarely fewer than a dozen children. Some on bikes, some barefoot – some chattering continually and others quizzically quiet. Some times we spot a Toucan, a snake or even a panther on the half mile walk to our gate. At times we practice Spanish for Jude and I or English for them, and lately I have been asking them a lot of personal questions.
You see, we just received word that the paper work is moving along, Jason and Sarah have their first host mom picked out, within the month we should finish the next house, and orphans could be arriving before the November rains. Which is SO exciting, considering that is the drive behind this ministry, but as a I look around my kitchen every afternoon at children reading, playing, dressed in spiderman costumes or asking for help with their lego project or moderation of their UNO game, I am saddened by the fact that this time of 'free-for-all' must come to an end. We must put hours and order in place and I must say, “go home” to the neighborhood children who have cooped our home.
From the hints that they had left me, I know that I am not sending them to a happy place – a place of luxury like our home – but I wanted to see for ourselves. So last Wednesday, with Edwin as our guide and a bag of oranges for his 60 lb grandmother who is dying of stomach cancer, Jude and Lucy and I head to “the end of the road” - “arriba” in the mountains, where most of our little guests live. In the 3 hour journey we were received into numerous homes, my kids were given bananas and hugs, and we all had plenty of laughs. I met some mothers, but mostly grandmothers and aunts of the students, who were dutifully washing clothes or drying beans along the road. The only evidence of men were the bags of beans they had lugged from their fields or the scattered beer bottles and hammocks swinging quietly in the corner. And I came home with a heavy heart, to my home of luxury – my home with a smiling husband and well fed children.
And I I wondered, how do we live here? With them? But so unlike them? I just want to throw a whole bunch of money at them and make all the pain go away. But it won't. Money brings no answers here. We are trying to provide some work and to teach some skills. Give some education. Start a Bible study. Small things... anything. But we don't know what we are doing- we just long for God to work in spite of us - for Him to redeem our errors and shower them with healing love. We want to touch the children of the community. We are about to ask a hard thing of them. That they welcome 40 some orphans into their close knit community of survival.
The children who will live within these walls will be the kings of Urraco... the 'spoiled' orphans. If not for the refrigerator and the washing machine, for the books and the games, beds, sheets, for the window screens and pantry full of food, and simply because they will walk into a home of hope, cared for by adults whose lives and faith permeate their little bodies and souls with the knowledge that who they are REALLY MATTERS. And that is a luxury that my children will never live without, and that is what will make us more different than our neighbors than any possession.

After a soccer game in the rain with some of our regulars we gathered for this photo. (Left to right)


The boy in the green is Ever. I think this is his only shirt. He has a little sister Lucy's age and is most amused by the luxury of new white cloth diapers, as his sister is pinned in any old rag. Because seriously, isn't a diaper kind of the bottom of the barrel of jobs for a piece of cloth. After it has lived a long and useful life – then let it catch the poop.

The boy in Orange is Alan. He is most confused by the concept of, “Ok, Jude needs to come in now and take a bath and eat dinner. Namely, because he has never taken a bath in his life and I believe as his grandma gets more ill dinner is becoming more infrequent as well. I buy my beans from him - for the going rate of 75 cents for 3 lbs. What a cash crop.

The girl in white is Salie. Bright and quite, she can sit for hours and read. They came from the city a few years ago and she likes it better here. Her mother makes cheese and I bought some cuttings of her Hibiscus plants last week.
The boy in blue is Edwin, Alan's little brother, and sometimes I find him watching the mashing machine spin (It has a clear top.) The first time he ate lunch with us I noticed that he probably had never sat at a table with a plate of fork before in his life. I am paying him to make sling shots to bring home to our friends.

Beverly is in my lap. She is Jude's age and is in love with my refrigerator. She pets it and calls it beautiful. Her mother wants to buy one. Which, since she is Sadie's little sister... I am wondering about her mom's cheese now.


The white kid is Jude. The best loved 4 year old in the world... with a million friends who let him play soccer... even if it is just because he is the only kid with a soccer ball. And as he informs me, the only one of his friends who has to brush his teeth.

The girl behind me in yellow is Iris. She is a 16 year old sixth grader who I have started to train to clean my house. She has never left Urraco and yesterday I taught her how to flush a toilet for the first time in his life. “Now how did you make the water go away?”


Darwin is in the white wife beater. Thirteen and the older brother of Allan and Edwin. Doesn't come to school often because he is working with his grandpa. Abandoned by his parents, sleeps outside of his grandparents home in a hammock made of a big rice sack. He gets thinner every day, not enough food to grow as fast as he is, but somehow he manged to dye his hair black last week. He has dreams of selling cars some day... and weekly brings me plants for the garden – yesterday it was wild ginger.

Below him is Franklin. He is a bit slow and I can't understand his spanish, spoken through a perpetual smile. He plays for hours with Lucy's little music box the her grandparents gave her for her birthday. He will probably steal it soon... and we will all cry for different reasons.

Shirtless Kendi is a little lier. Who I love with all of my heart. He is AMAZING with my kids. Holding Lucy while teaching Jude Spanish. The apple of Jude's eye. He is 'wealthier' than most of the kids as he is raised by his aunt while his mother works in Spain. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. He is bright. He is charming. He needs Jesus more than the million things he asks for each week. And I need him to teach me everything about being Honduran.


Our friend David has agreed to do a weekly Bible Study with Jarod to teach him all we need to know about campesino theology.


Please pray for us as we learn... that we may only be teaching the things of Christ along the way. Also, please pray that Jason and Sarah would have wisdom in how and when to open and run the library/ community center.

Vacation (A)

Well we just concluded a vacation that included Grandparents, wild alligators, sunburns, and cousins swimming, sleeping, and playing “peter pan” for hours on end. You know it was good one. We spent 4 days in FL to renew our visas and now it is back to Urraco for approximately 4 months.
Dru left us, we have no groups coming for six weeks, soon Lindsey and Nate will leave and the rainy season will start. We haven no idea what these months will hold. Although we already miss Dru, there is something refreshing about being just the 4 of us again – a sense calm has overcome us, and as we prepare for these lonely months, the amount of time we will have to spend as a family is very exciting! So, for all of you that I didn't have a chance to call while in the realm of communications, know that it wasn't for lack of trying ... and we look forward to hearing about your lives through email. SERIOUSLY.

Awhile A+ (crazy huh?)

We've been married 8 years today. That is a while longer than I can believe, and more has happened than I could have ever imagined. Which makes me think that the next – however long we have - are going to go just as fast and unpredictably. I am kinda giving up making plans for life but I have some thoughts.

I think we'll spend the next few years preparing to raise two teenagers. Then we'll struggle through about 8 years of that. Then maybe we'll retire from the only lifelong career it looks like we may have... or be grandparents, which after wearing both of our parents out on family vacations this month, doesn't sound too relaxing.





We'll do a bit of travel.. we will scream at each other through all city driving, but each time we get quicker to forgive. We might take a little tourist hiatus from archaeological sights for a few years – because although changing diapers on the Mayan ruins was amusing – it just isn't that convenient.





Maybe we'll go back to Hays, or China to live – or maybe we'll stay forever in Urraco. There will be nice people there and things to learn – and there will be each other – so I'm all good.

We'll mock each other, be continually surprised by our differences, and be sharpened into the people God wants us to be by each other. We'll stay on the same page. It's not easy, but I have figured out that as long as I put my thoughts and feelings on an electrical gadget somehow, he knows about me and if I watch carefully I can guess his next steps. (So Jarod if you are reading this on your I-pod – it's been another good year – I love you.)

Beautiful people the world over

I'm a slow learner - but I'm getting this figured out. Three months before we left Portland, five years ago, I figured out that I was leaving the best people in the world – to fulfill our dream of world travel. And I did – I left the best friends anyone could ask for. But we met amazing people in Europe. The best – the most hospitable, generous hearts anyone could ever cross paths with. Then last year, 3 months before we left Hays – after 3 years of being home – I realized that I was leaving the most amazing friends and church family any family had ever had. I realized that my son would never replace the friends he had shared his first years of life with. And now, as we leave Urraco for ten days and my house floods with people to say good bye, give hugs, wish us well and a quick return; as I am overwhelmed by chores hurried betweens children's chatter and adolescent soccer games – I realize that the world is full of beautiful people. In every corner, up every river, wherever it may be - the world holds billions of souls holding the image of God and the potential for friendships that transform the soul. We have found a home in Urraco because we have found people to share it with. And as I look at the calender to our expected end of "the Honduras experiment" in December – the only thing that makes the thought of another “leaving” bearable is the thought that we will always be 'home' – if we will open our hearts. So beautiful people, faithful to read this and love us... meet your neighbors.


One beautiful person will be leaving us soon... and perhaps a hammock will be empty in the evenings – or perhaps his friends will continue to fill our evenings with laughter.



Three of the 7 boys who visit our house almost daily – looking for work, or someone to swim with, play UNO, or simply get a few hugs, laughs and stare at the different ways of doing things.



The ladies from my Thursday afternoon Bible Study... mostly missionaries from down the mountain – some of which have already left after a summer term... some of whom will leave me shortly.


The director of our public school who has continued to open the doors to students in spite of threats from the union and a lack of support from almost anyone and everyone in power. But the students keep coming so she keeps giving classes.



David and Olga... a blog unto themselves.



A group of students from the public school.... so many stories – so much joy.


Dru with some of his teenage friends... they taught him how to work, how to play soccer, how to say – who knows what in Spanish... and they taught us all to laugh.

Off to Copan

We have loaded 7 people into our little truck. We are headed to pick up Chrissy and go to Copan. Here I an image.




-- Post From My iPod

Life Unexpected

I sit this day, the day of our youngest child's first birthday party – inside of a hotel by the beach, after a one hour massage and 4 days of snorkeling in unspoiled marine waters, watching political unrest unfold on the television, and thanking the Lord for all of the safety He has given us in the last week and opportunities He had given us in our life. If our life was a book – I couldn't write this stuff – if it were a mystery, I couldn't anticipate it; a prize, I couldn't earn it. And I laugh at my efforts to plan it or improve it with all my worry and effort. Let it be. It is amazing... unexpected, unpredictable and unbeatable in every opportunity and lesson it brings our way.


Teaching my son to ride a horse... somehow I get this feeling it could be a completely practical skill around here...


Lucy after her first ride on a horse... she's a pretty happy camper now that the illnesses have passed


Another life skill that I could have never anticipated... using a machete – in your underwear and rain boots none the less


A group of kids from the English class I have been teaching up in Urraco


A clan of friends playing UNO – or “One” as they like to call it – after english class.


Lucy and I picking fresh oranges and limes... one day, in the quite of the evening while picking citrus in the fields with Lucy I thought.... why would I ever want to leave this place?”


One day while doing laundry that had gotten rained on the three previous days I had hung them out I thought, “why would I ever want to live here?”

And so it goes...


Here is a hike with a gun and a machete, and my new chainsaw that my parents brought.... more of that to come...


Here is dad fixing the chairs at our school... the kids were so grateful


Later that day dad when to the hospital with a kidney stone...


But the next day we were building a giant sand turtle – (like I said, you can't dream this stuff up)






Because next we were on to spend three days for free in a beach front house of a blessed couple who just like people to enjoy the blessings of God's beautiful peaceful waters.


It wore us out....


But not too much to much to have a good little birthday party -


And never fear – we took care of the birthday girl's hair.

Introductions

I'd like to introduce you to a few pertinant people and things in my life as of present:

Sarah


My neighbor. My boss. My opposite in so many ways; who is becoming my friend. Sarah is calm and compassionate yet passionate and strong. A support wife who has come alongside her husband to make his dream of starting a orphanage come true, and who in the meantime has found a dream of her own. She is flexible, productive, and hospitable but I have a feeling that if she had a day her way everyone and everything would just go away and she would curl up with a good book for hours on end. Her responsibilities around here are endless- her busiest times are when she is planning and cooking for groups, but no day lacks for paper work, organizing, and managing a home and non-profit. I look forward to getting to know her better and learning from her over the next 6 months.

Jason



Give Hope to Kids is the realization of a dream that Jason has had since he was 15. And when you meet this 30 something, pastor's son, it is not hard to believe that as a teenage boy he wanted to run an orphanage. He loves children – because he loves to encourage, joke, play, dream, and GO. He is as active as Sarah is calm... and going as many directions in a day as my mother. I have never met anyone in my life who is so agreeable and positive. He is fun to watch and fun to get to know... now we'll see if he is possible to follow.

Nate
A construction work from Indiana in his first year of marriage who came to spend the summer going construction projects. And Dru's new best friend. Lindsey jokes that she has to remind Dru who's husband he is, but in all honesty Nate is just one of those guys who is good at teaching and patient with everyone. He is excited to get things accomplished but more excited to see everyone growing and having fun together in the process.





Lindsey
Nate's wife who says she feels she just got brought along because Nate can “do stuff”, but in reality her light hearted social demeanor is a joy to everyone. No matter if I am just hanging out with the kids or transplanting flowers she is willing to pitch in and chatter the whole way through. I can't believe she will be leaving me in only 2 months... but her sun burnt tired homesick body probably isn't so sad about that.


David & Olga (Not pictured YET)

David is a 22 year old who finished 9th grade at the age of 20 and has been working and living at Casa Esperanza ever since. In Honduras it is only mandated that you go to school through 6th grade, and after his parents were killed he stopped school to take care of his younger siblings, then returned with a passion to become a pastor. Last year he married Olga who is now pregnant with their first child. David works with all of the agriculture here and runs the place when Jason and Sarah are gone. But I say that his main job is to embarrass us gringos by working twice as hard, twice as fast, lifting twice as much, knowing twice as much – and doing it all with a bigger smile, a smaller body, and less education. Olga is the picture of a young Honduran housewife making tortillas from home ground corn over a wood fire, and washing her clothes in the pilla under a pataste vine. She loves my children and is patient with my Spanish. If we can continue to nurture our relationship... I can see it baring some beautiful inter-cultural fruit of learning and growing.

“The Workers”


Sadly, though they walk in my house hourly to get supplies for the building they are constructing only 20 ft from where I sit, I do not yet know all of their names. The language barrier is very real here as they are unfamiliar with broken Spanish, and gender roles are set – so we have less interaction than I would like. But they are hard working men, with families that they care for and dreams that they work for.... which is more than can be said of many of the men in this country. So I like them; I smile at them; give them produce and juice. Perhaps they will begin to bring their children to befriend Jude … perhaps our lives will intertwine more then sharing my living room as their storage shed.

Beverly... and dreams (Not pictured yet)

This is Beverly, our 5 year old neighbor who swims at our same swimming hole and talks up a storm... to me …. in Spanish. She and Jude do not interact much.... but I dream of the day they will … the day I have a friend of Jude to introduce to you... because the child needs a friend who stays.... HE loves the gringos coming through but nothing could take the place of a neighbor. But to prove that he is still quite apposed to Spanish learning, he asked me last night who would take care of him if Jarod and I died. I said, “I don't know. Who do you think should take care of you?” His reply was presented with a lot of forethought, “Someone who speaks English, I think. That would be best for me.” (Since I wrote this, an 11 year old named Kendi showed up and has been hanging around for the last few days... maybe and answer to prayer... maybe just scoping out which toys to take. Then last night several little boys asked him to play football during the church service. I let him. Is that bad?)

The Property


Here are some of the guys planting avacado and Mango trees in front of the coffee and banana groves...

The "Pueblo"

Did you miss it? Me too, like the first 8 times I walked through the town, I was thinking "where is Urraco? I don't get it." But then I realized this is the opposite of housing developments and communities in the U.S. where the sprawling fenced lots and malls come first and then the people come - 2 to a huge house. Here in a village of 2 places to buy eggs, 2 churches, a dairy farm and a few fruit fincas, there are more children than I can count and more life under each thatched roof than you could ever bet on.

The school


This is where I will be teaching English classes every morning... starting whenever school starts again... whenever peace comes... (Hint... pray I'll be teaching a room of 40 1-3 graders soon!)

The house... used for large groups...
....
and they bring plenty of dirt....


The wildlife... in my house...


The Cuenca... our river valley drive... always an adventure, whether it is the wildlife in the road or today the obvious harvesting of illegal wood.


and of course there are more... snakes, teenagers, other missionaries, the random visitors, political figures and military personel... but tonight I am in La Ceiba, with good friends, internet connection and an apple pie in the oven.... so I'll stop and enjoy the moment. Have a wonderful 4th of July... and pray that this country does not lose it's peace on this day...