Exciting Things are Happening

I went to the beach with the kids on Sunday. Every weekend is a new beach, and this was my favorite so far. A shallow river channel ran right into the river, so we had a little bit of both.  There was a good sized flat sandy area for playing soccer, and across the channel were a lot of chocolate plants. Cacao is a better description, though it is the fruit that chocolate is made out of. The kids all ran right over there and picked a bunch of them. They are interesting, because you break the hard case open and then the fruit is inside, though there isn't much fruit. It's more like a slimy case around the seed, and you suck on it and spit out the seed. The fruit is very sweet though there is nothing chocolaty about it. Each of the kids came back with arm fulls, very proud of their finds. Soon after, we started up a soccer game in the sand. It was me, moises, and Venancio against Gerson, Daniel and Carlos. I have so much fun playing! I have hardly ever played soccer but Venancio gave me a compliment and said i was a "buen jugadora". I did learn the hard way though that playing soccer in the sand is not the best idea. Towards the end I looked down at my leg and it was completely red and scratched up and bleeding in spots from the sand. Beautiful. But totally worth it. I wish the kids had more chances to play! Around the hogar there is absolutely no room so that's out of the question meaning that the only time they can play is when we go to the beach. I'm attempting to set up some sort of PE class in the afternoons but it's difficult because there is no space, no supplies, and the kids don't even have tennis shoes. We had a semi PE class the past three days. The kids are split into groups for the afternoon so the first day was the younger kids. We played (or attempted to play) capture the flag. They had a blast though actual running around was minimal. The older kids took there turn the next day and we had even less space and it was less successful, but everything is mostly make do. Today while the younger kids ran around I helped out Eddy with the computer's class. I found some games that taught basic typing, and everyone seemed pretty responsive. Daniel, Carlos, Cherlin and Sara picked it up the quickest. They all love to play games on the computer, so hopefully with practice and time we'll get them all pretty good at using one. It's strange thinking that it's not a common skill here. I never really considered it a skill before but it is I suppose. English classes went well more or less. The kids don't study so it's frustrating when I have to slow down my pace and can't move on, especially when there are some kids who do understand and want to move on. I gave them a little bit of a talking to today and decided to split the class next week, so we'll see how it goes.

Big news!!!! We got the land donated from the city of La Ceiba to Helping Honduras Kids for the purpose of constructing a new Hogar de Amor!!! This is a HUGE step and means that the 22 kids and 4 tias will now be out of the small three bedroom, 2 bathroom house. We could not be more excited, but it also means that we have a huge step ahead of us. Fundraising! We need the funds to construct our permanent home. We will be starting from scratch and building in stages, taking and using all the help that we can get. We need to build the wall around the property, bring in electricity and sewer, build the foundations, build the house and provide for all the necessary things that raising kids requires. The property is about 1.3 acres, so thankfully there will be space to run around and space to live. Now is the time to call up all your work groups, church groups, friends and family and get a group together to come down and pitch in!

Also, our second big news... Luz Mila is leaving for Canada on Friday! Dan Collins and his dad, Gord, arrived on Monday to bring her up with them to study for the next chapter of her life. Just thinking about the experiences she will have, the new things she will see, the opportunities she will be presented with, gives me the chills. I can't even imagine what's going through her head. Moving from the jungle in La Ceiba, Honduras to the city of Toronto Canada. Changing from a place where she had to walk an hour and a half every day through a jungle path and keeping away from Jaguars just to get to school, to somewhere where everyone has a car, school is close and the temperature is below freezing. Switching from a house with earth walls and dirt floor to a suburban modern day home. I wish I was there the entire time to see her reaction to everything new. I instructed them to keep me updated with pictures and a video of the first time she sees snow. Luz Mila is an amazing individual. She has the spark in her that tells you that she will go far. Right now her English comprehension is amazing. She is so dedicated to learning and she will take full advantage of what is presented to her. I will be writing a story on her this month, explaining everything that went into taking her up to Canada. Just when you think that it's impossible to make a difference, you realize that amazing things do happen.

In the van on my way to the beach on Sunday, I feel like something changed within me. I don't know how to explain it, or what exactly it was. Mynor was sitting on my lap, leaning his head back against my chest. He had hold of my hand and seemed so comforted with me being there. I felt like he trusted me completely and a feeling just rose up within me and I realized that I'm making almost a lifelong commitment to these kids. They are taking pieces of my heart, and I won't ever be able to take them back. I'm going to be tied to their well being for as long as they grow up and beyond. I'm doomed.