Big changes and so quickly!!!

Sean left Honduras this morning. Yeah, I know, kind of sudden, huh? Wow, have the last two weeks been a whirlwind! The reason why we went back to the States recently was because Sean had an interview with the Mesa Fire Department. Two days after the interview he found out that he had made it on to the next round (Yay!!!) and that the next round starts on October 2nd (What?!?!) The next round is an internship for 4 consecutive Saturdays. We fairly quickly realized that he can't pass up this opportunity, so he has to leave, and I'm doing too much for the organization to leave without much notice (and I'm having a hard enough time thinking about leaving these kids in November much less NOW), so I have to stay. I can safely say that never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would be spending the last month and a half of this experience apart from each other. =(

And for anyone who is worried about me being alone...

a) We just finished moving me to one of the apartments behind our office that is surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire and we have a watchman with a gun.

b) I am going to be driving to San Pedro by myself sometimes, but I'm going to be staying with some friends for a few days a week so it will actually lessen the number of times that I'm driving by myself.

c) Our car windows are very tinted and I only drive on main roads during the day with all doors locked. =)

Please be praying that Sean will continue to be moving on to the next round until he is a full-fledged fireman!

We've been talking for quite a while about bringing Chamaco to Nueva Esperanza to meet all the kids. (Especially since I showed a bunch of the boys videos that we have of him and they got really excited about a dog.) We knew it was probably going to be pretty chaotic so we decided to bring him on Monday so Sean and I could be together and help each to keep him protected. It was a really wonderful day! The pictures might be overkill but I think they're so funny!

Richar romping around with Maco.

He's great with kids. He doesn't bite. I promise!

Now we're at Nueva and the fun begins! They were pretty impressed that they could put their hands in his mouth and nothing happens.

Give up Chamaco. It's futile to try and escape!

Please pay special attention to Noel, with his hand in Chamaco's mouth and the delighted look on his face and the kid in the background holding on to Chamaco's tail.

They really wanted him to look at the camera.

Blurry, but funny nonetheless. I imagine Maco thinking something along the lines of "Is this ever going to stop??"

Sean realized that if he walked Chamaco around then at least the kids didn't sit on him quite so much. I was talking to some other kids for a lot of this and ever few minutes a pack of kids would walk by lead by Sean and everyone shouting "Chamaco! Chamaco!"

This one's my favorite. Please note that the same kid (in the white and blue striped shirt is, once again, putting his hand in Chamaco's mouth.)

He was such a good sport!

And here's a picture of us with Richar right before Sean had to say goodbye. So sad. I'm taking him to a psychologist on Monday. We don't actually have an appointment, but we're hoping they can fit him in. I've been talking to his teachers and employees at Pronino a lot about him. They all agree that he has some serious anger problems and they don't know what to do with him. BUT they also ALL talk about what a good kid he is and that he's so smart with lots of potential. It's so encouraging to me that he's at least in a place where everyone can see the good in him regardless of his behavior problems. And his teacher said that he never ever has explosions in class. He just focuses on his work. So it seems to happen only during down time when they don't have much to do. Please keep praying for him! I'm off to Pronino right now. I have a Spiderman puzzle that keep a bunch of them entertained for a least a little while!

Heavy, heavy heart

I've started another blog for my church in Phoenix (Mesa to be exact) - Chrio Communities, that is specifically about Nueva Esperanza, other centers in Honduras and hope. I'm still figuring out how to mesh the two blogs but right now it's just kind of confusing! In the meantime, I have a sad update on Richar on the other blog. Here is the address! http://nuevaesperanza.chrioliving.com/

Just a quick update

Thanks to a Facebook post from my cousin-in-law Tina I realized that I really need to update Maria Yesenia's status. We're still waiting. =( When I was at the center last Monday, Sean and I met with the Director and social worker to work out something that we could do for her. The Director called the parent and he said that he would come on Tuesday of this week by 8:30am. He lives in Gracias (I believe I said Copan in my last blog) and that's a 9 hour bus ride from San Pedro. But, if she saw the doctor on Tuesday then she most likely could see the cardiologist on Wednesday (the only day of the week he sees these patients.) So, we had everything arranged again. I was going to go get them in the morning, take them to the doctor and then German graciously volunteered to take them back so I didn't have to drive to San Pedro twice in one day. I asked the Director to call me when he arrived and then I would hit the road. We waited, and waited, and waited. He never came. Never called. He still hasn't come and it's Thursday. I understand that it's a long uncomfortable bus ride, but his daughter is so, so sick. I don't understand why he didn't even contact us to tell us what's going on. And what's even worse is that Sean and I are going to the States next week. So that means she'll be waiting for at least another week and a half before she can see the doctor. Honestly, I'm feeling really helpless in this situation. I'm usually pretty good about being able to offer someone assistance and if they don't take it, and it ends up hurting them, I understand that this was their choice. But this is so hard because Maria Yesenia isn't being given a choice. Her choices are being made for her and they are very bad ones. Ugh. Keep praying. Pray that another route would open up for her next week and that someone else will be able to fill in the gap with Sean and I gone.

I really hope that I have better news about this next time!

Quick Richar update as well... Sean and I finally got permission to volunteer and I got to see him last Wednesday. I was so so excited. I had met with the Director of Pronino in the morning and he gave me the ok to start volunteering... on Monday. But it was killing me to wait til Monday so I got permission from the Street Outreach worker to go that day. =) When I arrived no one could find him for a minute and my stomach flip flopped thinking he had run away. Nope, they found him on some steps reading a very outdated encyclopedia in English. Well, ok, not reading, looking at pictures. We then sat for the next hour or so with some of the other boys and I translated parts of the encyclopedias for them. You know, like snakes, astronauts, intestines - gross! Roger (the other kid I wrote about in the last blog) found the page about Phoenix and I said "That's where I live in the States!" He then very persistently begged me to point out my house to him. So cute. But unfortunately I just couldn't quite place it. =)

Then on Monday of this week I went for my first volunteer morning. Sean couldn't come because he's in the midst of two really big projects. =( The plan is for me to teach math, because the theory is that math is the same in every language. The thing that I forgot until Monday morning is that I really struggle with numbers in Spanish. So when I asked Salomon what 7x4 is and he said 28, I definitely told him he was wrong. Hmm, this might be a problem. But in general I'm pretty excited about it. There are only 8 kids in class in the morning and I'll be working with them in groups of 1-4 so I think I can handle that! And again, it was good to spend the morning with Richar. Towards the end of the morning when the kids were getting bored and restless some of them started taunting Richar and he made some moves as though to start a fight, but he quickly calmed down. I told him I was proud of him and he asked me some things about elephants. I think thats his way of saying thank you? Maybe.

We're going to Pronino on Saturday to see them one more time before we go to the States for a week, which brings me to my next point of discussion. Both Sean and I will have an extra empty suitcase that we're planning on filling with clothes and toiletries for the boys at Pronino. I'll be in Phila (Ohio) and Sean will be in AZ so if anyone from Arizona or Ohio wants to donate some gently used boys clothes, shoes or toiletries (think pubescent boys without deodorant. They need them some deodorant...) let us know!