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The
update: Andy, Laura, and Luke
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September 26
So before this story leaves my head, I am going to write about it.
On Monday evening, Belkis and I set out for church for the women's
meeting with Bibles and an umbrella in hand. The songs were nice,
I read a few verses to the group, Glenia took up the offering.
Hermana Mirna started to expound on the topic of being chosen by
God. Then, the lights went out. Blackness! No one could see a
thing. Soon after, it started pouring rain and lighting went
streaking across the sky. So all of a sudden, we went from a dry
and well-lit room to a dark room with wind blowing rain in through the
windows. We couldn't keep going because we couldn't hear
anything. Someone managed to find candles and matches. We
ate the snack that was provided by Hermana Enma and sat around shouting
at one another. The kids there with their moms were running
across the room, and women were looking out the windows as lightning
lit up the sky. Forty-five minutes later, it was still pouring.
It had not let up. I had told Andy that if it was raining
at 7:30 to come for Belkis and me in the truck. I had forgotten,
however, that we didn't have a truck. The O'Deas were in Teguc
with the Ranger and the other two trucks were either with the brigade
or in the shop. About 7:15, Belkis and I decided we were going to
walk anyway. People kept telling us that the Quebrada was too
strong, that we couldn't pass over it. Just as we were going to
leave, Glenia's husband showed up with his truck. She offered us
a ride, and we accepted. (The Quebrada was overflowing its banks
as we drove through it). We made it all the way home only to
discover that Andy had left to come get us on foot. He, apparently,
passed us on the road, though we never saw him. He made it home
safely about ten minutes after we arrived. It was quite the
storm.
Other news: Luke has started dancing! Yes, dancing, moving,
bopping, swaying to music. It is so fun and funny to watch.
We all have fun dancing together, now.
September 20
So what has been keeping us busy this week, you may ask. Here it goes:
Andy has been working very hard since we got back. On call
Saturday, he was kept busy with patients the whole day. Sunday,
he drove a boy who had to go to the hospital to the river bordering
Honduras and El Salvador, crossed with him to the other side in a boat,
and put him in a truck bound for the hospital where the boy's mom was
already staying. The road was horrible, muddy, and bouncy.
The truck had to be dug out a few times and Andy had to turn
around once. The boy was on oxygen and in real danger of
dying. The whole event was very stressful. When
not working with patients, Andy has been working on a house for our
dear hen Isabel, aka Little Red Hen. Pictures to come of that.
We also had a brigade here over night this weekend, which was great fun
because some of our friends from Asheville were on the brigade.
It is always nice to see old friends and to host them here.
Nelson
and I have interviewed and hired someone for the library project and
scholarship program! She started yesterday with her orientation.
Today, she has already started organizing and cleaning and making
lots of lists in the library. It is so exciting!
Also, I had the opportunity to share at church this last Monday night
at the women's group. I got to share my testimony and encourage
the other ladies to share their testimonies with one another that
evening and with others in the future.
I have been doing a lot of reading. Recently, I have read Firstlight: The early inspirational writings of Sue Monk Kidd; The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett; and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Since returning I have read Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore; Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison; and The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland. Currently, I am reading The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan. Andy is reading The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky. So we are also keeping our minds engaged.
Any good book suggestions? Please let me know.
Luke has finally recovered from his cold that he got on the way home from
the airport. Included in that was his one-year shots. He
has been grumpy for about a week and a half, so I was very thankful to
have him back to his happ y self yesterday.
Here is a picture of our birthday boy enjoying his two birthday cakes! Yum!
New Luke developments: starting to stand by himself by pushing himself
up from the ground and teetering until he falls back down; using his
house that Andy built out of a box to hide in when we are playing
peek-a-boo; playing peek-a-boo,
also, from behind the couch; bouncing up and down on his big brown
horse (really a saddle that we bought at the market); scurrying up the
stairs on his hands and knees; saying "more" and "all done" in sign
language.
I am always thinking of interesting things to write about at random
moments; but when I actually sit down to compose my thoughts, I forget
what it was I was going to tell the world. Time to start writing
my ideas down, I guess.
September 12
So much for planning
(see my last entry in August)! Just when you think you have
everything planned out a hurrican comes your way. The long and
short of it is, we made it to Roatan, found out a hurrican was tracking
straight for the island, played at the beach for one day, made the
decision to leave and were on the morning ferry in an hour, hustled to
San Pedro Sula, barely made it on the last out-going plane to Miami and
then to Houston. We spent a total of four days in Texas, one in
Houston, two at Lake McQueeney, and the last day in Houston. Our
days in Houston were spent running errands and trying to see family.
Our days at the lake were spent relaxing, waterskiing, jetskiing,
and swimming. We had fun, though it wasn't as relaxing as I had
imagined our week away to be, i.e. sitting in a beach chair half in the
water and half on the sand with a good book in hand while Lita and
Grandpa and Luke played in the water and Andy went scuba diving.
It was good, nonetheless, to be with family and to be with one another,
away from the clinic.
Luke has since turned 1! We celebrated in Houston with family and
will celebrate this coming weekend here. The day after his
birthday was Kid's Day in Honduras, so he had more fun celebrating
that. I will post pictures soon.
We are getting back in the groove here. Nelson and I started
interviewing potential candidates for the new job today. Belkis
and I went to the women's meeting at church Monday night. Andy
was on-call Monday night. Luke has had a cold and cough (that he
developed on the car ride home) and will soon get his vaccines (once he
gets over his "gripe"). I planned class for Tuesday, which ended
up being cancelled due to school activities (very frustrating).
Today is Belkis' birthday, complete with cake in the dental
clinic at 5pm. We are definitely staying busy and making the most
of our time here, it seems. We are grateful for electricity which
returned today after having been out for half a day and during the
night.
Also, today I learned of a new language spoken by the kids here.
In this language, my name is Laufarafa. Very interesting.
They completely understand each other and can speak it very well.
It is hilarious to listen to them speak. They loved
teaching me their secrets. And I loved learning them!
That's all.
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