The thing about pictures

Do you ever have moments when a pre-existing reality comes to slap you in the face? It seems to happen to me from time to time. Just the other day I had one of those moments. It was a beautiful day outside. The kind that you just want to get lost in. The type of day where you wish you had no responsibilities, so that you could just sit around drinking in the perfection of it all. I had my camera with me walking up from one school to the other switching class, loving the way the sun was gently stroking my face. I stopped to take some pictures of our black berry bushes (called mora,) and the post surrounding them, thinking how artistic and beautiful they would look in a picture. After taking a few shots I continued walking up the path. I began to think how I couldn't wait to share this moment with everyone back in the states. The warmth of the sun was perfect, the crickets were enjoying themselves in conversation, the air held a certain mystery in it. Then it hit me..the crickets, they won't be able to hear the crickets. They wont to be able to smell the air. They can't taste the mora. They can't look into the sky, or feel the light breeze. It made me realize a new that pictures can't do Honduras justice. While I have to say that my pictures did turn out beautifully, it made me wish that pictures showed more than the sight, that it could touch all 5 senses to your very soul. So as you look at these pictures, try to think back to a perfect day, to the sounds you heard and the way you felt, and try just for a moment to come into the picture. Because the thing about pictures is they are just a tiny taste of all there is to say.

Mouse in the House

Last night me and my room-mate Kendra were enjoying ourselves sitting on my bed watching "A Walk to Remember." It was a perfectly delightful night until...dun dun... dun dun... dun dun, dun dun, dun. Out of the corner of her eye Kendra saw "something, a black something, ummm a rat or a spider." I thought that she was just imagining things. She is so scared of spiders and mice that I was sure she was making nothing into something...."AHHHHHHH, a rat, a rat, I saw it again." Kendra, was so sure of what she saw that she left my room, to go hide in her own room. I still had yet to see it, and was a little unconvinced. Then I saw that fluffy hair ball run across my room. I, at this point, stood up on my bed and started screaming. Kendra was glad to know that there really was a mouse, and that she was not seeing things. I was jumping around screaming "Call Ron (a fellow teacher) to come kill it." I mean how was I going to sleep with that thing in my bedroom? I closed my door so that that thing couldn't get out and we could kill it. Well, Ron was playing cards, and didn't want to come right then. So I said "call Edgar" (Edgar, is a teenage boy on the ranch, whom I've seen kill mice with shoes and other random objects) who also couldn't come. Kendra then suggested that I come call Ron because I'm better at convincing people. So I called and begged Ron to come and help me. He said they were almost done with cards and would be there in less than 20 minutes, and that I should bring Emmaline (my dog) in to kill it. So, Emmaline illegally came in "to help" she is a good dog, but was uninterested in the mouse that was running around my room. I knew it was up to me. So I started to walk around my room with a shoe in hand so that I could kill it. While I was looking for it the mouse ran over my foot. Well, naturally that started the screaming all over again. I did find the mouse a time or two, but made no success in even starting to kill it. Finally, Ron showed up, but then we couldn't find the mouse. We pulled my whole room apart before we found it. I was standing on my desk, when it ran back out. Screams screams, lots of screams. Ron cornered it and smash. Good bye you little trouble maker. I'm glad that we finally found it, because I was imagining that mouse crawling up into my bed with me in the middle of the night. It turn out to be quite an interesting night!

A wonderful moment

Jhoselyn, Obed, Audrey, and Emily made the choice to step out in their faith, and let everyone know that they serve the one true God on Saturday March 10th. The Ranch held a baptism service for them in Tegucigalpa, in a pool. Before they were baptized we had a time of prayer and worship. It is so exciting to see the kids make a decisions to serve God. Obed recently committed his life to the Lord. I can already see a change in his life. He is a neat person and I'm sure God is going to do great things with him. Jhoselyn accepted Christ a while back and was desiring to make a public statement of her faith. I have a close relationship with Jhoselyn and was thrilled to be there to see her baptized. She is a beautiful young lady and I see a lot of maturity in her. Audrey and Emily are missionary kids, it was really cool to see them step out in their faith in a different culture. It was also neat because their dad got to baptize them. In moments like that it makes you remember what life is all about. It so easy to loose sight of the important things. Or to feel like your not making a difference. You never really know what kind of seed you are planting in the lives of those around you. It also makes you realize that the battle is not won, but only just begun. I pray that Obed, Jhosely, Audrey, and Emily will grow strong in their faith and have the courage it takes to always stand up for Christ. I know they will and I'm so proud of them.

Scary Dinos!

Every month the school that I teach at has a theme for the month. In January we learned about dinosaurs. The kids had a lot of fun with it. We made dinosaur eggs for our spots on the floor, and painted pictures of dinosaurs. But one of my favorite things that we did was make dinosaur mask. The kids continued to play like they were dinosaurs for at least a week, walking around wearing their masks. I could only imagine that if I had been at their houses during dinner time, when they were napping, or bathing that they were probably still dinosaurs, because anytime I saw them they had their mask on. Kids get so excited about such simple things, I often wish I could be more like them.

The big birthday bash!

On February 15th Jennifer, one of the girls in my class, celebrated her 4th birthday. On the kids birthday I always try to have a little party to celebrate their big day and make them feel special. I made her a birthday cake topped with trick candles! It was so fun to watch her blow out her candles, blow out her candles, and continue to blow out her candles. The kids all started to get involved in blowing out the candles. I decided to pass on eating any cake at that point. Her house parents had given me a pinata and candy for her birthday so after eating cake we had some fun beating the pinata. I think that it was the biggest pinata I have ever seen. Really it was almost as big as my kids, and stronger than them too. They hit the pinata for a long time, and it would not break so finally I ripped it, then there was a lot of screaming, hitting, and pulling as the kids rushed forward in pursuit of what you would have thought was only one piece of candy. That had a lot of fun. The only problem is that almost everyday I get asked if we are going to go hit the pinata. They seem to think that it is an activity that should be added to their daily schedule!