Just exactly what have we been doing? The kids are still out of school on their long winter break. Karla and Leidy are always wanting to come up to our house. On one of those times, I taught them how to make cookies. Neither one of them has an oven at home, so they have never baked. Karla's mom has a gas stove, but the oven doesn't work. Leidy's mom still cooks on an outdoor mud stove (think glorified campfire). I sent them home with cookies to share with their families, after they tasted every batch that came out of the oven. Quality control is important!
I've been helping out with the twice monthly Girls' Group at church. We have a time of worship, a lesson, an activity and lunch. Susan came back from Canada with bags of yarn and crochet hooks, so I've been teaching the girls to crochet. Most of them had never crocheted. So funny how some caught on quickly and others were all thumbs.
I had taught some of the girls to crochet last year, so I had them help me. Leidy is an accomplished crocheter and is showing one of the new girls what to do.
The kids will be returning to school in February so it is officially back-to-school time. Don and I continue to sponsor Leidy who is going into the 7th grade. I just noticed that she is now taller than her mom! She's also sporting new bangs.
Jacee, a 4th grader, is joining the ranks of sponsored kids, thanks to the generosity of our daughter.
His mom is holding an envelope with his startup money.
Karla continues to be sponsored by Rachel's former husband, and we continue to mentor her.
Susan (in the yellow) oversees the remaining sponsored kids. We have a total of 12 going to the private bilingual school this year and maybe as many as 50 kids attending public schools who receive some assistance from generous donors in Canada. Thanks, Susan for the above 3 photos.
Don is continuing to tutor Nick, the son of missionaries, in algebra. Susan has begun reviewing with some of the kids and English lessons for Jacee and some other young boys. We've gotten all the kids registered for school, paid their tuition for the year and done some back-to-school shopping.
Leidy, a vision in purple (her favorite color, can you tell?), trying on shoes in the market. I asked if she wanted to go shopping with just her mom or if she wanted us to take them again. She very excitedly said she wanted to go with us. She got measured by the tailor for her uniform skirt and pants for physical education. Then we hit the street and went from vendor to vendor buying shoes, shirts, undershirts, socks, backpacks, notebooks, etc. We like to spread the money around.
Shopping made everyone hungry, so our next stop was Bojangles for chicken (Leidy's favorite). The little boy is her cousin. Concepción carefully wrapped up everything that was left and took it home for their supper.
You may have noticed that Julissa is not in any of the photos. She has moved back to the mainland to live with her mom. We are trying to make arrangements to continue to support her education but are running into difficulties in getting the necessary documents and money to her. Julissa's command of English is not great nor is mine of Spanish, so we have been using a bilingual friend to help us. We all hope we can work out the details soon. Her new school will only accept the original transcript from her school here and it must have the official Department of Education seal (which I doubt that it has). The school won't accept a faxed or emailed copy. They want the real deal hand delivered. The problem: she is living high up in the mountains of Honduras. To get there requires taking the ferry to the coast, a taxi to the bus station, and two long bus rides (about 6 hours) to reach her town. So, we are still puzzling this out. We are trying to see if they will accept the transcript via snail mail. I have no idea how long that would take.
Don and I are taking Spanish lessons again with 6 other people from our church. I practiced today when Suyapa was here cleaning for us. She is taking English lessons and loves to practice with me. It's a good trade.
Now that rainy season appears to be over, I must figure out how to get 12 sponsored kids to the beach!
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