The Waits family- let me start with them. Well they are an amazing family from Texas who lives next door to me. Laura is an amazingly humble mom just seeking the Lord. She is very encouraging to me. She is extremely wise and gives great advice. Alex is an awesome dad. He helps me with all the things I can´t do in my house like hang towel racks and little things like that. These things that I am forever greatful for! They have four of the sweetest children. Their children have told thier friends back in Texas about La Moskitia and here is a video of the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQ2fdXAzAY&feature=player_embedded

 

They picked my English class of street boys to receive all the fruit that they had provided. This was the first time that these kids had ever had fruit at their program and they were so excited!

My brother his girlfriend and some friends  will be here this THURSDAY!!!


 I will just start out with how excited I am that Grace is meeting her American family in person!!


One thing they will be doing is some construction work in town.


They original lady that we fund raised for was approved for a habitat house. So we had funding but nothing to build. I prayed for opportunities and NOTHING. I prayed for other options of how to use the money and NOTHING. I let my brother know and was told by his girl friend that I had to find something that they were really set on doing some construction. So I thought I will go over and ask my neighbors if they know of anything that they would be able to build or anyone who needs some kind of construction help. Laura (the mom) stood at the top of her stairs as I told her no need to come down I just had a quick question. As the words came out of my mouth she put her hands in her hair and said YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! THIS IS SUCH A GOD THING. Her husband had been out THAT MORNING taking pictures of 2 houses that needed construction work. They did not have the funding but they were planning to go before their board and ask for the money to complete the projects.


So what are these two projects


One is a girl who lost her parents and two siblings she has lived with a family in a village since she was little but she is now at the point where she can no longer advance her education in the village and needs to come to the ¨city¨ of Puerto Lempira to go to school. This lady has agreed to take her in but needs to build her a room before she can move in. The room is built only the roof is lacking. A roof that is all that stands between a hope and a future for Cindy.


So a roof it is.


The other house is a lady who married an American and had a child with him and then he left them both. She has all the wood she needs for her door and windows but needs the labor as well as the concrete for the floor. Windows, a door, and a floor are alll that stand between this family and a home.


So a home will be provided.


I was introduced to the first lady a few weeks ago. She was so greatful thanking me. I immediately had to say no, Thank you Lord!!  It is not me at all I am not the funding or the labor. I am only a small voice to speak for those who can not speak for themselves. There is no way I can accomplish anything without HIM.

This week I talked with Grace´s aunt.

The good news is she says a visit from her Miskito mom is in the very near future... I PRAY it is true!

While I was talking with her I was trying to get as many details of Grace´s Miskito family as I could. One thing I ask was what does her name mean. On her birth certificate that her grandfather had made it says Grace Sinai (even though I left a note Grace Lujon) So I wanted to know what Sinai ment since I saw it all over the place when we were on vacation. She tells me I dont know it is somewhere in the Bible I think.
So it clicked Mount Sinai.

That is where the ¨covenant¨ relationship began.

So her name is Grace ( the new covenant) and  Sinai ( the old covenant)

I thought it was pretty cool so her name is now Grace Sinai. The way that the Lord intended it to be!

This afternoon Grace and I headed out to a local hospital to pick up some medical records for a friend who is in the adoption process. As we left the hotel it was also time for the shift change. So all of our favorite workers who have become close friends were getting off work. We stood outside and Grace kissed them and we laughed and hugged goodbye. A taxi stopped without me flagging it down and we hopped in and all happy I told him that we needed to go to the hospital. He ask me if someone was sick there and I told him no we were just picking up the medical records. He proceeded to tell me that his daughter was in the hospital. For the next few minutes the story unfolded. Through tears he began with the reason I stopped to get you is because it made me happy to see your daughter giving kisses to those women because my daughter can´t do that.  He tells me that she is seven years old and was hit by a car a few weeks ago and has been in a coma for SEVENTEEN days. He told me that he had just come from the other hospital looking for blood she needs for a transfusion. The other hospital had the blood but he did not have the money to purchase it so he was working and knowing that the Lord was going to provide.

My heart hurt as I held back the tears and the Lord whispered to my heart.. If you will sacrafice I will provide.

The taxi driver told me how tired he was but knowing God is his strength and claiming in the end that the Lord will heal his daughter.

I want to ask all of you to pray with me for healing for this seven year old girl. Knowing and claiming that our God is the Great Physician. He is the one giving the doctors wisdom as this little girl enters surgery tonight. Pray for the family for strength, peace, and an increase in faith through this!

Puerto Lempira does not have internet. So how am I writing now?

WE ARE IN LA CEIBA

If you have been here you are now saying wait a minute that is “interior Honduras” ( a two hour plane ride away from La Moskitia) Yep, that is the La Ceiba we are in.

Let me back track and explain a little.

Susanna (my best friend in La Moskitia that I have talked about on several occasions) she came over on Tuesday morning I noticed it was before her lunch break and ask her what she was doing. She told me “they (her school) are making me come home for health reasons. My first response was NO, NO, NO. I told her I would do whatever I could to try and convince them to let her stay. First I called my landlord who is a doctor and begged him to call the school and tell them that he would treat her and watch her health. Eventually Susanna looked at me and said at this point they are not going to change their mind all we can just try to do is convince them to let me come back .At this point I broke I cried in front of my landlord, my neighbor, and then a little while later  I bonded with a sweet Miskito friend and we cried together in the street with everyone watching them busted out laughing after we realize how ridiculous we looked.

I was prepared for her to leave in three months not in a matter of days.

Susanna and I had been planning a vacation when she left in December.  We would go with her and vacation and then Grace and I would continue to travel around Honduras for my birthday, Christmas, and Grace’s birthday. So impromptu mini vacation we planned.  I don’t even have a passport because it is with the lawyer in the city working on my residency. So two days  a few phone calls to the lawyer, a day at the judges office and then immigration and Grace and I had all our documents to travel.

Yesterday we boarded the plane to La Ceiba. Here is the cool part. On our flight were SEVEN chidren going out for surgery… HARE LIP AND CLEFT PALATE SURGERY. All of these children will need some sort of speech therapy after surgery. Oh, and that is what my degree is in. I only have the undergrad degree so I am not full certified to do any therapy but something is better than nothing. I will be able to research a little and mainly teach the mothers things to do at home with their children once they are back in their villages.

So this week brings a mini vacation this weekend with Susanna. Then a full week of time to relax and spend time with Grace doing things that we do not have the chance to do at home ( like swim, go to a water park, go hiking, and go to parks). This is also a week to step back and process the last three and half months in La Moskitia and pray about the future. In a week we will return with the seven children who are receiving surgery this week!

So what have I been learning already in the past day?

 TO BE GREATFUL FOR THE LITTLE THINGS.

I am so excited over these ordinary things that I would have probably never thought twice about in the states.

Grace has been able to go swimming in a pool for the first time in her life. We went to a  REAL grocery store. We had coffee! We are in a hotel with air conditioning and hot showers. We went to the mall and had ice cream.